THE MOKAU COUNTRY.
The following letter from a gentleman long resident in the Mokau district to * friend in Auckland is published in the Herald, and will be of interest to our readers :—": — " I came down right through the King country lately. I stopped at the leading kimgas, and the feeling is in favour of roads, &c. The natives (Maniapotos) are -astonished at, a section of pakehas bolstering I 'up Tawhiao. The natives say that Tawhiao can have nothing to complain' "of, because lie refused a kingdom and an ..annuity from Sir G. Grey at Kopua. Wahanui will not support Tawhiao in closing or delaying the opening of the country.- ■• The proposed railway-line is .very, level, and there is plenty of timber-iT and stone, (principally limestone^ for building and ballasting. ""The lfae from Te Awamutu to Wait&ra will be constructed for £5000 per mile. vFrpm Te Awamutu to the Mokau it will be constructed for" less than '£4000 per mile. You are (both sides) all adrift as < to who is openingthe country. - It is neither the Government nor the officials — the truth is Wetere is the man. I told ' you last April that Wetere had broken away from the King at Hikufangi. Well, ever since that he has pushed the matter of opening the country to his utmost, and he deserves whatever credit there is in the affair. Tawhiao would not have dreamed of giving up his guns l»st June had he not been deserted by Wetere previously. I know this as a fact. In truth, Tawhiao had a paper at Hikurangi (1881) for all the chiefs to sign, handing over their lands to him, and it was, Wetere that tore it up and burst the bubble. Rewi and Wetere are working together. The land in the King country is ' good land, and for about -20 miles south of Kopua it will be fit for plough and > agriculture, but from there to Mokau the land, although good, is not level for ploughiug. It will make good sheep runs and carry heavy stock. The Lower Mokau is entirely, valueless for either grazing or agriculture, being so broken."
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Waikato Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1518, 28 March 1882, Page 2
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355THE MOKAU COUNTRY. Waikato Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1518, 28 March 1882, Page 2
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