THE PROSPEROUS NORTH.

Waikato Times, Volume 2641, Issue 2641, 15 June 1889, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE PROSPEROUS NORTH.

Nik,—As the abovu district seems to bo a terra incognita to many of your readers, 1 vi iitnre. to send a" brief account of a visit recently paid to the Kaipara ami its surroundings. Leaving Te Awainutu on the. morning of the 13th May, I found myselfthe same, evening at Ford's comfortable 'hotel at Helonsville. Next mot -ning we went on board the small but well appointed S.S. "Kina" Captain Rom. Following the many windings of the Kaipara -Kivcr with its flat, lowlyh.g mangrove swamps we soon reached open water and saw before and around us a wide streteh of this great inland sea. Our first point, of call was Batloy Point where Messi'3 I'iwing and another firm have established a prosperous business in tinned mullet and other iish. A corn mill and other buildings give an air of business to this otherwise lonely spot. Leaving Batley we ascended the Otamar.ea lliver to Point Curtis, tlie shipping place for Muuugaturoto and adjoining "'settloments. Fast falling rain and closing day prevented our seeing much of Point Cnrti?, many small boats suYvounded our steamer for freight and passengers. Descending the Otamatea to its month we entered the Arapawa thence into Pahi, all of these line estuaries, and affording magnificent water wavs far up into thesurrounding country. Pahi was reached about seven ir. the evening. We quitted our steamer leaving her to complete her trip to the timber settlement of Matakohe. Pahi is a protty little seaside hamlet, possessing a capital store, a comfortable hotel, post ollke, hall, school house and several private residences. Large vessels ascend the river to Pahi loading timber for Melbourne and other distant- ports. The country here is beautifully wooded and much broken. The people being independent of terra firma pay but liUle attention to their public roads. A few inil:a up the stream is the beautiful summer residence of Captain Oolbeck and behind it for many miles stretches the tine estate belonging to him, a land with its limestone formation capable of carrying many thousands of sheep or growing wheat to supply the wants of a large population. A strong south west wiiY'.l raising big waves on these inland watji'3 detained the steamer for somo lioui's at her Palii moorings. Ascending the river to the head of navigation, I made headquarters with a Cheshire friend at.Tatton Park farm, Paparoa. I found him growing maize for seed, potatoes a second crop, swedes, pumpkins, &(:., raising, sliocp and producing milk. The use of prtifleial mauures except for hastening special garden crops is almost unknown. Accompanied by my host I visiced Paparoa township, a quiet but thriving village possessing resident Anglican and Wesleyau ministers with their repootives churches, .sehooliiouse, stores &c, The surrounding country is much broken, but where cleared pastured with sheep and cattle, the hills clothed will the most beautiful bush, nikau and eab'jime palms, true fevns in the utmost luxuriance, puriri and other hard woods, kauri is not plentiful but here and there arc found some tine specimens of this far-fan.c-d timber. A considerable trade in caUle is done between Paparoa and Wliangnrei on the Ka : it coast and with Ihugarvillo on the Northern Wairoa. Another day we visited Maungaturoto one of the most picturesque and flourishin» settlements in the. North, u ith its i>111; g homesteads and grassy slopes, capped with timber, reminding the travellur of many a Derbyshire village at home. Here the Coiigrogationalists have a largo and well attci.ded church. There is iih;o an Anglican churjh, two postoKioes, with a tri-weekly mail, stores and. p. very excellent boarding house. Tin: soil generally is of a rich chocolate mn-ild with a limestone bottom carrying good permanent pasture and where cultivated returning the farmers heavy creps of anything : ii<; may uhooso to put in. Tree and potato onions are largely grown by some of the settlers. Aftur a ve-y pleasant vHt of some ten da\sat Tu 'ton Park fi'-m and enjoying the ho-pitiility of many of my host's kind neighbours, I left on my return journey. The. ihail cart carried me through the famous and beautiful Waip" gorge to AViiipn, thenco acroas the flats and sand hills to Marsden point where I joined tin: steamer " Wellington " and returned t< > Auckland. My remarks art: based on a vi ry brief visit and refer only to that position of Auckland North which I vi>,kei' but the conclusion that I arrived at was a favourable one. The district, referred to enjoys a. most delightful clinritc, th'J cold of winter and the heat of summer alike tempered by constant br:t'.;:as from cither sea, the wealth of native bush bespeaks a rich and grateful sol, waiting only the labour of the husbandman to yield au abundant harvest, il ji-e no mortgage,; exist, no bank within a rcorc or two of miles, hotels are few and very far between, weekly fairs and auctions are unknown, the farmer keeps the even tenor of his way up a sure, though possibly slow, fortune in the prosperous north.—l am &c, Wμ. Sokby