Rehab blocks part of Waimarino development

Ruapehu Bulletin, 11 July 1995, Page 14

Rehab blocks part of Waimarino development

The era of the rehabilitation blocks for settlement of "rehab" farmers returning home from the 2nd World War was to be much more successful than for the returned soldiers who attempted farm settlement after World War One. The government of the day had become wise to the events of the past and pegged land prices to their 1942 values, which of course was most unfortunate for those farmers selling out, but a bonus for the returned soldier. To purchase a rehab farm you had to enter ballots for the farms the government had purchased and if you were lucky you would draw one quickly , but of course if you were unlucky you had to cool your heels and just keep entering ballots. Another avenue of

purchase of a rehab farm was to1 find some farmer willing or forced to sell through ill-health or whatever. The Rehab Department would then lend you the money provided you were suitably qualified.

My desire, like many farmers' sons, had always been to own my own farm, but without a father or a kind relation to back you into a farm this was, except for the rehab farmer, virtually impossible. As I slowly but surely recovered from war injuries, I started making enquiries to the Rehab Department for finance so I could realise my ambition to own my own block. I had even located a block on the Raetihi Road midway between Ohakune and Raetihi. As it had taken me a period of some 10 years to become

fit enough, I was told that seeing I had been away from the farming scene for so long my farming qualifications would have to be updated before a loan could be granted. This was very bad news indeed as I had always been under the impression loans for RSA men were virtually granted on request. So I went to work on a farm in the Taihape area but never ever was I, with the arrival of a large family, able to save enough money to put down a deposit on a suitable size farm. As time went by and I realised the futility of trying to

achieve my ambition and at the age of 40 years decided the best I could hope to manage was a few acres. These 14 acres became available at Ohotu five miles out

of Taihape for £75 per acre. I was able to purchase this small block and secured a Rehab loan to build a house on it, where I lived, very happily indeed, with my family until my retirement

some 26 years later. As I look back over the years I can see the methods of farming in those days directly after the 2nd World War were quite primitive compared with today's methods. Many of those Rehab farmers worked their farms for a lifetime but a few sold as soon as the value of land increased dramatically when the 1942 land price restrictions were removed some time after the war. The going price of land during that post-war period of the late 1940s and early 50s on the Waimarino plateau was roughly £20 per acre. With the very generous government' s Rehab fixed interest rates of 2 or 3 per cent, headway for those RSA settlers

was comparatively easy. The rehab blocks varied in size, but generally speaking virtually all work was done by the owner. If he was married his wife helped him on the farm; if single he would work in with neighbours at the busy periods, thus no money changed hands. You will still hear even in this day and age farmers saying "so-and-so owes me seven days" or "I must make a note that I now owe so-and-so 1 1 days". I think the considered economical unit in those days deemed necessary for survival was a 30-40 dairy cow unit or a 500-600 sheep unit. With the dairy farm hand stripping of the cows was still in vogue which added considerably to the time involved with milking. As with the sheep farmer he also did all his own work, working in with neighbours for tasks such as haymaking which he could not do alone. There were no shearing contractors as we know today. The Rehab sheep farmer shore all his own sheep and

picked up and pressed his wool at a tally rate of between 80 - 100 sheep per day depending on his ability. In most cases he also, like the dairy farmer, did all his own work including dagging, docking, crutching, dipping, drenching, cropping, fencing etc. In the area I am writing of most of these Rehab blokes had a few acres of vegetable garden, which while adding to the farm income, also greatly increased their workload. The vegetables grown in that era were not washed or brushed as they are today — just dug or picked by hand, put into suitable sized bags and then railed from Ohakune Junction to the markets. As only a portion of the ground had been cultivated in that late 1940 period, there was still an ample supply of "new" ground-, which in the first couple of years under cultivation, was almost completely free from weeds and bugs. As you can guess the use of sprays and insecticides were completely unheard of. On the other hand in those days there were none of the wonderful machinery devices used so extensively in that region today — machines capable of doing the work of literally hundreds of men. An added plus for the rehab farmer who grew a garden for the market, was if prices on the market were poor he was able to feed the vegetables to his stock and thus avoid any waste.