Interesting bits......
This is just a collection
of bits and pieces that for one reason or another, I have found to be interesting, amusing
or otherwise.
In winter it was one
long quagmire where the bullock drays swam up to the axles through mud and then crashed
into and bumped over the stumps, which had been cut level with the ground.
- Every gentleman who comes here is
recommended to wear a moustache; all those who have not done so have suffered very much
from sunburned lips
- 'Do not think of bringing a house
although the window frames, doors, bolts, bars etc may be of use. We all prefer the Maori
whares to the trumpery of wooden houses made in England'
- In 1844-5 , money became so scarce
that it was found necessary by the government to resort to the issue of Debentures
and these, printed pieces of paper were accepted by the settlers as currency until after
the arrival of Captain Grey as Governor. Specimens of these are in the possesion of Sir
F.R. CHAPMAN. Blocks for shilling and sixpence respectively were made by Mr
J.H. MARRIOT. The latter were shaped like a fish.
- The native are getting wide awake
now, they want money for everything; when we first came her we could get a pigeon for a
biscuit, and potatoes the same; but the English people have spoiled them entirely.
- The settler counted for everything,
the sawmiller nothing. In order to preserve the bush, he and his brothers had to buy it
outright. To lease the bush would require a deal less capital but the government
determined that the bush must be destroyed and that was, of course, diametrically opposed
to the interests of sawmilling.
- "Lucy Johnson was constantly
searching for new staff. The housemaid she 'got as a stopgap' had to go to the hospital
this morning as she had a bad boil under her arm. I was so thankfull to dispose of her
thus as she had no friends to take her, and she was no use to me laid in bed in a state of
collapse."
- For Lucy, happiness was, good sevants
& no babies
- "..The Island Bay hermit whose
smoke be-grimed cave was situated towards Houghton Bay, was an attraction to visitors and
source of revenue to the hotel and refreshment rooms. Picnic parties at this time
thought nothing of tramping to Island Bay. When the writer visited, he was seen
reclining on some sacks at the far end of the cave and did not appear anxious or pleased
to see strangers, who invariably left coins of the realm on a huge boulder near a
smouldering fire that rendered the atmosphere as unpleasant as the Hermits company, and
which caused them to make an early departure. Evidently the Hermit was not adverse to
being photographed as a reproduction of one is on page 27 of the Evening Post Christmas
number of 1903 where he is seen standing at the entrance to his cave in Island Bay in
1895"
- "The belief in, and the practice
of cremation are undoubtendly on the increase, but we had not heard of any proposal to
carry it out on a wholesale scale till Thursday last, when tenders were sent to the
Feilding Borough Council described as 'tenders for clearing and burning the cemetery'
"
- One of the first Wellington Farmers
was BARON ALSDORF who bred cats and rabbits and sold them for 1 pound each. Here is an
account of an 1841 visit to the farm;
'One of our party was a young man named TROWER. He had drawn No 5 choice for a town acre
in Nelson, and was consequently looked upon - especially by himself, as a coming
millionaire, and wherever he went he was prone to enter some sanguine speculation.
On this occasion he trudged merrily back to our ship loaded with 2 rabbits for which he
had given the Baron 2 pounds, commenting loudly that his pair of rabbits would produce
half a million
in three years and if, said he, I could get only 10 shillings each for them, see what they
would come to! Upon reaching Nelson he discovered that both rabbits were male.
- An old man in Feilding could not
believe that he could hear his wife talk 5 miles by telephone. His wife was in a country
store 5 miles away and the sceptic was also in a place where there was a similar
instrument and on being told how to operate it he walked boldly up to it and shouted
"Hello Sarah". At that instant lightning struck the telephone wire and knocked
the old man down, and, as he scrambled up to his feet he excitedly cried "Thats
Sarah, every time"
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