Sixteen Over the Whanga Saddle 1917

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Over the Whanga Saddle

There has always been a sense of mystique about the local people and the harmony engendered with the natural beauty of the virgin bush-clad hills and rugged countryside of the eastern back blocks of the province. Settlers became a clan of their own making, in this distant corner of Taranaki. Many challenges and hardships awaited those who ventured into this seemingly ‘forgotten world’ and as the century unfolded the forever-changing infrastructure of farming in this isolated, difficult terrain would test the most dedicated drystock farmers. However, Whangamomona and other remote eastern Taranaki back- country settlers were eagerly eyeing the opportunity to court the Farmers’ Co-op with a view to establishing saleyards within the district. James Garcia wrote in the History of Whangamomona County that saleyards were built at the Strathmore end of the county in 1896 by Steuart and Corrigan and later sold to Webster and Dobson who disposed of them to Young and Hobbs. Newton King also showed faith in the possibilities of Whangamomona by erecting stockyards on a piece of land about two miles north of the town, opposite the property farmed by Mr. W. Gill, adjacent to the railway line. Bill Webster ‘wielded the hammer’ at the first sale. It was an outstanding success, with the yards filled to capacity and the road lined with mobs of cattle. Yardings of about 2,000 head were offered and ‘found ready sale’. A local settler, Ken Anderson, spoke of other yards ‘down Prospect Road’ where he was the yardman: I have seen 10,000 sheep yarded at times, mostly from the Whangamomona Road, and they were their surplus stock lambs, wethers and cull ewes, not their breeding stock. These saleyards became a great asset to the settlers. About ‘a decade later the N. Z. Loan and Mercantile Co. yards at Kohuratahi on the southern side of the road were demolished, although the indentations in the ground can still be seen’, says Ron Wilson a former resident. ‘Not long afterwards Newton King’s yards were opened in the same locality.’ In the end three saleyards were built at Kohuratahi during the early 1900s. The last yards in use were also on the southern side of the main road originally owned by Newton King and they eventually became the joint responsibility of Farmers’ Co-op and Newton King Ltd, and latterly Allied Farmers’ Limited, where many memorable sales were conducted. Saleyards known as ‘Shewry’s yards’ were on the opposite side of the road adjacent to the railway. Descendents from early settlers Don Law and Bernard Murphy also recall the saleyards, mentioned earlier, on Prospect Road, Whangamomona, a few hundred yards outside the township and on the main road, two miles north of Whangamomona, situated ‘on gentle country, adjacent to the river and the original highway’. There was also ‘a community sheep dip’. Bernard Murphy remembers attending the last sale with his father in 1938. The yards closed due to the lack of sheep numbers and also, as the country opened up, the centre of population shifted to Kohuratahi, a district five miles north of Whanga.

Early photograph of Whangamomona township in the making.

With saleyards already established within the district it is not known why a deputation comprising four settlers from Whangamomona met with a committee from the Farmers’ Co-op board of directors on Saturday 16 June 1917 in connection with three alternative proposals for the construction of saleyards at Whangamomona itself. The deputation was led by Mr Geever who met Messrs Death, Wills, Marfell, Buckeridge, Jones and Swindlehurst to discuss establishing yards in the district and the matter of taking up shares in the company. The first proposition put to the Society was as follows: That the three firms operating in Stratford should join together and build yards at Whangamomona to sell on the same day. Directors pointed out that it would be necessary for the three firms to operate on the same day otherwise a good yarding could not be expected. They did not think, however, that this particular proposition would be entertained. The second proposal was: If the Whangamomona settlers were to form a saleyards company and build yards, would each of the companies, e.g. Newton King, New Zealand Loan and Mercantile and Farmers’ Co-op, subsidise the settlers’ saleyards company in the ‘matter of taking up shares’. The third option was: That the three firms sell in the yards on the same day if the saleyards company, Whangamomona, were to build the yards. The deputation advised that the estimated cost of building the yards would be £300 and felt they could secure a site for £50. It was also proposed that ‘a rebate of ½ per cent for each line sold should be credited to the saleyards company as a sinking fund against the upkeep of the yards’. On 28 July, the proposals were placed before the board and it was moved by E. Marfell and seconded by

A. T. Wills that ‘If the Whangamomona settlers build yards the company would be agreeable to sell in their yards preferably on the same day as other firms, on terms to be arranged’.

An account of a Tahora sheep fair being held on Friday 2 March 1917 by Newton King ‘in the yards of Messrs C. McCutchan, W. L. Kennedy, Shewry Bros., H. Pittams, L. Smith, Burch, C. R. McCartie, H. Wilkinson, T. A. Lees and others’. It comprised 5,400 sheep. The sale was at 12 o’clock and the notice said: ‘Cars will leave my Stratford office at 9 o’clock on morning of the sale after arrival of north and south trains. Intending buyers are requested to book seats early.’

The Farmers’ Co-op’s presence in the Tahora district was also gaining momentum when they held ‘a big sheep and cattle fair’ in January 1925 – ‘thanks to the untiring energy of the firm’s local agent, Mr Ned Shewry, the yarding is expected to be a record’. The Tahora News in the mid 1920s reported the huge amount of work being undertaken to dig 24 tunnels that would eventually provide a rail service between Stratford and Taumarunui. Camps were set up for workers and one news item reported: A new corps has been formed here. All the ‘Annand Mounted Navvies’ men ride to work nowa-days, their jobs being too far to walk to. So judge for yourself Mr Editor. It will be through to East Cape in no time. Tahora once had a railway station and a shop owned by Rooney and Co. and managed by C. Meredith. This was acquired by Mr Schweiter in 1925, there was also a butchery, owned by McCartie, McNab and Co. Sadly the last remnant of this small community, Tahora school, finally closed in 2006.

In June 1930, Mr A. H. Perry was appointed agent for the Kohuratahi district in place of Mr Shewry at 20/- per day for three days a week. A most successful social was held in the district and it was reported by the districts director on the board that ‘the function was very successful and in his opinion it was a cheap method of advertising the Society in the back country districts’. Discussion

Early photograph of Hurimoana from the Tahora Saddle.

was held in connection with the arrangement with Mr J. E. Shewry and the Kohuratahi saleyards. The saleyard arrangements between Mr Shewry and Farmers’ Co-op are unknown. However, it appears to have been an agency arrangement of some kind. Two years later Mr Cleland, director, raised the question of re-appointing Mr J. E. (Ned) Shewry to the position of stock agent for the Kohuratahi district, ‘as he was considered the most suitable man for the position’. This was a keen observation from the director, for here was a man who would go down in history as one of the outstanding pioneering characters of Taranaki’s back blocks. Ned Shewry was offered a position as stock agent in 1933 for the Farmers’ Co-op, at Kohuratahi. There are references that indicate he had ‘taken on a butchery business and may not have time to attend to outside work’. Nevertheless, he remained a stock agent for a period of time and became an iconic figure in the district, known to all who worked in the stock and station industry of the day. The title of a piece of land comprising eight acres belonging to Mr Shewry was transferred to Farmers’ Co-op in 1940 for saleyards at Kohuratahi, and the yards known as the ‘Shewry yards’ remained on the site throughout the century and beyond. In 2008 the Menzies family purchased the 250-acre block at Kohuratahi, including the ‘Shewry yards’ under the name of Rannock Burnlee Trust.

Born in Stratford in 1889, John Edward (Ned) Shewry grew up on a farm at Tahora. The district was just being broken in and Ned’s parents, Robert and Elizabeth, had a large block of land on the Moki Road which was gradually being cleared for farmland. His exploits and skill with an axe became legendary. Sorrel Hoskin wrote a descriptive profile on this most extraordinary bushman and his life. He would become a household name in New Zealand as an axe-man for nearly a quarter of a century: In a nation of woodchoppers Ned Shewry stood tall … New Zealand was broken in by an axe and a crosscut saw – as a sport wood chopping is more traditional to the country than rugby. When he was 17 Ned took up farming with his older brother Archie on a block next to their parents on the Moki Road. The young men set to work clearing the land with just a couple of axes, a saw and a packet of matches. Ned thrived on ‘bushwacking’. He soon became adept with an axe and learnt the most economical way to fell a tree, the art of how to balance and get his hips behind the axe, like a golfer. He developed big calluses on his hands from handling the axe, and developed a fine physique. He soon caught the eye of Hughie McLeod, an old bushman, who took him under his wing and entered the young man in the chopping events at the 1909 Whangamomona sports day. Although Ned’s first attempts at competition chopping were a disaster, he quickly chopped his way to success and in a few years competed against the world champion, Dave Pretty, and Australian greats Bill Peck and Charlie Miley, and beat them all. He went to Australia and competed in Brisbane, Toowoomba, Rockhampton and MacKay, building a reputation as a modest champion who let his action in the ring do the talking. Just as his chopping career looked set, World War I saw Ned and his brother David enter the armed services. Ned served in Egypt, France and Belgium. Tragically David died from injuries received in France in 1917. Ned was wounded twice and awarded the Military Medal for bravery – saving an officer’s life while under fire. After the war Ned Shewry’s prowess as an axe-man received acclaim in international newspapers. He died aged 73 on 1 August 1962, and was buried in the cemetery of St Marks Church, Lepperton. An obituary by his friend Rob Hair, said: Ned Shewry, world champion axeman, footballer, bush feller, farmer, plant lover, a hard headed businessman, frugal in affairs of his own, generous with those he liked; keen brained, a hard hitter in debate, and the wielder of a sly and devastating wit.

John Edward (Ned) Shewry, World Axemens Champion. COURTESY OF COLLECTION PUKE ARIKI

Stratford’s first Farmers’ Co-op branch store, 1918–19.

The Forgotten World Highway east of Stratford is probably one of the best remaining examples of ‘the way it was’ and entry of Farmers’ Co-op into this rugged terrain where generations of families learnt the art of ‘farming both sides of the acre’ became a lifeline to many establishing stores and/ or saleyards in a number of far-flung eastern Taranaki outposts, including Douglas, Kohuratahi, Matau, Matiere, Ohura, Tarata and, in later years, Ohakune. Colourful stories are told by those who serviced what is known to be one of the most remote farming settlements in New Zealand. Keith Newland, who eventually headed the Society’s stock department, followed in his father’s footsteps. Ted Newland came to Taranaki in 1928 to work for Farmers’ Co-op at Inglewood and Eltham. Keith said:

We had a lot of sales at the Whangamomona pub in the early years after we had finished out at Kohuratahi saleyards. It was 6 o’clock closing in those days and the local policeman would come down to the pub around 6 o’clock, come in, have a walk around and chat and check that everything was okay and wander off. Later he would drop in and go home.

Stratford was no exception to the rule. Opening branches of the now diverse and powerful Farmers’ Co-op in small rural towns was having a devastating effect on existing businesses trading in the same range of commodities. Consequently it was not surprising that when it became known that Farmers’ Co-op was to establish a branch in a town the board received a deluge of offers from existing proprietors, attempting to salvage something from their own often meagre operation. During December 1916 the Society purchased saleyards at Stratford, from Messrs Webster and Dobson for £400, and it was recorded ‘that the Seal of the Company be affixed to the transfer from F. W. Webster and F. E. Dobson to the Society of their interests as lessees under the lease registered No 8834 from the Mahoy a/c of the Borough of Stratford’. These stockyards were capable of catering for all the wants of central Taranaki and, following repairs, the yards and an office were opened. An actual branch was opened in Stratford in 1918 at the present location on the north-east corner of Miranda and Regan Streets. Mr T. J. Salmon, formerly Head Office accountant, was appointed Stratford branch manager. A garage and benzine pumps were situated on Southern Broadway adjacent to the Patea River bridge; the building was previously the stables of the Empire Hotel.

Stratford Farmers’ Co-op Motor premises, Broadway South.

McLean Street, Waitara township. (Photographer F. G. Radcliffe.)

COURTESY OF COLLECTION OF PUKE ARIKI. PHO2009-166

It was eventually destroyed by fire along with several cars housed in the showrooms. The motor department on Broadway was opened in 1927. Expansion of the Stratford branch continued over the years.

Urenui in the northern part of the province was now targeted by the Farmers’ Co-op and a meeting, chaired by director George Buckeridge, was held with the purpose of establishing saleyards and a store in the township. The gathering was ‘a satisfactory one and another progressive movement will shortly be made by the Society’ and it was said that: ‘The management of this Society has been prudent yet enterprising, and it is pleasing to see it making continual headway in the manner it is doing’.

In minutes of appointments in 1917, Mr E. E. Duke was appointed to the position of stock agent at Inglewood from July at a salary of £5 per week and Mr G. Walker, stock agent at Waverley, in August. Until now an agency had been operating at Waverley having been established on 1 June 1916 and operated by Mr N. P. Digby. There had been correspondence with the Department of Health about the Farmers’ Co-op’s proposal to build saleyards on Waverley Education Reserve. This coincided with the purchase of Mrs Cleary’s 2½-acre section at Waverley for a saleyard site and new yards were constructed in 1918. Saleyards at Kaponga had been established from the outset when existing yards had been purchased from Gillies and Nalder by Farmers’ Co-op in 1914. What was considered to be the most important acquisition in 1918, with a bearing upon the later successes of the Company, was the purchase of a building from the Sash and Door Co. at Wanganui for housing wool. This building was later sold and a new woolstore was built at Gonville.

During the year ending 31 March 1918 a new concrete store was built at Kaponga providing farmers living at the base of the mountain with a timely and permanent local retail merchandising outlet. Waitara was also in the Society’s plans when they appointed an agent and established a store at the end of 1916. Two buildings were acquired on the river side of the Quay where both hardware and farm produce was sold. Other premises further along the Quay, were leased and used for the storage of petrol and grass-seed cleaning. These scant entries are the last recorded minutes relating to the Farmers’ Co-op, and ended abruptly in 1917, with no further record of directors’ meetings until 1930. The possible reason for this unfortunate eventuality will be revealed later. Much of the Society’s history during the next decade has been gleaned from newspaper articles, reports and a variety of other documents and historical publications.