OLD WELLINGTON

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3037, 26 March 1917, Page 6

OLD WELLINGTON

A VOYAGE IN THE OLD CALLIOPE AND A WALK TO THE WAIKARAPA

IBy.SYtvius.]

; /'(-. vi.°A e of: the oldest residents ofWeluogtpiv who are still up and ;about ia ■A .-;™* John. Smith;; member; of the Wel/..:;r: ; ;,iingtoiL: Hospital, and .Charitable Aid V... fiJoard, ;and ono whose sound practical ■ ="V ; VN J?""" 011 sense is an asset to that body ;.■'-•' V- • : Mr r kmith was only three and a half ,•■.•,/■.;-years.of age when he landed in Nelssm - ;v, : trom London by the ship Phoebe. Those ; ,v,;-v ;were the days when the. New. Zealand >~ ■ ;.: ;A,and. Company .were .making efforts to :•::■,; settle,, that, distnbt, andmauy vessels their first port of call. . :.;-- But Jimes soon became hard there, •■,;-;'- ; ''-; i- n 4:: nothing; much coming, >.' ~l njrom. the hard pioneering work that V;:. fcad to be done, : so; a year or"so later ':■'■■' ■-'■ fu,i? s rather .gained' a passage ■ i to. Wellington in the Government bri« : and obtained work hero as a black*-" :; ; }.. - ;.smith. In. 1847 he decided tq.try and ;.-. -, .-"-get his family' over from, Nelson which . was not bo very easy in those days, • ■r' money.was;' scarcer than it is to-day. At length, however, an af- . .■:. vifangenient was ;made :to bring them : v «jer on H.M.'s corvette. Calliope, one ; ; "^ good,old oak-built bluif-bowed ■; ■;■;. warships that: used to maintain Eng- -■ v ■.-., * ands dignity iir New .Zealand .waters ■"' r - i? • °l e ia ? s - iras accomplished >; , -through an arrangoment made with the ■■■': •.-™P.S; carpenter, through the purser, f;;. whereby, the former agreed to. give up I■ :; J lB ca om for the run to Wellington :';,,' '/• from Nelson... So' they stowed them- : ..;. ~* elv es away on ; the wide, comfortable ;;.:■.tlecks of the ancient-warship, and.com- '• , -i• ■-. fenced. the voyage to WellingtonTThis had to he made via'Wanganui, as at gat. time there jwas some little trouble ■ tath the natives in. the Otakirieigh:J ■■■-■'.. £ ourn , o °d, audit had been decided to , V -bring some of :the: Imperial troops then .-:' quartered in Wanganui down as a pre- ;,.;' ; cautionary measure. But they had only, ;." 't got-off two poatloads of women and. .' ~«mldren (wires and-families of some ;. ~: ■■ ?. of the., officers. and "• men) when the ■/: became bad, and the Calliope .. '/'jhad: to. put.,to- sea..- It': was then de- " . . cided to rnn for Wellington,: but a big .'' .•■blow came Tip in the strait; which kept' .-) : [,:: :.-tte vessel standing off aud on ; tne '-. -j -'Heads for a matter of twelve days. ;/',-■ '"That would not have been so bad," ■• .;■:■■ '-said; Mr.. Smith, "but■ they had 'never ~. 'Imagined that the trip would take so ■■'.'■' ~l ong ) and they began to run short of ; , : . \tucker;.: My: mother,-had --brought. v/ith ' ; her a. ham, Eome ■ bacon'/ and a sack bf ; :v, .jPotatoes, and when stocks 1 got low.-the '.' ':~y, asked.heAif she would be good '..: ' to - let them, have the , , supplies. .'■•■,'. She readily agreed. A day or ts-o later, .; .■:.;■■■ -after" getting .into Welh'ngton, ■ the 'piir\V ser came round and insisted on paying ~ for the food. My not want ;;;.'■•.'■:'..-to accept it,-but the.purser insisted, and,;." of course, the nioney was rea «y. ■:' ; . -Tery, badly wanted. "..-I can remember .'■;■. that trip as weir as anything," said ,;:::.'Mr. .Smith. '.JCaptaiii Stanley, of the. ;: : Calliope, was a big, rough old sea-dog, *nth a ime.flow of beautiful language ..; ■ when he thought it was needed, yet as :mg-hearted :as he was rough. I re- \- ..-■■■ member the, scrambles for nuts and

.;, sugar lumps he,;gaye the children on the heaving decks of the old ship as we -. uunibered -.aboutiVoiitside' the. Heads, roaring with'laughter.'as we.rolled irto ; .the 'scuppers; "with •'■ the-.' , pitch of • the ship. He "was a good man; though, -and.afterwards lose to be a rear-ad-.../WraLV. • -.-■ ' : '- ; , ■;-.:.• . ■

>: Early Days In the City. Smith, can -remember Manners "Street'before it was-a;street at all; cefore.it,was a formed road even. He: .las a clear recollection: of the residents Jof what is now Manners Street, petitioning the Provincial Council to have the;road properly, formed, which , work the council declined to undertake. In that predicament they decided to raise a fund amongst themselves to : do the .Jyork, and the.first shaping and metalling of the road was done on the communal, plan/ 1 > .'■ .' V ; ■■; ■ :' : ■",- Butit was not- all work and no Say in those days. Far" from that. _ ley used to have great sports meetings. on Anniversary Day and! other holida-ys, that for -pure fun would beat ■anything they have' to-day. "What .■would you say to seeing bullock, donkey and, horse races on a course roughly ■from Manners Street, 1 up Cuba' Street, down Taranaki Street, to- Manners Street again?" said Mr. Smith. ■is generally the track as I remember ?t, hut, of course, there we no streets .then, only grass and tussock; a few houses in the middle, perhaps, but they did not interfere with the races.- The J>ullock race was a great event.'. They mostly ridden by'menro'-warsmen, who:were dare-devil enough to fide anything. Then, besides the races, there were all kinds of old English sports— treacle-bun-eating. contests, jumping, and running v races, and everybody was in high holiday humour." , ' Mr. John Smith walked to the Wai- : rarapa to ,yis\t, some friends hefore the road to the new settlement Was completed; The road was roughly ;made as far as the top of.the Rimutaka, and carts could get that'far, but froni there' they had to pack, the good's on horsebackTdown to the valley'. He made' Kaitoke the first day on foot, and from ,the time he-left the top of the hill he had fo find his way down the track to Featherston. He was wt through-and feeling pretty hungry when he got to Featherston, where Mrs. Burling kept a sort of. accommodation house. He went there for something to cat, and ,was given aonie fat mutton and potatoes. He could) not eat the- meat, hut polished off the potatoes, and was staggered wlien he had had to pay half-a-crbwu for his poor meal. He thought that if provisions were so dear he had better push' on at once, so lie trudged along in, the. rain along the'track; to-' wards Greytown, but soon lost it, and found himself groping in the floodfed ;bush and flax: .lands. Fortunately he" spied a-fire in the bush as it grew dark, and the man who had lit it, though not able to givo him accommodation, wa-s able to give ■ him his Bearings. He eventually- came.to a 'Maori whare at'Woodside, and an old Native woman, who was sitting huddled oyer the lire, told him that Greytown was a little farther on. , So he dragged his weary.'legs along tho road to' the "Rising Sun," and there completely collapsed with litter fatigue. There.he was found by his friends, wlio knew he was coming, but owing to there heing no such thing as the telegraph or even a frequent mail service, they did not know when to expect him. i An Old Trail.

Before that road was formed , to the Wairarapa, tho means of access by. road was via the Hutt, Day's Bay, Muritai, Ororigoronga, along the coast to Palliser Bay, and so up the valley. There was at one time an accommodation house at Muritai to serve people ■using the road. This was kept by a man whom everyone used to call Old Brown, a very ugly old man, who was married to a Native woman. On one occasion a boy disappeared Jiysteriously, and Old Brown was charged with his murder. He was not convicted, but the mystery was never cleared.. Tip. "When we boys went over that way boating, I was, so frightened of the man Sat I would never go ashore there. Otherwise the traffic to the Wairarapa was conducted by whaleboats, under the if Nick, the .Greek." ' , .'•' ';. '.'.; '-. . ■