BEAUTIFUL WESTLAND.

Hokitika Guardian, 11 June 1925, Page 4

BEAUTIFUL WESTLAND.

A VISITOR'S IMPIIKSSIONS

(From tin article by Air Kay .1. Baker of Honolulu, photographer. published in the Honolulu Star, April. 1925.) HOKITIKA VISIT. At Hokitika Itcgnn one of the most delightful motor trips of my stay in New Zealand. 1 had loitered for a day or two in tit’s quaint little town with its gray sand beach tapped by the waves of a restless sea ; with its Carnegie library and attached museum, not too well supplied with specimens, it is true, hut offering many that were unique and not often seen in more, pretentious places. At evening I walked to the mouth of the river and watched the glories of a sunset across the Tasman Son. and in the glow of the evening light \ saw for the first: time the serene snow covered summit* of Mount Cook, perhaps a 199 miles away. Hokitika lias a mining history too—the mining is still actively going on. There is a modern dredge nearby that is bringing gold, the coveted metal, up out of the alluvial soil. A fine spirited citizen. Dr Teichelmnrm. called at my hotel. generously took me to his home. and showed me his plmtoi, graph;,-, at which he is an expert aiuatenr, and gave me unlimited information about the surrounding country. An enthusiastic mountain climber, he knew in detail every peak along the magnificent skyline hack and beyond 1 Hokitika. 110118!*’ STAGES (lONIC i Friends of mine who had visited i New Zealand in ihc days gone by had 'told me of the horse stages that were used for transportation. They ucte picturesque, but slow amt not always comfortable. They served a ttscl.il [purpose, hut now they arc gone Inf ever. The credit for introducing cf- |[ feetivc motor equipment belongs to tbe Newman Brothers. »><>• :uul dav out their line service operates up and down the West Coast. This service is rendered by a magnificent licet of White motor trucks with specially built New Zealand bodies. I should i not- at all lie surprised ff I were told jtiiat the majority of the hoys who drive the busses had seen air service j overseas, for they arc courteous young j fellows with quick eyes, clear heads ' and steady hands.

It is a sight worth while to see one of the busses prepare ii> start out. H, is tike loading a cargo steamer. ]* list of all gas. oil. and tires have to he looked alter. The spares have to be in good condition and carefully lashed on lest they fail in a emergency a long wav from home. I lien, ns tins is ,t country untouched by 11 1 ■ railroad, there is the freight to he dmi rilmted along the way. 'Phis consisted ol ovorvlhing one could imagine that people used. There were pipe fitting*, dies. tools. iron castings. wagon wheels, cases of canned goods, supplies of all kinds, mail, bread and passengers. ROMANCE OF COACH DAYS. They were loaded in the order named and when the driver, alter a linn! inspection of his load, plinths “over the top” and slips into his place at the wheel, passengers each side, it was not unlike Ihc key stone being dropped into position in the arch. Once out on the road there was all the line spirit, the rollicking good fun and Ihe romance of the days ol the coaches. There was also the speed and comfort of the railway train. The tandstapi* Hew by like pictures in a dream. The air was gloriously cool and invigorating. The dust arose behind t:s. In a sleepy village a small

hoy sat on the curb and nursed a stubbed toe. The bread had to he delivered to a farmhouse here, a country cion* there. Mail sacks were dropped into waiting and willing hands at countrt jiost Mho's. A hack country saw mill set , celled away a its task, sawing the logs from the bush into lumber. I think aft* r flint we came to

. 1 :• dairv t anil rv. ’l I’ASTOIt AI. SCFNKS. ■ I At a bill ter faetnr.v I I i ied to j;et , a. drink of buttermilk. Iml they eliuru’ed yesterday. In the meantime the rest of the passengers had ten and sandwiches at a mudsill.- tea house. • There were beautiful grazing fields wit 1 1 peaceful lows. lowland.' with ■swamp land by the river, and then I more the blis-ful pastoral scones, tinea IWe wcV. afforded a line object lesson lin i: it oral history. There win a In Ilc group of rows with I heir heads down grazing, while perched on their backs were the irrepressible minali bird-, picking the minute vermin from the animals’. Wo left the dairy country with its well tilled fields ami carefully I'onecd paddocks. Things were more primitive. I lomesli'mills wcr-' endeavouring the reclaim the wild. An effort had been made to clear. What had unco been virgin I ore si. wa» non dead trees, still standing and yet affording air and sunlight for the j grass to grow. Here and there the I wild blackberry bail gotten well startled in what was intended to be grazing land. Tu the struggle between the homesteader and the blackberry as to which might claim .supremacy. the pest seemed to be winning. 1 hat there were berries, luscious fruit they were too. is without eonse(|tteni'e, tor there were more harries than many times the population could consume. FOBIvST 'REGION. Wo left behind the blackened stumps and the. whitened trunks of the dead trees. Wo w re now in the unspoiled region of forest and tern. Alaguificient forest mona cells lowered above us. their tops meeting above the road. Ferns in luxurious prolusion grew by the roadside and in among, the trees. It is useless to try to j name either the trees or the tillage,, While 1 had seen many similar things, the names were uutnmiliar. 1 here

was a variety or two of pine and some hardwoods. Occasionally we came io open places, and then we knew that, the mountains were getting nearer. Also the time was slipping away. We were nearing our destination, through the trees we got a pee]) or two of the great glacier up the gorge and then the bus drew up at the Waiho Gorge Hotel.

(To be concluded .next issue.)