TARANAKI IN YEAR 1879

Taranaki Daily News, 17 December 1926, Page 3 (Supplement)

TARANAKI IN YEAR 1879

PROGRESS OF THE RAILWAY STRATFORD SECTION COMPLETED. Looking back in retrospect over th© comparatively short time of Taranaki’s development, one finds it almost, difficult to believe that in so few year© great tracts of virgin forest or wild, fern country could have disappeared find been replaced by the green meadows and smiling pastures that exist to-day. The following account of his journey by a traveller who rode in the first passenger train to run from New Plymouth to Stratford when the new section of railway was officially opened on December 17, 1879, shows how early was the stage leached in man’s struggle with Nature, and how short was the distance he had penetrated except for th© clearings alongside the actual railway itself. “We noticed that the railway authorities are improving where possible the sharp curves and steep gradients between New Plymouth and Sentry Hill,” he said, “and more particularly between the Henui and Bell Block, where curves seem to have been made for no other purpose but to show the skill of the engineer in that special line. Heavier rails are also being laid, th© old rails being found too light for the traffic. At Sentry Hill extensive workshops are being erected for the repair or construction of railway plant, and it is very probable that Sentry Hill may yet become what Manutahi was intended to be—a thriving little township. “Waitara is. a fast rising town at the mouth of the fine, broad, deep river that permits of traders of considerable tonnage coming up to the bridge 1.-y which it is crossed, ami on the scenes

of several severe skirmishes with the Maoris there are now two large publichouses, a bank, two churches, two or three smart stores, butchers, bakers, and all the other members of a social community, pegging away with commendable British industry and pertinacity in pursuit of fortune. Troubles that would have disgusted and worn out French or German colonists long since have been survived triumphantly, if slowly, by Taranaki settlers, and the day of good tidings seems near at.hand now, to judge from the way in which this and many other little towns like it have been going ahead lately. ‘Those who have not visited Inglewood since last Christmas holidays will see considerable changes for the better. Clearings now exist all the way on one side of the road or the other between Sentry Hill and Inglewood, and numerous cottages may be seen as we bowl along, with children playing about the doors and with the owners working nearby. On arrival at Inglewood we noticed considerable improvement in I he appearance of the town since last year. Many of the logs and stumps have dis- , ippeared: a large, open space in the ceq- !: re of the town lias been cleared, level-

led and fenced, and is u©ed as a parade ground and cricket ground; several new house® have been erected; one of the main streets has been metalled, while another has been formed the full width and is being gravelled; footpaths are being made, and altogether the place show® sign® of progress. “W© stayed but a few minutes at Inglewood, and then proceeded on our journey over the new lino. On our right as w© started lay Colonel Trimble’s sawmill, now idle, the gallant colonel having used up all the timber on the land surrounding the mill. At Norfolk Road, three miles from Inglewood, we saw a neat school and teacher’s house, just erected, and a little beyond it we came upon a clearing having four wooden huts erected in it close, together. These, wo were informed, were the homes of the first settlers in the Moa district, immigrants who came up hero in December, 1874, before Inglewood was laid out, and when the Mountain Road was merely a pack-horse track, and a very bad one, too. The huts were built in an old Maori clearing. which, re pm t states, was at one time, occupied by Tamatt Te Ito, the Maori prophet, and the place stilb goes by the name of Tamati’s clearing. To their honour be it stated that each of the originaT occupiers of these cottages now owns land of his own, to which he has removed his family. After travelling another mile, and crossing another bridge (wbi.th makes the eighth from Inglewood within a distance of four miles), we came to Colon Trimble’s large clearing of 300 acres.

“After crossing another bridge, the Mangainawhiti, we came to a sawmill just being erected by Mr. T. Marnes, late of the firm of Broadmore and Marnes. Mr. Marnes has as much spirit and energy as any two ordinary men. and having reorganised the mill and replaced a great deal'of the old machinery with new parts from Auckland, lie will no doubt make the mill a paying concern, and thereby benefit the district as well as himself. We noticed that the enterprising Mr. has taken time

i by the forelock and established a store; close to the mill, in order to supply the ’ nvorkmen and settlers as soon as the; mil! starts. “After Waijmku we ground along downhill, all the brakes down, past a platform, past two more bridges, and arrived at the town of Midhirst, part; lof the special settlement of that name, I < tablished by Mr. Fuokos. At present; it boasts only a hotel, a store and two: or three houses. “Finally we entered the town of Stratford, where there is a line open clearing of about 600 acres, of which 200 acres have been felled this season; Stratford lies nearly level, but is quite dry, and is admirably suited as a site for . a town, the excellent. At present the only buildings erected are the Stratford Hotel, a fine, two-storvy building; Messrs. Curtis Bros.- store, a large, two-storey building; about a dozen dwelling-houses, and the railway buildings. When the -Maori scare was at its full height, a few mouths since, the Messrs. Curtis determined that even if the worst came they would not desert Stratford, and they accordingly fortified their building by lining it outside with iron to prevent it being fired, and made rifle pit s underneath conununicatwith the cellar, from which they could shoot down any advancing foe. The upper storey was also made bullet proof by storing up bags of Hour round the walla, and riflemen were to have been stationed up there, whence they could have commanded the whole town. Happily, these measures were not required, but they had a good effect in encouraging tiie surrounding settlers. The railway contract, part of the line over which *we have just travelled, extends to about 400 yards south of the Pat°a River, and includes the bridge over that river. Tin’s is the largest railway bridge that has been constructed in Taranaki, and a new and special feature of it is that the piers are built of concrete instead of masonry. The railway buildings are undoubtedly the beat in Taranaki, and travelliup* ladies may depend upon having a comfortable and convenient waiting-room at Stratford, unless the railway authorities do as they have done at. New Plymouth and Waitara turn it into a lamp-room.