WILD SCENE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 257, 31 October 1938, Page 4

WILD SCENE.

BIG CATTLE FAIR.

IN THE FARTHEST NORTH. HUKATERE ANNUAL SALE. Unusual sounds mingled with the thunder of the surf and the cries of seagulls at Hukatere, Xinety Mile Beach, on Saturday. A huge mob of lowing cattle invaded the wilderness of sea. and sand, accompanied by barking of dogs and cracking stockwhips. A stream of motor cars then appeared and finally a large red and silver aeroplane. The annual cattle fair was held at the most northerly saleyards in Xew Zealand, and nil was noise and activity at a place which raielv sees more than two or three men at a time. Though there is little hut barren sandy wastes for miles »round, over 7M cattle were driven in from fertile districts, mostly from l'arengnrengn, in the extreme north.

On Friday the influx of men and cattle began and by early next morning the railed-in pons 'wen. fi I led to overflowing, while half-wild station-bred cattle crowded the paddocks around the yards. By eleven o'clock all was readv for the

sale to begin and nil tlmt was wanted was the auctioneer, due by 'plane from Auckland. Shortly before 11 a.m., the 'plane appeared, passed over the yards, and turned back for the Waipapakauri aerodrome. Later, the auctioneer, Mr. I'crcv Swallickl, of Alfred Auckland and Sons, who was conducting the sale in conjunction with Mr. Leo. Sloane, of the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Co., Ltd., arrived by car after a 15-mile drive along" the beach from the aerodrome. The sale began shortly before noon. Colourful Scene. It was a colourful sight, the great mob of cattle against a background of sand and surf. Well-mounted Maori stockmen worked among the cattle and round (he pens on lop of a knoll a few hundred yards from the beach was scattered a crowd of over fifty buyers. The salevards overlooked the. same stretch of beach on which "Wizard" Smith made his speed trials and where Kingston! .Smith twice took oil' for Australia. Scattered patches of tea-tree, flax, and buffalo grass relieved the rolling Hand dunes. The only building in sight was a small hut near the yards, and the Maoris who arrived on Friday camped without any otMr shelter than tea-tree, about twenty of them. The scene around the blazing campfire took the memory of old inhabitants back to last century. The sale began in the'yards, but to save time the auctioneer moved down to a hollow nearer the beach, when the first yarding was sold. Most of the cattle were put up for auction in a corner where two fences met, the auctioneer standing on a slope with the buyers all about.

Maori horsemen with stockwhips cracking'brought the cnttlc in bunches of about half ft dozen to the "saio ring," and held them there when they could. Repeatedly a wild lull-bred steer would break tho ring or leap the foncc, and several times the auctioneer put up "the beast over the fcnce." Sale Rather Slow. The sale was rather slow because reserves were high, and passings were fairly frequent. Prices were in line with Westfield rates, however, and buyers who expected to pick up some cheap cattle were disappointed. "They are not mugs, if thev do live in the back of beyond, and they know what their cattle are worth," was one stockman's opinion of the fanners in the farthest north. A large part of the offering came from tho Keene Brothers' station, To Faki, about 4-1,000 acres on the top of New Zealand, hounded by the cast, west and north coasts. This includes some fertile grazing land which carries thousands of sheep and cattle. After the sale, a six-day trek lay ahead of the Maori drovers, who had cattle to truck at the railhead, Otiria. They set out to cover the sixty miles by easy stages, the first day's journey being along the Ninety Miie Beach.