'Times' shows times change

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 234, 8 March 1988, Page 9

'Times' shows times change

A glance at the advertisements in the Ohakune Times of Saturday December 9, 1911 reminds us of how times h a v e changed. A 900 acre block of land in Rangataua with "a good house and outbuildings" was being offered for three pounds fifteen shillings an acre or 475 pounds cash. Mrs Olsen o f Waimarino House in Ohakune was offering weekly board and residence with "good beds" and "first class table" for 16 shillings per week. You could buy a "homless gramophone with five double-sided records in order to hear the latest songs, selections, operas and bands in your own home" for five pounds delivered free or you could purchase a piano "on easy terms from 20 shillings monthly." But then all was not as we might wish it today. And advertisement on the front page for the Auckland-W elling ton Express train timetable

showed that the total time for the journey between the two cities was about 17 hours. The train 1 e a v i n g Auckland at 9.15 at night wouldn't arrive in Wellington until 4.07 the following afternoon while the train in the opposite direction would leave Wellington

just after midday and not arrive in Auckland before seven the next morning. The journey between Ohakune and Tau-

marunui, which n o w takes the Silver Fern 1 hour 25 minutes, took just under three hours (twice the time) in 1911. The journey between Raetihi and Ohakune was not that much faster according to the following timetable advertised by Jopp's Coaches in the Ohakune Times of 1911. Leave Arrive Raetihi 5.30amOhakune . Ohakune 10am Raetihi 11.15am . Raetihi 6pm Ohakune 7.1 5pm Ohakune 9.45pm Raetihi 1 1 pm Only two trips each way each day and an hour and a quarter's journey for a trip that now takes less than 10 minutes by car. One eye-catching ad-

vertisement in that 1911 edition no doubt attracted the attention of early readers in those days as it does today. Headed: "REWARD" like a Man W a n t e d postfcr it was followed with: "Any person found dealing with JOHN DAVIES, meat salesman, Ohakune, will be amply rewarded in Quality and Price." No doubt John Davies did a good trade. Interestingly, in view of our own forthcoming elections for the new Waimarino District Council, the editorial content in this 1911 edition of the Ohakune Times featured results and comments on a re-

cent General Election. And perhaps even more interesting still, in view of the forthcoming report of the Royal Commission on the Electoral System in New Zealand, one of the unsuccessful candidates in the Waimarino electorate, Mr F.F. Hockly, said at a public meeting afterwards that "he was opposed to the second ballot and advocated

proportional representation." That was 77 years ago! As far as we have been able to ascertain to date, the Ohakune Times continued to be published throughout the two World Wars and for a few years beyond the end of the Second World War. While we have no record of when the last

edition of the Ohakune Times appeared, we do know it served the Waimarino community for something like 40plus years (1905-194?). We also know that a new newspaper called the Central District Press made its first appearance in the Waimarino on Monday June 14, 1948. NEXT WEEK: the Central District Press.