EARLY CANTERBURY!

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13595, 15 May 1908, Page 3

EARLY CANTERBURY!

EXPERIENCES OF A PIONEER

Mr. and Mrs. G. Lambie. of Aehburton, celebrated their golden wedding this week. They were married in Lanarkshire. Scotland, and some time after emigrated to Xew Zealand, for which, they sailed from . London in the ship Chrysolite on August 5, 1862, and arrived in Lyttelton, after a long voyage of 110 days, on November 25. In giving an account of his colonial experiences, Mr Lambie, according to the '* Guardian " report, said : " When we arrived in New Zealand there were no wharves at Lyttelton, and we landed from the ship in a small boat, and walked over the hill to Christchurch. Uiey were tlien boring the tunnel, and the railway was not yet in existence. The town at that time was a small affair. There was one general 6tore, where you could buv a bar of soap or a loaf of bread, and the ordinary necessaries of life; and there was a draper's shop, dealing in soft goods, further np the way. Flax bushes were growing in what is now Cashel Street, and much of the present city was still undreamed of. even by those who looked far ahead. I found my first job at Messrs Jackson and Bishop's brick works, at Papanui, where I worked for two months. I was then engaged by Messrs Rolley and Tooth to go to Mount Possession as one of their shepherds. Our journey from Christchurch was made in a we'll-laden bullock dray, and was a very dreary one. Tliere was no formed road, but only a track through the tussocks. The furthest out cockatoo from Christen urcn was about, five miles on the way south. After that, there was not much to see until we came to Rakaia. At the end of the firstday we reached the accommodation houee at Weedous, where we. camped for the nighfc. Somewhere between the oelwvn

and Rakaia, we arrived at midnight "at the camping hut erected for the accommodation of waggon drivers*. Throe men were sleeping on*the floor. We reached the Rakaia after a day of very trying heat. We had been perched on the* top of a loaded dray, exposed to force of the sun, and its reflection from the tussocks, and were very tired. Mrs. Lambie sat on the banks of the river in a fierce nor'-wester, -waiting for the puntto take us across, and holding on to the children, in case they should be blown away. On the third dav out from Chnstchurch, we crossed the" Rakaia in the punt, and shortly after sunset, as it was getting dark, *we started on our

journey to Alford Station in Mr Rolley's bullock dray. This was the first dray which had come down from the station with wool to, Cliristchurch and was returning with goods. Tliev preferred ro travel at night as it was not so sore on the bullocks. There were no water races in those days, no roads and no fenced paddocks,-just a track across the tussocks with saplings stuck in here and there along the way to indicate- the route. These were of no use to a stranger travelling in the dark, but our driver was sure of

his way. We reached Alford station at 2 o'clock in the morning and got a shakedown from Mrs. Pye, who made us verv comfortable.

"After remaining afa Alford station for a few weeks we again proceeded on our journey to Mount Possession, which included two days of travel over very rough country, boulders and snow tussocks and steep - sidelings, and country in its state of native wilderness. At the woolshed creek we were beninghted, and had to stop, owing to the t darkness. The driver unyoked the bullocks, and carried tire children across the creek. He spread his blanket on the floor of the woolshed, where the children slept quite soundly until the moon rose when we started oil again. I remained as shepherd for Mr Rollev for twelve months. The run beinir" sold to Mr W. C. Walker, I remained with liim as head shepherd and manager for twenty-five years. Afterleaving Mount Possession, I tried larming lor a few years, but not with too much success, so I sold out and came to Ashburton where we have now been Irving for the last sixteen years. "When we arrived at Mount Possession in the month of April we settled down for the winter. Mrs. Lambie was eight years in the country before she bad a chair to sit on, and the first seat of the kind that she possessed was made of a gin case and a piece of ribbon wood. They talk about tire back-blocks now-a-days, but the eijression was far more suited to those early times than it is j to-dav.

'" We made our first trip back to Christchurch in a one-horse dray, and took three days each way to do the journey. We bought an eight-day clock in Christchurch, and to save its bones from being broken by the jolting of fche dray, Mis. Lambie carried it all the wav home on

her lap. lam happy to say that that old clock is still alive and well. " The first time we saw a train in 2s'ew Zealand was at Selwyn, and as we were waiting to get, on board and the train drew up, one of the children aske.J her mother if that was a cab?

"Our nearest neighbour at Mount Possession lived nine or ten miles away, and when the ladies ciaved for the .sight oi a woman's face and the sound of her tongue, they had to walk to meet each oth<.-r a distance of four or live miles, carrying a baby in their arms; they haa a happy meeting, and would sit down on a big stone and rest, exchange their news, and then trudge back again to their homes t*» engage once more in th-.* toi.'s of the household, all the better for iheir day's outing. Still those weie happy days, and no one ever thought his 10. ;i hard oih\

"In those early days could scarcely bt- said to he- in existence. Cobb and Co.'s vouch ran bet wet n Ciirisicmiivli and Timaru. and Turlon's Accommodation House was tin; only lions.; in Ashbunon. We got a mail when the shtiii came in from the Old Country, and it, wa* long after that before steamers began to urn, and to shorten the time and distance, and introduce the new order of things."