A TRIP TO HUTT AND PETONE

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12181, 4 July 1925, Page 18

A TRIP TO HUTT AND PETONE

ORIGIN OF PLACE NAMES. ■There are many views, both landscape and. secwipe, to be obtained within the confines of, Greater-Wellington as well as a short distance outside its boundaries. They may truly be described as gorgeous, and although they are well-known to “local motorists to the risitor thev must appeal from an historic as well as a scenic point of view. Wellington is endowed with a seafront drive which,' when the roads are brought up-to-date, will bp one of the most picturesque- and probably one of the. longest of. anv city in the world. The work which will . eventually accomplish and bring this asset to the perfection -it is ' capable of’ is in progress. The road round the seafront is approximately, fortv miles. Starting from the Post Office the motorist has the. choice of proceeding along the Rutt Toad.: through Petone to Muritai, returning by the same route and continuing round the foreshore hy way of Oriental Bay. Evans Bay, Miramar Peninsula to Seatmiri, and'thence along Guerin's Drive io Island Bay, or Happy Valiev and back to the city. There are many historic spots on the route, as far as the colonisation of the Dominion is concerned. Petone, no doubt, holds pride of place. Jt was here where the first settlers landed, and where the city of Wellington would have been established but for certain circumstances., With the hills, then- clothed in heavy forfest, the newcomers on .entering the-harbour, seeinar a sandy beach ahead naturally looked upon it .as the best landing place, and there they decided to make their future homes. Sand dunes were levelled, flax and other growth eradicated, and presently sawyers were at work in the .bush nearbv cutting the timber for ; dwellings. The vagaries of the Hutt river had not been taken into consideration. The settlement was flooded on several occasions; and it was decided to leave the district and settle on land originally called Britannia, and now known as Wellington. The native name Pito-oni means the “end of sand,” and was no doubtmpre aopliw able in 1840 and before than it is today, as sand and shingle would have been in evidence far up the yallev. It is believed hy those versed inf Maori lore, that the harbour at ope time extended up as far as the Taita Gorge. .Taita means “a breaking.” and it is thought that the name was given hy the natives on account of the waves breaking ef the foot of the riiff. INTERESTING STDE ROADS.

There pro side Toads in, the Hutt. Valley with rural surroundings that are well worth visiting.-. An. hour or two could be spent in traversing .peaceful' thoroughfares in this locality, especiallv in the soring and summer months, when the gardens are a wealth of -flowers.’ Manv motorists go far afield in search of landscape,' beautv when equal or more picturesque scenes are near home. : The dav is rot far distant when the Hutt river wilt carrv on its Waters shir>s of commerce: When there will be docks near its month, and when goods will be trahshipned. from rail to steamer and vice, versa for destinations throughout . the Waira.rnpa, The Hutt and •Waiwhetu streams were once waterways for the oarringe of timber, and the former at some future.date; will he ar canal. for the conveying of raw material to various industries that are destined to he , established iri . close proximity to it, and sending out manufactured articles of -commerce.'

To those who remepiher the Hutt road- when it followed more closely than it does to-day the. base of the hills, and was a sea, of mud during wet weather: can appreciate its excellent surface and vise a 1 iso the aim'of the Highways Board in bringing all the arterial thoroughfares ’in the Dominion to an equal state of perfection. Before the advent of roads, the means of access were by tracks and water, hence the origin of many of pilr place names. They are of interest to motorists who are asked .by visitors their! meaning; Koro Koro, where the Wellington Woollen Mills stand, means “the throat.” Maoris travelled from one part of the island to another and had set routes. Coming down from Wair-arapa on their way to the West Coast of the island they went up the gorge at Koto Koro in order to reach Porirua, and the narrowness of the valley possibly suggested its name. One can easily . realise that tlm •western shore of the hanbour was formerly so rock-bound that a landing was associated with danger, except m calm weather. At Ngahnuranga, the stream which empties at this point into the harbour formed a sand spit, and here -the Maoris used to run up their canoes, hence the nanie, which means a i safe landing place. . .At Krii Wharra Wharra there, once grew-an abundance of edible berries. It was possibly a chief’s or a tribe’s 1 orchard, and the township derives its name from this fact'. :