THE RECOLLECTIONS OF MELVILLE RILEY

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Born 1906 -Written June 1986

I've been putting off this moment for so long, but as my memory is so vivid and the day so foul that I thought I would start at last. Having survived two world wars there is much to tell. I was born in 1906 and went to school at the age of six to St Hilda's Collegiate School. About this time father changed from a horse driven trap to a Rover five seater motor car which we were all very proud of. From St Hilda's kindergarten I went to Miss Lee’s preparatory school held at all Saints church hall and then I went to Arthur Street State School. I can vividly remember all the soldiers marching along the Dunedin streets at the outbreak of world war one, little knowing they were going to be shot to pieces in trench warfare. About this time -1914 -Father bought some acres of land at Doctors point at Waitati intending to build on it. It is now owned by Dr John Borrie and is still called Birling Gap. Father encouraged other doctors to do as he had done and the Fitchetts, Bachelors and Fitzgeralds built on adjacent sections.

In 1910 father and his father-in-law C C Graham lashed out and bought Timaru Creek Station for 6000 pounds, a land of snow, rocks and poverty (for sheep that is), but it had the most magnificent scenery which took the eye, but that is another story. At the age of ten years I was bundled off to Waihi School Winchester along with Tom Smith from Tarras and Jack Bachelor. Mother and Mrs Bachelor took us up by train and we stayed the night at the Winchester hotel. The following day we were introduced to J R Orford a striking looking man with a fierce looking face, damaged by a sinus operation that went wrong. He told us to go and play croquet while he and the mothers talked. We thought this was great and used the mallets like hockey sticks until Orford came roaring out and put a stop to that.

Waihi turned out to be a good move. It was the happiest time of my school memories. After the croquet episode, we were admonished by Jane Orford’s daughter for throwing stones at the pigeons in their dovecot. Apart from cold showers in the morning which we disliked, all our spare time was taken up with bird netting and setting snares for rabbits in the Summer and sword fighting with carady sticks in the Winter. We were allowed to roam around the country and adjacent farmers were very tolerant. On Saturday afternoons we went boat sailing in the Waihi creek. I had an impressive liner that I was given for a birthday present but when the boys noticed it was made in Germany they pelted it with stones. I remember my big fight with Ernie Clark, a ring was made around us and we got stuck in. The bell rang for dinner and every onlooker melted away. We soon made it up and joined the throng for dinner. On Sundays we walked two miles to the Winchester Anglican church. It was a stuffy little church. One Sunday I fainted and had to be carried outside and got a ride home with a parishioner Mr Barker in his gig. On Fridays we were given sixpence and one could go down to the local store and buy sweets. On Sundays after church Mrs Armitage used to arrive in her T-model Ford and take George and Stewart together with friends home to Temuka where she gave us a feast.

I shall never forget those days. The Anglican church through lack of support was given to Waihi School and now resides in the school grounds and is the focal point of the school and all local parishioners are welcome. Incidentally I learned the rudiments of cricket at Waihi. They were very keen on cricket. I seem to remember the 1918 flu epidemic. We were marooned for weeks but fortunately we were protected from the virus which never got amongst us. I was at Waihi for 1917-19 I went to Waitaki Boys High School under the firm discipline of Milner in 1920. The “Man” they called him. Tom Smith and I were the only Waihi boys who went to Waitaki. We were called the two "Winchester boys" and were severely ragged on account of it. We were bullied there, a favourite trick when leaning against the Oamaru stone building was to have your legs kicked from under you and be sent sprawling. We were terrified unti1 the initiation cermony was over and we ran the gauntlet of knotted towels, and were chucked into the baths. I hate to think what would have happened to me had I not had cousins Ralph and Jim Chaffey, who saw that I was not unmercifully ducked and allowed to come up for air. Some boys were nearly drowned. There was one particular boy who had a set on me and bullied me unmercifully until the prefects matched him against me in the boxing ring. When I was pushed into it I saw my enemy and saw red and gave him a good do over. I was a made man after that and was left severely alone. After learning the piano for nine years without much result and hearing others playing Rugby, I was allowed to give it up and introduced to football.

I was just settled nicely at Waitaki and mother decided that my manners were not good enough, and after some argument with father she decided to send me to Christs College. She drove up to the school in Mrs Reid's limousine with chauffeur and bearded "The Man" in his den. He was not at all pleased, and so ended My Waitaki days.

My introduction to Christs College was not too unpleasant. The first person I met was Harold Elworthy, an old friend from Waihi days, and of course most of my friends from Waihi were there. Stewart Armitage was in Flowers house and we used to go for walks on Sundays up the Port Hills. Once again I had to endure the initiation ceremony, being immersed in a stinking bath of foul excrement and having to make a speech under a cold shower. As it was not done until the second term when colder weather prevailed, I caught a severe chest cold and bronchitis which plagued me through the years.

At this time father was laid low with pneumonia and it was thought advisable for mother to take us both to convalesce at Glenorchy and Paradise. We stayed at a boarding house run by the Aitkens, and enjoyed a delightful climate. I remember going fishing with mother in a row boat at Diamond Lake and catching a lovely brown trout of 3-4 pounds. I also remember an attractive waitress with sparkling eyes with whom I went dancing at the local hall, and there I met G L Burdon, the eligible bachelor from Mt Creighton Station, who captured the girls. This was my first experience of female company.

I duly went back to school at and naturally my scholastic ability was not very distinguished with changes of school, time away, etc. I remember one report which said "lacking in elementary fundamentals." However School continued on and I remember the cold fogs that lay over the river, I was always cold. The biggest attraction was football and cricket at which I excelled, as I was big and reasonably good at ball games. I remember the thrill of getting my colours. 1st XI, my stature was enhanced from that time as I was in the 2nd XV and didn’t reach lst XV status. Returning to my scholarship ability, I sat my matriculation in 1924 and got a partial pass. As it was evident that I was not academically inclined and that my heart was set on farming, Father arranged with McCall to take me and Mac Balmbra as cadets. I think McCall thought he would cure me of my farming inclinations so he didnt go out of his way to encourage us. He always said. You've got to be born to farming and you learn by experience, so we spent much time at the Dingle doing road work, looking for Keas up the Manuka Spur and gathering Bluegum Nuts at the mouth of the Dingle. He left us to do for ourselves and I well remember our attempts to bake scones and damper. I had to round up a sheep and shoot my first mutton because I didnt know how else to deal with it. I've never liked scones since. McCall decided that with the approval of the Vincent county he would shift the switch back road, from up under the hills, down to the lake edge where the washouts could be more easily dealt with. The old road frequently had deep washouts to contain with so we were employed converting the road. I could never get enough to eat. Mrs Bell used to make tiny little scones you could eat in one mouthful. We worked for some time on that road, a man from the county helping us. I decided I'd like to go to a dance. Thelma Gillespie was the attraction. McCall and his wife took me down and left m. to find my own way back. I started walking back to Timaru Creek after the dance was over, when Old Man Muir and his son Ronnie drove up in a gig and asked me where I was heading. When I said I was going to Timaru Creek they said hop aboard and took me home where I stayed the night. It was very kind of them. I can see the place vividly in my memory. I walked up to Timaru Creek the next day. About this time Mcther and Graham were staying at the Wanaka Hotel on account of Graham’s kidney illness and Mother came over to see me one day. I well remember going for a walk down the paddocks with her with my trusty .22 rifle and spotting a fish and shooting it. To my surprise I must have stunned it as I was able to grab it and give it to mother to give to Mrs McCleod, the Wanaka Postmistress at the time. I cant remember much more of that time except for one incident. When rolling logs over the bank to construct the dam I gave an almighty heave of the crowbar and fell and straddled the log. I would have gone over the cliff had not McCall grabbed me by my leg. So I can thank him for that.

Everything seems to have dissolved into the mists of time over this period. Mac was the first to chuck it after McCall, being fairly callous with remarks he made over Mac's mother’s death. We must have been there for six to eight months. It wasn't long before I left also and McCall must have heaved a sigh of relief at our departure. I vowed I'd never return except with the reins.

It was approximately November and I took woolclassing classes at the technical College prior to the next step forward, Lincoln College. At this stage I must mention Waitati. I well remember my first glimpse of Waitati, being taken by Mother to stay with Jack Bachelor at Opeke. The Bachelors were the first to rent Opeke. It was a foggy misty day but I only remember the fine days. This must have been early days about 1913 as the Bachelors built their house in 1914. Father must have taken a fancy to Opeke as he bought it when it came on the market. Those lovely carefree days. I well remember how I longed to get out there. Mother used to bring two maids out from town at times. I only spent the holidays from Waihi and Waitaki and Christs College out there but I well remember the boating, flounder netting, bathing etc. We had everything out there. Even a tennis court was made but we weren't allowed to play on Sundays. On Sundays we were dragged reluctantly to church at Waitati. I remember the clergyman, Reid Williamson who used to say, lets pray, and old man Muir conducting the choir. We had a pony called Dolly, a white pony. One night the two maids walked into the village and arrived home in a state of collapse with clothes torn and said they had seen a ghost. (Dolly more likely) Mrs Bachelor used to take us for picnics at Goat Island and we bathed at the lovely little beach. We had a flat bottomed boat for netting and I remember a huge haul of fish. (Red cod) .We must have struck a school and could barely haul the net in. There were 232 fish we counted. We had to turn the net inside out to let them all go. Then there was spearing flounders down at the point. I remember catching a big flounder with our bare hands. It must have been asleep.

Then there was trapping rabbits, my favourite pursuit, all that time at Waitati. It must have influenced me to go farming. Father used to come out in the weekends and struggle away cutting hedges. I had my favourite Cherry Plum tree and Honey Pear Tree. We knew every apple tree but most of them [were] old and unattractive except for one Irish Peach which we made a bee-line for. Coming home from Lincoln in 1925 the year of the Exhibition, there were a lot of special trains running and I got the wrong train, lst stop Palmerston, so when approaching the incline at Port Chalmers I decided to jump ship when the train slowed down. The guard shook his fist at me but I collected the slow train to Waitati later. The flatty boat was superseded by a lovely clinker built 16 footer and I think Graham and Peter tried sailing it. George Heriot built an elaborate boat shed to house it and the shed is still there to this day, but no boat. I don't know what happened to the boat. Well that just about covers Waitati. They were golden years. We were lucky to have such a place. It was originally bought f or 1300 pounds and believe it or not sold for 700 pounds, the price of the mortgage.

The year of the exhibition was the year I met my future wife Janet. A Lincoln friend Billy Miles asked me to look after her.