The Kermadeos.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3506, 9 May 1890, Page 2

The Kermadeos.

. (By one of tub Yovaoebs.) ' We anchored in Denham Bay on Fiiday, October 11th, 1889/ abont three miles out, and wo wero greatly disappointed with tho outlook, The flat, which is about a mile and a half long, and not more than a quarter of a mile broad, looked like a harrow . strip of land, and tho cliffs (in some a places 1200feot high), whichrosoup' all round the flat, were liko all immense wall, and when we subset quently came to climb them we found'' them as bad as they looked. There Bro enly four, places in the flat where it is possible to get up.- We landed on the Bunday following our arrival, and tho next week was employed in getting our goods ashoro at the south corner ot the bay, the schooner Dnnedin loaving on Saturday, October 19tb. We soon found out that the flat in the bay if as tho only part of , the. tvo runs taken up by the Company that was possible (o cultivate. The undulating slopes we had been loil to believe were on tho island turned out to be nothing more than . steep cliffs. Tho tops of theiidges were rarely more tliaa ft cliaiu wide, and in manj places they were not" halt' a chain.' Even tho gullies, or rather ravines, were in many places impassable. The soil, oil' the tops of the ridges was fouad to be in sow# y placea good, but if . tho bush werwrf cleared the soil would slip away, it being on a pumice foundation, which is kept together by tho roots of the pobutukawa, What soil thore ia on tho flat is nowhere lijore than eight ' inches deep, and ont of about 2000 acres there are not more than 10 acres : fitforcultivation. The rest is sand and. pumice. We put in potatoes,kumeras, maise, beans, yaws, poplins, vegetable marrows, and melons. Th# s.B Wainui called on December 22nd, 1889, bringing more settlers and their stores, ic, landing them in about - two hours.' Wo were glad, to see' fresh faces, and got letters and Christmas boxes, <fcc. Mr Stratford left by the s.e Wainui. Wo had a ouie| Christmas, but the following Saturday jiad fttljlptio epqrts, which were yeryV much onjoyed by everybody, the prizes which were pompetod for tbo. most keenly being threo Btraw bats" presented by the Miss Bells, and sundry of tqbaoco, Tho weather, which bad been very good up to Christmas, began to got damp and\?j miserable, and for three months ifc -4 wm a very raro occurrence to get fins weather for three days together. fine fjcpiqn over '?fiucW ofrain foil one night.

It is almost impossible to describo t-bo rayages made by- the' caterpillar* snd tlje rqts, livo or more dmtinot species of caterpillars camo one after the other. The crops, after recovering from tlio attacks of one sort, would bo Bpcedily devoured by the next. Still, hy constantly watcbiug, and tlio help of a few fowls, the crops nurviyedj and ahowficj signs af a gqpa. vctura, Soon Coristmas, however, the flat was simply overrun by - rats, jiwgiy

after their long rest, They ate tho unripe maize, Mr Carver being the only ono to, saw a faff rips cobs for seed, ha <(Oing round his patch all night long, nigbt aftor night, with ft pack of -dogs. Tho rats burrowed down to tho kumeras, and what they did not cat they spoilt; they ato beans ripo and unripo, they ato tho yams, and scooped our inolotis out, leaving us ilio sholl, What few bananas wo got had to ho cut greon and Hung up on polos that werotnade rut-proof by putting tin around them. Tho rats swarmed in our tents, and if the candles woro left uncovered they wore nowhere to lie seen next morning. Two kinds of sea birds breed on tho island, the wido-a-wako (a gt'll), and tho mutton bird (petrel). The wide-a-wako breeds on the beach in thousands, and we fed on their eggs for about five weeks. Wo also cured a foir young ones, but they woro not quite a success, Thomntton in tho bunli in any sheltered Atltice, and they are very tame, allowing you to pick thorn tip. We found the young of these i;ood to eat. Besido what woro eaten- fresh tkoro were 12,000 of them cured and put in cases, and in logs hollowed out. These and wild goats would have beeu our chief food for tho winter, besides a few poiatoes and pumpkins which the rats left us. Tho s,s. Hinemoa

CMffl#ist after wo lmd fiuislied . "mutton-birding" as wo called it, ft ' Our stores had almost run out, and w we all looked forward to a severs struggle in tho winter, not expecting the Hinemoa to call till November. If she liad not come we should have been half starved. • Mr Bell was very, kind to us during our stay on tho island, helping us practically in many ways. When we were at Auckland on the way to the islaud he strongly persuaded ns not to go, and told us about everything that eventually came to pass, but unfortunately for us we would not believe naif. He was very hospitable to all of us, and whon he went over to visit him, which was not seldom,

wo woro very well entertained. Mr Bell having been there twelve years naturally enough, settled on tho and only available pieco of really good land, It is also on the east side of the island, and faces the north. Denhara Bay, facing as it does the south-west, and having an almost perpendicular wall of cliff surrounding

it, does not see tlio sun much before ■ 11 o'clock in the middle of winter, and it loses it again about 4 o'clock. Even before we loft one could not tee the sun till about 10 o'clock in the morning. Three of the settlors, Messrs A Taylor, H H Lord, and A I'tismusscn, after trying Denhnni Bay, carried all ' their provisions, tents, h,, into the Crater run, and cultivated a small pieco of land there to grow something for tho winter. Though the caterpillars were very bad indeed, they managed by constant attention to get everything to grow well, and a3 they were almost free lrom rats, they looked forward to a good return, and getting through the winter all right, Wheii tho b.s. Hiuemoit came it seemed too good to be true, but thero she was, and we lost no time in packing up and getting on board aa fast as possible, By good luck tho sea in the bay was calm, else we should have had to leave most of our things behind. The bay is very open,

- jtfthere is very little protection from Bsh weather. Tremendous seaa often into the bay, For three weeks a month before the s.s. Hineinoa came it was too rough to land. There were plenty of fish to be caught in calm weather, but in rough weather fishing is out of the question. Tho association broke their agreement with the settlers in almost every possible manner, but the settlers were powerless to do anything when on tbo island. Directly wo landed there the written agreements given to the settlers by tho association were so much waste paper, which they quickly found out, Though there was a small community, ■ yet unfortunately things never ran smoothly for a single week. Perhaps the rata and caterpillars worked the mischief,. Tho pamphlet written by Mr S Percy Smith on tho Kermadec islands is two thirds wrong, and the whole pamphlet is misleading, and if it had not been printed and sold by the Government thia unfortunate expedition would never have bean formed. Thirtetn camo back rip.the Hinemoa. Those that are •feft are Mr and .Mrs Hovell, Mr and to Bob3on, Mr and Mrs Carver family, Mr and Mrs Bacon and tod, and Messrs H. Lord and A, Rasmussen. We landed in Auckland on Monday, Apiil 28th, otter a pleasant trip, Captain Fairchild being very kind and considerate to us all.

Sir Robert StoutTho Wanganui Chronicle "goe3" for Sir Eobert Stout, and givos him a deserved castigfttion. Our conlemporavy saVa: —"Sir Eobert has constituted himself the Democratic Deity of this colony, and from tho elevated position which he has assumed he now constantly proclaims that 110 man can be a true Democrat and differ : from, or disbelieve in, him. Sir .Robert is very clever, very industrious, and wo believe well

meaning. a pity it is that he is ho egregiously Vain .1 At one time his political vagaries induced a feelbitteriiesfl among people who thought him wdrso than he really is, Now. feeling has given places to. fun, and people merely laugh when they read the valuable knight's denunciations of his opponents for doing so on a small scale to-day

what lie himself did on a large scale /Yesterday.' in the colony <§Proubles very much now about Sir 'Bobert's letters to the papers on political subjects, But when, ho thought it a.propor thing to do the other day logo into Mr Hislop's district to endeavor to prejadice that gentleman's constituents against . him, tlia, Mipistei! felt that he ooulcl not' forbear tlio luxury of a reply wlion such a good openjpg was afforded him. Alluding to Sir Robert Stout's boast that his was a Democratic Miuistty, Mr Hislop staled (lst, on his becoming Colonial Secretary, lie found that it had been a ruleunder this Democratic Ministry " that no person who was an 'officer, in the Typographical Union coulil be ecgiloyed iu the Government Minting Pmf T||a| ww a beautiful rule for democratic Government. As soon as it was brought under his notice he nullified it; for he hold that the samo employment should bo given to pp?sons who werp of?cera of the union as |o perepns who were not."

Queen's Birthday Holiday. (JlinisTOMiitCtti, Friday.' M i The Drapors' Association resolved Ailast night tkt the hour for closing bo extended beyond ninoon Saturday night, as tho members close on the ?6tti jysl.ead of tyeSMth,