The Happy Valley.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 11821, 19 November 1901, Page 2

The Happy Valley.

PROM STRATlfOftb TO WHANGA- , MOMONA. 11.

The township wore aft aspect of unusual bustle on Wednesday night, for the event of thfe morrow had already brought a number of settl«4'B down the valley, \vhite the arrival of four dbublfe tmggies, to be followed later by a big coach load of pnssen- j gers, had attracted to the store and I bbarding-h'ouse %very oiie, apparently, . within enrcy reafch'. Our party . had dined sumptuously, smoked the postprandial pipe, and settled down { to a quiet game of ','besgar-my»-ne%h'-bour" long befpre th*3 cbabh arrived, • aud it w»ls preceded by several of the | passengers- who had beaten it badly over the saddle. Misfortune had been their lot, for many milos back tho king-bolt had broken while dragging through a particularly h,ea,v^ piece of road. Fortunately the driver was prepareU wiih Q. tiuplicate, sb that the delay was not a lengthy l one. However, it yas thought advisable for most of th© passengers . to walk up tHe Mafigare Saddle* antf tome of them came righl on, two, of .the auctioneer's staff narrowly 'escaping k ,walk, itoio space at one tff tile feurVeS. By t"eh o'ferock all were safely housed and ted, but, most of the party being " out for the .night," bed was not thought of till well "on towards morning. When we did start to turn in it waß a matter of come difficulty to find acbqniUAodatibn fbr all' the partyt but the bdarqing-house seCme.u to . devel'dp the Qualities ascribed to a career-bag,, of novel* being so full that ,it Would hot nold another 1 . Eventually all were tucked in except one restless soul who seemed to think sleep a waste of time, and wandered round offering medical comforts to those who were trying to get at least a couple of hours' rest. ! It was soon motning, and while breakfast was preparing we had time to "do " thd town. Whangabury, as some \vit has christened it, is picturesquely situated . a;t the confluence of the MUhgare ahti Whangamomona Fivers, just where the Prospect Road branches off to the left. The somewhat imposing name is apt to deceive, for there, is nothing imposing about the township, except perhaps the mud in the main street and the. hills which enclose ,it. .To the left is McCluggagett' boarding-house, a fairly large and comfortable building, 'where gbdd beds and well-cook-ed meals may be obtained at moderate rates. A few yards further on is the old store, from which many thousands of pounds' worth of goods have been issued in the earlier years of the settlement, now fitted up with bunks for overflow guests at the house. Next we came to. the stables, roomy and ah*y 1 ahtf opposite them the new^ stpre, a substantial building of wood and iron. The Messrs- McGlugga'ge — there are foui of them—run .tile wht»le v show, anfi Joe, the eldest, is the *' boss." / real good fellow,' too, is Joe, a. 1 many a settler and bushman, and many a tramp also, have reason to know. If not exactly the founder of the settlement he has at least reared it and successfully brought ii through the teething and other trou bles incidental to infancy.' He onr" his brothers own the township — the ptore, boarding-house, stables, saw mill, dairy factory, and the rest — lv is the only Justice of the Peace ir the neighbourhood, and is the frienc and counsellor of tho .whole settle ment from Pohokura to the top o the valley. May his shadow neve, grow less ! And what a sturdy settlement it is too that he has so helped to rear [t seems almost incredible, when \m think of the thirty miles of miv still separating it from a metalle< road, that it is only six! years sine bhe first settler crossed the saddle that where now are smiling home steads, with well-grown orchards am "gay flower gardens, was six year; ago virgin forest. It speaks elo quontly of the wonderful pluck anc endurance of the pioneers that tlie> have persevered under such .heart breaking conditions of isolation am sometimes of semi-starvation, whei the state of the road made it impossible to pack sufficient supplies in. The worst of the struggle is ovei now, and there is an air of contentment and comfort about the settle ment, with a growing hope thai some day it may be possible t< drive out to Stratford in the wintei time without the risk of being swa! lowed up in the mud. Immediately beyond the store the Whangamomona is crossed and w< come to a good length — about - i < mile and a half — of road recently metalled with burnt papa, and hen let us describe the process. A kill is built u"hder a temporary iro? roof, into which is carefully stackec the papa rock, usually about eight; yards of it : the fires are kept up ii the flues which Intersect the kiln un til the papa is burned into a hare red clinker. This is then taken out hand broken, and placed on the road where it carries fairly heavy traffic and appears to last well. The onl; drawback is the cost and that i heavy, very heavy. ■Mr McCluggag< at one time tendered for a contrac for burning at £1 per yard ; the Go inspector, , it is sjaid, esti .nates the cost at 15s a yard ; bu it is pretty safe to suy that the cost is really greatly in excess o this figure. (Still, it is the oni? metal available, 'and some less ex J pensive method .of burning it shoujt'* be sought for. J - At the end 'of the metal is tinVera> Rpad, branching*' off to th< right, over a bridge just completed., but at present without a proper approach on the Ohura Road side The Vera Road takes one to th< steamer landing stage on the Tangarakau river, a distance of five- 0? six miles only., and apparently offering a more convenient outlet for the valley to the Wanganui river than UStratford by the mud road. Thos< best able to judge, however, do no' think'^the river "will ever, be a serioiu rival of 'the road ; -it is 1 too uncertain. It will, nevertheless, wher 1 he road is formed and negotiable by buggies, be a pleasant excursion from Stratford to the Whangamomona valley, thence down the Tangarakau and Wanganui rivers. In thepresent state of the roads tourists who are not ready to rough it a lit*- j tie will do better to stick to the railway. Returning to the Ohura Road, c quarter of a, mile further on Mr King's new saleyards are situated on a pleasant flat, the largest so fai ■ up tho valley,' around which there if j still some very beautiful bush stand- j ing on the hills. Here tho valley commences to widen out and the hills to become less abrupt and more rounded on the tops, more suitalik for cows than the land lower down. Almost adjoining the saleyards is the dairy factory, established three years ago by Mr McOluggage. .This factory is the furthest inland, and. it is supplied by fourteen settlors with the milk of about 500 cows. The manager is Mr Dornbusch, who turns out an excellent article, graded from- 91 ito92 by the Government grader at Moturoa. The plant consists of a pasteuriser, Facile tester, a 440 gal. Alfa Laval separator, Humble and Nicholson refrigerator equal to making 5001'bw of ice daily, a 4001 b churn made by Twigg, of Hawera, a butter-worker made by a Chriwtch'urcn firm, and a cream vat with a capacity equal to nine cwt. of buttei'. The power is steam from a four h.p. boiler. At tho present time tho "average test is about four per cent., which speaks well for tho cows and the feed, and the output is about five boxes a do.y. The district from which tho factory draws its supplies extends to a radius of at/out 3i miles, but the erection of a creamery on the Kohorautahi Road is contemplated. On Uiis road there are already about 65 cows, whoso milk cannot bo brought to the factory because tho track is absolutely impassable for wheeled traffic. That this "should be so is a crying shame. The matter has be<?n favourably reported on by Mr Nathan, the Government inspector, and Ministers havo repeatedly promised to have tho work done, yet for the want of an expenditure of about £25 or £80 — that small sum would make the worst part passable — the settlers are debarred, from supplying the factory- It is not tho intention hejfQ to enter into a long diatribe pn the subject of the gross neglect the settlers in the district generally have J suffered at the hands of the Govern- ' ment, bn.it we will say that had it ' irot been for the enterprise of Mr Me- [ Oluggago. in coming to tho assistance of settlers and helping them , to make a living at dairying the set- I

Moment would not have survived. They have much more to thank him for than the Government.

A mile or more beyond the factory is the school, where Mr S. M. Scott instructs the youthful inhabitants of the Valley and where most of the social gatherings are held. Settles ment extends eight or ten miles still further up tlie Valley, Mr Rogers being the furthest away, while beyond that again Mr Nathan — who, by the way; is about to be shifted to a more important position hear Paliiatua — h.&s charge of a lot of cooperative, labourers, hacking a way through to the Auckland. qonnectiqn. But on. this occasion we have no time to explore further , the day's business being the sale at Mr King's yards. Here the whole settlement has congregated to-day, prominent among them Mr A. Coxhead and Mr McCutchan, also Mr P. J. White in a spicy high dog-cart, which it surprises one to see so far back in the wilderness i The .scene is an animated one; the yards are full of healthy sleok-look,ing cattle; the settlers wear an ajr of comfort and independence, aid it becoinbs more difficult than ovel 4 t8 realise that we are s-o far away-'frdm railway and road, and that six short years ago this was all an .uhknowlj cquiitry. Would that •kbmb- 01 our New Plymouth people could have been there to see that Taranaki extends so far beyond the borough boundaries. Hospitable, too,' are these valleyites, and if they cannot sell a little nip, they can at least invite their visitors to drink to the futui*6 success of the settlement ih whatever particular " poison " is ! fancied; But tipji ilraws oh -anti we have to reach Strathmore before dark, so we must get a move on. After a snacv — a meal it would be called at home, for the Ohura Road creates a healUiy appetite — we bid good-bye to the Valley and at twenty minutes to 4 start our homeward journey. As we' travel along the valley towards the foot of the rise we pass the crew of the coach, straggling along on foot, to be picked up at the top of the saddle, abd as we near the top ourselves the familiar form of " A Tramp Esq" is descried wearily wending his way "on his own." And thereby hangs a little tale. Our old friend had journeyed out in the coach, but finding the travelling r,ather tedious, and the walk up the Arangare Saddle "rather trying, he had accepted the offer of a seat in Mr Fred. Bayly's buggy, on the homeward journey. Unfortunately for him, immediately the collar work began at the. foot of the saddle one of the team, refused duty, and the passengers, including "A. T. Esq.,' had to get out and walk to the top However, the top reached, all went well with them', though they had a narrow escape of being run down by Carbine and Wan.ine-p.ai on the down grade. On the very summit, seated on a rock and wiping the honest s"wcat from his brow, was Mi vVoodard, of Mr King's staff, wh<had done the four long muddy mile? Rom the township, mostly up 1 iteep hill, in exactly an hour, beating all the buggies. Good old Tom ! Nothing of moment occurred te mar the homeward -ourney, except that we found quite a number o ides in the road — what ho, sh r bumps— and that the buggy wheels, leveloped a rather alarming ten Jency to skid at awkward places, si nuch so that we in the back seal Degan to entertain a suspicion that the driver wanted to frighten us a.' .veil as to bruise us, to add insuK to injury, so to speak. We preended to enjoy the sensation, thougl .ye were not sorry when Strathinori .vas reached at 7.10 p.m., for hue Xer was beginning to gnaw at oui nnards. Dinner at Cal vert's of. Strathmore mutton, and particulary prime at that, was followed b:. ' t'eggar-my-ncighbour," and bed be imes, for. an early start has to be .nade in the morning. • At twenty minutes to six in the morning we .ire off to catch the 8.57 train a1 Stratford. Jt is a lovely morning. ..he road has dried up a little, the teams have had a good rest, and we cover the 21 ' miles in 2J hours, c most enjoyable and exhilarating drive. So ends a memorable trip .vhich we hope some day. to repeat. With good -horses, such as* we had; n good company, such as we alsc had, and on a good road, such at '.he Ohura will be in the summer nothing more enjoyable can be im jgined than a drive to Whangamo tnona, and we will venture to sax hat what * s seen and especiallj what isn't seen, but which is knowji to be there, will open the eyes 01 any.one whose acquaintance witl. Taranaki is limited to the countrj in the vicinity of the railway lin< and the~"old metalled roads.