DUE NORTH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 8842, 2 April 1892, Page 1 (Supplement)

DUE NORTH.

A TRIP TO HOKIANGA.

No. VII. [BY OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.J On the Saturday, as the Rev. Air. Joughin was going down to Hokianga Heads, and the Auckland (Waimamaku) settlement to hold divine service, I took advantage of the opportunity to accompany him overland

A RIDE FROM RAWENE TO THE HEADS, seeing the country and settlements en route. We started on horseback, along the Rawene-Taheke Road, skirting the Omanaia Rive to Pairainu, a farm belonging to Mr. John Webster, where the telegraph line goes off to Omapere. It is stated that the road to the Heads might be shortened by over eight miles by an embankment and bridge above the Oue creek, which passes through the Oue Valley, carrying the road by a better grade along the Whirinaki Valley, and coining out at Pakanae. The authorities in the olden days appear to have kept to the native tracks, which generally followed the ridges, up hill and down dale, time being no object. ' Now, as settlement progresses, it is found that better and shorter routes can be obtained, and fresh roads have to be laid out and constructed. We proceeded up the Omanaia Valley, having a tine view of the Whakatere ranges, at the base of which are fine alluvial flats suitable for semi-tropical fruits. There are no frosts, and potatoes, I was told, could be grown almost all the year round.

OLDEN TIME. A famous Maori tohunga, lived and died at Omanaia who was called Papa Huruhia, and also the Atua Wera, or God of Fire. He was a famous soothsayer, or oracle, whom Heke consulted in all his expeditions in the Northern war. The portrait above is from a photograph taken after death. Mr. John Webster, in talking over with me his reminiscences of the Northern war, said :— " During the war on one occasion I visited tho Atua Wera, and adviser of Heke at Omanaia, with whom I was very friendly —a man of great force of character and personality—when a message arrived saying that Heke was on his way to visit the tohunga. In about an hour a string of horses and men were seen coming on, Heke being last of the procession. The horses had been looted. Heke was dressed in a long red cloak, which he threw off on saluting the tohuilga. Ho was then otherwise naked save a belt of kiekie and a tomahawk in it. That evening the tohunga, consulted his god, and I was present in the whare, which was only lit by the flickering light of the embers of the fire. The reply was as enigmatical as that of the Delphic oracle, and capable of several interpretations. A voice came out of the darkness —a peculiar, weird, whistling sound. My impression was that it was a ventriloquial trick. 1 had no fear of meeting Heke and his priest there, for in the chivalrous mode of lighting conducted by Heke we only fought on the field of battle after duo notice had been given." Judge Mailing in "Old New Zealand," also relates at length his interview with this famous Maori tohunga. He gives several instances of his predictions. A petty chief had left his tribe, and went to a distant part of the country, saying that he cast them off and would never return. After a time his relatives desired a reconcilement, and enquired of the oracle if he would return. At night the tohunga invoked the familiar spirit, or became inspired, and in a sort of a hollow whistle came the words of fate—" He will return, but yet not return." Six months afterwards the chief's friends' went to offer reconciliation, found him dying, and carried his body home a corpse. Now all knew the meaning of the words of the oracle, "He will return, but yet not return." Another singular instance is given by Judge Mailing : —

The captain of a large ship had run away with a Maori girl, or a Maori girl with the captain. The ship had put to sea on a long voyage. The friends desired the atua, or familiar spirit of the lohunga, to bring the ship back so that they might rescue the girl. At night all assembled iu the whare where the priest performed, and I amongst the assemblage. About midnight I heard the spirit saluting the guests, and they saluting him. One man gravely preferred the request that lie would " drive back the ship which had stolen his cousin." The response, after a short time, came in the hollow mysterious whistling voice—" The ship's nose I will batter out on the great sea." About ten days afterwards in conies the ship. She had been " battered " with a vengeance. She had been met with a terrible gale when a couple of hundred miles off the land, and had sprung a leak in the bow. The bow in Maori is called the " nose" (lhu). The vessel had been in great danger, and had been actually forced to run for the nearest port, which happened to be the one she had left. In the good old times I have known several pakehas, who " thought there was something in it," and two who formally and believingly consulted the oracle, and paid a high douceur to the priest. A third instance Maning gives :— A young chief had been killed in battle, and his betrothed and relatives came to inquire as to how he was in the spirit land. First the brother spoke, " How is it with you? Is it well with you in that country " The answer came—the voice all through was not the voice of the tohunga, but a strange, melancholy sound, like the sound of wind blowing into a hollow vessel — " It is well with me; my place is a good place." After a further colloquy, the spirit said suddenly, " Farewell! I go.' A general and impressive farewell arose from everyone in the house. " Farewell!" again cried the spirit from deep beneath the ground. " Farewell! again from high in air. "Farewell" once more came moaning through the distant darkness of the night. I was for a moment stunned. The deception was perfect. There was a dead silence at last. "A ventriloquist," said I, " or—or —perhaps the devil." I was staggered and confused. It was past midnight, and the company broke up. Just as I was falling asleep I heard a shot, and on

going outside found it was the young chief's betrothed, who had shot herself to join her betrothed in the spirit land. A calm, low voice spoke close beside me, " She has followed her rangatira," it said. I looked round and saw the famous tohunga of the night. OMANAIA. At Omanaia is a native Wesleyan Church and native school. Half a mile distant is the fine homestead of Mr. Bramwell, who has 300 acres at Papamai, and would be glad to purchase more. He has some part in grass, got sheep depastured, and is also going in for fruit. There is a fine residence on the place, and altogether Mr. Bramwell must have spent above £1000 already. This is the class of men whom it is desirable to get to settle in the district, but I am afraid ho will bo regarded as a " social pest." He, like Colonel Noakes, is desirous of seeing settlement progress by every legitimate method, looking upon increase of population as the life-springs of colonial prosperity. Mr. Bramwell has been in many parts of the world— through British North America and the United States —and is simply delighted with Omanaia. His brother-in-law, Mr. Burr, has been up there for 18 months in the vain endeavour to purchase some of the native land and to get a satisfactory title. The whole of the native lands legislation appears to be a complicated and intricate maze, which finds grist for lawyers and loopholes for repudiation on the part of " smart" natives. It was stated that in an adjoining district one settler had gone on native land, expecting to get his title completed and after trying for years gave the land up with £150 cf improvements. Mr. Burr said to me, even when the natives were willing to sell, the transaction was so hedged by legal technicalities that life was too short to finish the affair, and that the case of Jarndyce v. Jarndyce was promptitude itself compared to carrying out a native land purchase. When ib took the expenditure of £100,000 in Gisborne alone, in law opinions, to know the meaning of a single clause in the Native Lands Act, it gives some idea of the amount required to understand the whole Act! Mr. Burr is afraid he will have to abandon any idea of obtaining suitable land where he desires to purchase it. A NATIVE SCHOOL FETE. Omanaia settlement was en fete owing to its being the annual school feast for the native school. The Union Jack was floating in the breeze at the flagstaff, which gave token that the loyalty of the festive assemblage was beyond suspicion. The school is under the charge of Mrs. and Miss Cockroft, Mr. Cockroft, formerly teacher, having died some timo ago. We were invited to join the fete as guests. Among those present were Messrs. Bramwell and Burr, Miss Noakes, from Onoke, and Mrs. Lane, the wife of the public school teacher, from Rawene. Swings had been improvised for the children, and the little Maori boys and girls were as happy as sand boys. Their parents also came from far and near, and were squatted on the green sward witnessing the fun. The interior of the schoolroom was tastefully decorated with ferns and flowers, and the tables, covered with snowy white tablecloths, groaned under the weight of the good things provided. There were all the delicacies of tho season ; and the spread would not have disgraced any of our Auckland first-class restaurants. .Many of the cakes, etc.. were baked by the native women, under the supervision of Mrs. Cockroft, and I was told that some of the Maori women showed considerable aptitude and ability in the art of cooking. After the feast came all sorts of sports for the children, for which suitable prizes were awarded, a very happy day being spent. As time flies, after an hour's halt, we bade adieu to the merry-makers, and once more in the saddle, proceeded to ascend the range, and get into THE OUE VALLEY.

About 2000 acres have been taken up on deferred payment and perpetual lease, and the settlers are doing fairly well. It is a nice warm valley, admirably adapted for fruitgrowing, to which the most of them are taking. Many of the.settlers here and towards Whirinaki I noticed had planted hakea fences. A little further on we came to the Karuhiruhi block, on which a good many settlers are doing fairly well, but want access to the main road. Next we came to the WHIRINAKI NATIVE SETTLEMENT. It is situated in a beautifully-sheltered valley at the foot of the ranges, and the land is far above the average. The Whirinaki stream, stocked with fish, winds through the valley and the settlement, while up the range— a streak of silver set in dark green foliage—could be seen the Whirinaki falls. The social condition of the natives was far superior to anything I had hitherto seen in this province—comfortable dwellings, the crops securely fenced, cows browsing in the emerald green pastures, horses in the paddocks, and bullock-teams about. Whirinaki is rich in reminiscences of the olden time. It was here that the brave and handsome chief Hauraki returned to die who was wounded on the Waikari expedition while fighting for the British in the Northern war of 1845. We drew rein on reaching the heights, and sat in the saddle and looked down on the scene of sylvan beauty below. The Maoris were enjoying their Saturday afternoon's holiday. A cricket match was on in the settlement recreation ground, and far below us on the green sward wo could see the respective teams at play. It waR a trial of skill, Whirinaki v. Omapere, and the Maoris put through their European competitors, the latter being never "in it." After looking at Whirinaki native settlement, I came away with fresh notions as to the Maori people and their capacity for self-improvement. Dipping the range, we came in due course to THE KOUTOU (ONE TREE POINT), a famous place in the olden time. It was the scene of some of Maning's exploits, and here George Nimmo settled in 1826. Captain Young also resided there. It was formerly the residence of the late Mr. W. Russell (son of Mr. G. F. Russell, of Kohukohu), who was unfortunately drowned in a gale, with a native, somewhere off Rawene. Captain Clendon loaded up timber for England at the Koutou in 1830, the logs being floated from up river, where the crews squared them, and spars were shipped for the British Admiralty. I understand that the Government, seeing the importance of the position as an outlet in the time to come for tho produce of the back country, owing to the deep water frontage, have repurchased the Koutou, so that a wharf and landing and approaches can be secured. Some years ago the barque Castilian loaded up a cargo of baulk timber at the Koutou. The waters of the bay seemed to be alive with mullet, os they kept darting bo and fro in front of our horses' feet as we skirted the beach. After ascending the hill, we got a glimpse of the plantations of Mr. John Webster's homestead, Opononi, and descending the hill we crossed the stream and struck the beach line. The shades of evening were closing in as we reached Opononi, and received a hospitable welcome at the hands of Mr. John Webster.

Mr. David Powell, who this mouth will become Governor of the Bank of England, will have served as deputy for three years. The new Deputy-Governor will be Mr. Clifford Wigram, who was first elcted as a director of the Bank in 1862. He is director and manager of Messrs. Money Wigram and Co., has been a member of her Majesty's Lieutenancy of the City of London since 1863, and is chairman of the Union Mortgage and Agency Company of Australia. The best value ever offered to the public will be found in Arthur Nathan's Reliable Teas. Hotels, boarding-houses, and public schools will soon discover its extraordinary character. 2s and 2s 6d per lb. Ib goes furthest, therefore the cheapest. 32 Factory Butter. —Lang's sterling £ brand is the best; fresh daily.— Dairy Co., wholesale agents. To Darken Grey Hair.—Lockyer a Sulphur Hair Restorer is the quickest, best, safest; costs less, effects more than any other. The colour produced is most natural Lockyer's Sulphur is the only English Hair Restorer universally sold. Your hair need not quarrel with you because it falls out, but in such a case it can be restored to its youthful richness of colour by the use of Mrs. S. A. Allen's World's Hair Restorer. 19