page_title: State Highway 52 (New Zealand)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: State Highway 52 (New Zealand) / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Object Name	Bullocks Hauling Wool Bales, Akitio Object Numbers	4113 i, m69/58, 82150 Brief Description	A photograph of wool bales on a cart being pulled to the shore by a team of bullocks at Akitio, Wairarapa. The bullocks are being led into the shallows. The wool would then be loaded on boats to be transferred to a ship. In the background the wool sheds and farm land can be seen. Photographer and date unknown. Subject Category	Farming/Agriculture/Archive classification Ships and shipping/Transport/Archive classification Sheep farming/Agriculture/Archive classification Transport/Archive classification Community and people/Archive classification Farm buildings/Buildings and structures/Archive classification Subject Period	1890s/19th Century 1900s/20th Century 1910s/20th Century 1920s/20th Century 1930s/20th Century Subject Place	Akitio/Wairarapa/North Island/New Zealand Credit Line	gifted by Richardson and Company Copyright	Out of copyright Photo Caption	Collection of Hawke’s Bay Museums Trust, Ruawharo Tā-ū-rangi, 4113 i
context_page_description: State Highway 52 is a former state highway now reclassified Route 52. It runs from Waipukurau, to Masterton in the Wairarapa through Porangahau on the east coast and the Weber and Pongaroa hill country in the Tararua District on the lower eastern side of the North Island.
context_section_description: Route 52 runs south through the Tararua District to the Wairarapa passing through the coastal side of the one-time very dense forest of the Seventy Mile Bush, known at its southern end as the Forty Mile Bush.
  Waipukurau to Porangahau
  The 26 miles of road was approved by Provincial Council in April 1859 and constructed over the next year but, five years later, passage was still difficult.
  Porangahau to Weber
  By 1864 a road reached Wainui — renamed Herbertville in 1889 — though bridges still had to be made.
  A separate Weber Road Board was established in 1890, an offshoot of the Porangahau Road Board.
  Weber Pongaroa Alfredton
  John O'Meara successfully campaigned for the Pahiatua seat in the 1896 general election. Part of his platform was that land should be roaded before new settlers were obliged to live on that land to keep their title. At an election meeting in Woodville he claimed to have never before seen such a place as the road between Pongaroa and Weber. Nineteen (pack)horses had been lost on that road that winter. In January it was announced roadworks at Pongaroa would recommence around the end of the month. Six parties of "co-operative labourers" duly began forming the road between Makuri and Pongaroa before the month was out. 
  In June the Ashburton Guardian said the road to Pongoroa is so bad it takes fourteen bullocks to haul just two tons to the township. While passable by a light vehicle in summer in winter or after heavy rain the banks slipped and the road had to be made over and over again. The same geological structure brought complaints from settlers that the ground did not drain properly and counter to its appearance had low fertility.
  By 1903 the roading position had improved to the point where the major concern was what proportions of the cost should be borne by central government and the Road Board's ratepayers.
  Alfredton in the Moroa to Masterton
  A route was surveyed by the Provincial Engineer in 1866. There was pressure from ratepayers to limit new roads to those leading to the coast (Castlepoint) on the grounds that sea transport was more economical and roads were used once-weekly by coach services considered "the luxury of wealthy squatters". However, by May 1885 a local newspaper was able to report the completion of the 80 foot span of the bridge over the Ihuraua river and described the new bridge as the key to the Alfredton and Tiraumea districts.
caption: Shipping wool from Ākitio beach. The bullock team will take the dray into water deep enough for the wool to be loaded onto a boat then rowed to the steamer
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