EARLY DAYS OF THE AREA

Putaruru Press, Volume XXI, Issue 1238, 10 July 1947, Page 4

EARLY DAYS OF THE AREA

FIGHT AGAINST BIG ODDS ‘ ‘ Black Financial Ring ’ ’ The advance in administrative status of Putaruru from an independent town board to that of a borough . district is a further big step in the progress of a town which many far-sighted people believe is destined to become one of the most progressive and prosperous in the whole of the famed Waikato district. Putaruru, as a township, does not date hack very far, and a few of its milestones may be recalled with interest.

In the early days of the estates, Lichfield was the social and business centre, and on mail days it was> nothing unusual to see thirty to forty buggies and other means of conveyance handy to the post office, the owners and other occupants of which had come in fer the usual gossip and odd business transactions which always accompanied “mail day.” Came the railway, which was laid down to that centre and then held up on account of the fact that milling interests interfered politically with the plans, to the extent that finally it was decided that the “iron horse” should climb the steep Ma. muku Hills on its run to Rotorua. This alteration in route necessitated the line .being branched, not from Lichfield, but from Putaruru, five miles further hack. Later, the line to Lichfield was extended as a light railway by the Taupo Totara Timber Co., Ltd., to serve their big holdings of bush, but the original five miles—from Putaruru to Lichfield—still remained the property of the State. Putaruru Becomes the Centre

Putaruru then took on some slight importance as a railway junction • and quickly usurped Lichfield’s importance as a mail distributing centre. But even then, there was not sufficient back country developed to greatly increase the growth of the settlement, although the erection of a mill by the T.T.T. Company assisted in no small manner to inereas the turnover of the fciw local stores.

About this period ■ the Matamata County Council had been formpd lay the cutting up of the Piako County Council’s big area, but at the stage of development mentioned the country south of Putaruru was a kind of ;j“ never never” land, mostly undeveloped .and suffering the stigma of toeing “bush sick.” A private company later started to : develop the Tokoroa district, eighteen, miles from Putaruru. This, pioneering company faced many severe handicaps, the. chief of which were the bitterly cold winters which confined the dairy factory season to less than eight months, and “bush sickness,” but finally the faith of these pioneers in the district was justified. The establishment of live windbreaks and the later discovery that eotoaltised manures supplied the mineral deficiency in soil content which had caused the sickness, revolutionised the whole farming outlook. Farmers no longer had to hide the many dead bodies of their dairy cow.s in the subterranean potholes (which abound iu the Tokoroa district) in order to conceal their losses less land values tumbled further. The dairy season was lengthened to normal, sheep were bred and fattened on the farms, and today the area is a most prosperous one, which contributes in no small degree to the prosperity of Putaruru

Start of Arapuni

Following the war of 1914-1,8, a few far-sighted individuals again saw great possibilities in the district, some from totally different angles, but all tending in the direction of exploiting the natural resources of the area.

In the fight for the introduction of what was in thoss days the “new source of power,” a great controversy arose between the interests vested in the successful coal-fields and those which favoured the use of water power for the production of electricity. The fight tended to be a bitter one, with established interests apparently having most of the pull, politically and otherwise. However, in the Putaruru district there lived, nine miles out at Arapuni, a former schoolmaster who was ekeing out a living on what was at thr time somewhat despised land. Possessed of great vision and a keen organising ability, singlehanded this gentleman set out to convince the city of Auckland, not only that in liydro-eleotric power lay

much of its future success, but that near and on his property fronting the Waikato River were the ideal physical features for a dam site to provide sufficient electric power for that generation. In those days, be it noted such was a remarkable prophecy, for even after Arapuni was built there were many, both inside and outside of Parliament, who stated that Arapuni would be a white elephant, and that all of the energy provided would never be used.

That was the atmosphere in which Mr. Dauby promulgated' his scheme. Undaunted, and with no financial backing, he set to work to convince the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and other city interests, together with members of Parliament, that watu.-produced power was the energy of the future, that the Waikato was the river to produce it, and that he could lead them to the most suitable spot for the erection of the best hydro electric station. Part of his propaganda was to invit * several hundred prominent public men, mostly from Auckland, to come and see for themselves. There were faw motor cars available in those days to transport such a deputation, but Mr. Darby scoured the district," and on t’lo big day a motely collection of traps, buggies, waggons and saddle-horses, with but a few motor cars (for the really big men) met the visiters at Putaruru station. To cut a long story short, that Was the turning point* in thc< long fight—big business interests were convinced and Arapui was later built and the nine miles of clay road, from Putaruru became cnei of the greatest motor roads in the country at the time, designed to carry the heavy loads required for the building of the dam. Origin of Afforstiation Coincident with this, big move was another far-reaching effort which fruited in the mind of another resident, Mr. E. R. Alcorn. Possessed of a fair-sized piece of land, which could neither be farmed 1 successfully nor- sold, Mr. Alcorn nurtured a brain-wave which, when elaborated by others, eventually put New Zealand on thee map in very many countries.

Struck, Avjlh the., remarkable-, growth of trees in the, borough area and on adjacent , farms, Mr. Alcorn after 'taking; measurements and note of the age of the trees, thought out a scheme for financing trea-planting on his farm property under a system of bonds, whereby a bondholder who invested a certain sum became- entitled to an acre of newly-planted trees. The scheme did not take on at first, -but eventually an Auckland firm took the scheme from a pigeon-hole, tried the suggestion out, and the advertisements appealed to the general public to such an extent that the original promoters soon found themselves with more sales for bonds than they had acres of land. That was l the commencement of the vast reafforestation schemes, finalised by tree-plantinig concerns at a later date, and which now extend to cover approximately 200,000 acres.