KAPITI ISLAND.

Otaki Mail, 13 January 1919, Page 2

KAPITI ISLAND.

(BY A PALMERSTON VISITOR.) < It was the writer's good fortune- recently to accompany Professor H. BL Kirk, of the Victoria College, Wellington, oh an official visit to this historical island, and a few notes in relation thereto may bo of interest to those who have not. had the. privilege of seeing this magnificent domain. With the exception of i small cleared portion on the north, end, which is retained by the natives, the island is Crown property, and is under the very efficient management, of. Mr James Bennett, a typical specimen of a sturdy New Zcalßnder who can turn his hand to anything; a crack rirle shot, launch andiboatman, builder, gVrdener, expert sheep station manager, r.nd withal a genial host and zealous Government officer. On arriving at the island per Watson Bros.' launch Ripple on Friday, January itrd, Mr Bennett conducted us to a whare built by himself near the south end of the island, the whare itself being a most eloquent testimony of his physical powers, as every stick of timber, bricks, , and mortar had to be carried*on his ] back up a precipitous cliff into which | steps had been cut. Oneeon top, bowi ever, we found ourselves in a beautiful glade, sheltered from every wind and i with just enough of the bush cut to alios*, the sun to peep 1 in: At the other end of the glade a gorge leads out on to'the rocky coast, where fishing may be had off a rock which seems made for the purpose. This hut. had been used by an opossum hunter, and after skinlung the animals the carcases had been thrown off this fishing rock for months, the result being that fish in groat quantities had collected round for their daily iat ion. Twenty chains oft! the main island to the south lie two smaller islands, -Motungaro.a and Tahoramaurea, and j-till further out is another, Tokomapuna. These islets were very busy spots in the old whaling days, and life, on them is very vividly portrayed in !•:. J. Wakefield's "Adventures in New Zealand." Iu June, 1840, Bishop Williams obtained the signatures of Raupnrahn and Iliko to the Treaty of Waiiangi on Moturignrora, and on Tokomaruna in 1539. "Horse" Evans, a Yankee ivlialtf'-, had a laTgo whaling cstabiisment, kept under strict nautical discipline; his men in smart naval .uniforms, and boats fancifully painted and splendidly equipped.

Robert .McNab in his "Old Whaling' - ' Days" mentions the drowning, in JB4O, of a young man named Stubbs, in a whaling accident of Pukerun; and A*; was interesting to us, in 1919, to starta alongside the grave where the br/ e was buried on Mofungarara. /The burial place is defined by a numb<>iyof whale rilis and huge jaw bones. /This young Stubbs,' we learned lal.i'r Ofro»« one of his descendants, was the j-icat grandfather of the well-known Para tit family of Waikanae. Numerous trading stations were established on these islands before Port Nicholson became populated, and K-ipiti, or Entry Island, was the market place of the West

Crust for many years; it was Kapiti ilax and potatoes that purchased the murderous expedition headed by Hauparaha to Akaroi in the ketch Elizabeth in the late '."!o's.

, On a levelled out site built up by boulders above high-water mark on tht; main islam!, and just oppisto Motungarara wc were shown where Bishop ! liadfield h:id a small church in 'which | services v.ere held on his periodical

i visits to ihe island. At several placca J the old iro;> "try pots" are still to be I seen, particularly at Whurokoku, on the I S.E. point. Lauding by boat i.i only 1 possible at a few places anywhere in the island, Ranitira Point, Waiorua, j and Wharekohu. There are no sandy j beaches, 1 ovf> on the two «mall islets i the landing is good. Wc did not visit | Tokamaptuia, but presumably ii is good,

a-- the whaling boats were iwed there. (The rn'iin island is very simitar as regards the bu>.h and land formation, . to the mainland to the cast of the footi hills, there being heavy bu*b, ucrub, J deep ravines, grassy jclearings, streams iend rocky faces all through it. Travelling in very fatiguing and. in parts dangerous. .-' .-»Xj

| ! The goats and op f -s.»unis some yearn j ago increstsiag at such a rate as •t" become pest*, and the maiiager 'ta rapidly getting rid of these animals, bringing the island into Ha proper bm as a bird sanctuary and ?eenic je&ervc. The native sheep have wandeied f'rom the north end and now have the run of the whole island, unleaded and"burred" to trie eyes, they look mid of no ukc to cayone under. pre«cnti conditions. .......

The nature of. the country at present ■renders mustering impossible, and the problem is giving the manager no little concern. In the centre .of the inland is a large, open grassed\valley some 400 acrea-in extent, wMeh could be made to yield profitable rcturn« when the place is properly fenced and KtOeked, land it is l(r this erid Mr ..Bennett is earnestly devoting himself. The whole western side of the island is an abn&sti sheer precipice, at the base of which. the sea thunder* unceafisgly. Aloag the top edge of the ciiff the traveller fca&'.to pick hi* way per giw|_tra<sk ( and a false step would send him hurtling down 1.750 feet on to the, rock* bdow. A few yards ever, brings him f# a deligitfo] (jiuiet and nerve restoring gia'le. where the pigeons can be *4ea''levelling' in enjoyment of the sunlight. ■ . In one particular pari a huge hamti oceurf*, Via ilo|drj.g side*, clothed 'ftitb ■ magoiacent basis, flatten out into a grjijsy ciwle bordered by a stream,, and ■].. here that the bird Usre'of the V fflandiean best Tie bt*H»;. : ' : ' %rd, tni, a£d pigeons , give, f oat; Ht&t facet tones'and perform gncefol evo- ; .';; ifeioiis usaiofestcd by ■ tbe. -aporfc?jca», &* are iiteadily aultirplyiug'every yea*. * '■':■ *bWb raauager, 'but : the" true' lover : i Xatiare eauvgabt accew. to itbyap- ~ p*aation to the proper quarter if pro- , .pel- : vouched.: 'for aa'd ■; 'a.pprovied.*r' > : i "W"'. ■•] r •