THE TAUPO ROAD.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XIX, Issue 3203, 27 October 1876, Page 2

THE TAUPO ROAD.

Three weeks ago we made a few remarks anent tho importance of a direct line of covumuuication between Wanganui and Taupo. We have since received from various sources a good deal of information respecting its prac-,_i_____U__y,_4*^clJaii.-;t) in addition thereto gone over a niass of Parliamentary papers treating o,n the subject. The refhlb of these investigations we now propose to submit in the form of a series of articles, in which the history of the Taupo Road will be traced from the first inauguration of the proposals there anent to the present time, and in which numerous and varied suggestions will be reproduced, which may prove practicably serviceable in the future. The following is the tirst article of tbe series now in course of compilation. We have to acknowledge much valuable assistance received from various unexpected quarters : — Until about eight years ago no attempt had been made to penetrate the terra incognita lying between Wanganui aud the Plains, which, it was known, surrounded the base of 1-tuapehu, and extended from thence to Taupo Lake and the Hot Springs country • and as ib was known not to be occupied by Natives, and had a most broken appearance, viewed from this side, ib was generally regarded as impenetrable, or nearly .so, an idea which derived strong support from the impossibility of constructing a road up the Wanganui Valley, when this undertaking was attempted to be practically accomplished. In 1869, however, the rumoured discovery of gold at Kai manawa led parties of. goldseekers to attempt to make their way inland, via the Wangaehu and Upokongaro Valleys. Both attempts were abandoned after the prospectois had proceeded a few miles ouly; but Messrs Field and Monro, who had accompanied those who tried the Upokongaro route, pushed on to a point on the Mangawhero, a mile or two beyond what is now Mr Mason's run. The spring rains obliged thorn to return ; but the appearance of the Mangawhero Valley, and the information which they had obtained from Natives as to the source? and courses of the rivers, seemed to make the opening up, at any rate of a pack route, a project so feasible that Mr Field expressed the opinion that the construction of a cart road into the interior was merely a question of time aud exploration, and suggested that an endeavour should be made to open a pack track at once, and a cart route as soon as a live for it could be found. The Hon W. Fox, who was at that time Premier, at this juncture visited Wanganui, and had his attention drawn to the question. Ho therefore obtained from Mr Field a comprehensive report on the subject, in which Mr Field seems to have made some such suggestion as the above, and to have described what he regarded as a practicable live for at all events the preliminary pack track so far as he and Mr Monro had gone, aud named^an appropriate sum for which it couloT be cut. It is very unfortunate that this report seems to have got lost, as there has been considerable disputation as to the exact nature of the suggestion, and also

concerning the amount of the estimate. The Government .seem to have been under the impression that the representation was that a pack track which might be converted eventually into a cart road by raerely widening.it, could be constructed from the Wanganui Etivev to the Plains for -8200, inclusive of survey and superintendence. On the other hand, Mr Field asserts that he merely, bnt distinctly, said that ■* It was probable that a practicable cart route would be found in one or other of the three valleys, Mangh whero, Wangaehu or Turakina, which debouch from the Plains." What he proposed was to the effect thatf a rough pack track, such as settlers often make to their lands, pending the laying off of a road, should be cut through so as to enable these valleys to be explored. He also asserts? that the estimate was £250 for labour only. As the distance would be somewhere about 50 miles, and the Wangaehu Board is at present paying, by contract, £20 per mile for tbe mere engineering work of laying off cart lines, it seems pretty clear that the estimate could not have included such work, which, moreover, it would be only reasonable to expect would be done by salaried engineers in the Government employ. x\t Mr Fox's request Mr Field continued his examination of the country till he came in sight of the Plains, and within two or three miles of their lovvest extremity. In a further report he continues his description of a proposed route, and says that as the distance proved greater than the Natives had led him to expect the work would probably costJElOO more than he had. previously estimated. On this Mr Fox authorised the track to be cut, and Mr Field was put in charge of the work, so far as selecting tbe line and directing its construction was concerned. Instead, however, of its being done by European labour or by con tract, the Government supplied as labourers Natives belonging 'to j the tribes owning the laud, and the whole of the ensuing dry season was consumed in constructing about half the distance. The Parliamentary papers show that there had been considerable argument in the Hour.c as to who was responsible for this unprecedented and unsatisfactory course of- procedure. The officials of the Native Department, who had insisted on the employment of Maoris on the plea of expediency and policy, sought to throw the blame of the transaction on Mr Field's shoulders, while he asserted that it . had been found simply impossible to push on the work vigorously with such unreliable hands as he was compelled to employ. No one not fully acquainted with the work as it went on could judge how far either view is correct ; but the appar-ently-admitted fact that 24 Maoris engaged at D's per day only earned about £2CO iv nearly five months, indicates that their attendance must have been most irregular. When the winter began the Natives were discharged, and Mr Field went on cutting the survey line ready for the work to be resumed in the spring ; but when he had progressed io withiu a .very short distance of the Plains, the whole project was abandoned in consequence of what was regarded as a condemnatory report thereon, which emanated from Mr Booth. That gentleman asserted — (1) That no cart road could ever be made in the direction in which the line had been taken. (2) That to. construct a pack track- would cost at least three times the amount of Mr Field's estimate. (3) And that a far better and shorter line could have been got by crossing the Wangaehu River low down, and following the leading range between it and the Turakina River. Whether intentionally or otherwise it is hard to judge, but Mr Booth's reflections certainly gave rise to .* erious misunderstanding, it they did not actually lead to the stoppage of the line, by referring in a confused sort of way to an old Maori track, with a ** deep and dangerous ford " of the I Wangaehu, ■•' utterly impracticable for pack horses," as having some connection with Mr Field's line. The matter was represented in such a way that any one who had not read Mr Field's report, with sufficient attention to see that he never proposed to cross that river at all, would suppose the ford in question to be an essential part of the route. Mr Booth does not say it is so, and in justice to him it must be admitted that a careful perusal of his report shows that the ford is a considerable distance from Mr Field's line. The mere fact, however, of his describing a certain route as ■■ utterly impracticable for pack horses" would naturally lead anyone to infer that some person, who in this case could apparently only be Mr Field, had proposed to take pack horses that way. Mr Field disputes Mr Booth's assertions in toto, and has certainly shown the erroneous character of the first by actually laying off for the Wangaehu Board a cart road, with remarkably easy gradients, along the very part of tho route which Mr Booth specially condemned and pronounced incapable of improvement. As regards the second feature, that of probable cost, while Mr Booth led the Government to believe that the completion of the track would cost over £1,000, another person who travelled through by MiField's line last summer, and who, though not an engineer, has had some experience in forming bush tracks, estimated that it could be finished for .£l5O. As regards the third, it .seems to be now admitted by every one who has seen the route between the Wangaehu and Turakina that it involves a

circuit of nearly or quite twenty unnecessary miles, besides travelling a fearfully broken and hilly region. So that the natural inference is that MiField's line has been condemned on quite inadequate grounds, and that practical experience, gained in the interval, has demonstrated that the premises embodied in his report have each and all been practically verified and sustained by the unerring logic of facts. "We will refer at au early opportunity to other features which have presented themselves during the progress of our investigations into the several contingent questions therein involved.