Boundaries and Area.
The Provincial District of Auckland, of which this volume of the Cyclopedia treats, comprises the whole of the island north of the thirty-ninth parallel of latitude, with the exception of a little ever a thousand square miles at the southwest corner, which is included in the Taranaki district. The boundary of this corner is defined by the Mokau river to a point a few miles to the east of the township of Mokau, on the main trunk line, and thence by a line drawn in a south-south-easterly direction to the point where the Wanganui river crosses the thirty-ninth parallel. From this point eastward to the coast, along the parallel, the distance is about 150 miles; half this marks the Wellington boundary, and the remainder that of Hawke's Bay.
The absurdity of this latitudinal boundary is palpable at its eastern half, inasmuch as a very considerable portion of it runs along the northern coast line of Hawke's Bay, and at an average distance from it of considerably less than ten miles. Thus, while the town of Clyde, on the Wairoa river, is in Hawke's Bay Province, and in intimate connection with Napier by four hours' steam, Frasertown on the same river, and within twelve miles of the port, is in the Auckland Province. To follow this imaginary boundary in the compilation and arrangement of this Cyclopedia would be most unsatisfactory. The settlement of the whole Wairoa district has progressed from Napier, is a portion of the development of Hawke's Bay, and is peopled by the relatives and intimate friends of Hawke's Bay settlers, while for all purposes of communication and commerce it is more distinct from the other portions of the Auckland province than is Napier itself. To divide this settlement by so arbitrary a line, putting the northern portion of it in Volume II. and the parent part in Volume VI, would, figuratively speaking, be to transplant the newer developments of the Wairoa across the unexplored wilds of the Uriwera Country. The Government in fixing the limits of the Land District, has recognised this absurdity by eliminating the latitudinal division as between Auckland and Hawke's Bay, and substituting a line drawn from the western extremity of the Auckland-Hawke's Bay Provincial boundary in a north-easterly direction to Lottin Point, a few miles northward from the East Cape. That this would have been a wise division in the first place, there can be no doubt; but to follow that line of separation in this work would cause endless confusion, for the Poverty Bay district is an important and well-recognised portion of the Auckland Province, very imperfectly connected by land, it is true, but certainly not less imperfectly connected with any other province. The compilers, therefore,
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have considered that the needs of the case are best consulted by including the Wairoa district wholly in the Hawke's Bay portion of their work, and mentioning the variation in both volumes.
Of the 25,746 square miles or 16,477,700 acres, comprising the Auckland Provincial District, a very extensive area is within very narrow eastern and western limits. From the North Cape to the Wellington boundary is about 365 miles, and for about three-fourths of that distance, there is no spot which is more than twenty-five miles from the sea.
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