NOTES OF A JOURNEY TO NAPIER AND BACK.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5518, 3 December 1878, Page 2

NOTES OF A JOURNEY TO NAPIER AND BACK.

A Wellington resident, living in a climate where rain is constantly falling, where even in the summer months, October, November, December, and January, rain usually falls during each week, and where the grass is brilliantly green and abundant and the leafage bright and fresh, will be startled by the different condition which he will see obtaining in the neighboring provincial district of Hawke’s Bay. A 20-hours’ journey by one of the Union Company’s steamers will take him to Scinde Island, on which is built the City of Napier. Instead of bright green well-covered hills and fertile plains he will see dark brown hills and withered, dried-up looking plains. Instead of cool breezes and vapor-laden airs he will feel winds stronger and more constant than those to which he has been used, winds which are drier and hotter. On landing ho will find streets that are never wetted by rain or by water carts, streets that are made of white, glittering limestone, which is soon crushed; streets covered literally inches deep with soft, white powder. He will see all the roadside houses and shrubs and trees all white with this dust; ho will see firs that at a distance look white as though covered with snow, and after tramping about the streets he will find his black hat and coat rapidly becoming of the same tint as the firs. He will feel the heat intense, and the air thick and heavy ; often he will fancy himself in some tropical town. After hearing the inhabitants talk he will soon learn that there is only one thing about which they do talk, only one thing of which they seem to think, that only one subject engages their minds and completely monopolises them. He will find that they are everlastingly asking each other one question with damning iteration, that one question being, “When do you think it is going to rain 2” To this stereotyped question a stereotyped answer is always given, “ If it does not come soon the country districts will be ruined.” Wherever one goes, in whatever

society the traveller mixes, the one unceasing subject of conversation is the absence of rain. All day long, and every day, the people think and talk of the drought and of nothing else. It is an absolute fact that for twenty months there has been hardly any rain, that since last. February twelvemonths the district has been suffering from want of rain. During two whole winters there has been almost no'rain, certainly nothing approaching a flood, and the smaller creeks have not been set running. There have been no “ southerly busters,” no deluges. Day after day the strong hot westerly winds prevail, winds which dry up and scorch the grass and the crops. Night after night black clouds gather overhead, the stars are shut out, perhaps a few drops of rain fall, the stranger expects a deluge, but the inhabitants are wiser and know it is all a fraud. Sometimes the wind abates, and all is calm and hot, reminding one of the poet's words— In the afternoon they came unto a land In which it seemed always afternoon. All round the coast the languid air did swoon Breathing like one that hath a weary dream. * The drought is really a dire calamity to the district. For want of water the crops are miserable ; iu many instances they will barely return the seed that was sown. It is really very depressing to see hundreds of acres of crops (oats, wheat, grass, turnips, &c.) all almost ruined; to see them after they have been growing for months not a foot high, and in many instances with the ends of their leaves withered and yellow. Many cockatoos who bought small blocks of land at high prices will be ruined, and others will be very hard pushed. Some parts of the district seem quite unfit for cultivation, because of the frequent droughts and the never-ceasing winds. It is, however, a splendid sheep country. The up country settlers breed large quantities of young sheep, which are sold to the dwellers on the far-famed Ahuriri Plains. Close to Napier are 50,000 acres of most magnificent fertile level land—land which is pure alluvial deposit many feet in depth. Part of this land is the famous Heretauugo block, about which there has been so much talked in the House of Representatives in past sessions. This land will carry five and six sheep to the acre all the year round, and so good is the subsoil that the drought is but slightly felt. The grass is so good and so abundant that the sheep scour, and it is found that it is a bad place for breeding, as the young lambs die fast. The plains are therefore always stocked with sheep bred in less luxuriant pastures. The wool crop this year promises very well. Of late years the ruuholders having bought all their land are now spending their money improving their sheep, and it is no exaggeration to say that of late years the weight of the fleeces has been more than doubled, and the quality vastly improved. . For years merinoes alone were in fashion, but now crossbreds are supplanting them. The greater part of the district ia divided into runs, only in a few parts are there many small farmers. The largest land-owner has about 50,000 sheep. Most of the runholders are now very wealthy, and all over the district a vast amount of improvement is going on. Many hundreds of miles of fencing are yearly completed. The fern is rapidly being cleared off the hills, and. the swamps rapidly decreasing. Runs which a few years ago would carry only 5000 or 6000 sheep now carry from 15,000 to 20,000. Runholders are everywhere spending large sums in surface sowing and in ploughing. The Hon. H. R. Russell has ploughed the greater part of his run, including the large hills, and on another estate £IO,OOO a year is euuk in improvements. (To he continued.)