Grim Old Days.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLII, Issue 6, 10 February 1909, Page 63

Grim Old Days.

SOME STIRRING REMINISCENCES. The Hon. G. F. Richardson, who arrived in New Zealand in 1851 and was Minister of Lands in the Atkinson Ministry, told the assembled surveyors nt a recent gathering in the Masonic Hall, Wellington, some stirring reminiscences of the days of the Dominion in the early ’fifties. He recalled how, in 1853, he had set out with a mate to drive a mob of cattle from Otepopo to the mouth of the Mataura, a distance of about two hundred miles. His only companion was an old Maori. A ery soon after they started the food supply gave out, and after some difficulty they located an accommodation house. Supplies, however, were very short with the latter. The proprietor, in fact, did not think he could spare them anything, as the steamer which brought him regular supplies had not put in an appearance, and nobody knew when the next consignment was likely to arrive. He, however, rooted round the establishment, and after an exhaustive search, a case of Scotch gingerbread was discovered. With that alone the speaker and the Maori started out on their long and lonely tramp, driving the cattle before them. The morning they started, Mr. Richardson said, they had to breakfast chiefly on porridge, so that by the time the sun approached the meridian he was famished- A halt was called and they made a lunch on gingerbread and veal, and repeated the bill-of-fare for breakfast. In fact, that was the only thing they lived upon for several weeks as they passed through what in those days was largely a wilderness of forest and loneliness. Since that day he had never eaten gingerbread. It had, in fact, been a cause of bringing him under suspicion. He knew an old Scotch lady in the South who had several good-look-ing daughters, for whom there were a number of suitors. The old lady used

specially to provide a very hot brand of gingerbread at meals and insist on the young gentlemen partaking thereof, as it was her particular belief that a young man who ate her gingerbread would never want to drink whisky. “Needless to sav. I was never in favour," added the speaker grimly. A MYSTERIuCIS CRASH. On another occasion he was once out with a small surveying party in the wilds of the Ngawaka-a-kupe Block, near Martinborougb, which was a very lonely and heavily timbered place in those days. One night he and his party had camped on the banks of a stream in the depth of the bush. He was in a tent by himselt and just as he got into bed he was startled by a noise like that of falling timber. From the sound of it he had no doubt that it was totara. His mind instantly flashed back to the table, which had been left several yards away, where the week’s bread, cooked that night, was piled up. Acting under the impression that some pigs had invaded the camp, from a Maori pa some distance away, he rushed out in his shirt to save the rum. It was very much to his surprise he found the table and its load intact, whilst there was not a sign of life or movement anywhere. The fire adjoining had not been disturbed. In fact a great silence reigned over the bush. The peculiar thing was that his dog. which slept outside the tent, refused to accompany him down to the table, but remained crouching outside the tent with bristles erect and growling. Next morning several of his mates asked him if he had heard a noise of falling timber in the night. Two or three evenings after, when the incident ■was almost forgotten, the same sound was heard at identically the same time. There was a certain dry rosonanee in the sound that made him positive that it was totara that fell. He immediately rushed out to the edge of the creek in the direction which the sound appeared to emanate from, and called out, “Who is there?” There was no answer. The hush was as eilgnt as the grave. “Do you want any help?" he called again. Not- a sound came back. After some hesitation he wen) to bed. Next morning he put a bridge across the creek wish his party, and they scoured the neighbourhood for nearly a day to see if anything could be located. But apparently there was no cause for the mysterious noise. Several nights after, resumed the speaker after a pause, the number of the party in camp was swelled by the arrival of several surveyors. On the Sunday evening he and one of the surveyors, who had been making some calculations in his tent, went outside for a smoke in the dusk. Mr. Richardson had said nothing to his companion about the disturbance that had taken place. They were chatting softly in the stillness when in the bush across the creek once again the crash of falling timber was heard. He started to his feet in time to see through the trees the loins of a pair of bullocks, followed by the figure of a man faintly outlined in the gloom, disappearing among the trees. His companion, who did not come to his feet so quickly, only saw the figure of a man and the wheels of a timber dray. Then the deep silence, of the bush settled down upon them again. Several nights after the same tiling was repeated, and although he called out to the driver there was no answer. The whole thing was so uncanny that they were glad to make a

move. Shortly after they dropped aeracs some Maoris, who. after being questioned by the speaker, told him that none of them dared to visit the place after dark. Some weeks previous, a young Maori had been driving a bullock dray through there with a load of totara posts, when the vehicle capsized and fell on him, crushing him to death. Not one of the party had known of this. “It appears to me, gentlemen.” added Mr. Richardson to his enthralled listeners, “I am the only man you have met who has spoken to a spook.” SIZE OF A SPOOK'S FOOT. Talking of spooks reminded the speaker of a cur’ ms case in which he believed the smallest grant of land that had ever been made by a court of law was awarded to a Maori on the Taranto ranges. It appears that the Maori laid claim to a particular spot on the ground that the ghost of his ancestor had been seen standing there. Other Maoris gave evidence in support of the contention. The Court, being satisfied with the evidence. formally awarded the native a title to the particular spot, fixing the area on which the ghost stood as exactly twelve inches square. “That is the first time," said Mr. Richardson, “that 1 know the size of a ghost’s foot has been judicially determined. I know the case to be perfectly true, as I signed the certificate myself authorising the transfer.”