Page 4 Advertisements Column 1

New Zealander, Volume 11, Issue 964, 11 July 1855, Page 4 (Supplement)

IJrobmml >Gofccmtimtf CSajcttc* Superintendent's Office, Auckland, July 6, 1855. THE following Report upon the means of establishing a permanent Communication between the Manukau Harbour and Waikato River, is published for general information. Wm. Brown, Superintendent. Auckland., June 28th, 1855. Sir, — In accordance with your Honor’s instructions of the Ist May last, enclosing a resolution of the Provincial Council, we proceeded to Waiuku on the 4th ultimo, for the purpose of surveying the Awaroa and inspecting the portage between the Manukau Harbour and the Waikato rivers.

Waiuku is a village site on the souther 11 extremity of the Manukau, and is also a terminus of the existing thoroughfare between it and the Waikato On our arrival here, we were much surprised to observe the amount of business created by the transit through it of merchandize and produce to and from the southern districts.; and we became, consequently, more impressed with the importance of a permanent communication between those waters than we had previously been from report only. As all the goods we saw in process of delivery or -shipment at Waiuku either had been, or would be, conveyed by the Awaroa, we conceived a verv favourable opinion of its volume and capacity, and had little doubt the stream would be found susceptible of improvement at a small cost; but on subsequently -commencing our survey at the principal landing place, we were disappointed to find—not the river we sought, but a mere brook of a foot deep, and some nine feet wide; quite disproportioned to anything we expected.

The n.vigable portion of the creek runs through the centre of a very extensive swamp, covered pa tly with raupo, and partly with thick kaikatea bush. The highest point to which canoes usually ascend is Purapura, situated one and a half miles from Waiuku. From this place to its entrance into the Kaikatea swamp, distant 120 chains, the course of the s ream is exceedingly tortuous; the average width is about eight feet, and the depth of water varies from nine inches to three and-a-half feet. The progress of canoes is much impeded here by fallen timber, evidently the remains of an old forest; but to obviate this difficulty, natives are in the habit of constructing dams of mud, flax, and brushwood, which afford a temporary passage, but at the same time, tend materially to destroy the existence of the channel, such as it is. When a canoe reaches a shallow part of the river, a darn, as above desedbed, is thrown across it; and when, by this moans, (he water level has been raised from six inches to a foot a passage is opened, and the canoe propelled through it with all possible haste; the materials removed, being thrown into the stream, which, on account of its incieased r pidity at this part, generally carries away most of the remaining substances that had been used to confine it. Fully loaded canoes do not enter the upper part of the Awaroa, but cither discharge half their cargo at the termination of the Kaikatea (where the influence of the tide ceases) or employ “ kaupapas” to lighter it up to Purapura. The lower ponion of the stream winds a crooked course through the bush before mentioned; its average width is about twelve feet, with a depth of water varying from one to six feet. The bottom is a continuous network of fallen timber, to which constant additions are being made from the dense bush abounding on its hanks. Dams are also employed here; and the navigation, notwithstanding the perceptible influence of the tides and the additional width of the creek, is both difficult and tedious. The bends of the creek throughout its whole length are so acute th.it an ordinary canor rounds them with difficulty, and so numerous as to be barely capable of profitable diminution by cutting. The banks and the adjacent swamps c insist of some two feet of vegetable matter, resting on layers of sand and decomposed pumice, forming together a composition very unfavourable to the construction of durable works.