102 YEARS’ OLD

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 33, 8 February 1941, Page 4

102 YEARS’ OLD

HAWERA WOMAN’S BIRTHDAY STILL WELL A.ND ACTIVE ADVENTURES IN TARANAKI. The days when the hostile Maori chief Titokowaru stalked the plains of Taranaki, burning and plundering on his way southward, are recalled by Miss Sophia Ginger. Cameron Street, Hawera. who celebrated her 102nd birthday yesterday. The last of a family of very early settlers. Miss Ginger, though a little hard of hearing, is amazingly fit and active, and still reads and writes. Her fvourite recreation is playing cards, which she does two or three nights a week. She does not usually rise till about noon, but stays up till about 10 o'clock at night and has frequent callers. Intimate friends and relations gathered to share her birthday celebrations yesterday, and though petrol restrictions prevented some from visiting Hawera, people from many parts of Taranaki were present. Many congratulatory messages were received, and among Miss Ginger’s treasured possessions are messages she received from the King and Queen, and from Lord and Lady Galway, on the occasion of her 100th birthday. Miss Ginger has spent 90 years in the Taranaki province, this record being unique in itself. During that period she has seen many changes and had unenviable experiences all of which are vividly remembered in spite of her great age, and the fact that many of them took place more than TO yeans ago. Born in Monmouthshire on February 7, 1839, Miss Ginger came to New Zealand with her parents and six brothers and sisters on the ship Joseph Bletcher. arriving in Auckland in 1852. After a few days the family came on to New Plymouth but their stay in New Plymouth was short.

Mr. Ginger acquired land at Tataraimaka, and as soon as the Maoris completed the erection of a house they moved out to the “farm.” Their journey to their new home was not without incident, and took four days' travelling from New Plymouth by dray.

Their farm was situated not far from the beach and was used for the grazing of cattle and sheep, most of which were stolen by the Maoris, who were not content to leave the pakeha settlers in peace. For 10 years Miss Ginger lived at Tataralmaka. her first home being at Kakaramea, where she was to have exciting experiences.

The house erected at Kakaramea i was something more substantial than : their first home in Taranaki, but it was not strong enough to stand up to an attack made by the natives during the second Taranaki war in 1868. When Titokowaru was on the warpath in that year, the settlement atl Kakaramea was directly in his path, and had it not been for the timely warning given them by soldiers from the garrison at Patea, Miss Ginger’s brothers might have suffered the fate of many other isolated settlers in the colony at that time. Miss Ginger and her sister-in-law weft the first to be evacuated, and they were sent to Patea with all the I speed possible. Upon their arrival; they found the township so crowded that accommodation was more or less at a premium. Miss Ginger’s brothers' were soon to seek the refuge of Patea, and they were not far ahead of the Hauhaus. who delayed the pursuit long enough to fire the Ginger homestead. Within a very short time the fighting got closer to Patea then the women and children. Miss Ginger among them, were removed to Wanganui. and later to Nelson, it being two years before the majority of them returned.

Among those who were offered land in return for their services during the war were Miss Ginger’s brothers, and they chose sites at Manutahi, refusing land at Tikorangi on the score that it was too small.