THE FIRST JOURNEY OF COBB'S COACH TO PATEA.

Southland Times, Issue 1223, 15 March 1870, Page 3

THE FIRST JOURNEY OF COBB'S COACH TO PATEA.

(From the Wanganui Serald.) .-* '-■' Temporamultantwrl The first journey of Cobb's coach over a country in which loss than, five years ago ten thousand men could hardly pass with safety, and which within twelve months a body of one hundred was attacked in open day, is a little epoch in our history, and I am inclined to think that the sth of Eebruary will have a. placb in the local calendar. Early bn Saturday morning the coach started from the Rutland Hotel, and, in order that the event shonld be duly honored, Mr Sheppard provided himself with a bugler, and the departure was announced in an appropriate manner. As we passed through the people were attracted by an unusual sound passing like the wind, and they looked with delight through half-opened eyelids at the great harbinger of civilization moving forward. went up St. John's Bush hill : r jui.|plendid style, and then we had : thyffe;pr|fojir miles of rather heavy Band, arid after passing this the road was good to the Brighton Hotel, which was reached in about aa hour and a-half. After a call to receive Mr O'Hanlon's congratulations, we moved down on to the beach, and had between two and three miles of pleasant travelling. We went inland at the Okehu, and here was the only difficulty of the whole journey. The passengers alighted, and the horses bravely pufled the coach np that sharp declivity of sand. . The coach will only have to pass this way for a few weeks, until two little bridges are thrown across the Kai Iwi and Okehu streams, and a sEght cutting or two made. Then the line will be inland the whole of the distance to "*; Patea. The sand-hills on the other side; of Okehu once passed, we "found, ourselves on a level road, and moving aa smoothly as if we had been on a bowling green; wo were soon at Pakaraka. At the request of the passengers, Mr Sheppard branched off the main line, by another very good road via Tauranga Ika. When we arrived opposite tbe pah, the horses were pulled np, and fifteen minutes were allowed to inspect the remains of Tito's former stronghold. I was much struck by the change in the appearance of the place from the morning it was abandoned by the natives, when I carefully inspected every portion of the works. Then the large towers, the double line of palisading, the countless whares and shell-proof houses formed an imposing sight that made everyone wonder3^ "thej engineering skill displayed. All '..these' 'have disappeared. A rank growth of "Scotchmen," that seems to scorn, by its impenetrable labyrinth, the decay of those inert masses which represented savage power, has enshrouded the crumbling parapets, and not a trace of what once was is to be seen until you are close to the trenches. I, with my fellowtravellers, walked round with difficulty on the. top of the parapet, for here and there a gap was formed which impeded ©ur progress. When standing Ou the most elevated portion of the parapet, a trace is to be seen of the extent and shape of the pa. The trees which formed the roofs of the shell-proof houses, are still resting in their sloping position, but nothing more is to be discovered, and the invincible gentiemen 1 have named, as they havealready planted their conquering roots, will soon have wiped out all vestige of what stood so proudlyanddefiantly twelve months ago. There was no time for reflection, for wo had just completed our circuit ofthe ruins when " all aboard" called us to resume our journey. We had not proceeded far before we met with the first we'eome from a settler. Mr E. Williamson, jun., had await>in°r us a large basket of ripe peaches, a most acceptable offering at the time, and after a halt of a few moments, we descended to the Waitotara. The cuttings to this river on both sides are well done, and will require little improvement ; not so of the Whenuakura or Patea ones, which reflect no credit on the engineer, who might have taken some valuable suggestions from the ferryman. At the Waitotara, the punt was gaily decked out with evergreens; and with peaches still clinging to . the branches. The coach entefeaVfche'punt under a triumphal arch, the band .dfTttie o Veterans playing a lively welcome; ir We were received on the other side by Major Noake (who was on his way into town) .and Captain Kells, who had provided a champagne lunch, at which Mr Sheppard and the passengers were entertained. A change of horses took place here, and we were quickly in Wairoa, where the first active sign of settlement began to show itself. Many buildings are going up in and about the township. The small holdings of the military settlers here are favorable to population and progress, and caused a contrast to be .drawn between that district

and the Waitotara, where the greater part of the land fie lor settlement is in the hands of about half a dozen persons. The effects of the war at Wairoa will soon be removed, and its progress will be second i to that of no other district in the colony. I noticed carpenters from Wanganui busily engraved erecting a considerable addition to Palmer's Hotel, and I was told that the population, in settlers and tradespeople, was daily on the increase. The Whenuakura was crossed, and in three-quarters of an hour, the coach was crossing the Patea River. The ferry arrangements at the rivers are equal to those at Wanganui, and the ferrymen: understand their work. This is no -small comfort to passengers, who feel themselves perfectly safe. The Patea people were in ecßtacies at the sight of the coach, and none seemed more delighted than the Ngatiporous. The coach drew up at Casey's Hotel, and the new arrivals were received with a very cordial welcome by the inhabitants. The journey from Wanganui, including all stoppages, occupied eight hours. The road, the greater part bf the way, is as level as a book leaf, and the passengers agree that they have never ridden on a better one in the colony for the same distance. I noticed, on arriving in Patea, that a migration is taking place from the lower to the upper, or new township, where some very pretty shops have lately been erected, particularly Messrs Tapßn and Muir's. The lowest township (it can hardly be '.called a township, as it has never been laid off for one (is on a sandhill, and, with half the houses taken down, it looks a dreary, god-forsaken place, and before many weeks it will probably be deserted altogether. The new town stands on an excellent site, but no street has yet been recognised as the leading one, and the consequence is that f the buildings are rather straggling. The centre of the town will doubtless be near tbe new ferry. The telegraph office will shortly be^erected, and in the ordinary, course of things a church and gaol will soon follow upon the heeils of population. In the evening Mr Sheppard was entertained at a public dinner.