THE NORTH AUCKLAND DESERT.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16166, 21 March 1918, Page 4

THE NORTH AUCKLAND DESERT.

The residences of two Dalmatians, near Houhora, were broken into during Thursday night, and about £20 in money r two watches and chains, worth 6ome £30, three suits of clothes, and other property, stolen. Suspicion fell upon another Slav, named Vladmir Carevich, who disappeared on Friday morning. Constable Thorncll. of Houhora, promptly got upon Carcvich's tracks, and traced him across the sandhills of the Houhora desert and down to Waipapakauri, where tho iugitive was overtaken arid arrested with the money, besides the watches and other identifiable articles in his possession. The prisoner has since escaped, and cannot be found. Constable Chase emphasises the fact that in the extreme north of Auckland there is a tract of country unique as far a s New Zealand is concerned. Parallel with the Ninety-Mile Beach extends an absolutely desert area stretching across the island for an average depth of about three miles and a probable length or forty or fifty miles, consisting of sand blown in from the "West Coast. 1 his sand is constantly shifting under the influence of the prevailing winds, and wayfarers traversing it could easily persuade themselves they were in the middle of a veritable Sahara, nothing but vellow sand being visible for miles around. The principal land approach to Houhora i s through the desert. ;incl the route can only be kept by following a series of guide-posts. Similarly on the opposite coast, south of the entranc to Parengarenga Harbour, thcro is another stretch of sand, in this case dazzlingly whito in colour and extremely fine.