ROSS

Ross is situated on a flat southwards of the Totara River within a semicircle of high bush-clad hills. The flat lies open to the north-west and extends out 1 to 3 miles to the shores of Westland Bight. The town is the terminus of a railway from Greymouth, the nearest port, and 15 miles from Hokitika. The main South Westland highway, after following a more inland route than the railway, reaches Ross 20 miles south-west of Hokitika.

The district of which Ross is the centre was once the scene of intensive gold mining. The main rural activities are now sawmilling, lime-crushing, and farming, including dairying and sheep and cattle raising. Two sawmills are working within the borough. Lime is quarried on the north-eastern boundary of the borough.

Gold was discovered in the district in 1864. A short-lived rush to the Totara River followed. Towards the middle of 1865 further discoveries were made in gullies at and near the site of the present borough. In August the main activities were centred on Jones Creek. A settlement sprang up on a terrace east of this creek, but following the cutting of a direct access track to eliminate a difficult route which ran via the beach, Totara River mouth, and an estuarine lagoon, a town site was marked out by J. Rochfort on a lower terrace west of the original “canvas town”. It was called Georgetown. Shortly afterwards, as a compliment to George Ross, Provincial Treasurer of Canterbury, the name was changed to Rosstown. About 1866 the name was shortened to Ross. For many years the mines at and about Ross continued to yield much gold. During the early 1900s production tapered off. The auriferous beds were found to dip steeply seawards and, as workings extended towards the sea from Jones Gully mouth, the more difficult it became to cope with water seepage. All accessible alluvial beds were gradually worked out. By 1917 active mining had ceased. Ross was constituted a borough in 1878.

POPULATION: 1951 census, 471; 1956 census, 549; 1961 census, 503.

by Brian Newton Davis, M.A., Vicar, St. Philips, Karori West, Wellington and Edward Stewart Dollimore, Research Officer, Department of Lands and Survey, Wellington.

ROSS, Dame Grace [Hilda Cuthbert[h]a]

(1883–1959).

Politician and welfare worker.

A new biography of Ross, Grace Hilda Cuthberta appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Dame “Hilda” Ross was born on 6 July 1883 at Whangarei, the daughter of Adam Nixon, a fireman. She spent her early life in Sydney and her youth in Auckland, studying music, particularly the piano. In January 1904 she married Harry Ross who went to Hamilton the following year to establish the firm of Barton and Ross. She taught music and took a leading part in the life of the community, being particularly active in efforts to raise money for worthy causes. In the influenza epidemic of 1918 she was among those who worked untiringly to help the sick. Her musical activities led to the founding of the Hamilton Choral Society of which she was conductor, while she was also pianist of the Hamilton Operatic Society. In 1927 she was one of the leaders in establishing the Waikato Children's Health Camp League and was secretary of the organisation for over 20 years. Dame Hilda was made a Justice of the Peace in 1938 and entered public life when she was elected to the Waikato Hospital Board in 1941. She became a member of the Hamilton Borough Council in 1944, and deputy mayor the following year. At the outbreak of the Second World War she undertook the task of organising patriotic work in the district, founding the Women's Auxiliary Volunteer Corps, of which she was commandant, and becoming president of the Hamilton Women's Patriotic Committee.

On the death of the National member for Hamilton, F. Findlay, she was elected to represent the city at a by-election in May 1945 and was returned at the five following general elections. After the National victory in 1949 Dame Hilda was made Minister in Charge of the Welfare of Women and Children. This post without departmental responsibilities allowed full scope for her to help those in need, and to speak in Cabinet for the women of New Zealand. In the short-lived Holyoake Cabinet of 1957 she was Minister of Social Security. She represented New Zealand at the 1952 Geneva meeting of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. Hamilton recognised her services to the city in 1948 when she was given the freedom of the city. In the 1956 New Year Honours she was created a D.B.E. Her husband died in 1940. There were two sons by the marriage.

Dame Hilda died on 6 March 1959. She was not a strong political partisan; her forthright character and direct manner prevented it. She was one with a great respect for her fellow beings, especially for those in need and she never failed to work for their good.

Dame Hilda evidently adopted the names “Hilda” and “Cuthbert(h)a” at the time of her marriage in 1904.

by James Oakley Wilson, D.S.C., M.COM., A.L.A., Chief Librarian, General Assembly Library, Wellington.

• Waikato Times, 6 Mar 1959 (Obit).

ROTORUA LAKES

There are 20 lakes within 20 miles of Rotorua, though some are small and not well known. All are of volcanic origin, filling craters, calderas, or valleys blocked by lava flows.

Lake Rotorua is circular, 6 miles in diameter, and slopes gently down to the deepest part west of Mokoia Island. It occupies a caldera, and a bench 300 ft above the lake marks its original level. Tapsell in 1830 was probably the first European to seethe lake, but in 1831 Henry Williams and Thomas Chapman came through the district, and in 1835 the latter established a mission station on Mokoia. Well known for the hot springs of Whakarewarewa, Kuirau, and Ohinemutu, and the cold springs of Hamurana, Rainbow, and Fairy, the lake is a popular tourist resort for yachting, fishing, and swimming. The city of Rotorua is on the south shore. The Ohau channel flows out at the north-east end into Rotoiti.

Rotoiti is 8½ miles long by less than 2 miles wide, and the deepest point is near the centre. The lake is a popular fishing and boating resort and hot-spring baths at Manupirua are accessible by boat on the south shore. The Kaituna River flows out at Okere. Rotoiti, Rotoehu, and Rotoma lie along the northern rim of a large caldera, cut off by big lava flows on the south side. The cliffs on the north of Rotoiti and along Hongi's Track form part of the caldera wall. Rotoehu has hot soda-spring baths at the south-east end, and Rotoma is a popular picnic and boating resort. Neither lake has any outlet.

Lake Okataina also lies between the caldera wall and Haroharo lava flows, its steep bush-clad slopes giving it great scenic beauty. Lake Tarawera is a broad, branching lake with fairly flat floor filling a valley between Haroharo and Tarawera lava flows over which the Kaituna flows out to the east. Rotomahana occupies craters formed by steam-blast eruptions which accompanied the Tarawera eruption of 1886 and which destroyed the famous Pink and White Terraces and the earlier Lakes Rotomahana and Rotomakiriri. The eruption debris blocked the valley leading to Lake Tarawera. The round trip for tourists crosses Rotomahana and Tarawera Lakes by boat.

Okareka, Rotokakahi (Green Lake), and Tikitapu (Blue Lake) are lakes of scenic beauty nestling among steep hills, and the last is a crater from which the coarse pumice quarried near Rotorua was erupted. Rotokawau, Roto Ngata, and Roto Atua are small crater lakes, and a number of small lakes at Waiotapu, some of them warm, occupy craters formed by steam-blast eruptions.

*North of Sulphur Point is an isolated spot with a depth of 120ft. Possibly this is a small crater.

by James Healy, M.SC., Volcanologist, New Zealand Geological Survey, Rotorua.

ROWING

On 16 March 1887, at the instance of William Fitzgerald of the Star Boating Club, Wellington, representatives of nine clubs established the New Zealand Amateur Rowing Association, which was formed under the patronage of Sir W. F. D. Jervois. J. O. Jones, of Christchurch, was the first president and A. G. Biss, of Wellington, was secretary. The nine clubs which formed the association were: Union Rowing Club (Christchurch) (1866); Star Boating Club (Wellington) (1867); Canterbury Rowing Club and Wanganui Rowing Club (1875); Union Boating Club (Wanganui) (1878); Napier Rowing Club (1886); Wellington Rowing Club (1885); and the Nelson and Whakatu Rowing Clubs (Nelson).

As rowing became more popular, the number of clubs affiliated to the New Zealand Amateur Rowing Association increased. The original nine became 34 in 1892 and 45 ten years later. On 4 October 1902 the association's annual meeting approved a proposal to provide for the sport to be administered on a regional basis under a central managing body. Accordingly, on 5 January 1903, nine local provincial rowing associations were set up. These were the Auckland, Canterbury, Hawke's Bay (now East Coast), Marlborough, Nelson, Otago, Southland, Wanganui, and Wellington Provincial Rowing Associations.

National Championships

In 1888 the first New Zealand rowing championships were held in fours and single sculls only and at different regattas. Two events, the pairs and double sculls, were added in the following season. These continued to be contested at different regattas until 1891, when they were all held at Wanganui. Up until 1927, probably owing to the cost of eight-oared boats, eight-oared rowing was confined to local regattas and to university clubs. In March 1928 the first inter-provincial championship eights race was held in Wellington for the Hallyburton Johnston Cup. A New Zealand championship eights event was added to the annual championship venue in 1937.

R. B. Smith, of Auckland, who won 10 New Zealand championship titles, has the finest record in this respect. Before the Second World War he won the single sculls on six occasions and the double sculls three times; while in 1946 he stroked an Auckland Rowing Club crew to win the New Zealand eights title. Don Rowlands is another who has built up an enviable record in New Zealand rowing. He has nine New Zealand championship titles, in the single and double sculls and eights, to his credit. In 1954 he added the Empire Games Gold Medal for single sculls to his achievements.

New Zealand Rowing Council Training Squads

To be successful in overseas competitions, especially in eight-oared events, it is necessary to give crews intensive training beforehand. As few rowing clubs are strong enough to produce sufficient men of world standard, the New Zealand Rowing Council has had to arrange the training of crews drawn from clubs throughout the country. In 1961 the council formed a squad to train for the eights at the British Commonwealth Games in November 1962. This crew's success at Perth encouraged the council to sponsor a similar training programme for the 1964 Olympic Games at Tokyo. During the 1963–64 season the crew competed at the various regattas in order to qualify for selection for the Olympic Games at Tokyo.

Rowing in Secondary Schools

In recent years rowing has obtained a growing following in secondary schools. In 1947 the rowing council donated the Maadi Cup, won by the New Zealand Army eight in Egypt, for competition among secondary schools' eight-oared crews. The rowing medals and oars won by Archbishop R. Owen have also been presented as trophies for schoolboy competitions. In this connection it may be noted that, of recent years, most of New Zealand's champions and representatives began rowing at school.

Standard of Rowing

Although competition against overseas crews of world class is the only real way of attaining the standard necessary to win world or Olympic titles, expense has been a serious problem. Over the past 10 years the standard of rowing in New Zealand has improved greatly, due to several factors: first, to the increasing number of proficient oarsmen being trained in secondary schools; secondly, to the use of better equipment and more efficient coaching methods by the various clubs; and, thirdly, to competitors passing on the fruits of their overseas experience to fellow club members.

Membership

The New Zealand Amateur Rowing Association's annual report for 1962–63 shows that its active membership is 1,564 and that there are also 145 schoolboys rowing for clubs.

by Samuel Irwin Kidd, Hon. Treasurer, New Zealand Amateur Rowing Association, Wellington.

Hallyburton Johnston Cup