FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 3080, 14 December 1888, Page 2

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

of the • WAIRARAPA • ' by "Theßolling Stone." It ia considerably over thirty years since tlio -writer first heard"of thp TiVairftrajJii, district, tLpugh, by the way it was by a 'somewhat different appellation then ltnown to the early settler Jn the days now hallowed by- the title of" the good old times," the colonist was obstinatoly addicted to-that thoroughly British habit of mutilating native names. If a Maori naino offered the least difficulty in the way. of pronunciation it'was forthwith twisted into a more .convenient shape, regardless of otcpiologjr or consequence. So we finJ'tbaijn Nojson, eyen to thjs (jay, bld : setti'6rs' often speiijt 1 of i'ng districts' 'it's"" Muddywako,"' and ."'Hokypoke." , snu|lar': veasons that mountain of evil repute, 'the Jlaungatapu, betweeii' Kelson and lias been introduced to the rlaiig nf" JjfoJjatap." To daily , settlers tills (M'lot was jjjosjly' lujoinr as the,. ''AViiidrip,'" ErolnW' of - If could' he ,apliroifchef jin}y Ijy m?jin§'a 'difficult country iMll shrouded in mystery. It is tmesoven in those days the Wairarapa \d-a..reputation. tis a magnifioentdi«Cotforpaßtoral pursuite, but as ret in

which the Melia held only dubious sway, over tho lordly . Maori, who,'■ if not still a ruler m the land was anything but'a model,. subject of' the British Crown; lionco, only ■ those gifted with the true • spirit of the. pioneer, cared to venture into tbat i land of rich .promise beyond the Eimuialta.

- While speaking of the pioneer days 1 would like to ask why. people, now, so persistently refer to them a? " the good old times' ?" Perhaps it itj-diie to that laudable oh avity which prompts us to utter only kind words of the dead and gone, that the dead past of New Zealand's pioneer days receives such a touching requiem at the hands of most of those who indulged in a retrospective glance, at tho work'of Colonisation, . I fear, however, that thislike inaiiy another good custom is slightlyabused. It must be admitted that in those early days was more genuine fellow-feeling between all classes than one now witnesses. Men - did not then surround themselves with an icy barrier, removablo . only by the conventional formalities, of English society. _ The early 'settler proffered hospitality and accepted it at the tends of others, without, for one moment, pausing to ask whether ho thereby compromised himself with the "set" or class, to which he was supposed to belong,. The' common trials and hardships, to whioh all were liable, had, at -least, the .effect of creating amongst the early settlers a friendly and sympathetic feeling, with which of late years wo are less familiar.: .But when I have said this I have paid the only tribute that I can afford to that period, now styled " the good old times," What I object to is the tone of the' new arrivals, when they twit us old fogeys (as they generally do) with the splendid chances we bad in the early days.. r These exasperating people stare at us most irreverently when we tell them that we have been, in New Zealand ■ for " over forty years, and that as yet we have not sueceeded.in building unto ourselves a temple of wealth. " Good gracious I tod you were here'in the good old times I" is their inevitable remark, Yes, friends, we were here at the time when 2s 6d was: paid for a day's work, and when those who paid it reminded us of the fact that that s.um wasaliberaladvance on previous rates, We were hero in brighter days'when the labouring maiij no longer harassed by hard times, got as high as 8s 6d for his day's work; though, .by-the-by, stores of all kinds were certainly a little dearer than they are just now at Caselberg's. I grant that land was ; cheap, but we did not all have the necessary funds for acquiring large runs, and. from the above quotations,, it may be inferred that'it was not altogether a simple task to knock up a few hundreds ,at that time. For those 1 who did take up land in the country,

time were 110 roads, aud, strangest Mrijkjyujttys—a' fact hard- to ■ furuisliGd^WmSv^fflMnyT • brave pioneer." Later on, thoy had to 9do battle in another form. The t Maories considered themselves I aggrieved, and, in their own rude ) style, sought to wrest baok from the ' pakeha tho land on which he i had made his homo, and so I supt pose just as a tribute to those " good 1 old times," men sacrificed their lives; . or broke up homesteads, which they f had built up with years of patient 3 toil, But the exactive new-comer ' says; " Why refer to these things ? Are they not matters of history, familiar to us all ? Docs not every * old "file" one meets bore'ones life t out with dreary descriptions of those ) pioneer days?" Yes, 1 daresay he does, ' but you new chums will keep harping f on that one discordant note about the > chances we must have thrown away in the past, while you will not understand that which is of use for you to 1 linotv—that in 1888 a man has just ' as good a chailce in Now Zealand as | he would have had at any time since 1 Captain Cook's days; and that prosI perity does not necessarily disappear 1 from the shores of a new country ■ with the first generation of Colonists. 1 But to return to my much negleoted ! subject. With a new era came roads 1 and railways, Country districts ' wo rapidly settled, and important 1 towns sprang into oxieteuce, lending importance to hitherto unknown localities. Geography had to be oarc--1 fully re-learned, and still I must own 1 that until a few days ago I had only ! a very hazy'idea of the Wairarapa 1 district. I was told, and told often, with reference to this district that in railway matters ' soraeouo had blundered.' I had heard of lofty summits and Fell engines., I had heard even of playful zephyrs that sometimes sported around tho speeding train, This and many cautions that I was not to guagothe quality of the land by the stony plains through which tho railway passed, and like Froude and many another tourist I was certain that 1 already Imew- all about tho country. My first surprise was in having reached the summit i from Wellington without the assistant oi a Fell ongino. It was when on tho top of tho range that I loarned for the first time that it was pnly on tho Wairarapa slopo that tho train had to be towod by one of these ponderous machines. Just as the train was about to start on the downward journey I asked a fellow passenger' what height,we wero over sea lovel, and I held my breath while awaiting his" reply, !• About 1200 feet," answered my friend, I was once more .disenchanted tor I still had lively recollections of my trip from Canterbury to Westland, along the route pf that snow-white elophant the Midland -Railway, On that ( jouriiey wo had reached the top of I Porter's Pass, and were dashing for* i ward towards the glories of the Otira i Gorge when Cassidy, who was driving pointed with his whip and observed 1

" There's the tallest telegraph pole i in New Zealand. The top's 4500 feet' over sea levol." Of late our rulers have been discussing a small matter of detail about the Midland Bailway. It seems tboy aro not quite decided as to whether they .will bore a tunnel under those Alpine heights, 01; wjietlier. jjiey wi|l ! ]ust whisk the train over the top'by some wonderful bit'of moelianism that Mr .Mitcbelsdn' has' been reading ibottl; A s the traffic will be light the danger in either -fee will, be small; but is tbero" nOt i' marvelous ! bpoiiiiig ih this' gp}Q|ijl far " ' enjineei'tjOi' coining down - the Bimutska darkness fell lifpoii ; our tiacli, and to I \vas nimble to form any jfjjea ,of this country through 'wjjicli §6 |iisf liig.' iiimir ipgl rose eafly, aii tf f 111 fowijig j my window, thoroughly; pigoypd my first glimpse of tliepgnifloeut country. Of coarse it was totally different i to .ffbat 'I had ospscted, but one

novei does foim a coirect idea of a place until one aotually visits it. Thflw v - clumps of nativo forest trees foiegiound, and the mgged, snowcapped ranges m tho distance , re- " minded mo of Southland, and I : could imagine myself in - Invercargill or, Winton,' had. not the very> tall poplars, the oucalypti in an adjoining fiold,.and the'maguificent display, of flowers in the garden beneath me told - a tale of higher latitude awl a more gonial one than that which shines in the far south. As yet I have only made myself partially' acquainted . ■ with Masterton and tho surrounding districts;-. I mayi howoverj say here," that .while I had realized to a certain extent the area of the large sheep runs for which the district is famouj, I had not expected to find such a j magnificent tract of agricultural land in the Wairarapa, As' for the town' of Masterton I think there need be no .■■■■■ hesitation. in giving' it tho .palm as the premier' inland '. Colony. Had I not long since, ma* up my mind to be. surprised at nothing I saw in the way of buildings in the outlying towns, I should certainly, have marvelled at many; of .the pre- i tentious' stores and other buildings in the town. The architeoturo'displayed in many of the buildings in Masterton is of a very-high order, and Queenstreet would not be out of place as - leading thoroughfare in any off ourirv Colonial towns. The fact of therebeing a free reading room in Masterton'shows that at least in one respeot the inhabitants are ahead of those in the capital city, but, then, I understand tho Wellingtoniaus have - carefully weaned themselves.of all. ' literary tastes and are, saving their "■ surplus cash'for that " Babylonian wonder " the destructor.. If 1 might once more digress I «;ouls like -to ask " Has anyone in the Wairarajfc'' lieardwhat the Wellington destructraris to bo used for ?" ; I have already ■ asked nearly all the officials and City J 1 Councillors about the holocausts that ; are to be offered, to that destruotor, ' but they appeared to differ on every point excepting as totiie cost of construction and height of the flue, of • whioh 'the citizens are justly The.majorityofthose 'I spoke to said { that it is for destroying dead dogs,and ihat sort of thing, butothers say'it will destroy anything arid'! everything, That, as a matter of fact it has already destroyed the popularity of ' one . .Mayor and a whole city 1 ' Council, I am trespassing rather .' oruelly oil your space Mr and I .still find. a number, of - ■ items *'•: connected, with the legitimate subject of this paper whioh I-', cannot touch on here. Should you deem my vagaries worthy of space I " " may continue them in alater issue." In case another opportunity should '■ not offer, however, allow me to say ] here that with your favorable climate, and a traot of good agricultural lanL' equal in extent to a< German Pwd«/.v ~:n.'„'

cipanty: with a good water and an' • * unlimited supply of' tho pro l "' ; Sperityof tHeJffairarapacan be onlya>:: |jMj||Atft&Lateron I may • a jain v "i whM.pointj^ r I^BffiaTmote" by, everday' experience tlmif by • woll-established precedent, it'is only natural that ous- * toins diflor widely in different dis- ■ !■ tvicts; honctf it is not impossible that • while the Waii'aropa residents aro in. a position to give their, neighbors soine. valuablo lessons in practical utility, there may be some points on whioh thoy might profit" by the experience of their neighbors. ■ Henoe, ' if I return to the subject, I shall endeavor to present'your readors with • any point of contrast that may,ocour • to me, and will leave the intelligent settler to say which' of the customs is tho more worthy of tion. '