A WILDERNESS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 930, 24 September 1910, Page 19

A WILDERNESS.

.LAND OP BITTERN, PUKEKO, AND WILD BOAR. WHAT ENTERPRISE AND COURAGE HATE DONE. When Mr. W. Heslop first came through to Hawke's Bay in 1858, there wero no Europeans residing in what is now known as Hastings, but Havclock North had already been established ■ as a town. • There was a Native settlement at Waipatu, a mile or two from the site of the new post office. This Maori; settlement was under, the chieftainship of Henaro, Toinoana, . who afterwards; fought on behalf of the Europeans against the Han 1 Han fanatics at Omaranui, and in the , skirmishes near Gisborne. The Reverend Samuel Williams, afterwards Archdeacon, resided in a. raupo whare at To Aute. The late • Thomas Lowry, described as one of the finest men the country ever saw, was t-lie only white inan residing

between the Tutackuri and tho Ngaruroro, twenty. miles. This samo- area is. now covered; by' 'Hastings,Frimley, Fernhill, Oraahu, ' Tomoana, Okawa, Matapiro, . .Turanui, .. Mangawharoj' AVanawana, and, other populated localities. y •'•' '. '' .' ;■ '■ . Mr. Lowry to have travelled very. extensively .in the North Island. Previous to his . coming to'. Hawke'sBay lie resided at Taupo," and it is recorded '.that' on his journey / down he lived for some ■ time: in a'- 'whare at Turangarero, on tho present Main Trunk'railway .-line. Mr. Lowry is described'as one of the justest and most humane of men, and with the late Sir Donald M'Lean, possessed the entire confidence of tho Native population. This, statement,is confirmed by the fact that/the requested -the • Government* to-puf-chase from - them a block of . 10,000. acres ..of. latid. at Okawa on condition only that Mr. Lowrv became ,tho. - purchaser, v,,■• Tho -> Government agreed,-: awl' bought-the-' block. -Mr. Lowry- afterwards -. .became - - the purchaser,,, and his.- descendants are:residing thore,no\vi- :Had:-,the iatev-Mr. Lowry -/Chosen, Vhe could .have .bought all -the-.; Native land from Okawa to the Rtmhmes.rat a few shillings, per aero. A LONG FIGHT There was one. good, fight between the Natives »in'lßs7 >as ;to tho-possession of tho .'Horetaunga Block; upon.- which -tho town ■ ofljastnigs now- stands.- ■ The l .contestants . wore:. To -Moananui. and :Hapuka, whoso people. -ntiw. 'reside at Te .Hauke.Tho-encounter took place on,,the- sit-c of tho present Whakatu' .railway-station, and is mostlv interesting on account, of the fact that--.it was. ■tho longest fight oil .record.- It last-' ed six woeks,,.and ,]vas- carried on 'in. a .very, go-as-you-please ■ style, -not at all in accordance, with tho. ideas usually. associated . with savage warfares .There were • several-hundred men- -engaged, nearly all armed with- old flints locks, -.-but their shooting appears ;to .have ; been... of an Atrocious character. ■It ..took: the ibelligerentsvone week • t-o kill i one man, the unfortunate • being Pohera, a chief of some rank- 1 It .. is. , recorded that-' -on -some days only one shot was fired bv a-con-testing side. This was to. lot the opposition know that-the enemy had not gone to. sleep, gono home,: or died from peaceful inactivity- engendered by over gastionomical exertion. Tho' few ■ settlers ;in tho , district\ wont .about their; agricultural duties in the fighting areajust as if, > nothing was happening. Eventually, as it seemed as if there were a chance .that the scrimmage would bo' everlasting, the Government intervened,-' and the" combatants decided to call, the fight a draw./ Hapuka;"however,'retired to To Hauko, while Te Moananui remained in possession of'the battle Bite:. It may bo said to have been his fight. ; HEEETATJNGA SWAMP. Mora than half the Horetaunga Block was a swamp, and on one, occasion the whole area was offered to the late Mr. James Watt for £19,000; This would work out about £1 per acre. The swamp extended from Heretaunga Street to near the banks of 'Ngaruroro River. Wild pigs were plentiful hear where the Carleton Club Hotel now . It . was a -desolate sort of a . place, overgrown with. raupo, manukaj and fern, split by. two dry ridges, and known amongst the colonists as the Land : . of "the Bittern, Pnkeko;' and ' the Boar. ■ ; LABOUR OF PIONEERS. Supplies came from Wellington. ;by steamer .toPort, Ahuriri,' thonc'o - by bullock-drays and pack horses through as far south as Waipuku'rau. . There wero no ■ bridges aiul no : roads; Thore wis very ; little.monoy. .'.Men'. -worked' from daylight till dark, arid: wages'were about £1 per week and.found. Those were the days, said Mr. Heslop,. when every :mah-:was anxious to assist his neighbour ; now it, is! every man for. himself. ; It is interesting to note the communistic lines oii which these early settlors, ; and also the Natives,: worked.] All-grow largo quantities of grain, and' as it.:ripened ". oacli settler would, help the other to reap it, Thore were no. machines. " Everything had to be dono by hand, and it was no unusual sight to-seo ,a .band- of one 'hundred Natives' tackle a neighbour's or their.own wheat' field,:, sometimes on a moonlight night,] all armed with reap-h'ooks. Tlie sheaves wero bound by Native women, stooke'd and then carted in on bullock drays: to the stack.■ ' " ' GRIND OR GO ON. \ : '. Food in those days, comprised potatoes, and plenty of thorn, wild' pork, oatmeal, and broad. Nearly every sta-, tion'had its own little hand flourmill. The following demonstrative legend \Vaa. ■to be seen yory often outsido the cook's galley for tho information of swaggers and travellers: —"Grind or go on," meaning that so long 1 as the inquirer was prepared to grind enough flour for a loaf of bread the cook was prepared to bake it in the carap oven. .