WONDERFUL TARANAKI.
A RECORD OPTIMISM. (Taihapc Times.) In the Parliament that has just ceased to exist there wore no two members more loyal or more optimistic about the importance of the electorates they represented than the two Smiths—ho of Taranaki, and R. W„ of Waimarino. Belief in sell, 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 endeavour is capable of are the men that merit confidence, because they arc filled to the brim with those qualities from which success is inseparable. Mr. S. G. Smith, member for Taranaki, enthusiastically told the Rouse in all seriousness that Taranaki was the most wonderful province in New Zealand, a fact, he claimed, tliat was incapable of disapproval, but Taranaki lacked that sympathetic treatment from the Government of the day that was long over-due to it. Mr. R. W. Smith is, from his utterances in Parliament, as strong a believer in the present and future of the Waimarino electorate as Mr. S. G. Smith is about Taranaki, but H is more conversant with Parliamentary usage, and therefore does not carry so vivid an index of his convictions on his slqcve as he of Taranaki docs. Mr. S. G. Smith challenged statistics and history to refute his claims, and it would appear that right from the time the Tainui Canoe was pushed into Kawhia harbour, and its passengers passed south, over the Mokau into Taranaki, 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 prospected that magnificent and fruitful countrv.
It is somewhat remarkable that the natives who arrived from Hawaiki in the great Arawa Canoe, and who progressed inland from the Bay of Plenty to Rotorua, Taupo, and into this'very district of Taihape, were equally optimistic about the great, ccmniry 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 Jand their {rods had guided them to in safety. Going right back to mythological times we become impressed with the suspicion that it was Vhcre the £IOO an acre land of Taranaki is now located that Maui, while out fishing, caught a snag f.i:d pulled up New Zealand from th°> bottom of the ocean. Wherever the Arawa and Taimii people spread, those localities have been prolific of remarkable stories, ■ and to-day we have Mr. S. G. Smith challenging Parliament to disprove that Taranaki is the mosf wonderful province in all New Zealand and who has the temerity to accept the challenge, either .inside or outside of parliament? Between the date of Maui iishing „p N(!W Zenlrtnd nnd thg arrival of the, immigrants from Hawaiki, and the lapse of time that occurred wlu.e the Taimii and Arawa people, pushed into the Taranaki, and Taihape districts respectively, and the coming of the Pakeha, history is obscure and somewhat unreliable, though much fit it is exceedingly picturesque and fascinating.
The ,ca of Taranaki being a wonderful locality lias never been seriously disturbed, and if soine art j ß t would only paint Mount Egmont with ft little boat on its summit, one could oas,ly behove that it was the spot where Noahs Ark rested and from whence the whole world was re-peopled. Our earliest colonists amply corroborate all the claims that Mr. S. G. Smith can make (or Jus province. ~J Urr i ;^ t ,°o°' Fu ' ia! re ' ,01 ' ts m!u!p '" the ears ]842-43, we fiml letters from settlors around New r.VmouUi that make most wonderful claims for Taranaki ertihly and climate. A Mr. John Witfh'ce said there was room in Taranaki or a million people; S. and YV. Curtis thought it was the finest. wheat and barley com , ( r y ~v en smi; c ■binitli had a garden with cabbages V> loet round, onions 20 inches 'round, radges Hi inches round. William Henwood sa,d cattle did remarkably well, but. bttle did he dream that the time would ever come when milch cows would be put out .so many to the acre somewhat similar to planting gooseberry bnshes William Henwood was obsessed with an optimism that Mr S G hmith cannot overshadow; ho didn't believe any country etnlid beat Taranaki tor breeding sheep, ho had little doubt that sheep would breed twice a rear His goats had kidded thrice in the "year" The land was so rich that he had to cut his wheat down twice before lie could get it to stand; hi, 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 ho was romancing, so lie took the opportunity to interpolate an assurance that ho was not. Mr Henwood said his land was groaning'under «. profusion of crops; in fact, he was at loss to say what Taranaki land would not produce under a proper system of arming. A Mr. Dew stated in 1543 that he would not mind landing in Taranaki without a shilling, knowing that in three months he would have a profitable vocation, but land had not then gojne up to present-day prices, and vet it is doubtful whether the member'for Taranaki would funk at stating in 191!) what Mr. Dew said in 181(3. We could m on quoting from official and authoritative reports to much further length to prove that Taranaki residents" from m.vJiological times have had an unshakable confidence in the wonderfully superior nature of their soil and climate. Mr. S a. Smith, like Mr. Henwood, bought members of Parliament mi«ht think he was romancing, but lie assured them he was not, and he flung in their j faces all the statistics and history thev cared to investigate. '
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Taranaki Daily News, 29 November 1919, Page 12
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1,011WONDERFUL TARANAKI. Taranaki Daily News, 29 November 1919, Page 12
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