THE LAND WE LIVE IN.

Clutha Leader, Volume XX, Issue 1035, 25 May 1894, Page 5

THE LAND WE LIVE IN.

Mr Thos. Mackenzie, M.H.R., delivered a lecture in the Port Molyneux schoolhouse on Monday evening to n large audience. Mr Andrew Melville w, as called to the chair, and in a few appropriate remarks introduced the lecturer. Mr Mackenzie had chosen for his subject " The Land We Live In," and at once proceeded with it. Tracing first the geological history of New Zealand he said that learned men were now agreed that this Colony at one time formed the western fringe of a vast southern continent stretching away to the south and east. Our lakes and fiords gave evidence that this island was at one time thousands of feet above its present level. These lakes and fiords were cut out by ice, but ice cannot act thus below the sea level. It was evident that Lake Wakatipu had at one time a free outlet at its southern end at Kingston, but this had been blocked up by a vast glacier, which, melting here, had deposited debris to a height of over 200ft above the level of the lake. The waters thus dammed back had to break through the dividing range to find an outlet at Frankton, and uniting with the waters of the Wanaka and Hawea formed the mighty Clutha. These lakes— Wakatipu, Wanaka, and Hawea— I form vast reservoirs storing up the surplus | waters which would else carry these lower ' reaches into the sea. Moisture, cloud, rain, | frost, and snow are continually breaking up j the higher ranges and carrying the debris , into these lakes, so that they too are filling j up. j The lecturer then took his audience to J Mount Cook— or Aorangi, the light in the j heavens, — and described the throne of the ; ice king, the birth-place of the glacier and ! the avalanche, with the great Tasman glacier j — 18 miles in length and more than a mile j in breadth, with crevasses 500ft in depth. ' Some people see no value in these mountains, > streams, and wild scenery, but lands such as these always produce a bold, noble, and ; independent race. Then Switzerland is en- ; richer! by the tourists of Europe and America j pouringinto it, and this land would always i be the health resort of the Australian Con- : tinent; but why should there not be in the ; near suture a large steamer with a full com- | plement of American passengers heading in \ for Milford Round, and from thence making ; the tour of our mountains and lakes, viewing j the Stirling Falls, the Bowen Falls, Mount ' Pembroke, and the groat Sutherland Wateifn.ll, coming down a steep cliff of about 2000ft. He then described the explorations ' between To Anau and the West Coast, especi- , ally of Quintin M'Kinnon, who discovered a route to Milford Sound in 1888. How Messrs Mackenzie and Pillans made their way through, sailing over Lake Ada — which is all studded with nasty spear-pointed snagc — in a canvas boat ; meeting with the hermit Sutherland ; finding trace of M'Kinnon in a paper stuck on a tree ; how they afterwards came across M'Kinnon and sent him back for provisions to continue their explorations. The lecturer then described the native race, those who held the land before us, as a race of heroes. Twenty-seven generations of these have passed away. The early tribes had no greenstone implements ; these were not found amongst the older shell heaps, but there was sufficient evidence that the Maori and the Moa had existed together. The Ngatimomos and the Ngaitahus were the chief tribes of i this Island. These were united by intermar- | riages but breaches soon occured through the j women of the tribes. They went to war and j the Ngatimomos were defeated at Lake Te j Anau and driven towards the West Coast, but ' in that inhospitable region they soon became j extinct. Te Rauparaha was the greatest of j Maori warriors, the Napoleon of New Zealand, i Leaving his home at Kawhia, he led a band of the Ngatitoa through Waikato, Taranaki, Wanganui, Manawatu on to the island of Kapiti, carrying everything before him. Then Crossing in their war canoes they reach Kaikoura where a fierce and bloody battle took place. But Kaiapoi is the strongest pa in the south and he determines to attack it. Through treachery and cunning and the aid of a miscreant named Stewart, master of the brig " Elizabeth " Te Ruaparaha managed to get the chief and his daughter into his clutches ; he then lays seige to the pa, and though Taiaroa advances from the South to help them the pa is set on fire and its brave defenders made the victims of a feast. Bloody Jack, once well known here, aided the son of this Kaiapoi chief against Te Rauparaha. This great warrior came under the influence of the missionaries, took up the cross, and passed the remainder of his days in peace. Mr M'Kenzie next referred to those who had lost their lives in exploration — Dr Schmidt in the Tautuku bush, Raymond in 1880, Professor Mainwaring Brown, the brave young Quill, and Quinton M'Kinnon. In the search for Professor Brown their spirits were kept up by the naive sayings and sallies of wit of a Son of Erin who accompanied them from Lumsden. The lecture was delivered in the most animated style for two hours with full power of graphic description, breathing throughout it the indomitable energy inspired by the mountain, flood, and forest, and all the unspeakable grandeur of the scenery through which he carried his audience, At intervals in the lecture songs were sung. Miss Cramond gave " Sweet Rosabelle," Mrs J. Henderson " Ca' the ewes to the knowes," and Mr R. Lakatip " A Son of Erin." Mr Wm. Hay moved a vote of thanks to the lecturer, and the company joined in singing " The National Anthem."