MOTER PIONEERS.

Wanganui Chronicle, Issue 12856, 12 December 1912, Page 5

MOTER PIONEERS.

IN TfiE-ROADLESS.BAiOJI-BLaCKSv

TAIHAPE T6 TAUMARANUI.

DETERIOR(AHON OF ROAiDS

We stated in the. " Ohroniiclo" a feJjr days ago that a, party of intrepid1 I motorists had unieifertiaken a trip f roim . Wellington.to Auiekiland. The-journey i from Taihaipe. to Taunuarunui as described thusly in the "Posit": — At ..Tarih&pe the main lajveniul © of motoring oocmes to an end. Oars have j gone through to Ohia'kune amd PApiniiki I on, one side^-and to Tokaanu and Taupe on the other, and possibly through to Taiu'miarunuii—the intforriKVtion fromi the people along the road wiae .quite conflicting on these .points. But the ■birda of passage musit have. 4)een feiw amd far between, and there had "certainly Ifoeen j none at all the present year. The reiaI son is quite sample. Whale th« Mniix Trunk was being built, there was towards the finish quite a igood tioarfh. route along the service road Iby the railway. -TJuut roadl has now deterior- ' ttted, until in many places It is pilaicti- ' cally no longer worthy of the maime of road at all. The fbridges .were strong, but built of local timber,, and are now i rotting or rotted alway, OEfcuts a yiaiid deep have been bitten "through, the soft surface by the tororembial!. ■•nainsi «t' years, and never repaired. iLalst iwiinter mas the worst on recoatl, and the -noiads, accojding to okl hiands all lailong the way, are as bad' a^ they had eyoi- ibeien. To cap all, Avhere the traffic did come, it oaime , with the force of a- bom.ba,rdimen_t in sixhorse or six-span bullock .wagons, lunn- . • bering loadis:of timber fraan th© mill to | the neairest station. The comditdono^ i therefore, were bad in varyamg diegrees only of badin ess. It was v no eounfary for a oar even there—and ithsufc v?iaS not the worst—^and only ddlfuO. handling i got the outfit' through •without'anns!hja!p. , The pioneers were naturally incensed, j " agin all Governments" if or H'eaivimg ■ the roads in tbat sibate. , HOW CREEKS WERE CROSSED. i On the Wiaiouru' Plains the car.hit; soft stuff just beyond the "bridge over* the Wangaeh'U, but, with a little judii--Qioiis (bi-a'ck-layiing wiijtli t&nzima. ctufrf j wood and cut flax leaf, she got out> ttSv der own pother, and took the tussock to r^avoid, the rest of the bad xoad. At tho i Waitaiki Creek—a stream'latfxrat foitfcy . feet wide and' then up to a yiard deew . —tfea Maoris of the pa, scentimg petrol j prosperity in a tow-over, taamne tgallojping in from all sides with ffcheir horses for a comniumal jointnsitock iact of Good Samaritajish'ip. Bufc the war, iwdth nadiator boxind up in an oikkdn—lafter the depth had (been testeld.^ —steamed through all well, mudh. to the surprdse of the Maoris, who ihad "never seem.xfsiriy oar do that before. So on, over timber^broken roads through Riaetihi— where ia woman upeet a pa'iaim in terror ! at the ear, but picked up th© IbaJby rfhilll I smiling—and Honopato ta the Manga-nui-a-*e-ja.o Creek and Viaduict, just before dark. The depth .of /the creek was nothing, .but the bouHders f were big enough to build the foundation of ia sea-wall, and, it was no good Ijuimipinjg through them in the dm-k. The ibosuia got his block send tackle Jagged out, and hi,tched to a neighbouring sftuan/p, | and co-operation in a tugjof-miar on th« tow->nope, aided tip the lower pinch by the car's awn. power, -got her through the water and far enough up the slope to ibaok her onfto- ti nice gnassy Ibay for j tho. night. It ' was then somewhere about 8 o'clock, But the camp iwias soon up—a. fly hung, sailor-fashion, on a rope from a tetumip ovtr a ipair of sheerlegs, and anchored down below to a-nr- | other stump. Under it were spread the sleeping bags on oil-sheeting/ The camp-fire, in charge of the purser-cook, was soon ablaze and the. (billy ibjodling ■for hot coffee. Over the high viadwst, ■j* just above; the expresses roar/cd1 lumiinously througih the darkness 'both days. It was a beautiful bush (hieh't, tunning a little Chiilly towards the imoi'miing, j with the stream below for a somewhat boisterous lullaby. The only iregret was that the flashlight powder for a picture of the ciamp had gone overboard somei where in the miles behind ! THE BROKEN BRIDGE. , _ The, next day was a. sujmaner Sundiay m the bush. At 4 o'clock breakfast was ready—ibaoon in the pah over the fire^-iand'at 7, , after packing and porI tagfng the,gear over the-bounder hill,, the oar was hauWed up, ia• ibifc further, | and th'eii ispsd for Tauimairunuui, laUiwell'. ' Dowin in the^Makatote Gully, toy the mg viadutet, a sldip had broughit i>rees j aorosk' the' road, but the little hiatoh,et madf room to pass. On, the Waiaparino | a p.in-oh;anncil- dn the, poiimice 'had. to ib:e filled: with handy ; fencing . battens. ! JNgaurulDfie^ and Toiigarjm were clouddly vjifibiep/bii.t no long wiait iwias made, And the car soon dipped into the bush* | again down by-.the Raurimu Spiral. In the language of an old 'bullocky met on | the way,nt was' " » corker." Aimiile or so beyon-d, just across the railway and o^y.tjJ'o m^es from Oio> station, one of I the numerous, riihu sea-vice road 'bridgesl .had collapse^ like a dead man i.nto the ' bed'of the Iriye^ some twenty £eefc be-- - low. The -rotten timbers lay in ia heap j slopping (about in the shallow water' and the good" resolutions of the •authorities were shown in some new piaaks and I beams alongside the road. j CIVIL AND MILITARY ENGINEERING. ■What to do? No road forward; no goin/g back. A survey of .the isituaftion showed .potesibiliti.es. If the oar could be lot down with block and tackle it j might also be Muled up the other side, llie old tumbers placed up and dawm stream ipontioon-fiash-ion migbt wot as j sleqpem for transverse plarnks, land on j thie the oar might be ,got across. No i sooner seen than, started. The heavy j Arater-sodden, crumbling timbers were : IHIl Hl d:°^ n,™ two and three tiers, and . then the big pLanlks were ip.kced on j top jjt nvas strenuous iwork in tiho I brojhng sun and the human itiaidatetor i nwled.. At the spell foir smoke-oih and .; tolly tea a party of helpers turned uip , rrom the neighbouring sawmill and , made the res* ot the task easy. Tracks | were cut on^eaoh sidc-^-Ibe car lowered I 1 if n ' to t]* e temporary bridge by I elalfuHj; amujged block and &oklJ, 1 n h r deliaa^ negotiation, aeros^ ! Sri \,t? W ' h' aS ed v? 'a^in hy Mock I and tackle on, the other side. There were congratulations and photographs bal-te of timber like a team, asking tha* it shoulld be mentioned he iwas a Red , i^edonationist, winch is done .gladly for a man's pnyato convictions are his'owm thYOk ? rT- nig hearty from sent 3 «f, I<Jy sawyem-the car m -a« there J n 8 thu"ty m? les left K^ through Ow han-go Juahah!, Pmaka and Hffianmiui —nothing to speak aibout jaMer (whatJ