TANGARAKAU

Stratford Evening Post, Volume II, Issue 88, 7 November 1932, Page 13 (Supplement)

TANGARAKAU

■ , m i MUSHROOM SETTLEMENT TOWN GROWS UP IN SHORT TIME HEADQUARTERS.OF CONSTRUCTION WORK " SOME REMINISCENCES (Written for the Post) Now that the railway is finished it is only to be expected that a good deal lot the glory of Tangarakau will depart, but there is something pleasant in the knowledge that the settlement will not go the way of the usual public wfirks camp and be removed "altogether. Certainly Tangarakau will hold a population much smaller "than in the past, but there will always be a settlement there. The development of the coal industry will see to that. There has always been to me something romantic about the development of this place. I first saw it at the end of 1924, and then there was nothing ■ there except a solitary tin shed. The tram line down from, Tahora had not been completed for more than a very short distance, although a certain amount of formation work( had been done, this extending nearly to the flat. The Hon. R. Masters was the member for the district then, and in company with the Public Works Engineer, Mr. T. M. Ball, he paid a visit to the area where it was proposed to form the settlement. ■ The journey from Tahora was made on horseback—at least Mr. Masters, Mr. Ball and Mr. Annand rode. I walked the distance because I knew that the member for the district would be held up by constituents fairly often on the trip, and I wanted to get on and see things" for -myself. My surmise proved correct. Mr. Masters being held up every few yards, and after walking the distance from Tahora I arrived at Tangavrakau easily an hour before the official party. In addition to the solitary*, tin, shed, I found a solitary man there*, i He was working and I came to tho conclusion that his labours had | something to do with the extension | of the road" int.o the wilderness. I Ho digging a hole, he told me; I could see that for myself, but I wanted to know what the hole was and | what it was for. However, all 1 j could get out of him was that it was a hole. "What kind?" I asked. "Just 'a hole," He didn't know what I it was for. All' he knew about it was

that he had to dig a hole, and judging from appearances it looked as though the railway would be finished before the hole. ~.. . --On visits to. Tangarakau in after years I lowed' for that hole, but could not find it, nor could I discover anyone who knew anything about it. I have since come to the conclusion that the Government must have abandoned it and decided to get on with the railway. > A thorough.investigation was made as to water supply available and such like and all being satisfactory Tangarakau was selected as the headquarters for the railway construction work. It was not long before a largesized town sprang into being and men and their families were transferred from the Opunake line, which Avas then finished. By. the end of 1925, the year when the election was held, the placfi had grown so in importance that a considerable degree of attention was paid to the Tangarakau vote. There is no need in this article to give details of the town that was brought into being. It is sufficient to say that it soon became a self-contained community boasting of a civic spirit—if one may use the termrrthat could well be emulated by many an older and larger place. ThVpeople worked in co-opera-tion for the common good, and to quote but one instance, the manner in which they; went about securing the necessary, medical services and the appointment of a doctor —ancient history worthy of much more commendation than it got. The task was not easy and not the least difficult part before those who had undertaken the burden was the cutting of miles of red tape entanglements behind .which the health authorities sheltered, A noticeable; feature was. the way in which tlis "wilderness gave to flourishing gardens. Every house in the married people's section out there has its garden, and nearly everyone of them was a joy to behold. Taken as a whole Tangarakau was always a depressing place, but the married people's part of the town relieved the drabness to a remarkable extent. . . For a long time the only method of communication with the outside world was by mean's of the Public Works train which journeyed between the fiat and Tahora to the accompaniment of much noise and showers of red-hot cinders which were cast in I their thousands behindhand if one happened to travel in an open truck—the carriage was not always attached _ one had an exciting time dodging I them. If you wore a hat you ran a j I good chance of getting a hole burned in it before you noticed that a .spark , I had taken sanctuary there, and if you j didn't the risk.of your head being gel- I

ected as a resting place was ever present. When the railway track proper was laid the tramway was no longer necessary, and it was turned into a road which meant that the people who lived on the flat were able to take their cars right down instead of leaving them at Tahora. I was one of the first people to make the journey right to the flat in a car. It was not my car, but to the owner belongs the honour —if such be an honour—of driving the first baby car into Tangarakau, where it created a good deal of interest. We left it for a while in front of a store, and when we returned to it it was covered in children. Youngsters swarmed all over it, even on top of the hood, and one little fellow with a stub nose, red hair and more than the usual supply of freckles, was sitting on the driver's seat tooting the horn for all he was worth. He informed us that he was going to get a thing like that for Christmas—a bitter blow to any motor owner's pride. At that time the road was still more of a tram track than a road, and the return journey uphill to Tahora provided some anxious moments. We came to one place where the road had a step in it, and the car of course, despite what the makers said in their advertisements, simply refused to climb a step. It had come down it all right. We remembered the terrific bump. We sought the assistance of two workmen and asked them to "give a push." They didn't do that, but they picked the car up and lifted it over the obstruction as if it were a wheelbarrow. One heard a lot about the wild and woolly times at the fiat before the appointment of a policeman, but i am sure the stories were greatly magnified. Certainly there were a few people there who used to make things move, and more than once the se-1 quel has been heard in the Stratford j Court, but the majority of the people : were quiet folks very much like the people in any other town. However there were those who were in the habit of making their presence felt. One Sunday I went out to see a man with whom I had some business. He opened the door to my knock and peeped around it. His i'aco was very much the worse for what it obviously had been through in the immediate past. One eye was closed completely, and the rest of his face was bruised and battered. How on earth did you |pt like that," [ asked, The reply was worthy of being recorded;— "Arguing about one and six," he I said in quite a matter of fact tone. \ Then there was the story of the j New Plymouth man who worked in jsome office or other. He became ill

and was told by his doctor 'that he should go out in the back blocks and do some manual work for a while. He chose Tangarakau, where he got a job. However he could not disguise bis "city" bearing or something of the sort, and his mates did not take kindly to him. They got the idea that ho Was something to do with the police on the lookout for sly grog and he was given the hint that he would be wiser to get away. Probably it was / not put quite like that. However he left. There was no lack of amusement out there, although the people had to make their own fun to a large extent. The dances held were always jolly affairs, and when a concert was put on it was worth attending. As is often the case away out in the back country, there was quite a lot of good

talent brought out at various times, I The usual sporting activities were also | in evidence, and there was a picture j show run by a committee who carried it on excellently. I understand that a talkie pla>nt has been in vogue there for a good Avhile. The people themselves were very hospitable and interesting and were some of the finest one could wish to meet. I hope that something can be done to find work for the majority of them in the locality still so that when the work on the line is finished for good and all they will not have to leave the homes to which they are so attached, and the gardens and the j many other things they have developed in their little community which I makes TangarakftU so characteristic.