THE WANGANUI RIVER

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 287, 4 September 1928, Page 7

THE WANGANUI RIVER

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD? FOR TOURIST AND SETTLER (By W.T.R.) To those wjio cherish ineradicable memories of the Wanganui River, with its placid waters, its groves of nikau palms, its wonderful orchestra of birds, and its almost jungle grandeur at the Drop Scene, the announcement made recently that the river steamer service is to be discontinued at the end of this year will bring consternation and justifiable unbelief. There is no need for consternation, however, provided men of vision and initiative step into the breach. Someone will keep the river steamers going—perhaps the River Trust or the Government —but changes will be made, one of the most far-rdaehing of which will be the cutting out of the service over the upper leaches of the river. Owing to changed conditions of the river it will no longer be advisable to run the boats up to Taumarunui, and in all probability in future the river boats will not pass the junction of the Mangaohutu stream and the Wanganui River, and this is where the vision and initiative already spoken of will be needed. What must be done, and done speedily, is the completion of the river bank road between Taumarunui and Mangaohutu. Fortunately the reading position at the Taumarunui end is now such that, with the expenditure of a not very considerable amount of money, an excellent motor highway can be provided. The new bridge across the Wanganui River at Te Maire has been completed, and will be formally opened by the Minister of Public Works in the course of a few weeks. The road from Taumarunui to this point, a distance of about eight miles, is a reasonably good winter and summer road. The road from Te Maire bridge has been formed as far as Mangaohutu landing, a distance of seventeen and three-quarter miles.-' This road has not been metalled, but settlers have been able to use it throughout the summer in its present state as far as Kokakoriki. To be of any real service during the winter, however, it will be required to be metalled. The river boats will probably run this year as far as Kirikau, and if early steps could be taken for the metalling of this portion the settlers and the tourists, by means of a motor service, would be adequately served. The metalling of the portion between Kjrikau and Te Maire would probably cost about £5OOO. There is, of course, excellent shingle in the river, and fortunately the road runs in places through very good metal deposits. This road was gazetted a main highway on April 2 last, and the Main Highways Board undoubtedly would be prepared to subsidise the cost of metalling on a liberal basis. The River Trust has, in the past, spent £l2OO to £l5OO a year on the maintenance of the upper reaches. This expenditure will no longer be necessary, and it might be possible for the Government to divert a portion of its subsidy to the trust to the cost of metalling. If this were done promptly it would enable ‘the portion . between Te Maire and Kirikau to be metalled this year. There is in this locality a certain amount of timber belonging to the Crown Lands Department which will probably be put up for auction in the near future, and, therefore, half of the proceeds of this would be availably towards the cost of metalling. The river road from Taumarunui to Mangaohutu is probably the finest river road, from a scenic point of view, in New Zealand. The very big majority of the tourists doing the river trip conic on from Waitomo to Taumarunui by one of the Main Trunk expresses. What of the Future? It will be seen from what has been written already that the road from Taumarunui to Mangaohutu is the shortest and most natural route for those desiring to make the journey down the Wanganui River, and if this route is decided on it will bring important changes that will mean the increased popularity of the river as a tourist attraction. Possibly faster and more comfortable boats will be provided, and the houseboat will be abandoned, the first stage of the journey from Taumarunui to Mangaohutu by car and thence by river boat to Pipiriki being covered in one day. The distance from Taumarunui to Mangaohutu is only 251 miles, which can be covered in 14 hours over a well graded surface. The route via Taumarunui, as figures show, is the popular one, even to-day, and over 90 per cent, of the tourists use this route in preference to the National Park-Rau-rimu-Retaruke trip, which is done by car. This latter route is available only to people prepared to pay the cost of travelling in tourist cars from Rotorua to National Park, and thence on to Retaruke, a long trip and a costly one. Moreover. the good accommodation provided at Taumarunui is a factor that must make it a natural centre for river tourists. . Apart from the attractions of the Tau-niarunui-Mangaohutu route as a tourist highway, the settlers on the upper reaches' of the river .have very definite claims for consideration. For many years these settlers have depended almost solely on the river service for access. What is to become of them when the service closes down? Are they to be driven off the holdings they have given their life’s blood to? Roads have been made down to the river along the Te Maire Stream, the Kokakonui Stream, the Kokakoriki Stream, and the Mangaohutu Stream. There arc some twenty-eight settlers using these roads, which will ,however, be of little use to them unless a reasonable road can be formed along the river to give them satisfactory access across the Te Maire bridge. These settlers have been very heavily rated for the construe; lion of the bridges across the Wanganui River at Taumarunui and Te Maire, with the result that it woud be practically impossible for them to pay any appreciable amount towards the metalling of the road that has just been formed. Most of these settlers also freeholded their sections in order to obtain money for the formation of the river road above referred to, and a considerable portion of this road was formed without any assistance from the Public Works Department. It may be pointed out that possibly the Raurimu-Reta-ruke road would serve their needs. This, however, is not their natural outlet. If it were, why have they rated themselves for the construction of the Te Maire bridge, and why have they almost bankrupted themselves to provide money for the river bank road? It is to be hoped that the authorities will look upon this important question from a national point of view. The obvius course should be plain to anyone who gives any thought to the matter, or who cares to spend half an hour with the map, or a few days in the locality.