A VISIT TO WANGANUI.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 3222, 18 June 1873, Page 3

A VISIT TO WANGANUI.

(by our travelling reporter.)

I have gob a few notes in my book about Wanganui, and I suppose I may as well put them in form for publication before the General Assembly begins its clatter. The name itself means “the Big Bay’ “Whanga,” “ford,” or “bay”—and “Nui” large. From the interpretation of the name, the fact that there was in existence not long since a Wanganui Steam Navigation Company, and from hearing eloquent descriptions of the place as a port of entry, I was anxious to visit it and form an estimate of its capabilities and future position. My notes refer simply to the river and town; the district must be taken according to repute -as unequalled for farming purposes. I was on board the p s. Paterson, owned by the Messrs Brogden, and commanded by Captain Kennedy, when she made her first trip to the above-named port. 1 he Paterson drew some’Bft. 9in. of water ; she was commanded by the moat experienced captain bn the coast, had great horse-power for her tonnage, and, being a paddle-boat, was better qualified to work a bar harbor than a screw-steamer of similar power, draft of water and tonnage. The day was fine, and the sea smooth, yet the steamer struck on the bar. The tides being neap, or nearly at their lowest, may account for the lapk of water, l?ut qot for the quality of (he

harbor. Pasting the bar, the steamer stuck on a sandbank about half way up the river toward* the town’, and there remained for four days, until lij-htf ned of her cargo, when she again dropped down to the river’s mouth and put to sea. The town of Wanganui is situated about three miles from the river's mouth. We had taken a pilot on board at the Heads, so that the visit was made under the most favorab e circumstances- vessel, captain, pilot, all things co mbining to make the trip a success. The simple brief narration of onr mishaps tells more forcibly than any amount of writing what kind of a harbor Wanganui is, and the kind of trade it may be expected to maintain in the future. Its most ardent apologist could only say we bad come at low instead of high tides, and that a vessel from England had arrived, discharged her cargo, and taken in tier lading some months previously. The river, they maintain, is getting worse ; and that it will continue to do so, a marine engineer is not necessary to determine. Its deterioration is the inevitable result of natural causes. Although the mouth of the river is somewhat sheltered by the northern portion of the Middle Island from the full sweep of the seas, as evidenced by the less heavy surf on its bar, in comparison with the Grey or Hokitika, the S.W. winds have been sufficiently strong and prevailing to throw up a long narrow spit on the south side of the stream, and deflect its course to one almost parallel with the breakers, and its outlet some mile and a-half to the north. Where it now enters the sea, it has a small bluff to contend with, which it is industriously eating away, and having accomplished which end, its deflection to the north will again increase. The same deflection annually happens on nearly every harbor and river mouth on the west coast of this inland, but is also yearly removed by the sudden melting of the snow on the mountains. The sudden increase in the violence of the river sweeps away the silt accumulated by the S.W. wind, and the scour of the stream is again straight to the sea. Now, for several generations such an event appears not to have taken place in Wanganui. The silt is swept down the stream and lodges on the elbow where the river bends north. Thus there is a double power at work against the port—the sea, with its S.W. surf, the spit on the one side, and the silt brought' down the river helping to form an embankment on the other. Against this double power the port has no chance. The snow does not accumulate in such masses on Tongariro and Ruapehu as it does on our central mountain chain, hence the chance of a heavy flood or a flood sufficient to make the outUt of the river at its proper place is remote. To do any good to the river, the scour wants to be straight to the sea; and as long as the elbow or bend remains in its present condition, so long will they still accumulate, and sandbanks be formed, the dredging of the river and the indignation of the inhabitants notwithstanding, L 5,000 spent on the river, would be like L 5,000 thrown into the sea, or a similar sum spent in anattemptat separation from the Province. The rivt ris doubtless very valuable as a means of internal traffic and navigation, but for a port of entry perfectly valueless. The great boon this magnificent country wants is a line of railroad extending along the coast from Patea, Wanganui and otlur places to Wellington, By no other means can its resources he developed, and its pro duce brought to market. The rivers it would cross in its source would he feeders to the traffic, and answer the purpose of branch lines. It is idle to talk of settling remote lands first and making roads and railroads to them afterwards—the initial step to take, as the United States have shown us, being first to make roads, and then the people will not only follow in their wake, bnt outran their progress. The Wanganui river is navigable for sixty miles, and would alone form no unimportant branch feeder to a line of railway.

It runs almost direct and through a fertile district. That this will be the manner in which the country will be settled and opened no sane or unprejudiced man will for a moment doubt, even on hasty inspection. Were the Wanganui harbor all its admirers consider it to be-the port of the West Coast of the Province of Wellington—it would still require a main beach line of railroad to connect its Northern and Southern districts. Southern readers should remember that Northern Native lands are not now purchased for pence the acre or rusty muskets ; but that the Maori has a pretty fair knowledge of its value, and fixes his price of sale according to that in vogue with Europeans. Although there are many million acres of good land in this Island that will be available for settlement, and , from the sale of which profit will accrue to the Government in many instances, the price of such purchase and the coats of survey will have to be deducted from the nominal assets of the Island. What I mean is this: that every hundred thousand acres the Government acquires here by purchase has a large lien on it, resulting from purcha-e-money to be paid and other expenses, while a hundred thousand Southern acres* are absolutely unencumbered freehold. An illustration will, perhaps, make my meaning more clear. Between the Wanganui and Turakina rivers, in the Province of Wellington, a block of land containing 47,000 acres has been bought from the Native owners at a cost of L 7,000. Now, in addition to this amount, the cost of negotiating the purchase, of surveys and roads, would probably amount to L 5,000 more. The laud is estimated by the Wanganui aeparationists to sell for ten shillings per acre. It will thus be seen that half the proceeds of the sale will have been disbursed before the land is put in the market. Thus when large freehold Government estates are spoken of that willyet accrue to the Northern Provinces, these advances have to be taken into acc#»nt, and deducted from the gross amount of the sales, or their estimated yield. Notwithstanding these drawbacks the railroads have to be made and the

country settled ; but in valuing unacquired land as a Colonial asset fop railroad securities, this first charge must not be overlooked. Of course you will have heard all about the Wanganui Separation cry. The Wanganui people appear not to know that the “ cry” is played out long ago. No sane or disinterested politician would ever dream of re-echoing it. The Colony has had too much of this kind of political dreaming before ; other separationists had a basis for their dreams, but the Wanganui people have none, Marlborough and Southland had land to sell; Westland had gold to exhume and export; but Wanganui has neither laud to sell unless it may first acquire it, or gold to dig from the earth until it is discovered. “ From the Rangitikei river to the northern boundary of the Province, there is no unsold Crown land from which any revenue could be derived except the Parar Kuriete block already mentioned.”— Post. The idea of separation is so outrageously absurd to Southern ears, that only the isolation in which the people of Wanganui dwell can account for its popularity among them and the vehemence of its advocates. The tendency of opinion is towards consolidation and not division ; to decrease and nob to multiply the number of our Provinces —the expense and trouble of Provincial institutions. The idea originated among these people from the Wellington Provincial Government proposing to raise a loan of L 210,000, and only allotting JL5,000 of the amount to be spent in Wanganui. The clamor is raised to augment the subsidy should the loan prove successful. I can fancy the smile of derision on the face of many Southern readers when they talk over this new Wellington financial piece of business. I wonder when the Colony will hear the last of these little monetary affairs. It will be curious to watch the passing of the Bill, should it ever pass, through the House. Wellington, certainly will never lack for want of asking. Boldness in large financial undertakings ensures the major part of success. Whether the 150,000 acres and the reclaimed land will be deemed sufficient security for the loan, or whether the Provincial lands are not already heavily mortgaged for railroad construction in Wellington, wiU be a theme for senatorial consideration.

There is a good sprinkling of savagery and Maoridom in Wanganui. There is to be here seen the swell, jewelry-wearing, buggydriving Maori, the man well-dresstd, the man half-dressed, and the blanket-wear-ing animal in profusion. Women, as well the sterner sex, thus clothe themselves. They are to be found in every public-house, at the corner of every street, selling apples or potatoes, driuking beer and strong waters, or playing “ Yankee grab ” for pence. 'J hey appear to toil not, neither spin, but live as landed gentry should. The talented authores of “ Maori Laud” remarked : “ 1 have only seen three handsome Maori women in all my life, among all the many faces of all tribes that I have seen coming and going. And all I can say about those three is that they were not one atom like Maoris.” The colored ladies of this district certainly confirm the truthfulness of this description, 1 don’t think the men either can be called handsome, as a lot They look best at a distance—don’t bear too close an inspection. Green marks and patches about the lips of a Maori girl add no attraction to our untu-

tored vision, the red, unadulterated article seeming far more graceful and seductive Europeans like their women to wash, be fragrant, sit on chairs or couches,—well, when you look on a good specimen of the Native race squatting on the ground, and pulling potatoes out of a fire with her fingers and eating them, and feel doubtful whether the color of the skin she wears has not an additional tinge from an accretion aoap and water would remove, 1 don't believe our women folk lose by the comparison. Native women, however, do, and will work. They witness with much glee the performances of European ladies of Miss Lottie's class ; but their admiration of the performance on the trapeze is of a doubtful character—they call her the "woman devil"—Wahine taipo. They congregated in great numbers at her entertainments, and some of the ambitious lady spectators have been •msidering the expediency of erecting a trapeze at their pahs, and entering into training for competition against this charming little friend of the public. I was introduced to Major Kemp, and heard one of his daughters or lemans, I am su r e I don't know which, perform on the piano. lam not going to dilate on the performance but the fact. It does seem strange after all that a man and child eating people should so readily take to chignons, dress coats, crinolines when in vogue, high-crowned hats, and so many other things that compose so much of what we term civilisation. What would the Exeter Wall people say, should another war.arise, were they fully impressed with the fact that the Maori can not only read and pray, but waltz and play ; that he has shed his savage skin like a snake, and now lives after the manner of Europeans when it suits him to do so. The town of Wangauui is built on the Northern side of the stream. The bridge crosses the river about $e oentre of the town. Another bridge, however, will have to be erected to carry the railroad, so that the assertion of many Waoganui people that their bridge is placed on the wrong spot may be true. So much has been already said about the bridge that I shall take no further notice of it. The town is well laid out, well built; the people seem sociable, comfoi table, and prosperous. Labour is abundant and wages high. I met several well-known Otago faces there, and found their owners pleased with their new location, its climate, and their prospects. They all hunger for news and intelligence from their former Southern home—seem to feel they are hardly yet naturalised away from it ; only the grass, the climate, and the land have seduced them from their allegiance. 'lhey maintain that a gold c mntry exists at their retr ; that the hurry of the rush, the excitement of the find, and the expenditure of the yield will yet be mamtested in their district; and with fertile plains and valleys to the fore, and rich mineral treasures in the rear, they will be the envied possessors of the best portion of the Colony, rejoicing in abundance and wealth under the ino3t genial clime New Zealand can boast. Let us hope that their dreams will be realised, and that they may reap a share of the gains that blood and money have been so freely spent to ensure.