The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1919. A RECORD OPTIMISM.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3331, 8 November 1919, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1919. A RECORD OPTIMISM.

yiih which is incorporated “The Taihape Post: and Waimarino News.”

In the Parliament that has just ceased to exist there were no two Members more loyal or more {optimistic about the importance of the electorates they rcpres-ented than the two Smiths —he of Taranaki, and R. VV., of Waimarino. Belief in self, in town or district and in country compels admiration. Representatives who seek the ‘confidence of the people among whom they live, because they are convinced of their ability and determination to achieve the utmost that honest, upright endeavou-r is capable of are the ‘men that merit confidence.‘ Uecause ‘they are filled to ‘the brim with those qualities from which success is" inseparable. Mr S. G. Smith, Member for Taranaki, enthusiastically told the House in all seriousness that ‘Taranaki was’ the most wonderful province in New Zealand, a fact, he claimed, that was incapable of disaproval, but Taranaki lacked “that sympathnetic treatment from the Governmentof the -day that was long‘ oVfer—‘due to" it_‘“Mr R. W. Smith is, fnom his utterances in Parliament, ‘-‘as strong a believer in 'th.e'present and "future of the Wainiarino electoratc as:Mr S. G. Smith isabout Taranaki, but he is more conversant‘ .._with Parliamenta-r_v usage, and therefore does not carryso vivid an index of his convictions on'his sleeve as he of Taranaki does. Mr S. ‘G. Smithy challenged statistics and history to re- 5 fnte his claims, and it would appear‘ that right from the time the Tainuil Canoe was pushed into Kaxvhia liarbour, and its passengers passed south,) over the Mokau into 'l‘afallal;i, a spirit of optimism was kindled that. has not yet been extinguished, but which burns more brightly to-day than it did when the passengers from Hawaiki first pros- I pected that magnificent and fruitful country. It is somewhat remarkable‘ that the natives who arrived from‘ Hawaiki in‘ the -great Arawa Canoe_,| and who progressed inland from thej Bay of Plenty to vßotorua,ATaupo,_ and} into this very district of Taihape, were 1 equally optimistic about the great country they had discovered. Numerous are the wonderful stories, or glorified traditions, the old Native chiefs, descendants of the Tainuis and Arawas, will yet tell of the beauty and‘

productiveness of The new land their gods had guided them to in safety. Going :right back to mythological times we become impressed wifh the suspicion that it was where the £IOO an acre land of Taranaki is now located that

Maui, while out fishing. caught a snag and pulled 1115” New Zealand from the bottom of “the ocean. Wherever the !\z'avra and Tainui people spread, those lc-ehlities have been prolific of remarka'hl.:= stories. -and to-"day we have Isfr S. G. Smith challenging ]:“a1-liament to disprove that Taranaki is the most

wonderful provinco in all New Zealand-, and who h:_i,s9 the temerity to accept the challenge, eiflmr inside or outside of P-al~lliamentl‘? Be‘-tween -the date. of Maui fishing up New Zealand and the arrival of the immigrants from HzlW£l- - and the lapse of time that occur-

red while the Tainui and Al-awa people

D pushed into the Tararnaki, and Taihape , districts respectively, and the coming of the Pakeha, history is obscure and somewhat unreliable, though much of it is exceedingly picturesque and fas—cinating. The.i«lea. of Taranaki being a,-Wonderful locality has never been seriously disturbed, and if some artist would only paint Mount Egm-ont with a little boat on its summit, one could easily believe that it was the spot where Noah ’,g Ark rested and from whence the {whole world .was repeopled. —Oul'.cal'lies't colonists amply corroborate all the claims that Mr S. G. Smith can make for his province. Turning to oflicial reports made in the . years 1842-43, we find letters from settlers around New Plymouth that make most wonderful claims for Taranaki fertility and climate. A Mr John Wallace said there was room in ‘Taranaki for a million people;_ S. and W. Curtis thought it was, the fincst -wheat _und barley country i ever _‘.<;ecn; Glaiptain Smith had 3. garden with cabb°agesll2' feet round, onions 20 inches round,‘

radiahr-s ‘I6 ‘;ll_ches ‘round. William Henwood said cattle did I'enl:lrkably

! well, but little didlie dream that the ‘time would gevcr come when mil‘eh [cows would be put out so many to the acme.‘ somewhat Hiniiiar ‘to planting lgocscberry bushes. William Henwood lwas obsessed with an optimism that l Mr S. G. Smith cannotvavershadow; he ' didn’t believe any country could beat "Faranaki for -breeding sheep, he had little doubt that sheep -would breed twice a year. His goats had kidded thrice in the year.’ The land was so [ rich that he had to cut his wheat down l twice before he could get it to stand; [ his oat crop was seven feet high, and ‘the individual stems were an inch in circumference. Mr Henwood had some wonderful surprises in cropping, Peas grew so high that he had to gather the top pods with a step-ladder. He thought his readers might think he was 'romancing‘, so he took the Opportunity‘ [to interpolate an assurance that he lwas not. Mr Henwoed said his land ]was groaning undera profusion of crops; in fact, he was at loss to say u what Ta-ranaki land would not produce ' under a proper system of farming. A } Mr Dew stated in. 1843 that he would u6t mind landing in Taranaki without a shilling, knowing that in three [months he would have a Jprofitablc vocation, but land had not then gone ‘ up to present-day prices, and yet it is doubtful whether the Member for ‘Taranaki would funk at stating in 1919 What Mr Dew said in 1843. We could go on quoting from oificial and authoritative reports to much further length to prove that Taranaki resid- ' ents from mythological times have had gan unshakable confidence in the‘ won-

derfully superior natul‘e‘of ‘their soil

and climate. Mr -S. G. Smith, like Mr Henwood, thought Members of Parliament might think he was romancing, but he assuré-d’ them he was not, and he‘ flung in their faces all the statistics and history they cared to investigate. This journal took Mr Srnifh’s claims seriously, and did dive into history and statistics, authentic and legendary, -and we have to congratu-

late the Membei for Ta.ra.naki, and sequentially the Taranaki people, in proving his case righf up to the hilt. Morcover, we ‘agree and sympathise

with his contention that the Governmen't has been guilty of ‘non-under-standable neglcct in leaving such'land inaccessible for -want of roads, and for leixving huge areas of magnificent coal-bearing‘ country i_n‘t_he_ir_pl'imitiVe sfafe, while coal is lillobti;i}lablé for Vcm-.l'-yingj produce from -lmékblccks to Asca.boal'd. The 'Waimarino V Cou_n"ry,A opened up primarily Arawa natives. travelling via Taupe to ATa.ihape' nnfst be left for discussibn in a later issue.