NOTES ABOUT NEW PLYMOUTH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9022, 7 April 1888, Page 1 (Supplement)

NOTES ABOUT NEW PLYMOUTH.

«4 [BY OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.]: : - , ■_, ■~.;...• HARBOUR WORKS. V •;■.:".,; . ;■ ',' As already stated, one of my objects in visiting New Plymouth, during the recess in the session of Parliament, was to see the condition of the Taranaki breakwater, and the progress of the harbour works, 'vexed questions which had occupied the attention of the Legislature. Early in the session Mr. 0. Samuel, the indefatigable representative of New Plymouth, had called attention to the financial condition of the Harbour Board Trust, and stated very frankly that it was only a question of time, and that within the present year, when the Board would be unable to meet its obligations as regards the interest on the debentures. It was alleged that the alteration in the land policy,of the late Government had contributed to this result, inasmuch as the land revenue in which the Board had an interest had been seriously diminished. A committee was appointed to investigate the statements contained in the petition, as also to see what relief could be afforded the petitioners, for owing to the dread of increased taxation within the rating area, the progress of colonization was being greatly retarded. On the morning after my arrival Mr. James Paul (the ex-Mayor), and Mr. Downes (manager of the Bank of New South Wales) whose acquaintance I had made in Auckland during the visit of the Taranaki bowling team, kindly drove me down to the Breakwater, where our party was joined by Captain Holcraft, the harbourmaster, who chaperoned us over the works. The breakwater has been carried out some 1900 feet at a cost of £180,000, inclusive of plant. About £30,000 worth of machinery is lying about, which would be sold at its value as old iron. Singular to say, the portion of the plant manufactured in the colony (Dunedin) has proved the most efficient and usefuL One of the blocks in the facing of the breakwater had started, owing to defective cement, but the injury was easy of remedy, and only awaited fine weather to permit of its accomplishment. It was quite evident that silting was going on'between the breakwater and the Sugar Loaves. On the passage of the Hawea to Wellington with the members of the Assembly, she stood in at midnight to the breakwater to land the members who were going on by the morning's train, but was warned off, and was obliged to land her passengers and luggage in a surf boat. Similarly on the passage up of the Takapuna at the close of the session, she lay off the breakwater a whole Sunday afternoon, waiting till evening before the tide admitted of her getting alongside the breakwater. These are rather poor results for an expenditure of nearly £200,000. At first it was hoped that the breakwater would serve not only the purpose of a mole but of a wharf, but that idea has been given up, and a wooden wharf is now being completed at a cost of £9000, along which vessels will be able to lie at all states of the tide, as they will be able to take either side according as the wind is on or off the land. At the time of my visit to the breakwater a fresh gale was blowing, and the sea was making clean breaches over it for hundreds of feet, dashing the water thirty or forty feet into the air, falling in huge cascades down the masonry into the sea again. For brief intervals the seaward half of the breakwater was buried in a seething mass of foam, resembling a sunken rock rather than anything else. It was a grand sight from a tourist's point of view, but wholly unsatisfactory from a financier's. The Taranaki ratepayers have been looking for relief by get--ting the interest reduced from six to four per cent, through the intervention of Government, or to get the harbour works taken over. New Plymouth, under all the circumstances, is certainly deserving of more consideration than the cormorants of Westport and of Greymouth, who have made steady assaults on the public till. The district had been made the battleground on which had been fought out questions with which were bouni up the future prosperity of the country. No other settlers in the colony had made such sacrifices in order that the Queen's writ might run from end to end of New Zealand, and her sovereignty be vindicated. With their settlers massacred, with blazing homesteads around them, and the savings of a lifetime swept away by the blast of war, the Taranakians said they were willing to endure all to accomplish the above results. Those who remember the Taranaki campaign of 1860 will admit that New Plymouth has special claims to consisideration in her hour of difficulty and trial. The question of the financial position of the Harbour Board of New Plymouth will again come up for consideration at the approaching session of the Assembly, and the result will be awaited with some interest. TOWNSHIP MATTERS. Though business was quiet at the time of my visit, the residents were hopeful. The out settlements were progressing, and it was hoped that the proposed alteration of the North Island Trunk Railway to the Stratford route would be of benefit to them. There was talk of a fresh route coming out at Waitara, and utilising the ten miles of line already made, but there is little prospect of its receiving much favour. The State educational establishments of the town were handsome buildings, and a new hospital had just been erected at a cost of £4000. Messrs. Davis and Wright took me through the recreation reserve, with its artificial lake, which' is a credit to the town. Mr. Davis takes considerable interest in this public reserve, and in getting additional improvement*! carried out. At no great distance is the Tar.an.aki Bowling Club's green, which has the most pleasant surroundings and finest view in the colony, as Mount Egmont clothed in its mantle of snow, looks down upon the bowlers. It is scarcely to bo wondered at that bowlers so circumstanced should furnish the champion team of the North Island. Considerable disappointment has been felt by the Taranaki bowlers that an Auckland team has not visited the province this season, and they are looking forward to their advent next season with much interest and pleasure. A more genial and hospitable set of fellows than the Taranaki bowers it would be hard to find, and the Aucklanders may anticipate a hearty welcome' and handsome treatment. At no great distance is the racecourse reserve of some 50 acres. The city waterworks are some two and a-half miles distant, the pressure being about 1001b to the square inch. The Fire Brigade (of which Mr. Davis is superintendent) was rather at low water financially. One of the prettiest bijou halls I have seen, is the Alexandra Hall, and the Greenwood Family were giving entertainments in it at the time of my visit. Four banks find business sufficiently good to have their branches here. Of local industries there is but a limited number, the great stand-by of the settlement being dairy produce. There is a sash and door factory, sawmill, tannery, &c, and two breweries. Mr. Paul is the proprietor of the Egmont Brewery. The " boys" say there is more fun " to be got) out of a quarb of Paul's brew than a gallon from anybody else, but on this point, as a " blue ribbon " man, I speak with considerable reserve. The waitara. During the afternoon Messrs. Paul and Downes kindly drove me out to Waitara to see the country, as also the scenes rendered historic by the war. With the "Three Jolly Britons" was "a young man from the country," whose observations on men and things were quaint and amusing. It was a matter for regret to see, en route, so much fine land lying uncultivated, in many cases native reserves, Which the native* no not use, and which are so tied up that they cannob be Utilised by European?.. What the land is capable of becoming may be seen in the grand farm of Mr. Bayley. I was sorry to hnd that the irbnsand works were at a standstill. Some day or other science and skill will solve the problem of making a commercial article at remunerative rates from the ironsand of the West Coast. The Waitara Freezing and Tinning Works, from which the settlers had hoped to derive so much benefit are also silent and shut up. It was contended bhab the Waibara branch of the New Zealand Meat and Storage Com» pany's operations had shown a favourable ' balance-Sheet, and some severe reflections were cast upon the Auckland directors for the step which they had taken. Waitara is destined yet to come into greater importance, , owing to its situation and the fertility of its 1 soil. Bringing in the Trunk Railway at this point, opening up the Mokau district, would give it a great impetus. Many hold I that, if the money spent in harbour works I at the New Plymouth roadstead had been

expended on Waitara, a good and accessible port might have been obtained. This would have left New Plymouth high and dry, however, and vested interests scouted the very idea of such a scheme. Aβ we drove on to the Waitara township I got a good view of the famous Bell block, and of the battle ground of Mahoetahi. To me the scenes afforded aiuch food for thought, as many of the actors in the engagement were personally known to me. Over the Waitara stream could be seen the pa at which Wiremu Kingi, the famous chief who caused the TaranakiWar, died; while down the river loomed against the sky the flagstaff, under the shadow of which Te Teira, his opponent, breathed his last, the two chiefs who caused the war, by a strange coincidence, dying within a few months of each other. Mr. Halcombe, formerly manager of the Patetere Company's eetate, Lichfield, has a farm a few miles past this point, at Urenui, on which he resides. REMINISCENCES OP THE WAS. On returning to New Plymouth, I took a stroll into the cemetery of St. Mary's Church, not far from Marsland Hill, and in the shades of evening meditated among the tombs. As I wandered from headstone to headstone alone, there started up to memory afresh with the names of the dead, the incidents of the Taranaki war of 1860. Many of these officers and men, now sleeping their last sleep there, I had known in the flesh. One of the first to fall in the Omata massacre was my personal friend, Shaw. In the little graveyard are the graves of some of his comrades. Of those whom I had known whose graves lie around were Dr. Hope and Lieutenant Tragett, of the 57th, who were ambuscaded at the Oakura massacre ; the gentle Captain Strange of the 65th ; the merry, light-hearted Lieutenant Jackson, of the 40th, who fell at No. 3 redoubt, in the moment of victory ; and the brave but eccentric Lieutenant Macuaughten, who fell in the sap at Pukerangiora, almost the last victim of an inglorious and wretchedly conducted campaign. Sargent, who fell at the L pa, and poor young Brown—the "boy-militiaman"—who diea on the slopes of Mahoetahi, lie hard by, while a row of mounds of soldiers' and seamen's graves, undistinguished by any mark save a railed enclosure, bear token that every branch of the service did their duty to Queen and colony. Again came back to memory, as I etrolled among the graves in the twilight alone, that memorable Sunday" morning in March, 1860, when Travers' battery of artillery wheeled their guns down Princes-street, during Divine service at St. Paul's, and sailed at once for Taranaki, and of Colonel Gold following next week with the 65th, leaving Auckland, Ollivierlike, with " a light heart," the officers expeoting to be back in time for the Queen's birthday ball! How little did they see into the future, and how little conjectured that the history of the coming year would be written, for the colony, m tears and blood. THEN AND NOW. Among the old acquaintances I met at Taranaki was Major Brown, formerly Superintendent of Taranaki, whom I had not seen since I had listened to hie speeches in the General Assembly in Auckland, in the days of the Fox Ministry of 1856, and of which he was a member. Mr. McKenzie, formerly of the Southern Cross, but now of the Taranaki News; and Mr. W. H. J. Seffern, formerly of the New Zealander, but now of the Taranaki Herald. On the walls of the printing office of the latter journal Mr. Seffern nas posted up a complete list of the placarded notifications of the civil and military authorities during the war. Some of them are unique, and furnish an interesting contribution to the history of the war. One of the proclamations comprises an order that in the event of a night attack upon the town, every resident is to close his premises, and place lighted candles in each window of his dwelling. Another, signed by "Cock Robin " (Adjutant-General Carey), notified that the women and children of the garrison and town would be removed in alphabetical order, and those proviug recusant would have their rations stopped and be forcibly deported. Those " bad old days" of martial law have gone never to return, and in its place has come a peace which will never more be broken, between Pakeha and Maori.

On the morrow I bade adieu to my kind friends of the Taranaki bowling team, and turned my face Napierwarde, to Bee the harbour works in progress there. I have, however, especially to express my indebtedness to Messrs Paul and Downes, and to Mr. 0. Samuel, M.H.R. (the member for New Plymouth), who furnished me with every information in their power concerning the harbour works and the district generally.