MAKURI NOTES.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4047, 25 February 1892, Page 3

MAKURI NOTES.

(From Our Own Correspondent,) J I sent you some remarks on the sale of Makuri township some days ago, but was not able lo appenda , list of sections and prices. As nearly all the buyers were local men, I fancy the list would not hare interested your readers 1 much, But as I see your Paliiatua J correspondent says tho prices were " abnormally big," perhaps a word or two may be said. Makuri township consists of a dead flat, with a river winding through it,- and on each side pretty steep slopes, On tho north these slopes are part of an education reserve; on tho south they are felled 4d in grass, The flats aie considered many to be unsafe for building. They have not been flooded within human memory, but that only means som6 five or six years, Now the bush is down, the river shows a tendency to widen out: On Saturday, February

6th, a very sms.ll flood occurred, and undermined Mr Climie's whure so much that the next flood will certainly carry it away unless something is dons. Still, when you consider that only 62 sections were sold, that the total area including roods and reserves was about 50 acres, and that less than £BOO was realised, we cannot call it excessive (or a township. Had the flat part been secure from floods, with a well marked centre, the four principal corner sections should have realised certainly over £IOO each. As it was, the very bo3t section so far as position went, only fetched £l7. This was the only section on the main road from Pahiatua to the East Coast. The next one to it fetched £B4, the next £l9 JOs, and the next £l7. Many of the Auctions on tbe slopes fetched close on pt2Q (a little more or less), and may seem high when one sees them on the ground, but after all, it is not much for a man to pay who means to build. I should say that the picked sections went below their value, and the worst ones are about worth what they fetched, Several sawyers are at work now, and no doubt houses will Boon go up. I hear a butcher is starting, and it is none too soon, as at present we only get m&t once a week, which is not often enough in summer, Eiding through the Gorge a week ago, one of the" unemployed" showed me amoa bone sticking out of the rock. If anyone wishes to see the place I may describe it as being a face of loose, soft, shelly, limestone, rather wpt, just before you arrive at the turning that leads to Mr Donald's Eroperty. The face of limestone may o 20ft high, and the bones 15ft be-. low tbe natural surface. Mr Hill, of fier, who has studied the matter, a similar bone from the To Aute stone, but could not get Professor joi'bes, of Christcliurch, to believe it really came from there, The limestone, as I say, was wet, and con« sistedof irregular blocks cemented together by similar material, with large cracks and iaterstices, In these cracks were the bones, To get them, I had to prize out blocks of stone, and then pull out the bones. I thought at first they, wcrp the bones of oxen or sheep wbjch bad fallen into a crevice and got covered over by a Blip; bpt' when I got a large hollow bone with a head | fhouejit it was' a, biifs" bone;' be. •i'deSi'Mr Hill says it is undoubtedly arpoa'sbone, I cannot say whether there are more. If there aro, they may be throvmdown into the river with : the rest of tho spoil; or may be deeper in the rock, I dl«vaya imagined moa bones were found in recent alluvial deposits. Tbeßa were in tho face of a oliff, some for 50 feet above the ■'. river. , CpnDriug that they were, between the oka of limestone, it is possible they were buried by a slip some 50 years ago, as far as I know,: I ■ know nothing of geology, and it would tako a Jiracticat |eld : geologist to' 'express any opinion worth'having, You can give my Pahiatua address to anyone who cares to come arid see, It would take about 2i hours to reach tbe place from Pahiatua, and the road is an easy pngl Jf any quantity of tongs were ioUn(j,'it would cost about 8s peri()o jbs to'cony'ey'lhem to Pahialua" by the packmen, and about la per 10(5 lbs more (o put them on the rails at pefahuhs, Jfo tools woujd be wanted, as the gangs of roadmen ;all have picks and crowbars. Some Backs and address labels would be desirable)

these could be loft by the roadside for the packman to fetch, when full of bones. I have myself n6 immediate market for bones,, and shall be, delighted to assist anyono who yearns after this ancient cemetery. The To Aupapa road is now getting very bad; when it has rained lately one cannot cravel faster than a walk. Henco visitors should take tho road rouud by tha cradle unless the weather is very line; and should remember they will have to cross the Tirautnea river, which is sometimes in flood aud dangerous, Going out you have 10 orosß it by going up stream, and there is no means of guessing what the depth is. On llio 21s I carao out that way, and of course crossed it down stream, which made it easier. I would nut have attempted it alone had I been going out.