TALES OF EAKLY DAYS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 November 1939, Page 8

TALES OF EAKLY DAYS

PIONEERS OF THE GENTLER SEX INTERESTING HISTORICAL COMPILATION. A WOMEN’S INSTITUTE PUBLICATION. An interesting and valuable addition to the published historical records of the Dominion is made in "Tales of Pioneer Women,” a collection of brief biographies and stories of the early days, and some of more recent times, collected by the Women's Institutes of New Zealand. In the words of its editor (Mrs A. E. Woodhouse): "This is not a history book, nor is it a collection of short biographies of the most outstanding women of our country; rather is it a book of simple tales, chiefly memories that have been handed down to us by our mothers and grandmothers. The tales tell chiefly of women, but the lives of our grandfathers and grandmothers were so closely bound together that to tell of one without the other would not give a true picture of the pioneering days.” . While it has its inevitable literary limitations, the plan adopted of presenting direct, authentic and unadorned accounts of pioneering life and of the part that women played in it also has its advantages. The simple narratives written by the descendants of pioneers, or in some instances by the pioneers themselves ,are frequently'of absorbing interest and highly informative. Many of them are impressive in their revelation of the quiet heroism that the pioneers, and not least pioneer women, often were called upon to display in meeting perils and enduring hardships and deprivations. Much is made visible in these tales of the fine human quality and the valiant effort that were needed to transform a wilderness into the pleasant land we know and love today. To read these pages is to obtain an enlarged and improved understanding of the part that women have had in laying the foundation of the Dominion of New Zealand.

The aim in compiling the book, the editor explains, was to make it representative of every district in New Zealand. Although complete success was not attained in this particular, the scope of the compilation is generously broad. It is a treasure store of pioneering records. In tales and sketches and in well-selected extracts from letters and journals of the early days, a wealth of light is thrown upon the experiences of pioneers, and especially of pioneer women, in every province of the Dominion. There are stories, as a prefatory note observes,

"of the wives of missionaries, miners, storekeepers, school teachers and numerous others.” Many of the tales relate to pioneer contact with the Maoris, in peace and in war. The reader is made aware equally of memorable historical events and developments and of familiar day to day details in the life of our pioneer settlers. The book presents in one way and another such a wealth of interesting material that any attempt in brief space even to catalogue its merits and claims to attention is rather hopeless. It will carry its own recommendation, however, to all who wish to improve their knowledge of the history and traditions of their country. It will enable many a reader to cultivate a better understanding than could otherwise be hoped for of days of stress and gallant endeavour, days not without their simple pleasures, but involving also conditions of toil, hardship, and deprivation from which many today would shrink. In this record of the part that women played in the pioneering of New Zealand the Wairarapa naturally is not overlooked. Miss O. lorns contributes an informative account of early days in this district when, as she writes. "Masterton was the northernmost of the Wairarapa settlements; Greytown, thirteen miles to the south, was the nearest point of civilisation; but between the two lay the bushcovered plains where Carterton later came into being.” Miss’ lorns writes of Masterton’s first store (kept in the fifties by her grandmother, Mrs lorns', of Masterton’s first wedding, in 1855. and of the great earthquake which almost synchronised with that social event.

From other pens there are informative accounts of the early accommodation house established by Mr and Mrs Isaac Cripps in the Whareama Valley, of some notable pioneer women of the Wairarapa and of settlement in the Alfredton district.

Apart from a prefatory note by the editor, Mrs Woodhouse, who also contributes, in the opening chapter, an epitomised account of the earliest settlement in New Zealand, at the Bay of Islands, there is a foreword in which Mrs A. E. Jerome Spencer. 0.8. E.. founder of Women’s Institutes in New Zealand, describes the origin of the movement and its expansion to its present impressive proportions. Another foreword is contributed by Miss Amy G. Kane, Dominion President, New Zealand Women's Institutes. The illustrations, of which there are sixty, apart from a few drawings in the text, are a noteworthy feature of the book and add greatly to its interest. Some of the very earliest scenes of white settlement are pictured —for example the mission station at Keri Kcri about 1825 and that at Whangaroa about 1826. and a number of the illustrations are from sketches made in the forties and fifties of last century. With portraits of some notable women, the subjects include scenes of war and settlement famous in the history of the Dominion, the sites of some of our cities before the cities had been built, examples of the crude huts with which many of our pioneers had to be content in their early days of struggle, some of the ships whose names are associated with the history of New Zealand, bullock wagons, coaches and other vehicles and many features besides of life in pioneering and later days. The book as a whole handsomely justifies and sustains its dedication: "To the memory of the gallant pioneer wives and mothers who. by their I'aith. steadfast courage, and love, made possible the colonisation of New Zealand."

"Talcs of Pioneer Women" is published for the Women’s Institutes of New Zealand by Messrs Whitcombe and Tombs. Ltd.