A TRIP NORTH.

Oxford Observer, Volume I, Issue VI, 21 September 1889, Page 6

A TRIP NORTH.

■': [By, Trig.]

Xx/'X '""'' y.(Co)Ui'nucd.) '7"^Ciffe line from Petone follows 7 "th^Hutt valley through fairly good .' lahcP -to the Upper - Hu tt, and from thence ascends the Bimutaka range by a succession of deep cuttings and short tunnels, winding m and out of the mountain side m sharp curves, to the Summit railway station. The engine is here taken off, and two powerful "Fell" engines are attached to the train for the descent, which, is a side cutting having a doep

valley on one side, and is the steepest grade m New Zealand. The line is provided witli a centre-rail to be gripped by the engines, and at the bottom it is continued up a sharp rise, so that, if anything went wrong, and if the train remained on the rails, and if the points were turned on m time, there might be a chance for the passengers, but there are too many " ifs " m the case to render it much consolation to a nervous individual, and I noticed some ladies with their eyes shut, and backs resolutely turned to the valley below. HoAvever, we did not test any of the . "ifs" m this instance, and at 10.26 arrived at Featherstonj a smart-looking little town overlooking the Wairarapa Lake, a fine sheet of water some five • miles wide, by fifteen long, surrounded by hills covered with bush m places to the water's edge, on which were numbers of ducks and black swans. From here to Master ton (the next place of any size) the land is fairly level, and, judging from what can be seen from the tain, of very poor quality. Open stony flats, covered with manuka, and small patches of bush being the chief characteristics, though some of the Wairarapa land is reported as good as any m New Zealand. From Masterton on is nearly all bush land, limestone, and pa-pa rock, and is very broken. In the train was a Canterbury man, who has settled for some years m the North. He told me he had bought ten acres containing a limestone reef, which he pointed out as we passed, and was doing well at burning lime, for which there is a ' great demand m Wellington. Commencing as a working man, he is now able to employ two men himself, and is clearing about £40 per month. I was surprised at the number of Canterbury men I came across m the North Island, __ and from their own accounts (with two exceptions) they had bettered themselves by the change. At 1 p.m. we arrived at Eketahuna,. a straggling bush township, built apparently without any plan, on a high plateau, over-looking miles of bush, and nothing else, and consisting of two or three rough hotels m the proportion of one hotel to every two houses, a lew stores, and a house or two. Eketahuna is the terminus of the railway at present, though there is little doubt but that shortly it "will be carried on to Woodville, the present terminus of the Napier- Woodville line, a distance of twenty-six miles through a level valley, which presents no engiueeriug difficulty or costly work, with the , : exception of the Mangatainoko river, ; v- over which a bridge has already been built. The coach starts for Pahiatua at 2 p.m. (fare, 55.) giving ample time for dinner, after leaving the train; and, sharp to time, the driver shouts " all aboard," and a start is made on a grand road, through the bush, past clearings and new houses built among the fallen timber. Eemembering Oxford experiences, I ask Jack, the driver, if they are not afraid of fire. " Oh," he says " they are Wellington men, just up, and they know more than any one else on God's earth don't you see, and won't be told ; bye and bye, when the hot weather comes they will have to clear, sharp." Presently the bush closes m on both sides, and almost meets overhead, reminding me very much of the West Coast road about the "Taipo. " river, were it not that the trees are somewhat different, consisting mostly of Eata, Tawa, Hinau, and the grandest of all the fern trees, the " mumaku " of the Maoris (Cyafchea Medullaris), who iis'e the pith of the tree, which is something like sago, as food. This magnificent fern grows from twelve to forty feet high, with a trunk fonr to eight feet round, the leaves are thirty to forty m number, and ten to twenty feet long. A poet seeing it for the first time would go wild over this ; m London it would, be worth, any money, from £100 upwards. Here, the bush man surveyor simply cuts it down and builds his camp, or bridges a bad place m the road with the trunk, true to the old saying that "familiarity breeds contempt" (o he continued.)