James McLeod Manager of Pahaua 1859 – 1876 Part B

Manager of Pahaua

In 1859 William McLeod left Pahaua to manage Whakapuni (which he eventually owned) and James McLeod took over as manager. Pahaua was ‘virgin’ land, no fences, steep hillsides, native grasses, wild dogs, isolated, no tracks or roads, no stock apart from what they ‘drove’ in and a host of other almost insurmountable difficulties.

Esther McLeod, sister of James, had been living at Pahaua for some years as his housekeeper.

James McLeod

Marriage

In 1861 on 2^nd March James McLeod married his cousin Catherine Sutherland (daughter of Alexander and Elizabeth) in Wellington in her parents’ homestead. Catherine was 21 and James 26. They rode on horseback, a distance of 100 miles taking two days, back to Pahaua. 

Catherine Sutherland

The homestead the McLeods lived in at this time was built of heavy rafters, all outside walls being made of clay, probably twelve inches thick. It consisted of several rooms, all of which had a door leading to the outside.  At one end there was a huge kitchen with a large fireplace, all cooking being done in camp ovens. In later years a colonial oven was put in. Several rooms were also added at one end with one or two smaller ones upstairs. These later additions were built of wood, the roof of the whole being white pine shingles. The house was built near the banks of the Pahaua River with permanent water from a creek on one side. Fogs were bad. For many years the Sutherland homestead was the only one in the valley. 

Clay house built on Ngaipu 1855 – must be Pahaua – later known as Ngaipu. 

The first employees on Pahaua were mostly Maori living at the pa on the station. Names in an old diary are: Hoira, Herimiah, Paura, Hakapa, William Kelly and Robert Wilson. Many other names of both Maori and pakeha employees are in Ngaipu.

The diary also tells of potatoes being frequently bought from the local Maoris, being delivered in flax kits and baskets. Wheat was packed in from the coast and ground at the homestead. Wheat was soon grown near the homestead.

Challenges of farming at Pahaua

Chapter 9 of Sutherlands of Ngaipu tells of some of the challenges of farming at Pahaua. From the perspective of 2019 it is hard to imagine the hard work of managing these early settler properties. Boundaries and fencing were just about non-existent. Wild dogs were difficult to catch and shoot. Sheep are labour intensive at the best of times but the mustering, tupping (rams), lambing, docking, dipping, shearing – James tied each bale with string for a few years - wool being packed by horses or bullock team, to the coast and put into bales there for pickup and sale in London, must have been incredibly challenging. 

Wool bales to be loaded at Pahaua beach

There was all the labour that was brought in – men who had to be fed, housed, organised for work, paid and generally looked after.

 

Sutherlands of Ngaipu Page 66

The sheep flock was steadily being built up and from a small flock of a hundred or so from Lyalls Bay by 1867 they had increased to 3750, being all half breeds. There was some droving from Lyalls Bay that James McLeod was involved with.

 

Sutherlands of Ngaipu Page 56

The cattle of Pahaua did not increase as much as the sheep. In 1871 there were 45 calves ear-marked and branded and these belonged to several members of the family but James is not listed as an owner.

Sutherlands of Ngaipu Page 67 

Washing the wool prior to shearing

Near the homestead there was a deep hole in the river, the approach being down a papa ledge. The sheep were driven down this ledge and into the river. They were kept swimming in this hole for some minutes, then taken out on the opposite side. The method would certainly take out a lot of dirt and grease, also make for lighter transport to the coast.

On one occasion when this work was taking place. Jim McLeod slipped off the ledge into water 12 feet deep and which shelved up with shallow water on the other side. McLeod could not swim. One or two men dived in to save him, but presently they were amazed to see McLeod walk out into shallow water. He had the presence of mind to walk along the bottom.

Sutherlands of Ngaipu Page 74

Fire

Bush-felling was not extensively carried out in the past, money not being available, but fire was used to burn and clear a lot of the fern country and scattered manuka. A fire in the sixties started by Jim McLeod on the front hills during one very dry summer burnt for weeks and spread over thousands of acres. Mt Adams, then in heavy timber, was all destroyed, and the fire spread as far away as Glenburn. 

Retirement 

Early in 1876 James McLeod severed his connection as manager of Pahaua, and left with his wife and young family to live in Martinborough. He was still only a young man, 41 years of age. One reason for his resignation was that William Sutherland, (James' cousin and son of Alexander Sutherland who married Esther McLeod) who had been at Pahaua for several years was now ready to carry on the management and eventual ownership of the station.The challenges were extreme and later led to the ill-health and death of William Sutherland. But as James had no chance of land ownership, which his brother-in-law did, there probably was not the same incentive for James to stay.

"Jim McLeod had been manager since his brother left in 1859. Altogether he was in his uncle’s employ twenty-one years, from 1855 to 1876. He had seen many changes, coming here when it was virgin ground carrying no sheep or cattle, and leaving when there 7,000 sheep and about 200 head of cattle. He did not perhaps possess the ability or energy his brother William had, and was rather too easy going, but he was a very likeable man."  Sutherlands of Ngaipu pg 78

Part of Pahaua station (at the time the photo was taken it was called Ngaipu)