PIHAUTEA AND ROTOTAWAI.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 984, 26 November 1910, Page 17

PIHAUTEA AND ROTOTAWAI.

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FORTY-NINE YEARS ®F..ROHNEY BREEDING.

WHIBA-AND-HIS FU

Eight: miles out of . Feather'ston, on the jeastern. slopes of Wairarapa Valley, lies Pihautea. This station possesses a special interest in that it was one of the very-first European home; ■gteads. to be established id. the district.- 'Here it was that Mr. C. ; U. Bidwill settledjsixty-four-yeare ago. 'Mr. Kdwill. was the- first,to bring stock, toto the district, but, although he broke fie track to the now country, he was not actually the first to occupy land in ,a. : '.;.' : '. ■■..-.■ •:-'■■.■.■■■ -■■ :--- : - As described elsewhere on this page, iii£r. Bidwill got his original stock—a 1W ! hundred merino ewes brought floross from Sydney—round, the sixty miles of coast-line from Wellington as far as tho mouth of the lake ahead of tuiyone else. As the lake was running out at the time no crossing could be anade. Leaving some of,his party -in charge, he; returned to' Wellington to foring up a number of cattle, and while lie .was arf'ay doing this another, party, (Messrs. .Clifford, Weld, Vavasour, and iPetre, arrived" and crossed over with rfheir. stock. .This was in .April,. 1844, »nd from this time, dates the' settle..imeiLt of the;Wairarapa.. At Pihautea. ito-day Mr. J. o.' Bidwill still preserves .the original lease made by his ■ father .with the. Natives. This is stated to; be r the- first document .of. the- lind.' 1 drawiii.up.in.the : Wairarapa;..:,,.... , ~; ■ > ; ;.Forty-nine" years ■ ago.-"^-^^!^^^^^].' l fouid|a?^the- : famous. flockj^andvfrom-that .day; to' ; this : the" ; station haa-bred nothing -but Romneys/ . The iKo'mneys' we're obtained/from Mr.: JJudlam's r flock- at;.the :; Hutt/-Mr: -,Lud-; ; lam .Maying -mado the .original importa-' ijon ; of:this breed, in": 1857;-: The whole iflock'.at Pihautea : to-day, ia purebred, And is Tioted for its' splendid coristitu-. Stion-.and idense, long-stapled-wood. ,' ': -< About fifteen years ago ■':Pihautea, : which.origirrally comprised-about, 13,000 ■acres', was divided up into three blocks among.Mr. C. E. Bidwill's sons.,.' Of .these the present". Pihautea, with the old homestead and an area of- 4700 came into, the 'possession of Mr. O;. O. Bidwill, and Mr. W. E. Bidwill ,uas given the Rototowai Block; to the west of'the Kahautara Road.'.: The fiMti. block, Tawahaj was taken by the 'iCpremment. .for closer settlement. : ','life Pihautea l ßomneys now consist fef,3200 purebred ewes. A large number of rams are disposed of annually, end; last year, for instance, applications, were received for 2000' more rams than could be supplied. Mr. Bid-. (will has already -sold about half his rams for forward delivery up to 1912, '. and could have sold the lot, but for his, rule not to do business ahead for more than 50 per cent, of the stock to-expects to have available.. It'is initeresting.te note- that the average . iflcece. for the - whole flock last year '«baledlllb7-.50z."' .'; v -.' : ■'■'•' •: Pihautea sheep : have not .figured in She shows of recent .'years.. Speaking sn'this connection' Mr. Bidwill said ho gave up showing, when it became out of the question to put in sheep as they came oft the run and win a prize with- . out any special feeding or, preparation.: 'Aiiything.in the nature, of the .trimming, . colouring, etc.,' ivhich had been

introduced by some exhibitors, following tho English practice, ho strongly disapproved of. He did not consider it good business to obtain the expert labour necessary to get a few sheep into form for Ehowing under present-day conditions. The I'ihautea Romneyscan :therefore- be seen on the station as Nature has made them, and of an excellent stamp , they are.. On this page appears a picture of Pihautca . homestead as it stands today, looking northward over the wellgrassed rolling country of which the estato is composed. Tho whare that 6orvcd' as tho first homestead was built by ■Mγ. Bidwiir senior on tho banks of the Ruamahanga, which winds around tho foot of the knoll. It was run up in the days before its owner had acquired, that intimate knowledcc of the

habits of the river that'lie , came afterwards -to possess: . This original homestead had been ? occupied for_ a' few months when one night the river waters invaded •it and' rose. up until only the roof was visible'above , the flood. Mr. Bidwill and his companions had by this time taken, refuge in a,tree, and there they remained for three days un-, til another settler, Mr. Jury, arrived with a boat- and- landed- them on tho knob on which tho second homeetead of Pihautea was promptly built, and from which the members of the family have since seen, many floods. , ' When Mr: C.'R. Bidwill arrived in. the Wairarapa\the Natives were, anxious for European settlement in order , that- they might sharo in tho benefits which they; saw the Port.'Nicholson Maoris, deriving from ■ the presence of the white.man.' Different chiefs took charge of. the different-settlers, whom they regarded, as their especial property. Mr. Bidwill. was one of'Manihera's:pakehas, and, though that dusky gentleman made all he could out of his tenants at Pihautea,. he took care that. no other Natives poached, on his.pre-. serves. The Maoris wero.at this, time the masters of tho situation; and tho 'few. settlers'then-in"the district .would have been quite unable to.hold their own had they been attacked. Mr. Bidwill was an /excellent shot with the riflo, and this gave the Maoris a great respect for him. He was,never molested by them, though in the early days ■he was obliged, to allow ■hi3/Nativ.e landlords to quarter.utheniselv.es.,upon. ; ,hinV ijretty much asthey-chosen/and to satisfy . their' appetites as best ho could r ;from whatever :ho had.laid by. in..his -larder. -■.■•■' ■■:■■■■:■<■ ■■ . ■ .'.,.:.■.' ■:, -In the sixties, when a party of Hauhaus came down into the Wairarapa in the hope ■of getting the tribes there to rise, trouble was feared for sometime. Mr., J. 0. Bidwill still preserves 'a letter which.'Manihera sent to his father and a neighbour, Mr.Ronaldson, warning them that he could protect them no longer. It is an interesting document, and the translation runs as follows: — . . : ; - '■ "Pa-pawai, Aug. 16, 1863. ; -•" : "To Ronaldsou aud Bidwill. . ; "Salutations' to you both,' arid you both listen. To-morrow the war party of the Maoris will proceed to Haukarctu. • Should they .-meet the Militia there, they : will engage with them. If not, they will await the arrival of Wi Tako. My reason for writing is . .to ■■ let you know 1 am ybiir _ only .' friend, but I have nothing,in. my hand-to save us. The thought for ' us is ! with you. ~■- "E.R.—You must return to-day> : Make all haste to Bidwill. Will' you two, consider some means of. sendinga letter to Wellington, also ', • to consider a way to save us on Monday,' Tuesday, or any further date. '■■■'"■•.:' "E.R., make all haste in returning and Bidwill with you when the echeolmaster and-my child arrives/ .. '.••■'. ■-.'... ' ' .\ • ':. ~ ','From me , from your true and-, ever'loving friend, .-,, " '• ' ' ' "Na Tc ! Manihera." ,

No disturbanpe e?37 took place in the district, but thero were anxious hearts for a while. AVord of the impending trouble was sent down to Wellington, and Mr. Hastwell speedily brought up in his wagons a supply of rifles and ammunition concealed under a load of straw. On the arrival of these tho settlers went in by the ones and twos so as not to excito the suspicions of the Maoris,, and secured tho means of defending themselves. Thereafter almost every man carried a gun and cartridge belt while out at work on tho sheep stations, and this doubtless cooled tho ardour of the local Natives, and caused them to'listen less readily than they had been doing to tho arguments of .their warlike visitors. Spcakiuj: of the earlj; days, Mr. Bid-

rnO. etaied' that, hia father suffered great lossea from the Maori dogs,.with which the place was overrun, when he first took it up. For several years the doga prevented any , increase in tho flock. It seemed impossible for a long time to got ahead of them. They were about everywhere in tho scrub, which had not then been, cleared away, and although, all hands used to camp out about tho placo to protect the flock, tho dogs would como up silently in tho night, and nert morning the dead bodies o£ tho sheep would be found, often only a few yards away. Hundreds of sheep in & season were lost in. this way until the rabbits came. When, this happened the dogs appeared to prefer raboit-hunting, and tho losses of sheep were considerably reduced; . As indicated above, Pihautea has had many an anxious timo with floods in the river, and on. an average the stock have to be mustered on to the higher ground twelve or thirteen times in the year when the waters are threatening to come up'over the low-lying country. About the worst years' on' record for floods were 1895 and 1896. In the nine months from Juno, 1895, to February,

1896. there were-, no fewer than ■ five big floods clear, over the fence tops. There have been no big, floods since 1890, but Mr; Bidwill says ho does not see what is to. prevent them occurring again, ; and -if'a big :flood should, como the losses in the district are likely to bo very heavy. It has been difficult to ■ make newcomers realise . to what height tho flood, waters have rjsen in tho past, and..farm-houses have .been/built.of late years on low-lying ground which would have been , carefully avoided of old. Pihautea's experience has been that for ten years there have been runs of big floods,- and then for tho. next'ten years nothing to speak of. However, fourteen years have now since .tho last, lot of big floods came down tho valley. . When the .property was first taken up,.all the'best-land was in swamp and covered, in flax and raupo. Drainago work, was carried on continuously right up. to about .ten years ago.when tho water] was got away .from the. last of the old swamp country. The wellstocked pastures to bo seen at Plhautea to-day have meant ■ many - years of labour.. . ~..'., .•.-.'., ': ■ ~ ..;• The , residence of Miv Bidwill shown in the 'illustration is the third to be erected on the' present site, 'and was built in 1876. The second homestead had to be demolished after it had been up sixteen years, and for a. curious reason. Tho preceding" building'had been built of a yellow pine, and was. as sound as abell-when.it was decided to replace it ■■njifli,,a. j Jarger house... ,As., tho timber, used in it.had lasted so well, a somewhat similar variety of pine was select-, cd for the new home. This unfortu-nately-proved to be the ordinary-white pine or'commerce, and inevitable dry rot soon, put in its appearance. To the south of the. present residence is the shearing-shed, a roomy building with the usual outfit of shearing machinery, wool-press, etc. Stands are provided for seven shearers. Scattered around are the usual station buildings and/ men's quarters. Besides the- stock already mentioned, Pihautea carries a fine herd of Hereford cattle. These, were introduced some ten years ago to replace, a Short-, horn herd, and have done far better on the country'than tho old breed. ' ""

eluded everything that loft the shed, worked out at 12Jd. per lb.- right; ■through. No wool was sold in the Dominion. Speaking of his thoroughbreds, Mr. 'Bidwill remarked that if it woro not for the sheep there would be no horses, as everyone who has bred' horses. knows that there is no money to be made- out of them. Thoy- aro purely a hobby, and an expensive ono at that. Mr. Bidwill has bred herses all his lifo, and his father owned tho first thoroughbred that over came to New, Zealand. This was Figaro, who died on.tho Pihautca property in 185 C. It would tako too much spaco to enumerate all the animals Mr. Bidwill owns, but special mention must be mado of one, Stcpfeldt (Nordenfeldt— Steppe), who is now twenty years old. She is a wonderful maro, and has had a foal every year from 1897 to tho present year of 1910, only two 'of her foals having died at birth. One of Stepfoldt's foals was the famous horse Elevation, by San Francisco. Elevation was considered one of tho most brilliant horses ever seen in New Zealand, and not Only was ho brilliant but he was also a stayer. Among his performances was the winning of the Canterbury Derby in 2min. 36 2-ssco.. which is up to now a record for tho race. Elevation is now being used as a sire at Rototawai, and his progeny seem to bo taking after him in conformation, colour, and character. . Mr. Bidwill is very sanguine as to their merits. Ho has been very unlucky himself with Elevation foals. This year, for instance, ho has only got one, and that motherless. Although every mare had a foal something happened either to the maro or tho foal, which caused its death.' : Besides Elevation, Stopfeldt produced Gravitation, Provocation', ana Triulation, tho three last-named by Birkenhcad by Ormo, and all classical winners. Provocation ' was tho champion : two-year-old of New Zealand- of his season, and put records up in the Champagne Stakes, Chnstchureh, lmin. 14 l-ssec., and also in the Jackson Stakes, Wanganui, lmin. 13 2-ssec. i'rovocation did not race as a three-year-old in New Zealand, but was given twelve months'. spell. Ho will .bo racinj again this year as a four-year-old, if all goes well. ' . ' . Mr. Bidwill not only breeds his horses, but trains them himself on his own training track, which is situated quite close to tho homestead.