OVERLAND FROM OPOTIKI.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2239, 16 November 1907, Page 1

OVERLAND FROM OPOTIKI.

AN EX-GISBORNITE’S OBSERVATIONS. PROGRESS IN THE DISTRICT. Mr. Ernest Allan, who left Gisborne six months ago for Opotiki, arrived back on Thursday last on a brief holiday visit. (Mr Allan, who travelled overland, via Motu, states that Gisborne’s rival on the Bay of Plenty lias shown some signs of .advancement consequent on the recent land ballot. A good deal of bush has been felled during the jiast winter. Mr M. Morris,’ late_ of Taliora, who has a station at Ofara, bias brought down about 500 acres, While another settler from these parts in Mr McLean, l-ate ofNuhaka, who has a good block in .the Waioeka district, has had a thousand acres cleared this winter. Mr Allan says the township is a perfect picture at present, the hedges being ,ablaze with hawthorn blossoms, while the gardens are exhibiting the luxuriance for which tlio fertile soil of_Opotiki has long been famed. They have not yet obtained the deeg-water •harbor at O-hiwa, and “Jimmy” White still acts as pilot and coaxes the Auckland boat in and out over the shallow and ever-clianging Bar. Thero is great briskness at- present in the fishing industry,' aSid it will not be long before three oil-launches are engaged in the trade. Moboimoko, a native who keeps a fish restaurant, has an oiMauncli busily plying up and down tlio coast, while Messrs Shalloon Bros, have on order a fine 10-lioi\so power oil launch for the same trade. Messrs \Viil : Hauls and Savage also have ordered a smaller launch to trawl .the bay.

Tho Opotiki people are still agitating for the completion of the new road between .that town and Motu, wliicli .will shorten the distance between the two places by some 30 miles, and when completed will make- ,a trip' from Gisborne to the "Bay of Plenty centre a much less formidable undertaking than it is .at present. Opotiki is somewhat backward in the matter of snout, no cricket being played there, hut tennis, howling and croquet are followed up with a fair amount of enthusiasm. Two rowing enthusiasts, in Messrs J. Purcell, of Wanganui, .and Tappet t," of Wtbargarei, have oust been instrumental in forming a roving club, and 45 members had been enrolled when Mr Allan left. Considering the fine river they have alt Opotiki it is strange that .this pastime has not long ago obtained a finn hold on the youth" of the town, b.njt now they have got a start it may not bo long before the sculling champions of Opotiki make a descent on Poverty Bay to try the mettle of Gisborne oarsimen.

The dangers which beset the overland traveller were exemplified in an experience .which befell Mr. Allan when some 20 miles this side of Opotiki. The road hero is cut out of

tlio mountain side, and the wayfarer feels between “tlio devil and the deep blue sea” as ho plods along, with donso bush-clad heights above him and a slioer drop of somo hundreds of feet into tlio bed of (the river beneath. While traversing the most weird stage of this part of the journoy, . tlio ex-Gisbornito was startled 'by hearing an ominous rumbling on the heights immediately abovo him, and had only time to put spurs .to liis liorso when an immense rock caino crashing down and narrowly shaved his horse’s hindquarters. iHad tlio animal been a fraction of a second slower, Mr. Allan would never again liavo gazed upon tlio green bills of Poverty- Bay from the highlands _of the Motu watershed. The near additions have beoii completed at tlio Motu Hotel, which gives tlio structure a much more imposing appearance. The country between Motu and Gisborne was looking splendid, though the read throughout the journey was not at all in. good order as a result of recent lieavj' rains. Mr. Allan, who remains for about a fortnight in Gisborne, says he likes Opotiki extremely well, and consider ibhe climate ideal. 'When, fho whole of tlio country which lias been recently taken up is improved the town should take a' now lease of life and become an important. centre.