OLD TARANAKI

SOME REMINISCENCES. HARDSHIPS OB THE PIONEERS. PALMERSTON N., July 15 Mr John-Cheyne, who now resides at Utuwai, and who was one of the earliest drivers of public conveyances in the Taranaki district, has just revisited that portion of the country, where he was much struck by the changes which have taken place. Mr Cheyne arrived at Wanganui from the Old Country in 1863, and shortly afterwards moved on to the Taranaki district. He was one of the first mail contractors there when roads were practically unknown and the bulk of the country was standing bush. He continued on the road, until Cobb and Co.'s coaches made their appearance, and was for some years in that firm's employ as a driver. His reminiscences given to a Dominion representative this week, should be of interest to those "who have only known the district in what he calls the more civilisecTtimes, with its tar-sealed roads and motor cars as means of locomotion. When he started driving there over 40 years ago, there were practically no roads, only tracks cut out of the virgin bush, through which it was difficult to get anything on wheels, on account of "the depth of the mud. At1 that time, Mr Cheyne says, he saw the site of the present township of Hawera being felled out of the bush by a man and his wife. What is now the Mountain road between Eltham and Hawera was l all standing bush, and the track out through it was either axle-deep in mud or iormed of corduroy. From there to what is" now Ngaere and On to Strat' ford and Midhirst was not "much better. So deep was the mud in some i places that the horsSs had to be taken out of the cart j and led round to the 'other side of the holes, and then all the spare chains were hooked pn and the vehicle was drawn across the T>og- Later on, when the railway was running as far as Stratford, Cobb's coaches used to connect with it there and went on 'to what was then Te Ngaere, where the horses were stabled behind a large kauri log. Often when the animals came in it was almost impossible to tell their colour owing to the mud with which they were covered. And it was impossible to do anything with them the same night, they had to remain with the mud caked on until next morning, when they were hosed down and scraped. In those days what did duty as townships were few and far between, and settlement was very sparse, while in some places it took a whole day to do six miles with a bullock dray with less than halfva load. Recently Mr Cheyne revisited the scenes of early adventures. He was taken over many of the roads in a motor car by a county council v chairman who knew that he had travelled over them constantly when they were in the state described above, and who t lok considerable pride in showing him the advancement made. The visitor was tsbonished at the transformation, declaring that the, roads in the majority of cases were as good as town roads, while the manner in which settlement had gorie ahead impressed him greatly./ Mr Cheyne pointed out that the early settlers had a good deal more, than the road's to contend with, as there were practically no conveniences of any kind. A settler on taking up land had. to cut a track through the bush to his holding and then probably, live in a tent for a considerable time, until he could fell timbe r Rnd rig up some sort of a house for himself and family. He then had to fell 'the bush off a sufficient area of land to allow, him to graze two or three cows with the help of the undergrowth which they got put of the bush. 'People nowadays might well ask! how-these pioneers made a living," &aid Mr Cheyne. "It was not living, but merely existing.' Prom their cows they made eocalled butter, fo r which they did not receive 2s 3d fto 2s 6d per lb., as has been the case lately, but only from 3d to 4d per lb., and this they had to barter to the storekeeper who supplied them with groceries, etc. As one who- h!*Q often travelled on the raiiway between Midhirst and New Plymouth, Mr Cheyne bore testimony is the fact that on Saturdays especially it was a very hard, job to get a seat in the second-class carriages on account of the number of women with their baskets of butter which they were taking, to the local store, or who were returning; with the weekly supplies. This went on for some years, until many of the settles got more of their country cleared of bush. The falling of the bush led' to another source of income. Live fungus grew on many of the larger' logs, and th,is was gathered by the mothers and the younger members of the families while paterfamilias was felling more bush, and the product was eventually sold for about ad per lb. In spare time a small section would-be surrounded by a "dog-leg" fence, in which to grow cocksfoot for seed to sow the land as it was cleared. There were no silk stockings or fancy blouses for the ladies in those days, said Mr Cheyne. Not only did the settlers have hard times, but the" storekeepers were at their wjlts end how to" dispose to advantage of the so-called 1 butter, which was eventually packed in 561b kegs. This was not to be wondered at-, when it was remembered; that when many of these receptacles were opened they emitted anything but a pleasant odour, and more often than j not a large junk of salt was found in the centre of the keg. If the same stuff were placed on the market at the present day it might be classed as secondary cart grease.- It was not until Mr Chew Chong started the first butter factory at Eltham that dairying matters improved, and as far as Mr Cheyne could remember he was rewarded for his enterprise by having six suppliers for the first season. This was not very encouraging, but when the settlers discovered that they could get hard cash from him on the 20th of each month instead of having to barter their butter, the supplies increased year hy year, and to this enterprising China-man (now deceased) Taranaki owed a debt of gratitude for having started an industry to which the province owed so much. Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLI, 25 July 1921, Page 3