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Hoe-o-Tainui – 1919 By J E Laing In 1919, Hoe-o-Tainui was divided into two separate communities, the eastern half, known as the Hoe-o-Tainui Valley and the western part as Hapukohe. However, an open-air public meeting was called and it was decided that the district should be known as Hoe-o-Tainui in the future. I understand that Hoe-o-Tainui, meaning “Paddle of the Tainui” received its name owing to the loss of the steering paddle of the Tainui one of the original canoes that brought the Maoris from Hawaiki to New Zealand. Incidentally, the writer, while out duck shooting along the Paranui Drain saw a large carved steering paddles partially embedded in the peat. This paddle was subsequently given to the manager of the property on which it was found. The swamp country through which the Mangawhara and Paranui Rivers ran had been drained only a few years previously by the construction of the Paranui Drain. A workforce of some forty Yugoslavs who had to take boxes to sit on while having their lunch, owing to the flooded conditions of the country had done this work. Much of this swamp country was covered in virgin flax. As the nearest flax mill was situated at Te Hoe, some six miles away, no attempt was made to mill the flax that extended for some hundreds of acres until Messrs Tapper and Pulman of Patetonga erected a mill. This mill was adjacent to the Confiscation Line that marked the boundary between Piako and Waikato Counties. The finished fibre from the mill was transported to the railway at Ohinewai some fifteen miles distant by horse-drawn wagon and, as the main road was exceedingly rough and largely unmetalled, also fascined through the swampy flat country. This was definitely a long day’s haul for the team of five horses and its driver. A considerable amount of the rolling country which lay to the north of the main road to Te Hoe, consisted of old Kauri gum workings and the ti tree, fern heather, etc. on it extended from the banks of the Mangawhara River to the Hapukohe range of hills. This class of country could have been purchased during the First World War at thirty shillings an acre. The nearest grocery store was situated at Tahuna and deliveries of bread, groceries, etc. from there were made by a four-wheel, light wagon drawn by two horses to Hoe-o-Tainui and as far as the Piako County boundary, which marked the end of the formed road. Delivery of manure etc. usually came from the rail at Ohinewai. A Gall, the Ohinewai grocer, was the carrier. The road from the Piako County boundary, toward Ohinewai, followed the tracks along the top of the spurs made by stray horses that numbered about fifty and belonged to the local Maoris. In the summer another track skirted the northern bank of the Mangawhara River but as this road was often covered by floodwaters, a deviation into the hill country above the gullies was necessary in winter. Stock from the district was mainly sold at the Morrinsville saleyards. As the road to Tahuna was unfenced on one side from the Waiti Road for a considerable distance, and the adjacent country to the road was covered by tall ti tree etc., a close watch had to be kept on the stock being driven. On arriving at Morrinsville the drover'’ horse was usually left at a livery and bait stable of which there were two, the saddle and bridle removed and the horse rubbed down, given a feed of chaff, with a couple of handfuls of oats tossed in and later a drink. Practically all agricultural farming development was carried out with the aid of horses and Maori contractors did much of the contract work of ploughing, disking and drilling. Harvesting work was also largely effected with the aid of Maori labour, male and female. Yugoslavs who seemed to have a natural aptitude for this type of work usually did the drainage of the swamp country. A yard drain in the timbered swamp, measuring four feet across the top, three feet deep and two foot across the bottom, being done for twenty-five shillings a chain. The Forest Reserve Road, which had a clay surface, followed the Mangawhara River to the hills that were covered in native bush. The road crossed the river in two places by means of ford. The adjacent country was settled by returned soldiers. There was also another soldier settlement comprising some eight hundred acres on the main road to Te Hoe, some of which was in the Piako County and the rest in the Waikato County The additional influx of settlers after the 1914 – 19 World War undoubtedly hastened the building of a store and butchery shop at Te Hoe, and later a grocery store at Hoe-o-Tainui. A school was also built at Hoe-o-Tainui later. The children thus being saved a trip either to Te Hoe or to Tahuna, both approximately seven miles distant. A cream cart service ran daily, sometimes to Ohinewai and for a few years to Morrinsville and was largely patronised by anybody wishing to catch a train for Auckland or wanting to shop at Morrinsville. The passengers had rather an uncomfortable, slow trip as they had to sit on the cream cans and wait for further cream to be lifted onto the wagon. The advent of the motor car, of which the T Ford was the most popular, showed up the bad state of the country roads. In the winter the roads in some places were so bad, that the fences had to be stapled down and the cars allowed to divert onto the paddocks around the worst patches. However, in time the main road was formed and metalled and in due course tar sealed. The present Hoe-o-Tainui Hall was built by the co-operative efforts and donations of the local settlers and was officially opened debt free by Andrew Sutherland, the local Member of Parliament. |