The early days of the PUHOI
settlement were a single-minded all-out effort to stay alive. After a few years, when the
BOHEMIANS had dug themselves in and found that they could hang on and work their land they
were able to look outwards a little and it was painfully obvious that lack of
communication was a great hindrance to their efforts.
The news that the Government policy
of building roads and bridges was to be put into effect in their area was the turning
point in the settlement's history. Vogel has started what was to become a good old NEW
ZEALAND custom. He borrowed 10 million pounds from England and PUHOI was to it's share for
roading.
Capt. KRIPPNER had been busy
pleading the PUHOI case in government circles. He is described, in an article in 'The
Weekly News', as a torment to the Provincial Government for his insistence that the
government recognise both the industry and perseverance of the PUHOI people and help them
accordingly. He was the man appointed to be in charge of road works in the area and had
reason to be proud of the results.
Most of the men in the district
abandoned the bush work to their wives and took employment on the roads. Communal effort
took over one more time. They formed Co-operative parties, tendered for government
contracts and divided the payment on a share basis.
Wages averaged between four and five
shillings per day for several years and the village had a period of what seemed
prosperity.
The money was promptly ploughed back
into the holdings. it bought cows so that butter, milk and cheese were available for home
use and for the Auckland market; it also paid for poultry, and a new business in eggs and
fowl; it bought horses and, after horses, ploughs; it paid for sheep..... Lorenz TURNWALD was the first to
purchase sheep and, even with wool at 4d a pound in weight, it was a additional doorway to
future affluence.
Over this period, one by one the old
nikau whares were substituted by more solid houses made from slab and palings.
PUHOI owed all this to the road
making, and there was also, the road itself..... the effortlessly way out with produce,
the easier way in with stores.
The first part of the road contract
was not the opening up of the line of communication with AUCKLAND, but the construction of
bridges and culverts in the AHUROA district where the pioneers of 1863 had their holdings.
By the end of1869, the Puhoi Road
numbered 32 bridges and culverts, and in 1873, the landowners of the district formed the
PUHOI Road Board and levied1penny in the pound on all land. The Roads Board was
responsible for repairing bridges and culverts, building additional side roads and keeping
clear the main road to PUHOI - and prosperity!
The opening of the Great North Rd in
1876 placed the once isolated settlement in, the main stream of north-south bound traffic.
Although regular income for road
work had made it possible to stock and equip the holdings, and achieve a position superior
to than they had ever known. The completion of the road contracts brought new financial
troubles as the properties were still far from being self-supporting farms.
It was due to Capt.KRIPPNERS's
proposal that an additional source of income was found in the selling of fungus to the
Chinese market. At that time various districts in NEW ZEALAND supplied this commodity to
the Chinese. After many erroneous starts, and mistakes in finding out which type of fungus
was in demand, a regular and paying trade was started, and it continued until the
1950/60's.
This was commodity at which even the
children could work. The fungus crows on trees in a certain stage of decomposition and on
stumps left after a burn-off. After struggling under the weight of sack-loads of wet
fungus, the cleaver ones soon leant to pick it as dry as possible when it was at its
lightest. For many years the verandahs of the houses were spread with layers of it drying
off in the sun.
The next development was the trade
in Tanekaha bark for use in the tanning of hides and nets; the charcoal-burning which was
a useful source of revenue until after the turn of the century.
Capt. KRIPPNER's brainwave had tied
the settlement over this adverse period just as his determination had found them
employment on road work. With increasing prosperity though out the colony, PUHOI
managed to move forward into its share of the good days.
The transport problems of the newly
arrived settlers were most certainly heart-breaking - but they never despaired and the
descendants are now rewarded with the most modern facilities.
PUHOI is situated four miles from
the East Coast and on a tidal river. This PUHOI river was the communities lifeline. Until
the cutters commenced running the only communication with the outside world was on foot.
Came the cutters and next the larger
boats, the "Kotiti"and the "Orewa". These two boats, running in
opposite directions, carried the settlements requirements from AUCKLAND and took back on
the return trips, the produce for sale in the markets. They also carried passengers on
these trips. The mail however was never carried by sea to PUHOI.
These ships ceased running after the
PUHOI Bridge was demolished by the disastrous flood which struck the settlement in 1924.
The bridge was a turntable bridge which could be opened to allow the ships to pass up and
down the river. After the flood a new permanent concrete structure was built to replace
the swing bridge, which however, prevented large boats from reaching the township wharves.
Instead, a launch service was stared as the roads from AUCKLAND were still mostly
un-metalled at this time. The motor boat "Huawai" ran weekly and this serviced
the transport needs for several years. The river services ceased with the metalling of the
roads, heavy motor carriers then started operation and today the transport facilities are
most efficient.
The earlier mail from AUCKLAND to
PUHOI was carried from SILVERDALE to PUHOI on foot or horseback, but with the arrival of
the northern railway the mail was dispatched to AUHURA and bought in to PUHOI by mail
coach. At the beginning turn of the 1900th century the coach services commenced carrying
mail, parcels and passengers from DEVONPORT over the un-metalled roads making this an
arduous trip and more so in the winter season, because of rain and mud.
One of the more mature folk recalls
the names of BUTLER, BARTON and BOGUE as pioneers of the coaching days. These
drivers had stables at OKURA and WAIWERA where the horse teams had to be swapped in order
to spell the horses on their trip up from DEVONPORT.
As these two towns are just a few
miles apart, it leaves nothing to the imagination as to the condition of the road. In 1927
the faithful horse transport became a thing of the past. Motor transportation commenced
with Lister's Pioneer Service carrying mail and passengers daily for many years to come.
Today PUHOI is connected to AUCKLAND
by Highway No.1 - the main double lane Motorway into AUCKLAND from the North, and its side
roads are mainly tar-sealed - a far cry from the good old days!
