Stewakt. — On the Eotorua District. 595 



about 29,000 acres of certainly the best of the open country, 

 but very far inferior to the forest land for settlement purposes. 

 The prosecution of the second section was therefore con- 

 tingent on the Government acquiring further lands in the 

 forest, or of the company being able to negotiate with the 

 native owners for the same. 



The formation of the company was proceeded with; and 

 the rapidity with which £70,000, in as many shares, was 

 subscribed, and the large portion of these held by Auckland 

 merchants and others having no interest in the lands proposed 

 to be opened up, aiuply redeems the bone and sinew of the 

 commerce of Auckland from any charge of apathy in regard 

 to its interests in Eotorua, whatever may with propriety be 

 said of our representatives at that time, and for many years 

 afterwards. The total shares subscribed amounted to about 

 125,000, and of these only 37,000 were held by those interested 

 in the land. The others were taken up in numbers of from 

 twenty to three thousand by people whose only interest lay in 

 the opening-up of the lakes to Auckland. 



In February, 1882, orders were given for the survey of 

 Section I. and the exploration and preliminary survey of 

 Section II., for the purposes of estimate and compliance with 

 the Acts. These were immediately put in hand, and we may 

 now proceed to describe the country through which the 

 Thames Valley and Eotorua Eailway was designed to pass. 



The three rivers, Piako, Waitoa, and Waihou or Thames, 

 occupy and drain one and the same great valley, which ex- 

 tends inwards in a perfectly straight direction, about south- 

 east, from the head of the Firth of Thames to a distance of 

 about sixty miles, having an average breadth of probably • 

 eight. Morrinsville is situated about the middle of the length 

 of this great plain, and on its western side. From this sta- 

 tion, on the Waikato-Thames Eailway, the Eotorua Eailway 

 starts, and keeps in the Piako Valley for about seven miles ; 

 then, crossing over diagonally, reaches the great Matanibita 

 levels between the Waitoa and Waihou, and follows the main 

 valley of the latter until the hills are reached beyond Oxford. 

 At this point the Thames is divided into three branches— the 

 Oraka on the western side of the valley, the Waihou in the 

 middle, and the Waimakariri on the eastern border. The 

 middle one has the parent name, and perhaps the greater 

 volume of water, but the Oraka has by far the longest course, 

 and should be considered the parent river of the system. It 

 rises in an almost imperceptible trickling of water from one 

 httle pool into another in a valley in the wild recesses of the 

 Eotohokahoka forest, not quite eight miles in a direct line 

 from Eotorua. A clear stream, flowing on silver sand, is soon 

 formed, and after a course of about a mile it falls into the 



