Page 13 Advertisements Column 1

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 151, 26 June 1912, Page 13

babmud & Abraham, ltd., "^^^^^^^^^^^^S^^v^ WE ALT H FROM TH EWI LDERN ESS y^^^^\ o

C HIS is the story In brief of the great new country which lies almost exactly between Wellington and Auckland, en the western half of the North Island. It ie a country of no name, at present, for it extends beyond the limits of the original King Country, held for a generation by the Maoris, fearful of civilisation, as a last sanctuary for the preservation of their race immune from European influence. It is still a country in the making, for its real history does not date back beyond the beginning of the century. ' From the great arterial railway, which pierces it through in passage between the two cities of the North Island, it is often known as the Main Trunk Country. The name, though far from harmonising with the majestic mountains, the leagues of magnificent forest, the wide upland plains, the rushing waters of a myriad streams, is nevertheless appropriate, for it is a country that owes everything to the Main Trunk Railway. The delay in completing the railway was accompanied by a corresponding delay in the progress of settlement of this vast virgin region. Had the line been finished, as was originally contemplated, before the end of the last century, New Zealand would have been the richer to-day for ten more years of wealth from the wilderness, and, instead of being a country in the making, the Main Trunk Country would have been made. But all's well that ends well ; the train has been running daily each way through this country for the last three years now, and settlement Is flourishing as nowhere else, in the Dominion. It is correct, however, to extend the period of development to ten, and take as the main title for these rough sketches — " Ten Years of the Main Trunk. " Ten years ago the two rail-heads to the north and south were just entering the promised land, and the pioneer was already ahead preparing the way. Since then, year by year, as the steel bonds, by which puny man tames wild nature, were laid mile by mile nearer to the place where they were destined to meet, the area of advancing civilisation moved apace. Beneath the ringing blows of the settler's axe the forest fell in swathes, like corn before the reaper ; then, kindled by his torch, it blazed in a stupendous holocaust to heaven— a pillar of smoke by day, a pillar of flame by night, bearing witness to the passing of the ancient gods. Seed sown in the ashes brought forth pasture for sheep and cattle, and the new era began. Townships sprang up here and there along the railway, and throve abundantly with the opening of the country. When the railheads met the first process was complete, but no country — above all, no forest country — is made in a day, and settlement followed the line and branched out where the fertility of the soil or the convenience of situation attracted the pioneer. Sawmills were planted in the heart of the bush, and began to cut timber t* build the houses of the settlers and the residents of the townships, and to supply the towns and cities in the older settled lands accessible by the railway. Thus, in the space of a few years, we come to the Main Trunk Country of to-day. It is now largely settled, but it is so big a country that there is still plenty ef room for more settlers. There are still vast areas — in one case amounting to nearly 100,008 acres — where the forerunner of all settlement, the surveyor, is Just getting to work. To a casual traveller through the country it still appears one vast sea of forest, with here and there a few islands of civilisation. ' But with the roading of the backblocks, the development will proceed more rapidly, and another ten years will probably see the complete subjugation of New Zealand's " Last Creat West " of virgin soil. It is a fine country, this Main Trunk Country, a great country, a country that is developing a fine type of settler, as virile, as resourceful, as full of energy and enterprise as his forefathers, the early pioneers of these islands. Not only is it a country for settlement, but in its massive snow-capped mountains and wide open plain, with its hot springs and high lakes, its flowing rivers, it is a country for the lover of nature, the traveller, the mountaineer, and the holiday maker. It is destined essentially to afford a great national playground for the people of Australasia, no part of which can offer equal attractions. The New Zealand Tourist Department is not yet alive to its possibilities] but the account written specially for this issue by one who knows it well, should serve to stimulate the Government to activity. The same writer deals also expertly and Interestingly with the birds of the Waimarino and the life of the surveyor In the backblocks. Lastly, the story of the great Main Trunk Railway, which, with Its remarkable engineering feats, its viaducts, tunnels, spirals, and bridges, and with Its strange political vicissitudes, prolonging Its construction over a generation, is one of the most extraordinary in the world, fs told in fuller detail than, we think, has ever yet appeared in a newspaper issue. The whole of the series of articles descriptive of the various aspects of this marvellous country is illustrated with photographs well adapted to give the reader a clear idea of " Ten Years of the Main Trunk."