MAROKOPA.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 509, 16 October 1912, Page 3

MAROKOPA.

Own Correspondent. A HEAVY DOWNPOUR. [~Qn Thursday night an exceptionally heavy downpour of rain was experienced with the result that some very big floods followed. The Marokopa river overflowed its banks in many places, whilst the Kairimu and Kiritehere streams did likewise. A considerable area of country was inundated and in several cases a number of settlers had unpleasant experiences. The mails were all delayed and general inconvenience experiI enced. There are no reports of stock i having been lost. TELEPHONE COMMUNICATION. Without doubt the settlers of the Marokopa district deserve the highest possible praise for their enterprise in matters telephone. The Marokopa Valley line has proved so successful and of such value that the settlers of the Kiritehere Valley have been tempted to follow suit and for that purpose a meeting was held at Mr F. Templeman's on Tuesday last. There was a good attendance of settlers and thp matter was dealt with enthusiastically. The top end of the district has had a private line from Mr John Bell's into the Moeatoa office and the rest of the settlers have decided to run their line into Marokopa with the object of being able to connect with the Marokopa Valley line and thus complete a circuit of telephone line that will rank as the foremost in the King Country. There is no doubt that the telephone is an instrument whose value it would be hard to estimate in the backblocks where isolation and bad roads have to be contended with for many months in the yp.ar. MAIL MATTERS.

Advice has been received from the Chief Postmaster in Auckland that no tenders have been received for the mail service from Te Kuiti to Marokopa and that only one tender has been received from Marokopa to Mangaohae and back. The Cheif Postmaster has requested the local official to procure offers for a mail service via Awamarino to Waitomo Caves and from Te Kuiti to Te Maika. This would seem that it is the intention of the authorities if possible to abandon the route over which it is now carried, and if so this is a very serious matter and one that should not be allowed to pass over lightly. The districts through which the present route traverses is the most continuous and best settled portion of the King Country, for after leaving Oparure all the holdings along the route to the coast are Crown tenements. A matter, too, that seems to be worrying the officials is the cost of that route. However, it should be remembered that a little over three years ago the mailman was able to carry all the mail into this district in front of him on his riding saddle. To-day it takes two staunch packhorses to carry the mail for this end. The contractor who took it at a price three years ago know to his sorrow to-day that he should have had his eye to the future. The possibilities of increase during the next three years will be equal with that of the past, and now because a lesson has been taught the authorities cannot see the reason of such high prices. In new districts such as this, where settlement is progressing so rapidly every year, the officers of. the department Bhould have the common sense to think that the contractor must provide for the contingencies of the future. It is hoped that somebody will be procured to take this service on, at a price satisfactory to himself and the department. ENTERPRISING SETTLERS.

That the settlers of the Marokopa district, at least a section of them, are amongst the leader in aiding in the development of progress in the Knig Country if their actions in their desire to help themselves and come to the front by their own initiative, is to be judged. The district is yet in its infancy and despite the hardships and severities of back block pioneering work it has advanced without doubt faster than other country localities in the Rohe Potae. When it is remembered that it is scarcely a decade since settlement to any extent was begun, and that the district was but virgin forest and roadless, that today she has a flourishing co-opera-tive dairy concern, which promises an output in the future that will rival any other institution of a similar kind in the King Country. The saleyards, which have also pioved of considerable value to settlers judging by the way settlers have patronised it, is to be taken as a criterion. The latest scheme which has been embarked on by a body of ten enterprising settlers is the purchase of the auxiliary ketch, Dawn, for the trade of the district. Practically from the inception of the place the shipping service has been unsatisfactory and many have been the experiences as regards shortage of supplies. Flour and sugar and other necessary acticles have been at times very scarce commodities and tales are also told of a corner in tobacco, lovers of the fragrant weed paying high prices so that all their troubles might end in smoking. The s.s. Kotae, in charge of Captain J. Williamson, was the pioneer vessel to trade with the place, and continued for a period of about two years. Mr F. Iredale, of Awakino, then purchased the s.s, Pitoitoi, which entered into the trade with Captain Williamson in command. . It is about four years since that vessel commenced to ply with the port and owing to a considerable amount of dissatisfaction the settlers insisted on an agreement which was entered into with Mr F. Iredale by the settlers for a period of two years. The agreement, however, stipulated that should Mr Iredale dispose of the controlling interest that it would be rendered null and void. Lately Mr Iredale disposed of his interest to Messrs Ogle and Co., of Awakino, for, it is understood, the Mokau trade. These vessels traded I from Waitara. The Northern S.S.

Co's. Rothesay also entered the service and traded from Kawhia, out did not last long owing to the trade being insufficient to maintain two boats. Fearing that the service would once more revert into the old order of thingß, the situation was faced by purhasing the auxiliary ketch, Dawn. The vessel, it is understood, is admirably adapted for the trade, and is a staunch vessel capable of carrying 35 tons of cargo. Captain J. Williamson has bean chosen to take charge of the vessel. The experience that he possesses of the coastal trade will be of good service to the district, because, with anything like fair weather he can make the port, whereas other skippers might not look at it.

The men who have formed this syndicate are to be congratulated on their enterprise, and the notable part of the business is that tho principal promoters are the men who ha"e organised for the district's benefit on all occasions. Amongst those especially are Messrs E. C. Stanley, John Willison, Chas. Haylock, John Smith and John Wouldes. The syndicate, it is hoped, will meet with success (although the vessel is not being run for profit but for the welfare of the district), and that the little vessel will have good luck.

Beaides trading to Marokopa the Dawn will trade with Kawhia. Awakino, Tongaporutu and other coastal places.