King Country Chronicle Wednesday, April 19, 1911. TOPICS OF THE DAY.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 353, 19 April 1911, Page 4

King Country Chronicle Wednesday, April 19, 1911. TOPICS OF THE DAY.

In a very interesting leading article the "Taranaki Herald" discusses the work to be done in the preservation of the scenery on the Mokau river. This little known river—little known, that is, by the majority of settlers in the King Country—passes only a few miles from Te Kuiti, and with snagging and clearing it may reasonably be expected to be made navigable from its mouth to within a dozen miles of the railway. The Act of 1903 "for the conservation of the natural scenery of the upper waters of the Mokau river and for the protection of the navigation of the said waters" is inoperative, and it is necessary that it should be enforced, and further applied to the lower reaches of the river, where settlement is active, and liable at any time to burn thousands of acres of bush which can never be replaced. The historical associations of the Mokau are unrivalled in New Zealand. At one time a large Maori population lived en its banks. Near its mouth is a rock to which tradition says the canoe Tainui was moored when the Maori pioneers C3me from Hawaiiki. Higher up is an old burying place where the bones of Maoris who had died in other parts were brought to be buried. Beyond is the site of an ancient pa, where the ancestors of the Tairoas of Otago were once settled. The Mokau used to be a great waterway for Maoris travelling between Waiksto and the Wanganui and Taranaki. Apart from its historical and traditional value the river is of remarkable beauty, and its bush should be saved if only to preserve the lower reaches from the floods which accompany all clearances of bush from the ligher portions of rivers. The Mokau is destined to a revived life of movement and activity. Like the Wangami and the Waikato, it is capable of levelopment and use for a great por:ion of its length and future years ■hould see small steamers, motor aunches and canoes carrying tourists md settlers' produce, and serving as i means of communication between he remote inland places ar.d the big :entres on the coast.