EKETAHUNA

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 January 1940, Page 7

EKETAHUNA

VITAL STATISTICS FIGURES FOR PAST YEAR. ("Times-Age” Special.) For the quarter ended December 30 the vital statistics for Eketahuna were: —Births, 16; deaths, 2; marriages. 2 The figures for the year were: —Births. 70; deaths, 10; marriages. 13. LATE MR A. MORRIS FUNERAL AT WAIPUKURAU. The funeral of the late Mr Andrew Morris, whose death occurred at Waipukurau on Sunday, took place on Tuesday at the Waipukurau Cemetery. Pastor W. H. Stevens, of Auckland, officiated at the graveside, and the pallbearers were Messrs G. Morris (brother), T. C. Denne, T. and H. Denne (nephews), Ron. Fergusson and C. Williams. A large number of wreaths were received. Personal Items. Misses Bruce, Usher and Lister, all of Wellington, are staying at Liverpool House. Mrs D. Fraser . with her daughters, Misses Beth and Hazel Fraser, are visiting Paraparaumu Beach. Mr and Mrs C. Laurie and family, Napier, are the guests of Mr and Mrs W. Dawsett, Newman. Mr and Mrs W. Lawrie, Christchurch, and Mr and Mrs J. Hancock, Petone, has returned home after spending the holidays with friends at Newman. EARLY DAYS OF NEWMAN DENSE BUSH IN 1886. NOW A PROGRESSIVE DAIRYING CENTRE. Sometimes referred to as the suburb of Eketahuna, Newman has played an important part in the settlement of the northern part of the Wairarapa. The sturdy pioneers who carved their homes out of the virgin bush of Newman were of the same splendid type that made Mauriceville and Eketahuna such successful settlements. Originally known as Wellington special settlement No. 1 Newman is about two miles up the line from Eketahuna. The town is situated on flat country though the hills on one side and the river on the other are only a short distance apart. The town originally consisted of 840 acres, made up of 109 town sections and 114 suburban sections averaging about four acres each, there being as well several reserves and roads. Plentiful Supply of Water. A writer 45 years ago describing Newman stated: —“There are two recreation reserves at Newman, one of seventeen acres and another of about half that area. The cemetery reserve is nine acres and the waterworks reserve 14 acres. The latter is among the hills, but it is not likely that any use will be made of it for many years, as splendid water is to be found at a depth of five feet, and this notwithstanding that the river has worn a course for itself not less than seventy feet below the level of the town, or 65 feet below the line at which water is invariably reached. Within a few feet of the riverbank the water is still obtainable at a depth of five or six feet. This very great advantage is accounted for by the fact that at that depth the papa foundation is struck and the superstratum of gravel and alluvial soil acts as a perennial filter.” A Population of Fifty. In 1886 Newman was covered with dense bush but the early settlers soon had sites for their homes cleared and it was not long before cows and sheep were to be seen grazing over the new-ly-burnt and grass-sown country. Forty-odd years ago the township was not large, there being a post office and telephone bureau, a school, schoolmaster's house, a public hall, a store, a blacksmith's shop and a number of houses of a substantial type, for those early times. There were then about fifty settlers in the district who were reported to be doing well on their farms. In those days Newman formed.' No. 1 ward of the Eketahuna Road Board (there was no Eketahuna Borough or County then) and was represented at the period which this account refers to by Messrs Mowbray and Bourke. The necessity of possessing good roads was recognised by the settlers who launched a very effective policy in this direction, the greater part of the road making being carried out by co-operative labour. The rates were very light then, and the value of property was continually on the increase. The railway was being pushed on from Eketahuna. and many of those settlers who had bush sections in the Mauriccville-Eketahuna-Newman area were engaged in the work of constructing the railway and thus' obtaining money to pay off and improve their farms. ________________ i