THE PREMIER'S AUCKLAND TOUR.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 71, 23 March 1908, Page 7

THE PREMIER'S AUCKLAND TOUR.

|i : ii SOLID DAY OX THE KOAD. jSCITEME2sTS . AKD 01? EAST COAST TEAVELLING. ' . (By TelegragU. — Own Reporter.) OPOTIKI,. this day. • A Prime Slinister of New Zealand jfho. desires to make MmseLf acquainted' »ritli the people and the needs of the 'remoter localities has to be prepared to meet the incidents of strange travel s3 veil as those of politics. The luxuries of the Pulnian give place €o the excitejnbnts of the like excursions round anountam faces, and banquets alternate Y/ith devices, many of ■ them prinvftive and of a sportive variet}-, for dodging violent and unhappy death, by flood and field. But it all has a charm peculiar to the land arid its characteristics, and leavening the pungent spices of such are its manifold humours. When Sir Joseph iWard and his party -were awakened attic drowsy hour of 4 a.m. on' Saturday morning from a couch that had only been leached at one o'clock of the same day, the route from Tanranga to Opotikl presented no gay enchantments worthy of remark, while even breakfast floated vaguely on the edge of a fifty-six mile horizon at Matata. . But needs must when Ministerial engagements call, so the wheels of the motorcar revolved, navigating out. of a cul-de-sac in /the dark, and helping the benzine gee-gee to negotiate an obstinate and slithery acclivity. These were mere circumstances of travel, but -when one of the ■ rear tyres exploded twice in the hour things looked rather serious, and 8.30 a.nv the programme breakfast hour, saw,Te,Puke still ahead, with thirtyeight miles of further unknown adventures beyond. Pongakawa," -with a deputation, on the roadside, joined the ranks of things passed, and anon, about the midday hour, the "haeremai" of the iilatata ATaori and pakeha prefaced that much anticipated breakfast. Just prior to the conclusion of this stage occurred one of. , those little humours that * lift the heart of ihan even; when he is hungry. A dray, three horses, and a man loomed ahead. Toot!" went the alarnu but the comtination seemed to hear it not; then, after the way of motor-cars, when the gear is being changed,. it fired a shot •' that made the cliffs above ring again, and a second or so later three horses, a man and a dray went plunging madly I towards a riverbed. Then an ancient Maori head rose out of the dray; a second report rose the echoes, and "By Gorry!" "was all the venerable could titter ty invocation. No fatalities resulted, hut panic and suspicions of the whole pakeha. brood were left ivrit on the souls of two noble aborigines. The paicehas profanely laughed, and, laughing, breakfasted. '' . . At Hatata the ways divided. A little Speech, some inevitable 'deputations,, and Eir Joseph, accompanied by -Sir. Hislop.. 3ns private secretary, ferried across the river to the beach, and drove that way towards Whakatane, while the remainder of the party stuck to the car, which reached Teteko in the vicinity of three o'clock, the only excitement en route befog tie -passage of the big two-ton car over a bridge-like construction on ■which a irieelbarrow might have ventured in reasonable safety. "Ac kapai te wharepune/'voiced the interested, native onlookers, and but for the grace of Providence the perambulating wharepune might have stopped Tight there. At Teteko the Ministerial entourage was Welcomed with the haka meant for greatness itself, and honoured its departed, leaving for a space the well-tried car belin'd it. Surely a motor-car was. never urged to such feats of recklessness before. The enchanting little "settlement of the young canoe" was eh. fete, enthusiasm and excitement, 'heralding the Premier to this quaintly situated out,post of civilisation. Mr. Peebles. (County Council- Chairman) met the Premier, and Maori and European extended alike a right royal -welcome, and then another speech, which was interpreted for the benefit of his native hearers, and Sir Joseph was escorted to the Public Hall, where banqueting toasts and deputations occupied the fleeting time till five o'clock. Then came a drive along the hazardous Marae-totara-road, from which the •'• glorious glimpses of .bush,'and deep ravines, arid beetling cliffs compensated for the weariness of heavy traveL" The drivers were ribbon-handling exponents of the water, urging their spanking horses round hair-raising curves in style that scorned concern, and night found the outfit racing the fa3t coming tide along the 'beach. . It was a close thing, and an occasional wave dashed its spray clean, through the Tehicle; but the lights of the Ohiwa •ferry gleamed betimes, and between eight ' and nine a tired-out company stretched stiff limbs on the step of the Opotiki Hotel, well content to rest after 110 miles-of continuous going of sundry sorts. A local committee had prepared a dinner for the Premier, but he had proi . mused the townspeople a speech at 8 a 1 pjn., and so straight to tne hall he journeyed. For two hours he addressed the .well-filled building, and at the conclusion ...of the speech he was accorded-a very hearty vote of thanks, an of I confidence in the . Government being . I passed at the same time. Sir Joseph's expression of regret at not being able to f| devote more time to each place visited, and his determination to become ac- - j quamted with the requirements of the . country districts at all hazards, were greeted with hearty appreciation—an appreciation accentuated by the knowledge : that he had, after a day beginning at four o'clock that morning, and. including I participation in and addresses at over half a -dozen public gatherings, deferred I his dinner-till midnight in order to keep , faith with the settlers who had. journeyed in to hear him speak. After the . dinner, presided over by Dr. Reid, had . baen satisfactorily settled, the Premier -- received more deputations, and retired to a rest, which, to say the least, was in- ' deed -well earned. On Sunday he lay on his oars/ and to-day lie -left Opotiki at ■ five o'clock, en route for Eotorua, which :. *t is expected he reached between six aaS. seven this evening.