CASUAL GAMBLINGS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 8814, 1 March 1892, Page 6

CASUAL GAMBLINGS.

fBY A. TRAMP, ESQ.]

A BIT OF DIARY.

PUMICE LAND. [written for the weekly news.] (Concluded.)

Train loaves Waimarino 6.30 — Rua-Taranaki — Another Injustice to Moawlianga—Conclusion— Postscript—Poor Doggie. Monday, 21.—Fifty-six miles to go. Each man provides himself with a substantial sandwich of bread and meat—in view of there being no time to spare to lay the cloth for lunch. Plenty of " soft Tommy" oft, and enough canned provisions to set up a small grocery on Ruapehu. Wo pick out fresh mounts —it is very handy travelling with a score or two of extra horses. Mr. Ellis assumes the lead —ho being tho only one of the party that knows tho track across the desert—tho horses run in a bunch. Mr. Carkeek and the packer are on the flanks, myself and the Co. keeping the trail in tho centre, iHi leaving the hub we ford a boulder-paved creek—riso a long spur—across and up and down a number of blind gullies, but mostly up, till we reach the back of tho saddle between the mountains, somewhere in the vicinity of 5000 ft | above sea level, and close up to tho grand national park which circles the hoary head | of Kuapehu ; and as near as I have any desire to bo to tho crater of Ngauruhoe's dun-coloured and smoke - tasselled cone. The country a weird and storm-washed waste of scoria. It gave us tho shivers to think of what a plight one would bo in if caught hero in a storm ; we glanced up to tho clear expanse of blue heaven, and gave a sigh of thankfulness that no such dire misfortune was likely to overtake us : the day was splendidly lino, and we felt assured of its continuance. On " the saddle," Mr. Carkeek, the packer, and myself diverge (the fashionable word just now) a short distance from our course, to interview one of " the lions" of this leonine districtßua-Taranaki to wit; the place where, according to the native legend, Taranaki (Mount Egmont) stood before his celebrated tight with the liery Ngauruhoe caused him to "skid down" the Wanganui River (Vide " Rumblings Up and Down New Zealand"). Evidently, ages ago, the Tongariro group owned another volcanic cone which tilled the space wo call the saddle between Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu. We advanced to tho edge of an extinct crater, and looked down into the great well, and gazed with feelings of surprise, wonder, and delight upon a silent and still lake, somewhat, fan shaped in form, of the most beautiful limpid blue—a blue so pure, the cerulean of heaven looked washed out beside it; a blue so rich and rare.

Rickett's and all the other manufacturers of blue would go crazy from chagrin at the utter failures of their attempts to imitate the colour. The outlet of the lake is towards the Wanganui watershed, and this outlet forms the handle of the fan-like form of the lake. Running tho eye from the lake up the tall side of Ngauruhne, we notice that uncanny gentleman pulling heavily, and wonder if some day he will get in a rage and take it into his head to pursue Taranaki. It would be rather awkward it he did, unless by mistake he took his way down the Waikato and tumbled headlong into the Piako Swamp. We turn away from the enchanting spot, feeling like a Salvation Army soldier, live thousand feet above our fellow-men. If we had not found salvation, we had seen true blue, and felt

sublime. We gallop down the other slope of tho saddle—on the Waikato watershed now— in pursuit of Mr. Ellis, who, walking -lowly on, was fully a mile ahead. The horses straggle sluggishly after him, some in single file, some in twos and throes, and others in clusters, but all moving on ; there hying neither grass nor scrubnothing but

scoria—to induce them to tarry by the way. Boomerang—he is sublimely insensible to the wonders of. earth unless they appear in shape of a crop of oats, or a grass paddock, or a bed of carrots—had given us the slip at Rua-Tatanaki, and was meekly attending upon his black mate in the centre of the mob. Oohoo ! crack ! crack ! ho, there ! All their heads are in the air, and the steady old trot and canter is resumed. Down and up and around hummocks and hummocks of scoria ash, but still on the down grade till we arrive at the Waihonga Stream, and are half way through the journey. We have a good drink, and eat our lunch with the bridles in our hands. A short distance hence wo strike the TokaanoHunterville road on the Rangipo desert—a continuation of the one wo had just come over. Now Carkeek puts on more Pliormium tenax, and we rattle along for miles at a hand gallopluckily there is no wind, except what we make by our own velocity, and the dust is trifling. Then wo tighten up the packs, and I shift my saddle on to Boomerang, and give thorn a load. Down the Wangaehu, past the spot where Cadman fell—the hole he made is still thereup on to the terrace and along, without a break, to Waihora, where the Tokaano road junctions with the main trunk.

From Waihora we take the old pack track across the hills to Moawhango, arriving at that unique township a little after 7 p.m. Received a cordial greeting from the elder Mr. Ellis, who made out 1 had been of great assistance in driving the horses, and must, remain his guest—a kindly way of putting it ; the boot was on the other leg, really. A good wash, a good supper, a good bed — Heigho ! fifty-six miles ! it must have been sixty ! Darling, I am growing old. Tuesday, 22.—Tir-ring ! tir ring ! tirring! dingle! dingle! bell! Wonder where the bell lam ? Taumarunui? Ota pouri ? Waimarino? No, I am on a mattrass; no, tea-tree scrub; no, fern stalks; no, raupo; where tho Can't bo in Auckland, firebells never wake me there, quito too common — Wanjjanui, Rutland—theirs is a gong—where? oh! I remember, Moawhango ; guess it's their breakfast-bell. Fifty-six miles ! no, fortyfive to day, to unterville. Better stop a day the horse party are stopping. No, I we go ; we go, the Co. is very fit. it has often struck me that a great injustice is done to .Moawhango by our geographers ignoring its existenco. On few, if any, of tho maps of the North Island is the location of this important centre shown. But an insignificant sheep station a dozen miles distant called Erehwon (nowhere spelled backwards), tho latitude and longitude of which is of no importance toanyon except perhaps its owner, or its banker, ! appears upon all. I can only account for it on the supposition that Moawhango, being a dem'd democratic sort of a place, our aristocratic map compilers did not consider it deserved notice. Notwithstanding tho millions that have been spent in surveying tho country, a good handy map containing useful general information has yet to bo produced by the department Mr. Ellis having furnished mo with a guide to show me "the near cut" to the entrance of the bush, I set out, having first paid my dutiful respects to my good friends Mr. Battley and family. I left Carkeek blacking his boots. "Ah," he said, in answer to my smile, " you've begun at the top"—l had mounted a clean collar —"I commence at the bottom you see, and by the time we meet again, at Phillipi, you won't know me." Hey for Hunterviile and civilisation. Fell in with a party in search of a suitable site for a sawpit to cut timber for bridge building purposes on a road contract, who saw me safe on the main

line once more—thirty-five miles from Hunterville. Stopped twice on the ro.id to till the Co. up with grass, which did not tako long. 1 say it calmly, with due consideration and without prejudice, that, from the time we left Hautapu till we returned, I did not see as much cocksfoot as a horse might gather hero in one mouthful. A kindly cook at a contractor's camp supplied me with lotsof roast beef.andif "A Tramp's" blessing is ~f any value to that contractor, it is herewith bestowed. At Hunterville I was again indebted to the hospitality of Messrs. Ellis Bros, and Valuer for a night's lodging—such a thing as a bed or a blanket j was not to be procured at either of the I hotels for love or money. The industrious ! unemployed have taken a lease of all the ' beds, and the bloated capitalist has to squat on the floor and be thankful. Yes, there is a big hum in Hunterville, and the telephone that strangled the mighty De Bruce is a big success. Well, to-morrow ' I'm off for Wanganui. I know of a feather i bed there, 6xß; I'll engage it and sleep for I

a week, and the railway routes and the unemployed may be blowed. WANGANUI. Wednesday, 23.—Weighed in Wanganui and found I had lost fourteen pounds avoirdupois in sixteen days. I am 10 longer surprised at the Israelites longing for the flesh pots of Egypt after a turn in the desert. IN CONCLUSION. Briefly stated, my impressions in regard to the rival railway routes are that, ' theoretically, the central route is the proper one. It looks well on paper and "it opens up the interior." Practically, it is the very worst that could be chosen. But it is not the fault of the scheme that the interior is not worth opening by a railway, for the purposes of settlement. The vaunted Waimarino Block has been a very good thing for native land purchase agents, surveyors and packers, but it will prove a dear bargain for the country. As a forest it is valuable—to let it stand. As an agricultural property it is simply worthless. D. nude it of its trees, and in o few years it will bo a bare barren pumice desert. Say ! that 50,000 acres, or even a fourth of the whole block, is suitablo tor pastoral purposes, it would be rather a costly "settlement of the land" to run a two-million-pound railway into it. The Awarua Block is as rich as anything on the coast, but it is private property, and the nativo owners show no disposition to part with it at any price. And when they are compelled to sell to pay their debts, are wo likely to acquire more than a fragment of the least valuable portion of iT? Assuming that sooner or later wo shall be in possession of a slice of this good land, it would bo a wanton waste of money to carry the railway beyond the Hautapu— say, twenty miles from unterville; it wojld pay up to that point I believe. Tor twenty miles further the land is good, but

0 it is not imperative, for the purposes of Q railway revenue, to extend tho line to its 0 verge. Besides, that other twenty miles 0 will be a most expensive section to build.* j A railway by the Stratford route is not urgently required "to open up the country." The district is opening itself up without tho aid of a railway or even a ' road. But a road must be made. Then ' the settleis present and prospective will be . in a very good position. The bulk of them ' will be within easy distance of a railway 1 station, and they can bo Served on tho one hand rrotn Stratford, and on tho other from tho Mokau. Grass seed, wool, and beef," . which are likely to bo the main products, are staples that will stand fifty miles of ' road conveyance to a railway station, without any serious diminution of profits. Railway communication between great termini like Wellington and Auckland is a matter affecting the whole colony, not a small section of it. The connection of the j two cities by rail is a work of national importance, and no provincial jealousies or private interests must be allowed to stand ' in the way of its speedy accomplishment. It is in my humble opinion a work of absolute necessity, if for postal and defence purposes only. In case of an attack, which will surely come, on any of out ports, Wellington, Auckland , Napier, Wanganui, or New Plymouth, wo ought to bo in a position to concentrate the whole of our defence force on the point of attack within twenty-four hours, which wo could not do without railway communication — Auckland, at all events, would have to rely on her own resources, and the other places might feel the want of her valuable assistance in the pinch of need. It is melancholy to reflect that the jubilee years of Auckland and Taranaki have been celebrated and passed, and the borrowed milllions spent and pone, and there is not even a decent pack-track between the two provinces — whoso interests are mutual. The Honourables Sir Harry Atkinson and l-.dwin Mitehelson are the parties responsible for the choice of the central route, and tho Engineer-in-Chief tor the costly blunders of its survey and ruction. When Parliament, on behalf of the colony, comes to reconsider tho question of the railway routes, I shall not be surprised it it discovers, after all, the best and cheapest mode of connecting Auckland with the rest of the colony to bo the ex tension of the line from Waitara, either inland or along the coast, via Awakino to Totoro, thence to Mokau. "Thiol's my sentiments." » I'.S.—Any railway league desirous of adding to its stock of railway routes are requested to apply to " A.T. <& Co." References required. N. B.—Applicants will al-o be required to furnish me with a road surveyor, a civil engineer, an experienced guide, two members of Parliament, a Maori to catch eels, and a monkey to climb trees— being better adapted fo that line of business than lawyers—a pig dog, and a little hatchet to chop the tie ■ dog's nose off. They did cut it with their hatchet. Poor Doggie !