BISHOP CLEARY ON VISITATION

New Zealand Tablet, 18 March 1915, Page 11

BISHOP CLEARY ON VISITATION

HORSE-TRAIL, MOTOR LAUNCH, AND JOURNEY’S END. SAND, SAND, SAND. We left the Bishop of Auckland (Dr. Cleary) on his way, by saddle, from Matihetihe, on the west coast of his diocese, to the Hokianga River settlements. His Lordship was accompanied by Fathers Becker, Bruning, and Zangerl (of the Mill Hill Native Mission), by Heremia Te Wake (Whakarapa), and by sundry Maoris from Matihetihe. The first part of the way led along a fine sandy beach. After some distance the party turned off the beach up the sandy bed of a shallow stream, crossed some rough country of swamp and ti-tree, bounded on both sides by steep, wind-swept, and desolate looking sandhills. Then again up the narrowing stream, where the moving sandhills closed in to meet each other and overlay the running water. Near this point there grew beside the water great clumps of the finest toetoe (the New Zealand variant of pampas grass) that the visitors had ever seen, the'long, feathery plumes reaching up to a great height and waving majestically in the westerly breeze. Through a break in the feathery line the party suddenly began the ascent of the steep sandhills, in which the horses bogged and plunged at times almost tortile knees. Thenceforward for miles the way lay over sand, sand, sand—up and down steep pinches that tried the strength and mettle of the mounts, past fantastic cliffs and pinnacles rasped and torn and scored by the sandblast, over great domeshaped hill-tops, down gullies, and past the place where a former lake lies buried full many a fathom deep beneath the wind-driven accumulations from the western beach. , An ooze of water that fans out into an inchdeep streamlet is now the only reminder of the sandburied lake. And from the northern Head at the entrance of the Hokianga River the sandy desolations have been steadily spreading for many a year, overwhelming what was once pasture or tillage land, and overlaying what once were farms. A sharp contrast is presented by the country from the South Head of the Hokianga, and all the left bank of the big tidal river: it is green with forest and farm, and hopeful with areas of ringbarked trees and burnings which mark fresh clearings and new fields that spread over the hills and far away. On the Hokianga. The party’s track over the sandhills was a short cut which saved a long and weary ride around the long nose of the north Hokianga Head. It brought the party to the broad river some two miles or so north of the Head. Near a spit of soft sand the visitors were met by Ileremia Te Wake’s motor launch—skilfully engineered by his wife and navigated by his son. Here they parted with the horses and the Natives from Matihetihe, and after a run of less than two hours, the Bishop and Father Bruning were enjoying the genial hospitality of Father Becker and his two assistants, Fathers Zangerl and van Beck, at Purakau, near Rawene. That was on February 2nd. On the following morning the Bishop and Fathers Becker, Bruning, Zangerl, and van Beek went on the back of the tide to the Native village of 'Whirinaki in the small, open mission launch. This launch is one of the venerable institutions of the river ; it is now pounding the water with its second engine (a two-cycle one), which, even at -throttle, sets the little craft in a tremor, its frail gunwale shaking like a palsied hand. On that broad tidal river, wind (which is mainly from the west) and tide are in frequent conflict. Then you have to case yourself in waterproofs to meet the frequent onset of spray and of sheets of curling, green water. In roughish weather the open craft must act, at times, as if it thought it was a submarine ; and in rough weather it has to stay at its moorings by the titree wharf at Purakau. During his stay on the river, the Bishop got some heavy drenchings in the launch,

despite enveloping oilskins. Father Becker has teen for the past two years>trying/to save part of the cost 'of a covered launch, and whites and Natives are, your correspondent' understands, backing him up in an effort to provide the local mission with better and safer means of riding the troubled waters of the Hokianga. At Whirinaki, The Native village of Whirinaki is on a tributary of the Hokianga. It was reached about 1 p.m. After the customary Native welcome, and replies in Maori by lathers Becker, Bruning, and the Bishop, the generous hospitality of the kainya (village) was partaken of. Then ensued an entertaining description of the Northern trip by Father Bruning, which proved a delightful entertainment to the grouped brown folk. Squatted on the ground in circles, in the . Native fashion, the Bishop and the other visitors were, in turn, entertained by the Maoris with puzzling ‘ explanations ’ of old whakataukis or proverbial sayings, and with vivid descriptions of Hongi’s and other rival tribes’ attacks upon the two old local pas. The earthworks of one of these are still in a fine state of preservation, but (as elsewhere) the old timber stockades have long ago mouldered into dust. To the Bishop, at least, a highly amusing novelty in the long-drawn koreros or talks of that afternoon was a picturesque speech which a local Maori magnate delivered in fine Native style, and which (he declared) he would deliver at the funeral of Father Becker, who is greatly beloved by the brown people on and near the Hokianga. Father Becker was present, and also greatly enjoyed the hearing of his funeral oration long (it is hoped) before the event. The Bishop passed the night in a neat room attached to the local church, with the cries of the wild birds round about. This is the second Catholic church of Whirinaki. The first was a raupo (bulrush) hut or whare hurriedly erected by the procrastinating Natives of a generation agone. . Whirinaki was the first (or at least one of the first) place visited by Dr. Pompallier when he landed with the first Catholic mission to New Zealand over seventy-five years ago. Even after many of the people had embraced the Catholic faith, no place of worship was built. The venerable Dr. McDonald at last endeavored, on his periodical visits to the place, to have this defect remedied but the Native policy of taihoa (‘bide a wee ’) wore him down. Finally, on a summer day, lie came to Whirinaki, accompanied, as was usual with him, by twelve Native servers —each endowed with a sturdy appetite. The Doctor and his youths stayed a week; and showed no signs of desiring a, change of scene : then a second week, and still no sign ; then a third week. Native politeness could not, of course, dream of suggesting to the visitors the benefit derivable from a change of air ; but, meanwhile, the devastating appetites of the Native servers were making portentous inroads into the modest communal stock of village kumeras (sweet potatoes) and other victuals. Self-preservation at length moved the head men gently to sound the Doctor as to the length of time he and his companions would afford the village the light of their presence. The brief reply was; ‘ Till the church is built.’ It was built in three days—in the Native fashion, with raupo, and without the use of a solitary nail. Then the most beloved and most famous of the Catholic Maori missionaries blessed the new edifice and the people and went his ways. So the story runneth. On Thursday morning, February 4, the Bishop celebrated Mass, administered the Sacrament of Confirmation, and baptised a child (the fifteenth on this trip). By the noon tide the party left the fertile flats and slopes of Whirinaki and proceeded in Heremia Te Wake’s launch to the entirely Catholic Native village of Mdtuti, on another tributary of the Hokianga-River. At Motuti. . % .There is a population of some forty souls (all Catholics) in and around Motuti. They have- lately built a new chux-ch on a commanding situation over the hamlet. Lack of. water is one •of- the trials of these Native owners ; and the Bishop showed several of them how to use ti-tree twigs and wiwis (rushes) in locating

underground streams. - Several very strong indications were obtained in and near the village, and the experi- \ ments were watched with intense interest ,by the onJlookers. 'When the . still darkness had wrapped the village round about, it was delightful to hear from the various houses the sweet strains of hymns and chanted, night prayers— in four-part harmonyfloating upon and consecrating the air of night. The next morning the Bishop celebrated and confirmed as before. The whole population assembled to see the visitors off by launch on the afternoon tide; and, greeted by a Native farewell, as they had been greeted on arrival by a Native welcome, the party set out for Purakau. At Motukaraka. , . On Saturday afternoon, February 6, the Bishop and the local clergy proceeded to Motukaraka, a big Catholic Native village opposite Rawene. It commands a. beautiful position on the river, and its handsome church, with its tall spire, is the most remarkable landmark of the Hokianga, and the most beautiful religious edifice north of Whangarei. It was built entirely at the expense of the Native congregation. The formal Native welcome to the Bishop took place in the handsome whare-hui or meeting-house of the village, his Lordship, as usual, replying suitably in the Maori ■ manner and in the Maori tongue. Next day -(Sunday, February 7) the Bishop celebrated Mass at 8 o’clock, and administered Confirmation and the temperance pledge after the 10 o’clock Mass. At Waihou. The same afternoon the Bishop and Fathers Becker, Bruning, and van Beek went by a Motukaraka launch to Waihou. A fierce and turbulent wind tossed the surface of the Hokianga, and Father Zangerl took known risks when he set out in the little open mission launch for Purakau. He, however, wisely remembered that ‘ little boats should keep near shore ’-—he kept as much as possible in the lee of the heights on the western bank, and, after sharp buffetings in rounding various points, reached Purakau wet and smiling. There he was picked up by the big, coverd launch from Motukalaka, and, after a bumpy passage, the party reached their destination, the Catholic village of Waihou, on another tributary of the Hokianga. The village is situated on the edge of rich, cultivated flats—the individualised property of the tribe—and the people are all earnest Catholics. An open-air welcome was speedily organised, and replies were made in Maori by the Bishop and Fathers Bruning and Bressers. Later on, in the evening, Father Bruning addressed a meeting of Natives, presided over by the Bishop, and spoke to them in eloquent terms regarding matters of interest to the Native race. Among these he voiced the Bishop’s expressed feeling regarding the necessity of the Catholic Maoris retaining their own lands there, cultivating them, and otherwise utilising them to the best purpose, introducing, for that purpose, the best methods adopted by European land-holders. This is a favorite topic with the Bishop, and Father Bruning set it forth with a power and vigor that made a deep impression. Mass by the Bishop, Confirmation, and temperance pledge took place, in the customary form the next morning. The visitors then left, the Waihou village to meet Heremia Te Wake’s launch about a mile away. The whole population accompanied the party to the point of departure, and, while awaiting the arrival of ' the launch, sang with much sweetness a series of hymns in four-part harmony, concluding with a fine rendering \ of the Magnificat as a parting song. Whakarapa ■ was reached the same afternoon, o“n yet another of the feeders of the broad Hokianga. The place has improved since the Bishop’s visit of three years ago: it hap a better landing, a public telephone, and a stretch of graded road, partly metalled through the village, and the Native owners (whose ownership of the tribal lands has been individualised) are still working with marked success at clearing, grassing, cultivating, and otherwise usefully occupying their respective farms. A tower- of

strength and industry and acumen among them is Heremia Te Wake, who carried through the difficult negotiations for individualising " the Native titles, and inaugurated the era of dairying among the brown men on the, river. The Bishop was, as before, Heremia’s guest, and in front of his house took place the formal korero or welcome. J ’ Arrangements .had been made by the Bishop, when in Whangape, to reach the latter place from Whakarapa, by horseback, on Tuesday, February 9, for high tide. This necessitated, on that day, a strick punctuality as to hours' for various functions, to which the Maori mind does not readily adapt itself. However, on this occasion, the Whakarapa Natives rose splendidly to the occasion. All were assembled at 8 o’clock, a.m., the hour appointed for Mass and Confirmation. At the early dinner hour in the big whare-kai (food -house), the massive Native hospitality was duly dispensed at the appointed hour, 11 o’clock sharp. Riding and packhorses were tied up outside at the moment required—--11.45 a.m., and at 12 noon the visitors were in their saddles and moving away to the wild hills and forests—exactly as had been pre-arranged by the Bishop. ‘ The tide waits for no man,’ said the Bishop to the people; ‘ so, kai (food) or no kai, I leave at mid-day ; if, with horses, well and jjood ; if without horses, then on foot. If I. miss the tide at Whangape, all my arrangements up to Whangarei will be upset. I keep my engagements with you : I expect you to keep your engagements with me.’ And, to the surprise of many who thought they knew the Maori, the Whakarapa Natives were, on this occasion, as punctual as the great clock on the Parliament of Westminster. ' Among the Mountains. The cavalcade departed amidst cheers from some three hundred happy Natives. The way led up through wild mountain tracksapparently impassable in places during the winter, —past clearings in the rough, near scattered settlers’ huts, and down break-neck declivities of clay that,, in winter, must be extremely dangerous to negotiate, even with the clever and unshod horses of those remote and roadless backblocks. At one place the party (consising of the Bishop, Fathers Pruning and Zangerl, Heremai te Wake, and his daughter, and two other Natives) came across a settler’s wife —a woman of refined speech and appearancewashing the household linen at a stream- in the wild heart of the mountains, near the shack that forms their remote and solitary home. A little further, the party crossed a river (it was about the sixth crossing of it) to see a wonderful crop of maize that stood nearly nine feet high. But there is no way for settlers to get this or any produce to market except by pack-horse. Thu senseless and topsy-turvy policy of successive New Zealand Governments to this hour, is to plant luckless settlers in those shaggy forest wilds without a road by which to receive supplies or to send their hard-won wealth to market. Canada’s sane and business-like policy is to push rail and other roads into the western and northern wilds, and thus to create, in advance broad tracks on which colonisation shall move forward, and the newly-won wealth backward to its market. Instead of spending some millions sterling upon showy Parliament Buildings and massive post offices and railway stations in the big-vote centres where such things catch the eye and, no doubt, have the —New Zealand legislators might well be content to make laws and post letters in iron sheds until they have given the pioneer prime producers some sort of civilised communi-, cations. As matters stand, the legislators, sitting on down, and stepping on velvet-pile carpets, have left the pick of our sturdy citizens and producers to * road ’ conditions that would be a reproach to the Grand Turk. These are the sentiments to which, after a long experience of the back-blocks, the Bishop has time and again, both in public and in private, given indignant expression; ' ! Nearing the End. In this long .ride of three hours over the rugged mountains between the Hokianga and i Whangape, the Bishop was generally in the lead, and’ made the pace

• (where ! this was possible) .. fairly fast. ■ On arrival at : the Whangape River, the Maori launch party was found to have kept its tryst to the minute—another proof that the Native can, on occasion, be taught the virtue of punctuality. The Bishop and Fathers Bruning and anger 1 bade farewell to their v Maori cavaliers, and set' Jout in the launch for a trip of an hour and a-half to the Awaroa bridge, seven miles from Herekino. ‘ Six miracles of Native punctuality,’ the Bishop remarked, ‘ have : occurred to-day. It is hardly reasonable to expect the seventh.’ In point of fact, the seventh event did not come off. Three Native families beyond Herekino had pledged themselves to meet the Bishop’s party at 4.30 p.m., at the Awaroa, bridge with pack and ; riding horses. They did not appear, so the little party arranged with a white contractor to pack their belongings to Herekino. Father Zangerl took charge , of the operation, while the Bishop and Father Bruning set out, at a strong pace, to walk the seven miles of dusty clay road to Herekino. When near the latter place, the lagging Native mounts appeared. They were sent back to release the -pakeha’s (white man’s) borrowed ponies. The Bishop and Father Bruning finished their dusty walk to Gartner’s boarding-house at Herekino. A visit by the Bishop to the three Natives’ houses (three miles north of Herekino) had been arranged on the understanding that the party was to have been met at the appointed time at the Awaroa bridge. In the circumstances, the episcopal visit did n not take place. Instead, Father Zangerl was deputed to minister to the three families concerned. Next morning representatives of the Natives came to Herekino; there* were many expressions of regret and affection on their part. The Bishop replied in suitable terms, explaining the necessity of punctuality in a series of engagements so interwoven that failure in one affected the remainder of the series. « Expressions of cordial affection by his Lordship, and a promise to visit them on his next trip, provided they adhered to arrangements, left the deputation very happy. Some of them afterwards accompanied the Bishop a part of the way in his motor car, which had been ‘ stabled ’ in an open paddock adjoining Gartner’s boarding-house during the episcopal visit to the west coast settlements and the Hokianga. A great quantity of sand and dirt was cleared off and out of the car, and the driving mechanism of the big Cadillac was in perfect order, despite the rough experiences through which it had gone in its long journeys over sand •and swamp and through scrub and titree. The End. Still accompanied by Father Bruning, the Bishop s course, on February 10, lay through Kaitaia, the Victoria and Peria valleys, and Mangonui, to Waitaruke. There the two travellers met with a warm welcome from the Natives at Father Bruning’s home. Next day the two set out for Kawakawa. On their way they called, to Mr. Swan’s, at Kaeo, where the Bishop, by request, delivered a short and stirring address to a number of young men who were leaving for the Trentham Camp. The Bishop celebrated Mass and administered Confirmation at Kawakawa on February 11, and there bade good-bye to his genial travelling companion, - Father Bruning. Accompanied by Father McDonald, the Bishop motored the same day to Whangarei, stopping at Hikurangi on the way. Confirmation was administered at Whangarei, and visitation made, on Sunday, February 14. In the afternoon of the same day members of local public bodies and a considerable concourse of people of various faiths gathered in the convent grounds to meet and greet the Bishop. The u 1 record ’ motor trio to the ‘ roadless North was, ! throughout, the chief topic of conversation, and the Bishop’s car was inspected by many motorists and others. On Tuesday, February 16, his Lordship left Whangarei, alone, for Onerahi, where he placed the car on board the steamer Manaia. This was done in order to avoid some miles of freshly-laid metal on the road from Whangarei to Auckland. On the same evening the Bishop reached Auckland. And thus ended the most

remarkable trip ever made by a motor car in New Zealand, V;... ' . .. '.