THE PLEASURES OF FIELD EXCURSIONS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 86, 12 April 1941, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE PLEASURES OF FIELD EXCURSIONS

SCHOOL children develop early in these active and anxious time*. The war horrors of Europe have had an extraordinary effect in forcing even the youngest children to scenes of danger especially in Britain, and the Liirte. and hoys have responded nobly to the emergency calls made upon them. We all hope and trust nothing so terrible will be suffered in thin part of the world; and, indeed New Zealand is the safest and most undisturbed of all the countries opposed to the criminal and merciless war-lords. Yet there may be raids upon us bv sea and air. and young people will be • ailed upon to act as the youthful scouts and messengers have long acted in the homelands of our race.

It would be strange if New Zealand children, more especially tliotse in the country, did not develop early fume of the qualities of the scojit, and the spirit of helpfulness and enterprise. There must be thousands of boys whose deareet ambition its to become airmen and "to find out for themselves what it iii to go flying above the clouds. That is only for the specially gifted few. But there are many other fields, in wartime or in peace, in which youth as it develops into maturity can help ami protect the country and the jieople.

The first and greatest quality needful ir> j>erfect health. It i<a reproach to the people of such a lovely land as this that there should be so many hospitals needed, so many young men rejected a« unlit for the , military «lnty. We are better fed than* t he people of any other country in the world; vet perhaps in that very abundance of good isod there in a danger. The simple life was compulsory in our pioneer days, and perhaps if we could return to those conditions it would not be a disadvantage to the nation. The Maoris were a* u race a physically perfect people before the missionaries and traders taught them to wear unhealthy clothes, and cat pakeha diet —particularly the tinned foods of which they arc so fond to-day. The Samoans to-day live nearer their ancestors in food and clothing than the Maoris do. and they are a physically *|»lcndid people. Their lives, are »|K>m in the open air; they live mostly fin fruit and .fish, and they are a tall, strong ]>co|>lc. athletic, dignified, prowl, with n very justifiable pride in themselves. The special topic which I sot out to discuss when these remarks suggested themselves was the

outdoor life which can be enjoyed so thoroughly in New Zealand, and some of the interests in that health-inspiring life. In wry many parte of this country, many of tliem quite close to the towiii? and cities, there are places of historic interest wliich v invite exploration and nature-study; places of geological interest, such us 1 discussed iti an article oil the story of the rocks some month* ago. Some such interest adds to the pleasure of a day out in the country—not in a motor car but on foot. The day out need not be an aimless ramble.

Aii example of tlie exploring spirit (which set me at a very early age searching out old Maori forts and "treasure-hunt-ing" in one way and another) comes lo nie from a new school in tlie very heart of the North Island, the Maniatepopo School, at the base of the Tongnriro and Ngauruhoe volcanic 1 mountains. There are sawmills turning the remnants of the great forests into building timber through all that high-set country, and the Mangatepopo iScliool was established there for the children of the new population, pakeka and Maori. I presume thU, of course; I have not visited the "J'ongariro country for some year*. Tlie region was

By James Cowan

•in untouched wilderness tlien. Now it is animated by tlie establishment of this school, which must be one of the highest in the inland, nearlv HOOOft above sealevel.

The scholars of Mangatepopo, in making excursion.-, around their lofty home, recently explored an old ruined redoubt, half-buried in the fern and gorsc. which was reported to have been Te Kooti's pa in the wartime. They were curious to know its name and its history, and they applied to me, as no one among their elders could enlighten them.- I was glad to be able to ■-end them by return letter the information they required. It happened that this redoubt was the scene of an important event in the war of JBOO. the assault and capture of the last fortification built by Te Kooti'ri follower*. Its name was Te l'orere, and a plan of it with description of the light was published 011 t'lii* |i-a«e a few month* ago. There is therefore no need to republish the story here. The girls and boys <>i Mangatepnpo intend to revisit Te Pore re, with a deeper interest in it now that they have learned its dramatic utorv.

This incident of real exploration of historic ground is one of many such excursions which coukl be carried out at week-ends in many a country district.

As for the healthful nature of such fascinating out-of-doora work, I know from experience all about that National Park region. Xo germs or microbes or other undesirable invisible "beaatie*' can live in free mountain dir. Once I took a severe cold up that

SEARCH FOR HISTORIC PLACES

way, 011 an urgent job, describing the eruptions of Ngauru'hoe; it was in May of 1907. That was long before the big ornate hotel called the Tongariro Chateau was built. We camped In the old iron hut at the bush on the Waiholionu stream, on the opposite side of the volcanoes to the Mangatepopo. Out of eight day* we spent in tliat draughty old tin structure only three were fine enough to give us a ehance to climb the volcanoes. The weather would have been described as atrocious by moat people. It rained and it hailed and it snowed and it sleeted, and it pelted us with hurricane blaste from Ruajwhu's ice. But it curcd tlmt cold, no influenza germ could live in that wintry but glorious May. Perhaps the Manjzatepopo children may hold a different opinion of their weather, hut at least they can boast that it is healthy. • • • •

11l &uch a country as oum tlie temptation to spend as miich aa possible of our time out-of-door* is often irresistible. Bush and mountain, bird and flower, call to u* when regular duty with regular hours of work call to us. "Playing the wag" from achool i* less of a crime against law and. order than it used to <be, because teachers themselves wisely give way to the call in tempting weather and take their classes and themselves outside and leave tiresome books behind.

There is then the life of the young surveyor. This is «o closely allied with exploration that it opens out possibilities of adventure in new countries. It is a pity, I think, that we should have to sj>eak of it in the piust tense in New Zealand. But I write of it here because of the fac-t that many of our pioneer surveyors 'began their life's work when they were harillv more than schoolboy*. I take my old friend, the late Mr. S. Percy Smith, Surveyor-General, M a shining example. He was oaly 14 yeans old when he began its career in the Taranaki district

survey office. Agsi<lnp nd _ , studied and taught hiL? There were no colleges iu those davg j.* other young surveyors of J* B periods (self-reliance was of * sity his motto of life, u. tered all his other technical books; he in office or in the bjM, worked up to the high-* J* nical branches of hi» orJJOr' His great delight w«« the*fe work. He explored, J*

cadet, then as a district » WreTOf he worked under fire in the Ta naki wars, like his cojHin Wil" Hursthouse. He climbed Ifo! Egmont when he was ieventT and then lie and four other T naki lads, in January, out on foot 011 a pleasure tL through the heart of the klj There were no roads, no bri<W the land wa>> mostly bu*li.

starting from New Ply mouft each with a &wag, and one ekt gun between them to pt# fid j themselves with food from tie bird-teeming forests, they tfc,. elled first up Die West lieacli, then up the Mok*<j a,, by Maori canoe; then to Ufc Ta 11 po through the gr«t btni. up to tlie ltotorua lakes, Xau jKj and through the hesrt of volcanoland down to Rwptjfaj then up the West Cto*t ui home. They bought food from the Maoris, after they htd haueted their home ttacon mi bread; sometimes they lived entirely ou birds they shot, o r on eels they caught; sometimeiflier starved. None of them wis than seventeen. What a tkoroogli. going excursion that «m ; tfaf best possible kind of learakg for young New Zealanders. They learned about the buih, % learned geology in the very he»ri of the volcanic ' region where country was in the making; tlev made notes that no book couH give them; and they (Percy Smith in particular) made «oti<' of the first sketches and plant of such places as. Rotomahana, anil Tarawern.

Sucli were the lad*—no one ol thein yet twenty years old—win. became leaders in their profession, hard-trained men, workin; hard with 'body and brain, anA distinguishing themselwg f« cool courage in emergency.