FROM WEST TO EAST.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 8953, 9 December 1890, Page 3

FROM WEST TO EAST.

A HURRIED VISIT TO HAWKE'S BAY. Still hurrying on, I reached the Spit. Reclaimed land and breastwork now take the place of the old Iron Pot, while a long bridge spans the 6pace over which northern travellers swain their horses at dead ebb or flow of tide. The old tumbled down Bhanty on the northern spit, reeking of onions and stale tobacco, is replaced by many cheerful cottages, crowned by a well conducted, well appointed hotel. Little time is now afforded for reflection ; the Te Kapu lies waiting for the tide in the Wairoa river to serve, so that she shall leave Napier and reach there at flood. At first she ia to leave at midnight, then at 3 a.m., then at 4— so a douse down on a cabin settee, rolled in a blanket, does duty for a bed, while the monotonous wash of the waters against the piles lulls^ me to deep. ■ . ■ Hawke's Bay— l mean the Water Bay, not tlie Provincial District— has a character to maintain, as the land district ha^dono a lot of log-rolling, so the.bay turns on, from time to time, seemingly without provocation, streams of " rollere " from the east striping across the bay, and causing great consternation and .loss to the shipping at anchor in the- roadstead. The figurehead of the Northumberland .now , adorns a garden on the /northern spit. Shipping at anchor are not the only snfferers, passengers in calling steamers remark on the uncomfortable motion, wliile those in the little cockleshells belonging to the port have much practice in casting up. • On the mowing, when I venture & m the Te Eapu, more than usual strength seemed passed into ihese moving masses of^water. As the steamer worked into the bay, the motion sent first one then another to the side, and those who were not really sick felt by sympathy all the qualms of their companions. Breakfast seemed a mockery, and even a stalwart guardian of the law saw a cup of tea a second time. Luckily the journey is notr long. Four hours see us abreast, of the month -of the Wairoa river, and passengers"e6mmence to discuss probabilities as to the boat getting over the bar ; always dangerous when easterly rollers are about. Evidently the captain means to venture. The pilot station has the unemployed in full force visible. Two men take the wheel. Two or three horrible rolls, which send a sheep or two off the main deck into deep water ; then one comes over the vessel. Luckily the passengers are on the deck house. Another, ■with a rapid t;irn of the wheel, and the little Te Kapu glides into the river, greeted with the cheers of those on shore, and rapidly runs up to the wharf. The town of Wairoa is a long street of houses built on the south bank of the river, and stretches about a mile. The township is the pride of the inhabitants, being the largest in Hawke's Bay. Pride and poverty are co-existent, and the townspeople have plenty of use for spare cash in keeping the streets clear of sweet briar, ti-tree, and blackberries. Groves of these shrubs, upef ul in their proper places, adorn the streets, waste lands, and unoccrpied sections. Wairoa is a quiet town, grass growß over its streets, wheeled vehicles are not in constant use, and the inhabitants do their business in private places — that is, allowing they do business at all. On the other side of the river there is another wharf, from which flax i 8 pat on board the ateamers. Life runs easily in Wairoa ; no one bustles, no one perspires. One is not an hour in the place before the " Bridge " is expatiated upon. It certainly is a creditable structure, and returns £40 per menth to the county. It is built partly on iron cylinders filled with concrete, partly on wooden piles. When the cylinders were being sunk two men went down into the excavation to work with a naked light. Fire damp h'rd accumulated, and an explosion took place which killed the men and ruined the cylinder. The men's graves in the cemetery have a bit "of the iron for a head piece. The hotel across the bridge keeps beer, which a wanderer will do well to sample. Wairoa runs a paper, not of enormous proportions, still well written and edited, but local matter is scarce and telegrams expensive, so the issue has not the value of the Napier papers, which circulate freely. The cemetery, is very prettily situated on a rise jnet outside the " township,"- but about a mile and a half from the town. How many cemeteries are situated on bills ? Do people like an eminence to lie in in order to get a good etarton their final journey ? A large hotel, built with the heavy bargo boards of Maori houses, is said to be the chief house of accommodation, trat Poitzer's is well found and very comfortable. The inhabitants of Wairoa, like those of all isolated places, have one dominant idea, that of " the importance of the distrct," and its ' ability to exist without connection .with more advanced districts. Its people travel from Wairoa to Napier, and back, and consider they have seen the world.