THE PAYMASTER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 64, 17 March 1930, Page 10

THE PAYMASTER.

ALONG THE EAST COAST ROAD BY CAR AN3> HOUSE. SCENERY AND HOSPITALITY. (By PETER.) Having heard much about the won-, derful scenery along .the new road from Opotiki' to Gisborne via the East Coast, I arranged to accompany the paymaster on one of his monthly trips down there. I imderstood that we should do about sixty miles by car and on horsebadc and pay some one hundred and fifty workmen, nearly all of whom were paid by piecework. Each man's money having been put into separate envelopes the .day before, we had only to pick up the, :bags containing the pay from the bank .and we were off. We swung out of town along the main road to Gisborne and passed the first of the service cais coming in. About seven miles out we turned off towards the coast. Short y afterwards we had to pull up with a rrrind of brakes as we rounded one oi the numerous bends and proceeded at a crawl through a mob of sheep about three thousand strong. The drovers were lounging along on their horses -at the 'back of the mob, their pack horses _stiao - - behind, and 'a small army of dogs ; ran to and fro barking at the last ot the sheep in a haze of dust, while a : scorching sun poured down over all. _Uur driver, after cursing men, sheep,, dogs :and car impartially, gave up the unequ contest and,- stopping the car,, rolled ■and lit a cigarette, whilst a veritable sea of sheep drifted past. This was one of hundreds of similar mobs moving, m from the Poverty Bay and Bay of Plenty districts to- the railhead :at Taneatua. At last they were :past, .and with a word of greeting to the drovers, we Were off again, with the sea shimmering and scintillating on our left hand and the sun-baked hills towering on our right. A Close Shave. The Maoris working amongst their crops grinned and waved as we passed, until, turning inland at Opape, the countryside changed from cultivated fields to 'bush and tea-tree covered hills. We were no longer in sight of the sea, but climbed a narrow road up and round the hillside, when suddenly there was the discordant blare of two opposing motor horns —'the squeal of brakes hastily applied—a violent swerve towajds the edge of the road—just as violent a swerve back again to avoid going over and crashing down the hillside—a fleeting vision of a big motor car toweling over us one minute and gone the next, and we had met and passed the mail car with twelve inches to spare. Over the crest of the hill and down towards the sea again—we bump our way along a beach, with the surf thundering .in our ears—pass the Maori Pa of Tor ere —fol low the road up through the hills and down again .amongst pasture land once more. Another mile or two of beach with the track at the water's edge, and then back to the hills again, but this tune skirting the coast all the way, and passing through various sheep stations. As we clMb we'-obtain a splendid view, away on our left, of that weird manifestation of thermal activity—White Island—with a huge smoke-like cloud of steam hanging over it.

A few miles on the very crest of the hills and we drop down past Maraenui Pa to the mouth of the Motu River. Here we- .leave the car and proceed on foot to the first gang of workmen, who, percbed away up on the face of the cliff, are blasting a road out of the solid rock. As the debris is thrown out it hurtles down the face of the precipice into the river 200 ft below. The men stop work as we come up—the paymaster opens his bags, takes out each man's envelope and bands it over, getting a signature of-receipt* as he does so. For the nest mile we have to scramble and climb round the face of the precipice from gang to gang, until at last, with a sigh of relief, I saw the Motu River bridge works, a mile and a quarter from the mouth of the river. Here a skeleton bridge had been flung across the river in order that the men might work on the permanent bridge. We crossed this "skeleton," 600 ft long, on a dizzily swaying plank high above the swirling waters. On the far side were the houses and workshops of the bridge-builders, past which we floundered through the mud to the overseer's hut for lunch. Here the billy was boiled, which time a gramophone blared" forth a jazz tune, while half a dozen people helped themselves to whatever eatables they could find, and all seemed to be talking ana laughing at once. The owner's one concern was that everyone should eat enough, whereas he might well have been excused for worrying as to whether we should leave enough to last until his next supply should arrive, but that is hospitality as it is understood in the bush. A Wonderful View. Lunch over, we trooped out to where our horses were tethered and proceeded on our way, guided by the overseer of the next section. Our route now lay through virgin bush, through which an occasional glimpse of the sea could be caught. Rounding an open headland Ave dropped downwards to the tiny rockbound bay of Wiitianga, where a clearing of about 200 acres of grass land was quite a relief before riding into the bush again. The beauty of the bush hardly had time to pall before, climbing again, we came to a saddle in the hill, and almost involuntarily pulled our horses to a standstill, for, from the dense bush where we could see but a few yards, we had emerged suddenly into the open and could see low-lying headland after headland, until they were lost in the mist of distance down near Cape Runaway, while below, like an opal flashing all colours in the sun, lay Omaio Bay and settlement, with green fields dotted with cattle and white-walled, red-roofed houses guarded by the more sombre-clad bush in the background.

We spent the night at Omaio with the local schoolmaster and his wife, she being one of the only three white women in the settlement. They were a jovial pair, and the schoolmaster entertained us until that night with Maori anecdotes. Next morning we hade a reluctant farewell to these hospitable folk and turned our horses towards Te Kalia and Waikawa.

Our way now lay along the base of the hills, sometimes on the beaches themselves, over golden sand with flaming pohutukawas on our right and the blue of the Pacific on our left. A <*reat feature of the track here was the number of small fairy-like bays, each with its own outstanding characteristics,

sandy, .rocky, .shingly. Bays into 1.-' the .sea fell <on the sand in tiny idpples B and bays into which the mighty Pacific Hf j combers roared and threshed in line after ! X line ..of tumbling surf. It reminded ja* fig of the Auckland Harbour and its islands tl yet here one obtained all these varied 111 phases at once, as it were, whereas there M one must go from island to island. ' f| Shortly after this, we reached ft, M Kaha, the chief edifice of which is % )j Te Kaha Hotel and store.' Here we-were $ to dine, and wMlst waiting we conversed with our jovial host, who is also « keeper of the store. # Dinner over, an hour and a half's rifle brought us to Waikawa Point, which 1 I'" was our destination. Some of the wort men in .this camp were paid that even: jf % ing, and the remainder left until the morning. I, for one, was exceedingly : glad to tumble into bed to sleep, until t.-" the sunlight, streaming in on my face, jf ' woke me to the thunder of the surf on ; tlie rocks and the singing of a lark in ( 1 the sky. About ten o'clock we waved I? fapewell to -our host and his wife And I f laughing children, who had tried .to out- 1 vie our previous hosts in hog- I pitalitv. That is one of the outstand- J ing features of the trip that I shall ' ■ always remember—the genuine and * spontaneous hospitality; and friendship L of those whom I was privileged to meet : in this backblocks trip. I felt better ior If liaving met you, one and all, Boh' and Ernie, Johnny and Bill, and the others |) whose names are lost. I hope that the tourist traffic will not :i this good- !./ will towards strangers, but I fear it will here, as elsewhere, and all too soon, note, Iff for already, I hear that the service cars j§§ —-the pioneers of motor traffic—have |§| forced their way to Te Kaha.