ABOUT THE WAIPA. [BY OUR TRAVELLING REPORTER.] No I.

Waikato Times, Volume XVII, Issue 1423, 16 August 1881, Page 3

ABOUT THE WAIPA. [BY OUR TRAVELLING REPORTER.] No I.

BET-WEEN-ihe Waikato and \> T ajpa rivers, branching irom Ngavuawahia, there lies a .charming district, of rich gon\lfi hlpyes and smiling plains that' might almost seem the old country of Devon shipped ,over to the Pacific with an Italian climate added to its attractions. All those sunny rises in the land with all those little shaded flats were meant to furnish grain ad libitum, with deep gieen cool me'aiUyvjs ground it, in which deep uddered' cow.s and fat-sided oxen might luxuriate, and be a source of large profit to gooct and contented masters. A looker-on cannot help licking his lips and nmrinuring "butter and cheese, cream and bacon, beef and mutton, apples and pears, flowers and gram, everything a man's heart can desire, can be found here in abundance," A good farmer's life 'ought to be very sweet and prosperous in such a locality, with a certainty of a > return for the least amount of labour, . and, his fat horses and cattle all happy and' affectionate, making domestic pets for his comfortable home with its flourishing orchards and gardens, its sweet-scented rooms and its unlimited variety of pleasant and substantial fare, the 'produce of fhe farm, the river, the woods, the orchard, and the little smiling centres of commerce dotting the district. Surely this ought to be the place for an Arcadian sort of life ; and just look at the land with a business-like eye, and cast up the Dr. and Civ .part of t)ic quesjtion before indulging^! an/ .transports^ if you like. Could any better land be ■found? The ! depth i i of dark | rich loam on the surface and the sabsoils of clay, giavel, and dark* brown sandy marl, according to the locality, being magnificient for grass, roots, and gram ciops, and the fact of the estates being of moderate dimensions all over the district instead of uncultivated wilderness in the hands of one or two owners, onsure« lull justice 1 being done to the good qualities of the ground ; while the pleasant homesteads dotting the country in all directions lend the scene that air of pleasant homeliness so characteristic of the lanes and farms of England. Te Awamutu, Kiln kiln, Oliaupo, and Alexandra, all pietty smiling townships with more or less pretensions to the comforts and refinements and traffid of civilised life, are sunounded by green sloping meadows and rich flats shut in by tall hedges of flouiishmg whitethorn and sweetbnar, and supporting herds and flocks that look sleek and well fed, or busy with the teams of the ploughmen for the coming season ; while along the roads are passing the carts and diays bearing some of last year's crops to the market. There may be a pleasure in solitary Nature to the mere artist, or the dreamer or the philosopher, and the pleasure is a very pure and holy one, 'but to the piogre&s-seeking eye and the searcher after inci easing dividends,' advance in landed value, go-ahea'ditivism, and such sweet hard facts that tend to make a country nch and powerful, the indications of population, largo crops, feed, and flocks and herds ready for the | butcher, with pigs ,and poultry and dairies telling of cheese and butter, and sleek-headed yokels singing and whistling, contented with their lot, with good boots to their feet and good coats to their backs, make up a picture that is woith moie, in some opinions, than thogiandest landscapes that even New Zealand, so rich in beauty, can show. Hearing that a pleasure of that kind awaited me here as a contrast to the somewhat moist and solitary beauties of the country about the Bioko, the "Waihou and the Ohinemouii, as 'seen just at this season, I underwent an interval of bumping with many bumps, in a coach along a road that was all holes, and about beven baskets full of my fragments weie landed in Hamilton, where they wore stuck and plastered together again somehow for re-delivery in Te Awamutu. The train skipped along like a young" roe after that deadly ppril of seven hours coach riding, and though my brain was permanently softened, and there existed a decidedly morbid horror of dwelling upon anything connected with my latter end, that could not bo shaken oft without a week's complete icpose. The landscape smiled so f roshly that I could not help rejoicing' in it as we went along 1 . Near Ohaupo a charming little bunny Like lay basking rosily in the lazy afternoon nil 1 , and the beautiful ploping meadows exhibiting a wonderful depth and lichnca of soil, seemed an endless source of icfreshment after the wide flats on which my eyes have rested for the last three months. On the one side, far away acroy the expanse of this pleasant rolling country the range of Pironsia reared itself in. dark purple and red, about 2800 fecfc above tho plain, a curious i solitary hill of about-, 1000 or 1500 feet in height, sloping up from the plain, like an extinct volcano or a gigantic castle. Nearer the line of the native boundary on the other side some fifty miles away rose the peak ot Te Aroha, looking dark and sharp and deserted in the distance, instead of clothed in bright green and brown forests that I have admired so much. Coming into Te Awamutu after a course of existence in a rowdy little gold diggers den, it looks a remarkably prim and stately young person, very clean and very nicely gob Up, but with a decidedly proper,* and 4ake-no-impertiment-libfrties-young men, sort of air about her. Te Awamutu is a town evidently started with some expectations of a sudden advance some years ago that have not yet been fulfilled altogether, and boasting of some buildings that are as good as any to be met with between here and Auckland, tjie\tvwo^hofcele particularly being establish merits •on.jjvlnch^a large amount of capital has been expended, and replete with, etjery cpnifort. That kept by Mr Lewis is an imposing structure, 'ornamented with a verandah and balcony, and containing seventeen bed-rooms, bath-room, billiard-room, with a capital new table by Alcock, spacious dining-rooms, 1 wejl-fityed private ' rooms, cosey parlours' in 1 all 1 directions and a kitchen that could well supply the best of cooking for a hundred visitors. Devin's hotel on a somewhat smaller scale is also expensively fitted with every Qomfort, and ilik|v?isr# bpajjjss' of> isi 1»lltsrfl table. Then there is a fine branch establishment of the Bank of New Zealand, - several I thriving looking stores, schools, a court-house, a publio hall, a ' pretty 'Anglican Chureh 51 , pf *y?hifcbt ihe I^ev. ,Mr Philips,- , is the minister, a Presbyterian chapei, lj and a brewery, so that the body as well as the soul is well provided for in Te Awamutu. I have rather a weakness for the body , myself, I inust^confess,^hough the soul is a' de^art'metif'bf tfia'i complex piece of machinery, man, which wujt, necessarily claim its due attention, so X put the questioii'to Mr Lewis ' whether he thought he could take cave of the bo'cty I am unwillingly compelled to reside in, and he did so,f as per ! , oontrap^.. The'shon'sii seemed quiet, and ojiejs jvpice^ j^choed through the long lobbies and' the spacious rooms of the fine building in rather a desolate style, and I had rather a dread of meetiug ghosts squeaking andjibbering" about' tihe 'upper "4^y^"*M%ht. but I found myself uncommonly cpinfor- . tabtej Sand I'hofced nlitfe 1 Wat wdula'meet ,with a,n, 'appreciative host of ipatrons some day, such as the ty^jjyrpjtl deserves. After a good night's rest," I went over the brewery that is owned by Mr Innes, and I could see that the plant is fitted to turn out 60 hogsheads a week, though it

actually turns out-rather less, and I admired the va t^§|iffl9 gallons, the refrigerator, the|i flSfe tub, the liquor boiler, and tb^^w^fc boiler, and I specially admiredssh» produce of the sanie, ( a nice gla-sswof good >English,iile nlade of malt and "Nelson hops, without quassja, f , quinine, ,or strjwjbjijne,! fche.dif- 1 'fe're"nt ' qualities of which "are not^ altogether - >n,nk;nown' ffto ,^sJ ew ti 'Zc&Tand brewers and beer drinkers^ Mr Innes, avlio, by the way, cbmplaijjis of the way in which the beer tax oppresses the small brewer, does a good trade in, the surrounding towns, < and 'will Ao taorjp as the district advances, if he.Jteeps up his quality to its present mark. The/o is a very trim pretty 'garden' round th^ |sank in j which I juoticed- a camellia blooming , charmingly in spite of the late sharp i frosts, but unfortunately my business was confined solely to Ithe outside of the establishment, and I had no excuse^ for going in to ask 'the gentleman in 'charge 'whether he ever,' by 1 'any 1 chance," feels (lull, or has a soul for 'the clarionette, or is ever guilty of cribbage .or the fascinating game of cat's cradle. . I see there is a medical man established here, and no one has, any; .dccasion ,td t yi£ld! up his ghost wi<jho f ut consultation wjth, the ' fdbulty' upon ddvisab^lity ,bf, so ftoing. lj '"',.,., {To be Continued.) „