THE FIRST MAUKU HALL.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 742, 27 June 1922, Page 5

THE FIRST MAUKU HALL.

The recent opening of the new hall at Mauku has reminded a correspondent of the opening of the first Mauku Hall, now exactly fifty years agoy The exact date, he says, he does not remember, but it was during (the pheasant-shooting season, therefore it must have been in either May, June or July, for he recollects the .then Governor, Sir George Bowen, the opening ceremony, an#,- his aide-de-camp, Captain Mitchell., spending several days in the neighbourhood with their guns. Pheasants were then very plentiful in the bush clearings, and [ten brace in a day was no unusual bag for a single gun- v The hall was built principally for the use'of the (Local volunteer corps,, the -Forest Rifles, raised bv the late Major Lusk in 1863, at 1 the beginning r of the Waikato War. For a number of years the dall was the headquarters of the Waiuku and Wairoa Military District, which covered] what is now the Franklin and Manukau Counties. About 1884, owing to the discouraging attitude of the then Government, it became very difficult to carry on volunteer companies, and with a great many other corps the Forest Rifles was disbanded. (The hall was then vested in a body of trustees for public use, and in the Act creating the trust whs named the Patumahoe Hall. One of the features of Ithe hall in the beginning was a drop scene depicting the Mauku Falls, with a very busy railway station in close proximity, Busy porters ran to and fro, and numerous passengers were entering or (alighting from the train that stood at the platform. The artist has lived to see her prophecy fulfilled in great measure. The railway station is there all right, and it is to be hoped she will) survive to witness the. crowd of passengers and the active porters. j For the opening ceremony. a poem was written by Dr Joseph Giles, now the only survivor of the band, of original settlers who came to Mauku about the year 1858. After service in the Crimean War as a military surgeon he came to New Zealand, and bought a farm not far from the jhgad of the Mauku estuary. The of. 1863 drove the settlers from tmfir farms for a while, and Dr Giles did not return to his til!' nearly thirty-five years later'. He joined the forces in his medical capacty, and later became Warden of the goldfields on the West Coast l of the South Island; ending up as senior Magistrate Ifor Auckland. Bat he always retained his land, and upon his retirement some twenty-five years ago built da home there, and farmed it for several years,, ultimately retiring to Auckland, where he) still lives at an advanced age, but in excellent health. The new Mauku Hail had not the good hap to have a poet: to write an inaugural ode for it, but Dr Giles still has the faculty, 'and perhaps when he sees his old lines resuscitated after the lapse of half a century he will take) the hint anc supply a trifle for the present generation cf Maukuites. X' at the opening of the MAUKU HALL. BY J. GILES. 1872. When some fair city's sumptuous fabrics rise, And towers and airy spires salute the skies. Each celebrates in turn its festal day, When princes vie foundation stones to lay, And at the formal banquet statesmen rise, And speech to speech in formal round replies. The speaker’s eloquence, the poet’s lay, And music’s strains, all grace the opening day. Whether proud commerce there hath found a mart, Or a grand stage invite the Thespian art ; Or science regally assort her sway, Or art fair forms and lovely lines display. So they in cities : hut we celebrate, W|fch equal pleasure, if with less of state. -e Arplain wood pile, that keeps out wind and weather, Where friends and neighbours congregate together. Not to one causo, one branch of art confined, Our building is for everything designed. Here our brave army, drilled in squads, shall learn: The due rewards of well trained skill to earn. The wandering statesman, savant, artist, all. If in our way they ever chance to fall, Intept on holidays, securely caught, Shall to this Hall in triumph just he brought, Compelled to pay for ransom, o’er they j/ go, * A lecture on whatever thing they know. And when the learned leave us all alone, We will have entertainments of our own. Music, and stage effects, and festal song, And cheerful dance shall help the time along. So shall our Hall with harmless pleasure pay . The promise made on this, its opening day.