THE LITTLE BARRIER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21911, 21 September 1934, Page 12

THE LITTLE BARRIER

MANTLE OF ROMANCE GLIMPSE OF OLD NEW ZEALAND An interesting description of Little Barrier Island was given by Mr. W. M. Hamilton at a meeting of the Wellington Philosophical Society on Tuesday night. The high and rugged outline of the island, Mr. Hamilton said, suggested at once the possibility of unexpected adventure. The extreme difficulty of landing in any but calm weather, the precipitous nature of the island and its remote situation had all helped to clothe it in a mantle of romance. One of the earliest Maori voyagers from Hawaiki, visiting the island in about 1150 A.D.. bestowed upon the island its ancient name of Hauturu, "The Wind's Resting Post." Sailing abreast of the rough and uninviting coast, he sent overboard his dog, "Moi-of-the-long-bark," and a slave, to seek a landing. When the dog, discouraged by the wild surf, turned to swim back to the canoe, the slave cursed it and struck it with his patupatu, so that it died. The dog turned to stone; its body still remained on the beach, a tapu stone where in bygone years visitors and fishermen made offerings to the sea-spirits. In 1894 the island was purchased by tbe Crown for the sum of £3OOO, and was declared a bird sanctuary. The Little Barrier was one of the few remaining large areas of primitive native bush still undisturbed by acclimatised mammals, Mr. Hamilton said. Elsewhere the ravages of pigs, deer, goats and cattle had modified the nature of the bush, but rto grazing animal had set hoof upon the Little Barrier in the past 30 years. For this reason, and because few other places contained such a variety of indigenous plants and creatures, the Little Barrier island was a heritage of which every New Zealander might he justly proud, it served as a sanctuary for both the native flora and fauna, and preserved intact for future generations a glimpse of that "Old New Zealand" which elsewhere was a fast-fading memory.