Meghan Hawkes takes us back to look at what was making news in Waipā in 1932.
The Arohena Valley, southeast of Te Awamutu, was swept by fire which began on Mr Dollimore’s farm.
Fanned by a strong southeasterly wind it raced across his property, taking in its stride a plantation of pines.
Mr Dolimore’s small sawmill, used by the district’s settlers, and five whare were destroyed as well as outbuildings, a milking shed, and a garage. A car in the garage was reduced to scrap iron.
Hundreds of cut posts left on the side of the road for sale were destroyed, as well as many miles of fencing. The whole area was blackened, and the picturesque landscape of the valley, with its bush-clad hills, entirely disfigured.
Robert Huia, 35, nearly lost his life through suffocation and was rescued in the nick of time. Hundreds of acres of farms were ravaged as well as 100 acres of totara bush.
After the fire died down burning trees and stumps were seen over miles of country. Most stock were successfully saved and the losses of sheep and cattle were negligible.
After inspecting the Arohena area, Mr Broadfoot, MP for Waitomo, telegrammed the Prime Minister – “Prompt action is necessary to have this land seeded and re-fenced. Autumn and winter feed also should be procured to carry over until next season. Telephonic communication is also partially destroyed and needs reinstatement without delay.”
Mr Broadfoot said in an interview – “The blackened areas, which once were smiling pastures, are a sorry sight to the outsider, but the pioneering spirit is strongly developed in the Arohena settlers. Given reasonable and fair assistance, they will, I am confident, manfully set about the rehabilitation of their farms.”
Two prisoners, who broke out from their cells at Hautu near Turangi, were believed to be in the Te Awamutu area. One of them was well informed about the Ōhaupō district having previously burgled a place there.
They were pursued by a posse of warders until they stole a blue Chrysler five-seater sedan with a large carrier on the back. When the Ōhaupō branch of the Farmers’ Auctioneering Company was broken into, it was thought to be their work.
Entrance was gained through a fanlight over the front door, a large hole having been broken in the glass with a steel bar. A large quantity of clothing, groceries, and tobacco, a .22 rifle, ammunition, and spark plugs were taken. The thieves also made away with a single bed mattress, two pairs of blankets, an axe, pots and pans, a 50lb box of butter, tinned food, about 50lb of tobacco, and 3000 rounds of pea-rifle cartridges.
It was evident that the burglars were preparing for a prolonged stay in some out-of-the-way place in the back country, perhaps somewhere round Pirongia Mountain, or to the southeast of Te Awamutu.
A car travelling from Kihikihi to Te Kūiti was involved in a most unusual accident when the wire of a telephone line sagged right down almost to the road level. It caught under the vehicle becoming mixed up with the differential and brake drums. Firmly held, the car slithered to a standstill almost at right angles to the road. Its speed and weight pulled out the telegraph post and the back tyres of the car were ripped to pieces. An hour or so was then spent disentangling the wire from under the car.
The ruins of Dollimore’s sawmill destroyed by fire in the Arohena Valley.
