THE MOKAU SETTLEMENTS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 472, 8 June 1912, Page 6

THE MOKAU SETTLEMENTS.

BY LAUNCH TO MAHOENUI AND ARIA. As the Mokau river and vicinity has figjred so prominently of late in the press throughout New Zealand, a little comment on the river launch's first trip to the upper reaches should be of interest locally, considering it is the fir-it time that "the great King Country waterway" has b?en successfully navigated. For many years sea-going steamers and launches have been travelling up the river as far as the coal mines, a'distance of 2G miies, but beyond that the Mokau was unknown to a steamer or launch. On May Ist Messrs Jacob and Black's river launch Panirau travelled up as far as tho Paraheka river at the Aria and Mahoenui settlements, carrying cargo for Messrs Chambers Bros., of the Matai estate, and Mr Purdie, of Mahoenui. Two days earlier, and during the same flood, Mr Robinson, manager for Messrs Chambers 8r03., successfully reached the Matai with his private launch.

The Panirau is a twin screw launch with two 10 h.p. oil engines, capable of carrying five tons and travels at about 12 miles an hour. She is of light draught and has been specially built to withstand the present snag obstructions on the waterway, only drawing 12 inches loaded. It was quite an eventful and jovial day for the settlers on the upper river to see a launch at their door, as this practically ends the drudgery of carting merchandise to and from Te Kuiti over now impassable roads, as the natural outlet" for the area of the Mokau watershed is by the river.

The Paraheka river, where the boat stopped, is about 42 miles_ above Mokau and about seven miles frum the townships of Mahoenui and Aria respectively. From Aria there is a formed road to within two miles of the steamer's landing; by completing another two miles along the Paraheka to the Mokau, which is almost level country, all the Aria settlement could be brought in touch with the waterway and produce may be landed in New Plymouth from that part of the King Country in a day and a half. To bring goods at the present time from there to the Main Trunk line, when the roads are at their best, is at the very least a solid day's drive. It must be remembered that the river was in high flood when the Panirau made her maiden trip to the settlements, and at no great expense the service can bn made a dlaily one, and patriotic Taranaki-ites who have the welfare of the whole of their province at heart will see the urgent necessity of snageing their great waterway and exporting from their capital the produce of their province. The Mokau, unlike the adjoining rivers, the Awakino and the Mohakatino, is not a succession of cascades and high waterfalls. Well up in the King Country, about three miles above its junction with tti9 Mangaotaki, the great Mokau river falls in one drop 120 ft at Wairere, on the Aria-Te Kuiti road. From here to its mouth the river has nearly a level run, as all its fall is made in one great drop'. Wherever a large creek enters, the dfibris brought down by it forms out river a small breakwater, on 7/hich all logs are caught and cause what is locally known as a rapid. The rapids on .the Mokau are not in the form of cascades as many imagine. From the mines to the Paraheka there are thirteen rapids, and only one of them known as the Mahoenui, is formed from a displacement of level in the watercourse, the rest being purely snag obstructions. Between the rapids there is splendid deep water for a width of two chains. A fifteen-foot passage cut in each rapid would let a boat through at lowest river level, and the total length of snagging would not exceed one and a half miles. It is only this small obstruction that binders the navigation of the 17 miles of river above the mines. The scenery on the Upper Mokau is such that the best description does it only an injustice. Undoubtedly the two most noted spota are at the Panirau and Utikihi rapids. The Panirau river, which drains the Ohura country, has formed in the Mokau an island, and it is here that the river makes a rectangular bend between the high wooded cliffs, leaving visible to the tourist a most beautiful waterline half a mile on either, side. At the next rapid, Utikihi, are the famous cliffs stretching for half a mile along the Taranaki bank and towering 900 feet above the river The white stone of the cilffs is relieved by mountain flax and various creepers, and in flood time a most beautiful fall drops over. At this part of the Mokau there is an extraordinary echo. The river there is very swift and narrows into about a chain in width for half a mile, when it widens out again. The only signs of civilisation in this wilderness are the survey lines and trigonomerical stations on the mountain tops, recently put on by the Government surveyor. All ths area along the river has been acquired by the State for scenery preservation. It is high time now to have the snagging done and thus not only give the public an opportunity of seeing this scenic grandeur in their midst, but also to give an outlet at New Plymouth for the produce of the Mahoenui and Aria settlements and also the Mokau-Mohakatino block now under survey. It is then to be hoped that the successful trip of the river launch will lead to a daily service next year. —Taranaki Budget.