HARDSHIPS OF EARLY SETTLERS OUT EAST

Stratford Evening Post, Volume II, Issue 88, 7 November 1932, Page 11 (Supplement)

HARDSHIPS OF EARLY SETTLERS OUT EAST

(By Mr. \V. L. Kennedy. Written for the Post).

THE DAYS BEFORE THE RAILWAY DIFFICULTIES OF TRANSPORT IN EARLY TIMES LINE BETWEEN STRATFORD AND TOKO SHOWING THE GOVeNMENrTT COULD BE DONE

Jt is said that the. man who goes into the bush is responsible for the prosperity of the country. Ho sometimes hews out a farm, sometimes a township, but not very often a fortune. My first experience of the country east of Stratford was about the year ISBS when the road was being formed and the Kahouri was being bridged. The land from the Stratford boundary to the Standish Road at Toko on both sides of the road was held as a New Plymouth borough reserve, and some education reserves. Stratford was not then as much aliv e to its own interests as it became later, or she would not have allowed such an asset to be filched from her. What an asset it would now be to Stratford if it was now receiving the revenue derived from those endowments

There was a fine block of milling timber lying along the road between it and the Patea River that the com. pany in Hawera that I was managing for were anxious to acquire. The land was being offered on a 42 year lease, the first seven years at 5d per acre,'rising to 2s Gd Per acre in the last seven years. There was only a track then, and after tin exhaustive inquiry there was little hope held out that there would be a road fit for carting out timber within a term of years that would jus_ti[y anyone speculating.

However, six years after, Hayward and Martin', who had the contract for the formation of the road, had got as far as Toko, when in con junction with Meredith and Howe, I secured a block of bush and started milling operations in March, 18i)2. It was not plain sailing then, as the road was six months in the year a quagmire from the bottom of Sangster's Hill to near Toko. The road went through a kind of swamp and it can be imagined what it would be like after a period of heavy rains. Tom Kean had just opened the first public house at Toko that year, and it is said that the bullocky that was bringing in some kegs of heer for mine host lost one oil' the dray in the mud, which was never found It was then thought, owing to the lack of road metal, that we would never get out of the mud. Some time, about 12 months after the county engineer came to me in desperation, and asked me if 1 would cut some six.inch blocks to pave about a mile of the worst part of the road. I told him I would be only too pleased to take on the contract at a small profit over cost price, but was he aware what the job would cost? 1 told him that the county could not finance it; he had not gone into the cost, which of course was out of the question. There was a sort of land hunger on at the time and many people were keen to take up land in advance of the road. It was in the year 1892 that Pohokura settlers applied for their land while the road was being formed over the Strathmore Saddle, and it was not until three years after, that road formation reached that settlement. In 1595 the land around "Whangamomona was balloted for, and formation work was being done on the Whanga Saddle. My first sight of Whanga wa s about that time when the track was over the top and through the bush. Whanga was then known as the "clearing." The late Joseph McCluggage had opened a store in a tin shed and supplied the roadmen and the few settlers with what they required and as the settlement progressed the township grew in importance and in 1808, when it was linked up with the outside work by a formed road, Joe was looked upon as the father of Whanga. At this time the land was being settled east of Whanga, as far as Tahora, on what was known as McKenzie's "improved farm settlement scheme" and later dubbed "McKenzie's Swiss milk settlement." 1 suppose there were about 100 settlers placed on sections varying from 50 to 100 acres each. Part time work was found for the settlers on road work and the rest of the time was put in falling the bush and building tor themselves komes which were mostly slab whares. The Government Provided the settlers with grass seed to sow the land after the bush had been burned. There was no Bruce Levy then in the Agricultural Department to tell the settlers what kind of grasses to sow as altogether the wrong type of grass was sown in the earlv days in the Whanga County, as the settlers found later to their cost. It has been found out that it was a mistake to sow the more expensive English grasses. The finer and poorer grasses, such as browntop danthonia the peas, with white clover and lotus major, combined with some cocksfoot and English rye, are more suitable for that class of soil Heavy hush fires raged over the clearings later, which required con. sequently resowing. The more advanced settlers took advantage of the second bums to sow a more enduring type of grass. If this had been done in the early days there would not have been so much fern and scrub later to contend with. It was in the year 1900 that Mr McCluggage started the first dairy factory at Whanga, but as there was no home separation and all the milk had to be taken to the factory, the desperate state oi tb< J

Good progress was made as far as Toko, 61 miles, and the line was opened to that place on August 9, 1902. The settlers outback were nowlooking for brighter days as a result of the speedy progress of the line, as they well knew nothing could hope to develop the great hinterland like a railway. Thee modern tar-sealed road had not as yet been dreamed of, and the difficulty in getting metal for the roads was a problem that it was hoped the advent of the railway would sclve.

! roads for a great part of the year ! caused the settlers to lose heart with ! dairving under the conditions then | prevailing and the factory closed down after a few years. More and in the meantime was got under giass, so that the settlers found it more i satisfactory to run sh e ep. I The same conditions as, regarded I the road inland applied right .out ! from Strafford while the roads were I fair dimmer roads for three o v four I months of the year, the rest of the I year they were simply quagmires. [ There was no surfaceman kept on the roads to keep the watertables clean. I stores at Strathmore and Whanga | were' anything from 50 to 100 per cent. 1 above Stratford prices. The settlers I who had keen promised a metal road were losing heart; metal was not obtainable except at a cost that was prohibitive. Meetings of settlers were held and deputations sent to the County Council, representation was made to the Government, but nothing or next to nothing was done. A happy thought struck the then Chamber of

[Commerce who had for its president ; ! the late Mr Syllney .lames, and it was j ; suggested to the* County Council that j tho only and quickest way to get over j ! the road difficulty was to lay down j i a narrow gauge tramway to Toko, . ultimately to extend it further m- J ! land No sooner was the suggestion . I made than !t was tn-o>n r.p wh-n?- I | heartedly by the -oiin.ril. c?««. V£*lers were delegated in March 1898, Under the Tramways Act of 1894 to, 'Messrs Edwin Gill Allsworth, jour. , Inalist- James Buller Barleymau, land > welt! Charles Stuart Curtis, store-; | keeper' Sydney I'ieU'V .lamer,, i<*i>u j agent all of Stratford; William Mo -j Laughlin Kennedy, sawrmller, ot i Toko; Joseph Mackay, runboldor, oi Midhirst; Thomas Penn, gentleman; j Thomas Harry Penn, accountant; Fredrick Jeffray Stewart, runholder, all of Stratford. ; Out of t.h» number of these gentle- j men only T. H. Penn and W. L. Ken- , nedv survive today. j These gentlemen had conferred on j them all the powers embodied under j the said Tramways Act to construct a tramway to Toko to be completed j within two years from date. I i The services of Mr R. H. Clime. iC E. were secured and a survey of I j tlie line was made, and estimates of j j the cost of earthwork, bridging, plate , laying, buildings, land, etc',, was made which was approximately £I2OO per mile. It was originally j proposed to make the line 2 feet 6 j inches gauge, but when it was point--; ed out by the sawmillers interested j that this would necessitate transship-] ping timber, it was finally decided to j make the line a 3 feet (i inches gauge, the same as the Government railway. I The late Colonel Malone acted as j solicitor to the company, and a Bill j j was drafted and presented to Parlia- | iment. petitioning for the desired j authority. This was refused. Parlia- j meat looked upon the plans as being j a railway and they were not prepared | to allow any private company to con- j struct and operate a railway. Good j eventually came out of all these pre- ! liminary operations by the fact that the survey of the route to Toko prov- j ed conclusively that an easy grade . could be had for the railway, which j had previously been regarded as im- j practicable. The line previously was to function with the main line near j Eltham. Usually when settlers com- j bine to have what they thought to be j of great importance to the district, j they had the support of the member j for their district, but in this case it j was opposed. The reason presumably was that the line from Eltham was j to run through the member's pro- j perty with a station in the vicinity. This property lies east of Toko, about fodr miles, and is now owned by Mr j E Marfell. So the junction at Stratford was finalised on March 28, 1901, when the first sod (( still have a piece of the sod sealed up in a hottie) was turned by the Hon W. Hall- j Jones, who, we hope, will be present I on November 7 to see the completion j of the big job he had the privilege to j start 31? j years ago. j

But the railway turned out to be like the creeping things mentioned during the first days of the Creation. It certainly during the succeeding years crawled at a snail's pace; it was hung up from time to time for various reasons. Sometimes it did not get. farther than Douglas. Another battle of routes took place, whether the line should go by Strathmore, as originally intended, which was a private township, or by Huiroa, the Government township. Finally Huiroa gained the day, but during the year 1904 there was only a paltry £7OOO put on the Estimate for the railway, and that with the then pick, shovel and barrow system, meant slow progress. Settlers in the Whanga County and beyond were losing hope as the spring of that year was the wettest for many years. It was no uncommon sight to see bullocks and men bogged in the so„called roads. The writer lost three that were smothered in the deep holes of mud and papa while timber was being carted. The progress of the Ohura Road has been like that of the railway, in that it had creeped all the way. About 1R92 I heard the late Premier, the Rr. Hon R. J. Sedilon, state to the settlers at Toko that he would have the road metalled through to the Tangarakau Gorge in 10 years. It is metalled now to Tahora, about F>o miles, after 40 years and still a lot to do before it reaches the gorge. The long wait that the settlers out east have had to undergo before they got a road or railway have caused them to lose heart. Men who started with capital, some more, some less, in the virile days of young manhood, have grown old and grey waiting for the good clays that they had reasonably expected. Many have thrown up the sponge and have simply walked off their holdings, leaving them to fern. scrub and the.wild pigs. What a different tale would now be told if pr<> apises..had been ;kept, road formation 'pushed ahead ,oi: .settlepiopli or,:.at least kept rtR step/with it, for. aXter all the prime reason for reverted (not deteriorated')' land is the fact, of the want of proper roading and transport facilities. The blue papa land in the Whanga County will grow grass to the tops of the highest hills and if properly farmed is found to be the cheapest proposition in grazing 'lands in Taranaki. But lacking facilities for import and j expert of produce and necessities,

1 •ombined with slump after slump, es- ! pecially the present one, settlers who persist have got to live on I apital, if they have it, or get out. I However, the sun will shine again ! when the. Auckland express goes thundering byl _..