IN THE ’EIGHTIES

Waikato Times, Volume 119, Issue 19889, 19 May 1936, Page 9

IN THE ’EIGHTIES

VETERAN LOOKS BACK. EARLY DAYS OF WAIKATO. STAGE COACH TO CAMBRIDGE. _ _ Waikato was very young when Mr Harry Mlsson, a well-known resid- ’! ent °f Cambridge, came to New Zealand. Railways were in their inI rai \ c y< the motor car was .unknown, | and more value was placed on a horse ! a * d i_ a wa ffS° n than a hundred acres jof bush-clad land. It was 1881 when he arrived in Hamilton, a shantytown of butchers, bakers and blacksmiths with a railway station and a 1 post office. To a Waikato Times reporter Mr Misson to-day gave a graphic picture of the Waikato as he knew it in the | eighties, when stage coaches piled from town to town, when land settlement was just starting and estates of thousands of acres were considered the normal sized farm. Farmer, contractor and railway builder, he played no small part in the development of the district. “Can you picture Hamilton in the eighties?” he asked the interviewer. “It was Just a collection of shops on the western side of the river. There i "as a post-office, an hotel and a store, with a blacksmith and shoemaker doing business near Knox Street. The main trunk line had penetrated only as far as Ohaupo and Hamilton marked the end of the railI way to the east. Buggies, waggons and coaches lined the streets and an ‘old neddy’ was owned by everyone of any consequence.” Difficult Roads. Communications to the settlement at Cambridge were undertaken by a stage coach driven by Mr Charles Johnson, one of the best whips in | New Zealand, and where to-day cars travel over the 14 miles of bitumenised road in 20 minutes or half-an-hour, it required a full day to make the double journey in the eighties. “To-day we hear talk of difficult roads. Why, none of the present generation know what slush really is,” Mr Mission confided. “The roads were so bad that on the steepest grades it. was necessary to whip the horses to get the waggons moving downhill. I, myself, have driven a team of eight horses down the notorious Duke Street Hill, at Cambridge, whipping them continually to avoid being bogged.” Cambridge still remained essentially a military settlement and while a handful of civilians plied their crafts and trades, the quarters of the armed constabulary, a forceful reminded of native troubles, remained on a site where the Salvation Army Hall now stands. Just over five decades ago, Mr Misson worked on the Woodlands Estate of 180,000 acres in the Mangawara 1 district with the late Mr G. F. McCullough, of Cambridge, and for some time he was engaged in the construction of the railway between Hamilton and Newstead. He thought nothing of knocking off work at Newstead at 12 o’clock on a Saturday and walking with his fellow-workers to Hamilton, returning in the same manner in the evening. In 1883 he took up work at Ngaruawahia for Messrs Stone Brothers, who had the contract to supply horses for use on the original Auckland tramways. An order would come for 20 animals and the staff would be engaged for some months in breaking and training the horses j for work in the city. By Waggon to Taupo. Following his marriage 50 years ago, Mr Misson secured a position on the Matamata Estate at Lichfield and, for some years, until the horse was ousted by the speedier motor trans- ! port, he carried groceries and provi- J sions to Taupo by means of a heavy i waggon and a large team of horses. | As the double trip occupied almost a! I week he was obliged to camp en . j route. Often it was necessary to ! j flounder through feet of mud, crawl ! tortuously up precarious grades and manoeuvre along the narrow road to allow tlie fast slage coaches to pass. Stables were located at Atiamurl, which was a recognised stoppingplace for the coach services. Up to 17 years ago, Mr Misson farmed at Lichfield, where it was his duty to carry the cream of the suppliers in his district to the railway station at Putaruru for transit to the * creamery at Ngongotaha. However, he disposed of his property and moved to Cambridge, where he has since resided.