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Hand mills fall in to two broad categories - those that use miniature millstones (in their rotary form more commonly called quern stones), and those that use a metal device to grind the grain, many of which were simply known as steel mills. Since New Zealand was not colonized until the industrial age was well under way, steel hand mills seem to have been the more common variety used in the colony.
In a former number, when treating of the statistics of this settlement we promised to give some account of the advancement in civilisation made by the natives in the neighbouring districts.Available in the store: WILLIAM WILLIAMS JOURNAL TO THE C.M.S. 1846
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The crops at Waikanae, where the soil is light and sandy, are said to have suffered from the drought, but those at Otaki, where the soil is alluvial, are described as being most luxuriant. The whole of the ground was prepared by spade husbandry, the previous crop having been potatoes, and next year these natives, who have been informed, and have become sensible, of the advantages of rotation of crops, intend bringing their deserted potato grounds under cultivation with wheat. The cultivation of the kumera is now neglected as being, in comparison to wheat, an inferior article of food. They thrash and grind their own corn themselves, using for the latter purpose some steel corn mills given them by his Excellency Capt. Grey, and some which they had purchased; they dress their flour with seives and sell what they do not require for their own use at the rate of 2d. per lb. They are their own bakers, and are said to be proficients in making bread. But this is but the beginning of improvement. They find the grinding of corn by means of steel mills a tedious and laborious operation, and are determined to imitate their more civilized neighbours by having a flour mill erected, which shall be adequate to the growing wants of their districts. A fine stream at Otaki which offers several eligible sites for a water mill has been selected, having a plentiful supply of water all the year round, and on its banks, about two miles from the shore, will be erected the first mill in this district owned by the Maories. The fall of water is about 16 feet, and the mill, which will be turned by a breast wheel thirty feet in diameter, will be furnished with one pair of stones at first, but the machinery will be of sufficient power to allow the number to be increased as cultivation is extended. The machinery will be chiefly constructed by engineers belonging to this settlement. It is estimated that, exclusive of the labour for sawing the timber, forming the dam and executing other works which may be performed by natives under the superintendence of an European, the sum of £300 will be required for its erection. This sum it is proposed to raise by means of a company, the amount being divided into thirty shares of ten pounds each. £120 has already been collected and it is confidently expected that the whole amount will be subscribed before the building is completed. Three shares are the greatest number held by one individual : some hold two shares, but the great majority of shareholders hold single shares. Some of these hold shares in their own name which are subscribed for by the hapus or sub-divisions of tribes of which they are chiefs. A set of rules has been prepared and a committee of management appointed consisting of four shareholders and the resident missionary.
May 13. In the afternoon had a letter from Mr. Yule to say that some of the tribe Ngaitawhiri had been behaving in a violent manner at his store and had taken away two wheat mills by force leaving only a portion of the required payments. Went over immediately and had a long interview with the natives. They said that more payment had been demanded than had been required on a previous day but in the end they promised to make up the deficiency.WILLIAM WILLIAMS JOURNAL TO THE C.M.S. 1848
May 15. Baptized eight children during morning prayers, and then proceeded to Akuaku distant about 3 miles. The teacher of this place is a very steady man, and his chapel is a proof of his attention to his duties. The enclosure round it is a neat stone wall which has a very pleasing effect, and his own house also is in good order and though there is not much variety of furniture it exhibits the following useful articles; a steel mill for wheat, two sieves and three sickles. Here I spent four hours, and examined 30 candidates for baptism. Then went on three miles to Whareponga. This is a village of some consequence, and there are now assembled several persons from two villages inland, who are come in expectation of a baptism. When I arrived prayers were just over. Examined 12 candidates in the evening.
July 19. Prepared to go inland to the place where this feast is to be held and then read with the Bible class from the tribe Ngatikaipoho 76 in number and catechized 9 candidates. Rode to Patutahi whither a large quantity of food consisting principally of bags of flour and kumara had arrived from the party mentioned yesterday. This is a present in return for 8 sacks of flour given last year but the quantity far exceeds the original present, and there is also other property, three flourmills & garments of various descriptions. The natives are all agreed that the practice is unsatisfactory, that there is always an immense waste of food, not eaten but actually lost from exposure to the weather, and the present being a time of great scarcity, the sacrifice will be felt the more. Besides which there is frequently much grumbling when the balance of exchange happens to be against either party. The natives have long talked of doing away with the custom, but there are some parties fond of novelty who try to keep up the mischief. I talked with some of the chiefs and recommended them what course to take. As the evening closed a good concourse came together to prayers & afterwards I had a Bible Class of 45.On a journey from Auckland to Wanganui, although there are mentions of watermills, it's also clear that the Maori were making use of plenty of hand mills: Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume IX, Issue 423, 13 April 1850
THE PROGRESS OF THE NEW ZEALANDERS IN CIVILIZATION.
To the Editor of the Nelson Examiner. Sir - Having, in July and August of last year, made an overland journey from Auckland to Wanganui, by the Waikato and Waipa rivers, thence to Kawhia, and afterwards by the coastline along the Taranaki district, I send you a few Notes of observations in the course of my journey, principally relative to the progress made by the Natives in civilization. The Notes are entirely made from memory, having kept no journal on the way. They are intended to present to the public the advancement of the Natives in civilization, as exhibited in the following features — in the state of agriculture, the mechanical arts, and use of furniture in the Native houses, the use of European clothing, attention to cleanliness, care in cases of sickness, wounds or distress, the condition of the female part of the community, and last, though not least, the state of education amongst the Natives.
The growth of wheat, and its conversion into flour by Native labour, has within the last few years been a subject of interest to those attentive to the progress made by the Natives in useful occupations. The quantities of reaping-hooks and steel hand-mills bought by the Maories in the stores in Auckland, would be sufficient to show a resident in the capital that the Maories in that quarter are rapidly advancing in the cultivation of wheat, and also in the conversion of wheat into flour. The substitution of flour for potatoes, in part, as an article of native diet, is best known to those frequenting the pas; and we had an opportunity in our journey of noticing this change in the diet of the New Zealander.
The first pa that I stopped at was Kajtotahe, after three days' paddling up the Waikato from that part of the river near its mouth where the Natives have their landing-place for transporting produce overland to Auckland, and for starting up the river on their return from the town. This pa is under the superintendence of Mr. Ashwell, Church missionary. I had been accompanied from Auckland by a party of Natives belonging to the settlement, and one of them was to travel onwards with me to Wanganui. Two horses belonging to Natives, were brought by our party to the pa from Auckland.
At Kaitotahe, some wheat had been sown this year, though not to the extent that it was last, the Natives being principally engaged in the erection of a water-power wheat-mill, which will cost £330. It is built upon the American principle, having a horizontal water-weel driving a pair of French burrs. Leather belts are used instead of cogwheels, and the meal is passed from the stones into a small shute, from which it is caught by tin receivers attached to a revolving belt, and passed by them at once into the dressing-machine, and there converted into first, seconds, and thirds flour. The machinery noted above is placed in the second story of a wooden building. On the ground-flat there are a pair of fanners, and a smutmachine, both, if I remember rightly, also driven by the water-wheel, through the agency of belts. Wire sieves are used in the mill. The payment is mostly made by the sale of pigs in Auckland. The work has been performed by an American millwright, assisted by an Englishman, who, as we were informed, had not learned the trade, nor even that of a carpenter. I saw a sample of the flour produced on a trial which had been made, and thought it a fair production. The lead was made by Native labour, but the dam had burst on the morning of my visit, after a day's heavy rain : being led along the side of a hill, a fall of earth had lodged in part of the lead. Should the mill answer properly, and be kept in good repair, it will give an importance to Kaitotahe pa, it being well situated for receiving grain grown on the Waikato and Waipa.
There is a water-mill also at Rangiahea, further up the river, and the Governor has been so pleased with the progress made there, that he has presented the inhabitants with a plough, harrows, and two horses, and sent a European to instruct the Maories in their use.
On the first day of my stay at Kaitotahe, the people were busy grinding wheat in steel handmills, as they expected the arrival of a number of Natives bound to a great hui, at the Waikato heads, and they intended to feast them by the way. There was a great roasting of eels, and making kits for potatoes at the same time. The flour was manufactured into doeboys, one small canoe full of which formed one portion of the food set out on the day of the feast. Before I left the pa, one of the Natives, an inferior chief, got his wife to bake for me in a camp-oven two large-sized round loaves, which I found excellent food to use in travelling. He also presented me a tea-spoon, a small bason, and some pork-fat in a bottle, and lent me a frying-pan to use on the passage up the rivers. This said chief frequently used food made of flour during my stay at the pa. After leaving Kaitotahe, I went about a week's journey up the Waikato and Waipa in a small canoe. I cannot say whether a large or small quantity of wheat had been sown this year close to the rivers, as the banks, though not high, are generally abrupt, so that from the canoe I had not a good view of the land stretching from the banks of the rivers. Probably most of the crops are grown at a distance from the rivers, as is the case on the coast-line traversed by me, the cultivations belonging to the pas on the coast being generally on woody land some distance in land.
The best index I could see of what had been done by the Natives in this line, was the wheat of last year piled up in stacks at almost every farm we saw - say at the distance of half a mile from each other on the Waipa. The stacks were of a size that I suppose it would take upwards of a dozen of them to make a good-sized Scotch farmstack of wheat. We also observed stacks of wheat at various settlements on the rivers between Kawhia and Taranaki.
At the head of the Waipa, after we had left the canoe to walk to Kawhia, I saw a low plain of some acres extent sown with wheat. It belonged to a Maori, who had asked myself and the Maories with me, to come and have some breakfast at his house. I observed on a sideboard of his hut something which I took to be damper. I inquired if he had any floor in the house. He replied in the affirmative, and immediately went into an adjoining warrie and brought out some good-sized dampers, three of which I bought for a shilling. Some, of the Natives were engaged in baking flour-cakes for us, and they, soon brought out a kit of potatoes, with flour-cake laid on the top of them. Our host also presented us with a few of the said cakes to be eaten on the road. All that they wanted was salt. Another incident I will mention with respect to Native-made bread. At Marokopo we were out of this article, and as the Natives had wheat there, and a steel mill, and we were detained by the tide, I spoke to the Natives about my wants. They got out their mill, and a big post to stick in the ground, to which we fixed the mill, got some wheat ground in it, and rough as the unsieved meal was, we had some bread and doeboys baked of it (cost 1s.), which was an agreeable change from potatoes. It would certainly be pleasanter if the hands that made the food, and the articles used in its manufacture, were cleaner. To the south of Taranaki we were not so successful in obtaining bread, although we had occasionally stirabout, and the taro, an excellent food, which was not obtained by us frequently to the north of Taranaki. There are two wheat-mills driven by water-power in the district of Ngataranni, south of the Taranaki district. They were out of repair when I passed that way, and it is to be feared that the mills recently erected will not answer the purpose designed, unless they are superintended by Europeans, being kept partly as a kind of showy plaything by the Maori, and, like the first watch a boy gets, they run a great chance of being damaged.
At the settlements of Taranaki and Wanganui, the natives sell the wheat to Europeans, and it is ground into flour by them. At New Plymouth, there are three good water-mills, and the wheat grown on the Wanganoi river is ground at the Nelson mill, and returned to Wanganui in the shape of flour.
...
I am, sir, yours, &c, George Taylor. Wanganui, January, 1850.
Flour Mill. — We would recommend our country settlers to have a look at the beautiful hand-mill which has been imported by Messrs. Gibson and Mitchell. A few such mills would render the settlers almost independent of wind or water mills. It is the most perfect thing of the kind we have ever seen.French burr equiped hand mills: Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume 2, Issue 48, 24 October 1850, Page 2
THE MAORI MESSENGER. Auckland, October 24, 1850.
Steel Hand Mills, for the purpose of manufacturing flour, have been long in general use among the natives of New Zealand; and are still, we believe, extensively purchased by those who do not possess the means or the facility of building water mills. These steel mills, even at the best, are but imperfect and laborious machines, doing their work badly, and making large demands upon the strength and patience of the grinders.
Had we had no better substitute, no considerable and comparatively inexpensive improvement to recommend, we should hate been silent with respect to them, but as English ingenuity is constantly on the alert, and as every day some new device for the comfort and convenience of man is perfected by the skill of the English artisan, we are fortunately enabled to call the attention of the native reader to a new and portable mill of a variety of powers, but all calculated to produce flour of a very superior quality, and with considerably less toil.
We copy the following information relative to the quality and prices of those mills from a letter from the manufacturers, Messrs. Dixon, of Feuchurch-street, London, to the Reverend John Morgan, Otawhao, in the hope that it may be useful to those in want of cheap and improved mills.
We take this occasion to hand you prices of the larger mills made to grind and dress both by hand and horse power. That which we send you we trust to hear a favorable report of in due course, as this kind of mill has become a favorite, and is shipped largely for colonial use.
The price of the mill to grind and dress, as per enclosed sketch, and with -
14-in. French burr stone, is £10 this will grind one peck within the hour.
15-in. ditto ditto £ll - and turns out three-and-a-half bushels per day, by hand.
16 in. ditto ditto £13 - grinds four-and-a-hall bushels per day.
18-in. ditto ditto £l6 - grinds six bushels per day.
20-in. ditto ditto £l9 - grinds eight bushels per day (for horse power, if wished).
22-in. ditto ditto £27 - grinds, &c , twelve bushels per day.
These mills have been exhibiting in our Baker-street Bazaar all through the cattle show season (lasts ten days), to the interest, and we hope to the advantage, of thousands of agricultural spectators gathered from all parts of the country.
Initially the steel hand-mills used in New Zealand were imported, but local manufacturers did start to spring up. New Zealand Herald, Volume VIII, Issue 2306, 16 June 1871, Page 1
Every man his own MILLER.Auckland Star, Volume II, Issue 577, 15 November 1871, Page 2
NEW IMPROVED STEEL FLOUR MILL! By J. CASE,
mill manufacturer WAKEFIELD-STREET.
This Mill will grind and dress flour at one operation depositing in separate compartments fine and seconds flour, sharps, aud bran. It can be used also for grinding without dressing, if required.
Every Mill proved before taken away, and warranted not to get out of order.
Mills of every description on hand and to ora«r.
THE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY'S EXHIBITION.New Zealand Herald, Volume VIII, Issue 2437, 16 November 1871, Page 3
To-day has been a gala day for our country settlers, and really it must be admitted that the show proceeding in the Albert Barracks is calculated to raise them, and their interests, in public estimation. ...
A churn exhibited by Mr. John Mason, attracted considerable attention; but special attention was given to two steel flour mills manufactured by Mr. J. Case, of VVakefield-street. There is one of those capable of grinding two bushels of wheat per hour, and being at work on the ground, showed the excellent results obtainable in the formation first of wheat meal, then of all the varieties of the finest flour by the mere shifting of slides. With such an instrument as this, having the guarantee of local manufacture, purchasable at £16, or some four pounds less than the cost of an imported mill of similar qualifications, we cannot in all the world conceive why our settlers should ever buy a pound of foreign flour; and we do trust that an examination of Mr. Case's workmanship to-day will induce country settlers to not only encourage local manufacture, but make themselves independent of roads and rain, wind and weather, by growing their own wheat and grinding their own flour. Really, with such facilities, an Auckland farmer found buying a pound of foreign flour in one of our stores should be ashamed of himself, and should apologise either for being a farmer or for buying flour.
NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY'S SHOW.Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVII, Issue 4451, 30 November 1871, Page 3
We noticed large numbers of articles made in Auckland, which are at the present time being imported in great quantities. Take even axe handles; there were many on view, made by Messrs. Cousins and Atkin, for 11s. a dozen. Then there were ploughs, scarifiers, swing trees, steel flour mill, by Case (which was being tried on the ground, and was turning out excellent flour as fast as the handle was turned), model of digging machine, cheese press, &c., &c. There were also large numbers of imported articles on exhibition, but these call for no special comment here.
THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY'S EXHIBITION, 1871.Auckland Star, Volume III, Issue 650, 10 February 1872, Page 3
A churn by Mr. J. Mason, of Durham-street, was highly commended, and the following entry received the first pnze : Steel flour mill, J. Case. These mills deserve the attention of settlers living in country districts. There were two mills exhibited, the largest and prize one capable of grinding two bushels of wheat per hour with two men attending. The price is but £16, and the smaller one was priced at £ll, and capable of grinding one bushel per hour. They both divide the flour into various classes, or put it into one compartment in the form of meal. We believe this one and a good many of the other prize articles were bought before they left the Show ground yesterday.
J. CASE BEGS to draw the attention of Country Settlers and others, to his Improved Steel Flour Mill. The object of these Mills is to Grind and Dress Flour at the same operation, giving out First and Second Flour, Sharps and Bran. Can be wrought by the hand or any other power. Also Manufacturer of Plain Mills, for Grinding only, and Colonial Ovens of every description always on hand.
J. CASE, Corner of Wakefield and Aeercrombie streets.
N.B. - J.C. is holder of a First-class Prize, awarded to him by the Agricultural Show, for his Improved Steel Flour Mill.
The same ad appeared repeatedly on an almost daily basis through to Auckland Star, Volume III, Issue 837, 23 September 1872. Interestingly, some of the ads mis-described the product as an "Improved Steam Flour Mill" - I guess that "Steel" had been misheard as "Steam".
As well as the steel mills, J Case also produced (presumably cast iron) earth closets, sold from the same factory: Auckland Star, Volume III, Issue 728, 14 May 1872, Page 3
IMPROVED SELF-ACTING EARTH CLOSETS.
THE UNDERSIGNED begs to call the attention of parties requiring the above to his pattern EARTH CLOSETS, which may be seen at the Factory, Wakefield street.
J. CASE, Manufacturer of Improved Earth Closets, Steel Mills, &c, &c.
Auckland Star, Volume III, Issue 668, 2 March 1872, Page 2
COLONIAL FLOUR MILLS.Advertisments by J. Case stop abruptly towards the latter quarter of 1872, and it's not clear what happened to the business. It's possible that Nicholls and Hall, described as general smiths, took on the business. Auckland Star, Volume IV, Issue 1068, 24 June 1873, Page 3
The man who by his ingenuity, in a sparsely populated country like this, contrives any light machinery which saves labour and the immense difficulty of transporting heavy and cumbersome engines of the old-fashioned kind, deserves well of his country, and should be looked upon as a public benefactor. Such a man is Mr J. Case, of Wakefield street, who has for some time past been occupied in the construction of a light and easily transported kind of flour mill. This mill is moved easily by the hand of one operator, or by any other power, and grinds an incredible quantity of wheat in the hour. Besides this, there is attached to it dressing machinery which sorts the product into the usual classes of flour and deposits each in a separate drawer. By a simple adjustment, flour of any degree of fineness can be produced, and maize can also be disposed of in a similar manner. The whole machine is so ingeniously contrived, and the parts so cleverly fitted into one another, that the largest class of engine occupies considerably less cubic space than a common pianoforte. The price, too, is wonderfully low, considering the amount of work and the thorough efficiency; and none but a clever mechanician like Mr Case, who can take advantage of every circumstance, could by any possibility either construct them at the price, or supply the great demand there is now for them. Some of the orders which he showed us are from such remote countries as Rangiaowhia and New Plymouth; and, doubtless, as the peculiar advantages of the machines constructed by him become better known to fame, he will receive calls from even more distant regions.
FOUND, in the Market on Friday last, a Lady's Neck Fur.- Apply Nicholls and Hall, General Smiths, Upper Queen-street.What is clear is that the Nicholls and Hall parnership was dissolved in 1876. Auckland Star, Volume VII, Issue 2117, 21 November 1876, Page 3
UNDERSIGNED being about to DISSOLVE PARTNERSHIP, are open to receive TENDERS to noon of WEDNESDAY, the 29th instant, for the PURCHASE. either together or in lots, of the Articles specified below. The highest or any tender not necessarily accepted.After that one partner, W. Hall on his own recommenced advertising J. Case's mill Auckland Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2148, 22 January 1877, Page 4
Strong Engine, about 8-horse power, and Cornish Boiler Saw and Bench, Chaff Cutter Corn Crusher, Shafting Belting and Gear, Iron Tank Weighing Maching Spring Cart, Horse, and Harness. Also, GOODWILL of the COAL and FIREWOOD Business hitherto carried on by us. LEASE (with Purchasing Clause) of the PREMISES, which comprise a splendidly situated Corner Allotment, with numerous Buildings, and a first-class Well of Water with Pump. We have also ON SALE, at COST PRICE :— Small Engine, Grabber Cast-iron Drinking Trough And a large assortment of Ploughs Ovens, Stoves, Ranges, &c.
NICHOLLS & HALL.
IMPROVED STEEL FLOUR MILL.
W. HALL (Late Nicholls and Hall),
ALBERT-STREET, near Wyndham-street, wishes to inform the Public of Auckland that he has commenced business on his own account, and having worked for J. Case for seven years, is a guarantee that any work entrusted to his care will be done satisfactorily.
W. Hall is the holder of a First-class Prize for Steam Flour Mills and Dresser; also, First-class Prize Portable Ovens.
Wairarapa Standard, Volume XVII, Issue 1422, 27 June 1883, Page 3
Reminiscences of the Early Wairarapa Settlers.
No, 2. By H. Udy, Sen.
While living on the sand bank near the Hutt river we built a little schooner of about ten tons burden, and two small boats for Sir Francis Molesworth, Esq., which were the first boats built in Port Nicholson. Nine months had now passed away and we then removed to what is now called Wellington, where I built the first cart even in use there for the same gentleman. Soon after taking up our residence in Wellington the Europeans were called oat for drill. This was necessary owing to the threatening aspect of native affairs. We were an "awkward squad," but we went into exercise with a will, and were soon ready to do our part in any work we might be called upon to perform. Our services, however, were not needed and we were, after a while, disbanded.
After living at Wellington for about three years, I returned to the Hutt, to the place called "the third river." I had purchased about twenty acres of bush land, and of course the first work was to fall and burn it. In time I was able to sow it in wheat and when harvest time came I found no little trouble in getting it cut and threshed. But the greatest difficulty of all was how to get it ground. There were no mills such as we have in these days, so I had to erect one of my own. It was not one of those gigantic affairs with sails moved by the wind. No, no. When we left Old England we brought a coffee mill with us, and this little article was of good service in grinding our wheat. The evenings were spent in putting the grain through in order to get a loaf or two for the next day. It was slow work, but after a time we got a steel wheat mill with which we could grind a bushel in 30 or 40 minutes, which we then "dressed" through a piece of muslin. Ihis we had to use for years. In course of time Sir Francis Molesworth erected a proper windmill at the Hutt, and this was a great boon to us all.
A communually used mill: Vol 2, No 3 of The Journal of the Early Settlers and Historical Association of Wellington.
The wages the men got were not nearly sufficient to keep them and their families, so they eked out a living with wild pork and fish, and potatoes were bought from the natives. Many a time, when my mother has put on a pot of potatoes to boil, I have gone to the river and caught some fish for the meal. The first two hundredweight of flour my father bought cost him £5, and it took him a considerable time to save that money. All the settlers had land around their whares, either bought from the New Zealand Company or squatted upon until the real owners came out from Home. From the very beginning we started to clear some of this land, cut the bush, burnt it after some months, and broke up the ground with a grupping hoe, afterwards planting it with potatoes and vegetables. Then a year or so later we managed to grow some wheat.
There was a good old Scotchman named McDowall, settled at Petone beach, who had brought out a steel hand-mill from Home, and he gave the use of the mill to all the settlers to grind their wheat. For two years my mother and the boys used to thresh the wheat and winnow it with the wind, then my mother, like many another, would take half a bushel on her back, and carry it from Alicetown to Petone beach, grind it, and take it home again to be made into porridge and brown bread. When we got a few acres under cultivation we managed to get along very well.
Some people took hand mills, and worked them by alternative power sources, such as Fred Bradey of Porirua: Wellington Independent, 30 June 1860
A useful Invention. - A few months since, Mr. Frederick Bradey, of Porirua, farmer, bought a steel hand Mill, which would grind 1 cwt. of flour in a day. By the exercise of a little ingenuity, he has invented a simple and cheap machinery, made by his own hands, to work the same mill by wind; and it will now grind 4 cwt. in 12 hours, without any further trouble than placing the corn in the hopper. We consider this invention of importance to Country Settlers, and we have no doubt Mr. Brady will be happy to supply those who require with all the information in his power.
Another example of wind driven steel hand mills: The New Zealand Wars: A History of the Maori Campaigns and the Pioneering Period: Volume II: The Hauhau Wars, (1864–72) - Chapter 13: THE FIRST WAIROA CAMPAIGN
Dr. M. Scott, who was settled at the Wairoa, accompanied Fraser's force as surgeon. An account of the expedition which he wrote in 1890 is of value for its description of old Wairoa and its lively narrative of a first experience under fire:— "In these hurry-scurry days, when great Pan has long been dead," wrote Dr. Scott, "few people lived nearer Arcadia than we of Te Wairoa, Hawke's Bay, some twenty-five to thirty years ago. Inhabiting comfortable houses, situated on the bank of a magnificent river which in due season supplied us plentifully with fish, while its lagoons and tributaries contributed wild ducks innumerable, and the forest fringing its banks pigeons and Maori game without end; surrounded by, and not on too intimate terms with our Maori landlords and their hapus, who raised wheat and other produce in large quantities, and were then an industrious, happy community, we contentedly ground our flour in our improvised steel windmills, procured our modest supplies of luxuries (otherwise unattainable) twice annually, through my friend Mr. Carroll, from Napier, and, newspaper-, law-, and lawyer-less, lived on happily and took little thought for the morrow. And for many years our intercourse with our native friends was genial and sincere on both sides. They invariably resorted to us in great trouble or calamity which threatened or assailed their quiet, domestic life, consulted us in their little ailments, and gratefully appreciated any kindness rendered them, while I verily believe that all they had, including themselves, was, so to speak, at our behest and service. Indeed, with the exception of a rare squabble among themselves, in which we were never implicated, we lived very peacefully and happily together—Ngati-Kahungunu and ourselves—Maori and pakeha. But as the years wore on there gradually fell a shadow between us. Distrust usurped slowly and by degrees the olden confidence; and the Maori King (who has now virtually followed Pan, but unlamented) became an entity in Waikato. Events followed quickly. Our quondam landlords and their tribes sold their lands—which was the beginning of evil for our Utopia—and swallowed the proceeds, mostly. Some acres remained, represented by ships which were lost or rotted on the beach, and mills which never saw erection, but were destroyed together with much goodly produce during the ensuing troublous times."
Unsure if this is a hand mill, or something bigger: New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume I, Issue 38, 28 June 1845, Page 1
FOR SALE, STEEL CORN MILL, and Flour Dressing Machine. For particulars, apply to WILLIAM LYON. Wellington, 28th June 1845.
Vol 1, No 3 of The Journal of the Early Settlers and Historical Association of Wellington.
We had to make our own flour at first, and sometimes ran out of it, and so out of bread. We had steel hand flour-mills, called "hurdy-gurdies." We used to put the wheat into a hopper, and it took us about two hours to turn out half a bushel of flour. Sometimes we boys used to get tired of turning the mill, and used to open it up, and get through quicker with a sort of coarse meal for flour; but it did not make such good bread. The baking was done in camp ovens with a lid on them, upon which hot embers were put, but there was never better bread baked.Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXI, Issue 2412, 13 April 1865, Page 4
WAIPUDaily Southern Cross, Volume XXIX, Issue 4855, 19 March 1873, Page 6
Eventually one of these coasters occasionally called with supplies, and to take away any produce the settlers might have to dispose of. But the visits of this stranger were so few and far between, and the supplies so often landed at the distant part of Wangatei, that those of the settlers who got their supplies in this way were oftentimes in danger of being starved. To obviate this difficulty, after the first crop of any consideration was raised, each family purchased a hand-mill, and with this laborious machine enough flour was manufactured to serve their wants. These hand mills were jokingly called "hurdy-gurdies", but it was no joke to play on this rather questionable musical instrument every evening — the sole recreation of the settler after his hard day's labour. Its dull sound was welcome music enough to the listeners within the humble dwelling, and when the rough meal was once prepared, it was partaken of by all— the stranger who happened to come the way, as well as the friendly visitor — with a zest that would have done an epicure good to behold.
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Several enterprising gentlemen of the district contributed greatly to the ease and comfort of their fellow settlers. A flour mill was erected by Mr. Fraser, as early as 1859, and has been at work more or less ever since.
MATAKOHE CROPS, ETC.
The crona this season havo turned out very fairly owing to the favourable weather experienced, the maize especially. Most of the settlers tried a little wheat, and the general conclusion come to is that the soil here is very well adapted for its growth. A great drawback is the want of a grist-mill, no one seeming to care for that horrible hurdy-gurdy arrangement - the steel mill. The matter is being discussed, and if arrangements can be made to ensure one being in working order by next season, no doubt a large area will be got ready for wheat.
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