The Kauaeranga Valley.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3765, 21 January 1881, Page 2

The Kauaeranga Valley.

( Communicated.)

There is a road along the Kauaeranga Kiver as far as the Orphan Home, and with a little care one can follow the horse track to the recreation ground, but beyond this there is no certainty. A track may lead into a spamp or into a settler's back yard, where the dogs have visitors, or up a hill, leading goodness knows where. The right track takes you under the water race, where you get a shower-bath, and then turn to the right. A. few hundred yards farther on takes you to a line of fencing running right across the road, but sturdy travellers don't turn back. Climb over it, and keep straight on. New chuma turn to the right after crossing, and go down to the water race, but, unless you have practised Blondouising, it would be as well not to try to cross over the creeks on* the water-race planks, as they are not very sound for an elderly man, and there may be a fall of sixty feet.

It is no consolation to hear that several bushmen have fallen over from time to time with being killed ouiiight. As was said before, keep the track straight and when it leads suddenly down into a rocky gully, where the road seems to end, still keep on. There is a bit of a ti'ack across a creek and^ over two fences. Some people then take the water-race planking iv despair, but it is not necessary—there it a better track when you get beyond the fern hill. The road is lost near Munro's, but you will find it near the river, and in due time tbe head of the water-race is reached, and the whole distance travelled is about six miles. The land of kauri and kauri gum lies beyond the head of the water-race, and these two products have been good friends to the Thames—we might even say to Auckland—when times were bad. The bushmen and the gumdiggers have now been more than twelve years at work in the Upper Kauaeranga Valley, and very little is generally known of it; for if the road is so hard to find to the head of the water - race anyone will be right in' surmising that the road beyond is far worse. The bushman's. camp has been slowly advancing up the bed of the river, audit now stands near the Billy-goat stream, about nine miles above the head of the water race. And as the number of men employed is from thirty to fifty, there is of necessity a constant traffic in sendiug up supplies; but the track lies along tbe river, and over lines of black mud through the bush —indeed, if' a mau took a packhorae up to the bushman's camp for the first time it is not certain that he would get down again. The large kauri trees have been cut along the river, but the forest has been rather thiuned than cleared. Totara, rimu, and birch and plenty of

young kauri are still standing, so that if the forest was now leftlritouched for 100 years the whole work would hare to begin again. It is very certain however, that the upper valley will:not be left unoccu* pied so very long. There are broad flats of excellent land along the river which would have been occupied long ago if gold had been found in the ranges ; but so far, tue precious metal only exists by vague report on this side of the dividing range. There are now only two classes of workers in the upper valley the busuman and the gumdigger. The bushmen lead quite a regular life. They live together in a well built whare, and bunks range round three sides of it in double rows, as on board ship. They have regular hours for work and for meals. They have good food well cooked, and have nothing more to do with this part of the work than grumble at the cook because it is not better.

The gum-digger leads a wilder life, his whare-is of temporary structure .' and is not always rain proof. He has neither table nor bench, and he is his own cook, housemaid, tailor, cobbler, and hairdresser. He goes to work when he. pleases, and gets back dt all hours ; indeed, he cannot be said to enjoy many of the comforts of this life, but at the same time, he is a useful member of the community, and contributes his share to our annual exports. Speaking roughly, about 100 tons of gum come down yearly from the Upper Kauaeranga, on an average worth £40 a ton, and this gives £4000 a year towards the value of our exports. The number of men engaged there in gum d'gging varies from 40 to 60, and the average find per man, even for the very hard working, is not more than 201bs a day, which is worth about 6s. This is not, however, all clear gain : the pvice of his potatoes and flour rises in proportion to the badness of the roads, so that lcwt of potatoes costs him 17s 6d, and all other things he may want costs in the same proportion. Besides this, he will have to pay 7s 6d a cwt for the gum lie sends down ; so that, on the whole, he does not seem in a fair way for making a fortune. Many of the men who follow this life regard the hardships and poor fare as the only safeguard against boozing about public-houses. Clever well educated men as well as simple open minded men know they have a personal enemy in the town, and they fly from it as well as from the loafers that pounce upon them like mosquitoes' as soon as they pnteratown. .Now it is proposed to put a ta? on the gum, which the gum-digger will have to pay, and the effect.will be that some of the workers now among the community will become the loafers that feed .on the main body instead of contributing their share. This industry of gum-digging at present only affords a poor living which will get worse year by year as gum gets more scarce, and instead of lowering its price to the digger, it would appear more consistent with sound judgment to improve the road, at least part of the way, that provisions may be carried into the bush at somewhat less exorbitant prices. Indeed the road from the Orphan Home to the head of the water supply.which is only'six miles long, is a disgrace to the Thames.