Dannevirke Scandinavian Club
The following two articles describing Southern Hawkes Bay, appeared in the Hawkes Bay Herald in September 1888, and were the work of one person. Note that additional comments are shown in "[ ]".
Hawkes Bay Herald 10 September 1888 p. 3 (2).
Danevirke [sic]
(By a Correspondent on a Tour)
Danevirke has wonderfully improved since my last visit twelve months ago. [The railway had by now been there two years and the sawmillers were very active.]. Several new buildings have been erected, and the place presents every appearance of a thriving township. Amongst the most notable additions are Allardice's new hotel (in course of erection) which when completed will be almost as large as the Masonic or Criterion [probably in Hastings or Napier]. This house seems out of all proportion to the requirements of the place, but as Mr Allardice has the reputation as being a pretty shrewd man of business no doubt he knows what he is about.
Next to Allardice's comes a row of buildings on the opposite side of the street, which includes that [Bush, later Dannevirke] Advocate printing offices, Mr Bierre's auction rooms, and other small business premises; further down the street Dr Williams, of Woodville, has opened a dispensary, which cannot fail to prove a boon to the residents. Although as a rule one is opposed to medical men conducting retail drug stores, the practice is ten thousand times preferable to that of allowing men without any qualifications whatever to dispense and sell medicines the properties of which they have knowledge of. In one case there is absolutely no safeguard to the public, in the other case the residents have the satisfaction of knowing that their medicines are prescribed and dispensed under the supervision of a qualified man.
Our old friend Mr Elmbranch has erected a large blacksmith's shop almost opposite Mr Bierre's auction rooms. On the same side of the street Mr G. Wright has put up a commodious place which he utilises as a restaurant, baker's shop and dwelling-house; below this is a row of small shops, consisting of a hairdressing saloon, bootmaker's and draper's, and commission agents offices, while higher up and on the other side of the street Mr Fraser has built a large new store, and Mr Badderly, of the Railway Hotel, has made a number of improvements for the comfort and convenience of his customers, while both host and hostess appear to vie with each other in attendance on the wants of their visitors.
Everybody speaks hopefully of the future, and the amount of energy displayed by the residents shows that the town possesses a fair sprinkling of the class of settlers who make the success of a district. All the mills in the district seem to be busy just now. I saw some splendid timber from Henderson and Wratt's mill lying at the Dannevirke station awaiting transport to Napier.
Clearing - or rather bushfelling - is going on rapidly; in fact, too rapidly. One can't help thinking that some more satisfactory method of clearing the land of the fallen trees and stumps which cover so many acres of splendid soil, so as to make it fit for agriculture, could be found than that of allowing them to gradually decay away by the action of the atmosphere. It is a long wearisome process and little or nothing can be done with the ground while these stumps and logs remain, and in the summer time they must prove a source of extreme danger to the town. Surely it would pay some of the settlers to devote a little of their time to clearing a portion of the land in place of devoting their whole attention to cattle-raising, bush falling, and burning. I may be in error, but it seems to me that it would pay well.
Hawkes Bay Herald 15 September 1888 p. 3 (3-4).
Seventy-Mile Bush
(By a Correspondent on a Tour)
General advancement and improvement seem to be the order of the day in the Bush districts just now. Makotuku has lately earned a reputation for push and energy, and with reason, for the progress made during the last twelve months, in the face of serious commercial depression at present existing all over the colony, is very marked.
Several changes have taken place in the township. Mr A.C. Webber's store has changed hands, Mr Andrews having purchased the business. Mr Robinson, lately of Waipukurau, has opened a large store. The Beaconsfield Hotel has found a new proprietor in Mr Gasson, while Mr P. Essex attends to the comfort of visitors at the Makotuku Hotel. The sawmills are all busy and work seems plentiful, one thing only being needful to make everybody contented, viz., cash. There is a general hopeful, cheerful tone exhibited by nearly all, that the prevailing opinion seems to be that the worst of the depression has passed.
At Norsewood the carpenters have been busy, and in the township itself practically speaking all traces of the late disastrous conflagration have disappeared. [Note: This was six months after the huge fire that destroyed much of the town of Norsewood and the surrounding district.] On the site of the old school-house a new and spacious building has been erected, two of the classrooms are 46ft by 24ft; the centre room 37ft by 24ft, and a lavatory 53ft by 13ft. The lighting and ventilation are excellent, and the architect is to be congratulated on the satisfactory manner in which the work has been carried out.
Mr Small's hall is just complete, it will hold comfortably from 280 to 300 persons. It is built of rimu and totara, and is a good substantial building. There are three means of exit, all the doors being made to open outwards. The building of the new Lutheran Church is being rapidly pushed on, and although, as is the case with nearly all churches, funds are short, the good folks interested are straining every nerve to raise sufficient money to complete the building. We wish them God's speed.
I had a very pressing invitation from Mr H. Finsch, the patentee of "Finsch's Ensilage Compressor," to visit his place and inspect a stack of ensilage, but time would not permit [Yeah, right!]. This I much regretted, as I am told the sample of ensilage is excellent.
Although there can be no doubt the late bush fire inflicted great hardship on many of the settlers, one cannot look upon the occurrence as an unmixed evil, as the fire has done much to clear a large portion of the land of the incumbent tree trunks etc. In a former letter [See above] I spoke of the (apparent) want of thought - or system - on the part of the settlers about Danevirke [sic] in not removing the stumps etc. from the land in order to make the land workable, and my remarks apply in equal force to Norsewood and the surrounding district. As far as I could judge the soil in this part of the country is of first-class quality, and attention to a systematic clearing of the ground would result in the return of considerable profit to the owner.
Ormondville has not advanced much lately. Still it has improved a little. The additions consist of a comfortably furnished hotel, the "Ormondville" [a.k.a. the 'Settler's Arms'] (Mr C. Leach, proprietor), and a chemist's shop. Ormondville settlers, in conjunction with those of Makotuku and Norsewood, contemplate establishing a racing club in the district, and Mr S. Gollan has kindly granted the use of a section in the Pakaroa clearing, about half way between Ormondville and Norsewood, for a training ground.
There is considerable speculation in the district as to when a block of land, some 90,000 acres in extent, lying on the south-east of Ormondville, and about two or three miles distant only, is to be opened up for selection. It is thought that opening up this block [the Waikopiro Block] would be of great importance to the district, as it is said to contain some splendid land, and is heavily timbered.