THE UREWERA ROAD.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 307, 28 December 1929, Page 6

THE UREWERA ROAD.

Many a motor car will 110 doubt travel the mountain road through the Urewera Country this summer, although it is not yet possible to drive right through to Lake Waikaremoana. Travellers will at any rate be able to reach the heart of the ranges, the Ruatahuna Valley and beyond, and eee something of Maori life at the ancient villages Mataatua and Te Umuroa, and it is not far from there to the most beautiful and unspoiled part of the country, the Huiarau Range, over which the new road goes towards the lake. There are not many of the Urewera natives living at Mataatua these days. Ruatoki, down on the Whakatane Plain, is now the headquarters of the tribe; it has the attractions of good farming country and money-making in dairying and maize growing. It is thirty-three years since that Urewera road was begun, from the Kaingaroa Plain side in the Rangitaiki Valley. There is something of the spirit of Mr. Neil Munro's etory "The New Road" in the history of the beginnings of this mountain highway. Like the famous route through the Highlands, it was a strategic road, and was naturally regarded with suspicion by the conservative foresters and mountaineers. But it was not long before many of the. very- men who opposed it were found working on it for Government pay. ''. There was an earlier Government road, a packhorse track, cut through the bush in the first section of the Urewera traverse, from the open valley of the Rangitaiki, near Fort Galatea (some miles below the present bridge at Murupara) to Te Whaiti. This track was cut for military reasons in the first place. The story was told me by the late Captain Preece, who in the early 'seventies commanded a company of Arawa native constabulary. > .... There had been many expeditions into the Urewera Country and, it was realised that the task of keeping the Hauhaus in order would be facilitated by having a track for supplies cut in as far as Te Whaiti. Preece set his men to work, hurrying them along to forestall opposition from the XJreWera. He had the support of the Ngati-Whare tribe, of Te Whaiti, but he knew there would be a vigorous protest, and perhaps a little shooting, if the Urewera chiefs farther in heard of the new road- cutting. When the track-making contingent liad nearly reached the open lands of Te "WjThaiti, Preece went in ahead witl\ a few men to await their arrival. No sooner had he reached the large village of the NgatiWliare, on the high terrace above the Whirinaki River at Te Whaiti.' than that die-hard chief of the Urewera, old.Te Purewa, came marching down from Ruataliuna with a party of armed men to stop the road. There was a desperatelyexciting scene. Te Purewa, a perfect old savage, bounded up and down the parade ground breathing fire and slaughter. He would never permit the road to be made, never, never, never. He would kill and eat the Governor and all his soldiers; he would never submit to the indignity of having a Government road put through his sacred mountain land. Captain Preece sat there quietly waiting until the warrior stopped for a breathing spell. Then he said: "I am not going to ask your permission to make this road —for the reason that it is already made! Look down yonder, my friend!" and he pointed to the valley below. Te Purewa and all his people turned and looked and there in the distance —Where the present small township of Te Whaiti stands —they saw a line of men and packliorses emerge from the. bush. Preece had staged a perfectly-timed finish to the road-making drama. To Purewa gasped with amazement.' For a .moment lie was furious; then he turned to Preece and sat down and laughed. "You win!" he said, or words to that effect. There was no more opposition, no talk of gun play. The horse road was through, and Preece diplomatically contented himeelf with making Te Whaiti his track tarminuß. —J-C.