discoveries eventually being made as to which produced the hottest embers when burned, particularly rata, matai and lancewood.
All of these families relied on a vegetable garden to assist in the feeding of their families with the addition of whatever fish could be caught including eels. Native wood pigeons weren’t protected until the 1920s so these also formed part of the diet, as did weka, supplemented by whatever meat was available. Most settlers kept a cow to supply milk and butter. A fowl-run produced the much-needed eggs used for baking. Surpluses in any commodity were shared, bartered or sold for cash. Without electricity, kerosene lamps were used for lighting at night and also candles. The four gallon tin in which kerosene was supplied became an important utensil in households, for carting water, for laundry, for food storage and preserving eggs, for ablutions, and for transporting goods. The example in thrift and make-do set by their mother would stand her daughters in good stead when they married.
The native wood pigeon, the kereru, remained on the menu in our household at Whataroa into the 1930s despite the ban. Those of Irish descent tended to resent being told what to do. A common attitude existed that the powers-that-be up in Wellington weren’t going to decree what could or couldn’t be eaten, a defiance also shown on the Coast when six o’clock hotel closing became the law. Pigeons were plentiful in the nearby bush, and had been eaten since the first settlers arrived. They had been eaten by Maori for centuries. Whenever a pigeon was shot or stunned with the lead pellet from a shanghai, we children were taught to dig a hole and pluck the feathers directly into it before covering over. The aroma of pigeon soup was distinctive. The wings of pigeons were used as a hearth brush by early settlers. If the sole policeman stationed at Whataroa happened to sniff the aroma of pigeon soup wafting on the breeze when paying a visit to remote households, he obviously failed to enforce the law as I do not recall any prosecutions taking place - just as he failed to enforce six o’clock closing at the local
35
