A PILGRIMAGE TO PAHIATUA.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1623, 1 March 1884, Page 2

A PILGRIMAGE TO PAHIATUA.

Pahiatua for the past two years has been a household word in the Wairarapa, and "a pilgrimage to Pahiatua" is now generally regarded as a duty to be performed by all taking an interest in outlying districts. Pahiatua has often been painted in faithful colors, but it is after all absolutely necessary to go and see it in order to realise what it is and what it is'nt. At present if' is not altogether a lovely spot, about which an artist would linger, or a poet go in raptures. The settlement of Pahiatua to '* tell the truth is positively ugly. We do not refer to the ever green and ever beautiful bush which surrounds it, but to the clearings whioh have been cut out of the heart of the forest, They constitute a strip some three or four miles long and half a mile wide, divided into halves by the long narrow road which forms a section of the great Northern trunk line.' These clearings aro covered with black logs and thistles, but a closer inspection reveals abundant gras s under and amongst them. Between twenty and thirty homesteads ,-. either side of the road, ranging froW »' the rudest two roomed whare up to the * comely villa residence of Mr Balfour's local representative. Pahiatua is just at present "an ugly duckling," but in due course it is certain to develop into " a lovely swun." The thistles will ' disappear in a year or two, the black logs and stumps will in time pass away, arid there will rouiain luxuriant pastures studded with homesteads and the latter will bo circled with gardens, orchards, and shrubberies. 'I he journey from Masterton to Pahiatua is rather'a long one, but it was to m as a pleasant trip. We were driven in a comf irtable buggy by a well-known, l'ahiatca Hadji. Some forty-live miles of good road link Masterton with Pahiatua—not at all the sort of road that the citizens of this borough are accustomed to, for our municipal roads arcrou«li aud patchy. The forty odd miles between the confines of this town and Pahiatua aro delightfully smooth mid even the worst mile of thn lot is better than tho best mile about Masterton. After all, a well made road constructed by a good engineer is live hundred per > cent better than the cheaper formations of which the amateur enginecis of Masterton have been so enamoured. The road to Pahiataa is good throughout, and the travelling public havo reason to bless the Provincial Engineer who made it, and the County Engineer who has kept it in such excellent order. It is n nine hours' journey for ordinary mortals who leave Masterton for Pahiatua. The coach does the trip in two hours less, but then « Hik" has relays of horses along the road, which give him an advantage over the occupants of a one horse shay. There are up-country settlers i' with favorite steeds' who will back themselves to beat the coach, and give it a couple of hours start, but ordinary mortals behind ordinary steeds must reckon on nine hours. The Hadji, with whom we had the satisfaction of travelling, fixed 3 a.m as tlio hour for starting. The sensation of getting up a couple of hours before daylight has the charm of novelty, and driving along a dark road before the break of day tends to make one feel like a rogue and vagabond, but pilgrims to Pahiatua must obey the bobests of Hadjis. Eight a.m. found us on tlio Metaluma terrace opposite the spacious hotel, asking the genial host if breakfast weroreadv. The answer was reassuring, but the Hadji further enquired, "Huvo you egga and bacon." We were under the impression that travellers at up country hotels were to eat just what was put before them, and were somewhat surprised wheu tho host of Eketahuna, without a moment's hesitation, under: took then and there to have cooked, that which was demanded.' A five ; hours drive in the early morning is a . | good tome, and enables the traveller to' ! make a profit out of tho unfortunate bcensed victualler, who provides tho breakfast at a tariff scale. TheEketabuna Hotel is an oasis from whence the pilgrim, after a brief stay, can proceed on his journey in a very comfortable frame ef mind. The only other hostelry on .the road, the Mulgrave hotel, is also all that can be desired as a house of call. The Eketahuna settlers do not have seem to have made as much headway with their clearings as their Mauriceville countrymen. Mauriceville is a pleasing picture, and new looked better than it does now. -Its hills and valleys have been cleared and grassed by an industrious and a thrifty community. Improvements are visible on all sides, and if the settlers there are not flourising their properties bolie them. The preliminary difficulties of transforming a bush country into permanent pastures appear to have been overcome at Mauriceville, but Ekctaauna looks as if it had hardly yet turned tho corner. As far »s we could observe Mauriceville }m "logged up" but Eketahuna has not reached this stage. Beyond Metahnna the road leads into tho fertile land which is so much talked about. On either side the track stately bush stands amid a luxuriant undergrowth. Any bit of the road between Eketahuna and Pahiatua, with its green walls, is a picture. Mile after mile of the forest panorama gets a little weary from the monotony of its : character, the only breaks being one or two Maori villages and an occasional watercourse. Judging from their habitations, the natives of the FortyMile Bush must be affluent. Their dwellings are finer and neater than any we havo seen elsewhere in the Wairarapa, Some two hours or so after leaving Eketahuna the road leads into open, which we are told is the southern boundary of Pahiatua settlement. As wo pass up the three miles of the Pahiatua clearing we see on either' side the homes of the settlers. , Some of them aresnrroundedbvgardensin whioh - flowers, fruits, and vegetables already • make a grand show. The grass every where is luxuriant, and the size of the thistles-and their nutaher are aiditiotial

voofa of the richness of the soil, The best test, however, tlmt the land is good is tho condition of the stock, Every horse, cow, and sheep that we saw was asjfat as butter, and not a s'mglo cloiriug appeared to be more than half stocked. We suppose there are bono thirty or forty settlers on tho Pahiatua block, ,ns about a third oi them live'away from the main road and come into the settlement only to transact their business, Miatua proper is a township—we thought it was a sort of Ultima Thule" till we found that to the eastward of it there were other Ultima Thules which regardod it as a sort of head centre, Tho settlors aro most of them hardworking men of small means, and for years to como they will have to borrow and struggle and strive. Ten years hence, however, they will be independent farmers, whilo their fellow men, who cling to life in large towns and live on quarter aero sections, will bo about as well off then ns now, We have seen settlements of this character grow up in the past, and this experience, oxcepting on inferior land, has bqen an invariable ono. We never saw men settled on better land than that which is being cleared at Pahiatua, and we liavo not a shadow' of doubt but that the settlement will prosper. While at Pahiatua we had our headquarters at Air David Crewe's house, and were very agreeably surprised to find tho "comforts of a home" in such a remote outlying district as this. Mr and Mrs Crvwo by their attention to tho wants of travellers have won the ' coiifidenco of visitors to Pahiatua, and it is a decided advantage to the settlement to have a well conducted establishment within its boarders, where good quarters can be depended upon, The afternoon which wu spent at Pahiatua was devoted to a stroll about the country,—at least, our friend the Hadji suggested it as a stroll, and we, in our innocence, anticipated a mile or two of gentlo walking exercise, When the stroll was over wo found we had walked ten miles. After the first mile or two wo walked on unwillingly, hut once on unknown Imeklines we were compelled to follow the Hadji or become "ft babe in the wood." Wo traversed one-road, which was pointed out to us as the crowning folly of County maladministration, At Pahiatua there is an anti-county feeling which is diligently cherished, Tho Pahiatua settler gospel is that if the county bo only smashed up the Pahiatua Road Board will gather from the fragments a thousand pounds, which will go straight into the pockets of Pahiatua settlers, who will make the roads for themselves. We hope this Pahiatua settlers' dream will be realised, but we fear ' that they are counting their chickens before they are hatched,- At any rate, strangers are expected to visit this particular road, and thon-to renounce the county devil and all his works, The road in question is well made throughout, beautifully graded, and as level as a billiard table j but money has not been uvailablo to bridge threo or four creeks which cross it, and consequently it is impassable to horsauicn. In places it is becoming over"iwn with grass and-thistles, and here and there even scrub is beginning to form on it, This road threads a lot of useless reserves, Wo look upon endowment sections as frauds on tho colony and blocks to settlement, We think it is a pity to open them up with good roads, because for many years to come they aro very unlikely to be cleared and grassed, The money spent on them (though it is only fair to point out that the Wellington city corporation paid for the road made through its endowment, and which forms -part of the lino to which we refer) would have mado a road for settlers who would not have allowed thorns and thistles to grow up and choke it. There is a difference of opinion about road-making in the Wairarapa. Tho Pahiatua point of view is not exactly the aspect from, which soino to whom mon look for guidance rogard thequ*-tion. "Is a slop suit of clothes chc.per than ono mado to measure by a master tailor V would bo a very open question with a debating Bociety, and in a similar way it is an open question whether a slop mado road is cheaper than one made to nica* sure by an engineer. Pahiatua admits that Mr King's roads and bridges aro beautifully made, but they hanker after slop made roads and bridges, which they aro capable of making themselves if tho Government will only give them the money to expend. Wo fancy, that after all Pahiatua is making a mistake in setting its face against tho County. -It is sometimes well to have two strings to one's how, and wo boliove th.a,t,'Pahiatua will yat find that snapping the County string has been a'drawback. Pahiatua was quite right in forming itself into a Road Board, but in dreaming that it might be something more than a Koad Board —in imagining that.it was fitted to undertake County functions—it has, wo think, got a little off its legs. Still, with or without a County, Pahiatua is bound to thrive. Its settlers aro alive to their own interests, and deserve that success which usually crowns Ijjkpfld perseverance. With' sportsnlii; Pahiatua should be a popular resort, Pigeons were to be seen on almost every tall tree, and appeared to treat with utmost contempt the stones which were thrown at them by a youthful inhabitant of tho bush. At Pahiatua we wore introduced to au old friend whom we had not met for years —"the festive mosquito," Men who came out of tho bush represented mosquitoes to be worse than Bengal Tigers, but in tho clearings they only came out by two's and three's, and the' pilgrim can hold his own with them. A busy (season is sotting in for Pahiatua. The thistles aro begging to fade/and when they dry up tho bush fires will be lit on all sides. Tho sound of the hammer, too, will be heard with the new buildings, which will soon bo under weigh. Messrs Manns and Sedcole, at their kiln, aro making tens of thousands of well-burnt bricks to supply the demand for chimneysin the new i settlement.. Timber is coming in from Woodville, but it would pay a small;, saw mill ■to start south of tho Mangaitainoke,"Pahiatua is "moving," and its pioneer settlers,, in spite, of all the difficulties tioy.haye to;enco"unter, aro working with v ft good heart,

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