Page:Tramps in the Far North-Hector Bolitho.djvu/14

In railways, the North is poor, but the schemes have been delayed by the War, and it will not be long before the Department meets this need.

Some idea of the vast possibilities of the North, can be gained from the fact that all the following industries and developments are being actively pursued:—Dairy farming, fruit growing, sheep and cattle grazing, timber felling, freezing of stock, potato growing, coal mining, lime and cement working, kauri gum digging, flax cutting, ship building, fishing, fruit canning, and limited quicksilver working.

There is a variety and extent of mineral wealth which will tempt vast capital when the North is known, and there are limestone caves, places of historical interest, mineral springs, rivers, and scenery that will some day lure travellers from all corners of the earth.

WHANGAREI

The pleasure of the steamer trip from Auckland to Whangarei, depends mostly on the mood of the weather; but the healthy traveller survives this introductory aspect and arrives at Onerahi, only to be ushered on to a primitive train which carries him over the last stage of the journey. It was from the windows of an obsolete railway carriage that I first saw the country that surrounds Whangarei. Mangrove swamps, bridges of a past century, and the puffing of an

Page 10