WANGANUI.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume II, Issue 29, 16 January 1862, Page 5 (Supplement)

WANGANUI.

The Chronicle of the 2nd inst. says : “ The Hon. Mr. Crawford returned on Tuesday evening from his geological excursion, having been allowed only to go as far as Utapu, about 80 miles up the river from this. A little above Utapu the Tangaraka, in whose valley there is said to be coal flows into the Wanganui. But Mr. Crawford’s party were prohibited from entering this valley except on paying 80s. which he declined doing, as it would have been an acknowledgment of the natives’ right to make such a demand, and because a similar extortion would have been practised at every pah they come to. The party therefore have returned unsuccessful. The banks of the Wanganui are very picturesque, but the strata all lie in one exactly horizontal position, so that it is impossible to say what is below. Mr. Crawford, however, sees no appearance of minerals. During their journey the natives were uniformly courteous and obliging. Mr Crawford next tries the Rangitikci district towards the Ruahine range - ” The Chronicle, with reference to the feelings of the natives observes : “ One week we have the most favourable accounts from Auckland of the disposition of the Waikato King natives, the next we learn through direct native channels, that a body guard is picked out of one tribe every month for the protection of the King each tribe contributing its number monthly and that the Upper Waikato have resolved, should the Governor visit them, not to allow him to see the King, who, moreover, is represented as reproaching some who wish to give up his cause by saying that they may as well crucify him at once at the foot of the flagstaff, if they do not intend to support him in his authority—an authority with which they themselves have invested him.” A public dinner was given on the. 28th to the men of the 65th Eegt. stationed at Wanganui. The soldiers and civilians were interspersed about the room, the former numbering 174, and the latter 60. The health of the officers and men of the 65th Rcgt., of General Cameron, of Major Logan and the officers and men of the 65th Eegt., the discharged soldiers of the 65th and the Militia and "Volunteers of Wanganui, were severally drank and responded to. Major Durie occupied the chair and W, Watt, Esq, the vice-chair. The following picture of the scene is from the artistic pencil of our Wanganui contemporary : “ The coup <T ceil when the company had taken their seats was very striking. The long rows of tables, glittering with glass and covered with a profusion of excellent and well-dressed viands the Wpy faces of the men whom the citizens thus delighted to honor, and the cordiality of feeling evinced by the entertainers to the guests, made a very pleasing scene indeed. The beauty of the landscape which met the eye through the windows enhanced the effect of the spectacle. On two sides flowed (he broad stream of the Wanganui, glittering in the bright rays of the summer evening sun and enclosed by the abrupt lulls which now approach to its banks and then recede leaving the wide plain on which the town stands its surface varied by the grass-covered hills which the sand has formed and enlivened by the numerous gardens and grass fields which cover it many of them enclosing comfortable and neat houses. On the south the scene was bounded by the blue sea and on the north the eye wandered over a succession of forest-clad hills till it rested on the snoivclad summits of Tongariro at a distance of eighty miles, but looking so much nearer in the clear atmosphere that it seemed as if a messenger might have been despatched to it for ice, to return before the entrance of the dessert.”