NEW ROAD TO THE COAST.

Hot Lakes Chronicle, Volume 2, Issue 131, 7 August 1895, Page 2

NEW ROAD TO THE COAST.

(via. Rotoiti a\d Te Teko.) [Contributed.] Tliis road, long deemed by those best acquainted with the country a desideratum of the district, was recommended by two Governors of the Colony, and many ministers and other high functionaries urged its opening for wheeled traffic in years gone-bv. The stolid conservatism, however. of the tatooed lords of the soil long blocked the Way, and it is only of recent years that more enlightened views have been adopted by them in regard to roads if not of other matter-. The present Government have now taken the work in hand and are pushing it through with firmness and decision. About ftftv Europeans are engaged on the surveys and toad works, and many of the Maori owners of the land through which the line passes take a share of the work, which, so far, has been done on the co-operative principle, with satisfaction to the engineers in charge and to the men themselves. The native owners of the land expected to get the whole of 1 he roadworks to do, and say they were so promised by Ministers. They have, however, agreed to accept portions, and allow other portions to be done by Europeans. The latter in the end will probably have the; lion's share, if we may judge from the spasmodic fnanner in which the noble aboriginal generally acts in cases where constant and prolonged hard work has to be done. It must be admitted, however, that McLean and Sons in their railway contracts here gave unqualified praisj to many of the Arawa young men who were employed by them on their exceptionally heavy works through the Patetere Bush. This now lino of road, via Rotoiti, Rotoehu and Rotoma to Te Puke and Wliakataue, and the East Coast settlements will, when opened up for traffic, prove a boon to travellers to and from those now well-peopled districts, and must become an important feeder to the Rotorua- Auckland railway. It is likely to become also a popular drive for tourists, although in calm weather the bulk of those will doubtless prefer the Lake steamers as far as Tapuaeliaruru, at the eastern extremity of Rotoiti. Hotel accommodation will be required at. Tapuaeliarijru, and at the hot springs of Waitangi, where baths could be developed to any extent. The country round these lakes got covered a foot deep with "jecta from the Tarawera eruption in 18SG, and this scorns to have proved a blessing in disguise. Instead of the stunted vegetation of that time a dense

growth of fern and manuka now covens the whole country, arid English graters' and clovers, where sown, flourish iuxuriantly. This is als<> very noticeable all the way to the const, between Tauranga and Whakatane, and proves conclusively the fertilising properties of the volcanic deposit. There are now no resident natives on either of the lakes, Rotoehu or Rotomn. although a numerous population lived there Before and after th • missionaries came to New Zealand. Subsequent uative and European wars are Credited by the Rotoiti natives as the cause of the dispersion of the people of these two lakes. Considerable proves of English tree* ■ peaches, cherries, acacias, &c., along the shores of Rotoehu mark *he sites of the old kniangus belonging to the missionaries and their numerous adherents. Great numbers of wild duct, pakuras an 1 bittern a pingo infest the reed and raupo luM-guis of .th'n lake, and excellent sport .. obtainable there in the season. Bi<™»er iorl i.- i!s.. i i.lje.ha.l iii 1-iu- Bujh clo'sa by, both wild boar and cuttle roamin™ •he i nirv in great numbers. Altogether the tvij) through t.lnso lakes will afford imam enjoyment to the traveller on health or pleasure bent. There afcjjeight ornini native settlements on the Rotoiti lake. where Maori life can be seen with all it-. peculiarities -good, bad, or indifferent and no doubt as long as one of those old .human tigers -the old aboriginal maneating New Zealanders survives, tin ordinary Englishman will feel an interest in a race which, with many little faults. is, in a variety of things, equal to our own. while their worst proclivities donol approach within mcasurcablc distance <c ours. For that reason we should no! judge their Bhortcomingstob liarshlv. but think of the inexpressible experienced thoy have undergone for generations past. On returning round the Rotoiti lake parties of the natives were discovered, a! the time of the writer's visit, in search of thi'bones of their ancestors which la. hidden away in eaves and crevices in the cliffs overhanging the shore. Tin cause of this premature " resurrection of the dead " was found to be the sudden advent of Fairburn's and Webb's sappers "benching ont'' the now line of road Just ('escribed. What would the old man-eater-of 40 or 30 years ago have done if sue':! sacrilege had been attempted, even by their own race, and yet on this occasion not a word, was uttered regarding thr matter by our native friends. They seemed quite resigned to the inevitable inarch of civilisation, and conscious of the faci that dead ancestors, as well as their livingdesoondants, must give way before the Juggernaut of Law and Order. It was very pleasant to see such proof of Arawa loyalty, and more so when it is ridded thai no claim for compensation lias been mooted in regard to this compulsory insurrection. It is said the bones are to be removed to a great distance from what Was deemed their final resting-place.