CIVILISATION’S FRINGE

Evening Star, Issue 17325, 13 April 1920, Page 2

CIVILISATION’S FRINGE

IN THE ISLAND OUTPOSTS. THE PARLIAMENTARY TOUR. A VISIT TO MANGAIA.

[By A. E. Clarke, the 1 Star’s’ Special Commissioner.]

Just why men go out into'the vacant spaces, over the shoulder of the world' where the amenities of civilisation are not, where life is crude and raw, and the pioneer of a new era is very near to the elmentals, is something for the psychologist to ponder over; and to find, just as many solutions as there ‘are individual oases. Man is by nature gregarious, and the spirit of the tribe is strong within him. But there' are some who find the crowded hours of life amid everyday surroundings too direct and top circumscribed, and who hit the trail' -that leads over the skyline, They cross the long sea-lanes till they bump up against some half-known and wholly shunned bit of earth, and there they settle down, the world forgetting by the world forgot. Maybe half a dozen times in a year they momentarily revert to type, but when the ship that brought the white face drifts 'out to sea again they onco -fnore slide bac? into the old routine, asking nothing from man or his gods. Few are so constituted that they can stand the loneliness, actual or comparative, of these faraway places—those w T ho can are possessed of a tranquil serenity not known to the hustler of tire ordinary world.

Something of their aloofness of spirit and temperamental divergencies was borne in upon the New Zealand parliamentarians during their South Sea peregrinations,- and they learned to appreciate the adaptability of the species as they passed from island to island, and also they learned something of the hardships and needs of these men who are blazing the track for the wider civilisation which is now, despite their efforts, treading hard npoi; their heels. Their first glimpse of real isolation came at M-angaia. Rarotonga is lonely enough outpost, but it is another New York when to Mangaia. This, - the most- southerly of the Cook Group, is a full night's steam from Ararua, and its isolation may be judged from the fact that its last communication with the world outside was made in November. Thus nothing was known of the Mokoia’s voyage, and the islanders have no hope of any ship until the end of March, when, at the end of the hurricane season, the schooners which trade through the group return from the north, whither they go for the months from November to 'March, during which time the big blows may be expected. When the cry of u Sail ho ” arose from the natives on the beach the half-dozen whiles who form the European population could not believe that the big stranger intended to make a halt there. They learned of the mission pi the visitor witfi delight, and the opportunity of putting the needs and opportunities of their lonely home before members of Parliament came as a gift from the gods. _ Mangaia has had a curious history. Originally a coral atoll, with a narro'w circle of land enclosing a lagoon a fe'.v miles across, it was thrust up by some titanic outburst centuries ago, until its encircling reef rose to a height of 200 ft above sea level, while its lagoon drained through .the coral belt, and in process of years became a valley of great fertility. This left what is known among the islands as a makatea, or dead coral formation, rising from the newer shore well inland, almost sheer to its height of 200 ft, and dropping down almost perpendicularly on its inner face. The process oi denudation has broken the regularity of tlm makatea at many points, but' the easiest way to the interior of the island is over a stairway cut into the side of a break in the cliffway over a century 7 ago. at the top of which begins a verv fair road bisecting the island. The eastern face of Mangaia consists of ridge after ridge of basalt thrown out during the convulsion which thrust up tire whole island.

The ever-busy polyp lost no time when the volcanic activity ended in getting to work anew, and once more ho set to work to girdle, the island, building a fringing reef which now completely encircles it without a sign of harbor, without even safe holding ground for anchorage, so that ships' trading to the island must either take a risk or must stand on and off till their operations are completed. The reef itself is roughly a quarter of a mile across, and it has few of the beauties which _ most people who- have not visited tropic seas imagine are associated with the work of the coral insect. Menacing and unlovely, it has solidified into a lirnesto'ne almost as hard as basalt. There is no sign of the. beautiful white and pink corals found in old curiosity shops, though in the pools along the reef top the careful searcher comes across sea gardens of great beauty, with wonder-fully-mnrked star fish, crabs, sea anemones, and other denizens of the sea. while tfny fish of the brightest reds and blues dart hither and thither, The growing coral, too, is apparently very beautiful till it is wrenched off, -when it loses all its borrowed loveliness, for which the water is really responsible, and becomes a somewhat dingy mass till exposure to the sun kills off the insect and leave? nothing but the long framework, which takes all sprfs of fantastic and beautiful shapes.

The reef at Mangaia is barely awash at low tide, and everything intended for the island must go over it in the little outrigger canoes of the natives, A fleet; of these came out when the Mokoia arrived to ferry her passengers ashore. They are queer-looking craft, narrower and deeper than the average Maori canoe, capable of holding anything from four to ten men, built in two pieces, each hollowed from a log, and sewn together with sinnet made of cocoanut fibre. So cleverly is this dons that after they have been painted the casual visitor would not notice the joint, while they do not leak. The outrigger makes them fairly safe against capsize, and the natives handle them with great skill. The party perilously transferred themselves, three or four at 'a time, from tJj£_ship’s gangway to the frail craft, which, propelled by four well-swung paddles, drew swiftly towards the reef. Arrived off it, the visitors saw the long Pacific rollers come lashing in, covering the reef to a depth of two or three feet as they advanced, leaving it bare in retreat. The crews hung off the reef, waiting for a big roller to come in, and when they deemed the right moment had arrived, gave way all together, swinging in qn the top of the roller to the reef edge, where a half-dozen natives, standing in, waiting, seized the canoes and rushed them on to, the top of the reef before the backwash could snatch them back—a ticklish business, but performed with such skill, that scarcely a passenger was splashed.. 1 A. haul of 10yds, thecanoes scraping heavily all the while, brought the craft into slightly deeper water 1 , through which they made their way to the landing .place at the foot of a steep hand of coral. Sir Jus. Allen, in stepping ashore, was met by a guard of honor of 21 returned soldiers, Mangaia’s. contribution to the Flag' which they love as intensely as does the most patriotic pakeha. * The visitors learned a great deal during their day-long stay at the iftjat.d. It. was a very vivid object lesson of the disabilities under which the inhabitants of these remote corners o i the Loinis* ion’s possessions lie.' The Minister met the Itesident Agent. {Mr Duncan) and the Native Council, and discussed with them the needs- t { the island. Chief of these was the blasting of a gap in the reef so that tho canoes may be run in and out when the weather; is rough. At present this is a physical impossibility, and cargo vessels arriving when the wind is hip wing in from the west, must either wait tor calmer conditions or try another worm hie spot five

miles down the coast, wheue the goods have to be carted to and fronV the main GnaToa, - The Government spent £15,000 some little time ago in blasting a channel through, but a hurricane, which struck the island last January, filled it up with boulders and so it remains. It is estimated by engineers that the exPf'diture of £3,000 would make a channel of sufficient width to render further closlnS. ver y improbable. Meantime the natives ask for a motor lorry to hr in" round cargo dropped at the more distant landing place. Another suggestion was tho provision of an inter-island trading schooner, a matter already raised at Rarotonga. They further • asked a wireless telegraph plant, the Minister replying that it was not unlikely that a wireless telephone would shortly be installed, - a less expensive' method, iince it would not involve drafting a skilled operator to the island. Mangaia grows splendid oranges in the season, mid a fair amount of coffee is produced, tho soil inland being especially suited to the growth of the’ plant, but the quantity Is going back owing to the j-tc cultivation following upon the difficulty of marketing the bean. Copra established a fair number of plantations in the make tor., round the coast. They open up holes amid the coral, drop in tho sprouting nuts, and do little more beyond a bit of weeding till six or seven ih ' "*• ™ t In spite of the lack of systematic culti- \ ation and even of collection of the mils Ac Mangaians reap a heavy Harvest, aiid the people are prosperous and care-free, .the natives are a bright and happy lot very indolent through lack of incentive to , They grow practically all their own food, th‘ir island Ins a magnificent chmatg, and tneir isolation is accepted with a good deal of philosophy. \v hen the, time came to leave'tho island it was found that- getting off the reef was a no less difficult operation than landing upon it. The natives standing on the edge of the deep water bung on to the ranee till a big breaker coming ashore .flooded the reef and left a temporary patch of comparatively calm sea in its wake. At the right moment the craft was hurled seaward; her crew paddled like demons till the danger zone was .passed, and then moved off to the ship in more leisurely style. One of the skippers made a bad guess just on nightfall, when Sir Janies Allen, Sir Heaton Rhodes, Colonel xate, and one of Ike newspapermen of the party were going aboawl Tho canoe left tho reef all right, but -when she was about oOtt out one of the biggest rollers of the clay cams along. It towered with unbroken crest above the tiny craft as it swept inshore. It did not, seem possible,, for the craft +0 rise to ihe occasion—and it wasn’t. Her bow lifted a little on the curl, and then into the foot of the wave she dived like a flying-fish takiiTg the? water. The breaker swont rlenr over h»r. leaving her gunwale under and her pas-engers wet through from head to foot, sitting- waist deep in water while they waited for the next act. Two of the crew leapt to the outrigger to prevent a capswe, and then- all frantically paddled for the open sea. for the canoe was stiff m the danger zone, and. liable to be swept on to the reef and s-a=hed +0 matchwood br the incoming rollers. The crew won the race the breakers, and after getting the waterlogged craft hevond the “set” snoreward her passengers were transferred to another canoe, reaching the island without further incident. Mangaia was visited by a hurricane in January, but the material damage Mas not terr extensive, though the force of the blow was sufficient to drive the spray clean 1 ever the 2CDft high mnkatea into the fM'o swamps hevond, the natives’ crons being damaged to soma extent, while the vegetal tion along the waterfront was killed off | by the salt. The canoes worn all hauled to safety, and the houses “anchored ’’«< by long poles, so that few suffered severely.

The natives who raft supplies ashore and take copra off to the shirs arc mi !;- in.-r a good thing out of it. They charge £3 10s a tom and as they hare „„ nh-rolnte monopoly, wifh no pnssirnh’fv of rnmprtilion. the charge must be un’d. Bn* they may kil 1 the goose that lays the golden egg. They threaten to raise their rate to £3 a lon. If thev do they mav kill the island’s export w-ade. or c 0 r e ,lue? the price of copra ashore that the Test of the native population will he. cpr’mHv .affected. But them present charge and the rate thev prono.-e t 0 terv ind’Va'-n ;t ‘here is exploitation going on in ‘he islands all of it cannot he laid at the ch-r#-.of the European.