PIONEER SETTLERS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 31 August 1939, Page 9

PIONEER SETTLERS

WAIRARAPA DISTRICT IN 1873

Cheap Living Conditions

SETTLEMENT OF THE FORTY-MILE BUSH

'.ROADMAKING AND OTHER TASKS

(Specially Written for the “Wairarapa Times-Age" by Charles Bannister.)

In 1873 an arterial road passed through the Wairarapa Plains and a portion of the Forty Mile Bush, joining at Woodville with the road from the Manawatu to Napier. The Wairarapa had long been partially settled and was indeed the first outlet for the enterprise of the sheep farmer or squatter as he was usually called. Although largely a pastoral district, the first small farm settlements in the province of Wellington were formed in the Wairarapa. Masterton was the second small farm settlement selected, though it made the greatest forward movement when the immigrants came Beyond Masterton, in the Forty Mile Bush, there were several small farm settlements formed for the purpose of locating such of the immigrants as were employed in a stated portion of their time in making the neighbouring roads. A mail coach belonging to Mr Hastwell, of Greytown, travelled daily between Wellington and Masterton. Masterton was the terminus of a line of railway, one half of which was under contract to be opened in 1876, the first section of eight miles having been opened. Almost in all directions the country was traversed by fairly good roads and some of the worst rivers were bridged. The Tauherenikau and Waingawa bridges were built and that over the Waipoua was under construction. The bridges would have been most creditable anywhere. Excepting where the lands had been reserved from sale, a thriving population was to be met with clustered in townships and villages or dotted on farms or stations, comprising a large portion of men and women, who when they arrived in the colony, brought nothing with them but industrious habits, the will and the strength to work and the hope that was begotten by a favourable field in which to exercise them. Notwithstanding the immigration that was going on, there was room for years to come for more, with as fine a country if not finer than before for them to occupy. The land purchases from the Maoris were, at the beginning of settlement, very slow. The early settlers had, in consequence, many difficulties to encounter, as in many cases they could not, without great hardship and delay, enter into possession of what was their land. In 1874 the newcomer found everything ready at his hand, and instead of spending his first few years unprofitably he put his toil to immediate advantage, for he had to transport stores, machinery and stock, so he could reap quickly the fruits of his work. No man then in Masterton needed to fear the result, if he was but frugal as well as industrious. As the land became occupied to a greater extent there was room for almost any kind of artisans. For female domestic servants the demand was always increasing. as so many young women married. COMPARISON OF PRICES. Up to the end of 1873 the necessaries of life were very reasonable and in some cases, such as meat, prices were exceedingly low compared with those in England. The best- of mutton and beef were then 2d and 3d per lb. Rent for a four-roomed cottage was 8s to 10s per week. Every labouring man could have meat three times a day to his heart’s content, and as potatoes were 4s 6d per large sack, he could have potatoes twice daily. As there was no such thing as blight, all vegetables grew luxuriously on the virgin soil. A few pumpkin seeds sown in a heap of rubbish in a corner of the garden would keep the house going. Bacon, home-cured and dry (not green and heavy like it is now) was 9d per lb. best dairy butter lOd, cheese 6d. pocket knives, best Sheffield Pampas. Is, butchers’ knives Is, watertight boots 15s 6d to 17s 6d and made to order £l, elastic sides 16s, white moleskin trousers, which would not tear and would last two years, 10s 6d; Crimean shirts 4s 6d; military socks, which wore out the heel of the foot first, 2s 6d; axes, best sharps, 4s Gd; spades 5s and shovels ss. Round wire nails were not on the market. Flat nails that would split the boards if put in the wrong way were used. The tobacco used mostly was Irish Twist. Nearly everybody smoked clay pipes which cost a penny each. The Maoris grew and made their own tobacco, which they culled torori, and didn't it hum! Tea was Is 6d per lb for the sort which was called post and rail tea. It was nearly all twigs about an inch long with a few leaves. The best quality was 2s Gd. It was sold generally to families in quarter chests. I once saw in a Wellington paper an advertisement about good shearers’ tea at Is Gd per lb. I never saw bad shearers’ tea quoted. There were three qualities of sugar, black, brown and soft white. The black had a twang with it and if put into a pannikin of post and rail tea with a little milk added, it made a concoction of a blue roan colour with a nauseating taste which lasted. MAORIS ENJOY FEAST. I remember two Maori women who came to our place and bought two

pounds of rice and two of black sugar. They borrowed a saucepan and went into' a paddock at the back of the nouse where they lit a fire. Into the pot they put the rice and filled it with water. When the water started to boil the rice began to swell and came up to the top of the pot. The Maori women made two spoons out of split shingles, but they could not keep the rice down by stirring, so they sprinkled some.of the black sugar on top of it and tried to keep the rice below the level of the top by eating it. When they had some rice with the sugar on it they sprinkled more sugar on the ■ rice and ate it. They did this three times and still the rice was rising, so they had a walk about, came back and gave it another go. Then they had a korero. One came into the shop and bought two pairs of white cotton stockings. These they filled with the remainder of the cooked rice, tied them together at the top, an,d slung them over their shoulders. When they returned to the pot, one of them remarked: "Ko ki taua puku, he rekaatu ki taua te raihi. We feel very satisfied; rice is very nice and sweet.” We were told these ladies had many rests before they reached the pa. In 1874 Mr J. lorns went to Sydney for a trip. He brought back a lot of fancy things for the shop. Amongst them were some fancy nightgowns, with pretty lace fronts, in which pink paper had been inserted to show them off. Two Maori girls saw them in the window. They came in and bought one each. When Mr lorns started to take the paper out they said: “No, no, Tio, leave it.” They placed them over their clothes and walked about the streets showing what they had bought. WAGES INCREASED. In 1874 wages went up to 8s a day or Is per hour. This caused a rise in everything. Meat went up to 3d and 4d a lb. Men on stations received £1 per week and keep, domestic servants 10s, boys 10s and daily labourers Is per hour. In some cases good mechanics got 10s for eight hours’ work Labourers working on farms generally got their mutton for 2s 6d per quarter, weighing about fifteen pounds of first-class mutton. Those quarters were cut just under the kidney so as to eqalise the weight, but since farmers have been breeding for the fat mutton trade, the sheep have a longer hindquarter, sometimes showing a bit of the shoulder blade when hanging in the butcher’s shop. I remember my father had a line of fat 6-tooth wethers for sale. The local butcher came to see them. My father wanted 8s for them and the butcher offered 6s. The deal ended in splitting the difference. That meant 7s for sheep that would weigh over eighty pounds. In 1874 about 150 working men were employed in the Forty Mile Bush, mostly roadmaking, and the population, counting all hands, was about 500 souls, mostly Scandinavian immigrants. Many wore not on their sections but were living at the camp at Dreyerton. The officials in charge of the works were Mr A. Munro, general engineer for the Public Works Department; Mr Colin Macdonald, overseer, and Mr W. Fulcher, bridgebuilder. The engineer-in-charge of the Scandinavian settlement of Mauriceville, Mr Bremner, is still alive and lives near Wellington. I believe he is the last survivor of those who worked on that road. Those Scandinavians were the real pioneers of that vast country. They were the right type of men and women and most of them made good. Their wives worked hard on their sections while their husbands earned money to buy yearling heifers. From these heifers were established the dairy industry that later supplied the Mauriceville Dairy Co. MELLENSKOV. In 1874 about ten families of Scandinavians lived at Mellenskov, now called Eketahuna. As the sons of those people were brought up in the bush they made splendid bushfellers and many have won competitions for chopping. When the bulk of the Forty Mile Bush was felled by contract it was mostly Scandinavians who did it. Much work was done by contract, such as fencing, post splitting, shingle splitting, bushfelling, draining, shearing and tying the corn It was this contract work that made young colonials so efficient, as they had to think for themselves. A young colonial’s ambition was to do better and quicker work than any of his neighbours. In shearing sheep, if a lad could turn out 100 sheep a day in his second year out he would be reckoned to be a coming shearer with the "bright and shinies," as the blades were called. The same applied to splitting posts. If he coula turn out 100 posts himself in a day he was thought to be a great man. Tying up behind a reaper took some doing but many kids of sixteen would scorn to hold up a team of horses while he finished a length. The lads of those times were wonderful inventors. They constructed a gadget for everything to help them in their work and some of those gadgets, with a little improvement, have been patented.