The Traveller.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1024, 16 October 1891, Page 16

The Traveller.

PAHIATUA. A TYPICAL SPECIAL SETTLEMENT. TWO DAYS IN THE MASTERTONMANGAHAO BLOCK. (our travelling correspondent ). A bright, sunny morning, hardly a breath of wind stirring, the birds singing merrily in the bush on all sides, swept me away into the famous Mangaliao country. Familiar enough to readers of tho Mail is this Maori name—as a name merely—but little known to people outside tho district. Provided with the county map, my route traced thereon by a friend, I get away fairly mounted and journey westward, away from what little civilisation a bush township can boast. I cross the Mangatainoka, and half-an-hour’s ride over that class of country—always described by auctioneers as undulating— brings me to the Mangaliao River, on the opposite side of which stands the residence of Mr James Sinclair. Very busy I find (his gentleman—sinking a post-hole is tho particular work engaging his energies at this special time—and my attention is thus quickly drawn to the excellent soil to bo found here. Very proud are the Matigahoa people of this, and though I find here nearly three feat of river deposit overlying shingles, 1 learn that there is much better country everywhere than this, and that the po3t-hole is not a fair sample by any means. Expressing my eagerness for information Mr Sinclair drops his tools and leads tho way to his house, and I am soon in the midst of a full, true and particular account of the formation and work of settlement as far as this particular portion of the block has to do with it.

Masterton people, nearly all as tho name implies, and men of every trade and calling there are, farmers born aud bred, however, being the exception, car; eaters, wheelrights, labourers, storemen, etc., many of them men who had worked hard for years and saved a little money, men with big hearts, some with wives who were true helpmates, and with invariably a fair share of olive branches between them—these are people I have to see in getting my facts for this letter. Mr Sinclair himself had been one of the pioneers of the block, and had met with more than a fair share of the pioneer’s difficulties. No road to speak of except what he made at his own cost, was the cause of the first of these trials. A deeper rut than usual, a little too far up the bank, a big load of furniture for the new house, a moment’s fright, the cart upset, and the babe of a few months the victim, killed in its mother’s arms, the mother herself seriously injured—this is the first experience. But the bush settler, eager to provide a home for the growing boys and girls, is not easily dismayed, and work—best remedy always for grief—there is on all sides waiting to be done.

Mar.y of the members had got some bush down and a few acres in grass before they came in themselves to reside permanently, and for them the troubles were not so great. Some one or two however, had carried in their swags —a surveyor’s track the only path—and never left the grouud again. One of the settler’s wives, I learn, came in by this track five years ago, and has never left the block since. As we sit discussing the comfortable meal, provided with true couutry hospitality, my host hurries on pouring forth a fund of information. ‘ Bad luck V Yes, some of the settlers have had more than their share. A valuable horse lost in the river, six weeks in bed from a cut from an adze, had been the preliminary experience of another, and other minor troubles had been evenly divided. Messrs E. S. Barton, A. H. G. Cooper, Jno. Eaton, R. Shaw, W. Brown, Jos. Miller, Jno. O'Neill, Allan Anderson, Jno. Coady, Jas. Tait, \V. J. Foster, John Sinclair, H. Croad, H. McLeod, Jos. Barnett, W. E. Barnett, Henry Thompson, M. Herlihy, Jas. Murphy, John Cowie, Thomas Herd, J. Prebbersen, H. J. Holdaway, J. Barker, H. Cornelius, And. Eddy, Chas. Read, H. Elmers, T. Wyatt, S. K. Raleigh, and a few others whose names I did not learn, were the men who first pegged out their claims, or in other words, went into tho settlement to live. A very goodly list, I think, as 1 make tender and gentle enquiries as to the presence of the great bugbear of ‘ the shepherd from tho hills’—the dummy.

| No dummies in this block, I am told. Four men there were, it is true, who bad parted with their interest in the land, but they had been replaced by better men, while they themselves would never have made bush settlers. Having duly inspected all the improvements I wish Mr Sinclair good day, and push on for Ballance, which lies two mile 3 to the north. The road is boggy in places, and I have for a guide a youthful sage of thirteen summers, and I generally let him precede mo in the worst places, where there was a reasonable prospect of getting bogged. ‘ The blooming council had & down on the contractor who had had the contract for this portion of the road, so he’d “ chucked ” it up,’ this youthful philosopher informs me, and I regret once or twice he had not continued for a little longer when a deeper bog than usual compelled us to jump the ditch aud pick our way through the labyrinth of fallen timber, cleared out of the way for tho fence line. Approaching the township my guide points out the spot where the first victim of the Association met his death—poor old Atkinson. An old bachelor, saving and thrifty, ho had joined tho association, and come alone to hew out a home. The mosquitoes were worse than usual that summer, and a hollow hinau leg did duty for a sleeping place, and here for the few short weeks of bis bush life he slept free from his enemies. Missing the smoke from the wliare for a few days, a kindly neighbour goes over to investigate, and a short search reveals the half decomposed body crushed . undar a fallen tree. A sad story enough, but, unfortunately only too common where the matai, rimu, rata, and tawa dispute with the incoming settler every foot of tho ground. Ballance is now in view—a clearing of a couple of hundred acres, with here and there a house, two roads guiltless of metal, and burnt logs everywhere strewing the ground thickly, tlie scene does not strike pleasantly, and Eden and ‘ Mark Tapley’ are the thoughts that occur. ‘ Thesa buildings are not all erected,’ says Martin Chuzzlewit, looking at tho plan marked with names of public buildings, churches, etc., and he is informed that not quite all are built. And so it is in Ballance—principally ‘sites’ are at present most conspicuous, the first of all public buildings —the school—not yet being begun, a portion of Mr John Sinclair’s house at present answering the purposes of the schoolmaster, who, thanks to our national system is, of course, here. Excitements of a mild nature satisfy the settlers here, and the public meeting in the echoolhbuse that night will' bring all the men in from the back sections, so I resolve to stay all night— a hospitable dairy farmer, Mr Foster, having offered me a ‘shake down.’ A chat with some Gloucestershire men engaged in making the first road through she village—the money provided by that most useful of measures, the Loans to Local Bodies Act—reveals to me the fact that the soil here is much like that in the district where the famous ‘double Gloucester’ is made, and that here is the dairying district par excellence of tho bush.' The subject for the consideration of the public meeting to-night is a market for the dairy produce. Messrs Nelson Br<. a. have written one cf the settlers as to tlie probable output for the year, and promised to take up this branch of trade if sufficient inducement offers. Everyone being interested everyone comes, and on entering the room I see. a number of settlers whose physique and stamina would make any Land Board or Minister of Lands rejoice. The position is briefly put by the convener of the meeting (Mr Croad), Were they to co-operate in dealing with the question of marketing their staple product, butter, or was each of them to paddle his own canoe. Orators are not plentiful here, and for a few moments we have Bilence, and then, the ice having been broken, the matter is fully and keenly discussed. In former years fair prices had been obtained, but the net return had been small; freight and charges, the nature even of which many could not understand, had eaten up a large portion of the proceeds, and they must see if a better plan can be adopted. Sound common-sense predominates, and co-operation ia decided on. My fame has preceded me here, I find, and I am invited to ‘ speak a piece. ’ Primitive, indeed, are the appliances in use here ; the Government Dairy Instructor is to these men a myth, a name merely ; the cream separator unknown ; their hands, their pluck, and dounright hard work is all they have had to rely on, and I am glad to give a few hints where all are so eager to learn. The meeting adjourns at 31.40 pm, and I am surrounded with a host of friends. In the morning I wake up like Byron to find myself famous, aud am shown round to most of the settler’s houses by the chairman of the meeting of last night, Mr Croad. My conductor entertains me with the story of a settler’s pluck and energy that is deserving of a few lines in these notes. A town-bred man, innocent as a babe of any bush lore, who could not tell a white pine from a rata, but with plenty of the true British grit, he arrived In the district with his swag on his back, having tramped it all the way from Wellington, was laid on to a fifty acre section, all dense bush, closed with the offer, bought an axe, and set manfully to work ou the task he had allotted himself. A hole in the bush of some five acres was at length hacked out, and fired at the end of the Beason, the tawa whare that afforded shelter to hia wife aud child

Bteaming the while the fire raged. Aided by hi 3 heroic wife, who had, meantime, been sent for, he kept the house from taking fire, aud as soon as the ashes cooled began again to work. The rough slab fence, the little garden, afterwards a dairy and cowshed, stockyard, and race, all hewn out laboriously from the fallen trees around, and all accomplished without any assistance ; and then a little more skill to aid him, hard earned at cost of blistered hands and many an aching back, he resumed his onslaught on the remaining forty-ffve acres. His farming most learned from that best of all friends to the bush settler—the weekly paper—l am not surprised to see a few thiugs not often attempted by the older hand. A huudred or so of young walnut trees prove that his reading had not been in vain. Pity ’tis, 1 think, wo have rot more of this stamp. Then wo would have less of strikes and the great labour party. To my surprise I can hear nothing of the dummy who stalked perpetually in the House la3t session. Nothing but praises for the men who are at present absentees. Without the labour provided by those members who decided to let the reading of the block precede their advent as residents, many of the pioneers would have been compelled to relinquish their holdings, or at best would have had to seek their work a long way from their homes. ‘ln fact, sir,’ said one settler, ‘my absentee neighbour has been the making o’ me. I had felled his bush, put up his fences, looked arter his stock, and he has paid mo liberal, and that’s just wet’s kept me goin’ comfortable; but now I have got on my feet a bit I don’t want it so bad.’ Then back to Mr Oroad’s to dinner and, * Good bye. Give us a look in next time yon come this way ’ floats towards me an the breeze as I ride away. Again across the Mangahao, a beautiful trout stream, soon to have its qualities in this connection, tested with fly and rod, and then on for miles without a human habitation. Right and left and in front as I go some of the most wonderful grazing country in the world, and the Bilence is oppressive. Rich grass, burying out of sight the trunks of trees lying prone upon the ground. I look at my plan for an explanation, and am face to face with the great curse of the North Island —the Native Land. Some 1500 acres are held on lease by Mr Ormond, and the stock on this at present can make no impression on the wonderful spring growth. The wonderfully varied and ever changing shades in the pasture, and the total absence of all human kind, set me moralising on the large estates, and I am glad to re-enter the bush again, into which the road now tends, After thirty years of varied travel in New Zealand—in the islands north and south—l am fain to confess that I have never beheld more beautiful bush scenery than the next two miles of winding road reveals. Festooned wreaths and garlands of the beautiful wild clematis, clung to countless trees on every side, while myriads of lovely tree ferns and native shrubs vie with them in beauty, and seem to invite in silent pleading manner the street tired cityman and hurrying tourist to come themselves to see, as though no painter’s art could do their beauty justice. The road how debouches on the PahiatuaMangaitainoka "Village Settlement, but my remarks on this must form material for my next letter.

PAHIATUA NOTES. Over 1000 acres of the Balfour estate have recently been thrown open for sale, and a considerable portion has already found purchasers. Mr Hughes purchased 516 acres; and Mr Beaucke 859. The price paid was, I am informed, £‘2 10s per acre, while the terms of payment are exceptionally liberal. Some five or six hundred acres are still in the market on the same terms. Whether this is a result of the ‘ bursting up ’ policy deponent sayeth not, but the facts are as stated. Mr Gordon, Inspector of Mines, left here on Monday. He has been on a visit to the relief works on the Makairo Road, to settle the question of the measurements complained of by a section of the first batch of unemployed. Very good wages are, I hear, being made by the men now on the work, as much as 12s 6d per day per man in some eases, while less expert hands knock up from 7s to 10s per day. A resident clergyman for the Episcopal church here has been long needed, the services of lay readers only being available as a rule, with an occasional visit? from a regularly ordained pastor. This difficulty is at length about to be overcome, His Lordship the Primate having written that he is arranging to get a clergyman for the district. Labour of course is in demand just now, bushfelling being in full progress, and few idlers are seen about the town. The bush district generally is retarded and settlement seriously hindered by the difficulty of getting transfers of deferred payment and perpetual lease sections. The trouble is easily explained. A takes up a section with insufficient means to make the necessary improvements, and struggles on, merely complying with the letter of the Act at best, and doing the minimum amount of improvements. B comes along and offers to buy out A. The Land Board is asked to effect a transfer, and refuses, because the statutory improvements are not done, and the bargain is off. The result is too often that the would-be purchaser takes himself and his capital to some country beyond the seas, where tho constant fear of the aggregation of large estates is not the ‘ bogie ’ of the Land ad-

ministrator. No one in these days at least favours the creation of large landed properties, hut even this fear should not stop all transfer of sections held under improvement conditions. By a process of free selection of the intending purchasers, transfers might in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred he safely made. Surely the danger feared does not commence before the first hundred acres or so have been acquired. Scores—aye, even hundreds—of sections now unoccupied would be occupied in a very short time by set-lers and their families if it were not for the difficulty thus presented. Surely there can be no valid objection to the transfer of a section from a man who has perhaps neither the money nor the inclination to go out upon tho land to a man who owns no other land. Under Mr Marcbant’s administration this view of the position in considering applications for transfers was always considered, to the great advantage of the Colony generally, and the bush district particularly. Two of the pioneer settlers, Messrs Manns and Crewe, accompanied by their wives, returned to Pahiatua a few days ago after a somewhat protracted visit to the mother country. ‘ Come to stay ’is their decision after their long wandering, and their many friends are glad it is so. Enquiry for landed property in the town is brisk ; old and new settlers alike being eager to give pledges of the faith that is in them in this connection as to the future of the town. Shops and dwelling houses in course of erection there are many ; and though many persons do not congregate in the streets during working hours, a general air of soundness prevails in business circles.

UP THE WEST COAST. ” HUNTERVILLE. (OUR TRAVELLING) CORRESPONDENT.) Marton was so named after tho birthplace of Captain Cook, and may be said to date from about 1863. It has a good town water supply. A very high flood in 1881 carried away the railway bridge spanning the Rangitikei, and until the damage was repaired travellers had to be ferried across the river to join the train running thus far from either side. From Marton to Huntorville by road is a distance of about eighteen miles ; by rail sixteen miles, trains running thither four days a week. The road for a considerable distance passes through what is known as the Parakaretu, Messrs Cameron and Duncan being the oldest settlers in that district. Mfssrs John and Andrew Duncan now own about 25,000 acres of land some ten or twelve miles beyond Hunterviile, but in the Parakaretu district, their property being known as Otairi ; their flock numbering about 25,000 at last shearing. When within about four miles of Hunterville tho traveller passes through Silverhope, a property of over 6000 acres of bush laud, purchased as an investment by Mr Silver (of Messrs Silver and Co., the well-known London manufacturers) about ten years aio from Dr Buller, of Wellington, for 30* per acre. The property is being farmed and gradually cleared by Mr Ashworth, manager for Messrs Silver and Co., about 2000 acres being now in grass.

About ten or twelve years ago Hunterville was practically unknown bush country, except to a few ; although as far hack as twenty-six years ago Mr Hammond had mobs of cattle grazing in the district. Hunterviile township is of recent date, very. In fact, it may be said to consist of a divided township, part Government aud part laid off by private owners. The principal sale of Government town sections took place in 1885, all dense standing bush. On April 25th in the same year (prior to the Governmani sale) Messrs Hammond and Beckett held a sale of town sections, owned and laid off by them, which may ba termed Hnntervillo extension. The fact that Messrs Hammond and Beckett had tho bush felled before offering their land for sale proved a wise move on their part, and it is on this porJon of Huntorville township that settlement has most progressed by far. Several stores do a thriving business, packing goods for many mile 3 into the bush country in every direction. That of Mr Smith is the oldest established. Until quite recently Mr Smith was also the local postmaster, in which capacity he gave very general satisfaction. Mr Smith knows the whole of the surrounding country intimately, and does a larg6 business amongst tho settlers, contractors, and others. The recently appointed stationmaster now carries out the duties of postmaster also.

There are two large hoteH at Hunterviile, each with good stable accommodation attached. During my visit I put up at the Argyle Hotel, an exceedingly comfortable, well-furnished, and generally well-appointed hotel, erected some five years ago. In fact, it is far in advance of what one would expect to find in so young a township. Mr Dalziel, the owner and proprietor at the time of my visit, has just sold out to Mr W. H. Floyd. Mr Dalziel is possessed of considerable property both in and outside of the township. About three miles beyond Hunterviile, adjoining the Marton-Murimotu road, he owns a nice farm of 2700 acres, bush land, of which over 2000 acres are down, and the land now carrying a large flock of sheep. Butchers, bakers, and numerous other trades are all represented at Hunterviile,

likewise churches. There is also a temperanoo hall, banks, public schools, &o. Periodical stock sales are held by Messrs Stevens and Gorton and Beckett.

The township is steadily progressing, and is likely to so progress, situated as it Is in the midst of a very extensive and valuable tract of new country, now being rapidly opened up and settled upon, and Boeiug there is no other town nearer than Marton to compete with it. As a matter of fact the best building sections already command a high figure. Adjacent to Hunterviile Mr R. K. Simpson, lato Sheep Inspector, has a very compact farm of 2000 aces, known as Glenmarvon. The majority of the farms within easy reach of the township, however, range from 200 acres to 500 acres in extent. Almost all the Government land thrown open for occupation has been taken up, and tho demand is by no means satisfied.

A large proportion of tho land round Hunterviile is very broken. It is, however, excellent sheep country, and improved farms on the choice sections now realise high prices, say from £5 to £8 per acre. A farm of 1000 acres of grand soil, 400 acres felled and in grass, with a small dwellinghonse, &c., erected, recently changed hands at (he substantial figure of £5 10s par acre. The Rangatira Block, consisting of 20,000 acros, near Hunterviile, purchased by Messrs Donald Fraser, Richard Hammond, and Bull, was by them cut up into farms and sold about six years ago for £2 per acre, payable over a period of seven yoars, bearing interest at seven per cent. Tho land was all dense bush.

The Main Trunk Railway lino is open as far as Rangatira station, a distance of three miles beyond Hunterviile. Tho next section, now under construction, will carry the line a further distance of about four miles, the contract for which was let last December to Messrs Cleghorn, .Forest, and Magee, tho contract price being seme £26,000, I believe, the work undertaken to be completed within two years. This section runs through bush country, and will include a couple of small tunnels and some heavy earth cuttings. From eighty to a hundrod men were at work on this contract on the occasion of my visit. The completion of the section now in hand will bring the railway almost as far as the Mokohine Gorge. On the further side of this gorge the line will then run through comparatively level country for a considerable distance. To cross the gorge and get on to the level land will necessitate the construction of a viaduct and tunnel.

On the opposite side of the Rangitikei River is the Sandon Small Farm Association Block, about six miles distant ; also the Pemberton Special Sattlement Block, distant about eighteen miles. Roads have been laid off (i.e., pegged from both these settlements to proposed bridge sites, at points considered most suitable to allow of communication between them and Hunterviile ; the one site being Otaira, about twelve miles beyond Hunterviile. Tho Crown Lands thrown open on both sides of this site have beep taken up, and a bridge at this point would prove a great boon to the settlers, not alone on the Pemberton Block but also to those on ihe Pakikikura, Curl’s Clearing, Apiti, and other blocks ; all of which would prove important feeders to the railway traffic of tho. Main Trunk and connecting railway lines. The second bridge site is at a point about four miles beyond Hunterviile, known as Mangaonoho. These proposed bridges would not be so very expensive to construct as might ba imagined. Tho river banks aro good, the foundations being papa would be especially favourable, and the distance across at the narrowest parts is only six or eight chains. The cost of such a bridge as would meet all probable requirements for many years to come, it is asserted, could bo erected for about £3500. It must be borne in mind timber is to be obtained almost on the spot. The fact of a bridge being available would add greatiy to the value of the Government land in tho vicinity not yet disposed of or surveyed. The value of the unsurveyed portion of the Otamakapua Block (some 35,000 to 40,000 acres) would be greatly enhanced by such bridge, and if Government would construct it and charge two shillings or even half a crown an acre extra for tho land when disposing of it, I fee! confident purchasers would willingly pay the extra price ; wi ll the advantage of the bridge. Tile land referred to is good, undulating land, capable of carrying two or three sheep to the acre. In my present sories of lotters I do not purpose attempting to define or describe the immense area of land lying boyond Hunterviile which, by and bye (and, perhaps, at not such a very distant date), will be settled upon. Later on, perhaps, I may be able to. spare sufficient time to make a special trip through the district referred to, and fully describe its natural features, advantages, disadvantages, and other matters of interest in connection, therewith, for the information of the readers of the New Zealand Mail. Suffice it for the present to refer in general terms to one or two of the larger areas. The most important is that known as the Awarua Block, comprising some 400,000 acros, commencing about fourteen miles beyond Huntorville ; a large proportion of the land being bush. This block extends from the Turakina River up to the Ruahine Rangos, and will be intersected by the Main Trunk Railway, It is stated the Gfoyernment are in

treaty for this block from the Native owners, and it was with rospect to this block the local siting of a Native Lind Court, commencing last year, aud lasting some six or nine months, was held at Marton, without any definite or satisfactory decision being arrived at, and, unless tho laws relating to the purchase of Native lands and defining of Native title be speedily simplified, it may be years yet before all the points laised by the many claimants thoreto aro satisfactorily decided.

Besides the Otamakapua Block (already referred to) there is, also on the same side of the Rangitikei River, some 30,000 acro3 of Crown Lands yet to be disposed of, known as the Mangoira-Ruahine Block, and on the opposite or western side of the river, Pohonuiatano Block, 35,000 acros (negotiations for the purchase of which by Government from the Native owners were entered into some considerable time back), and other smaller blocks of land. About twenty miles (a 3 the crow flies) north-west of Hunterviile the Rangitikei River bends away sharply to the right, and at this point the Hautapa River junctions with the Rangitikei. Once the lands referred to aro opened up an extensive timber industry is sure to be started, providing steady work for many hands, the circulation of a large amount of ready cash, and much valuable freight for tho railway. A large proportion of the land is of really excellent, quality, and tho bush in the Hautapu Valley includes splotidid lotara in quantity. The proposed Main Trunk Liue runs through the Hautapu Valley. It is estimated that, with unburnt bush from last year and that foiled this season, there will be between 100,000 and 150,000 acres of new land to bo burnt and grassed this year north of and around Huuterville. After which the question of stocking all this new land, and tho immense areas of new bush country around Feilding, Palmerston (referred to in my previous letters), and all along tho Coast further northwards, comes up for consideration, and, if only a sheep to the acre were put on to start with, it does not require much calculation to see that (quite apart from tho drain occasioned by the supply to tho various freezing works) farmers need not fear any great drop in the price of sheep for some time to come.