A TRIP UP THE EAST COAST.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1194, 6 November 1882, Page 2

A TRIP UP THE EAST COAST.

Some fortnight ago having made the necessaryjarrangements for workingthe ship in our absence, we started in company with Mr Robert Cooper for a short tour up the East Coast as far as the Waiaptt Valley and the Southern Cross Petroleum Company’s property at Rotokautuku. Leaving town at 4 p.m. on the fine evening of Wednesday, the 18th of October, we crossed Mr McDonald’s (M.H.R.) Pouawa run, and gained the coast, when, the tide being out, we had a fine hard beach right along past Mr Seymour’s Wham gara run, and past Mr Loisel’s, and aatoss the hill to the Waitotara Hotel where we overtook Dr Leggatt, Mr D. Crawford, and Mr Barker, Government Insurance Agent, all of whom were bound coastwise on their several businesses ; the insurance agent with a diabolical determination to take life wherever he could, Dr Leggattfassisting him in his horrid endeavor ; and Mr Crawford with an eye to the plentiful supply of beer along the coast for the delectation and of the worn and weary traveller. At the Waitotara Hotel we also met Mr O’Meara, of Wellington, who had started up the Coast on a visit to his son, Mr W. O’Meara, of Awetere, but had been obliged to relinquish his intention and turn Gisbornewarda through a slight accident which occurred to him by his horse giving a sudden jump which he felt had slightly ricked” him. Here we were very comfortably housed for the night by the proprietor Mr Finlay, a brother of the late proprietor of this hotel, who having taken to fresh fields ana pastures new now keepslMickey Mulloolv’s Hotel at Tologa Bay. Mr Finlay did everything in his power to make us comfortable and, rising early in the morning, refreshed by a good night’s rest, we breakfasted, and saddling up, started together for Tologa Bay. The road from Waitotara to Tologa is, perhaps, the worst on the whole journey, being ** over a good deal of stoney and shingly ground which sorely tries horses who are not well accustomed to it. The hill sidlings we found by no means bad consequently upon the long continuance of dry weather, but in several places we noticed large blocks of earth, especially on the slips, which were evidently ready to come down on the advent of the slightest provocative rain. The grass looked averagely well, and the stock depasturing seemed to be thriving with a fair lambing increase, but the want of rai was evident throughout the country. The journey to Tologa from Waitotara occupied us about 2| hours, and we reached the Uawa ferry at about 8 o’clock; after crossing in the punt, we made our way to Mr Finlay’s (late Mullooly’s) Hotel, the hoet being a brother of Mr Finlay of Waitotara ; here we baited our horses and breakfasted, afterwards paying a visit to Mr R. O. Stewart, and looking round the celebrities of Tologa Bay generally. At Mr Finlay’s we met with Mr J. Stewart, and regretted to find our respected fellowtownsman, Mr C. D. Berry, laid up with an attack of swollen feet, which he believed to be the result of a sprained ankle, but which Dr. Leggatt, on examining, immediately pronounced to be rheumatic gout. Among the cel ?brities of Tologa we must not forget to mention an old and drerepit Maori named Mohia, a cripple, aged now about 74 years, who in early youth ascended the rock laying off the point near Cook’s Cove, for the purpose of obtaining a drink of water, and, losing his balance, was violently precipitated down a sheer decline of some 120 feet, which eL fectually crippled him for life, and left him half an idiot. The humane residents in Tologa gave him, not long ago, a small . weatherboard building to live in, but he insisted upon making a fire on the floor, and the natural consequence was that the building was burned to the ground, and the occupant narrowly escaped with his life. Ho then resorted to his old mode of life, using the bare ground for a floor, and the heavens for a roof. Some humane person, however, stacked a lot of rails in the form of a delta wigwam, into which Mr Mohia crawled, and in which, from that day to this, he lives and moves and has his being, a pensioner of Micky Mullooly’s for food, clothing, and tobacco; or rather, we should say, for food and tobacco, for clothing is a very secondary consideration with Mohia. He must be possessed of an iron constitution, for, according to what we were told, he is as strong and able now as he has ever been since his accident, and although unable to do more than totter, goes out and collects his daily firewood from the beach as regularly as clockwork. The wily Mullooly proposed to Mr Barker that he should insure Monia's life at an easy premium, but this the astute Hibernian declined to see. Tologa has been so often described that we will do no more than say that it is a very pretty well sheltered bay); the township consisting of two public houses, two stores, and one shoemaker’s shop. The R.M. Court-house is represented by a barn belonging to Mr Finlay. The other hotel is kept by Mr Allanach, who is well-known and liked along the Coast. After lunch, we again saddled up and started en route for the Coast, crossing the celebrated Wharekaku plains, the property of Messrs Graham and Co., and the Glasgow Bank. Here the stock depasturing looked uncommonly well, but again the want of rain w*as conspicuously evident. Calling at Mr Williams’, where Mr R. Cooper changed his horse, we were shown a very fine young entire thoroughbred horse by “The Mute,” which having met with an accident in its younger days had been relegated to the stud without ever having been raced. Passing on we called at the large Pah occupied by Karauria, one of the most influential Native Chiefs of the district, who was we were sorry to find suffering from an attack of dropsy. Here Dr Leggatt left us to return to town, and we were joined by Mr Stewart, who undertook to pilot us to Marahac by an inland route, not generally known to the travelling public, who, as a rule observe the tracks leading along the high coastal ranges. We passed through a great number of Maori cultivations, and up a beautifully picturesque valley, which is certainly large enough to afford facilities for settlement to all the immigrants which can be induced to come to Poverty Bay, This land is mostly, if not all, in the hands of Natives, and not having been passed through the Native Lands Court, is, as yet, inalienable. After travelling some time along this valley we came to the foot of the hill dividing us from Maranae, for which place we were making, and crossing this hill, which occupied us something like an hour, we i reached McClutchey’s Hotel at Marahae, about half an hour after dark, and here, after supper, and feeding our horses, we turned in for the night glad to avail ourselves, after our journey, of Mr McClutchey’s comfortable beds. Turning out early in the morning we got a good start after breakfast and proceeded on our journey, passing over the run lately leased by Mr Potter, and which as yet is unstocked. On the seaward side of this run is a small peninsula of very high land jutting out into the sea, and forming one of the prettiest little bays that can possibly be imagined. Here on the very highest point of this peninsular, which is accessible from one side only, Harirota, a Native woman of the Ngatirangi hapu of Ngatiporou, afterwards married to Henare Potae, with two other Nativ» women, successfully defended the position, which is an undeniably strong one, against a body of Hauhaus, of whom they killed twelve, and wounded a great many more, beating them off in a decisive repulse. Here the late Captain Read frequently said he would wish to return in his old age and end his days, and certainly he

eould not have hit upon a more retired, or prettier spot. Looking down upon it from the coastal ranges one cannot fail to be struek with the picturesque prettiness of this little spot and its surroundings. Captain Read must have had an intense longing for peaceful solitude, when he selected this as a spot to live and die in. Following the track, sometimes over the hills, sometimes on the beach, we pass solitary Maori settlements, until we finally come to Mr A. C. Arthur’s run at Tokomaru. This run is well worthy of notice as being one of ths best runs on the coast. It is leased by Mr Arthur from the Natives, with whom of late he has had some trouble, resulting in several of them having to make their appear* ance before Mr Preece, at Tologa Bay, when, however, Mr Arthur withdrew from the prosecution, considering that a warning from the bench would produce the necessary effect ; a warning which we need hardly say was given to them by Captain Preece in effectual language. Mr Arthur kindly went bail for one of the natives, who, having been charged with threatening language, was bound over to keep the peace for six months. At Mr Arthur’s station we were kindly supplied by Mr Boyd, the overseer, with a fresh horse, our own showing slight symptoms of a sore back. Going on from Mr Arthur’s, we visited a large runanga house, with many elaborate carvings, both inside and out; the outside principal supports possessing the most hideous of figures, carved in the most approved Maori fashion ; eyes and stomach protruding, and tongue thrust out to the utmost extent, the eyes being made of Pawa shell, and the contortions of face and figure as hideous as it is possible to conceive. There is a Native School here under the supervision of Mr Warner, who, we regret to say, has been for some time past an invalid, but is now recovering from an illness which at one time threatened to prove fatal. Leaving the Runanga house and the School, and a consi&derable acreage of Maori settlement behind z us, we proceeded on to the Tokomaru Hotel, kept by Mr Franklyn Hodges, who, with his pleasant and kindly-mannered wife dispenses the good things of this life in the most genial and acceptable manner. Here, although it was yet early in the day, we paddocked our horses, and camped, as Mr R. Cooper had a good deal of business to transact here with the native residents. Mr Barker and Mr D. Crawford left us here and went on ahead. Here we met with one of the Father’s of the East Coast, popularly known as “ old Bill Ward,” formerly a seaman on board H.M.S. Rattlesnake. Mr Ward has been over 40 years a colonist, and in some respects a successful one. We forget the exact number of children and grand-children (with Maori mama’s) whom he claims as his own progeny, but we are safe in saying their name is legion. In speaking to ua regarding ' this somewhat delicate matter, he expressed an opinion that the Government should award him a pension m compensation for the trouble he had taken in the colonization of the country. It is needless to say that we agreed with him. During the evening, a mob of 65 head of mixed cattle for Wm. Ratcliffe & Co. in charge of Messrs. Buller and White, passed down the Coast from Messrs. Winter and Haig’s station en route for town. We stayed all night at Hodge’s Hotel, and were made far more comfortable than we expected. This hotel is thoroughly English in its proclivities for clean table cloths, clean knives, clean sheets, and clean plates, and we cannot speak too highly of the courtesy and attention we experienced during our short sojourn at the hands of both host and hostess. The following day (Saturday, the 21st Oct.), Her breakfast we saddled up, and bidding adi e a to our host and hostess, and a dusky crowd of admiring aboriginals, we made tracks coastwise, calling at a Native settle-

ment, where we were introduced to Charlotte, the wife of Henaro Potae, who so gallantly defended the pah at Mahia against the Passing onwards, we called at Trimmers homestead at the foot of Xfawhiti j crossing which very steep hill, the terror of coastal travellers, we saw some very fine cross-bred sheep, Mr Trimmer’s property, grazing on the slopes. Mr Trimmer owns about 20,000 acres of a leasehold run here. Tawhiti, the hill above referred to, is very steep, and takes a traveller in good weather, snch as we were experiencing, about two hours to cross. Inland from here and visible from the Waipiro side of the hill, lay the Waipiro Hot Springs, which are of considerable dimension, and comprise several springs of all temperatures from cold to boiling heat, the sulphureous waters of which are as celebrated for their medicinal qualities and healing properties in rheumatic or skin eruptive diseases as those of Waiwera or Rotorua. After arriving on the far side of Tawhiti one finds oneself on the beach in Waipiro Bay—a fine sheltered roadstead, into which schooners such as the Gisborne and Minnie Hare can come with ease and safety; about two miles from the foot of Tawhiti, we arrive at the Waipiro Hotel, kept by Mr J. Harding, whose name is a household word along the Coast; here we had lunch » and fed our horses. We found here Mr Barker and Mr Stewart, who had gone ahead of us, and who were now retracing their steps in the direction of Taloga, Mr Crawford having pushed on towards the Oil Springs. Leaving Waipirojabout 2 p.m., we made our way party s|ong the beach and partly over the coastal range tracks to Whareponga, a Maori settlement of considerable size and pretension, and thence over a considerably long hill to Tuparoa, another Maori settlement on the coast. Here there is an hotel and store, kept by Mr Milner who is a member of the County Council for the East Coast District; here we remained until about 6 p.m., when we started over another hill about 3fc miles in length, coming out on the beach at a Maori settlement called Riperua, about a mile from which, along the beach, lay our destination, Mr O’Meara’s homestead* at Awatere, which we finally reached about 7 o’clock, just after dark. (To be continued-)

The Wellington correspondent of an Adelaide paper is responsible for the followiing : —“ A novel method for raising Church funds has lately come into force fn New Zealand. It may be suggestive to your people to go and do likewise, which I hope they will not. This is oyster and rump steak suppers at a high tariff of charges. The waiters are young lady waitresses, attired smartly as waitingwomen, while the cooks are young ladies, the customers young gentlemen, with a sprinkling of grey-haired old ones (more shame for them.) The calls of the waitresses to the cooks for “ One steak and oysters,” “ Two scollop,” “ Three stews,” and “ One in the shell,” may be heard through the hours of the evening. I do not like this sort of thing myself, more particularly as it is encouraged by the clergy, who appear in these present days indifferent to the way money is obtained for altar cloths, surplices, and ehurch decorations. Very likelygirls like it; the men like it, The thing is a novelty. But propriety steps in and says, “ Shame upon you all for such indecent doings.” If there be sufficient vitality in religion, it should surely support its ministers without devising such extraneous resources. ”

The annular eclipse of the sun occurs on the 11th instant, and will be observable as a partial eclipse. The moon will enter on the • sun’s disc about 9.42 a.m. The middle of the j eclipse will be about 11.22, and the end about 22 minutes after noon.

The recent “Old English® Fayre” in Napier has been highly successful, and it is estimated that fully £6OO will be netted, there having been over £7OO taken. The bathing season is rapidly approaching, and even horses are affected with a desire to have a plunge in the briny. Yesterday morning a quadruped which was galloping up from the wharf, on being stopped opposite the ferry, noticed some horses on the other side of the river, rushed frantically down the bank iumped on the punt, and Newfoundland dog like, plunged into the river and swam across, thus evading the toll.

The police are now going to take action if proper precautions are not taken against any breach of the Municipal Council’s Bye-laws. There was a bolt to-day in Gladstone Road and as children are constantly about, it was miraculous that some loss of life had not occurred.

The novelty of eight clergymen preaching at one time to invisible audiences was witnessed on a recent Sunday in the Eastern Penitentiary, Philadelphia. It appears that this prison is conducted on the principle of solitary confinement, and each prisoner has his own lonely cell. These cells open on eight corridors, radiating from an octagonal centre. The preachers stood at the outer end of the corridors, and could be her.rd by the occupants of the cells in their several sections. A group of officials and reporters in the miadle of the prison experienced the novel sensation of listening to eight sermons at once.