PIRONGIA MEMORIAL HALL.

Waipa Post, Volume XXI, Issue 1281, 15 August 1922, Page 8

PIRONGIA MEMORIAL HALL.

AN INTERESTIN'a RETROSPECT

The Pirongia Manorial Hall (which is to opened to-m'.iow) is a modern ferro-coi. crete balding, electrically lighted The haP proper is 60 feet 'by by 40 feet, while the stage is 18 feet deep. Beyond the 18 feet depth of stage are two dreeing rooms, each 13 feet bv 9 feet. Caere are two iront offices’ each 12 fee 9 inches by 12 feet. The donor of the ground on which the hail is built is M. - Mary Jane Leirj, one of the oldest c Ltlers in Waikato, she having landed at Te Rore in November. 1864. after <, voyage from Onethunga which occ i ntd two weeks. In the days of 1861 Pirongia (or Alexandra, as it was '.lien called) boasted few, if any. buildi everybody lived under canvas. The first two stores opened in Alexandra were conducted 'by Mr John Aubin and 'Mr J. iD. Hill respectively, and at the commencement all business was transacted in marquees. The late Mr John Aubin’s widow is still living in Pirongia. and will, of course, be present at the opening of the new hall.

Another old resident of Pirongia is Mr Edward Garmonsway. Like Mrs Berry he also 'landed at Te Rore in 1864. Mr Garmon sway was with the 2nd Waikato Militia under Colonel ■Haultain, and, to give readers an idea of the state of the country in 1864, it may 'he mentioned that the party of about 100 men, after landing at Te Rore, lost its way and had to camp out all night. Redoubts were established on both banks of the Waipa River at ‘Alexandra; soon a town was surveyed and laid out, a bridge placed over the river, a hall erected out of public subscriptions, and the Alexandra Racing Club formed. Hotels and business places and private dwellings were built, the streets were thronged with red-coated militiamen and darkcoated constabulary, and in a few years Alexandra became a most prosperous centre, with a river service of five steamers a week. 'ln those days it is claimed that Alexandra was of more importance than Hamilton, and that an acre of land in Alexandra was worth two in 'Cambridge. 'When the militiamen were struck off pay and settled down on the land each ma,n was given title to an acre of land in the town proper, a 50-acre section in the bush, and 1000 feet of timber for building purposes. There are several residents of Pirongia who can remember taking refuge in the church when it was rumoured that the Maoris were about to attack the town. Mrs M. J. Berry, who will be present at the opening of the new hall to-morrow, was present at the first ball held in the old hall more than thirty years ago, and she witnessed the first race run under the ■auspices of the Alexandra Racing Club, which is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, racing club in !New Zealand. It is interesting to talk to some of the old identities and to hear their descriptions of how King Tawhaio and his followers came in and laid down their arms across the street from the hotel to the post office. That night Tawhaio slept in the Alexandra Hotel, while at both the back and tront entrances his faithful followers kept, guard. The old inhabitants also tel! of the time when Messrs Aubin Ahier and Hursthouse came in and announced that Mahuta had threatened to take the town. He cafne surely enough, but was ambushed, handcuffed and sent to Auckland.