A FEW REFLECTIONS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1964, 22 January 1914, Page 5

A FEW REFLECTIONS.

pgMIYERSARY MY,.1314. .-,. |||| AN C V EHT Y ; YE A RS. |':^ftv^«J^T.-SJ,l9fe D: -li>entity':] .'v:i',; .'.,, taken 'place he■tween... the ■ tmo. day of Jaintasv. ioi-) ■ ana the, told.. day of Januarv, : leVi Uivwas- cineny . tnrough trio a'ctiun 01 ..oiie.pt thu magistrates, of Ulaego.w— Mr Jonir iteming, ot Ulairmout—mat New ./jcalaiid,.was,retained as a Untisli pu.ssessioii;::itie':Wa3 about the iirst,'-if nut toe nrst,. man.m : .tuu kingdom *tu direct lists attention ot the Govcn.mem, to tHe possibilities of. New. Zealand as a. lin-..usn-settleuicut. ■' He twit up me niat..ter.witii ennusiasm, and enlisting the services ot.siicn men as uv. ivornnui .Uaeleod, &'hcrm. Allison, and Lord yrc vost Lunwden, .convened a meeting m tho-iUiasgow. Athenaeum on May 10, :IbMO,- which was the means ot' arousing pu»lic : att«itkm to the question all over the country, and. brought about tho' annexation, of the isknms in time to pretheir": passing into- the .hands of tiie French. It was doubtless tho outcome of Glasgow's connection with the appropriation of the islands for Ureal Britain"-that New Zealand was- largely colonised by Scotsmen

■>;lti 1810 there was a verv large Native settlement at i'ipitea (Thermion), and another at To Aro. All Tliorndoii ■I'lat (as we used to call it .in the olden days). To Aro.Flat, and what is now ; Newtowtt- were covered with manuka, flax;' and fern. Tho hills from tho Hotel Cecil to Manners Street were covered with forest; the tide camo right up to the base of these hills, so that it was only .possible-to walk round at low tide. . The Basin Heservo. was a deep, soft swamp, and there horses and cattle were., bogged to death by tho score. "Where Cuba, Taraiiaki, ami Tory Streets fire: now was our racecourse for several years. Tho hills around Vogeltown, and as.far. as Terawhiti, were a thick forest.' Kilbiriiie and Miramaf were covered with all sorts of native shrubs.' There were only a very few settlers' dwellings in Wellington* at that time, and they were composed mainly of raupo 'wharcs. - Wooden buildings were very scarce and very small at that, Shipping in the Early Days. ...Alt the.ships used to lie at anchor where is now the reclamation and so many beautiful buildings. The cargo was lightered from the snips in small boats and punts, and landed on the beach. It will be easily. understood how slow the progress was in discharging a ship. Later, on, when there was u big trade carried on between Sydney, Twofold Hay and Wellington with' stock, tho sheep were landed in punts built for the purpose, and horses and cattle were slung overboard, their heads turned towards the shore, and they generally oan.io ashore all right. Sometimes a horse 05 cow Would head oat to sea, and it was then an exciting experience for the men in the boats to turn them back towards the shore. We thought it a very short time if we got a reply to English letters in twelve months, and trio postage then was one shilling. Disastrous Fire. Tho first big fire that Wellington experienced was at 1 the end of '42, when nearly all the buildings were destroyed, as they were ' principally of thatch, both sides and roof, and- there was a .high, .north-west gale blowing, Nearly everyone's belongings were lost. After the lire nearly nil the principal .buildings were erected in brick. When wo had our iirst great earthquake in ■'47: .everything in brick camondoivntioi" was very,, seriously ■injured ; after the quake the. earth trembled quite visibly;:for six weeks.;. Then tho town was built up again with wood, ami continued to- be m until recent years. Tlid Hutt.:; >.':;■; - : .'■ The lirst settlers were obliged to fossick their way the best, way they could round the base of.the hills from Wellington to I'ctono; and all the traffic for several years between the Hutt and Wellington was by boat. My lather started tho first boat from the Hutt to Wellington,' and many ether settlers followed his example, Later on all the provincial districts of Wellington' suffered very seriously from the Native trouble. The Hutt was a military calup for several years, and as we * know there were three settlers murdered at Belmont. by the' Natives. ■■-. The whole of '.the' HuU.' Valley was .subject to heavy floods. regularly,for many- years. Tho Wairarapa..^"-;;-^;...,.";.'

The Wairnrapa' was unknown to the settleis in file early, days. The first who , ventured then; were obliged 'to ford the Butt Kivor at the bar and travel round the const at low water to Palliser Ray,, then those who settled on the' East Const crossed tho lake, and continued their journey on the beach.-Those, who settled up' the valley travelled up the lake towards where Fcathorstou now is. All the- light gouds were packed on nudes and donkeys imported from South . America for the purpose of' packing. Lalor on, when there were a number of settlers in the valley, small schooners of 4 and.s tons took tbo goods from Wellington and landed them mi the beach at Palliser Hay, and the settlers would pack from there;to their different homesteads". When they got a few bales of wool to send to''Wellington, tlioy cut tracks through the bush and scrub and sledded it, two bales at a time, from the different stations down to PalKser Bay and shipped them into the small schooners. Those, who lived at the head 'of the :-lake would load their wool into whnleboats and take it down the like to be transhipped into the small Wellington schooners. I A few years later, when a bridle track was made from the .Mutt to Featherston, through the bush and over the lulls, the settlers • would pack their goods from Wellington over the Riimitakns.to all parts'of the Wairarapa Valley. . ■,;.■■ ■■ Travelling Mcthads.K That was tho mode of traveliiy* up till 'oo'when.tho road was opened for dray traffic over the' Ritnutakaß. For many years the goods Wcro brought by drays and carts as far as the IjmWr Hutt, and...the father of the lW\v» family, who built tho first house, at tho Hutt and ran the Criterion Hotel ati Upper Hutt. for many years, stored alii 1 these goods, and they, wcro packed from I there to the Wnirarana. j JMono, as far as Alieetown, was cov- j ercd with flax ami raupo. From there ' to Fcn.thcrston. was a dense forest which j it was impossible for anyone to penetrate. The only means of getting up tho valley was to follow tho bank of the Hutt River, and there was not a break- in tho bank nor a sandbank from tho harbour to the source in .the Riling takas,-and small boats could even Betas far as lJeimont, . A Great Earthquake. ■•■•'■ ._ The second great, shake we had was in the end of 'G.j, It was even more sevew.timn the one in '47. The wholeof the district of Wellington was heaved'.up from "> to 7 feet. After that time there was no difficulty in travelling along the coast to Palliser Hay, as the high'water did not oome near'tho base of the hill. The present Hutt Park was under water until that time! and two years aflmvard'3 it was so dry that it: was turned into tho racecourse,' and the Wellington Racing Club occupied it till two years ago. It was tins disturbance which ended .the possibility of convert ing.tlKs Basin Reserve area into a dock-.-dt.'-rosc. fronvi : . swamp, iate dry ' *ThoißroKnj;fiimilyl:.wasi;;tio.: first to