THE PASSING OF A PIONEER.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 16727, 9 January 1920, Page 3

THE PASSING OF A PIONEER.

LATE MR E. R. CHUDLEIGH

Conti ibuted. *

Tii.:o .nvay. at hi< s:rad. "(>ron£;oma:ro-. ' innr If Aroha. on Saturday. .Tan\:ary ;?nl. Toward ChmilciK". oj:o of Now Zealand's pioneers—iudcod. one hi the i'nv who made a H:c wors oi pionoe#m( ;. Horn r.t Xc.v Quay. Connvnil. Kisjilaij'.!, in IS-11. ho was dt\f. ::u'd by Iris parents for a )ito in Court circles. Ho had oihor ambitions, one m which was to accompany .Franklin in his expedition ;o polar regions. llis immature vears and r.one too robust

health prevented him accomplishing this 1 particular dr.-ire, whereupon he vxhis intention of emigrating 10 New Zealand u> become a farmer. fcuch intimation not at all well received by*liis parents. B.it, seeing that, the young lellm*.- was adatnanw they reluctantly gave tneir consent, and tho ' subject of this article sailed away, arriving in the year IStil. with lot-tors of introduction to the first ,Superintendent of Canterbury Province, .Mr James K. FitzGorald. 31 r Chudloigh soon camo into touch with Mr .1. B. Acland. of Christchurch, and later of Mount J'eel. lutein on getting the host grounding in tile cuttle, business, lie obtained employment, on the old Springs Station, which is now tho thriving township of ftpringston, then farmed l>v Messrs FitzGendd. I)rapcr and JJrown. Chud- : ie:g!i. then lit tin more than a mere i stripling, was engaged to (hive a small mob of cattle through to the (lingo goldfieids. where high prices wore being paid. Jin route, and while awaiting tho cessation of ;v snowstorm, he started prospecting in a creek where lie eor.-idcred there were pood indications of a payable gold-find. He had not much knowledge of the nrl. hill obtained fair samples. Before ihe snow molted sufficiently i(» :dlow of him proceeding with the cattle, a small party of prospectors came, along, and ho informal them of his discovery. Tljov undertook to make a closer investigation, sind staked out a cliiiin. agreeing, in consideration of his having imt them nu thi.< right track, to giv liim an equal share in any gold found there. This place became" known la letas Stockirnn's Claim. Chudleigh went on .southwards with his cat tic. and when thev were disposed of ht> returned to Canterbury by another route. During a later vi.>it to Dunodin he found that those prospectors bad '•played tho panic,'' and had even asked one tiromiiif-nt. man in J)'::;edin to accept tnargo ot' young Chi.'dlcigh's share, but that gentleman declined, saying lie had no knowledge of Chudleiph. lie advired the prospectors to keep tho gold until such time as Chudleigh called upon them lor his share. Not being '"bitten with the gold-bug" tho young man did not take steps to seek out his working partners, but returned to Canterbury. Later, wlien the rush set in to the "West Coast diggings, ho was one of the first men to drive stock over the mountains. He and It is companions experienced many hardships on that adventurous journey, but had the satisfaction of reach- J ing Hokitika with a good proportion | il. .*-! 1 1. I

of the original mob. It was in Iho later sixties that lio went to the Chatham Inlands, whore ho acquired an extensive holding known as Wharekauri, 011 tlio north-c;y>t coast of tho principal island. It was very rough country, but with a partner, a young fellow named Patterson, ho determined to carvo out a compotence for himself from tho then bleak wilderness. Tho two erected a rough pole and daub whare with cooking quarters locatod in a hank near by, and then conimonccd to clcar part of their land for sheep grazing. "When thev bad cleared a few acres, and the luxuriant native grasses were shooting up, ihey purchased thrco hundred sheep from a station about ten miles awav. To take a mob of 300 sheep ten miles nowadays is only a morning's work, but that task on tho Chathams took exactly thrco weeks. Chudleigh and Patterson literally had to make a road bv breaking down huge tussocks, clumps of fern, otc., a few feet wide, to enable the sheep to get through. It is quito understandablo that under' those conditions the ten mile trip should take three weeks I Mr Chudleigh, by liis zeal and uprightness, soon came to bo regarded as a leading resident, and was 1-ie chief Government representative in that part of the island. Ilis prominence in that capacity very nearly ended disastrously for liirii, for there was troublo with tho* Hauhaus, who had been banished there from New Zealand. Headed by old To Kooti himself, tho Hauhaus seized tho small schooner Rifleman, intending to sail back to New Zealand. Mr Cnudleigh interfered, stronglyurging them to do nothing of tho kind, whereupon a number of tho younger "bloods" seized Mr Chudleigh and proceeded to tie him up with a view to hanging him as an example to any other interfering pakehas. The ropo was actually placed round Mr Chudleigli's neck, but beforo their fell design could be consummated Eorao of tho older Maoris interfered, insisting that iho young men would bring down upon the wholo party such diro vengeance by the authorities as would make them rue tho day they hanged a white man. A short timo after, To Kooti and hiR party Bwarmcd on tho schooner and actually reached Poverty Bav, escaping inland* Mr Chudleigh, in 18S1, married Miss • Potts, daughter of a well-known family at Governor's Bay, near Christchurch, and with his bride sailed back to tho island in a 50-ton schooner. Tho young bride did not find life in tho Chatham Island so strenuous or primitive as her husband had done only a few years before, and immediately set to work to prove 0 worthy helpniato in her husband's pioneering enterprise. They spent over a quarter of a century at tho Chathams, seeing the country pros--1 per, and at tho s?mo timo prospering I themselves. In 1907 they determined | to visit England, where they' stayed for over a year, returning to the Chathams in 1909, but not to stay. In tho lato seventies Mr Chudleigh was induced to inspect the Thames Valley during a brief respite from his labours at tho Chathams, and he invested in a property of about .1400 acres, known as tlio Orongomairoa block, six miles from To Aroha. At that timo To Aroha was little more than a name, and Waihou was tho trading centre. Orongomairoa w:ib composed of about twentv acres at tho | end of a low spur, and "tho remainder "uas absolute swamp. Mr Chudleigh realised that ho could not expect to i do much improvement work there at ! that time, but no doubt had in mind I future prospects. During tho vears following he had snrao development ' tfork done, but ha still gave practicallv I al nxs attention to the Chatham ! Island venture, which was showing I very encouraging returns. Ho also in" | jested in land and other ventures in i Canterbury After tho trip Home Mr j and ; Irs Chudleigh decided to mako 1 tbeir home rn the Thames Valley pro- I perty, but did not give up their in- j terest in their old Island home—in > 1S °'d homestead at j Wharekauri is still furnished rcadv, ! oven to the piano. > Chudleigh conceived the idea of I some day seeing the wholo of his 3400 I acrcs at Te Aroha developed to such a t stato that it could bp subdivided into Hnall larms. Ho s,*t;* to work to : achieve this, and it hccame his hobby. ! lie spent all his available cash on ; bringing «.his about. As year succeeded j year tho placo became <; a thing «.f beauty,'' and doubtless it will be ''a : joy for ever' to thoso who came after : him. For, it was Mr Chudleich's wis)) that the nnolc tho cxccj>tion of tho homestead, should be diL'oicd of in haadv-iLzed farms at an j

« nrlv date. Some ago Mr Chudieiirii >.-fd of several of the subdivision and it is safe to say that vi'rv i-eon the romaitidef will pass into other hands, ensuring closer settle-rju-Ti;. ; r.ii' il:t' work of this ■ •oiwii>ntio;:s coloniser u ill have boett :iccoir.pli>ho(i to tho i'till extent. As aiii it -1. Mr will ho lonp romeinLere.i ::s an example in steni]fa«tami Christian fortitude. He was noter a robust man. but ho achieved ureat things despite that iiaml:<v.p. His example is inspiring. ht:r thr-ro are all inn fen of }ii« calibre i:i ;!.«■ land nowadavs. Ho left an vstate worth ahiear £'i!uO.OOO. Thi. fii'ier.il serviv-e was conducted at liis lati- re-id-itee on Jf-vtrlay morning bv the T!ev. i{. 1.. (V.nnollv. vicar of Sr. Mark's •Oliureh. Te Aroha. nftrr wilier t!:i- lirviy wa-- eoTiveyed to MotUlt Tee!. ('.::!teriiiirV. for imerment.