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COAL IN TARANAKI

EARLY REPORTS. WHAT “INSPECTION” MEANT IN THE “SIXTIES.” WANGANUI TO OHURA, VIA TAUPO. (By “Juvenis.”) < V '> This interior country of the North Island is by no means 'rich. Mr. Grace told me that he estimated the wheatgrowing land at 1500 acres only, and enormous areas are occupied with pumice. But with a climate so favorable to vegetation, the advent of an industrious population will tender much of the land which now looks barren, fertile enough. At Tokanu we found good .crops of potatoes, wheat, kumara, taro, tobacco, and water-melons; the peach trees were abundantly loaded with fruit; but the apple trees had the blight. The Maoris were erecting a mill at Tokanu and had employed a Swiss as engineer. After long discussion and bargaining we obtained guides and left Tokanu on February 3 with our host Paurini, old Hoani or John (a short, square-figure-head) and one Manahi. We were to |pay thirty shillings to each of them to take us to Topini’s pa on the Whanganui River. When we began to breast I the hill, I felt my energies revive, and 1 a sense of relief in having escaped the j enervating air of Tokanu. We passed ;over a pumice table-land with tolerable sheep feed, and reached Te Anapopo. I In the hut was a white man from Rangitikei with his “old woman,” a Maori. |He resembled the mythological heroes of Paekakariki, and he had been wrecked in the Wairarapa twenty-two years before. He had walked up from Rangitikei in a week, and was going to Ahuriri. He was an American, and stated that he shipped first in a Yankee man of war. and then in an English one. in which he went to the Red Sea, where he visited Eden! Leaving our new acquaintance and his spouse, we reached Poaru, Rawiri’s pa, at 6.15 p.m. Rawiri, or David, gave out his naumai with great force. He was very talkative, and informed us that the Pakeha were building forts at Turakina and Kai-iwi, and other yarns of the same kind. His place is a small kaianga under a mountain and just in sight of Taupo. The hill hear is called Kadkiore in which I observed trachyte. MAGNIFICENT MOUNTAIN VIEWS.

On February’ 4 we made a start and passed over a" rolling country, workable by the plough. Except some patches of forest, the country was open between Tongariro and the Whanganui bush, which latter appeared to our right at a distance of eight or nine miles. We had, now, it will be perceived, turned the volcanic group and got to the westward of it. We crossed several clear mountain torrents, at one of which was a pretty waterfall four or five feet high. We observed a puia high up on the ’ side of the Tongariro, the waters of which when bathed in, are said to cure certain diseases. At 11.45 a.m. we reached the margin of the Whanganui bush. From this point was the finest view that I had yet obtained of the volcanic group, and the sight was magnificent; Ruapehu dominating the whole with his weather-worn sides and sharp peaks; Ngauruhoe rising from the slopes of Tongariro, a regular and elegant cone, throwing out clouds of smoke; Tongariro itself giving me the impression that from its great size it probably’ at one time equalled or exceeded Ruapehu in height, but that its cone had fallen in, and so it became truncated.

Thunderstorms swept across the mountains with such rapidity that I had great difficulty in sketching them. Old Hoani suggested -that if the day was fine we should see the mountain clearly, but as there were clouds about they were sometimes hidden. While our dini ner was cooking a tremendous thunderstorm burst upon us without notice, and lasted for about two hours. The mountains cleared and covered alternately.

Hoani informed me that about twenty-five years before Ngauruhoe threw up fire. Hoani was on his way with Tauteka, Te Heu-Heu’s elder brother, and a taua, or fighting party, to attack Waitotara. Tauteka was killed; and whenever the mountain throws up fire it is a sign that the Taupo natives are to lose a great chief. The Wangaehu and adjoining streams were said to have been all dried up at the time. Shortly afterwards Ngauruhoe threw up a great quantity of stones, and its top, which was a sharp cone, became truncated and spoilt it appearance. It still frequently throws out ashes, which effect the eyes when the wind is blowing from the mountain. It is also constantly rumbling and making noises like reports of cannon. There is no tradition of a lava stream proceeding from the cone.

STEEP COUNTRY. The plateau here is said to be covered several feet deep in snow during the winter. We observed a- good deal of rough feed on the plains, which were only pastured by a few cattle and horses, sent up from Wanganui by Mr. Gotty. The natives here have about 2000 sheep in the vicinity of Taupo, but the difficulty of getting the wool to the coast is very’ great. Mr. Grace proposed to erect a mill and to manufacture tlig wool on the spot for local consumption. 1 suspect that it would be much better to open up roads, for, as I said, Maori mills of all sorts are normally’ under repair and not working. Rum ata is the native name of the plains that we had been crossing. We were in the clouds all night, and the atmosphere was very damp. A' 6.15 a.m. we started, took a partingglance at the mountains, and entered the recesses of the forest. The path was of the most fatiguing character, rough and damp, and the trees were all dripping from the previous rain. We passed two kaiangas, and emerged upon - a small open space of fern above the AViapare stream. A ridge was pointed out to me on the other side of which the Whanganui runs from Tongariro. We descended by a very steep path to the bed of the Waipare, in which a found a. slate rock with quartz veins, whiefc formed Ihe bed of the stream, along which I traced, boulders of trachyte.. , Immediately above were what I. supposed to be marine tertiar-

! ies, possibly mixed with yqleanic tufa, but the bush and .the superficial clay obscured the . character of the rocks. ■ Thence we ascended a yery steep ridge, Te Wa-katangi-hanga. reaching the top.' M'e then crossed the Kaikoura- stream, its bed being of igneous rock, but no slate visible. Arrived at a shed called Pukehinau we afterwards struck the right bank of the Whanganui river,

at a pretty spot called Terena, whence the smoke of Tongariro bore east. We waded the river, which was very cold and rather deep, but of no great width. Where -we camped we found some very fine peach trees, but the peaches werenot quite ripe. During the night the mosquitoes drove us from the shelter of the peach trees to a more open spot on the shingle of the river bed. Next morning we crossed the Whanganui to a place called Te Narara Huerau. The stream was broad, rapid and cold, and the atones slippery. The climate was warm and suited for rapid growth, the vegetation luxuriant, the river flats extensive, and the country to be called hilly rather than mountain--ous. The river cliffs were of pumice ; and pumice sand lying upon gravel. The Maoris insisted bn showing us a pakeha; it proved to be a straight, well-' grown sycamore, some thirty feet high; here we saw a flute open at both ends and with three stope. CROSSING THE WANGANIH. -We paid off Paurini and our other guides, and got two of Topini's men to take us to his place. We passed over pumice flats, and one hill where I observed soft sandstone. The country was pretty, dotted at intervals with small villages or hamlets. We were lucky in getting horses to cross the river, which we had to do twice, as wading the Whanganui is generally a great risk. Paurini looked at it and clearly did not like it. He had a swag on his back already, weighing a hundredweight or so, and when he told me to get on his shoulders besides, I naturally hesitatedi. -However, as he-in-sisted, I did as I was bid, and Paurini who had the form of a Hercules, walked boldly but wa'rily round a snag. I doubt if any white man extant could have done this. At the same. time, it must be understood than an additional weight is a great help in wading a rapid stream, so long as the foot does not slip. 1 'weighed then about 10 ston’e 4 lb; add another hundredweight to this, and Paurini had a heavy weight to carry. I have often been struck with the miserable figure even powerful white men cut when crossing rivers, in contract with the Maoris. The bare feet urfhccustomed to the rough stones, the -comparatively thin shanks, the bleached and colorless skin, and the tottering and clumsy gait, do not compare- favorably witlf the bold step, the massive limbs, the unrestrained movement iof the Maori.

SKETCH OF TOPINI. At Threna we had yesterday observed the mill stones for the Taupo mill. They had been brought thus -far bcanoe, and had to be carried to Taupo over the very rough road which we had traversed. We had evidently descended very much since leaving the Ruamata plains. As I had no barometer with me, I can only guess at the elevation; but if we call the height of -that plateau 2000 to 2500 feet, I ahould think we had dropped to *a level of from 600 to 800 feet above the sea. We -reached- Topini’s vil* lage of Tapuia Kume, situated on a river-flat of the Whanganui,- about two and a-half miles above its junction with Ongarue, a considerable stream falling in the right bank. We sat down opposite Topini and related our adventures. The old chief was made -after the model of a Hercules, dfeep-chested, strong-limbed and with noble, aquiline features; he -is one of the finest-looking Maoris in the country. A curious expression of credulity, however, throws an air of weakness over his countenance, and detracts from its otherwise manly expression. VV e had sat for per- , haps a quarter of an hour, when Topini suddenly asked my name. When informed he exclaimed,’ “Eh! Mr. Ka- | fode, eh! Tenakoe!” and then rubbed noses most affectionately. It turned out that he had known me well at Port Nicholson in the beginning of the year 1840, and had built ai house for me. He then went by the name of Mamako, and as I did not know that he had changed' his name, I had not thought of my old friend. During the whole of the afternoon, he would return at short intervals from cutting his wheat, shake me most affectionately by the hand and exclaim, “Eh! Mr. Kafode, eh! Tenakoe!”

Topini gave us to understand that as he was busy harvesting, he could not spare us a canoe for some days; so we had to make the best of it, and remain content with the society of Tapuia Kumera, till he was ready. Our first business was to air blankets and wash clothes. During the evening, we heard the usual amount of yarns, which, however, tended to show the disturbed state of the native mind/ We were told that there were 4000 troops at Whanganui and the neighborhood, that military posts were established all round the coast o-f Taranaki, that a great manj’ thousand troops were in Auckland, and that war was about to commence; at Rawiri’s we had heard similar stories. IVe were told that at the Waitata all the 65th Regiment were killed except Colonel Wyatt; and they put down our losses at 1000 men. It appeared that Topini was not allowed to go to Whanganui a short time before. for fear of treachery on the part of the pakeha. The rocks here appeared of a coal-bearing nature, containing mud-stones and sandstones, with remains of plants, dipping south-west about 20 degrees. The pumice deposits of the river-flats lie against them and upon them.

THE KING MOVEMENT. On the morning of February S I was visited in my wliare by a number of natives. Topini informed me that Piri- | kauwau originated .the king movement. He represented in a circular that he I li.ul been in England and in the Engj lish colonies, that hfe -found the native races were always reduced by them to be hewers of wood and drawers of water, and that the only way for the Maoris to save, themselves was to elect a king. Deighton pointed out to Topini that this story might be quite •true, but that Sir George Gray had offered the Maoris institutions by which they might govern themselves, and that to elect a king without any means of raising a revenue, except fines, was sure to end in defeat and dissatisfaction. Topini was himself talked of for the crown, but he declined the honor. He had in 1847 claimed payment for Port Nicholson, and commenced the war in the Hutt. I afterwards spoke to Sir George Grey about him. stating that I thought him wavering, and that he might be made friendly. Sir Gporge Grey’s reply was, that Topini was the only Maori who had ever deceive! him; that when lie came to Wellington in 1847. he was told that all that Topini required was a small payment of five ■ or ten pounds; that ho gave him the ’ money, and on the following morning. I he beg-n war. After this Topini. still-' under the name of Mamako. foughtagainst us at Whanganui.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19220624.2.67

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Taranaki Daily News, 24 June 1922, Page 9

Word count
Tapeke kupu
2,296

COAL IN TARANAKI Taranaki Daily News, 24 June 1922, Page 9

COAL IN TARANAKI Taranaki Daily News, 24 June 1922, Page 9

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