Wairoa-Hawke's Bay

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 157, 21 July 1937, Page 7

Wairoa-Hawke's Bay

AKAK 'NA,

Sir, — The East Coast Railway is at last completed to Wairoa and the branch line to Waikokopu is thus coilnocted up with Napier, the Capital of Hawke's Bay, and the first city (for hiapier is a city, as a city, we are told, is a cathedral town and the foundations of our cathedral are still intact) in New ) Zealand to be raised by the rays of the rising sun. What a heritage to be proud of! Now what does this conr.ection of the two towns mean. Great things, surely, for both, for the prosperity of one is surely the prosperity of the other. Rivals and competitors tor some of the trade of Hawke's Bay and the enticing of a larger population to Hawke's Bay, the garden of the North Island. Let both townspeople remember that competition is the soul of trade. Let us remember, too, that Napier is the nearest port by half-a-day's sail to Panama, the great outlet to Great Britain, our best customcrs, and also to the wealthy Amerieans of New York and kindred cities. This railway was first begun ia 1912 when Sir Joseph Ward turned the first sod at Westshore. In 1914 on to the end of the Great War it was not gone on with, and then the earthquake came on February 3, 1931. But now both towns are well on the map again, and what is to prevent us joining hand in hand, and with our Maori friends make the wilderness blossom as the rose, for there is mueh, very much, land between Napier and Wairoa that is hungry for all the manure that the rail ean deliver, so cheaply. And then there is all th8 tree-planting to make the rainfall of Hawke's Bay what it must have been in, and before, Te Kooti had his famous stronghold at the junction of the Te Hoe river and the great Mohaka, the Mohaka whieh has now risen to far-flung f'ame by the mighty, red painted viaduCt that for all its strength looks like a red cobweb across that rushing river which in years gono by must have been the great waterway through hundreds of acres of a great valley. The earthquake has not done only damage, for Te Hbe river is like the top angle of an isesceles triangle. It is about the same distance with Tutira about half-way from Napier as Wairoa on - the other north-eastern angle is from it. Look on the map, this must be plain to all, even the sehoolboys who hate geography! Now tbe earthquake blocked Te Hoe and a great lake two-tliirds the size of Tutira Lake was formed. Tutira, by the way, according to one of Guthrie Sinith's delightful books on tlie bird life of New Zealand, is gradually falling through its outlet, wearing away the sandstone; but, thaiik goodness, it may take 1060 years before it is quite diyl Well the lake at Te Hoe has come to st.aj, and with its 200 feet of water, surely the trout should rise to any fly, good, bad, or indilferent, and surely Napier and Wairoa fishermen should have an extra link in common. Think of the joy of a fresh fishing ground and all the new fishy stories. But let me see, where am I? As Jerome K. Jerome in liis "Three Men in a Boat," to say nothing of the dog, Kettles. Oh yes! A good artiele could be written about Kettles and also about Wairoa and its railway, and Waikokopu, and its great asset, Waikaremoana, and its great power works, and its river. Napier 's river went skyhigh, but Wairoa 's is still a thing of teauty and a joy forever. So Tejoice, Wairoa, with all your great advantages and your new railway station; it's oijJy a quarter of a mile away, be glad it does not run through the heart of your town .as it does in Hastings. —

Y ours, etc.. Napier, July 20/37.