PIONEER MEMORIES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 6, 3 May 1939, Page 2

PIONEER MEMORIES

—o BISHOP PUSHES HANDCART EARLY DAYS When Bishop Harper (the first Bishop of Christchureh) and Vis Harper and ten of their fifteen children landed at Lyttelton in December, 1856, they were met by Bishop Selwyn, who escorted them to Christ, church. Mrs Harper and the youngest girl rode together on a horse, and the others Avalked over the hill to Heathcote Valley, where vehicles awaited them. Bishop Harper, Bishop Selwyn and others pushed and pulled a hand-cart on which bedding and other articles were stacked. The walking girls carried bundles containing bonnets and finery which they were to wear next cVay. The first home for the Harpers was a small cottage in Cambridge Terrace, by the Avon River. This incident (published in New Zealand Centennial News) is recorded in a book, "My Early Days, " writ ten by the late Mrs C. G. Tripp, of Orari Gorge, Canterbury (a daugh ter of Bishop Harper). "Our house was very small, and when visitors came to see my father i some of us had to go to the hospitable neighbours to make room," wrote Mrs Tripp. "Three of us slept . ir an attic bedroom which we reached by a step-ladder. On beams over the beds our saddles hung, and ou top of them our ball-dresses, pinned up in sheets. "31a ry (a sister) had become engaged months before me, which gave time to send to England for fier things, but my trousseau was a very simple affair; my father, going to Wellington about that time, bought me three dressesI—a1 —a white muslin with pink sprays on it, a black and white striped thin silk with blue silk flounces, and a brown barege, unmade. A riding habit was made in Christchureh, and I had one pair of boots and one pair of shoes. Every*, tiling else I made mysel'f—rather different to the trousseau of a girl of the present day—and I know I had to buy boots a few months after tny marriage, the rough country walking soon w'earing out anything but the strongest. "Our wedding day was September 23, 1858. My wedding gown of white silk and the bridesmaids' white tarleton and little straw bonnets trimmed /with ribbon were all bought at Miss Skillikorn's general stores, also he wedding ring. Though my future husband had a large property, ready money was not plentiful, and he always said he had to borrow £8 for wedding expenses, and I only had 8s of my own. "I had to come down the step-lad-der from our bedroom backwards in my wedding finery, and Mary's roora downstairs was so small that she stood on her bed to be dressed. We walked to St Michael's, and both couples returned from church to. gather in a new omnibus, the only other vehicle being a hansom cab without wheels, so not much use. Old Mrs Westenra made us pretty little bouquets of white primroses, these and a bunch of gorse being the only flowers to be had." BILLIARD FEAT The feat of balancing five billiard balls recently performed by a Belgrade musician has been eclipsed by. a Masterton billiard saloon proprietor, Mr W. Darvill, who was photographed recently balancing seven balls. It was a genuine performance and Mr Darvill is willing to give an exhibition for anyone who might have doubt about it.