OPOTTKl AS IT IS.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVII, Issue 4198, 27 January 1871, Page 2

OPOTTKI AS IT IS.

The change which has como over Opotiki in the last two years is really wonderful. Then the settlors had at their back a wild country inhabited by hostile tribes, who, when they did not commit raids, still inspired dread. The only means of opinmunication by land were by rough Maori tracks over a most difficult country, often impassable in winter ; and the mere fac of the fear of continual incursions was sufficient to deter the inhabitants who remained in the place from cultivating beyond the town sections. A great difference exists now. The Urewera and ' rebel Whakatokea have surrendered, and the I latter Ixave slumn the good example oi sefci tliog down to work like men. Hera te Popo, lately the leader of the rebels up the YVaioeka has devoted his energies, and those of his tribe who gave in at the same time, to working the land allotted to him, and has produced a splendid crop. Along the coast he Whakafcoheas have large cultivations. Tke European pavfc o£ the population have received an additional impetus to their energy by the wholesome action of the Government in making roads through the district, and enabling them to gei to their farm sections. The result is that a large acreage is in crop with potatoes, wheat, oats, barley, and maize ; that a lo.tk over the flat from a height reveals a scene of industry ; and that the plain, studded with hoisea, almost hidden by trees clustering round them, aud shading spots so lately bare, startles by its homely aspect the vis tor who saw it in the days when no man dared to sleep ia Opotiki without his weapon by his side. The surrender of the lately hostile tnbea, their evident anxiety to avoid future war, and the construction of roads, have impressed the settlers with a sense of security which even the croakings of a few disappointed men, who would not hesitate to spread false rumours for the sake of a temporary advantage in the shape of pay to themselves, cannot dispel. The pamcthey would raise is not now tobeevoked. It is fortunate that the good sense of the majority of the settlers enables them to view the present state of affairs in its proper light, and to reject the stories (invented by interested persons) of host le forces in the vicinity, ready at a moment to make an onslaught on the settlement There is every reason to believe that the Bay of Pleuty is in perfect safety. — [Own Correspondent.]