The Mangaone Valley.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 3001, 12 September 1888, Page 2

The Mangaone Valley.

. . : . '5.-' •. > (From a correspondent.) - - . This is the place where the contractor • Fredriokson is at work, and as advertising for forty axemen,'aw particulars may bo of interest to your readers, or sucli of them as wield ■; \ that implement* !t ;The; Mangaono ••: ■ - rivor rises south of Bketahiuia and . - flows almost due north; roughly' speaking,-it is three; the east ;, - , of Eketaliuna. To get to tho contract you must go to Eketahuna, then you . haye a choice of two/routes. The nearest.is to go' fromEketahuiw : about three miles along the Alfredtou - ■■ road, then turn to tho left along the ...; Mangaone Valley road. This goes • right down the river, nearly level allthe way, until you reaoh thejeamp iii. about five miles; total distance from Eketaliuna, eight miles. Another ■ way is to go from Eketaliuna about • eight miles up the main road, when you come to Nerehi's pah. The .. " chief has a two-storey house. point turn to the. right up the road, and then you reach the junction* with Mangaone before mentioned, in about fivemiles, Turn here to the left, and.in about ht^ ; . mile you .come to where there is a store well equipped with all. camp requirements; anda : mile more brings you camp; total distance from Eketaliuna nearly • fifteen miles. Both the Hawera road and the Mangaono Valley road are bad trayelliug, but tho former is accessible by cart in summer, the latter never is, the gullies not ' being bridged. I have been over all the ground quite recently. It is . miserable to see the condition of tho • . Hawera road. There are no water : tables and so the water makes rivulets along the road. Had anypains been - ■ taken to keep the road, in order it ■ would have been far better than it is., , Now, for miles it is a mass of deep, tenaoi.ous slime, worked iip to th& consistency of the olay that comes from a pug mill. Tho contractor has : - * ' a sort of depot at Nereha's pah, and his provisions are brought there to ... carts and left, and lie paolts then#* ■ tho camp onhorses. Jones, of Ewr"" huna, sends his drays in, but. a®. ■ lutely 110 one else will tackle the job. • It is said that the settlers: will not i agree to a loan to metal the Hawera road because they consider the Man- : gaone V alley road whereas. Hawera road is, one immense hill) . their proper oujlet; besides, onco you. -; metal the Mangaone Valley road for i four miles, and -you are on. the . Alfredton road (already mot&M nearly all the way to Eketahuna); so ; - tho fiom the junction bocomes seven miles, as opposed to about thirteen by .the Hawera road, ; I noticed tho.whito clematis in , flower, so spring has fairly begun. .