George Hughes

George Hughes was born on December 30th, 1852 at Tushingham in the Nantwich sub-district, Wrenbury, County Chester. He was the second son of Richard and Ann (nee Snelson) Hughes of Lockley Wood, Market Drayton, Shropshire, one of eight children.

At the age of twenty, George and his brother Tom, together with a friend, Sam Johnston emigrated to New Zealand aboard the sailing ship “La Houge”. The voyage around Cape Horn was perilous with the ship dipping the yardarms into the raging seas at times. They arrived at Port Nicholson on May 26th, 1874. After three days, during which Sam Johnston vanished, never to be heard of again, the Hughes brothers sailed to Foxton aboard the paddle steamer “Manawatu”, a vessel built in Auckland the previous year especially for the Manawatu trade. This was the vessel which had the dubious honour, on her maiden voyage to Foxton, of colliding with the brand new Government wharf. The second mate of the “Manawatu” was Edward John Harvey, who, in later years became one of the best known mariners of the coast as part owner and skipper of the “Queen of the South”. The sight which greeted the new arrivals was not encouraging, Foxton having borne the brunt of a terrific storm which had lashed the district for three days. Cook’s wharf had been swept away, chimneys were down all over town, windows broken and many houses unroofed; a graphic picture of which was published in the “Wanganui Chronicle” the following day.

The brothers spent the night in one of the local hotels then caught the horse tram to Palmerston North. Little did George realise that in about twelve months time, he would be driving the tram himself. George’s first job within the colony was bush felling in the Terrace End area, preparatory to the laying of the railway line from Bunnythorpe to Palmerston North. After a short time he and Tom swagged it through the Manawatu Gorge, a mere bush track in those days. Tom appears to have remained around Woodville, where he eventually married. George moved on to Waipukurau where he obtained work with a P. & T. gang running the telegraph line out to Porangahau and then down through the bush clad Wairarapa to Masterton, Castlepoint and over the ranges to Wellington. Following the completion of this job, the gang then proceeded up the west coast to Foxton, realigning the telegraph line which had originally come along the beaches, lashed by gales and and high seas. The task of shifting the poles further inland was hampered by the refusal of the Maoris to allow the post holes to be dug on their land. They were happy for the wires to pass overhead as long as no poles were erected on their property. At Ohau poles were erected on a piece of sacred ground. Overnight they were removed and the holes filled in. A compromise was reached eventually and work proceeded.

Riding along the beach to work one day, the men found a piece of timber with the words “William and Ma… - obviously from a shipwreck. On their return journey that evening they found the upturned hull of a small vessel washed ashore. It was the sailing ship “William and Mary” which had left Foxton a few days previously only to be wrecked off Kapiti Island in a terrific storm with the loss of all hands except the Captain. The men rode their horses around the wreck before going on their way. Later it was discovered that the cargo was still on board as were the bodies of two of the crew. In later years George wondered why no one claimed salvage, simply done then, by writing on the wreckage.

When work was completed to Foxton, the work horses were sold to the Tramway Company operating between Palmerston North and Foxton. George Hughes accepted work as a tram driver, driving a four horse team 25 miles, 8 hours a day for four pounds per week. As he said in later years, it was no picnic. The rails buckled and twisted in the hot sun, causing the tram to lurch and jump, which, coupled with the unsprung nature of the carriages made for a very unpleasant ride. Often the carriages would jump the rails which meant that the passengers would be obliged to lift it back on to the rails. The wooden rails were replaced with iron in 1876 and with the arrival of the two A class 0-4-OT steam railway engines, the “Skunk” and the “Wallaby”, George Hughes continued with the railway as a fireman.

In July, 1876, a young lass called Martha Ann Ingram and her brother, came to New Zealand aboard the 1098 ton immigrant sailing ship “Howrah”. It was the “Howrah’s” third and final voyage to the Colony as an immigrant ship. On this voyage she carried 286 passengers, 200 of whom disembarked at Nelson, the others at Wellington on 18th November. Soon after, Martha and her brother came to Foxton on the “Jane Douglas”. It was customary in those days to be at the wharf when the boats came in, and, among the crowd, was George Hughes. Whether it was love at first sight, will never be known, but the following year, George and Martha were married in Will Ingram’s cottage in Jenks Street by Rev James Duncan. They lived there while their new home in Coley Street was built. A long, low colonial style cottage was built across the section which George had bought for 12 pounds. At the back of the section was a large swamp, a favoured place for the Maori to fish for eels and shoot ducks. They would take a short cut right through the house, returning the same way, eels, mud, ducks and all, a truly terrifying experience for poor Martha.

In 1878, George brought 22 acres from Mr P. Robinson on No.2 Line about three miles south east of Foxton. No.2 Line was originally an old Maori track known to then as Tuna Road, because of the twists and turns in it. The bridge a few hundred yards up the road from the Hughes section was called Tuna head or the head of the eel. In 1885 he bought another 22 acres from Mr Robinson, giving him a total of 44 acres. His property was in the Tapuiwaru Bush which bordered the great swamp at Whirikino. The land was gradually cleared of the heavy bush, and in 1885, a new double-gabled house was built. The family moved early the next year. In all twelve children were born and grew up on Pearl Farm as it became known.

The only time the family was away from Foxton was in 1889 when George Hughes was training to become an engine driver, which meant shifting to Wanganui for a time. Old habits die hard, and so it was that, one cold frosty morning, the engine refused to climb the Wanganui incline because of the icy rails. Following the practice which they had employed so many times in the past on the Rangiotu incline, they tied down the safety valves in order to get up enough pressure. The guard was horrified and lost no time in complaining to his superiors, with the result that George and his mate received a severe reprimand for endangering the passengers’ lives! George Hughes was so incensed that he quit the railway and returned to his farm in Foxton where he remained until his retirement in 1920. He moved to Paekakariki where he resided until shortly before his death in April, 1947, at the age of 94. His wife predeceased him by some nine years, shortly after their diamond wedding anniversary. Right to the end of his days George retained all his faculties and sense of humour. He died peacefully at his old home on No.2 Line. An ardent supporter of the Foxton Racing Club, he attended almost 70 consecutive local race meetings.

George Hughes witnessed many of the stirring events which made Foxton such a colourful place in those early days. One such occasion was on a cold, wet morning in June, 1886 as the train pulled into the Rangitane Station, the crew were astounded by the number of Maoris standing in the pouring rain, wailing and crying. With one accord they pointed towards the north saying (what sounded like “Ruapehu, Ruapehu”! Not understanding, but believing that some great chief had died, the train continued on its way to Palmerston. The local Maoris had been “on edge” for some months. That same night Mt. Tarawera erupted, causing heavy loss of life. The eruption was witnessed at the farm on No.2 Line as what was described as a great fireworks display.

In 1894 George Hughes was elected to the Foxton Borough Council together with Robert Austin and Thomas Westwood, to fill three vacancies. The election was held on September 7th and on the 13th a protest signed by seven electors was handed to Henry Brabent, the local Magistrate, calling to an enqiry on the grounds that the name of one candidate, Henry Bradcock, had been omitted from the list. It was ruled that the election was null and void and must be reheld the following month and this was duly done. George Hughes did not stand for re-election thus making him the shortest elected in Foxton’s history!

Other events that he spoke of with great clarity were the great floods of 1880 and 1902, the 1881 earthquake, the fires which plagued the town throughout the years, and of course, the railway.

As was customary with many of the early settlers, nothing was ever discarded, and so it was with receipts and dockets belonging to the family over the period 1877 to 1912. There are literally hundreds of them at present in the keeping of his grandson, Colin Cochran, providing a valuable insight into those early times.

Contributed by grandson Colin Cochran.