THE HON. R. McKENZIE.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12470, 22 February 1909, Page 3

THE HON. R. McKENZIE.

IN THE PAR NORTH: 1 X NARROW ESCAPE. • (Special to ""The Colonist.") KohukoEu, l?eb'. 20. To-day the Hon. R. McKenziewith Mrs McKenzie . and party travelled front Dargaville toTKohukohu as arranged yesterday. ;On leaving • the train at Kaihu the party were met by. a brake with five horses and proceeded on their journey across the Tutamore range. The country en route appeared ■ satisfactory . for grazing purposes until the higher altitudes were reached; when it was apparent that "settlement had not made much progress. The Minister .-was informed that the i eason of this •was that settlers who had attempted to. make homes for themselves there had given it up after a trial extending over three yeaTS, when; they found it imnossible to pet a:satisfactory burn during the whole of that period. Corroborative evidence of this statement was supplied by some abandoned houses and by the neplected s looMng appearance of the clearings along the road where weeds and undergrowth were spreading unchecked. This part of the road is known as Mt. Misery, a lasting; tribute to the unfortunate experience through which the would-be' settlers passed. A portion, of this block was taken up by the Marlborough -Association in the days of the special-set-tlement policy, but it did not >lppk as if any of its members had persevered up to the present time. The" .quality of the land appears well above the average in the district arid; should be utilised later on, although there is a general dampness that has militated against the burning off of the logs and this has to be taken into account by those taking up the land; , A few hardy pioneers are gradually, improving their holdngs here and there and before long it is probable that, attention will again be directed to this part of the country. Large areas of kauri bush were discern"able from the main road, the Minister being informed by deputations that waited upon him, as at Dargaville and Kaihu, 'that the Government owned 75 million feet of kauri, some distance from Kaihu/ while there was a large area of the. same timber held by a Mr Trenson, besides some millions of feet of other timbers. The deputation urged that the presence of this vast .quantity of * good milling timber was a cogent reason why the Dargayille-Kaihu railway should be extended ;for ; some miles beyond the last aamed place; in fact it was suggested thai the line should be continued to Hokianga bnt this last request was quite discountenanced by the Minister, who -on reference to the Enginoer-in-Chief, Mr Holmes, who is travelling with* him, ; ascertained that the railway ;; would have to pass over the Putamore range at an elevation of 2000 feet. In any case he stated that he had- no intention of making this connection, but would make enquiry whether it would pay the Government to extend the line for the 2£ or 3 miles- along ■ the formation that was constructed by the company, but which was never completed, owing to the company's bankruptcy. The road travelled by the Minister, and those with him proved a mosife uh- ■ comfortable highway, the canons of Macadam having been totally neglected in its construction,' the metal where it ■ remained being in sections, the smallest of which approximated closely to the size of a-man's head. In addition'to this there were irregularities, holes and hollows in every few yards and although some of the. party had been over most of the roads in New Zealand . they agreed they, .had never suffered such a series ' of bumps; # extending over some ' '.eight hours, in all their lives before and to accentuate the discomfort caused in this manner an accident happened that although unattended with serious consequence made the party feel more anxious, as to their ultimate safe arrival at their destination. When crossing one of the culverts a number of which occurred along the road, the driver put the brake too near the edge with the result "that the wheels of the near side . went oyerand the vehicle ahnost. capsized Mr Vernon Reed member for Bay of Islands, was pitched out into the undergrowth alongside . the road, the •driver was similarly; while H* McKenzie only saved .himself and baratthTsi by , clu £hing the iron