New Zealand Times. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1874.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4223, 2 October 1874, Page 2

New Zealand Times. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1874.

When the Hon. W. Fox retired from office last year, he left a memorandum for the Ministry on the subject of the hot springs in the interior of this island, and relative to the acquisition of the territory by the Government. During the recess he travelled over the country in which the springs are situated, and then embodied the results of his observations in a letter to the Premier. This has been issued as a Parliamentary paper, and it is certainly worthy of perusal—not because much information is to' be derived from it, but because the subject is worthy of the attentive consideration of the powers that he. It is desirable that the Government should acquire a title to these natural wonders, and it is probable that they may prove a desirable site for a retreat for invalids ; but Mr. Fox does not tell us who or what they may be expected to cure. Heading his letter, wo were reminded of the celebrated hero of the Happy Thoughts,” who went to Aix-la-Chapelle to have some disease or other, if it lurked in his body, fetched out of him in the baths there. Whilst “ doing tumbles, ” he felt perfectly certain that whatever the disease was, it was being fetched out of him. For any information Mr. Fox’s letter gives, any invalid or hypochondriac might a» well 'resort to Lake Taupo and hope to have his ailment, real or fancied, fetched out of him. But in case one of the latter 'class should make the experiment, we should not be warranted in anticipating success. Whilst enjoying the waters of Rotomahana, and the majestic scenes that the eye rests upon' all around, Mr. Fox was haunted with his one idea. Some future traveller might, he feared, perhaps be tempted to' commit the enormity of drinking a bottle of bitter beer in_ the very same spot, and whilst his vision reposed upon the same scene of natural grandeur. The idea perfectly staggered the hon. gentleman, and he forthwith entered his protest against such a vile act being committed. Says ho,— Tlmt these majestic scenes may one day bo dese-. crated by all the constituents or a common wateringplace, has something in it bordering on profanity, I

would not suggest that their healing, waters should be withheld from the weary invalid or feeble valetudinarian. Doubtless their sanitary properties wera given them for the good of suffering ' humanity, and that they should become theßethesda of New Zealand would detract nothing from the sanctity ana grandeur. But that they should be surrounded with pretentious hotels and scarcely less-offensive tea-gardens; ■ that they should' be strewed with orange-peel,‘with walnut shells, and the capsules of bitter beer bottles, is a consummation from the very idea of which the soul of every lover of nature must recoil. 1 la tliis the soul of the patriot overcame the feelings of the lover of nature. That people should drink beer when near to so much water, and such water, was too much for Mr. Fox. He begged to suggest to the Government that when the Native title should be extinguished steps should be taken, either by the reservation of the property, or otherwiso, for preventing it becoming the prey of private speculators, or of men to whom a few dollars might present more charms than all the finest works of creation. We fully agree with him that it should be reserved, but we add, not merely for a few people afflicted with temperance on the brain, and with intemperance of idea. Mr. Fox was horrified to find that persons after ascending Mount Sinai, and climbing the Great Pyramid, had been wicked enough to patronise the produce of Mr. Bass’s famous brewery. Another traveller, of greater note, instanced the fact as an evidence of the march of civilisation. There are a good many persons in the ■world endowed with a considerable amount of ability and common sense, who would perpetrate the deed that aroused Mr. Fox’s indignation. The hot spring country commences at the northern base of the two great mountains of Ruapehu and Tongarirb, with the southern shore of Lake Taupo, and stretches thence, in a north-easterly direction to White Island, in the Bay of Plenty. This is a distance of about 150 miles, and the country is about twentyfive to thirty miles broad —about the width of Lake Taupo, and Mr. Fox suggests, possibly fed by an underflow from it. There are springs outside of this tract, but they are not of the magnitude or importance of those in it. About half a dozen sites may be selected which afford unlimited facilities for the establishment of sanitary institutions. The water and steam emerge from the subterraneous reservoirs in three forms, which were classified by Hochstetter as puias, which are constantly, or intermittently, active ; ngaw/tas, which emit steam, but not water ; and waiarilcis, or cisterns, holding water su'table for bathing. Besides these, there are the mud volcanoes and the streams with hot, cold, or tepid water, caused by springs which raise the temperature around them—a feature noticeable in Lakes Rotorua and Rotbmahana. The difficulty about establishing sanatoriums throughout would seem to be that the Natives would expect generally to be privileged guests at them. At the village on ! the southern shore of Lake Taupo the water is used for bathing, cooking, and domestic purposes. Rotorua, Mr. Fox says, affords the greatest facilities for bathing in. the open of. any place in the hot spring districts. The whole bay, near to it, of Ohinemutu, or Ruapeke, has a temperature of from 50° to 110°, according to the set of the wind or the proximity one may be in to a hot spring. It is the daily resort of the whole population of the neighboring Native village, and would admit of regiments of soldiers being, in it at one time. Near to hot springs abound that utilised for baths with butji.ftife'Aydraulic skill. But the oft-described terraces ■atT Rotomahana, which, if acquired, should, as Mr. Fox suggests, be retained as national property. Fortunately, the Natives preserve these terraces from the desecrations of travellers of the Goth and .Vandal character, and they resent the slightest attempt to chip away any portions.

Whether these hot springs and natural baths be valuable or not for medicinal purposes, the fact will not be questioned that they always will be so as a place of resort for travellers, invalids, tourists, and others. The difficulty is, of course, that of acquiring a title to them. That this will be overcome in time no one can doubt, and we expect the work will bo a gradual one. The Government, wo do not suppose, would haggle about terms if but the terraces and baths of Rotomahaua could bo secured—and money accomplishes wonders. The land all around, Mr. Fox says, is almost worthless for agricultural, pastoral, or other purposes ; but as a place of resort for tourists and others it would be invaluable. It might form a sanatorium for the Indian army. Upon it, Mr. Fox thinks, there might bo hospitals; asylums for the insane, the inebriate, and those afflicted with all the evils flesh is heir to. He saw virtue lurking in even the mud volcanoes,'] for, lie says, with naive simplicity ; A good many years ago, a quack doctor travelled over England advocating as a euro for all diseases the burying of his patients up to tho neck In earth. A beautiful young girl who accompanied him used to ho immured as an example. She was afterwards known to the world as tho celebrated Lady Hamilton, whoso name is historically' connected with that of Lord Nelson. Though the man was a quack, his remedy is said to have been efficacious, and possibly the mud puias of Rotorua may some day he found capable of similar application. Attempts have been made to utilise some of the springs, and Mr. Fox says that at Tapuaeharuru a person “of the name of Mac— something or other—erected a bath with appliances for mixing the hot and cold water, but the number of bathers was not remunerative, and Mac’s bath has gone out of repair.” In another place about . half a mile distant, where tho Native title has been extinguished, A. tolerably good bath has been erected by John Loflley, formerly an A.B. sailor in Her Majesty's Navy, who served in the Naval Brigade during the Waikato-war. A dreasing-room is annexed, and Loflley has a small house in tho neighborhood, where he occasionally receives an invalid border. Ho has made attempts to clear and plant tho six or eight acres of adjacent swampy land, and generally shows a creditable degree of energy in endeavoring, with very limited means, to develop tho hygienic resources of the two streams over which he presides as a sort of river god. Mr. Fox suggests that Loflley, who now lives on the land oh sufferance, should have a lease, conditional upon tho erection of a certain number of baths and cottages, in a given time. In addition to the attraction the baths would form, there is magnificent scenery around, and there are some grand waterfalls and cascades on the river Waikato which flows into Lake Taupo, and then “ flows out again, much after the fashion of the Rhone through the. Lake of Geneva —with this difference, however, that while the blue color of the Rhone has passed into a proverb, the waters of Waikato arb of an equally lucid : and transparent, green, unsullied by any trace of muddy deposit or tinge of snow water from the weepings of Ruapehu. ” Of one of the waterfalls, Mr. Fox gives the following description arid legend : The most remarkable object of all, however, Is tho Huka Fall, which would bo considered a flue one In any part of the world, though far exceeded In size by many. The river, which immediately above Is about two chains wid6,' and of the' exquisite transparent green which distinguishes most rivers which flow from t deep lakes (and particularly the upper portion of tho Waikato), after brawling in rapids and eddying in roaches for a few miles, is suddenly pent In between perpendicular walls of rock some fifty or sixty feet high, and not ton paces apart. Between these tho whole descending river rushes for a distance of two or three hundred yards, churned into a mass of snowwhite foam, and roaring.with the hoarse voice with which great cataracts' are gifted, till the confining walls suddenly receding, it shoots forth as if out of

the barrel of a gigantic gun, and plunges'in a solid white mass into a dark-green, pool that lies waiting for it below at a depth of fifty feet perpendicular. A party of upwards of seventy Wanganui Natives, on a visit to "Taupe, are said to have challenged the resident Natives of Tapuaehamru to decend the Huka in canoes. The residents thought discretion the better part of valor; but' the Wanganuis, in a •fit of■'bravado, made the attempt. Their canoe was sucked under the moment it reached the foaming gorge, and only one Native, who leaped ashore, was ever seen again.

One of the latest despatches received from England by Hia Excellency the Governor, and presented to both Houses of Parliament, refers to The Surrender of .Fugitive Criminal’s Act, passed in the General Assembly of New Zealand in 1873. Assent to this was reserved by His Excellency, and on it being transmitted to England, it was referred for consideration to the Secretaries of State for both the Home and the Foreign Departments. They reported that, with every desire to give effect to the views of the New Zealand Legislature, they were unable to recommend that Her Majesty should bo advised to assent to the Bill in the form it then assumed. The 17 th section of the Imperial Extradition Act vested in the Governor of a Colony all the powers vested by the Act in a Police Magistrate or the Secretary of State, and the treaties made with foreign nations provided that the requisition for surrender should be made to the Governor of the Colony in which the fugitive should be located. When the Act was passed it was understood that power should be reserved to Her Majesty, either ‘ to sanction or otherwise, any Colonial legislation having for its object the facilitating of extradition in a Colony, inasmuch as such might not apply to all Colonies ; and it was considered desirable that this should be, as far as possible, uniform. The Secretary of State for the Colonies thought it would be undesirable to restrict the Governor to the performance of duties elsewhere vested in Police Magistrates ; and the Act in question might have prevented a requisition being presented to the Governor of a Colony, as it is made to a Secretary of State. The Imperial Act, by its 7th section, provides that a Police Magistrate may issue his warrant, either at the instance of a Secretary of State; or, under the Bth section, upon information on complaint made before him ; but he must then refer to the Secretary of State, who may, if he is of opinion the offence is of a political character, refuse to authorise the issue of the warrant. Under these circumstances, His Excellency was requested to bring the- despatch under the consideration of his Ministers, and suggest to them the desirability of the Bill being amended by being made in accordance with the Imperial Act.

Wl recently drew attention to the fact that a large portion of the mining population of South Australia was likely to be, at an early date, en route for Western Australia. We can quite understand that it would not be etiquette for the Government of this Colony to specially offer means of transit to the population of South Australia ; but the fact remains, that the people are leaving, and without sending an agent, or traversing rules that should be observed, some' colonists that would be of great utility here might be obtained. The miners, as a rule, are a very thrifty, industrious race of men. The majority have money to their credit in the local - banks. Efforts are being made to attract them to Western Australia. ' They have despatched an agent to make arrangements for their removal to Western Australia, to work as navvies for a time, and subsequently develop the mines of that Colony. The contractor for 1 the railroad left Adelaide for King George’s Sound in company with the agent, and little doubt exists that arrangements would be entered into between them. Queensland agents have, on several occasions, imported a number of Cqßßat' copper miners from South Aihcfaua, even when there was no dispgffijro'n"’ to effect an Hegira ; and if ths-pg'ople aro now determined upon ,lftfftngj it does seem that they might as well come to New Zealand as go to Western Australia. The advantages this Colony can offer are immeasurably superior to those of Western Australia. All the miners require to know is that they would be able to obtain employment here, at the rate of wages now current. Then they would come in flocks.