BISHOP CLEARY ON VISITATION

New Zealand Tablet, 18 February 1915, Page 45

BISHOP CLEARY ON VISITATION

TO THE EXTREME NORTH.

A RECORD TRIP.

(From an occasional correspondent.)

Rawene, February 3.

The Right Rev. Dr. Cleary, Bishop of Auckland, has arrived on the Hokianga, and is now busy visiting the various white and Native settlements on the big river and its tributaries. His Lordship, accompanied by Father Bruning and our local clergy, came to the Hokianga by way of Whangape and Matihetihe, at both of which places he made his visitation and confirmed many candidates of the Native race. The Bishop and Father Bruning reached Whangape after a remarkable and in some respects record, motor journey to Te Paid, and other places in the extreme North.

The Ahipara Sands Conquered.

One of the greatest bugbears of the motorist in the North is, beyond a doubt, the bad rise and long down-slope of sort, deep sand that, at Ahipara,' have hitherto barred the motorist from what would otherwise be his elysiumnamely, the sixty miles of broad, smooth, hard beach that, at low tide, extends from Ahipara to Scott’s Point. As a motor-racing track, there is nothing to approach it in New Zealand, perhaps in Australasia; and it would seem to rival in many respects the far-famed beach of Florida, on which some of the world’s speed records have been made. Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult of access. Till Bishop Cleary’s arrival, only one motor car had been upon the beach. It was owned .by Mr. Bull, and had to be pulled by a team for several miles over soft sand by the track to the beach from Waipapakauri, some twenty miles north of Ahipara. Mr. Bull preferred this toilsome trip to the trouble of crossing the shorter soft sand to the hard beach at Ahipara. Many motors reached the sand near Ahipara, but none had even attempted to cross it either on their own or other

power. - The Bishopj. accompanied by Father Bruning, reached the Ahipara sandhill, from his record trip to the northern gumfields, on January 20. They left the car at the land side of the rise and went up the sandhill in search of a suitable place by which to essay a descent to the famous hard beach. The sandy cutting up the rise could have been negotiated on power, but (the Bishop thought) would have necessitated the laying down of some rolls of cocoa-matting which he carried. To the right of the road cutting is an extremely steep and pretty rough hill, requiring great power and good nerve, but (his Lordship thought) negotiable by his big car in a small fraction of the time required to get ovei the soft, deep sand in the much easier grade of the cutting. On the westerly or down slope three courses lay open, and the Bishop decided to take the most rugged and (to the non-motoring mind) most risky and impracticable-looking of these for a rush on his car's, own power to the hard floor of the magnificent Western Beach.

The Fight With the Sand

Six short bits of strong chain were strapped on to each driving wheel of the car. Meantime, practically the whole Maori population of the Native village near where the car stood gathered together and sat close by watching the process. They are all non-Catholics. Father Bruning informed your correspondent that, in their comments among themselves, they were quite agreed that ‘the pakeha (white man) will never do it.’ As soon as the chains were adjusted, the Bishop drove the car, alone, not up the sandy cutting, as the Maoris had expected, but across the track and around a number of stumps at the foot of the steep slope to the right of the sandy cutting. Then, with exhaust open and the engine'barking like a Maxim gun, he charged up the rough and terrible looking slope at a tremendous pace, amidst, the applause of the Maoris, bent away to the

right to the highest point of the hill, and still going fiercely, swung sharply around to the left and tore down the slope through the deep, soft sand, throwing it up in a cloud. He thus disappeared from the Natives, who, in the meantime, were running in a crowd up the hill as fast as their legs could carry them to see the further fate of this wholly unexpected exhibition. Meantime, instead of taking the customary or straight downhill soft track to the hard beach, the Bishop had turned to the left, back to get a good rush, and charged a very steep and lumpy sandhill covered in good part with mesembryanthemum. . The car was going over this ground like a boat over a choppy sea when the panting Natives next caught, sight of it. ?) Then it stopped on the downward slope, close to, and high above, a long stretch of deep shifting sand. One driving wheel had side-slipped into a ‘ pocket’ of very soft sand. The Bishop was immediately out, and, with a spade, removed the 1 hump ’in front of the wheel. A bag or corner of matting was inserted near the wheel, to give it a sure grip and three or four Maoris put their hands to the car to help the start. This, however, was quite unnecessary, as the car was on the lower slop© and started on quite a small application of power. Then came a particularly steep, though short slopealmost a direct drop—into deep drifted 5 sand, and the car ploughed two deep furrows', extending for some fifty yards or so to within about twenty feet of the hard, firm beach. Then it stopped for about two minutes, owing (it was soon afterwards discovered) to both brakes binding pretty hard, on account of their operating rods being caught on a hump of the last slope. They spat sparks during the rush down-hill. , In quick time the car was on the hard sand, and, after a spin down the beach, it was headed for the soft sand again as soon as the white settlement of Ahipara was reached, and was brought to a stand near the seabank and close to Mrs. Reid’s house, far above he reach of the very high tides then prevailing. It was the first car on the Ahipara beach. During their stay in Ahipara his Lordship and Father Bruning were hospitably entertained by the Reid family. The car was visited by many people, and the delighted white children of the settlement, and some Native children as well, were entertained by the Bishop with fast drives up and down the magnificent beach.

To the Extreme North.

Part of Thursday, January 21, was occupied in adjusting the binding brakes. On the following afternoon, when the high tide was sufficiently fallen, the two travellers set out on a beach trip of sixty miles, followed by a river-bed and steep hill-track, to Te Paki, in the extreme North of New Zealand. The little party set out in driving rain, and against a gale from the north. Twice in quick succession they had to stop on account of broken porcelains in sparking-plugs; but, taught by their beach experience on the Houhora trip, as soon as the car was stopped, four pieces of board, each about a foot wide and eighteen inches long, were placed in front' of the wheels, which were then driven on to these wooden footholds. Had this, or some such provision, not been made, the wheels would have quietly and steadily settled ' down in the sand.- Then away again, against the driving rain, at a strong pace along a sixty-mile stretch of firm sand, with scarcely a wrinkle on its smooth, hard surface, and over some half-dozen streams that spread out in fan-shape till they were hardly an inch deep in any one place, and made little or no difference in the rapid rate of travel. This ,is the greatest beach for ambergris, and for the large And succulent shell-fish, the tohera, , much beloved of the Maoris. At intervals, in the driving rain, the travellers came across parties of Natives, and even an occasional European, digging up the big white shells and filling them into sacks. One party of three Maoris, suddenly seeing the motor car a few hundred yards off—the first, presumably, that had ever met their vision—suddenly dropped everything, and ran away, as if for dear life, to the shelter of the sandhills that extend from sea to sea in- melancholy array in part of that region. Even the seabirds were taken unawares by the un-

accustomed speed of the man-driven machine. Gulls, for instance, flying against the gale in front of the overtaking car, suddenly dropped flatfish or pipi-shell and swerved in alarm to right or left, while the kuakas (curlews), flying ahead close to the sand, were gradually overhauled and also took refuge in rapid swerves to one side or the other. To Europeans, the sheep is an emblem of senseless imitation: if a sheep in a long file jumps at an imaginary obstacle, thousands that follow will jump in the same way at the same place. To the Maoris, the kuaka is a like emblem of easy and brainless imitation. To that bird they apply their old proverbial saying: ‘Ka tau te mann kotahi hi te tahvna, tau katoa, taxi katoa T —‘ One bird alights on the sandhill, all alight, all alight.’ : When close to the precipitous rocks of Scott’s Point —an ideal fishing-ground lies at its basethe Bishop was met by a number of riders from the Te Paki Station, some six miles further inland. Among them was Mr. Stuart Hill, son of Mr. and Mrs. Hill, of the station. Young Mr. Hill mounted the car beside the Bishop, as his guide, while Father Bruning mounted Mr. Hill’s horse. The car was then headed up a shallow, sandy creek. On each side were steep, barren hills of shifting sands—a desolate, narrow gateway to a smiling land. The Bishop easily negotiated, on his engine power, one very bad patch of soft sand, and then dashed up the narrowing valley to a place where the waters of the little river, imprisoned by the encroaching sand, spread into a little lake, bounded on its western side by a curving and almost precipitous yellow sand-wall. A dangerous quicksand was just avoided at this point. Further on—after nearly five miles up the river—a particularly steep and impracticable looking hill was encountered. It rose suddenly from a mass of fascines, thrown' across the creek—the fascines slowing the car and preventing an assault on the hill at high speed. The track was over grass, low ti-tree, etc., soaked by the drenching rain of the day. The car, however, surmounted the worst part of the hill, and. after a few moments’ stop at a very wet and slippery part, speedily gripped again when held off the brakes, and covered the rest of the steep rise at high speed. Another wet rise was similarly treated, and the car, with the Bishop and his young guide, was soon tearing up the mushroomshaped top of the hill on which the large and beautiful new mansion occupied by Mr. and Mrs. dill is situated. It was the second car to arrive at Te Paki, the first to arrive on its own power. The visitors were received with splendid cordiality by Mr. and Mrs. Hill, and by their guests, Mr. Keene (Wellington) and "Mr. and Mrs. Norris (Tauranga). Nothing could exceed the charming hospitality of Mr. and Mrs. Hill both then and on the return of the Bishop from Parenga and Te Hapua. His Lordship speaks of his stay at Te Paki in glowing terms, and describes it as one of the pleasantest memories of his life.

To Parenga and Te Hapua,

The next day (Saturday, January 23), the Bishop, accompanied by Mr. , Stuart Hill as guide, and by Father Bruning and others, motored for four or five miles, mostly along a steeply sloping siding (impassable by motor after a half-hour’s rain) to the end of the track at the Waitiki River. There the Ijishop and Father Bruning (with a Catholic Maori youth for Confirmation) were met by the launch of the Parenga Company, whose highest officials and local representatives showed the Bishop the most gracious courtesy. ‘By the company’s launch the party went down the winding, yellow Waitiki River, first to Parenga, and then across Parenga Harbor to the Native settlement of Te Hapua, where there are thirty or forty Catholics.

At Te Hapua.

Protestants and Catholics at Te Hapua had arranged to accord the Bishop a korero of welcome in the village whare-hui or meeting-house. This arrangement was, unfortunately, upset by a tragedy, which had occurred on the preceding Friday, and by which a prominent and respected Catholic native (Wells) had lost his life by- drowning. This cast a great gloom over the district, and prevented the formal public welcome

in the village meeting-house, as Maori etiquette does not allow the body of the dead to be left without what they consider proper attendance. .; The Bishop and Father Bruniug 'first proceeded to the ; house of death, where they recited the appropriate prayers of the Church. All the afternoon ; and evening and night fresh parties arrived to join in the mourning. As each party reached the house of death, the old-time tangi or cry of sorrow arose afresh, accompanied by words or chants bearing a close resemblance to those formerly in use in Ireland and in many other lands. * Thus death makes the whole world kin. ■

During the evening the Bishop and Father Bruning attended night prayers, and prayers for the departed, in the house of death. While there, several Catholic and Protestant orators, one after the other, formally welcomed the Bishop, each concluding with an apostrophe to the dead. His Lordship replied at some length in Maori. The next morning (Sunday) Masses were celebrated in the house of the death. There were many communicants. At the close of the last Mass Confirmation was administered. A Native lady has made arrangements for a gift of land for a church at Te Hapua, and a sum of .£7O is in hand for the purpose of erecting the sacred edifice; but, with only 30 to 40 Catholics—mostly children—and no ready money except what is earned by work, the project is no easy one and Father Bruning (Saies, Whangaroa) will gratefully acknowledge donations in aid.

The funeral of the drowned mail took place on Monday, January 25, the Bishop and Father Bruning joining in the procession, in the sweltering heat to the hill-top, where the cemetery adjoins the Anglican church. They then left by the Parenga Company’s launch for Parenga, and afterwards for the landing on the Waitiki River, where the car was paddocked. A number of Maoris came to see the first car in that district. The Bishop took a big load of them up the steep hill-slope from the river, to their great delight. Then, under the guidance of Mr. Stuart Hill, the Te Paid Station was soon reached, and the visitors again experienced the splendid hospitality of a beautiful and refined home set in the far North. Around it there are rich flats and hills that may, in the near future, be clad with wide areas of wealth-producing vineyards and orchards. In fact, those great North lands, from Auckland onwards, will probably yet be the California of New Zealand.

The Return.

Next morning (January 26) the Bishop and Father Bruning (again under the pleasant guidance of Mr. Stuart Hill) started on their return trip to Ahipara. They easily passed, on the car’s own power, over the tracts of soft sand, and reached the beach about low water. Here they parted regretfully with- their genial guide and set out at a rapid pace against a strong head wind on the splendid, hard beach. The sixty miles, to Ahipara occupied just an hour and forty minutes. On the following morning (January 27) Masses were celebrated at Reid’s Hall, Ahipara. There were about twenty persons present. After the Masses the Bishop instructed the children and preached and administered the Sacrament of Confirmation.

An account of the Bishop’s visit to the Sweetwater gumfields and elsewhere will be forwarded in another communication. v ;yJ