STRAIGHTENING YOUNG ST.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 October 1932, Page 6

STRAIGHTENING YOUNG ST.

ABOLISHING TRAFFIC TRAP - “ ■ J’ HISTORIC TIMES RECALLED. DAYS OF MAORI AND PAKEHA. People passing the Taranaki Club building, New Plymouth, during the last day or two have noted with interest that the present awkward and narrow bend in Young Street where it _ joins Queen Street near the cenotaph is ’being straightened. The Borough Council has purchased a fairly extensive sharp corner in Miss Furlong’s property, and although several fine trees have had to be felled and a considerable amount of clay filling is necessary the straightening of Young Street at this point will remove one °of the worst traffic traps in thA town. The proceedings are interesting not so much in themselves but because the locality is one of the most historic spots in New Plymouth, and the very place at which the men are working is fraught with incidents of bygone days. The original eminence, of which the hill on which the Taranaki club stands is the sole remaining part, was once the famous Puke-ariki pa mentioned in a recent article in the Daily News in connection with a historic stone in the Huatoki River. The site of the marae, or open square, of this pa was situated where the Union Steamship Company’s offices in St. Aubyn Street now stand, and was called Parahuka. The name of the marae had a quaint origin, which is described by Mr f W. H. Skinner in Percy Smith’s History and Traditions of the Taranaki Coast. Takarangi and Raumahora, two well known Maoris of high rank, had a daughter who was married to Te Whiti the, elder, and these two had a son called Aniwanawa (ancestor of the famous Te iPuni family of Wellington and the Te Kepa family of Mangaone, Waiwakaiho). By his second marriage Te Whiti the elder had a son called Ruaroa, who was .the ancestor of Te Whiti, the so-called prophet of Parihaka. ANIWANAWA THE TALKER.

These two half brothers, Aniwanawa and Ruaroa, were of quite opposite dispositions. The former was a talker, a boaster and a loafer, spending most of his time visiting distant relatives and people, journeying as far as the Bay of Islands on these holiday tours. When addressing these distant people he used to boast of the great fruitfulness of his own land, and the abundance that always reigned at Puke-ariki, and would give pressing invitations to visit his home and partake of the abundance that was there to be found. 'As a consequence visitors were always arriving at the pa, and ,in accord with ancient Maori custom hospitality had to be given to these visitors, resulting oftentimes in its inmates having to undergo great privation owing to lack of food. Come what might, rigid custom laid down that the visitors were to be fully and abundantly fed, whether, or not the hosts had to go without their meal or on short commons for the balance of the season until the new crops were gathered. But this did not really trouble Aniwanawa. He acted the lordly host and bade welcome to the visitors whether they were many or few. ■ The brunt fell on Ruaroa, the stay-at-home worker, or provider. So in derision Ruaroa named the marae (Of the pa 'Parahuka, meaning the “froth of the mouth,” because it was on the „marae that his bombastic brother used to speak empty, frothy words. And that name remained down to the time of the desertion of this great stronghold about the year. 1930, only ten years or so before the white pedpie came to New Plymouth and settled there.

FORT OF THE PAKEHA. x

The white people' had not been long established, at New Plymouth before the former Puke-ariki pa became also the fortified pa of the pakeha. It was named Mt. "(Eliot, and was surmounted at its highest point by a flagstaff. Quarters for the military officers and hutments for the soldiers were established on the eminence, which was strongly fortified and surrounded by entrenchments and ramparts which in some places were as much as 40 feet high. Describing Mt. 'Eliot as he knew it in the early days Mr. Richard Cock, New Plymouth, stated yesterday that the fort was practically surrounded at the bottom of the ramparts by a moat fed by the stream which now runs past the brewery. On the seaward side, near where- the railway station now stands, a drawbridge was suspended over the moat and gave access to the customhouse- Later the greater part of the hill was dug away and deposited on the then beach to make the reclaimed land on which the railway station and yards now stand.

The vicinity of Mt. Eliot, however, was the graveyard for many ancient Maori chiefs of high rank, and though most of the bones were to be found on the eastern side of the former pa, it is related that the bones of a wellknown chief lay buried practically where the brewery now stands. For this reason, it is said, as a result of strong representations made by a descendant of the chief, Queen 'Street was diverted a little when it was. originally laid out, in order. to miss the revered relics, which, accounts for the slight bend in the street near the Ridd Company’s building. ’ , Miss Furlong’s property, a portion of which has been taken in order to straighten Young Street, was purchased many years ago by Miss Furlong’s father from the Crown Dairy Company, the proprietors of which were Mr. Richard Cock and the late Messrs. Newton King and J- C. George. Where the present Ridd Company’s building in Queen Street now stands a flour mill was located before the Crown Dairy Company acquired the property. This mill was operated by a Water wheel driven by the water which now flows down that valley, but by diversion and filling in the water courses have since been° materially changed. The fillingin at present being carried out at the future junction of Young and Queen Streets is facilitated by the fact that many years ago the culvei b under Queen ■Street, through which the stream flows, was extended 80 feet into Miss Furlong’s property. This, -was done at the instruction of Mr. Cock when he, was Mayor, with an eye to future requirements, and the wisdom of it is being demonstrated to-day.