A HUNTERVILLE IDENTITY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 588, 17 August 1909, Page 10

A HUNTERVILLE IDENTITY.

MR. R. C. BRUCE AT HOME. \ . My' Mecca! For years (writes our travelling correspondent) 1 1 have' wanted to see '.'jjg&ru'ru" and-its owner, Mr. R'. 0. Bruce. At- last my wish has been gratified.' It is one of.tlio most quaint-looking places I. hayoover seen. Mr. Bruce'told me that ho, has resided in -it for so ' many ' years —he- went there in 1877—that ho would not feel : at homo in. .any othor sort of a house. Anyway, it is most comfortable-'-there. is a wido-.and deep fireplace in the sitting : roomj and aS. wo sat in 'front, smoking our pipes and listening to the rain which \yas pouring'down outside',, it felt good to be in such a quaint and hospitable house. Headers of The Dominion need" hardly be told that Mr. Bruce is.a great lover of- nature, and especially of bird life. "Ngaruru" may fee termed a hira sanctuary. Woe be to the gunner found poaching within its borders. 11l a three weeks' tqur of the Huntorville district: it was only lwre that I saw any native pigeons. ' It is a beautiful property—hill • and dale, flats and downs, clumps of bush left here and there, groves and single specimens of giant manuka, and in the spring yellow with kowhai on the banks of the Turakina. The run .is over two thousand acres, and Mr. Bruco's right-hand man and manager is Mr. Chisholm. ( What a pleasant time we had! No need for me to sa.v anything; it was my part to listen. What a fund of varied remembrances was brought out! Scones from many lands—Mr. Bruco was a sailor at ono time—early days in Bangitikei, when there ■ were 110 roads or tracks even, the difficulties of pioneering in those distant days, and the subsequent constant- warfare in keeping the scrub ■ down. And now to-day "Ngaruru", is a fine- pro-, pertv. • ' v 1 i*> • __i i At...

A friend asked subsequently: "Did you seo ilr.Bruce's.library?" No, I hadn't; I saw ibout a dozen- books on a hanging <s'helf. 'Oh, but he has a very fine library,.: I am old." "It must bo in the woolshed, then," answered, "as there is not room fora fino ibrary anywhere else." My fine evening with i very fine: man—Tvith ono of Nature's noblo•nen, I may say—drew swiftly, all'_ too swiftly, to a close. "I'm off to bed," said I. "Good night." But tbe owner.of "Ngaruru". had-many hours. of. writing to do bpfo-ro he turned in. . ,'"■ . :. ;■