"Taihoa"

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18380, 4 February 1928, Page 17 (Supplement)

"Taihoa"

No One Ever Hurries in the Wind-swept Chathams.

(Written for the “

Star” by

F.C.D. )

IN THE EVES of most New Zealanders a halo of romance lies over the Chatham Islands. How many have said: “ I would like to get away from this mainland and spend two or three weeks in idyllic fashion, taking many of the big fish from the sea and casting off for a time the shackles of our civilisation”? It is a pretty scheme in thought, but my friend who has just returned from there dispelled many of the illusions I held, though he did not disparage these distant isles, where no one hurries and where “ Taihoa ” (“ there’s plenty of time”) is the most used word. The Chathams are approximately fifty hours’ sailing from Lyttelton, almost due east, and, most of the j*ear there is a regular service by the s.s. Tees, but there are times w 7 hen the little vessel does not visit the islands for w 7 eeks at a time. Calendars do not count for much on the Chathams—time is counted by the date of arrival of the ship. Needless to say travel to the Chathams is not done in luxury. When my friend went across nine passengers slept on mattresses in the hold, the

few cabins amidships being occupied by women, and nothing was seen of them until within a few 7 hours of arrival, although the passage was a comparatively good one. However, despite the discomfort there was no grouch, for the officers and crew do as much as is humanly possible for the passengers, the cook and steward being the mainstay as far as the lady passengers are concerned. Disembarkation on the trip in question was made late on a Sunday evening, and, as is usual, there was a general muster at Waitangi, the port. It w 7 as not Sunday Jn. the eves of the islanders—it was “ steamer day,” and as stated before, that counts more than the calendar. ‘ %—.

Disembarking at the Chathams is not the easy matter it is at mainland ports. The method is to clamber down a Jacob’s ladder to surf boats, which have been got ready as the result of a wireless, message from the Tees, though there is the usual Maori delay. After the passengers the mails take precedence, the postmaster not being afraid to make Sunday a Monday, for he knows how 7 anxious the island dwellers are to hear of the outer world’s events. The cargo had to w 7 ait until next morning, and before it was safely on the w 7 harf, four handlings were necessary. It was taken away from the ship by surf-boat, a circuitous journey being made round the big reef. At Petre Bay. on which rests the hamlet of Waitangi. . the outlook on the right has everything to recommend it, but on the left there is nothing but sand-dunes and an abrupt beach. The most prominent buildings are the new Courthouse with a wall to prevent the sea sweeping through the door, and the hospital, controlled by the North Canterbury Hospital Board, while the wireless station cannot be seen until a tramp of half a mile has been made, though the tower is the passengers’ first landmark. At night a powerful light at the top is switched on and it acts as a guide to navigators. The islanders do not have the facilities that w 7 e enjoy. There is not a yard of formed road, and the general meeting place—outside one of the hotels on the side of a hill, is often knee-deep in mud. Gum boots and oilskins are necessities, and boot polish is practically unknown. When the ladies go visiting they wear coverings on their boots or shoes and discard them on arrival, otherwise footwear would have a very brief life. Yet there are other sides to the picture. From Waitangi to Te One the journey is made along the beach, and one passes by the finest dairying land in the group. Certainly it is not of a great area; not much more than one hundred acres, but it is rich enough to support a cheese factory, which has not been long in operation. There is a wealth of fodder, but gardens are an impossibility unless well protected on account of the strength of the winds which sweep the islands. There the people revert to bush gardens, se-

attendance amongst the general body of worshippers in the galleries of the members of the overseas Waratahs Rugby team. Before th service the regimental band rendered selections, and

lecting an open space surrounded by bush, and potatoes and maize are grown mostly, one being able to count the flower gardens on one hand. Owenga lies fifteen miles from Waitangi and is reached on horseback, though occasionally a sledge is used by the residents. A big portion of the track is across a huge and very real bog, and the best policy for the wayfarer is to allow his mount to find its own track. The horses are used to the country and though they zig-zag distractingly, they can l>e relied upon to reach Owenga, which is but a cluster of fishermen’s huts scattered on an eminence rising about fifty feet above sea level. It is very exposed, getting all the winds that blow. Though primitive in design, most of the huts at Owenga shelter large families. The fishing is done iii high-powered launches, each carrying three or four men, and these intrepid harvesters of the sea make journeys of twenty to forty miles from the mainland, the best fishing grounds being across Pitt Strait, between Chatham Island and Pitt Island. Stormy se**s are often encountered. but the fisher folk are quite philosophical, though the average man would think he was taking his life in his hands if he essayed this journey. Blue cod is the principal catch and it is not unusual

for a launch to return with 30cwt or 40cwt at a time. It is sorted on the journey back to the fishing village, cased, and loaded on to drays, which meet tne boats outside the reef. The catch is then brought up to the freezer, where it is thoroughly cleaned, packed and frozen. When the cham her is nearly full the agents in Canterbury are advised by radio and the boat is sent down from Lyttelton. While the fishing season is off, of course, the vessel is mainly engaged in carrying sheep and cattle to be sold on the mainland, and one has only to peruse the Addington market reports to see that stock from the Chatham Islands tops the markets. Chatham Island itself is not high and rugged as many suppose. Actually there are only three eminences, the highest being 430 feet above sea level; and in the centre of the island arc three lakes, one of which is about 20.000 acres in extent. Curiously enough, much of the high country is very marshy, while around most of the coast there arc huge wind-swept tracts which would not support a goat. It is not an unusual occurrence for the winds to shift several feet of sand, and then one sees gruesome reminders of the earlier inhabitants, the Morioris. Skulls and bones are left exposed, but a change of wind covers them up again in a very short time, often feet deep. It is well known, of course, that only one full-blooded Moriori remains. “Tommy” Solomon, to give him his European name. Tommy came across to Canterbury to meet the Duke of York. The people of the islands often make trips by the Tees to the mainland, but as a rule their sojourns are short. The hustle and bustle of the cities does not seem to appeal and they soon return to the islands where no one hurries. On Chatham Island there is a constable, a medical officer, two hotels, an Anglican church, both hotels being at Waitangi, and each has a store at tached. There is a two-roomed school at Te One with ‘32 pupils, one at Owenga with 43 pupils, and one at Kairakau with 17 pupils. The clergyman has a difficult diocese to cover, and on one of his periodic trips he goes through four miles of water with the water up to his horse’s knees at the lowest. The spiritual needs of the Catholic section of the small community are met by visits from the mainland, and only recently Bishop M J. Brodie was a passenger to the Chathams. Thanks to wireless, the islanders are not so isolated as in years gone bv. and the operator in charge of the Government station, besides publishing a weekly record, posts up outside the post office two or three times a week news bulletins, mostly dealing with New Zealand Parliamentary matters and British official news. Though probably unique, *the weekly budget is eagerly sought. The big event of the year at Waitangi is the annual race meeting, which is held on New Year's Day, and to it residents from all over the group of islands come, often a fortnight before the event, so that they can study form and make their wagers. Along Owenga beach there are miles of pipi shells feet deep, and an endeavour was once made to make use of them commercially, but the industry did not succeed, the cost of transport being too great. Shell grit could be sold much cheaper in New Zealand than it could be landed at Lyttelton from the island, and to-day the stretcb is known as “M'Gregor's Monument. However, with fishing and tending the sheep and cattle the islanders are a happy community, living a life totally , different from ours.

liiimiimmmimmiimiiuimimmmimimmmmmmuimi'imiiimmimiiifMimmn r at the close supplemented the organ in B the rendering of the National Anthem. s The choir included over thirty women i. choristers wearing white veils and surI plices. CONTINUED ON FACE 23. > „