RAIL PIONEERS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19978, 1 July 1939, Page 16

RAIL PIONEERS

COMMITTEE OF FOUR WAIROA’S LONG FIGHT ONE ADVOCATE SURVIVES MR. T. LAMBERT'S STORY (Herald Special Reporter) WAIROA. this day. In more recent years the advocacy of railway connection with Napier has been a trump card in Wairoa’s local politics, iand there tare few public men of the past decade who have not given their support to railway claims advanced on behalf of the district. It was not always thus, however, according to the story of Mr. Thomas Lambert. 85-year-old Wairoa journalist, who . claims to have been one of a committee of four sturdy optimists Who advocated the construction of the railway for many years before the first sod was turned.

He is the sole survivor of the group, and in recognition of his long work for the railway, Mr. Lambert was included in the official party wh ch made the journey by the official train from Hastings to Wairoa to-day. Accompanied by his wife, who Shared his early enthusiasm, Mr. Lambert confessed to a feeling of pride and thankfulness, in that he had been spared to see the realisation of plans first discussed over 60 years ago with his colleagues of the Wairoa railway committee “Curse of Provincialism”

Discussing the conditions which inspired the committee's efforts, Mr. Lambert recalled that in the early days of settlement the curse of provincialsim lay heavy upon the land, and the few benefits gained from the Government were not conferred without a hard struggle. The district, situated at the northern end of Hawke’s Bay, and the southern end of Auckland province, was utterly neglected by both, and very few ot “the loaves and fishes” came Wairoa’s way, and even the items on the loan schedules were insignificant—and the £60,000 of revenue accruing from Wairoa land sales was snapped up by the Central Government, and little or no efforts were made to safeguard the rights of W r airoa.

Wairoa was, in fact, being punished for the obstinacy of her native population in holding on to their ancestral lands. Many visits were paid by native land agents, Cabinet Ministers, and even the Governor himself, all endeavouring to break down this obstinacy. Failure of Herrick Expedition

She was also made the scapegoat for the failure of the WhitmoreHerrick expedition ito Waikaremoana, which, _ in addition to costing £60,000, money" which the infant colony could ill spare, also broke the then Government.

Sir George Grey did his best, but though the Maoris gave him all courtesy as the Queen’s representative, they did not yield then on the land question. Some success came later and ihe Maori titles were at last extinguished over large areas—added to by confiscations for rebellion, and ■settlement made a fitful start.

Then came the “King” movement, and later the Hauhau troubles, and though the former made little headv/'iv. the o her practically stopped settlement, except at great risk, and in. addition to the shadow of war there was the grim spectre of want stalking through the land. Progress was stayed, and even the cultivations were neglected. The ,ir '"r:s who had parted with their lands, having spent the proceeds in riotous living, became very poor, and Many tramped the streets of the infant toxvn ii‘era‘lly in res and “1 should judge,” he declared, “a shame tc the pakehas of that day”—the Firrcpeans. Who when rot standing to arms cr out in tb? hills after "the enefriy.” were listless and apathetic. Murky Days Down on her luck was Wairoa, for her people were harassed right and left, ff".nl and rear. The Maori rt.id.crs menaced them in the rear, the

bar at the river mouth and the r thundering seas on the beach blocked the 'rading schooners and cutters in or cut. at one time for six months at a stretch, and roads, there were none that could be relied on, all rivers and creeks being unbridged. There was no doctor available

nearer than 70 miles, and the Europeans, had to trust their lives to quacks, and the Maoris to the tohungas. Provisions were very scarce, and dear, and housewives were not too proud to scramble on the beaches at Wairoa and Mohaka for the potatoes cast up by the sea from vessels that had met their fate at the river mouth at either place. Not a “Fairy Tale”

"Communication was so bad that he must relate one incident, Mr. Lambert said, to make good his words. A Wairoa lady owning a business in the town had an adopted boy whom she desired to have educated as a priest. To this end she took him to Napier, placed him on a ship en route for Ireland and Maynoot'h College. Then she essayed to get back to her business in Wairoa. The “roads” were not to be thought of, and she made daily pilgrimages to “The Spit,” as Napier's port was called, but the report was still "bad bar,” and this lady actually received a cablegram from Ireland announcing the boy’s arrival at Maynooth College before she ever could sail for Wairoa. This is no “fairy tale.” Open Hostility The new form of Government, or self-determination, was now about to ‘be ushered in. said Mr. Lambert, and efforts were made to get the County Council to move in the matter of securing rail communication with Napier; the result was a half-hearted resolution in favour, but the backing among the moneyed men was weak, and later developed into open host'd Uy.

Then out of a spirit born ot despair, 'not unming'led with distrust, four men banded them Selves together —for they had no sponsors among the powers 'hat be —to stir up interest in the linking up of Wairoa with Naoier by rail —they became, in. fact, Wairoa’s self-appointed railway committee

They included the late, Mr. W. F. Shaw, a member of the County Council, later chairman and finally clerk of that body for many years with credit .to himself and the ratepayers. H« was a Victorian and joined up wTh the Armed Constabulary, and before he left the force was the barrack-room orderly. Later he engaged in store-keeping near Te Uhi pa and at North Clyde. Brother of Timi Kara

Mr. Thomas Carroll, the second conspirator, was a brother of the late

Sir James Carroll, Kt., and farmed at Huramua, where his son, Mr. A. T. Carroll, now farms the property. Major J. T. Large was the proprietor and editor of the first Wairoa Guar-d-f.n, after the Free Press was sold by auction for £l2O after it was rendered bankrupt owing to a libel action. Major Large, after taking part in the hunt for Te Kooti in the (Jrewera Country, was administrator and magistrate at Atiu in the Cook Group, and he felt it greatly when his offer to serve in the Great War was declined owing to his age. The Only Survivor

The only surviving member, Mr. Lambert, arrived in Wairoa on January 1, 1870, and has resided there ever since. Engaging mostly in journalism for over 50 years, he now pays tribute to his dead comrades. Surely, he said, talent, genius and education

alone, cannot command success, but perseverance does. The committee had a very hard time among a host of unprogressives, but even while making no progress the members still pegged away and by voice and pen sought to build up a public conscience on the railway question; in most cases they were as a voice crying in the wilderness. They made two great mistakes, to their discomfiture. They sought to ak up Wairoa with Napier, instead of placing Napier in the forefront, and they had it as one of the planks of their platform that a betterment taxshould be imposed on all lands 10 miles back through which the railway should pass in order to pay for the line.

These plans alienated the Napier business people, the landowners and the politicians of those days, and Wairoa people had to tighten up their hunger-belts and gaze out to Napier and plenty, exclaiming: “So near and yet so far’" The First Sod Turned

The quartet kept on until the end of their days. Though covered with scorn and contempt and held in check by indifference, at long last two of

them lived to see the first sod in the railway works turned at Westshorc by Sir Joseph Ward on January 29, 1912. Only one witnessed the driving of the first peg in the permanent way at North Clyde, in the WairoaGisborne section of the line in 1915.

This important duly was entrusted to Miss M. A. Powdrell, by -the engi neering surveyor, Mr. J. A. Thorpe — a fitting tribute to the daughter of the ’ate Mr. Thomas Powdrell, grandfother of Mr. T. leC. Powdrell, of Turir.oa.

To-day Mr. Lambert, sole survivor of the commit’ee, is able to look upon the completed work, and salute the memory of his colleagues whose work promises to bear such splendid fruit.