HOWITT, EXPLORER

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 31, 6 August 1923, Page 3

HOWITT, EXPLORER

HIS LIFE ON THE COAST

William Howitt, in his work, "Thi History of Discovery in Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand," writes as follows concerning the death of Charleton Howitt, who was drowned in Lake Brunner in 1863:—

"Let no one imagine that the life of our son in New Zealand was by any means a sad one. On the contrary, I am persuaded that it was one of the highest enjoyment. It was that of all others which ho did choose and which he would have chosen whatever else had been offered to him. He had lived in and highly enjoyed the forest life of Australia; but when his brother wishI ed him to return from New Zealand and join in his fortunes there, though the temptation of being with his brother was great, he could not bring, himself to quit New Zealand, saying that its scenery and the friends he had found there were become very dear to him. BATTLING WITH ELEMENTS. "I am persuaded that the storms and rains during the winter in the mountains would scarcely make an impression on his mind, except as they added to the wild solemnity of the scene. He loved to battle with the elements; and it was a source of exquisite delight to him to be able ever and anon to rescue some traveller from the rapid torrent, and to receive weary and famishing wanderers to his mountain hut—to revive them and furnish them with provisions for their further journey; for which he never would receive compensation. Throughout all his private letters he expressed his deep satisfaction with the country of his adoption and his chosen track of life. The stormy season in the mountains was but a contrast to the delicious summer days passed on Banks' Peninsula amid trees, flowers, and creatures all new to him and in themselves beautiful. With what pleasure did lie speak of the tameness of the birds, which, as he cultivated his garden or his fields, came and settled on his spade, and even ate from his hands. "Then the wild forests'and the snowpeaked mountains, such as Mr. William Strut has so beautifully painted from intimate acquaintance, were objects of his constant love and admiration. In one of his communications he said to us— "Read all the descriptions of New Zealand scenery that you can find,' and then you will understand how happy I am in a country so beautiful.'" MOISTURE AND FOREST. As to the moisture of the West Coast, he always asserted that it would greatly diminish as the woods were cut down iri the progress of settlement, just as the climates of England, France, Germany, Italy, and, indeed, every part of Europe, have ■ become drier and milder since the time when their dense I woods were opened up by the Romans. Compare the climate of Italy now with what it is represented in Virgil and Horace. Compare those of England, France, and Germany, with their character in Caesar and Agricola. The dense woods being removed, he believed, the mountain regions would be no wetter than those of Switzerland. As to the general climate of New Zealand, he thought it perfection. 'The clear atmosphere, and the lovely scenery,' he said, 'I consider as a most happy combination; ' and as the country lies in a temperate latitude, you are able to travel or labour without any drawback to' your own sense of beauty, and your plans of utility. Take the climate and the scenery together, and it would be impossible to find anything more beautiful.'

INTEREST IN THE NATIVES.

"Besides this love of the country, he had a great interest in the natives. Regarding them as a remarkable race, scarcely risen out of cannibalism, yet aspiring to the highest reaches of civilisation and Christianity, he felt for them as a people pushed by the white man out of their heritage of ages, and showed them on all occasions the most friendly attention. Add to this that tha transparency, the pure principles, and the indomitable energy of his character had won for him the public esteem in no ordinary degree, and the deep attachment of friends, which he warmly reciprocated, and there is nothing in such a life, not even its shortness in this stage of being, to a Christian mind, but what is bright, beautiful, and complete." /

"The Coast (says a contemporary) will have to' take its coat off to the blackberry. Nobody seems to have bothered about keeping it in check, and it is practically everywhere in the northern end. The writer has heard of investors going to the Coast to spy out the possibilities, but the blackberry quickly scared them back over the hill. The average West Coaster very faintly, if at aU, realises the bad impression it creates in the minds of visiting farmers. In a number of cases it is a legacy of the mining and sawmilling days, but in many places it is the result of indifferent farming. The holdings wer» large, there was plenty of feed for the stock earned, and why bother? It has to be admitted, of course, that the rich soil of these protected, valleys and thf moist atmosphere create ideal condition! for the development of the pest."