VISIT TO MAUNGATAWHIRI

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 9, Issue 516, 23 March 1920, Page 2

VISIT TO MAUNGATAWHIRI

SOME GRAND SCENERY. Quite recently the Mayor and councillors of Onehunga, accompanied by the chairman and members of Onetree Hill Road Board, visited the headwaters ' of Mangatawhiri River, for the purpose of inspecting the water catchment area acquired some years ago- One of the party gave a Star representative his impressions of the trip. He said that the descent tu the Mangatawhiri Valley was the steepest and most perilous part of the journey. The car would go sweeping round a sharp curve like the leg of a pair of compasses. It was all right as long as the curve hold true: hut, where a sharper bend intervened, the car would go off at a tangent and pull up with one wheel almost suspended over a profound abyss. The sensation of looking down at trees so far below as [ to be dwarfed by the distance was too exciting to be pleasant. I The Mangatawhiri (lows out of a wooded gorge, the steep ridges all round bushed to the summits. Although the nver appeared to be very low. not nearly covering its pebbly bed, there was enough water to supply Onehunga and One-tree Hill for ihe next 50 years. The question of levels is a straightforward problem for the engineers to decide. It will be necessary for the bottom of the dam to be high enough abo%'e the One-tree reservoir for the water to run frcciy by gravitation. The journey was not without numerous incidents. In one pla e the way was lost. Although the party included a mayor and many councillors, a chairman, and several members of a road board, besides three engineers, provided with compasses and plans of the district, the party had in the end to appeal to an old woman for guidance.