TREASURE-TROVE

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 177, 17 October 1927, Page 8

TREASURE-TROVE

Shallows of the Manukau A RIDDLE OF THE SANDS IF insistent westerlies, driving inshore through century after 1 century, had not choked the mouth of the Manukau Harbour with soundless depths of sand, Auckland might have looked out toward the Tasman, instead of to Rangitoto Channel. , . . , , But for its abiding shallowness and treacherous bar. created largelv by the prevailing wind from the seas, the Manukau would be one of the world's finest harbours.

(BRUISING on the Manukau can be ' either joy or misery. Auckland yachtsmen, slipping through the canal of the future, will sample both sensations when they set out to explore waters hitherto outside their range.

The characteristics of the Manukau will doubtless] become much better known if the Waiuku canal is constructed, and still more if a connection is made with the Waitemata by way of the Whau or the Tamaki. Its history and colourful associations will be better known when its coastal contours are familiar to more than the somewhat limited number that at present has the facilities for cruising on its waters. TIDE IN THE NARROWS

Like the Kaipara, which is an even more remarkable sheet of water, the Manukau owes much of its striking outline to the deep indentations which pierce its eastern shores. By way of one of these, the Waiuku River, the Waiuku canal will begin. Near the Waiuku wharf a lifting bridge will, if the canal is built, be substituted for the existing arched culvert, beneath which at present reflected trees and shimmering water possess a hint of Old World beauty, and a couple of miles below Waiuku a lock will be built at the Needles, where the opposite headlands of Ohorua and Moreatoa almost form a gate across the channel. Such features are not uncommon among the inlets of the Manukau, aud they are noted for the. tidal currents which sweep violently between them. Such are the Mauku Falls and the Papaltura Falls, turbulent rapids formed when the • ebbing tide seethes and boils as it races to the lower levels beyond the bottlenecks. The Papakura Falls are at the spot appropriately termed Weymouth, where a bridge spans the narrowed estuary. When the tide is out, the Papakura River is a mere trickle between mudbanks, but when the banks are covered the waterway is a noble sight. Soldiers camped at Drury found it a useful stream in the sixties, and they were responsible for artificial deepening, which greatly reduced the vio-

lence of the currents through the narrows at Weymouth. Military associations recall the wreck of the Orpheus, a catastrophe that was accompanied by a tragic death-roll. The ship carried a golden freight, pay for the soldiers who were camped round Auckland, and none of it was recovered. On the treacherous bar outside the entrance the wreck was soon battered into fragments, and somewhere there, still is the treasuretrove of the Manukau, presenting in an intriguing form a new riddle of the sands. LOST TREASURE-TROVE The extent of the shoals which beset the Manukau entrance can be gathered from the fact that the bank on which the Orpheus came to grief was three miles off shoje. The contours of the shallows are constantly changing, and when a new survey was carried out some years ago by Captains H. H. Sergeant and R. H. Gibbons they discovered that the Orpheus bank had shifted a mile further out. So the location of the treasure is now, more than ever, a mystery. During the Harbour Board's inspection last Wednesday, Mr. A. M. Laing, a member of the party, recollected another maritime catastrophe, of which he himself had experience. His small ship, the Florence, was anchored In the Hnia Creek when she dragged her anchors in a violent gale. The crew got ashore, but the ship drifted to sea, and for three days, until she was cast ashore to the south of the Waikato, was tossed by the tempest. Her recovery was accomplished with difficulty, and she was towed back to the Manukau, the owner taking her tiller during the perilous passage of the still-agitated bar.

Those were days when Port Waikato was of inconsiderable status as a coastal port. Nowadays it has some claim to attention, as there is a fairly regular trade with the South, and a large amount of produce, which will be diverted to the Manukau if the Waiuku canal is constructed, is sent there for transhipment on to the Waikato river steamers. Leaving Port Waikato, these flat-bottomed craft immediately enter, on their’ way up-river, a maze of islands and sandbanks. Some of the islands are of great extent, and though liable to submergence under phenomenal tides, they are covered with dense vegetation, creating a wilderness that would delight the heart of a Huckleberry Finn. Flax Is the only useful commodity that they produce at present. , Through the channels that flow between these wooded bars steams the Imposing Rawhiti, the latest addition to the Waikato River fleet. Built in Glasgow to special specifications, she is a nautical curiosity as far as New Zealand is concerned. Though of exceptionally light draught—the Waikato is often no more than three feet in depth—she can carry several hundred tons of freight, and could take something like 2,000 passengers if put to the test. Should the Waiuku canal materialise, the Rawhiti will doubtless add Onehunga to her ports of call.