Progress of the Expedition.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIII, Issue 20, 25 January 1892, Page 3

Progress of the Expedition.

Viewing the Country.

EIGHTY MILES FROM STRATFORD.

THE JOURNEY ON FOX)T C0M- ..,,...,,...- MENCING. .. -

EXPLORING PARTY ALL WELL.

[from our special reporter.]

(By Special Messenger to Otorohonga, and thence by Telegraph.)

Mangaroa Creek, Ohura Valley, Friday morning.

The Stratford railway route party arrived here to-day from Auckland via Te Kuiti, after three days' riding from the latte r place, a distance of sixty miles. Wβ are eighty miles from Stratford.

The party, consisting of those from Auckland, augmented by Mr Hursthouse, Government engineer, a guide and two packers, started on horseback from Te Kuici on Tuesday afternoon with fine weather. We camped the same night at Poro-o-torao tunnel, twenty-five miles from Te Kuiti,

CROSSING THE MOKAU RIVER en route. A large number of men, abou* one hundred in all, are now employed forming various sections on the railway line as yet incomplete between the Mokau River and the tunnel, working on the cooperative principle. The Poro-o-torao is no w quite deserted. The party spent the night there, and nexb morning rode through the tunnel on horseback, the length being three quarters of a mile. Ib was wet ground, bub an excellenb graded road was followed down the ridge to Ongaruhe Valley, Poro-o-borao, nuking the watershed between the Mokau • and Wanganui River system. This graded road is four miles in length till the native track is struck, leading on again to excellent portions of formed road.

THE ONGARUHE VALLEY, which draine into the Wanganui, is no b Tory fertile, being pumice formation covered with fern and scrub. Here is the Waimehe native settlement. The valley is a series of terraced plateaus suitable for running sheep. We crossed the Ongaruhe River five times. Close to the bed of the tho river there are-small patches of fertile land. The valley is flanked en both sides by rugged bush-clad ranges. Thn country is volcanic formation here, and taken all together is of little value. Seventeen miles from the tunnel we arrived at

THE POINT OF DIVERGENCE of the Central route and Stratford line. Near To Onehebunga, the Central line strikes in a southerly direction, while the other route takes a westerly bend for a number of milos. We camped on Wednesday night near Mahara, on the Ohura river, twenty-five miles from Poro-o-tarao and eighc from the point of divergence. Here we entered the upper rock country, growing high fern, flax, tutu, and ecrub, and broken into innumerable steep hills with a central valley, through which the Ohura, one of the Wanganui tributaries, rune. Both sides of the valley, as on tho Ongaruhe, are flanked by very thick bush, the timber being chiefly kahikatea, rimu, totara, matai, and tawa.

THE COUNTRY APPEARS TO BE

VERY MUCH BETTER than Ongaruhe Valley, but very broken. Clover was fairly plentiful. The country here i? very epareely populated, there being no natives between Waimehe and hero, forty miles. There is really little flat arable land in this part of the Ohura basin in comparison to the length of the country traversed. The valley varied from a half-mile to a mile in width ; the Boil is excellent, but the broken nature of the country militates against tillage on any very considerable scale, but for pastoral purposes the land can be highly spoken of. Leaving Mahara on Thursday morning, we resumed our way down the valley of the Ohura, following the railway survey line closely for twenty miles, camping at Toitoi on the river bank last night. The greater part of this journey was on fiat bush-covered country, the line running through over ten miles of useful mixed bush.

THE SOIL HERE IS VERY GOOD, the hills being covered with high furze and tupaki with some clover and English grasses in patches. There are no engineering difficulties on this portion of the line from the point of divergence, and not many cuttines. This camp is thirty miles from the point diverging. The road is a narrow bush track. We abandoned two pack horses yesterday in the Ohura bush, nearly dead from the poisonous ongorano, a native stinging nettle. To-day we send all the horses back to Tβ Kuiti, and

START ON FOOT INTO THE BUSH

FOR STRATFORD, ' where we expect to arrive on Tuesday or Wednesday next. The weather is fine, and all the party well. I send thia by meseenger to Otorohanga, where we are ab the time of writing. The soil is excellent alluvial land and vegetable loam with papa rock underneath. The southern side of the valley is clear of bush, and for a number of miles up the hillside includes numbers of old Maori clearings.

THE OHURA VALLEY proper drains about 75 thousand acres, most of which could either be cultivated or would make splendid pasture country. There are many good positions for bush mills on the extensive fiat in the Waikakn and Mangoroa valleys. Running into this are tracts of fertile soil.

Mr Cadman and the other members of the party are much better satisfied with this portion of the route.

Mr E. Waymouth, Secretary of the Norbhern Railway League, has received telegrams from Mr Hursthouee and Mr P. Oliphant, who are with the Auckland expedition enroute for Stratford, which show thac up to t-ho 22nd in»t. good progress had been made. The telegrams are dated January 22nd, and must therefore have been senb back by horses returning to Otorohanga when the party bad to proceed further on foot. Mr Hursthouse, the surveyor accompanying the party, wires : " Started our walk this morning. All are doing vvell. Weather very fine. Expect to reach Stratford on the 27th, in the evening, or on the morning of the 28th." Mr P. Oliphant, who represents the Northern Railway League, gives eomo additional information in his tolegram, as to the character of the country. He wires as follows ; — "Ohura is a magnificent valley. All well.~(Sd.) P. Omfhakt."