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Tainui
Road and Kiwi Road
-the
Settlement Forty Years On_______________
By
Mr & Mrs Roy Cooper
During
1935, in the Depression, the Public Works Department began forming
the roads now known as Tainui Road and Kiwi Road, which were to
give access to approximately 1500 acres of Crown Land, to be
developed under the Government “Small Farm Settlement Scheme”
by the Lands and Survey Department.
Many acres of land in the area were owned by the Robertson
family, and known as Tainui Estate.
The new road also passed the property of Austin Carr.
In September 1935, the first selected settlers gathered.
James Webster, who was works foreman, Alfred Scapens and
Roy Cooper. A dray,
drawn by two horses with two more following, approached.
Donald Pike had arrived from Kerepehi.
As
the road bridge across the Paranui Stream was not yet completed,
to reach the camp site, their home for the next twelve months, the
men and the horses proceeded through Tainui Estate, crossing the
Paranui Stream by the now demolished farm bridge.
Arriving at the chosen spot, they were greeted by Philip
Parker, who was experiencing difficulty in erecting his tent; the
newcomers hastened to his assistance.
Gordon Garaway bicycled in from Ohinewai.
Later, Albert Bowater, Albert Tucker, William Gall and
George England joined the group.
More tents were erected, including a large one for the
cookhouse and mess room, the meals being cooked with camp ovens in
an open fireplace.
The
camp was sited on the roadside at the first bend, approximately
one mile along the new road.
Although Harry Blue, who already lived in Hoe-o-Tainui, did
not move to the camp, he worked on the development scheme.
During
the unforgettable storm of February 1936, when six inches of rain
fell overnight, gale force winds prevented the lighting of lamps
in the tents, which had to be lashed down more securely.
By morning, floodwaters had almost covered the cab of a
truck hastily abandoned on the road.
After
a year of work with slashers, horse teams drawing ploughs and
other implements, the land was surveyed into twelve farms, for
which the men balloted. As
six houses, all built to the same plan were now habitable, six of
the men, rejoined by their wives and families, moved in.
Until their houses were built, the Bowater, England,
Scapens and Tucker families, lived, for a year, in four temporary
houses on Tainui Estate. Later
arrivals, Edgar Wightman and Artheur Judd, drew the two remaining
farms.
By
1937, the first herds were being hand milked, cream separators
were turned by hand and the skim milk carried to the pigs.
The water supply dam, still in use today, was built.
Four miles of main and many more of farm pipes were laid.
1938
brought electric power, and the luxuries of milking machines,
water heaters and lights. About
the same year, at he corner of the road now known as Kiwi Road, a
camp for single men was established, under a Government relief
work scheme, continuing until the outbreak of war, when the men
gradually left the camp, many of them joining the army and going
overseas.
1939
saw the twelve farms in production.
Until 1 July 1943, when33 year leasehold land tenures were
granted, all monies already earned were used to offset development
costs, the Government paying the settlers a minimum weekly wage.
At the same time, all improvements stock and chattels were
valued and mortgaged to the occupiers.
Many years later, some of the leaseholders acquired the
freehold tenure of their land.
Eleven
years after the start of the farm settlement project, telephones
were installed. Also,
about this time, Tainui Road and Kiwi Road were given their
official names; previously, they had been called by many names –
“The New Road”, “The Black Road”, “Settlement Road,
“The Block”. An
old Scot referred to Tainui Road as “A wee bitty gravel
track”. The last
straw was when our road was called “The Pig Track”.
The
years have brought many changes.
Large areas of Tainui Estate have been sold to the New
Zealand Dairy Board and to the Clarke family.
James and Kaye McCarthey own part of the land that formerly
belonged to Austin Carr, while the remainder has twice changed
ownership.
Now,
in 1975, most of the farms of the Government Settlement have
different occupiers. Russell
Hill, the son of an original leaseholder, is farming in Kiwi Road.
Sadly, we remember that six men of the 1935 group have
died. Two farms are
still occupied by the first settlers, Mrs Irene Pike and two of
her sons, also Roy and Doris Cooper.
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