ROUGHING IT AT GLENSIDE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 984, 26 November 1910, Page 16

ROUGHING IT AT GLENSIDE.

INTERESTING REMINISCENCES. One.of the early pioneers 'at Gladstone'was Mr. James Strang, sen. There is no .picture on record -of the wha're ..in'"which/ James Strang; sen., lived with his family when he came to "Glenside," but Mr. John Strang well remembers the insignificant inhabitation erected in the wilderness of raupo, manuka, bush, flax, scrub, and swamp, and,to the protests of mopokcs, parakeotsj. pigeons, pukekos, and. mosquitoes, which latter were-almost a plague.. ,The ■buildiiig was inado from slabs split , from' iheliusli,: and poles. The roof was .'constructed., from, bark stripped , from tho ,-totarns.,: ■ All the cutting was done with, an axe, adze, and a bit of a handsaw. There were no nails, so the "contraption" was tied together with supple'jacks;' Htrro the'pioneer, and his family iived'foF years.'.'"lhei'd'-were: no roads, arid' the motive power was supplied by. a bullock attached to a sledge. Ploughing was also done by bullocks. • ,■ Maori Troubles, . There were tho usual incipient troubles with the Natives. _ Mrs. Strang onco knocked an . impertinent Maori down with a, block of wood, and James Strang was onco followed by an armed Native, who swore ho would shoot him. Tho pioneer drew his pocket knife, and this action cowed the dusky marauder, who then became rejnarkably passive. As a boy, John Strang remembered going down to. a pa near Longbush, and seeing tho. Natives collecting lead and tho bottoms out of glass bottles, which they wore going to melt down and then use for bullets. Later, young Strang saw the Hau Haus march through..Carterton. They carried flags emblazoned with stars, and their appearance created sonie alarm. It' is recorded in this march of tho Hau Haus through the Wai-, rarapa (although Mr. John Strang does not remember, the occurrence) that .the only attack made on the. Natives on that day was by "Bill" Maynard, a pnecyed Crimean veteran, who rushed'out on to the road, and, tearing one of .the flags from the hands 'of. a- Native, threatened to ba-yoriet him. .' Facing Difficulties. ' The Toad in tho early days, .before tho "Three-Mile Bush" track was cut, led from the South' Wairarapa, past Aliiaruhe and " Tupurupuru, on 'to "Brancepeth." Dr. Hildebrand, a onetime Romney Marsh shcepbrecder, and

also a physician, lived on the sito of Mr. J. Snell's present Ahiaruhe' residence, ' and was a well-known figure on an old w'hitq horse. The Bcctliams used to uso the track,, and take their share of the hard labour 'required' at tho sheep stations of grinclinc; wheat into flour for tlic bread they might use; Ever} , aspect of life- in. those days was marked by self-reliance, and who can doubt .that it bred the right sort of men. James Strang eventually shifted to "Glenside," and in the course of years he had quite a respectable flock. Wool in tlie early days was , taken from "Glensido" by bullock-drays,.over, tho Taratahi 'Plain, and on to Greytown. The first wool from Tnpurupuni, however, was draivn by a bulloelc, and taken on a sledgo over tho hills down to tho' lake 'across Dry River,