Seventy Mile Bush - September 1888

Ormondville Rail Preservation Group Inc.

Seventy-Mile Bush - 1888

Hawkes Bay Herald 15 September 1888 p. 3 (3-4). Note that present day descriptions are shown in "[]"...

(From 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 [HBH 10/9/1888 3(2)] I spoke of the (apparent) want of thought - or system - on the part of the settlers about Dannevirke 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.