A CHAT WITH MR. WALDEN.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 865, 14 July 1910, Page 2

A CHAT WITH MR. WALDEN.

By the departure of Mr J. Walden, Moutoa loses one of its oldest settlers. It is 45 years ago since Mr Walden, then a youth of 18, arrived in the hub of Manawatu to manage a pub. and store. Moutoa then possessed two pubs, and a rope walk. In those days it took about six hours to come overland from Moutoa to Foxton. Goods, etc., were conveyed per canoe at £5 per ton. In those days Palmerston N. possessed three houses. Mr Walden tells some very interesting stories of the good old days. He was engaged with his brother in forming the Foxton-Moutoa road, and laboured in many other directions preparing the land for settlement. He had considerable experience and many adventures in canoeing goods up and down the river. “ Good men worked very hard in those times for 5s per day,” said Mr Walden. The Maoris were pretty numerous at that time. He says on one occasion the Maoris had sold some land, and, as a result, were in possession of bank notes in book form. They “drank out” a certain pub, and the landlord put boiling water into the casks and sold it at 6d per glass, which was readily swallowed by the natives. “ They would throw down a pound note and say, ‘ never mind the change—plenty more here,’ tapping the b®ok.” Mr Walden said land then could be bought about Foxton for next to nothing. He remembers Foxton’s early settlers arriving, and is chock-full of anecdotes which would make interesting reading. Mr Walden was born and educated in Wellington.