TRM are often asked who the Judge was? As this is the closest pool to TRM – less than 5 minutes waddling in waders – it gets plenty of attention from inmates. Picky fly fishos have to know everything, you understand.
The quickest route to Judges Pool is from Te Aho Street opposite the motel reception. This leads to a track to the top of the pool on the TLB. A rough track has been hewn downstream and the river can be accessed off this. Warning – the casting can be tricky for right-handed individuals with no back-cast space. Another access is from the Tongariro River Trail stopbank about 200 m further down river.
The more favoured TRB is accessed either from the Tongariro River Trail or by following the river up from under the SH1 road bridge, along the bypass under the cliffs. A wide beach and easy wading is available for about 50-60 m. That pool description is all very well, but what about the Judge?
Like most other famous Tongariro anglers, he has a story to tell. In the “Pools of the Tongariro” booklet by Allan and Barbara Cooper, published 1975, he was described as follows:
“Named after Judge Ostler, later Sir Hubert Osler, appointed King’s Counsel in 1924, knighted in 1939. He was a judge and a writer who enjoyed other sports, including big-game hunting in Africa. He owned one of the first houses built in Turangi, in the area then known as Taupahi.”
Later he receives much more attention in Grant Henderson’s excellent 2023 book “Fishing the Tongariro”, under the heading of ‘Judge Ostler’s predicament’, page 133. His predicament was that, in a 1926 hearing on the annual Court payment and fishing licence revenue, he somehow forgot to disclose to the court his ownership of the land opposite TRM. He urged the government to prevent any private individual from obtaining a monopoly on Tongariro fishing and making a huge profit from it by charging prices that only rich tourists can pay. This would be contrary to the spirit of the Tongariro…
He was one of five judges, yet none of the others thought Ostler’s landholdings disqualified him from adjudicating the Lake Taupo compensation claim brought by Te Heu Heu, a well-known Maori chief of the local tribe, Tuwharetoa. They believe he should have recused himself. Do you agree it looks a bit fishy?
One hundred years later, one might imagine he should not have got away with such bias and stood aside from the case. But you may also surmise that such professional duplicity might have been an essential ingredient to his success as a hunter.
As he owned all the land from the SH1 road bridge back up across Te Aho Street to where Taylor’s Lodge used to be located, and subdivided it into residential sections, he could not possibly contribute as an independent judge. Lawyers have their own jargon for interpreting duplicity.
TRM have often promoted tourist panels beside the main pools to celebrate their naming history but we are not sure if the judges pool deserves one.
Below 1956 aerial of “Taupahi” as it was called then. The intersection was the main road to Tokaanu past the school. Most of the land in the centre, foreground, had been owned by the Judge.
This brings us to another interesting issue…
Many owners of residential properties on the eastern side of SH1 have suggested that Turangi town is now big enough to qualify for a separate suburb called Taupahi – being the original settlement of anglers’ accommodation located on the eastern side of SH1, to differentiate it from the new (1970’s) “hydro” town on the western side surrounding the shopping centre. SWMBO agrees.
What do you think?