Hawkes Bay under Provincial Government 1853-1876

Abstract

By the Constitution Act of 1853 New Zealand was divided into six Provincial Districts, that of Wellington containing the land of the central, southern and eastern portions of the North Island. It is with the north eastern portion of the original Province that this thesis deals. The whaling industry brought the first whites to the district but this population was only transient and real settlement began when sheep farmers from the Wairarapa extended their stations northwards until they reached Hawkes Bay. Among the earliest of these were Messrs. Tiffen and Northwood who had taken up runs on the Ruataniwha plains. These men were soon followed by others who were attracted by the possibility of profits from farming the "finest land for depasturing sheep and cattle to be seen in New Zealand." These Ruataniwha plains were surrounded by low foot hills containing in all about 300,000 acres of grassland, mostly clear of fern, and with the exception of some tutu bush, all ready to be ploughed without the preliminary expense of clearing. To the south of Ruataniwha was the extensive seventy mile bush which was not cleared and settled until the last days of Provincial Government, whilst in the north were the extensive Ahuriri plains upon which the settlers cast covetous eyes for many years. This plain extended to the immediate vicinity of the first township of the province, Port Ahuriri, the neighbourhood of which was known as the Ahuriri Block of some 70,000 acres extent. "The Ahuriri plain is a good type of its kind illustrating the peculiar process of formation. Six rivers run through the plain to a common channel 20 miles long. This channel leads to a lagoon about 20 square miles in extent lying at the back of a narrow shingle beach. An opening of 150 yards in width from the lagoon to the sea at the island pa is the only outlet for these rivers in summer though in winter they burst through the shingle beach to form separate mouths."