Twenty Years Ago.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 3 January 1891, Page 2

Twenty Years Ago.

The year riot such a long way \o look tiack; wet many changes have come over tlrl face of this West Coast in that ti me. Twenty years ago the inhabitar ts north of Wanganui were driven i nto the town, and there besieged oy hostile natives. People in this dis fcrict were doubtful of the treatment ' chaj, they would receive. How cfifl errot everything is n6\v. We pl-opd Je hi this arid following Articles id recall the position we were in then, so that though we have no " Chica jo's," yet the progress of the com ltry has been vast and wonderfnl. Twenty years ago flax claimed a go >d deal df attention, the Manawatu Fl ax Mill having been erected and wor ting . on the site in Johnston street, (where the paddock used now by Mr] Rutherford as a drying ground, is piters'ected; Foxtoii then possessed but few buildings, and tl i^se had but lately been put up. W e take from an old "cutting" a description of the country as seen from the Taikorea hill, now part oi the Oroua Downs Estate, but When visited by us Was Government lanliL used as a run by Messrs Jacob JoSeph & Co., who were fortunate in I having as their manager Mr Walter Simpson, now of the Oroua Bridfje. We are surprised more trips jare not made to the summit of this! hill, as will be seen an excellent View can be obtained. " From thd top of Taikorea we beheld a magnificent view. Looking south you saw the Tararua range run into the sea beypnd Paikakariki, and the island o£ BEtapiti standing siUlerily oitt of the water, bleak and gruff. Nearer, you|gpuld trace the Manawatu, winding wnnd and round till it escaped to sea ty the Wharangi, and then directly below you was a table land with slight sand ridges\ having the appearance of being ruled regularly across froai east to west. The road from Foxton to Scott's is to come, I am told, in a straight line from the east side of Omarapapaku to the trigonometrical station on this hill, and then to curve to the ferry. About two miles this side of the bush the road from Pukftotara will run into this line, and will be but a short distance across. Puketotara lies from this view in a south-easterly direction, and about seven miles away. Looking west, you saw the coast with its barrier of sandhills rising and falling for a mile inland to a range of lagoons, which run at irregular intervals right between the two rivers. You saw a rise which shows the mouth of the last stream up the coast to the Rangitikei, and which is called the Pukipuki. Still looking in the same direction, about three miles away from the station, you can see two snlallljluTnpsTrfbugli— in one there is a dead tree, bare of branches, standing above all others like a flagstaff. These bushes go by the name of California. But the seal pleasure is the view north. Directly under you, looking towards your left, is fine open land covered with a luxuriant growth of high toitoi, with long reeds and feathery heads, and flax, and high manuka scrub, and the clear patches stand out green and fresh from a strong 'growth of clover and grass. The soil seems, and does, change from one side of the hill to the other, and the contrast is similar to the difference between a desert and Devonshire meadow land. In front of you lies the bush, the Maori name of which is of some considerable length, viz.,. Whakanekineki, and forms a boundary almost between the upper and lower half of the block. The other side of this bush, the track from Palmerston to Bulls runs across the block, which is of a different character altogether. In the far distance three clumps of bush on the banks of the river shew where it lies. Again, to your left, a curious shaped sandgridge, called the whale, from somefning in its appearance resembling the back of that fish as it is about to dive", helps to mark the boundary of the better land. A rise straight before you called Mount Alexander, is where a stream called the Makowhai enters the Rangitikei. Still further north the view was spoilt from a slight haze that was hanging over the land, but signs of life were visible from the smoke \vhich large fires were sending up some way inland."