SETTLERS' SUNDAY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 45, 22 February 1905, Page 8

SETTLERS' SUNDAY.

A MINISTER'S VISIT TO TIIE '-BACKBLOCKS." (By the Rev. W. Thompson.) Settlers' Sunday dawned clear and bright in this district, and gave promise of a glorious day. By seven o'clock 1 was in the saddle, where. I had not been for four years previously, and a residence "f three years in Fiji did not make for muscle. I had, however, a. good sturdy mare for a mount. The previous night she had fed luxuriously under the shadow of the kirk, and so ought to have benefited by Church rites.

Several of my musical parishioners, solicitous for my safety, had resolved to see mc "through the bush. ,.

Away we rode in the "rosh morning nir in pood spirit?, anxious to make the pare w hilo it was possible. My companions were all well mounted, and, being colonials, quite, at homo in the saddle. I realised that I had a hard task before mc if I was to keep up with them. My good mure, however, refused to be left behind, and ride they as they might the mare and I were, there. My companions voted mc a fraud, for saying I c-ould not ricie. Bui, I c-.ime, hire John Gilpin. "because my horse would come." Silence was my answer to their impeachment; but it was not the "silence that gives consent/ but that which came from want of breath.

I had arranged for services at Cabbage Bay and Amodco Bay. I had heard a good deal, during the spring months, of the terrible roads which led to these outlying districts. A pawky Scotch friend who had just returned from Cabbage Bay assured mc that things were better than they had been his former visit. A naughty twinkle in his eye. as lift mentally gauged my girth and weight, told mc, however, that I had a rough time before mc. After a canter of a few miles, we got on to the mountain track—a track so narrow that we were compelled to negotiate it in Indian file. Very scon we were in the very heart of beautiful hush scenery. So tortuous was the truck, and so thick the foliage, that one could soe nothing but bush beyond a few yards. Ever and anon, however. I got glimpses of my companions in a break of the bush, and the ladies in their flowing riding habits, with the beautiful dark green fern trees ;as a background, showed to advantage, things of life and beauty 'mid Nature's glorious adornings.

Scotsman as I urn. and one who lias sr-f-n (be "Pass of Killiecrankifv' the piew dp resistance of Scottish scenery, for beauty and grandeur and awesomeness commend mc to this mountain track, over which we were now wending our way. We had to hug the mountain slope very closely, for a step too near the edge of the track on the other side suggested terrible possibilities. This secured us a morning bath from the overhanging fern trees, which shed iheir dew-drops in literal showers on ua as we crept closely, for safety, to the sloping bank on our risht.

As we picked our way carefully over tho rough but now hardened track. I could not help noting the spots which many a traveller had found diffieultv in negotiating during the winter and spring months. One musical acquaintance of mine had made several journeys to Cabbage Bay in tbe late spring, and

we had discounted his graphic descriptions of hair-breadih escapes. He "was a "'holy Roman," but had shown bis broad-mindedness by giving us a solo or trwo at our services in the Presbyterian Church. His steed was a very erratic one, and as I now crept carefully along, and marked the many evidences of stress of travelling during the softer portions of the year, my friend's stories did not seem so improbable, I could imagine the places where he had left many an "Aye Maria," and some slips down the slopes suggested his "Lost Chord." For if his steed had not been sure-footed he had most surely found that "Lost Chord" down in the "Abysses ,, and "Eternities"' at the foot of the valle.v.

Should Bishop Neligan ever make tbe journey to Cabba-*e Bay, I would recommend him, if he will allow mc. to have the "Athanasian Creed" handy if he wants to relieve his feelings. •As Presbyterian minister. I found the

"Cursina MSS." effective whenever I negotiated a more than ordinary dangerous bit. At length, however, we

got to the top of the track, over a. thousand feet above the sea level, and began the down grade. "Facilis decensus Averni," says the Roman poetThat may be; but tho descent to Cabbage Bay did noj; prove facilis in any sense of the word. We had novr, too, to face the blazing sun, with no kindly foliage to screen us from its scorching rays. Through it all, however, we slithered and slipped, and at length found ourselves in a beautiful valley, through which flowed a trickling stream. We rested a bit to breathe our panting hordes and no less panting selves, and to recount the "dangers we had passed." A pleasant ride of several miles along ibe shady stream brought us at length to Cabbage Bay Settlement. We had been in the saddle for exactly three hours. My friends at Coromandel had predicted four hours for mc; but, as Pat says, "one never knows what he can do till he tries."

The service had been fixed for eleven o'clock, but there seemed to be. few signs of churchgoers. A few Maoris were about, and showed their usual curiosity at the advent of strangers. From what I had heard of Cabbage Bay in Coromandel I did not. anticipate ranch of a gathering for service. This district has failcn into the hand* of a body of religionists who call themselves, par excellence, '"Christian Brethren" (genus Plymouth Rocks aece-ding to some irreverent scientific authorities), or, more conrmonJv, Plymouth Breth-

ren. These, have erected a small hall in the settlement, and hold services from Sunday to Sunday. A board at the entrance of the hall announces the fact that the "Gospel of the Grace of God" is preached there. From what 1 could gather they imagine that this Gospel cannot be preached anywhere else. Settlers' Sunday evidently did not. appeal to their Christian idea of things. We had a fair gathering of representatives of various churches in Ga-udio's Hall, kindly granted for the occasion by Mr Gaudic. The services were evidently appreciated, and hopas were expressed that I might find it convenient to visit the Bay on some future, occasion, when they assured mc there would be a. larger congregation. We were most hospitably entertained by our Cabbage Bay friends, and afteT an hour's rest left for Amodeo Bay, where we were due for 3 p.m. service.

We made inquiries of some Maoris as to the distance thither, and were glibly assured that it. was only three miles away. Alas, we found the mile to be the proverbial Scotch mile—the "bittock" being the. longer, as usual.

The ride to Amodfto Bay was a painful repetition of our first journey, only part of the road was worse, and we had in addition the sun at its hottest to contend with. After an hour and a-half's ride we reached our destination, and 1 must confess that I felt more inclined for bed than for preaching. Half an hour's rest, however, in an ea.sy-chair, and a refreshing draught from the crystal spring, made mc sufficiently fit for work.

Amodeo Bay lies in a sheltered nonk considerably west of Cape Colville. It is a very small settlement, but there are a considerable number of Maoris in the district, some gum-digging and others having settled homes, with the usual vegetable patches and very good orchards. The bay is named after the late Captain Amodeo. We had a most hearty welcome from the. settlers here. Young and old had gathered for the service, which was held in the little schoolhouse of the settlement. The room was qnite filled, some. Maori children being among the. number, and, to my astonishment, a young native of Samoa, who had drifted thither far from his island home. The service was a hearty and enjoyable one. The children were well up in Kankey's hymns and sa,n<* most, lustily.

It is needless to describe the journey home. It was a ease of dangers per mare, per tenam. All experienced enough to make us thankful that our lot was not cast in tho "back block?. " especially in winter. I brought sufficient mud home to convince my friends that a journey to the back blocks, even at the end of summer, is no easy matter. The old military ¥o<ids in the Highlands of Scotland, were vastly superior (o anything I saw on Settlers' Sunday. Of them the old couplet sings: —

"Had ye r-ceu these roads before they were mad<\ '■Xe'd thank your stars and bless General Wade.

Seddon's road.*, even'when made, deserve no biwsing but the opposite. It would do him good to be ordered by his physician to traverse these roads to tho "Black-blocks." It would probably make him forthwi+h send some of his superfluous rash to out deserving settlers in .Auckland province for the making of something better than the Ciuddy slicep or goat tracks that pass under the name of roads in too many parts of what is justly called the "Roadless North."

At half-pjLst seven I passed the Prr«bytemn Church of Coromandel, hut although Ihe dulcet tones of my substitute reached mc, rubbing the gospel into n:y flook, neiiher myseh" nor my weary steerl felt inclined for further nd-mouition. The lattnr had had sufficient "benrfit of clerjry"—fourteen stone of diviuitv—for one day, and I need not nay that seven hours in the ■saddle and a journey of from thirty to forty miles sent mc to ray bed with thoughts too deep for words. Indeed, if I had thoughts'at ail, they may best be expressed in the words of the poel,, "We bitterly thought of the morrow!"

So ended Settlers' Sunday in the back blocks of Coromandel. No doubt some of my brethren had equally rough experiences. Ido not give mine in the spirit of complaint, but just to give a glimpse of the ecclesiastical isolation in which some of our best settlers live and to show a little of what many a good minister has to go through., not once a year, but on roanv Sundays of the year. We caanot all expect to ride in a first-class railway carriage to the tock-blocka.