MOKAI

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 11 December 1912, Page 3

MOKAI

Beyond the fact of a Parliamentary Committee recommending a Government guarantee ■ot £50,000 for the extension of the Taupo Totara Timber Company, s line from Mokai to Taupo, (IS miles) with the ultimate object of purchase, there is little of interest to record touching Mokai in the wilderness, since my last letter,

The " boys ", of course, in hush and mill, are looking out for Chrsitmas. Who. is not ? Music it is said has charms to soothe the savage breast, even of a bushman ; but there is a mere potent agent, still at this time of year, to produce such a desirable result, and that is the near approach of the time-honoured festival of Christmas. There is not a pull of a saw, noi a heave of a jack, nor a stroke of an axe or pick, nor a 'throw of a shovel, nor a guiding hand at the lever, of a locomotive, or manipulating the intricate machinery of the mill, but is rendered more effective by the soothing thought that " There's a good time coming hoys, wait a little longer." Verily, men aie hut children of a larger growth.

What the aftermath to the good time may be, nay, in many cases is sure to be, doesn't seem to trouble the boys in the least. So, " Where are you going at Christmas ? " is on the lips cf every "hoy" you meet and almost -3very day you meet him. I hope the coming Christmas may be a happy one for all of us. It need not necessarily bea " merry " one, which means, too often, a mad one. I hopo that for one short week, at least, there will be surcease of caterwauling over the Yellow Peril and the possibilities of a. Chinese invasion.

And that the plum-pudding peril will be rocognised by old and young as one not quite so remote and one more immediately concerning us. What if the Chinese did come ! - and in the. opinion of many they are thought to be *' tbe coming race."—no pun on such a serious subject positively intended. Their coming would not, by any means, be an unmixed evil. They would teacli the masses how to wash clothes, and grow cabbage, and wear soft comfortable boots and garments, and how to be patient and plodding under difficulties, and how to pay their bills and respect their parents etc. Besided—l wonder how many New Zealand China-phobes think of this fact—such a " coming " would be onby tit for tat ; an act of retaliation on their part ; we, good old irropronchable British "we " invaded their, country and hold part of it still : " Heathen Chinee" indeed; The Chinese were a civilised, cultured people at a time when our British forebears dwelt in caves and dressed in bullock hides. Let them come and teacli us something.

Bishop Cleary of Auckland has just paid his first visit lo Mokai, and a red-letter day it has been in the littlu community.

The bell in the handsomo little Roman Catholic church, built by the Natives, rang out vigorously in honour of tho occasion, ana a kutro " banner " with a strango dovico floated proudly from th<> steople. Coming from Taupo, tho Bishop's motor got stuck in the mud. Well not in mud exactly, for there is none in those latitudes, but in sandy slush that closely approximates to mud in its agglutinative properties, if it doesn't exceed it. The Bishop, who was alone, used all his arts as a skilled chauffeur to extricate his machine but in vain, and then like a wise man, knowing the futility of appealing for aid to tho powers above, he set out afoot to seok it from the powers below. After a walk of a few miles ho found the required aid in the persons of two sturdy Maoris, and with their efforts, combined with those of his lordship and an old-fashioned Maori horse, the new-fashioned road locomotive was in commission again and arrived at Mokai without further mishap. >l Vain is the help of man ! " saith the scripture.'' " Not always !" saith his Lordship, Bishop Cleary, appreciatively. Just before leaving Mokai his lordship was shown over the mill and loco-sheds, etc,, by Mr Phelan, the rran.tger, and was greatly interested in what he saw. The Under Secretary for Lands, Mr Strauchan, has also paid us a visit. Mokai is looking up. The constable from. Taupo comes occasionally.