TONGAPORUTU.

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 181, 12 August 1909, Page 5

TONGAPORUTU.

(Own Correspondent.) 1 *

Leaving Mangaroa by the Tongaporutu road, you traverse the valley formed by Mangakara stream. On the banks of the stream are small alluvial flats, barked by steep ridges, very broken. and slipping away from the bedrock in large area. At first these slips were looked upon as a serious drawback. but the settlers find that the newly exposed surface takes grass freely, and with the exception of the extra cost of resowing is no disadvantage. Leaving the valley the track winds round the ridge till the Wairia range is crossed at a distance of 11 miles from Mangaroa. For a considerable distance the road skirts very precipitous sidling, and as the formation keeps slipping In many places, the track is only two feet wide, with a wall of rock below, perpendicular for some thirty feet. There is some two miles of track to be formed to link up with the formation on the western side of the range. The present track branches from the Mangakara road, and follows a very steep ridge to the junction with the formation on the western side. From Mangaroa to the 12 mile peg is heavily timbered country, carrying rata, rimu, kahikatea, tawa. and soft woods, with a very thick undergrowth of ferns and supplejack. As you descend the western slope the soil in some places has a covering o? peat, and birch is the predominating timber till the VVaitanga North road, which is the western boundary of the Ohura County, is reached. Along the Waitanga stream the peaty covering is strongly in evidence, a considerable distance of the roading exposing peaty surface, while in the swamps the drains show some three feet of peat. While the high country will no doubt be available for sheep, it would appear from past experience of similar country that, until the peat is worked into the sub loam, country of this description is not equal to more than 1 sheep per acre of grass. The roads are very bad and will be a serious drawback to the settlers. : Nearly all the Tongaporutu riding in coal bearing, and several outcrops have been exposed in the Mangakara valley, which forms the North-western portion and is typical of the country —good soil on steep spurs and ridges.