Gisborne to Ormond in Seven Hours.

The country districts had no roads—only tracks. My first trip to Ormond in September, 1872, took from 1 o'clock till dark. Leaving the old Argyll Hotel in Bidgood's coach, a light three-horse vehicle, we rode as far as Makaraka along the sandy ridges. Then we came to the clay and we children got out and walked and ran along the roadside, while the three horses plodded through the mud till about King's Road, when we got into the coach again but had once more to leave it and walk. The late Arthur Cuff, who lived at Mangatu, had a pack of mules that carried in the tucker to the station. My cousin, the late Alfred Hatton, had a butchery business at Patutahi where he killed and then carried the meat to town for delivery. It took from 2 a.m. till 6 a.m. to get the meat to the Bridge Hotel, where it was transferred to the lighter carts and reached town about 8 o'clock. So you see, we are not quite so badly off for roads now as then.