NGATEA SCHOOL ESSAYS

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXII, Issue 4345, 21 November 1921, Page 4

NGATEA SCHOOL ESSAYS

THE HAURAKI PLAINS. PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. With a view to awakening the imagination of the scholars of the Ngatea school tp the wonderfully fine future ahead of the Hauraki Plains, Mr D. Vincent, Ngatea storekeeper, offered prizes for the two best essays, from boys and girls respectively, on the subject, “The Hauraki Plains, Past, Present, and Future,.” Sleven boys and three girls entered the competition, and their essays were handed to the editor off the “Gaze.tte” to judge. The winners are as follow : — Boys.—R. Baxter, Standard VI. Givis.—Phyllis Hayward, Standard VI. The winning boy’s essay is given hereunder. THE HAURAKI PLAINS. “The wilderness and solitary places shall be glad for them, And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.” “Who has ever thought this prophesy would ever come true with regard to the Hauraki Plains ? "In 1910, when the first people began .to settle on the Plains, others thought they were madmen to try to. make farms pn such land, but now those “others” sadly regret the day when they let such a chance slip by. To-day, the finest land in the Dominion is on the Hauraki Plains. “When the Maoris came to New Zealand they did not find .the Plains as it is .to-day, but one vast stretch of water,. The Plains was then a happy hunting ground of the Maoris. “The Plains, which was once the mouth' of the Waikato River, was formed by the river carrying dpwa silt and vegetable matter, and depositing it everywhere. Then, i u spme strange way, the Waikato

changed its course.. and allowed the debris to settle down. It Was not called the Hauraki Plains in those days, but the Piako Swamp, and by the energetic attempts of the late editor of the Thames “Star,” and a few other enterprising tradesmen, the name was changed to the present one. When it was seen that the Plains might be valuable if it were drained, the engineer, Mr J. B. Thompson, and his s’-aff, set to work at once. After many strenuous years of hard wprk, wRh many hardships and adverse public comment, He succeeded in making this vast plain what it is to-day, and suitable for settlement, “It was at the end of 1910 that the first people settled on the land to cultivate and make it the famous and excellent dairying land .which it now is. To-day, where a huge swamp used to be, is- a large fertile flat, called the Hauraki plains. People consider themselves very lucky if they are able to obtain a section on the Hauraki Plains, although it may be rather small. People arte Rocking here nearly every day* and farmers who sell out obtain a’very satisfactory price, for the buyers, who more than likely are Taranaki farmers, know the productive value of the land, and that it will repay their outlay in a very short .time. Now there are no hardships, as regular boat services to Thames and Auckland, and

also a daily mail service ,have been instituted. In place of an area of scrub and bush stand houses, a hall, 1 general store, a butcher’s shop, a post office, a blacksmith’s forge, and a boardinghouse, but the greatest boon of all is the Ngatea bridge, which we owe to the perseverance of the early Ngatea settlers. Just of late forms of. amusements have appeared for the settlers, for now we have moving pictures regularly every week. It used tp be a very rare thing to see a motor-car oh the Plains, but now one can see a car nearly every day. One of the latest improvements in the district is the

erection of a butter factory. “We must now dwell upon the future of the Hauraki Plains, the most important . part of all. The man who predicts a great future for the Plains will not be far wrong. The first modern appliance installed through the Plains will be electricity. Instead of having oil engines to fun the milking plants, farmers will have electric motors. Electric lights will be installed throughout nearly all houses. The great firewood problem will be solved by having electric heat. The most important improvement which will raise the value of the land, especially the land within the vicinity of the line, will be the construction of a railway, line from Pokeno, somewhere across by the Ngarua Canal, to Paeroa, there joining the Thames line. This will make the time of travelling from Auckland to Thames half as short as by the former line, which goes all around Morrinsville. It is just like going half way round a circle instead of going across. As the roads get better or are kept metalled most farmers will keep motor-cars, but as the roads are so bad at present, the upkeep of sucn would be too much. Instead of metalling roads we may have concrete ones, as concrete is almost everlasting.

As time goes on we will have a stree: of shops and buildings where Ngatea Road now stands. We will very likely have a bakery soon, and also an orphanage is expected to be erected at Ngatea. "There will be very few drains bn the Plains soon, as concrete sewers will be built. Then, last, but not least, in the fab-toff future, we will have an aerial mail and passenger service. "If these mentioned things do come into existence the Hauraki Plains will be the most important farming community in New Zealand.” _ [Th e 'late editor of the Thames “Sta>” alluded to in the above essay was Mr Frank Bodie, now in partner-

ship with Mr W. A. Claris, of the Ngaruawahia “Advocate.”—Ed. Ga■et,te.] The girl’s essay reads: THE HAURAKI PLAINS. About fifteen years .ago, the Hauraki Plains was a swamp. This swamp was called the Piako Swamp, and a great part of it belonged to the Maori*. “The Government decided that this swamp could be drained, and they bought most of the land from the Maoris. Then they sent men up tp survey, and the Government then began to drain it. “They started working near the mouth of the river, and drained the land nearest to it, because it was the easiest to dp. The first thing they had to do was to build stop-banks near the river tq stop the tide, when it/ was full, from flowing over the land. “When they had finished the stopbanks they made floodgates to let the water out of the drains at low tide and to stop the water from going into the drains again at full tide. “When the Government had some of the land drained they held a ballot. I think it was about 1907. J From that time” until now they have kept draining more and more, until they have about thirty-five thousand acres drained; and people living on it.

"In the time past, the roads were not metalled, and just a few years ago they began metalling them and bringing the metal up in punts and sepws and landing it at the different wliarves. The roads are much better than they were in 1914, “There are five butter and cheese factories on the Plains, one at Nethertor, two at Turua, one at Shelly Beach, and one at Ngatea. In time to come the Plains will have a good number of fairly large townships, which are growing larger all the time. “Now the Hauraki Plains are divided up into farms, and the owners are dairying on them. For feed in summer time they plant maize, mangolds, and turnips, 1 because .the grass g'ets dry and the change of food does the. animals good. “There are not very many places which have swamp on them, because all the water has been drained off, so as to get the farms ready for dairying.

“Now there are large boats coming up the river, but a few years ago there were only small boats and launches coming up. “In 1914 there was no bridge or factory in Ngatea, and when one wanted to cross the river there were small boats, which had to be rowed across with a stick or a paddle. “When the Government builds the railway from Paeroa through the Hauraki Plains, it will make a great difference to the people, when they want to go to Auckland from here’or from Paeroa, "The farms will also be divided up into fifty-acre blocks, because the people, who come will want a portion of it, so -that they can crop or milk cows. There will be nice houses built, and a hospital also, bu>. that will be x done when the people come. “In time the. Plains will be worth more than they are now, because more people will be coming all the time, and wanting a piece pf this land just .to graze a few horses and cows upon.”