EARLY COLONIST DAYS

Taranaki Daily News, 11 July 1929, Page 15

EARLY COLONIST DAYS

WAITARA GOLDEN WEDDING

MR. & MRS. G. V. TATE CELEBRATE

NEARLY 80 YEARS IN TARANAKI.

Seated placidly at the head of the tables loaded with rich food, surrounded by childhood friends and affectionate descendants, Mr. and Mrs. G. V. Tate celebrated their golden wedding at the home of their daughter in Waitara last night. Friends, children and grandchildren numbered ab.out fifty. There wore vases of fresh spring flowers on the white cloth and a golden wedding hell hung over the heads of the couple who had seen life in all its seasons. Mr. J. Campbell presided. Probably the oldest settler in Wait.ara, Mr. Tate was born at sea in the Phoebe Dunbar, on its way to New Zealand, near the Cape of Good Hope in 1.850. The Phoebe Dunbar took six months on its voyage out.

His father took up land at Bell Block, and there Mr. Tate spent his boyhood days. His ancestors had been farmers, his father was a farmer, and he, himself, gave all his life to the soil. In those days Bell Block was dotted with homesteads. Mr. Tate, at the age of nine, saw all those buildings except his father’s and the chapel, a mass of flames. The Maoris had made a swift descent and the children were sent to the old blockhouse for safety. There was not much schooling in those days. One worked from sunrise to sunset and then put in an hour snatched from sleep at a night school.

About the age of 18, Mr. Tate joined the Mounted Volunteers. Those were anxious times, with sporadic outbursts from the Maoris. When the news of the massacre came through, the Mounted Volunteers marched on White Cliffs. 'Near Urenui word came from friendly Maoris that the rebels would attack. That night the volunteers slept in their clothes with loaded carbines by their side. “But bad luck,” said Mr. Tate, “there was not a shot fired and so I never got' a pension.” WAITARA IN EARLY DAYS. At about the age of 19 Mr. Tate came to Waitara and took up land of his own. Since that time he has passed through all the rough and smooth of sixty years. Farming, in those days particularly, was hard slogging. The land had only just been surveyed and the country was rough and unbroken. There was a pilot station and a ferryman at Waitara, and Webster Bros, had a store. There were no roads and bullocks toiled along rough native tracks.

“To-day,” said Mr. Tate, “it’s a different world. If you want anything you toucii a button.” The English breed was still here, but he was inclined to think the pioneers were better Britons. They had the quality of thrift. Nowadays there was much amusement and much time wasted. Lots of people never had a shilling left by Monday morning. “I used to take a load from Waitara to New Plymouth with a dray and team of bullocks and no roads, and I would get back some time the same night. I wonder what the young fellows would think of it now?” said Mr. Tate.

About a quarter of his life has been spent serving on public bodies. For about 21 years Mr. Tate was a member of the Taranaki County Council, being chairman for a term. He was a member of tfce Taranaki Hospital Board and for six years chairman of the Waitara West Road Board. He was six years a member of the Waitara Borough Council from the time Waitara was first formed into a borough, a member of the Waitara School Committee, and the oldest member of the Taranaki Agricultural Society. For two or three years he was the Taranaki delegate to the agricultural conference in Wellington. For some time he was judge for the Agricultural Society with the late Mr. James Rattenbury. For many years he and the late John Cqverhill were the largest grain-growers in Taranaki. At the shews he won many prizes lor draught horses and Shorthorns.

BEST MAN AT WEDDING PARTY.

The best man at the wedding party fifty years ago, Mr. Robert Cameron, was present last night, but the bridesmaid, Mrs. T. Marsden, Wellington, was unable to attend through illness. Mr. Tate, said Mr. Cameron, had always been looked on as a straight and upright man. He had first met Mr. Tate in the early days at sport, and they had both been members of the Waitara crew which won the first whaleboat championship on the Waitara River in 1878. Three crews from New Plymouth had competed, including the old surf boat crew. Mr. Tate had been a keen footballer and would probably have been a representative player but a kick on the shin had put him out of the game. Not only had Mr. Tate been a good sport, but he had also been a sturdy pioneer farmer. After the loyal toast had been honoured, Canon Gavin proposed the health of the bride and bridegroom. It was an honour to propose the toast, said Canon Gavin, and a privilege because he had been in the circle of their friendship only ten years, while many present had known them before their marriage. It was the first wedding breakfast at which he had been present, he thought, at which the toast to the King had been honoured, which reminded him that Mr. Tate was one of the very early pioneers who had helped to plant and maintain civilisation and the Union Jack on these shores. He assured both Mr. and Mrs. Tate of the good wishes of the whole company present on the occasion of their golden wedding, and hoped they would have many more happy years together. Later, Canon Gavin emphasised that it was really an historic occasion. Historic, because few lived so long as Mr. and Mrs. Tate, and historic, too, because New Zealand was a young country and there were people in the room who could remember the very early colonist days. This knowledge of tlie old days would largely die with them. The study of history in these days had changed. Now historians were giving the story of lives of the rank and file, of the common people. Antiquarians had found papyri and bits of broken pottery on which were scratched the letters of the Egyptian people. This gave an insight into ancient life. In the room that night were people who could give the facts of early life in New Zealand. They could tell the price of butter and potatoes in the early days, and all those odd things which would be so interesting in 200 years. He wanted the younc people to

remember that this was a very important occasion, an historic one, one that should be remembered all their lives. Others who added their tributes to Mr. and Mrs. Tate were Messrs. F. Sampson, F. Brabant, H. Clare, W. Corke, R. J. Pennington and R. Pepperell.