OLD COACHING DAYS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16780, 8 July 1922, Page 19

OLD COACHING DAYS.

LIGHTS OF GOGS UNO GO. CANTERBURY AND THE WEST COAST. DRIVERS AND COACHES. In this article Mr E. M. LovellSraith continues hie interesting history of the Old Coaching days on the Canterbury and West Coast Roads. Tlie concluding article of the series will appear next Saturday. No. in. THE RIVERS. The rivers, thirteen of them in all, besides numberless creeks, were the greatest obstacles the drivers had to contend with. The Taipo was the worst. A foaming cascade of water, ifc roared and raged on its way at a rapid rote, carrying boulders and rocks into the Teremakau. The late Mr Philip Taylor, vigneron. of Upper Riccarton, when driving to the Coast, had in his team an old white horse. Mr Taylor used to send this horse across the Taipo with only a bridle on, and then call him ick. The horse would turn round an~ come back. The depth of the water was thus marked on the horse s belly, and by this he could tell it it was safe to cross with his waggon. A swing foot-bridge was swung across soon after the road was opened, and •when the river was in flood the passengers and driver would walk over the bridge and iako the coaoh on the other side. - Mr Crawio/ tells how he had a narrow escape once, when going over this bridge. The timber was rounded, being simply split saplings with the bark on, and he was carrying his whip, rug, a. pair of lamps and a candle mould in his arms. (Cobb and Co. made their own candles.) A plank broke, and he shot through the bridge up to his armpits, suspended immediately over the rapid. Assistance was given by the passengers, and he got. off with nothing worse than a good fright. Passengers were very nervous about crossing this bridge, as it was so slippery and swung so much in a gale. The river, however, was worse than the bridge. The coach once got upset there, when. Knox wag driving. There were two passengers, Captaiu Smith and a lady, and both were on the box seat. As the coach was about to capsize Smith remarked to the lady, You hold tight on to me, and I’ll hold on to him ” (meaning the driver). They both held on, and the team, making a bold bid for safety, towed them over to the other side of the Teremakau. After several hours of waiting, they were rescued by Messrs Edwin Blake and Crawley, a couple of big draught horses being used for the purpose. The driver was the most shaken of the three. Next day, when getting the fore-carriage out, a groom had a narrow escape from drowning, being swept off his feet with the rope under his chin. He made a terrible hullabaloo, and no wonder.

It was at this place, also that ** Pewter Jack.” os he was called, met his death. On this day a conveyance, not the mail coach, was going across, and • Pewter Jack” having had a ffpewter” too much, did not feel like going over the swing bridge, even on all fours, as the timid folk did. Ho elected ro go over by coach. The river was in flood, but not vwy high, and when the eoacn got out, he waft not there. Ho had fallen out, and been carried a-vay by' the flood. It was supposed that he put his hand on the wheel to steady himself and wa-s pulled out. The most curious incident connected with the Taipo was the circumstance of the river coming down in a flood and carrying away the mail coach, while the passengers and driver were having their dinner at the hotel. Then, an hour* or two later it changed its course, and cutting through tho road, carried away the spare coach also. Mr Andrew Jackson, who on that occasion, was taking a mob of sheep over to Hokitika from Christchurch, was saved the trouble of getting them across the stream, for it obligingly altered its course and went behind them, cutting a channel twenty feet -deep. THE ARAHUR.A. The Arahura was also responsible for tho loss of a coach, two passengers and the driver being washed av aydown stream. One of the passengers, attempting to perform horizontal bar exercises on the branch of a tree, was ignominiously packed off by the rushing water, to perform some aquatic movements, as being moTe suitable for the occasion. The driver. Stobie, after being towed for 200 yards by bis team, <vblicred to let go and got on to a sand banx. Tho other passenger was inside the vehicle, and after scrambling out into the torrent, was swirled down until be iesched a bank. The first passenger and Stobie were rescued by a boat, fetobie was an unlucky fellow in rivers. Over in Australia, a. year or two before, he was on a punt with a coac-h and horses, when, the punt sank, THE OTIRA* Stobie was also upset, or rather the roach was, in the Otira river. Ho drove 5n at the usual place a.nd when halfway across, the current, carried tho

rear part of tho coach among tho boulders. Before he could get the horses out, on© of them wa«> drowned. The coach and horses, in a jumbled mass, wore then swept, downstream with tho passengers and mails still on board. The off fore-whoeel was smashed by striking some rocks. Here Stobie distinguished himself. Breast high in the water he got the remaining horses and coach to the bank with tho assistance of Mr Ray. the publican of the Otira Hotel, and Mr W. Hewitt, and the passengers and mails were taken off safely. A lady passenger was prostrated through shock for some days. Arthur Davies was also upset in this river, two horses being drowned. One ; of th© passengers, a young lady, whom he liad rescued and placed on a rock for safety, after the first shock was over, began to .smile at the ludicrous spectacle the seen© presented. One lady was bemoaning the loss of her bag with £4(J in it, when a young fellow saw something floating downstream, and plunging in after it, found it to be the bag and purse. Another, anIrieh woman, stated that she had had nine months’ travelling on sea, only to be wrecked ashore, after all. A priest, Father Mulvihill, rendered signal service in getting the passengers out of the submerged vehicle on that occasion. ACCIDENT AT KELLY’S CREEK. An accident happened when the coach was crossing Kelly’s Creek, just where the creek runs into th© Otira River. The passengers, getting off the coach, 'crossed over th© icreek on a* footbridge. The driver (Kelly), and a roadman were on th© box. The current forced the horses to turn downstream, and the coach and horses were rolled ever and over in a. jumbled mass. The roadman, jumping in time, got to safety, and managed to save the life of the driver, who, quite unconscious, was floating away. Some of the horses were drowned, and the coach was smashed up. / SAFETY OF THE PASSENGERS. The safety of the passengers was always well looked --after, and if there was any real danger, a footbridge, consisting of a plank or branch of a tree, was thrown across for them to cross over, the driver, having to get both horses and vehicle through the stream, running the risk- In after years a footbridge was thrown across the Otira, and the passengers crossed by this means, when th© river was high and so far. there has been no loss ol human life when Cobb and Co. s ©caches crossed these rivers. THE BEADEY. Th© Bealey was another uncertain river, with big boulders and larger holes, and, as the coach had to meander down its rocky bed, crossing sometimes a dozen times, it was no wonder that it would got stuck or upset. Sometimes the coach would be unable to go forward or back, th© Waimakariri being in flood, and too dangerous to cross. The late Canon Knowles spent the niecht in the coach on an occasion like this. Darkness had come on, and a supperless night was spent in the Bealey riverbed. At daylight the horses were harnessed up, and an exciting time was spent in crossing the Waimakariri. The adventure was followed by a good breakfast at the Cass. - The late Sir John Denniston had a narrow escape from drowning here, owing to th© coach getting into very deep water, and be had to be pulled out by some reins which were tin-own ro him. The creek was named Judge’s Creek after that episode. During an adventurous trip from Hokitika, Henry Campbell while fording the Bealey got his coach jammed among the boulders. A. sleety rain was falling at th© time. After being two hours in this one of the horses, getting th© cramp, plunged violently, 1 ockin ;T the coach, and throwing the driver on to his back in the waterAmid a seen© of confusion, with plunging horses and alarmed passengers, including a party of Maories inaide. who gave vent to all sorts •of weird and wonderful ejaculations. Henry got hock to his team, • end decided to take hie horses j out. The passengers, wet through and ■ chilled, were taken out on the horse*, j the Maoris being carried to dry land, by the biggest member of their party. 1 A roaring tire at the roadmen’s camp (the present road was then being made ( on the hillside) dried their clothes, and hot tea was also forthcoming. In the meantime Henry was oft' as hard as he could lick on horseback, forded the Waimakariri. and came hack with a team of horses and Jack Ron tree. J With the aid of fresh tackle and extra j horses, the coach was pulled out, tho i horses put in again, and off they went | with all speed. THE WAIMAKARIRI. The Waimakariri, the biggest of ail th© rivers, seems to have been a much more dependable river to cross than the others It consisted of several streams —usually some shallow ones and one fairly deep one. In flood-time this would b© very deep in places. The late Mrs Georg© Fisher (ex-M-H-R ’s wife) told how, in 1870, with Mr W. H Bur- • ton driving the coach, the leaders sud- j denly went out of sight as they were entering the water from a shingle spit. She jumped out of th© coach, with her baby in her arms. Mr Burton, with great coolness and courage, got his leaders up again and ‘ the coach back again on to the shingle. The horses shivered with fright, and he waited for quite a time before making n second at tempt to cross, this time with success. A for dm an was kept at this river, and he would ride ahead of the coach showing the depth of the water and picking the way for th© team follow “jug. An illustration in the “Illustrated

Press” of the ’7o’s shows the fordman wearing tr cork jacket while on his duties. A COLD BATH. Sometimes quicksands were met with. The late Mr William Hayward used to tell how, after resettling Chris Dalwood from a mishap in th© Gorge—his conveyance. an English carriage, having fallen off the road on to a shelf of rock, some twenty or thirty feet below and resting there, upside down, horses and all, Dalwood underneath—lie was driving slowly across the Waimakariri with his waggon and team, and again came upon Dalwood and party this time sitting Up to their waists in the water. The horses and vehicle had got into a quicksand. So he had to haul them out with his horses.

A party of Maoris spent four days in a coach in th© Waimakariri River bed, on one occasion. The coach had crossed all the streams except the last. Then the pavssengers were all taken off on horseback, except the Maoris, th© wahine who was with them beino- afraid to mount the horse. They elected to stay in the coach. Food was supplied by a, cradle being fixed on to the telegraph wire and swung across. Mr T. 8. Cousins made a sketch of tho incident at the time. It wax in this river that Arthur Davies, finding himself at one with his horses and tho forecarriage, and at variance with the rest of the vehicle, on getting cut safely, at once jumped ento a horse, and galloping after th© bumping and rolling chariot, which bore on its roof a human limpet. A resell© was effected, and salvage operations commenced right away. So on© could go on describing incident after incident, but it would become wearisome to th© reader. Really the most remarkable thing, about all this travelling. is tho fact that no lives have been lost in the rivers through being upset in them, although quite a number of horses have been drowned.