OPATU AND TOKIRIMA

Taranaki Daily News, 22 December 1934, Page 24 (Supplement)

OPATU AND TOKIRIMA

PROGRESS OF DISTRICTS ACHIEVEMENTS OF SETTLERS. A visit to the Opatu-Tokirima district is full of interest. It provides a pleasing drive from Tokirima via the Tokirima South Road through picturesque scenery. The road follows along the banks of the Ohura River, which is heavily willow-fringed, and is crossed by a narrow bridge placed across the road at a very sharp angle, giving the motorist a glimpse of a beautiful stretch of the river rippling over rapids. . Here is the well known Maraikowhai station, which is successfully managed by Mr. ,Ai R... Sandilands. The estate comprises nearly 10,000 acres, stretching right back to. Heao. Shearing had just been completed when a recent visit was made, a total of 13,351 sheep, including 4551 lambs, having been put through the shed, which has five stands of machines. It is a very large and lofty shed. The clip for the season totals 191 bales of wool. The wool is to be railed to Wellington from the Tokirima station, which is now within all-the-year access of Maraikowhai station, since the road has been metalled. Mr. Sandilands considers the line of lambs shorn this season is the best that has been shorn since he has been on the station. Perfect weather prevailed during the shearing, the sheep being the driest that had passed through the shea, so that it was possible to bale all the wool immediately. On this station the ewe lambs are not sold but are incorporated in the flock, and a draft of the older ewes is disposed of, this year’s quota of ewes having been sold forward. Dock-’ ing showed 93 per cent, of lambs. The season in the Ohura generally has been an excellent one for lambs, a well known freezing works buyer informing the writer that he had never seen finer lambs than those secured in the Ohura. Having crossed thb bridge the road zigzags up a hill by an easy grade, giving a splendid panoramic view of the station homestead snugly ensconced in the shelter of a plantation, with its background a gently sloping verdant hill, and its foreground level pasture land fronted by the winding Ohura River, which here widens out somewhat The whole scene is typical of quiet prosperity and peacefulness, and it is no surprise to find that it is also typical of true country hospitality, of which the visitor is always assured at the hands of Mr. and Mrs. Sandilands, no matter how busy the season. SCENES ON THE RIVER. The metalled road winds across the saddle past fertile land into the valley, never going far from the river, of which many picturesque glimpses can be seen. The metal which has been put down by unemployed relief labour in the past two years, the camp having been established near the Maraikowhai homestead, ends a little distance beyond the school corner. It-is hard to realise that the small galvanised iron shack about 100 yards up the Opatu Road, a by-road running up another valley, is a schoolroom. The children and their teacher, a young woman from the town, appear to be quite happy. They have the knack of adapting themselves to conditions in the outback, and when the sweltering heat of a summer’s day pouring down on the iron converts the small building with its two small windows into an “oven,” the school adjourns into the “woodshed,” which consists of a few sheets of iron for a roof, with completely open sides, through which whatever breeze there Is —and there is generally not much in that valley—has full play, enabling lessons to be taught with some little degree of comfort. The Opatu district has been settled with men and women of the true pioneering type, who are prepared to face any hardships in an endeavour to carve out a home for themselves and their families and to ensure reasonable security for their future. Despite the fact that in most cases they have been without metalled roads for over 20 years, they have been very progressive. One of the settlers, Mr. D. F. McLeod, is a noted breeder of Red Polls, and is in demand at shows throughout the Dominion as a judge of that breed. Other settlers have Shorthorn, Hereford and Shorthorn-Red Poll cross cattle, all of which do well on that country. Sheep farming is, of course, the staple industry. The experiences of Mr. and Mrs. G. Potter, who went into the. district 24 years ago, give some indication of what the pioneers had to contend with. When Mr. Potter first took up his section the county was all in bush. He landed at the Houseboat on the Wanganui River, carried his belongings some distance, to above the falls on the Ohura River, where he borrowed a canoe and canoed up that stream to near his property, where he again had to carry his goods to his section. It is pleasing to note that the family has “made good” and that there are no more highly esteemed settlers in the district. Mr. W. Gibbons, who came to the district a year later, tramping and leading a packhorse from the Wanganui River, his brother who followed a little later, Mr. and Mrs. F. Newman and the other settlers afford further illustrations.. Opatu appears to be a district in which the settlers, though few in number, pull together and “get things done.” PULLING TOGETHER. Thanks to the manner in which the district has pulled together and to the tenacity of purpose of the settlers, the goal for which they have been striving for many years, the provision of metalled roads for every settler in the district, is now within measurable distance of accomplishment The metalling already done by unemployed relief workers has been of great value, but the work now to be put in hand by relief workers will not only complete the metalling of the Tokirima South Road to the Wanganui River, but will also metal the district roads, giving a total of seven or eight miles. It includes four miles of metalling to give access from the Tokirima station to the Wanganui River as well as metal up the Opatu Valley and a subsidiary valley to give access to Messrs. Law, Farr, Neilsen and McLeod. Further down a by-road is to be metalled to give access to another property owned by Mr. McLeod. Already a start has been made with the work. A camp has been established under the charge of Mr. T. Borthwick, who had charge of the earlier metalling. Eleven men were in camp recently, but provision is being made to accommodate 40 when the work is in full swing. As there is metal easily available it is expected the bulk of the work will be completed during the present summer, and Mr. Ellingham, who has resided in the district, for over 20 years, will appreciate the benefits of the metalled access for which he and his wife and family have waited so long. They were pioneers in the true sense of the word, as he had to pit-saw the timber from winch his house was constructed. The road, which follows the Ohura

River the whole way, strikes the Wanganui River at the site of the Opatu landing, where the Houseboat was stationed for many years. Besides giving the present settlers access it is stated that the road will provide access for a big block of Crown land. Moreover, across the Wanganui River can be seen the main highway running to Raetihi, and a bridge across the river at that point would not only give the Tokirima and Opatu settlers a shorter route to the centre of the island but would also bring a very big area of country in close proximity to the Tokirima station, which would become an important railway centre. Some of the progressive spirits among the settlers already visualise the day when it will be possible to have a rural mail delivery from Taumarunui doing a round trip. The road to the river is now within sight of accomplishment after many years’ agitation. With the road to the river it should be possible to concentrate with a view to having the river bridged to secure' the full benefit of the road. The district already feels the benefit of the metalled road to the railway at Tokirima and the train connection from there, as it has greatly reduced the cost of transport of wool. One settler remarked that formerly he had to sledge his wool to the Opatu landing, whence it was taken by boat to Wanganui, the cost being about 15s a bale. Occasionally the wool would remain in the shed at the wharf for two or three months when the river was low. CAMPING SPOT. When metalled to the Wanganui River Tokirima South Road should become very popular with motor campers and picnic parties as the portion that is now being metalled is not only full of scenic beauty but is also of great historic interest. The road reaches the Wanganui River at the Opatu landing, alongside which the Ohura River runs into the Wanganui. Here there is a beautiful piece of native bush, protected by a belt of trees planted by the Wanganui River Trust. A few chains from the Wanganui River are the Ohura falls, which viewed from a suspension bridge which spans the Ohura River just below them, are very picturesque when the river is low as it is at present, and must be a magnificent sight when the river is in flood. Here and there through the bush are wild grape vines, which it is stated bear very prolifically luscious black grapes, tof which the birds take heavy toll. In a fertile flat alongside the Wanganui River are two massive totara flagpoles, one of which bears two crossarms placed at right angles, and with an extended hand at- each extremity pointing north, south, east and west. This l bears an inscription which is almost effaced, but which should certainly be kept in readable order. It was stated by an old settler that the flagstaffs were erected by the Maoris to commemorate peace between themselves and the pakehas. Previously a pakeha was not allowed past a certain point, and the erection of the flagstaff with the pointing hands indicated peace in all parts. Within a quarter of a mile across the Wanganui River there is the largest Maori fortification in the district. It is stated that considerable fighting took place in the district. On one occasion it is stated that two tribes on opposite sides of the Ohura River fought each other for two days with guns, and at the close it was found that there had been no casualties, as the guns were not capable of carrying the distance. In the bush, now overgrown with huge trees, is a mound where it is said numbers of Maoris were buried. MAORI HISTORY. The district appears to abound not only in Maori history but also in reminiscences of the great struggles by the pioneers and how they overcame hardships that would baffle any but the stoutest hearted. In the very early days a flour mill, was taken there, the huge stones and heavy shafting being still in the district Settlers to-day marvel

how the pioneers managed not only to transport the heavy shafting through the bush to the Ohura River above the falls but also how they managed to canoe it up the river. There is also a story ,of a pakeha having been shot and a buried bottle of sovereigns which has never been found, though no doubt it has been well searched for. While there are many who appreciate historic relics there are others who do not. An instance of the latter occurred in the Opatu district on a section now abandoned. There was a huge totara tree that had been felled with the intention of fashioning it into an canoe. It was about 60 feet long and about sft 6in broad. For some reason it had not been- quite completed, one of the ends requiring to be fashioned. An old Maori chief, Ponake, who died a few years ago, made a practice each year of sending some of his young braves to clear the scrub from round the tree, so that evidently he had not lost sight of the intention of ultimately launching the canoe. Within the past few years, however, the settler who took up the section cut the trunk into posts and droppers for fencing. On another section is the stump of a tree which shows how the tree had been felled by the Maoris in their primitive fashion by affixing a sharp-pointed stone tool on to a sapling, which several men handled battering-ram fashion until after innumerable assaults the tree finally succumbed. It is understood that this stump is to be sawn off and sent to a museum.