A TRIP TO THE MOTU

Gisborne Times, Volume X, Issue 955, 30 July 1903, Page 4

A TRIP TO THE MOTU

IMPRESSIONS OP A STRANGER. A recent arrival arrival from Canterbury writes: —Having let a bush contract at the Motu it became necessary to convey company and stores to that district. We set out, a party of four (two of our number having been there before on horseback), on Thursday last, July 16th, with a twohorse waggonette and a couple of hacks. We journeyed along till we came to the hill thiee or four miles the Motu side of McCredie’s Poututu House, where we fed our horses and had dinner. Starting again, the road became very heavy, it having rained heavily the day before, and the dray traffic had told its tale on a soft road and cut deep and ugly ruts. We battled along, uphill and downhill, until

four o’clock, when we arrived at the creek just this side of the bush cutting. Here we decided to camp, for the roads for the last few miles has been in a disgraceful state : no water table, the road being very much higher on the inside than the out, and the crown, or rather where it should have been, running streams of water down the ruts which had been cut by the heavy traffic ; in fact if the roadman cut a few gaps here and thero good work would be done. In any case, to a stranger it seems as if there was no escape from reforming the road to make it fit for traffic.

We started again at 8 o’clock to face the bush cutting and bog the. next morning with great dread, as we had been told we should not get through by experts in this part. We got along with hard flogging till we were about a chain from the Motu end, when we stuck, but after taking off part of our load we cot out first time of asking, and got safely to Hansen’s Hotel at half-past three, tired and hungry men and horses.

Having inspected the land we had acquired, m common with others wo weie quite satisfied with its quality, and only await with ihe many others the future development of road and railway.