FOR THE GIRLS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 271, 15 November 1930, Page 2 (Supplement)

FOR THE GIRLS.

IN THE KING COUNTRY

THE HEART OF OUR ISLAND

My Dear Girls, — It's good-bye to blue pencils, ink pots, editor's scissors, for three glorious weeks. lam in "holiday humour,'; as good master Shakespeare saith; lam enjoying the Christmas ' hols, in advance. The spot I have chosen is the heart of our North Island, Taumarunui. This busy King Country town was not long ago the most secluded and remote spot of the North Island. Untrodden by the white man, it was the undisputed meeting plaice of the brown man, the stronghold of the Kingites. They gathered here : in council of war and set out on many an expedition by bush trail and river Taumarunui is well and picturesquely named, meaning "Great Shelter," or "Place of Abundant Shade." Here the waters of the famous Wanganui and the Ongarue Rivers meet. For many years this lovely V spot remained undisturbed by pakeha trade, and in 1900, before the Main Trunk line was laid and the shriek of the Limited frightened the tuis from the bush-clad hills, this fertile valley was an old-time Maori kainga, except for one white man, Mr. Alexander Bell, who married a chief's daughter and was the very first pakeha to set foot in the King Country. Mr. Bell was' the people's trader and interpreter between brown man and white, also doctor, parson, and magistrate to the Maoris. I had the good fortune to meet this fine old Scotsman, who is now 92 years of age. He is a wonderful person and is affectionately called the Father of Taumarunui. He distinctly remembers the exciting events of those stirring early days and how he won his bride, but that, of course, is another story. The kainga is still there, and from the river bridge one looks down upon maize and potato plantations, but the picturesque native-built dwellings and manuka fences have given place to up-to-date houses. Taumarunui in a few short years become a modern provincial town, with fine homes . and gardens, shops, churches, business places, picture shows. Yet there is still a charm about the little town,, where everyone seems happy and contented. The birds still sing, in the bush round the town, and a short climb up the surrounding hills repays one by glorious views of the playground of New I Zealand, the mountain country of Tongariro d^A^-^* National Park, with its icy cones, which I hope to I.A/1 lA><Z visit later and see for myself Dame Nature's chimneys smoke. # *^