PLOUGH AND FLOUR-MILL.
An illuminating account of the growth of agricultural enterprise among
these Upper Waikato people and the position about 1850 is contained in
an unpublished manuscript journal written by the Rev. John Morgan. [2]
The missionary prefaces the narrative of the temporal side of his
labours at Te Awamutu with the statement that wheat was introduced
among the natives chiefly by the missionaries. The Ven. Archdeacon
Williams encouraged its cultivation in his district of Waiapu, East
Coast. “It was small in quantity,” said Mr Morgan, “for it was
contained in a stocking, but it was sown and re-sown, and at the
present time the increase from the little seed contained in a stocking
is being sent by the natives to the Auckland market. Much is also
ground by the Maoris in steel mills for their own use.
“Shortly after the formation of the Otawhao (Te Awamutu) station,” the
missionary’s story continued, “in consequence of the difficulty of
obtaining supplies of flour from the coast I procured some seed wheat.
After the reaping of the first crop I sent Pungarehu, of Rangiaowhia, a
few quarts of seed. This he sowed and reaped. The second year he had a
good-sized field. Other natives now desired to share in the benefit,
and the applications for seed became so numerous that I could not
supply them all, and many obtained seed from Kawhia and Aotea (West
Coast), where wheat had been introduced either by the Wesleyan
missionaries or the settlers.
“As a large quantity of wheat was now grown at Rangiaowhia, and the
natives had not purchased steel mills, I recommended them to erect a
water-mill. At the request of Kimi Hori, I went to the millwright who
was then building a mill at Aotea. In March, 1846, the millwright
arrived, and I drew up a contract for the erection of a mill at a cost
of £200, not including the carriage of timber, building of the mill
dam, and the formation of the watercourse, all of which were performed
by the natives themselves. Seven men were set to work, the natives
promising to pay the first £50 instalment within a very short time.
Instead of leaving immediately for Auckland with pigs to raise the
required amount, they began to take up their potatoes and then the
kumara to store them for winter use. They then promised to leave for
town as soon as the crops were secured. An invitation, however, arrived
from Maketu, and the entire tribe left Rangiaowhia to partake of a
feast at that place, the millwright threatening to give up the
contract. On their return they accepted a second invitation, and went
to another distant village. It was with the greatest difficulty that I
now detained the millwright. In this manner four months passed away.
The millwright demanded compensation for loss of time, and a chief
agreed to give him a piece of land of about 200 acres, but for which no
Government grant has as yet been made. Still the natives delayed. The
required sum (£200) was large for a tribe of New Zealanders to raise.
The Aotea mill was now useless, and many feared that this (Rangiaowhia)
would also be a failure, and there were several Europeans who had come
up to trade in pigs who from interested motives freely gave their
opinion that the whole scheme would fail. In this way two months passed
away, and it required many personal visits to Rangiaowhia—first, to
persuade the millwright, who was several times on the point of leaving,
to remain, and, secondly, to urge the natives to take their pigs to
town. At length they started. In a few weeks the £50 was raised, and
paid into my hands to be paid to the millwright. After this I had no
more trouble. The work went forward while the money was being
collected, and the last instalment of £50 being paid into my hands, I
had the pleasure of handing it to the millwright the day the work was
completed.”
This water-driven flour-mill, it may be explained here, was built at
Pekapeka-rau, the lower part of the swampy valley between Hairini Hill
and Rangiaowhia, through which a watercourse flows toward the
Mangapiko. Here a dam was constructed, and a lagoon was formed; the
water collected here turned the mill-wheel.
Later, another mill was constructed, on the watercourse called Te
Rua-o-Tawhiwhi, on the eastern side of Rangiaowhia village.
Mr Morgan, continuing his story of the new flour-mills, wrote:
“The Rangiaowhia mill was not completed before other tribes became
jealous and wished for mills. I drew up two more contracts, one for the
erection of a mill at Maunga-tautari, and the other at Otawhao, at the
cost respectively of £110 and £120, not including native labour. Both
of these mills have been erected. A new difficulty now arose at
Rangiaowhia, that of finding a miller to take charge of the mill. In
the arrangement I experienced more vexations and difficulty than in the
erection of the mills. There was a person ready to take charge, but the
natives, not knowing the value of European labour, refused to give him
a proper remuneration. One old chief offered one quart of wheat per
day! At length, after two months, this knotty point was settled. On the
following day the miller commenced work. In the year 1848 the natives
of Rangiaowhia took down some flour to Auckland, which they sold for
about £70. The neighbouring tribes, seeing the benefit likely to arise
from the erection of mills, began earnestly to desire them. One was
contracted for at Kawhia, and the sum of about £315 has been paid on
account. About 1850 a contract was entered into for the erection at
Mohoaonui [near Otorohanga], on the Waipa, of the largest mill yet
built, at a cost of £300. The natives of Kawhia are anxious for the
erection of a second mill, and the natives at Whatawhata and two other
villages on the Waipa, and of Kirikiriroa and Maungapa, on the Waikato,
and also Matamata, propose to erect mills; at several of these places
the funds are being collected.
“Wheat is very extensively grown in the Waikato district. At
Rangiaowhia the wheat fields cover about 450 acres of land. I have also
introduced barley and oats at that place. Many of the people at various
villages are now forming orchards, and they possess many hundreds of
trees budded or grafted by themselves, consisting of peach, apple,
pear, plum, quince, and almond; also gooseberry bushes in abundance.
For flowers or ornamental trees they have no taste; as they do not bear
fruit, it is, in their opinion, loss of time to cultivate them.”
The missionary, concluding his interesting narrative, described a visit
paid to the district by Sir George Grey, Governor.
“His Excellency,” wrote the missionary, “spent half a day at
Rangiaowhia, and expressed himself much pleased with the progress of
the natives at that place. He visited the mill, which was working at
the time. Two bags of flour were presented to him for Her Majesty the
Queen, and they have since been forwarded to London. The Governor has
since that time presented the Rangiaowhia natives with a pair of fine
horses, a dray and harness, and a plough and harness. He also requested
me to engage a farm servant to instruct the natives in the use of the
plough, etc. [3] The value of the flour sent down this year from
Rangiaowhia and now ready for the Auckland market may be estimated at
about £330. Of this sum upward of £240 was, or will be, spent in the
purchase of horses, drays, and ploughs. Each little tribe is now
endeavouring to procure a plough and a pair of horses, and the people
expect during the next year to have at least ten ploughs at work. The
rapid advancement in cultivation is the fruit of Sir George Grey’s kind
present to introduce the plough at those places. One of the chiefs at
Rangiaowhia has erected a small boarded house. He has also several
cows, one of which he generally milks in the morning.”
Such is the story of the very practical missionary work in this
district. “Te Mokena” truly tamed the people; old cannibals followed
the plough and spent days in discussing the Auckland market prices of
wheat and flour. Distant white communities, too, came to depend largely
on the Maori farmers of the Upper Waikato for their breadstuffs; and
when the great gold rushes began in California and Victoria, in
1849–52, the cargoes of New Zealand produce sent to far-away San
Francisco and to Melbourne often contained shipments from Rangiaowhia
and other Maori farm-villages.