A TRIP TO THE MARUIA.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 31 May 1880, Page 2

A TRIP TO THE MARUIA.

— ♦ (Fbom oub own Cqbbesi.ojndbn'b.) In my last I furnished you with a few hastily penned particulars concerning the result of our quest for gold, and tbe conclusion I desire to be drawn therefrom is that the country has all the appearances favorable to the existence of gold. Indeed its existence in more or less payable quantities has already been amply proved, for there are parties working there now who have spent from five to ten years in the locality, and if these men could oarry their tucker on tbeir back a distance of from t en to twelve miles, and still hold on ; to their claims, it must be taken that they are satisfied with their earnings, and now that the country bas been opened and the cost of supplies thereby cheapened, and their delivery on the proupfj by paekhorse made easy, it follows that tbe income of the miner bas been increased. The district is essentially a sluicing one, and the wafer supply is abundant and not over expensive to lift, and time is only required tp attract population. We did not meet with any indications of the existence of quarf? reefs, bpt this is probably owing to tbe fact that we kept near the course of the river and did npt peneerate the gullies, where indicattons wonld be most likely to he met witb. Our reason for not doing so was that we should have had to cut our way. We were told that there was a lot of quartz formation some distanoe up the river, but rpefing was not on oor prqgramipe and we did not try to prove thp truth of tbe report. We saw no coal, but the chance? are strongly in favor pf tbe existence of the mineral, and I have little doubt that when the place comes tg be well run over, as

it no doubt will next spring, plenty of it will be discovered. The coal belt which strikes out at Rainy Creek, must pass through the heart ol the Maruia, and the distance of the nearest outcrop on the Tn« angahua side cannot be more tban fifteen '. miles, as the crow flies. The timber consists of white, biack and red pine, birch of all varieties, some splendid belts of totara, while manuka, wbich for fencing would be of prodigious value in Canterbury, covers an immense area of the country. Ol the general character of tbo Maruia ! country very little can yet be known by tbe outside world. I was not able to gather jpuclj information, and as our mis* sion took us chiefly amongst the hills, we saw but little of the flat lands. Tbe position of the place is something like tbis : About tbe time of the discovery of tbe West Coa#t gpl-Jfields the Government proclaimed the Maruia a Special Settle* ment, the area set off being 20,000 acres, wbich was at tbat time thought to embrace the bulk of the good laud. A few years later Mr George Wa ! ker, obtained a grant of some 600 acres of tbe plain land from the Government. Abopt eight years ago a runholder from the Canterbury side ascertained that there was some 20,000 or 30.0C0 acres of good pastoral land outside the boundaries of the Special Settlement, and he accordingly applied for it to the Nelson Waste L*nds Board. But through the representations made then I believe, tbe Government refused the application, and added tbe whole to the Special Settlement. Mr Walker lives in the centre of the Settlement, and possessing numerous stock and no neighbors, his oattle bava the full run of the country. Whether he leases tbe Settlement. lam unable to say, but as the whole area is within tbe Inangahua County, I presume that tbe members of tbe Council can apswer the questipp. Itwill be best understood wben I say that the Maruia country occupies the whole of the southeastern corner of tbis County, the boundary line running along the top of Mount Arnand, or tbe Spencer Range, thence a few miles op the other side of Cannibal Gorge, right away down to Lake Cbristabel. Now, it is impossible for anyone who has made the journey from Reefton to Lake Guyon to come to any other conclusion than this : that if the East and West Coasts are ever connected by rail, through the Maruia it must come, if facility and cheapness of construction and total absence of all natural difficul ties are to be al all considered. Of tbe certainty pf this, I fp? oneyand convinced. In tbe first place there are no difficult and wide-spreading rivers or valleys to cross ; no mountain* to be tun» nelled, and wbat is hardly less important no blockade of snow to be w feared; On all the other routes advocated the back* bone range is crossed witbin the snow limit ; here it is not so, thus plainly indicating that the pass is far lower than any of the others. Well, holding this in view, the Maruia plains and surrounding flat lands thence to the County boundary must erentu_lly become of immense value, and it is a paramount duty that the County Council should see tbat none of that land is alienated to monopolists, or in fact dealt with in any manner detrimental to the interests of this County. It way be taken for granted tbat now the place is opened np and opinion is so unanimous upon the superiority of tbe route for a railway that efforts will be piade to pick out the eyes ofthe country, This the Council should be op its guard against. Tbe land is of good quality, and if the whole Settlement could be secured as an ens dowment for this Oounty, we should tben have something out of which to create a land fund. I have gone pretty fully into this question, because I can plainly foresee tbat tbe County Counci* must be awake and take care that no privileges are lightly parted with. Some ipterest naturally cepters* in the Maruia Hot Springs. We did not go to tbe Springs proper, ss they did not lay exactly on ppr line of march : we saw a very good substitute, how* , ever, in a bot spring that exis's in the , Cannibal Gorge. Tbe sulphurous odour can be defected some distance away, and ] on nea ring the spot a jet of seam is ] seen issuing from the side of tbe mouns \ tain, only a few feel above the flood ■ level of the river (Maruia.) The water issuing is very hot—too hot to bold the 1 band in, and all tbe stones laying close < by or in the track of the water are too . hot to bold in the band. We did net , venture to lave in it, as the day was j wet and cold and we were anxious to j reach our camping place. , To the lovers of the gun and the , the picturesque I can conceive of no , finer expedition for West Coasters than \ a trip from Reefton to Lake Guyon— j dipping at the springs by the way. , Kakas, pigeons. Maori hens, kiwis are s numerous even now all along the route, but in the proper season they would be *] doubly so. Lake Guyon is a magnifi- , cent sheet of water, several miles across, i and situate in the midst of open country and bald hills. We siw several black v j (Australian) swans on tbe Lake, while c every other description of water-foul abound, but as there is no boat on the Lake, a good dog or a ' dug-out ' is in» g dispensable. Mr Fowler's homestead, as - also that of M'Artbur brothers are close j. to the Lake. Tbe country thence to Amberley is like a vast bowling-green, c and tbe wide and rolling landscape gives a lull and gratei'pl play to the vision. I b