FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 875, 20 January 1930, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By “THE LOOK-OUT MAN.” ONE MORE ILLUSION Mr. J. A. Delaney, who is revisiting Paeroa after two years ill New Guinea, says the weather there is quite equal to that of New Zealand. I used to think I’d like to live In far-away New Guinea, A palm-leaf thatch my mansion house, A plaited kilt my pinny. That’s all I’d need about my form In such a climate, fine and warm. I pictured long and languorous days, Perhaps a trifle steamy, And breezes whispering through the trees, In sibilances dreamy. This was my fond illusion, but It’s now gone absolutely “phut.” The fact is that the weather there, According to Delaney, Is just the same as ours, which means It’s treacherous and rainy. The cyclones rage, the blizzards howl. That’s why they call it Guinea foul. RECORDS When is a record not a record? The small car- which travelled at 60 miles an hour for six hours on Saturday put up a meritorious performance, and an Australian and New Zealand record is claimed for it. Since it is believed that there was previously no Australian or New Zealand record in existence, this particular part of the business seems fairly easy. Of course, records have to be put up at some time or other. If there is not a record to begin with, how can records be broken? There must be something to start on. Athletic mothers with eyes on the advantages of holding the ten hours’ perambulator pushing record would be well advised to bear this in. mind. THROUGH THE GORGE Landslides are often slightly inn convenient. This has been demonstrated to railway patrons by the recent dislocation of train services through the Manawatu Gorge. Slips in the gorge were once more frequent on the road side than on “the railway side, and at Terrace End, Palmerston North, and in the main street of Woodville there are official Automobile Association notice-boards on which the motorist may see the notification, “Gorge Clear,” or “Gorge closed,” as the case may be. But the road through the gorge has been steadily improved. It was the first work taken over by the Main Highways Board, and the elaborate system of reinforced concrete slabs and trestles on which the road for a good part of the way is carried out from the cliff makes it the most expensive few miles of road in the country. THE SLUICING GANG In October, 1926, a heavy slide came down across the railway line in the goi'ge, holding up traffic for weeks. Before the transhipping arrangements were organised by the Railway Department it was necessary for travellers to pay extra to get through the gorge by road. This was the cause of considerable resentment. It is the way the Railway Department loses favour with the public, and it is happening all over again now. Perhaps one fine day, when the millenium is approaching, stationmasters will be given authority in such cases to engage cars at the expense of the department. The slips now blocking the line do not seem to be as large as the big one of 1926, which was some hundred yards across, and came from several hundred feet up the slope. To clear it satisfactorily a system of sluicing had to be l'esorted to, and the methods by which water was brought from a waterfall high up the hill in order to get the necessary fall, and piped along the cliffs and through a tunnel, made this particular job of work one of the most interesting the department’s engineers have accomplished. SMART PASSAGE People who grumble querulously because the Manawatu Gorge slips delay them an hour or so on their journeys would be interested in the point of view of Bishop Selwyn, who in 1842 congratulated himself on a particularly smart passage through the gorge, three days being occupied in making the nine-mile trip between the mouth of the Pohangina and the village of Kaiwitikitiki, which stood near the site of the present Gorge railway station, at the eastern end of the gorge. Selwyn is believed to have been the second white man to traverse the gorge. There were no tracks then, and the passage was made by canoe, which at several places had to be unloaded and carried overland for some distance to avoid the rapids. Selwyn’s account of the journey says:—“The chief at Kaiwitikitiki presented us with a basket of potatoes, and treated us kindly. Gospels in return.” After negotiating the gorge the prelate’s party struck through dense forest, to the great plains of central Hawke’s Bay, where one of the minor surprises that awaited them was a chief dressed impeccably in an English suit; of white duck, with hat, socks and shoes to match,