THE KING COUNTRY AS IT IS NOW.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13455, 6 April 1907, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE KING COUNTRY AS IT IS NOW.

. - L nr STALACTITE.

There is no part of the Auckland provincein which more important changes have tak-: jen place in recent years than in that known d ! as the King Country. Ever since the ces-, sation of the Maori wars these lands have c been practically closed to Europeans, and it is only within the last few years that 1' 1 the veil has been lifted which shrouded J 'the King Country with a certain cloud of 1 j mystery. The Government year-book of) .1903 states that 300.000 acres of land in 1 |the Kawhia County still remain unsettled.! lAs a matter of fact a steady work of settle-]'*" Iment has been in progress, aided by the ! development of the Main Trunk Railway i* ; line. ! i So soon as Te Awamutu is passed visitors,iare informed that they are now in the King Country. A tine mountain comes into; a I view, and dominates the scene. It isj i Mount Pirongia , and is of a magnificent j? I size, shape, and colouring, shrouded in 'hazy blue. Another interesting; and beauti-jt jful mount is long visible from the train, | It is completely cone-shaped and stands. v |alone, showing most exquisite variations ofi I purple and dark misty blue. But for these l ' two important elevations the land is large-j !ly flat country and appears to be of poor 9 quality. Every here and there, however, j (an area has been cleared in a methodicali s ■I way, showing excellent results. A Southern farmer in search of land, with whom I 0 conversed, expressed himself favourably re-1 garding the aspect even of this apparently r j unpromising part of the country, pointing out the vast improvements wrought in such - ■ia soil by modern treatment. The land - j improves immensely as our journey progresses, assuming by degrees the character 0 of good pastoral land until we are struck * . |by the richness of the led soil which up- . pears wherever excavation lias been made.; 'i There are now numerous flocks and herds, j land the dairy factory and the separator , come into evidence. Orotangi is a centre j, . of flourishing industry, and is assuming the; : character of a town streets, shops, N churches and temperance hotels, for it is I needless to remind my readers that the j living Country is under the protection of j I ■ prohibition as regards alcoholic drinks. Doubtless it is better so for many reasons, yet as regards the train journey, the re- r suit is objectionable as, probably from a I i childish contrariety or in a spirit of mis-1 : chief, a great number of passengers, both! j brown and white, avail themselves of the j • i privilege of purchasing a supply of "wai-j Ipiro" at Te Awamutu for use on the fur- | ther journey. , The result is deplorable and 1 !quite incredible unless witnessed. 'J lie r j carousel's are quite within their legal rights,! ; iSo that it is to be supposed that no objec- ! t tions may be made. It was a melancholy ■ 1 sight to behold the deterioration of welldressed originally respectable-looking young; c men, both brown and white, as our journey!, proceeded. In ordei to diverge into the!" Waitomo country, our party left the train at Hangitiki. Here, as well as at Orotangi, are extensive sheep and cattle yards, c whence flocks coming by train are distributed to the country round. A great many v of the sheep now being brought from out- i side into the Auckland province are distributed from these centres. Turning westward we come into the Waitomo country, i which has already been partially described. • Stretching away to the coastline of Kawhia lie many, many miles of diversified hill and p vale, most of which is available for settle- [ ment and nearly all of which is land of ' excellent quality. The writer was in the 1 Hawke's Bay district in the early days and 1 '> remembers well the aspect of the country, t 1 much of which was then singularly like { " | that of the Waitomo, doubtless because ' there also much limestone existed. It • ' j seems strange nowadays to see such great j Mareas covered with the original brown fern, , j indigenous to New Zealand, and which for-] ' merly covered most of the country. The I ' process found satisfactory in Hawke's Bay j N • j will doubtless have the same results in this 'J ' new country. It is burned off in the dry ' season; as the young green sprouts spring H again, sheep are turned on to it to nibble it f off. Gross is sown in the following season, ( and the process is complete. Green grass t steals downward from the hilltops, which .(soon present a park-like appearance. Fern , ilands are thus easily treated, and yield far , ' more readily than forest-covered areas, 'I which must be attacked with axe and .saw, |as well as with flame. i There is some swamp land visible as we t • drive through the Waitomo country; so 3 '■also there was in Hawke's Bay ; the charac- 1 teristics were exactly the same, of raupo, 1 i reed, and waving toe grass. Drainage in j • } the Hawke's Bay country converted many ] an apparently useless swamp into smiling \ ipasture land. , "I The Maoris are now very scattered in the , : King Country. They do not now, as a rule, ' ' congregate is pa s and hapus, but scatter j! ' and practise individual family life as Euro- 1' peans do. We saw many Maoris, and some! ' Maori homes, which were like those of any!l ] cockatoo. I conversed with a young Maori . ' woman who was carrying about with her t several small children. They were having ; a gay time visiting their friends. She told j me that they had ridden all the way from , rj Kawhia Bay using a forest track; that the , I journey had been long and hard, no accom-| £ modat.ion houses, no place where supplies] ■ I could be obtained, so that all the party | needed for their support had to be carried ' j I with them on their horses. Hopes are held I out- to the settlers of early communication |' j wit h Kawhia, which lies about 40 miles ' away, in a line from Hangitiki. ' At present a great many cattle roam the ! i ( forest-clad ranges of the Kawhia County, 1 to the deterioration of the forest from all scenic point of view, even invading the J beautiful reserves of bush in the neigh-;,- * bourhood of the caverns. Large reserves| , I should be insisted on, as there can be no , a I manner of doubt but that the Waitomo will j [in time become a very important tourist re- , sort. In a very few years there will be a " j light railway instead of a coach to convey! j J visitors to the, caverns and grottos, while Mall the adjuncts luxury desires will be pro- j jU-ided as at Rotorua. We had in our party J p1 sol who had visited nearly all the celebrat-j' Jed caverns of Europe and America, who;] J pronounced that the caverns of the King]' , Country equal many and excel others. At- 1 . Capri the flooring is of water, the caves |being entered by boat, and the colouringji . i reflected in the stalactites is most exquisite, !< . j but I understand that- the caverns are not j j j!so attractive in many respects as those of | the Waitomo. Etngai's caves are said to bej. 'j small in comparison, and the Giant's Cause-;i 1 ; way is of a totally different formation. ] . The internal rushing waters and falls seem , jto be almost unique, and the travelled niem-l ( t bers of our party had seen nothing which;- ! equalled the "glowworm grotto" in beauty;" v and charm. Those who wish to study New], r! Zealand life as seen by the pioneers in for1 mer days, can easily do so by spending a; ( . season in the King Country. Yet it must;, > jbe remembered that although these high and'] - (excellent lands are but in the beginning of ( ■» isettlement, they are really close to civilisa-. ijtion. Since they have the railway practi-j ; 'callv at their very door. Every here and ' , 1 there one sees a solitary hut or shed, which 1 1 is pointed out as containing a separator. | 1 > and we heard the district freely called "The: . Taranaki of the Auckland district." In ; Mho early Hawke's Bay days settlers were;! 5 ; dependent upon horses or bullock drays asj! :; a means of transit. It took a week to j! ;'i journey in a dray from Napier to Te Ante. ' I How different is the lot of settlers in the • King Country, who can receive the daily ■!paper by means of the train. How eagerlyji ,'the columns of the Herald are scanned toi '-jlearn the gay doings of the mighty world, , -! or to ascertain the prices of butter andj : . wool, can be easily imagined! For rest to the eyes and peace and quiet-j - ness for the spirit there can be nothing ; 1 better than a few days' sojourn in the beau--7 tiful valleys of the King Country—so clean, flfio green, so sweet and pure, as though .fiesh from the bands of a bountiful Creator. •