ON PEACEFUL KAWAU.

Shannon News, 21 March 1924, Page 4

ON PEACEFUL KAWAU.

AN ISLAND OF REST.

A jewel set in the head waters of the Hauralti Gulf, Kawau, resting and peaceful, retains an individuality all its own that the hum of busy life fails to reach. Seventy-five years ago it went to sleep and is sleeping still. The Maori war-cry has been long forgot, ten, the clang of the miner’s hammer has been dead for three-quarters of a century, and the island slumbers quietly. The sea, the hills, the. bays are all the same; the trees, the animals are different. Yet one seems to feel that the island is waking up from the past, castling off its drowsiness. Kawau was busy when Auckland was an infant; its copper mine and smelting works are survivals of those days in the ’forties when the island enjoyed the prospect of a prosperous future. Deposits of copper had been found off the southern shore, a miners’ settlement. sprang up, and the place became important for a little while: to the young colony. Its mineral resources appeared to justify this. But ’49 was a bad year for Kawau. The copper mine was flooded, and the miners, hearing of gold discoveries in Otago, rushed to the South. Both events brought an end to the copper mining .industry and dealt a deadly blow at the prosperity of the island. PINES AND MANUKA. Not long afterwards, Sir George Grey built the Mansion House, and gave Kawau a Historical setting < which it treasures still. The drive that ran completely round the island led from it through avenues of pines. It is overgrown now and shaded from the midday sun by manuka twenty feet high that mantles the hillsides, but still the parties of picnickers that S° for long walks across the island pass along it for miles and miles. ■ Only the south-western part of the island ?is free , from manuka', save for an occasional grove of birchwood in the middle, and scattered native bush on the north and west. Plantations of pines, with scattered puriri trees, and valleys beautiful with funga ferns, mark the more frequented parts.ln a bay backed by groves of lofty pines the Mansion House is amid trees and palms. Further back, out of sight of the bay, many of the oldest pines are yielding to the woodman’s axe; and the extensive clearings and burns seem to make a blot on the landscape, But it is only a passing phase, and Kawau’s hills waving with English grasses may surpass even the stern perpetual green-, ness of the unbending pines. ITS STRANGE ANIMAL LIFE.

Far removed from Auckland, by the geniality of its climate Kawau is still further removed by its animal life. A tiny piece of Australia set at our front door, one would be justified in calling it, with its wallaby,, opossums and kookaurra that frequent the manuka gullies. Stalking the wallaby is difficulty and it requires a skilful sports, man to shoot an animal so timid and alert that it often scents approaching danger before It can be seen. Opossums, though timid, are bold in their pursuit of food, and have several times been seen at the Mansion House, Kookaburra are heard early in the morning in the pine woods.

The deeply indented coastlino has dozens of shingle beaches; and the rocky points of the bays are rich feeding grounds for fish. Here'the kingfish is caught, and during the past few months, this fish has been found quite close to the wharf and even in the shallow waters of the bay. Shark fishing, less profitable, though more exciting, is the. sport of the fisherman who casts his line in the deeper waters. Off Rabbit Island, ten minutes from Mansion House, a party of Auckland, ers landed four sharks last week after an hour’s fishing; and three days later had a good catch ofschnapper, besides kingfish, and kahawai, off the northern end of the island. Though only thirty miieo irom Auckland, Kawau’s communications are a joke. No cable, no wireless, the island relies solely on its steamer services. Four hours to make the trip is a common experience and his is only compensated for by th absence of the dusty, bumpy roads that lead to the west. Not a wheeled vehicle is seen on the island. Sledges, launches, and pulling boats are relied on entirely lor transport work.—Auckland Star.