Memories of the Hero Hatupatu.

The stories gathered as I explored those places showed that there had been a general subsidence of the land along the southern side of Rotorua. On the end of Motu-tara Point is a marshy tract which was once well above the lake level and was occupied as a kainga. On the landward side the hamlet was fortified by a trench and breastwork that I traced in the tangled vegetation. The name of this old village was “Te Kauanga-a-Hatupatu,” “The Swimming of Hatupatu.” The legend went that this semi-defied ancestor, on escaping from the clutches of the forest-ogre Kura-ngaituku, dived into the lake here and swam under the surface until he reached Mokoia Island.

Oruawhata, where the Government Sanatorium stands, was so named because Hatu’ divested himself of his garments there and hung them up on a tree, so making a whata (tree-storehouse) of it, preparatory to his herculean dive. Oruawhata is the general name of the place where the bath buildings stand in the Government Gardens.

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(Rly. Publicity photo.)
Pretty homes in Eltham.

we give you the flavour of this sister garden town, where, in one place, a row of pretty homes abut on the spacious tennis courts and sit, as it were, on the same spread of green turf.

Here we came to the Renco Factory and (as my friend with the camera said), “began to see life.” Here is an industry which supplies, annually, the rennet and cheese colour for 100,000 tons of cheese. Here is the largest rennet factory in the British Empire. I had a dim notion that our factories used our own make of rennet, but I did not know that the ratio was 95%. It should be 100% of course. The local product wins all the prizes and the vells from which it is made are prepared under the supervision of our own Government. They are in quantity enough to supply Australia and New Zealand. The factory is entirely modern, as our illustrations show, and contracts are now let for the erection of extensions to the laboratory which will enable it to be used for research work.

However, the newsy part of our investigation report is the discovery of “Birthday Renco,” and every New Zealand housewife should learn about this at once. “Renco” is made up in six flavours, lemon, orange, raspberry, vanilla, greengage and passion fruit. I made a junket coloured and flavoured, when I got home—and I have no references as a cook. I can visualise the day when thousands of cases of this delectable product go overseas.

In case I seemed to have spent too much time on this important factor, I remember that industries founded on our own primary production, are necessarily sound. Where a factory is carried on in such a place as Eltham, the operatives have surroundings that are ideal and conditions that are fruitful of human happiness. Here is an object wholly worthy of our collective and enthusiastic support.

We took the pretty lakelet at the Ngaere Gardens on our short journey of six miles to our northern boundary town, Stratford. It has a Broadway and it is a noble main street.

This important railway junction has almost an air of stateliness. Its buildings are most imposing and very uniform. On our day there Broadway was massed with motor cars as if for a motor ghymkhana; but it was an everyday occurence.

The railway station at Stratford is a scene of bustle and activity. Here the cross country trunk railway meets the southern route after traversing the middle of the Island. This will always be a factor in the progress of Stratford. Here, by the way, too, is a large

(Rly. Publicity photo.)
Municipal offices and Turi's canoe, Patea.

commercial apiary making the town the honey centre of this part of the world.

The parks in Stratford are instances again of the use of perfect aesthetic taste. The King Edward Park has preserved masses of native bush, and the winding Patea river finds its picturesque way about like a lovely bush creek.

Stratford is at an altitude of over a thousand feet, and the clear air gives Mount Egmont an added nearness and majesty. The citizens have made a wonderful road up to the Plateau on the northern-looking shoulder of the mountain and the drive up there and the view obtainable will make memories for the most jaded sight-seer.

Roads radiate everywhere from Stratford, and we took one to go and see the little sisters, Kaponga, and then Manaia.

They are simply smaller editions of their neighbours, possessing the same basic amenities such as water supply, drainage, theatres, electric light and so on.

Once more let me say this; these achievements of British folk, strictly adhering to the best of British traditions, are only fitting and proper when we remember whence we are sprung. I pause to say that in these towns I noticed an extraordinary standard of civic management, contributed to largely by the selfless public spirit displayed by their civic leaders. How lucky is the Dominion in its possession of these men of devotion, experience and zeal who tend the affairs of civic administration so unremittingly.

The lustre of this galaxy of South Taranaki towns can be safely left in the hands of their dwellers. They have brought it to its present glory and it will wax and never wane.