THE PICTURESQUE FAR NORTH.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 199, 16 May 1908, Page 11

THE PICTURESQUE FAR NORTH.

Lady Stout, who with her young daughter nccompanictl the Chief Jnstico to tho North of Auckland with the Native Land Commission, has sent us somo interesting notes of tho places sho visited. Dargavillo, sho says, is a rising place, hut one notices in these now places that thero is litt-lo attention given to painting tho. houses, and that in most cases no attempt has been made to improve' tho appearance of the house and its comfort by making a garden and growing flowers and vegetables. AVhangarei is a very pretty little plaoe, but wo spent tho two days that tho Commission was sitting at thero at tho' Kamo Springs. From Whangarei wo went to Opua, and on to Kawa-kawa, a very small place. From there we coached to Ohaeawai and Kaikoho, where wo attended a large Nativo meeting in the opon air. The school children in tho evening gave a concert in aid of a school gymnasium, and our party were invited to bo present. Tho concert Was very good, and reflected much credit on Mr. Grace, tho teacher. The climate of Klaikoho is delightful. It is somo way from tlio sea, fairly high, and tho air is dry and exhilarating. The day before we loft my daughtex and I, with some others, had a four-mile climb to the top of the Putangi Mount, which is an extinct, volcano with a pit at ths top, into which tho bodies of the chiefs were thrown for burial—a bottomless pit. The latter part of tho climb was rough, over ground dug up by gum-diggers, but the view from the top was well worth tho trouble of tho ascent. It- was really magnificent. On the one side was tho Kaikoho valley, stretching away in the distance with tho picturesque little Maori village, and a very beautiful green hill, with several very fine specimens of tho puriri trees. This picturesque little hill and bush belongs to the Heko family, and is much valued for its beauty. Tho view from tho other side is of Lake Omapere, a largo stretch of wator surrounded by hills, and range upon r.mgo of mountains ono beyond tho other in tho distance. The snn was just setting, and tho sky was' one radiant mass of crimson and golden clouds, which lit up tho grey and blue and purple ranges in a most magnificent and glorious radiance. Wo did not dare to linger on the mountain, as the descent bad to be inado before darkness, as the scramble over gum-diggers' ploughed-up land was rather dangerous, so we only rested a few minutes beforo beginning the descent, which wo finished by tho light of a full moon.

About four miles froih Ohaeawai is an interesting old church, in which Mr. and Mrs. Clarke, the oarliest missionaries. in the district, are buried. Mr. Clarke was born in 1790, and Mr. Davis, another missionary buried there, was born in 1789. Tho church itself is old, but well preserved. There's a tablet in it to tho wife of Mr. Davis, who was bom in 1817. Theso dates make ono feel that even in New Zealand wo are beginning to grow old. AVe cannot count our ago by centurics, as they do in the old land, but still to tho younger generation one hundred years ago seoms very far back in tho past. At Kaikohe the descendant of ono of tho chiefs, who went to England to soo William IV, presented Sir Robert-Stout with a sword stick that had been given, to his ancestors by tho King. . •

■At Eaikohe a deputation of Maori women, roprosenting tho Maori branch of tho W.C.T.U., headed by Ngapha, Hone Heke's mother, waited upon mo, and requested, mo to becomo presidont of their: TJnion, an offioe which I willingly accepted. The chieftainess Ngapha explained how the_ Maori women were realising tho great evils that camo upon, their race, and especially upon the young people from indulgence in spirituous liquors, and told mo that they woro doing air in their power, to combat tho evil. They intended to draw up a petition to the Goveriimont to forbid tho sale of intoxicating liquors,, not only to . Maori women, but to all Maoris and half-castes of both sexes. \lt se-ems that Ngapha, who is suffering from bad health, and is almost blind, is working beyond her strength in tho cause of temperance amongst her people. The ■ Union presonted mo with a very fine mat, as a memento of iriv visit and my ncceptanco of tho presidency of their Union.'

(To be continued.) Mrs. Evans, tlis wife of " Fighting Bob," tho Admiral who has been commanding the American Fleet, is plentifully provided with military and naval relatives. . Her brother, Harry Taylor, • commanded the Indiana during tho Spanish war; another brother is attached to tho ordnance, department at Washington; another, now dead, was a captain of artillery; her son, Frank Evans, is in the navy; and her two daughters studied to bo nurses for tho Red Cross service. Her groat-grandfather was Captain Daniel Morgan, of Revolutionary fame. Mrs. Evans's father was the proprietor of a book store on Pennsylvania , Avenue,, in Washington, a scholarly man, a lover of books, and a keen student of human nature.' He bought the first bond issued by the Government in connection with tho Civil War, and this bond, appropriately framed, is one of Mrs. Evans's dearest possessions.