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Bags of chaff are unloaded from horse-drawn wagons at the Blenheim Railway Station goods yard in the early 1900s.
A much-loved train station officer has been farewelled by the Tuamarina community, 110 years ago this week, as we take a flick through the archives.
From the Marlborough Express, September 1, 1913.
At a representative gathering of residents held in the Tua Marina Hall on Friday night an illuminated address and a purse of sovereigns were presented to Miss Duggan, on the occasion of her resignation of the charge of the railway station in view of her approaching marriage.
Mr A. Lankow was deputed to make the presentation which, he said, came from all the residents of the district who had been associated with Duggan in her official capacity.
He went on to say that he had known Tua Marina for very many years ever since the railway was opened and he knew well the difficulties the settlers experienced in the early days in getting their produce away.
They did not have any cheese or butter factories then, no hop gardens, no reapers and binders, no double-bagger chaff cutters.
It was real hard work to get the crops in and out, hard work to sell it, and the hardest of all to secure facilities to get it away.
Some time ago the settlers agreed to obtain the services of an officer at the Tua Marina station who would carry out many necessary little details in connection with transport.
They were too shy or too busy to ask for themselves, and Miss Duggan was appointed.
That appointment proved to be an excellent one, and the settlers now desired to thank that young lady for her courtesy, tact, and valuable assistance, and to wish her a happy married life.
Miss Duggan suitably acknowledged the mementoes.
Reference was made to the capable manner in which the duties of officer-in-charge were being carried out by Miss Brunetti, Miss Duggan’s successor.
A 1913 Marlborough Express newspaper costs one penny.
Also in the newspaper:
A correspondent writing to the Kaikoura Star asks why the inhabitants of such a fertile district as Kaikoura have to pay from £5 10s to £6 a ton for potatoes when the best quotations are 30s a ton in southern markets. He suggests that if the holders do not at once bring their prices to a fair thing and give the consumers a “square deal”, a combine should be formed and import potatoes, thus allowing the supplies to rot on the local holders’ hands.
Several right whales came close into Peninsula waters on Thursday morning (states the Kaikoura Star) and two crews gave chase, the Perano (Picton) launch, in charge of Mr J Jackson, ultimately capturing one about sixty feet long, which is expected to return well over £400. This launch only arrived on Saturday week, so the crew’s initial chase has been well rewarded.
SCOTT HAMMOND/Stuff.co.nz
Former whalers Adrian Perano and John Norton take a boat trip out to the old whaling station in the Marlborough Sounds. Video first published in 2020.
