PIONEER DAYS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11757, 22 July 1916, Page 4

PIONEER DAYS.

EARLY DAYS AT GREENDALE.

Mil T. \Y. ADAMS'S EXPERI-

ENCES

A lecture on the early days of Greendale Yi'us given in i)io Orange Hall at last night by Mr T. \Y. Adams, one of the first Bottlers in the district.

Mr Adams went back to the time when there were no fences to runs, and when it was necessary to keep a constant watch on the shcq). The shepherd had to "tail" them, to use a ttiin then in use, all day. At night the sheep were left at a safe distance from a neighbour's sheep. In the morning, as soon as it was light, the shepherd climbed a vory high pole —one was erected on every run—and, with the help of field-glasses, ho surveyed the country in search of* his sheep. If they were in a safe situation he would then prepare, his breakfast; but if they were wandering in a dangerous direction, or if they could not bo seen at all, he would immediately set out after them. In spite of every precaution eheep often became mixed—- •' loosed " , was the technical term — with a neighbour's sheep, and they had to be drafted out. This led to legislation, which compelled an owner to inform his neighbour when he intended to muster, in order that the neighbour might attend and.claim his own sheep. That was in the days before the "cockatoo" arrived, and usually little difficulty was experienced in "distinguishing each owner's sheep. When farmers came to hove small blocks, however, the system was a complicated one. It was a task for the wiseacres to say to whom certain sheep belonged. Sometimes the neighbours' quarrels on this account were of a serious character, and some of the farmers earned an unenviable reputation for their adroitness in identifying doubtful sheep. In 1865 it was possible to ride from Weedons to the district now known as Greendale in a direct line, as the crow flies. There were absolutely no wire fences. As a matter of fact the rivers were the only' hindrances to a ride as far as Timaru. Animals had to be tethered or hobbled, and anybody who went on a journey took a tether rcpe, which was wound round the horse's neck, or a pair of hobbles. Sometimes, in spite of these precautions, the animals escaped, and the early settlers had to make many a weary tramp after stray horses or cattle. Greendale was exceptionally trying in that respect, as the riverbeds were filled with toi-toi, flax, tutu and " wild Irishman." The last-named-sometimes was twelve feet high. Mr Adams's first grain stacks were protected from horses b.V pieces of " wild , Irishman ■" placed on end all around them.

Tn the early days, native birds were very plentiful. Paradise ducks frequented the cornfields in hundreds. Tn some fields they were so plentiful that they gave a distinct, covering to the ground, especially .where the stubble had been burnt. Grey ducks and teal ivero well represented. Spooubill ducks and blue mountain ducks were less plentiful. Swamphens were seen along ihe banks of the Selwyn River. Wekas often peered into the men's huts. The booming of the bittern was a common sound in the swamps near the river. Red-bills and dotterels made their simple nests close together. The native lark Tras seen in all directions. It was so taino that sometimes it settled on a man who was resting in the tussocks. Shags made their nests on "niggerheads " in the Hororata River. Kakas sometimes came on to the plains in vast numbers, and swarmed about the homesteads. Every winter, for many years, parakeets came down from the forest country. The native quail had become almost extinct in the district in 1865. It was an early victim to shepherds' dogs and grass fires. A wood-pigeon was seen occasionally. The inorepork owl was then, and still is, an occasional visitor. In those days there were no sparrows, no skylarks, no song-thrushes, no blackbirds, no yel-low-hammers, no goldfinches, no chaffinches. no weasels, no rats, no mice, no borec-flies, no bot-flies, no Californium thistle, no twitch and no blight on tho fruit trees. These and" other plants and animals, including the honov bee and the humble-bee, helped to give tho district the English appearance it now possessed.

At first there were a few half-wild pig« in the Selwyn. They were not real "Captain Cooks," but merely pigs that bad strayed from some of the runs, and had Iwen allowed to breed and grow wild. They soon ceased to exist after tho settlement was established. In 1865, Mr Adams found a cat and some kittens between the Selwyn River and the Waireka River, but lie did not i think that there were any rabbits in the neighbourhood then or for many years after. Lisards were present in great numbers. They constantly crossed one's path. Now it was unusual to see a single specimen in a whole year. Caterpillars wero represented by millions. He had seen a field of wheat covered so thickly with them as to give it quite a caterpillar shade of colour. After the insecte had passed through the field not a leaf was loft on the stalks. Tho greatest damage, however, was done to the oats and barley, fields of those ciops being utterly destroyed by tho caterpillars. The introduction of English birds undoubtedly helped lo banish the pest. On ,a few occasions since the imported birds were liberated, caterpillars had attacked tho crops, but they were not nearly as destructive as previously. Grasshoppers iived in large numbers in the native grasses, and as a person walked along tho roads these insects were seen springing in front of him. The first pioneers who bought land with a view to settling in the districtwere Messrs Gough and White, but they did not reside there until 1867'. Jlr Adams was the first cultivator of the soil in the district; he broke up fourteen acres in tho winter of 18ti5, and the same year sowed it with oats, which yielded a fair crop, reaped in February, 18G6. The following year Messrs Heron Bros, and G. Mangin and Mr Adams had good crops of wheat, but the price he received was only 2s 9d per bushel delivered at the Riccarton mills, oi- 2s 10d delivered at the wharf on Ferry Road. As he had to pay 10s an acre for cutting tho crop, 10s an acre for tying it, and 6d a bushel for threshing, and as ho had to " find" all hands except the driver of the horses and the feeder of the machine, tho crop, although it was a good one, did not make him a wealthy man. In 1883 the crops were good ana the prices wero gocd, but the harvest was wet, and much grain was destroyed by bad weather. During the summer of 1868 a large area of native land was broken up, and most of the settlers had built whares on their properties. There were * about twenty-five of these litile buildings in the district then. Few of them bad my furniture, such as tables nmi chairs, except what the owner made with his own hands. Sometimes an oildrum was used as a seat, but usually ■a rough form was made. The Soon of tho whares wero earth. The walls, usually, were plastered yith cow-dung and clay. The roofs were thatched. In .ISG7 settlors went for many miles to Mr Adams's place for straw. Water and fuel, tho two great necessaries of life, wero very difficult to obtain in Canterbury at that timo. The women especially suffered terrible hardships on that account. On cold winter nights he had seen men feeding the fire with straw all the time. In the summer largo stacks of cow-dung were collected, as this was looked upon as the most valuable kind of fuel. Every drop of

water had its value. "When the country between Greendale and Kirwee was first se'tled water for both men and animals had to be carted from the Selwyn or the Waimakariri rivers. A shepherd who lived where the Eealey Road crosses the Hnwkin's River, in order to reach water, drove several cows every day from that place to the Seiwyn River below where the Greendalo store now stands, and the. water for his fsmily was taken down from Racecourse Hill once a week. "When Mr Adams first met Miss M'Laren, who lived in the forks of tha Selwyn River and Hororata River, she told him that she had not seen any woman except her sister for two years. In tliat respect, and in many other respects, the woman's lot, in tie early days, was much harder than the man's, the want of water, of fuel and of society making it very hard indeed for her.