As part of a Valley Profile series, MEGHAN HAWKES searches through old newspapers to bring you the stories Thames Valley locals once read about themselves.
1936
About 60 officers and other ranks of the Sixth Hauraki Regiment attended a weekend camp at Maratoto Valley.
The men bivouacked in tents provided by the Defence Department, which also supplied rations. In order that all trainees were able to take part, the Te Aroha and Paeroa branches of the New Zealand Territorial Association shared the cost of providing civilian cooks and arranging free transport of the men to and from the camp.
The men attending were drawn from the Thames, Te Aroha, Paeroa and Waihī areas of the regiment’s district.
The training was largely devoted to tactical exercises and night operations, the country in the Maratoto Valley being especially suitable for this type of instruction.
When a police car arrived at Puriri on a section near the railway station where a drinking party was taking place, the gates were thrown open and the police waved on, the gatekeeper evidently thinking the car was occupied by friends.
As soon as the police were seen there was a scatter. A three-gallon jar of beer was found in a car and the matter taken to court.
Sergeant Daly said that parties similar to the one visited by the police had been going on frequently at different places. “These parties have got to stop, otherwise the fines will be more severe,’’ thundered the magistrate.
A Patetonga motorist, on cresting the rise of the centre span of the Ngātea Bridge, was faced with a lorry climbing towards him. Faced with the possibility of colliding head on with the lorry or trusting the rail of the bridge to hold, he chose the latter course and ended up with one wheel overhanging the edge of the bridge. The car was extricated without trouble.
At Waitakaruru a collision occurred and two cars became interlocked. A car had backed out across the road from a gateway, and in swerving to avoid this car another two cars collided. Structural damage was fairly extensive.
A combination of mishaps saw all three sources of electricity supply for Paeroa out of action together. Arrangements had been made for a shutdown from Waikino, the usual source of supply, but the feeder service from Waihōu failed when an insulator broke at Mangaiti, near Te Aroha, and the third source at Kerepēhi failed through the breaking of another.
Power for the Thames Coast was the subject of a survey of residents. At a meeting of the Thames Valley Electric Power Board, the engineer said he hoped to have the full information before long, and there was every prospect of introducing power before Christmas.
By bringing power to the coast, the improved lighting and heating facilities would be a big incentive to the letting of seaside cottages.
