NGAKAWHAU.

Westport Times, Volume VII, Issue 1043, 4 February 1873, Page 2

NGAKAWHAU.

The increasing interest in all that pertains to the Ngakawhau district, renders any information thereon of interest. A casual visit a day or two since gives occasion for a few jottings. The overland journey to the Ngakawhau river is the best among the few pleasant trips to be obtained around Westport. Leaving town at such time as the tide serves, an easy three hours' ride along the sands brings the traveller to his destination. If fortunate enough to travel at early morn the pleasure will be enhanced a thousandfold. Until cro.-sing the Waimangaroa stream, some thirteen miles - from town, the scenery presents no special feature of interest, beyond the close masses of stunted trees and matted undergrowth which pervade generally along the vVest Coast; but i the Waitnangaroa one crossed the scenery changes. The hills approach more closely to the beach line, and divided therefrom by a long chain of water lagoons, rise abruptly ; covered to their summits with forest trees. Approaching the Ngakawhau the hills assume a conical form, and rise to an altitude of many hundred feet, the precipituous sides being deeply ploughed with storm channels, down which, after every passing shower, the water leaps hundreds of feet from point to point, forming glittering cas . cades and waterfalls amid the dark foliage, presenting a picture on which the enthusiastic admirer of " wild untutored nature " might become gushingly eloquent. Passing onward the " Rocks " loom into view, and nearer approach reveals a widely scattered series of fragmentary and disconnected rocks, spreading over the beach, and for some distance seaward beyond the surf line. The larger of these rocks are clothed at the summits with clusters of flax bush and smaller vegetation, while the bases below high water level are thickly coated' with an impenetrable armour ofsoashells. The rocks passed, an abrupt tura to the right brings the river in view, and on its banks M'Nairn's accommodation House, the one solitary domicile that marks the home of the pioneer settler on the Ngkawhau. Looking seaward for the entrance to the river, the stranger, arriving there at low tide, may well wonder how vessels can possibly get in at at all. From the south bank of the river a high shingle bank just now extends, running right across the mouth of the river, and turning the current abruptly to the northward, causing it to trickle gently over the shingle at a depth of not more than two feet. The shingle bank across the usual entrance is literally the bar to present safe navigation, but upon the ; first fresh, the river following its accustomed course, will make a breach right through, clearing a straight run out with probably ten or twelve feet of water at high tide. At least such has been the experience heretofore after every ordinary flood, and the present shingle bank, evidently formed by drift from the southward, presents no indications of more than ordinary stability. Taking boat at M'Nairns and pulling up stream the traveller will find that at dead low water on the bar the river channel is sufficiently deep to float any good sized craft, except at one point, where, from the right hand bank of the river, a wide boulder bank extends, causing the water to shoal to a depth of three feet, and giving an awkward twist to the channel. This obstacle passed, the river at once deepens, widening also until it forms a pool, right opposite the mouth of the present coal-pit, deep enough and wide enou»h to swing the largest craft in the New Zealand mercantile marine. The coal works are situate on the right hand bank of the river upon the face of an abrupt acclivity, covered with timber. A wharf or staging has been erected at the pit mouth and supporting a framework of timber erected thereon, forming a paddock capable of holding about two hundred tons of loose coals, which are conveyed there from to the hold of vessels, moored in the stream below, by a wooden shoot. Above this paddock a line of reils have been laid running from the main

drive in the mine, and along which trucks are jmoelled, Jadon with the coala. Entering tbo mine tho visitor is at once struck '.vith tbe extent of of the coal seam. Unlike tho ordinary contracted '•nain drivo' in mining claims, he finds a broad and lofty entrance cutting immediately into, the coal measure, and expanding in height and width as the interior of the mine is reached. At about two hundred feet from the mouth of the drive, the coal has been cut through to a width of twelve feet by a height of eighteen feet, and neither the lateral nor vertical limits of the team have yet been reached. Tbe coal here loses the sooty appearance it bears at tbe entrance to the drive, and is bright and compact, and the seam, which at the entrance of the mine dips at an angle of about forty degrees, is here nearly horizontal. A climb up a somewhat impracticable ladder lands tbe, visitor upon the second level, where work has only recently been commenced, but which will ultimately penetrate the seam of coal at an angle with the main drive. Leaving the mine and following a narrow path along the steep bank for a few hundred feet, Mine Creek is reached* wherein the'recent discoveries of other coal seann have been made. The stream runs, or rather tumbles, through a narrow rock-bound ravine strewn with masses of granite, fallen fragments from the high beetling cliffs on either side. The seams of coal discovered up this creek give undoubted proofs of the wide extent of the Ngakawhau coal measures, but some engineering difficulties must be overcome to render them readily accessible. Presuming that the visitor has profitably spent some two hours or more in and around the mine, while the tide has been rising, he will find on again pulling down stream that the scene has changed materially. The shingle bank is no longer in sight, tbe river has expanded into a wide noble stream, the boulder banks are hidden, and experimental sounding gives a depth and width of channel sufficient for any coasting craft in New Zealand waters. The sole difficulty in navigation is at the entrance of the river, and here it is suggested some engineering works of no great magnitude would suffice to keep the channel clear at all times. The banks of the river abound in granite deposits, practically inexhaustible, and the removal of the boulder bank before referred to would yield an abundance of material wherewith retaining walls might be built faced with granite blocks on either side of the stream, leading out upon the beach to low water mark, and between which the ordinary flow of the river might suffice to keep at all times a clear practicable channel, tbe direct force of the stream being increased by the removal of the boulder bank which n<nv presents the only obstacle to the navigation of the stream np as far as the Coal mine. The cost of such work has been variously estimated at from ten to fifteen thousand pounds, and the time to be necessarily occupied in bringing it to completion would extend over at least twelvemonths. Its utility would be unquestionable, its permanency would depend entirely upon the engineering skill displayed in its con. struction. The relative merits of special works at the Ngakawhau, to develope a local coal trade there, or tbe construction of a railway to bring such trade to Westport is a subject that must soon command the at. tention of the General Government. The arguments in favor of either being first commenced are equally strong, the necessity for both are equally apparent. The promoters of the Ngakawhau mine who have, unaided as yet by the general public, expended capital and labor in its development, upon the implied promise that ultimately governmental assistance would be granted towards making the river entrance more readily accessible, have a strong claim for primary consideratiou ; while on the other hand the entire interest of the Westport and Goldfield communities are so indissolubly connected with harbor works on the Buller and the formation of a railway along the coast northward, that no government honestly professing a policy of advancement, can in justice ignore the claim to instant attention. It will probably be found that the necessity for both works is coincident. That to promote a present coal trade the works at the Ngakawhau will be necessary, while concurrently therewith the protection of the Buller harbor should proceed, and the ultimate connection of both ports by railway communication. In any case the Ngakawhau bids fair to become, at no distant date, a thriving little settlement. A good upland township site exists there, the soil on tho flats is extremely fertile, valuable timber abounds, and the discoveries of coal measures are evidently only commencing. Mr M'Nairn who has been settled there for some years has proved how much may be done by almost unaided labor. His present peason's crops of roots and cereals prove how much Dame Nature has done already. Visitors to the Ngakawhau, favored by fine weather, will find there every essential for a days thorough enjoyment.

To Stop A Leak.—Beat yellow soap and whiting, with a little water, into a thick paste. Rub this over the part where the leakage is, and it .will be instantly stopped.