A NEW THROUGH ROUTE

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1898, 5 November 1913, Page 11

A NEW THROUGH ROUTE

MAIN TRUNK TO STRATFORD. < FIRST COACH SUNS THROUGH. On Sunday of last week an historic) event was duly celebrated away out in tho back-blocks between Stratford and tho Main Trunk line, This was no less than tho running of the first coach and the first team of horses over tho through road from nortlii to south. It is with snail-Hko progress that improved communications camo in the Main Trunk back-blocks, and, although a railway from Stratford to the Auckland lino was talked of in 1884, it was not until this year of grace, 1913, that even a coach was ablo to get over the route. Tho real pioneer m wheeled traffio across tho road is st-ated to have been a (pedlar who, some six or eight months ago. went through with a gig, but only succeeded in crossing two makeshift bridges by taking the wheels oil his vehicle, carrying it over, and re-1 erecting it on the other side.

The completion of tho road was celeby Mr. Tom Moore, the wellknown whip, running through two of his coaches, with a party of Ohura residents, on tho Sunday and returning 011 the Monday, Included in the party was the Ohura brass band, and when the coaches readied their destination on Sunday evening the strains of a band were heard for tho first time on record in Whangamomoiia, On tho Monday the visitors met a Whangamomona. team on tho cricket field, and in iho evening the festivities ended with a dance.

Tho distance by the coach route from one Sine of railway to the other is about \ 70 miles, and, except, for a stretch of twelve or fourteen miles through the Tangarakau Gorge, there is settlementalong practically its whole length. It is an interesting drive through a picco of country with'grcrit possibilities, and in tho gap between tfye northern and southern settled areas' o6e passes through tho magnificent scenery of tho Tangarakau, where the river winds its way through a narrow bush-clad ravine with precipitous bluffs towering up against the sky-line. The road is not one to bo traversed in winter —that is unless the traveller wishes to tnsto the full flavour of life out back—and even at the present time it has in places more resemblance to a canal than a road. It is, however, drying rapidly, and it is stated that tho coaches will bo able to rattle along in good stylo through the summer.

Tho road leaves the Main Trunk line at Okaluikara, oi.urlit miles mirth of Taumarunui, crosses .the watershed between tlio Ongnruo and tho Oliura, after a steady climb, and then descends to junction with the main road from Ongnruo Station into tho township of Olmra. Tho eight miles from Okaluikara to the junction is in excellent condition. / It lias been built by tlio Public Works Department as a service road for tho railway, is metalled, and has not as yet been much cut up by heavy traffic. In order to protect it only light vehicles aro allowed across it, and tlio bulk of tlio carting into tlio Oliura still goes on tho old and longer route, via Ongaruo. From the junction an execrable stretch of about six miles brings one £o Matiere, the second township of Ohura County, a placo with three boardinghouses, a dairy factory, public hall, doctor, post office, two lively stables, and about a dozen shops. This stretch of road is quite innocent of metal, and/ when passed over ten days ngo was | more liko A morass than anything else, It is full of great holes, in which a horse, even at this lato season of the year, will sink kneo deep in tho stickiest of mud. Leaving Matiere, tho road, or bog, runs on to Niho Niho, a small .settlement between three and four miles on, whore, to the relief of all travellers, dry land is at last reached in tile form of a stretch of road metalled with burned papa. This is liko an oasis in the desert, but it soon ends, and 0110 slithers about the mud up hill and down dale until within three miles of Ohura, the county headquarters, where a solid metalled road is again reached, and runs right into tho township. The country which has been passed through is surprisingly closely settled for so remote a district, and if ever a pioneering community deserved a railway, the settlers of Ohura surely do. The township itself has grown out of nothing in about six years, and now has two banks, r. neat little post office, a sprinkling of shops, and various other buildings. A regular coach service has boon run mat to Ohura town from thf» Main Trunk railway for years past, and it is tho intervening stretch of forty

hl nt w ohura ai >a tho railway imo at W haugawomoim, over which the coach Las just run for tho first time. l rom Ohura tho road runs to Tatu. W/wii a eight miles out. Honiostead.9 aro_ passed on tlie way, gradually becoming more primitive in f f "™, until even tho last wharo is loft behind, Before reaching Tatu. tho road climbs tho ridge dividing tho watersheds of tho Ohura River and the Haw, & tributary of the Timgarakau, wJncli lower down joins the Wangamu. At tlio summit of this ridgo ia & heavy cutting some fifty feet dcop, and * few chains long. This cutting was at first a tunnel, but this was round unsatisfactory, and an opon cut was ma-do dewn, the ultimate cost running, it was gathered, to something in the nciglibourlioed <?r £6000!

As the coaches passed each homestead along tl.lo route rousing cheers by those on-beard brought tho sottlers and their families hurrying out to see what must have been a. glad to them—the establishment of regain# communication with tho outside World. With good roads the distance back from civilisation of these pioneer Bottlers would bp great enough, but with the roads 0? tie Ohura every niiio is like throe on a road such as tho luxurious Bottlers of the Manawatu and Wairarapa know.

From tho valley of tho Haeo a twomile climb brings tho coaeli to the top of tho Paparata Buddie, which. divides tho watersheds of liaeo and tho Ttuigaralcau, and then tho ooacli swung down through tho bnsh into tho famous Tangarakau Gorgjo. Seme miles down a halt was inado for lunch at the roadmen's hut at one of the bridgos, and here the billy was boiled with Tangarakau coal dug out of tho roadside. Outcrops of coal aro to bo seen through tho gorge at different points, and at one place a creek can bo seen, flowing over a bottom of Bolid coal.

In descending tho gorge tho Tangarakau is crosscd three times, but none of the bridges 'has been expensive. It is one of flio compensations of settlers in tho papa country that although their roads may coat much money to maintain:, tho rivers oan bo dealt with very cheaply as compared with tho cost of erecting bridges over t'lw wide shingle beds of other parts of tho Dominion. The papa rivers are almost invariably flowing in a narrow channel between steep banks, from which a bridgo can bo readily thrown across, and even before tho professional bridgebuilder gets to work rough low-level bridges, built of logs, can be thrown together very cheaply, aJid make a very serviceable crossing except "when buried eight or. ten feet beneath tho river during flood time. It is fortunate that tho rivers can be so easily disposed of for they are by no means, pleasant to ford with any depth of water or strength of current as tho papa, bottom ia usually decidedly slippery* and provides but the most insecure" of i'ootholds for man or beast.

At the last bridge across tho Tangarakau a cross and) a railing on a sour across the stream mark tlio grave of Mr. Morgan, ono of tho surveyors oilpaged in the route many years ago, who died from what w&s afterwards diagnosed as an attack of appendicitis. This lonely gravo, even to-day milos away from any permanent habitation, staitds like a milestone on the road of .progress, a silent, reminder of tho c»st in human, lives and human effort by which tlio Now Zealand of to-day has been built up.

A few miles further down, tho river the road leaves tho Tangarakau and ascends a sido stream, coming beforo long on tlio first outposts of Taranaki settlement. ' Hearty cheers again heralded tho arrival of tho coach, and our veteran whip with trua professional prido, swit his team bowling past at a pacu that must have made the journoy seem like a cake-walk to tho roadside spectators. Tho coach then clambered up another long hill and at tho top of this appeared tho tonte of tho railway workers ot tho Talwra tuincl, tho present end of tho construction works front Stratford. Along tho top of the ridgo a short pieco of road, metalled with burnt papa, inspired us with hopes of good roads and civilisation. These wero soon dashed to tho ground, for when Wo descended ilia other sido of tho hilt wo found eight miles of tlio most atrocious road imaginable between ourselves mid Whangamomona. Beforo the Public Works Department began carting Over it this was a metalled road. Today it is a rum, but with tho coming of summer it is said that it wiil dry tin sufficiently to enable motors to run through over it without groat discomfort.

The coach ploughed its way (steadily through tho nog, arriving at' Wliangamomona shortly beforo 7 p.m., after a run of 11J hours, including all stoppages. This was ail excellent performance, as tho coaches Wore well loaded, twenty-one people being' carried by two five-horse teams, and the journey had to bo made without a ctango, as Mr, Moore has not yet got his half-way stables put up. Tlio party making tho trip consisted of tho following:— Messrs. W. Sanderson {chairman of Olmra Comity Council), J. ,F. M'Clonafill an, J. h. Ryan, J. IS. TliMiiipspn, T. B. Mooney, M. Bruiting, A. K\ Field, B. Cox, W. T. M'Kay, C. Vincent, F. MacCluro, J. Hill, G, Robinson, W. Robinson. R. Noon, It. Williams, ,F. E> Martin, ffi. Owens, and 1). Cooper. Mr, Tom Moore drove tlio first conch, mvcl tho second was in chargo of Mr. J. Baldwin.

Tho trip through was a thoroughly enjoyable quo, despite tho wetness of tho day. As a back-blocks holidav excursion it was a great success, and tho casual stranger was enabled to gain an insight into tho .iollj' camaraderie which, as 0110 of tho party pot it, "makes us ail up in Olmta lilto 0110 big family." All grades of society were represented, but instead of -beiug petrified into strata ns one finds thorn iil tho tosvns, it was Tom, Dick, and Harry all round, and. tho hours on tho road passed merrily with good humoured dull' and banter.

Mr. Monro, who piloted ilio first ccacii through, lias opened up qnil-o a number of roads in tho Dominion for conch traffic. Recalling his previous fast runs, he stated that ho run tho Hi.st coach through from Unntcrvillo to Me.v.vlnuiga, tho first to Opunako. and was also tho first- coii-fih-drivnr along tho Main Trunk between tlio railheads at Tamnftrtmui and Qhakmii, Mko Alexander of old, this veteran of the- boxseat is still looking for now worlds to ccnquor, but if lio eoolfa amy haw through route to opon up ho will hnvo to go pretty,, far. in Now Zealand an®.