OUR- AUCKLAND BETTER

Evening Star, Issue 16090, 15 April 1916, Page 10

OUR- AUCKLAND BETTER

■AUCKLAND, Wednesday SLUMP IN PROPHETS.

Since Rua's arrest "prophets" are at a discount in the Urewera territory. There is no doubt his mana smashed up pretty badly when he was led awav with handcuffs on his wrists. To begin with, he had impressed on his followers so often that he. was not a man, but an atua. that he probably began to think so himself, and although he had been in gaol and had his hair cropped, that did not matter when one was an atua, and ho confidently predicted that when the police came he would rise up to Heaven. Of course, the fiery chariot was out of repair, like everything else around a Maori pa, and Jacob's ladder wasn't handy, so the rising business didn't come off.. Instead, Rua bumped the earth just as hard as any other unscientific person who tries to'man-handle a big policeman. The shooting took place after that, and it is regrettable that the trouble went so far; but with Rua's struggle with the police ended for ever his mana as a leader and prophet. In all probability the. village of Maungapohatu will become, a place of tapu; 'in fact, Rua's own house is tapu now. But, in any case, no more trouble with the Urewera Natives need be expected. It is probably just rs well that the expected planned and organised resistance did not come off, for, if it had, there would have been an ambush, and i-hen lots of things would have been said about approaching a presumably hostile position in bush country in column formation : but. as it happened,, there was no attempt at resistance until Rua was actually captured. Perhaps the object-lesson was just as well, for there has been a spirit of defiance abroad amongst the. Natives in that vast territory for some time past. Southern people, who can travel from Invercargill to Christehurch and see cultivated country all the. way, can have little conception of the great problems barring the way of settlement in the North Island. The great Urewera territory, where there is room for many thousands of settlers, is now a terra incognita. Onlv rough bush tracks penetrate it. and there are fastnesses beyond those where white men have never been. Rich vallevs and fine rolling hills, all in dense bush at present, lie idle and unproductive, and shut off the East Coast county of Gisbornc district from the rest of Auckland province. Probably Rua's tinpot " rebellion " will bo the forerunner of the opening up of the Urewera. Imagine the outcry there would be were the whole -of Centra] Otago held by a couple of dozen squatters!

RECLAIMING SWAMPS,

Swam)) land, in this climate, if it can be drained at all, forms some of the very richest of our dairying country, and several big drainage schemes have been established of recent years, the. Hauraki Plains and the great swamps near Matala being cases in point. And now a. big scheme is in progress on the Lower Waikato» This wonderful river, which starts at the base of Tongariro, has many sand bars near its sea outlet, and the result is that tho low-lying land below Mercer is always subject to floods, and most of it is swamp. These swamps stretch from Mercer to Waerenga and from Maungatawhiri to Pokeno. and as a result of operations by the River Board this huge area is now drier than it has ever been, and hundreds of head of cattle are fattening in places once deemed to be impassable bog. Where only the. duck hunter went, dodging about from one " Maori head " to another to avoid sinking to the waist, is now fine, rich, rough pasture, and the. land is proving to be a rich alluvial plain. A great deal remains yet to be done, but the results, so far, speak volumes for the work of reclamation. TRAMWAY EXTENSION.

Those familiar with Auckland know that the main thoroughfare, Queen .street, rises sharply from Wellesley street to Karangahape .'o:id, another great chopping thoroughfare; but- tramway connection with "the road" his hitherto only been indirect, the routes being rip Wellesley street west to Hobson street, and thence up to Karangnhape road by the Ponsonby line, or up Wellesley street east and up Svmonds street on the Newmarket, Mount l''den, or Kingsland line. After delays, the tramway extension up Upper Queen street, joining the Karancahapc road lir-e, has at last been commenced, and in due course it will be possible to travel from the wharves to Karangahape road in direct line. I'OSTAL PROMOTION.

Fiom the little Outram post, office as it was in 1877 to the.-control of the big Chief Post. Office at Auckland as it is today is a far call. The. new chief postmaster here,_ Mr J. C Williamson, joined the service in 1877, and was stationed at Outram, and latei- ho was postmaster at Ophir in the days when gold flowed in freely from that rich old field. Mr Williamson has a, number of relatives still mound the Dunedin district. Of late years lie has been chief eleik at the General Post Office in Wellington, and ea.rned so high a, reputation, for courtesy, tact, and ability that his departure from there was sincerely regretted by tho staff.

THE SOLDIERS' CLUB.

The Soldiers' Club has proved a wonderfully successful institution, in a tentative way, on a. very modest scale, it has astonished the Patriotic Committee by the ever insistent demands for more and moro space, and now tho cluh have obtained most suitable quarters in the. big Y.M.C.A. Building in Wellesley street, the building being divided into two for the purpose. The soldiers will now have cloak rooms, reading and writing rooms, a very fine buffet, an office of the Soldiers' Employment Committee, and an information bureau, all on tho ground floor. Upstairs there are six large, rooms, where tho soldiers may read or write, smoke, play cards or billiards, or enjoy the music of a. fine piano. There, is also a, reception Toom. where a may receive his friends. There are four billiard tables in almost constant use. Practically all the furnishings have been given by citizens.

HARD LUCK.

A story of hard luck was related at the meeting of creditors of William Manning, an Auckland condiment manufacturer. He lias three sovis at the front, who formerlv assisted him in business. The bankrup't commenced about 19 years ago, and built ■up a flourishing little trade with storekeepers on the goldfields. The 1912Waihi strike meant heavy losses to lum. Prior to the strike ho had, in view of the increase in trade, purchased a properly and factory, and after the strike he had" difficulty in paying for the factory, and had to .sell out at heavy loss. He had considerably recovered from tho blow when the war broke out. Unable to obtain raw material, the important branch of the manufacture of baking powder was ruined,

and his sons going to the front left him lepemient on his own and outside labor. Then a shipment of goods was destroyed by fire while on the way to the Dominion, and he came to the end of his resources.

The creditors sympathised with Mi Manning, aud unanimously passed a resolution requesting tho Official Assignee to facilitate bankrupt's discharge.

WELCOME. HOME

On Monday and Tuesday Auckland was welcoming returned .soldiers,, and the main wharf was given over lo a gay scene of decorations and hearty greetings. Tuesday's vessel arrived at daylight, but the men were not allowed to land till just on A o'clock, the interval being taken up by the Medical Board and the records departmental work, with the result that the southern men got no leave ashore. Had the arrangimicnls been properly organised the southern men could have been landed in the morning and taken for motor trips to the ranges, and had a day's outing. Of course, there was the inevitable succession of weary speeches and tho same old platitudes. When will politicians and civic ditrnitories understand that neither soldiers nor their relatives desire, to listen to speeches? Anyhow, tho men received a warm welcome, and the happy scenes of reunion were a pleasant relief from the grim business of cendiing away reinforcements. The city, "by the way, is still able to point to a, surplus of infantry enlistments, but several of the country areas have rerun-ted shortages, which the city is being called upon to make up.