Page image

These visitors had ridden down from Kopuriki in 1919. Miss Grant, wearing a riding skirt, is with Misses Jackson, Johnston and Webber among them Ted Leech, now at Hawaii I understand, and Bill Sewell now of Coromandel. 30.1.31: Again we were returning to Waiohau after the summer vacation. We arranged with Lees' Brothers to motor us right in. Nearing Waiohau, we saw many tents and men working on the new road. One called, ‘Hey! do you know where you are going?’ I said to the driver, ‘We should, seeing we have been living here about 12 years.’ We met many grand men at that camp. One Allan North, Assistant Engineer, later went to Dunedin to train as a doctor. After a period in the islands during war time, he was sent to Te Whaiti as a Welfare Officer. He has been a great helper of the Tuhoe people and can tell of many visits up hill and down dale to help them in their sickness and trouble. I have missed filling in my diary a great number of times, otherwise I might have had a few more interesting items to add. When I went to Waiohau first I was told I spoke Maori “like a Scotsman”, but when I left, a Maori who called at the door, said “You have a good mouth for speaking Maori”. Later on, Sir Apirana Ngata's farming scheme took shape at Waiohau. Fences, milking sheds and dwellings were built, those involved paying back one quarter of their cream cheques each month, until final payments were made. What we noticed, when with my brother and his wife (Rev. and Mrs S. W. Webber) I was invited to attend the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the Waiohau School, was what wonderful progress had been made since those early days when the land was covered with manuka and bracken fern. Now there are comfortable homes surrounded by well-fenced green paddocks. A tar-sealed road runs between Murupara and Te Teko instead of rough tracks. The Matahina dam has been built a few miles away. The meeting-house brought down from Te Houhi in 1909 has been raised, the interior decorated with scroll work and louvre windows placed in the back wall. A dining hall accommodating 250 has been built. But to me the greatest result was the love and kindness which the people bestowed upon their children, who were well cared for, well-dressed and well-behaved. One woman on picking up a babe in arms, murmured “My precious bundle”. The well-kept schoolground, new school buildings, the football field, formed from a shingle bed with a stream running through, as well as the monuments erected, all speak of hard work on the part of many. The sense of comradeship between the present teachers and their scholars, speaks for itself. Former Haimona, Rawhina Ripaki, Miss Webber, Miss Clark, Mere Tamahou and John Te Atarau on holiday in Auckland in January 1924

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert