New Zealand's first Commerce Train was organised by the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, in co-operation with the Department of Industries and Commerce, and the Commercial Branch, New Zealand Railways.

The train left Auckland City on 26th October, 1928, traversed the province, and returned to the city on 4th November. The tour was in all respects a complete success.

It was a happy inspiration, carried through to a thoroughly satisfying conclusion, that prompted the experimental running of a Commerce Train over the Government railway system in the Auckland provincial district during October and November.

The purpose of this tour, unique in New Zealand, was to create a better knowledge in the city of the resources of the country districts served by the railways and to foster a closer co-operation between the two and the development of those resources to their common benefit. The idea originally presented itself last year to a number of Auckland business people and commercial and railway officials in Wellington. Subsequent discussion on the subject resulted in the inauguration of the “get-together train,” as some care to call it. There was a deep and earnest desire on the part of leading city commercial men to gain a more intimate knowledge of the great province at their gates; the only matter at issue was how best to accomplish that desirable end. The Railway Department supplied a most satisfactory solution by arranging the organisation of a special train cruise on which a large delegation could embark and view all parts of the province with a minimum of trouble and expense. Many business men, like many farming people, have of course made trips through parts of the provincial territory, but without the advantages of seeing everything that could be secured under some special organised scheme. That scheme was drawn up, and the outcome was the despatch of a train, on a kind of roving educational commission, north and south and east and west.

Railways and Commerce at Grips.
General Manager of Railways (Mr. H. H. Sterling) greets Mr. H. T. Merritt (left), President of Auckland Chamber of Commerce.

It was a novel adventure, combining business and pleasure in a fashion that it was impossible to secure so fully and so easily in any other way. It was a train on which the passengers could live while they moved about the country for a week or more—the actual duration of the tour was nine days—viewing the farming districts, the mills and factories, the flocks and herds, the experiments in the treatment of soils, the forests indigenous and page 26 exotic, gold mines and coal mines, the growth of the provincial towns and villages, the landscape glories and wonders that all have their part in adding to the wealth of the country. Such a tour could only be carried out by a judicious combination of railway and car—rail for the greater part of course— and by a careful co-ordination of all details so that time and cash could be expended to the utmost advantage, and so that the commercial tourists should be able to meet and talk with the people whose information and advice were most likely to be helpful. All this took a great deal of thought and careful management, backing up the enthusiasm with which the scheme had been received at the start, and that thought and expert management resulted in the carrying through of the project to complete success. It was a great experiment, well thought out and well executed.

Train Living.

The Commercial “home on wheels” consisted of a special train with ordinary first-class Pullmans for day occupation, four sleeping cars (each accommodating 20 passengers), a most comfortable lounge car; a kitchen car, where light refreshments, tobacco, confectionery, and sundries in everyday use could be obtained; and a wagon fitted up as a shower-bath carriage. Among the other conveniences furnished were a telephone, postal service, and gramophone. Each day a four-sheet newspaper was published on board by the Publicity Manager of the service. Nothing was missing in the fitting-out of the train that would assure the comfort and pleasure of the eighty men who made the “nine-days'-wonder” tour.

Tour from the Railways’ Viewpoint.

The significance of the tour from the standpoint of the National Railways was succinctly expounded by Mr. H. H. Sterling, the General Manager, in these words at the outset of the expedition:—

“I feel that the interests of city and country are so closely interwoven that every possible opportunity should be taken to let one section know exactly how the other stands and what it is doing in order that the best co-operative effort may be applied.

“My own experience of private enterprise is that gained whilst in charge of the world's greatest dairy concern, and that has shown me the universal advantages to be gained by co-operation. In the railway service there is an increasing desire to achieve a maximum of efficiency by this means. The service has been built up by a succession of capable administrators and can claim that it has never fallen down in regard to any transport proposition that has been handed over to it. In regard to this tour, I was very pleased to take advantage of the fine enterprise shown by the Auckland Chamber of Commerce to prove what the Department is capable of in the way of service. Every little detail has been thought out that may in any way help to make for the ease, comfort and entertainment of the travellers, and from the expressions already conveyed to me by members of the party it is quite clear that the efficiency of our organisation has surprised some and delighted all.

Service with a Smile.
Morning-tea outside the bathroom carriage.

“I feel sure that the lead given to the rest of New Zealand by Auckland province in the running of a Commerce Train will quickly be followed by other provinces. If that is so, then I can assure the public that the Department will be prepared to make equally thorough preparations for any tours of a similar kind which they may desire to make. Out of this trip, and the increased knowledge to be derived therefrom, there will be a double benefit; firstly, a complete appreciation by all who are thus brought into contact with each other regarding the work performed in the province for the good of the Dominion, and secondly, page 27 a great extension of enterprise on the part of both producers and business men through the confidence in the resources of the country which such a useful tour is bound to provide.”

Personnel of the Party.

There were over 80 people on the train, including 58 business men, 14 Government officials and the railway staff.

The following is a list of those who travelled on the train:—

Messrs. H. T. Merritt, president of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce; J. A. C. Allum, J. W. Andrew, R. Angus, J. Arneil, C. M. Bartley, C. F. Bennett, F. W. Blakey, Professor Belshaw, Messrs. C. E. Clinkard, W. Coltman, C. M. Croft (Canadian Trade Commissioner), Paul Cropper, W. M. Dawn, A. Eccles, W. R. Ellingham, A. W. Essex (Canadian Pacific Railways), W. R. Fee, J. Findlay, G. Finn, Julian B. Foster (United States Trade Commissioner), G. M. Fowlds, W. Fraser, A. A. Gray, N. Walker, J. P. Hooton, Gainor Jackson, T. G. Julian, O. Jones, J. Kidson, E. Kitchener, W. D. Lambie (Deputy British Trade Commissioner), S. H. Levland, J. T. D. Lloyd, A. G. Lunn, R. C. M. Laird, R. P. M. Manning, R. B. Marshall, A. E. Moore, E. P. Neale, A. C. Norden, A. M. Paterson, T. R. Procter, J. R. Rendell, A. A. Ross, John Schischka, A. M. Seaman, J. B. Shacklock, G. G. Shierlaw, S. Takle, Campbell Thomson, G. L. Thorburn, B. Turner, T. C. Webster, F. M. Winstone, J. T. Winter, E. Yates, E. W. Yates; and staff reporters of three Auckland daily newspapers.

The Government officials were: Mr. H. H. Sterling, General Manager of Railways; Mr. F. W. Furkett, Engineer-in-Chief of the Public Works Department; Mr. J. W. Collins, secretary of the Department of Industries and Commerce; Mr. E. Phillips Turner, Director of Forestry; Mr. P. W. Smallfield, Mr. W. T. Collins and Mr. W. Dempster, of the Department of Agriculture; Mr. E. Casey, Divisional Superintendent of Railways; Mr. D. Rodie, Commercial Manager of Railways; Mr. A. W. Wellsted, Auckland Business Agent; Mr. J. G. Rickerby, District Traffic Manager; Mr. G. G. Stewart, officer in charge of the Publicity Branch of the Railways and editor of the “Railways Magazine”; and Mr. A. H. W. Evenden, North Island Supervisor of the Refreshment Branch. Mr. J. T. Collin, of the Railway Department, accompanied the party as secretary.

Touring the Waikato.

The first day's journey (Saturday, 27th October) beginning at Auckland and ending at Rotorua, was planned with a view to demonstrating the value and interest of the great Waikato Valley and plains. The run up along the bank of the willow-fringed Waikato, with the background of blue hills, was a pleasant introduction to the plains of plenty which began to open out when the storied peak of Taupiri had been passed. After breakfast at Frankton the travellers were taken over the great butter box factory and casein manufactory of the largest dairy company in the world, the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Co., Ltd. Later on in the day, on the Matamata Plain, they were taken over the same company's Waharoa butter factory, a wonderful place in its dimensions and its output of butter for the English market. The truly huge scale on which the butter-fat of these wide countrysides of “the Empire's Dairy Farm” is turned to account in the various works inspected was a real revelation to most of the visitors. They had not expected anything like it, and they came away with an added reverence for Queen Cow as a wealth-bringer.

Mrs. Fergus-Boyd.
The charming hostess whose gracious entertainment of the principals on the Commerce Train at Tauranga was so highly appreciated.

The Ruakura State Farm of Instruction was another establishment visited. There the visitors were shown some of the most scientific methods of dealing with the land, the most approved system of crop production and pasture management, and the raising, feeding and housing of live stock.

At luncheon in Hamilton as guests of the Borough Council and Chamber of Commerce, a happy note of optimism was sounded, an all-round expression of hope that this bringing together of business men and farmers and other producers would prove of great mutual benefit to town and country. The Mayor of the town, Mr. J. R. Fow, spoke of the delight it gave the people of Hamilton to be able to meet so many prominent men from the city, and he spoke of the room for development of production throughout the Waikato. Mr. F. H. Clapham, president of the local Chamber of Commerce, joined with the Mayor in expressions of welcome, and congratulated the Railway Department on its very excellent innovation, which he hoped was only the forerunner of many other commerce trains.

The president of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, Mr. H. T. Merritt, made the first of a long series of speeches which it fell to him to deliver on the nine days' tour. He said the business men of Auckland felt that the country so frequently visited the town that it was high time the town visited the country. “So many of us,” he said, “have only vague ideas of the conditions of farming, especially in the outlying districts, that we are anxious to see them for ourselves, with a view to letting the farming community know the commercial people of Auckland are keenly interested in their problems and difficulties, but above all in their prosperity. We are keenly conscious that the farmers' interests are the interests of the city, that the farmers' prosperity is the city's prosperity. We would like the farming community to know that we are not quite so terrible as we are perhaps made out.” Mr. Merritt went on to praise the Railway Department, which was keenly alive to the development of the province. He could not, he said, speak too highly of the manner in which the Railway heads had interested themselves in the present tour.

The New Forests, and the Development of Water Power.

Rotorua and its wonderfully agreeable baths came as a capital finish to the long day's travelling and sight seeing. A refreshing night's sleep, and next morning (Sunday 28th October) saw the train under way up the line again, as far as Putaruru. Passing over the Mamaku plateau going and returning, the travellers enjoyed the glimpses of the real New Zealand bush, the remnant of the forest of rimu and other splendid trees which once clothed all the tableland country.

On the Dargaville Line.
Where young kauris are growing within nine feet of the track.

Just before reaching Putaruru a stop was made so that a visit could be made to a forest of another kind— the exotic trees that are now being planted so largely throughout the country by State and private enterprise in an effort to provide a quick growing timber supply. This was one of the older plantations of the New Zealand Perpetual Forests, Ltd. In the brilliant sunshine the guests gathered to listen to an extremely informative address by Mr. Owen Jones, an official of the Company. He explained that the soft woods planted there grew more quickly than in any other part of the world, and that the Company had planted many thousands of acres of useful exotics. Over a thousand men were employed at the height of the season, he said, and the weekly wages bill was over £3,500. This tree-planting work was turning to most useful page 29 account land which had been despiséd as unproductive, just a run for wild horses and pigs.

From Putaruru station, the party were taken in motor buses to the Waikato River at Arapuni, to view the marvellous task of capturing the energy of a great river for electric power. Some of the travellers had seen Arapuni before, but to those who had not been there previously there were sights of wonder all around—the deep river canyon, the tremendous cataract where Waikato, furious at being diverted from its course, makes a fearful wild charge out and down into the ancient river gulch; the huge dam that looked fit to stand as long as the Great Wall of China: immense quantities of heavy machinery, the hydroelectric power house site in the valley bottom, the transforming station on the pumice hill.

Medicine-ball Enthusiasts at Play.

Mr. T. Raborne, Public Works Engineer in charge at Arapuni, conducted the party over the works and down to the falls.

At lunch on the trainward journey the pilgrims were the guests of the Perpetual Forests Ltd., and Mr. W. Fraser, of that Company, told the party many interesting facts about the splendid tree-planting enterprise. He spoke of the possibilities of future pulping of soft woods and the manufacture of paper, and said that three things were essential: An abundance of soft woods, a good water supply, and cheap power. Arapuni had been chosen as the centre of the forests because of the hydro-electric power which the Government intended to develop there on such a large scale.

Mr. J. W. Collins, secretary of the Department of Industries and Commerce, who was a moving spirit in the formation of the tour, made a reference to the forests and the wild, wild Arapuni which voiced the feelings of many others. He said that though it was Sunday he did not think the spirit of the Sabbath was being broken that day. If anything, all the wonders they had seen had left them in a more reverential mood.

Along the Bay of Plenty.

Now out to the sea coast, by way of Morrinsville, Paeroa, Waihi and Tauranga. The people turned out in strong force at the pretty town of Tauranga this lovely Sunday evening. A full moon rode high; the quiet harbour was a sea of silver light. A halt for dinner and a talk with the townsfolk, and then on again for the terminus of the East Coast line at Taneatua.

The train rolled along through a gently modulating countryside quite new to most of the passengers; for this is a lately-constructed section of line. Through Te Puke town, and the Pongakawa settlements, then down past the ancient Maori fortress Otamarakau and the softly glowing Waitahanui stream, to the long beach of the Kaokaoroa. This name means literally “Long Rib,” and it fits the place, the long narrow rib of low sandhills and smooth sea-strand between the cliffs and the ocean. Along this far stretching sandy shore there was a great running battle in 1864 when the loyal Arawa pursued and defeated a large force of invading rebels from the eastern parts who had vainly tried to break through to reinforce the Waikato Kingites against the British troops. It was peaceful enough this evening, with the moonlight on the gently-breathing waters, and a fairy glimmer on the bold white cliffs of sandstone over which ancient pohutukawa trees outjutted.

Through Matamata, an historic pakeha-maori township above the lagoon that was formerly the page 30 sea-mouth of the Awa-a-te-Atua, or Rangitaiki, and smooth run across the Rangitaiki levels to Taneatua, near the gateways of the Urewera ranges.

The Whakatane Valley and Rangitaiki Plain.

Once upon a time, and that only a few years ago, the Whakatane district was to a large extent isolated, not an easy place to reach. We used to go down by small coastal steamer or by road, and both had their drawbacks. Not until the recent completion of the railway to the Whakatane Valley at Taneatua did this rapidly growing producing region come into its own, and the beneficial results were apparent to the commercial touring party. There was a time when the staple commercial product of most of this Bay of Plenty country was maize. A great deal of maize is still grown by both pakeha and Maori, but much of the land is now diverted to dairy farming, the most profitable of all branches of land work. To this industry, as well as to the raising of fat stock for the market, the coming of the railway means a great deal. There is, moreover, to be noted the immensely enhanced value of these seaward lands as the result of the great swamp drainage operations carried out by the Government.

The Rangitaiki Swamp is now the “Rangitaiki Plain.” The change in title represents a transformation which has brought a far-spreading area of marsh and lagoon and creek under cultivation and habitation, a region of industry and wealth, the home of scores of prosperous settler-families. Where once we saw nothing but a flax and raupo wilderness, threaded by slow muddy water courses and shining with lagoons, the haunt of wild ducks, there is now a wide expanse of rich grass land, with its grazing dairy herds, its plantations, orchards and homesteads. The eel-swamps have been unwatered with scientific skill, by canals and a network of deep drains; river courses have been straightened, and motor launches buzz along where once Maori canoes crept silently along the narrow crooked creeks. Across this redeemed fern country between the Awa-a-te-Atua estuary and Matata and the lower Whakatane, the railway goes to-day to its terminus under the hills at Taneatua, the business centre of a wealthy countryside where the Maori vies with the pakeha in agriculture and the production of butter-fat.

At the Portland Cement Works. Cheering the Company before proceeding by truck to the shipping office.

Taneatua and Thereabouts.

Taneatua, where the commercial tourists were warmly grected by townsfolk and farming people on Sunday, 28th October, is a busy country centre which only came into existence some thirty years ago. Here, where the strong mountain stream Waimana joins the Whakatane, there was, centuries ago, the camping place of the Urewera ancestor Taneatua, after whom the township was named, when the Government bought the Opouriao block and cut it up for close settlement. Originally a sheep run, on which Maori labour was chiefly employed, the Opouriao estate presently became the home of hundreds of farming folk, making a comfortable living out of dairying, stock fattening, and maize growing. The visitors gathered some idea of the value of this good country when over a breakfast as the guests of Taneatua residents, they were taken by car to the Opoouriao cheese factory, and along the well-settled plain to the Ruatoki factory. Some of them were taken to Mr. Charles Garlick's farm, and from the top of the Puketi (Cabbage-tree Hill) they enjoyed a wide view over the fertile lands through which the broad willow-fringed Whakatane River flowed. This Puketi, by the way, is page 31 an historic place; its terraced sides and rug-pitted flat summit tell a tale of the days when it was a fortified village; and there is a tale of a thrilling episode on the Pa-top in the war days of 1869.

Ruatoki, where pakeha and Maori live as neighbours and supply the large dairy factory, greatly interested many of the travellers. There, on the alluvial levels where the Whakatane issues from its mountain gorge to wander leisurely over the plain, that famous fighting tribe the Urewera has its headquarters, and here was demonstrated the ability of the Maori to engage in regular dairying work, which one might have supposed to be foreign to the spirit of a race of bushmen and warriors. The cow and the maize field have made these people of the villages scattered about the plains from Ruatoki township to Tauarau a tribe whose industry and earning capacity are held up as a model to less progressive native communities.

At Opua. The train at the quay where the party joined launches for Russell.

Motoring down from Taneatua to Whakatane town, with the green plains on the left hand and its dark bushy hills rising abruptly close on the right, the pilgrims were handed over to the hospitality of the townsfolk.

Before parting from the Taneatua hosts, Mr. Merritt, on behalf of the travellers, thanked them for their kindness, and Mr. Walter Reid responded. The visit to the seaport town was preceded by a run through the Maraetotara Gorge and over the hills by a “hairpin” road to Ohope beach, a far-stretching firm strand, surf-washed, with a background of pohutukawa-fringed cliffs.

Whakatane town, pert between the dark-grey volcanic cliffs and the estuary, was found a place of peculiar interest. There is no town along the coast so curiously placed. The visitors saw the Wairere waterfall cascading over the pohutukawahung precipice and flowing through the town. They looked up at the craggy walls lifting so suddenly in the rear of the hotels and stores, and they were told something of the story of the tall Pohoturoa Rock, which stands like a silent policeman to divide the traffic at the entrance to the town. They stood for their photographs at that historic rock, which, in the days of 1870, was a real bulwark to the settlement; forming the middle part of a part-natural, part-artificial barricade from the Papaka redoubt hill to the river bank.

Whakatane's citizens feasted their guests and there were felicitous speeches all round. The Mayor, Mr. W. Sullivan, declared that the visit of the Commerce Train would tend to cement the friendship of the men of the country with those of the town. The County Chairman spoke of the impetus the railway had given to primary production in the district, and he congratulated Mr. Sterling and page 32 page 33

Personnel of New Zealand's First Commerce Train—Oct.—Nov. 1928
Who's Who: K: Key to Names

Group Photographed at Whangare Whangarei, North Auckland

page 34 those who were associated with him in the work of popularising the service. Tracing the farming development of the Opouriao country and the Rangitaiki Plains, he predicted that in two or three years, the Whakatane district would be turning out dairy produce to the value of half-a-million pounds annually.

A motor run over the transformed Rangitaiki lands, and the dairy factory at Edgecombe—named after the lofty boldly-shaped extinct volcanic cone which stands sentry over the upper valley—and then the exceedingly pleasant day out was closed at Matata, where the train was boarded again for Tauranga.

Tauranga's Progress, and the Railway.

“If,” said Mr. H. H. Sterling, speaking at a smoke concert at Tauranga, “you regarded the Bay of Plenty line as a good investment for New Zealand, and you take into consideration the question of income and increment, then I say that the line will pay, and pay handsomely.” The General Manager went on to say that he had great faith in the Tauranga district, especially now that it was being well supplied with fertilisers. Touching on other points, he expressed his confidence that the great amount of building taking place in the cities was on sound lines, seeing that its basis was the great progress of the primary industries. The Bay of Plenty district, he said, was going to supply the wealth that would enable the commercial men of the cities to furnish the facilities that were required to develop a district not second in fertility to any other in the world. He deprecated the suggestion that there was any real line of demarcation between the interests of town and country.

At Kohukohu where Schools were closed in honour of the Train.

The secretary of the Tauranga Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Robbins, said the growth of citrus fruits in the Bay of Plenty district was attaining such proportions that very soon there would be no need for their importation to New Zealand.

The Gold Mines, the Factories, the Farms.

Tuesday, 30th October, was a day of varied industrial spectacles and demonstrations ranging from gold-mining activities and iron and steel working to scientific treatment of butter-fat. A gloriously fine morning and an excellent breakfast at Waihi, given by the local Borough Council and Chamber of Commerce, put everyone in cheerful trim for the long day's programme. First there was a motor spin through some of the auriferous country and on through farming lands to the Waihi seabeach.

Returning, the visitors were taken into the surface-workings of the great Waihi Gold-mining Company. Here they learned that 800 tons of ore were brought up from the depths each day, and approximately £1,300 worth of gold and silver extracted from it.

The quartz-crushing and gold-treating battery at Waikino was the objective of another call. Then a move onward was made by rail to the Thames. The hosts there were the Borough Council and Chamber of Commerce, and an unusual experience was a sight of a steel mill in full blast. Mr. W. Bongard, Mayor of the old goldmining town, humorously apologised for the tide being out. He hoped the visit of the Auckland page 35 land business train would be the forerunner of others, perhaps for more distant parts of the Island. Dr. J. B. Liggins, President of the Thames Chamber of Commerce, told the guests that the town was being put on the map again by the recently-settled magnificent dairy country in the Thames Valley and across to the Piako, and lands which were now being opened up. The travellers had a glimpse of that country. The now famous Hauraki Plains, once, like the Rangitaiki, a vast fenland, the haunt of ducks and eels.

The processes involved in the manufacture of cast steel by the Bessemer process were illustrated in a quite dramatic fashion in the large workshops of Messrs. A. S. G. Price, ironfounders and engineers, the builders of a very large number of locomotives for the Government Railways. (It was mentioned that 123 Price cranes were at present in use on the Dominion lines.) The furnaces, the huge receptacles containing molten metal, the pouring out of the metal into moulds on the foundry floor, every detail of the demonstration was watched with the greatest interest. The Mayor told the travellers that the town at present, to a considerable extent, depended on these most useful foundry works being kept going.

On the fringe of a great N.Z. Kauri Forest. Trounson National Park, North Auckland.

Aboard the “home on wheels” once more, the party moved on up the Thames Valley to the Morrinsville Junction, stopping on the way to visit the N.Z. Co-operative Dairy Co.'s dried-milk factory at Waitoa.

Morrinsville gave the tourists a treat by taking them in motor cars through the good farming country around the town, and hospitably fed and toasted them at an official dinner. The Mayor of the Borough, Mr. W. McPherson, said that there was much truth in the tuneful statement that “the more we get together the happier we shall be;” the tour was sure to have the effect of improving the pleasant and mutually beneficial relations between town and country.

Mr. A. H. J. Wyatt, speaking as a banker with twenty years’ experience in country districts, said that Morrinsville was more prosperous than any other district in New Zealand; it produced more butter-fat to the acre. One of the numerous speakers, Mr. C. E. Clinkard, representative of the Auckland Advertising Club, congratulated the Publicity Department of the New Zealand Railways on the high standard of its work.

King Country Scenes, and the Waipa Valley.

“The ghost train,” as some wits called it, moved on while its tired company slept soundly, and next morning saw it berthed at Hangatiki station, in the King Country. This section of the inland cruise was designed to afford the business men some idea of the fertility and the possibilities of the northern portion of the Rohepotae—a territorial occupation, by the way, which has lost its point since the old frontier days, but which, like “King Country,” it would be a pity to drop, since it has a deep historical significance.

The good pastures of this upper Waipa Valley and the transformation of the country from a land of ferns and flax swamps to a region excelled by page 36 none for dairying, were the topic of high praise. Of a different quality of interest were the marvels of the silent underworld revealed in a brief tour of the Waitomo and Aranui stalactite Caves. The travellers entered the famous glow worm hall, with its dark river gliding silently beneath the ceiling of fairy lights. They walked through high-roofed caverns of the Aranui, and emerged into the light as into another world. The greatly improved accommodation provided in the new Government hostel, where the travellers breakfasted, was noted with general satisfaction.

Hangatiki, a place of some political importance in the old Maori Kingite days, was as far south as the Commerce Train took its passengers. The next stage was back to Te Awamutu, re-crossing that storied frontier stream, the Puniu River. At Te Awamutu, the go-ahead metropolis of the Waipa country—the western boundary was marked by yon blue looming range Pirongia away in the direction of the Tasman Sea—there was the usual hearty hospitable welcome. At the official luncheon the Mayor, Mr. L. G. Armstrong, and the president of the local Chamber of Commerce, spoke their greetings, and Mr. A. G. Lunn, past-president of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, was the principal speaker on behalf of the visitors. Mr. Lunn took occasion to give high praise to the organising ability displayed in the management of the railways.

The Land of Coal.

The coal-mining activities along the Waikato now claimed attention. The train came down through the Taupiri gorge and crossing the broad river by the new bridge pulled up at the mining township of Pukemiro. Here the coal mine was inspected, and some facts were learned about the extent of the coal mining industry in this part of the country. The output of coal from the mines in the Huntly-Pukemiro district reached a total of over half a million tons last year; this was produced by about a thousand miners in the various pits. At Pukemiro, where the mine is only thirteen years old, somewhat over a million and a half tons have been won; last year's output was 152,060 tons.

The Commerce Train preparing to depart from Whangarei.

When the train returned to the Coal town of Huntly, the visitors were entertained at dinner by the Directors of the Pukemiro Collieries. The Aucklanders warmly praised what they had seen across the river. Mr. A. G. Lunn eulogised the enterprise of the Company in the using of slack, and he assured the directors of the sympathy of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce with the New Zealand coal companies in any efforts to combat the proposals made in New South Wales, by means of subsidy to export coal, that would tend to injure the industry in the Dominion. Mr. C. F. Bennett spoke in commendation of the comfortable housing for employees and the favourable working conditions at Pukemiro.

The North Auckland Country.

This Waikato visit concluded the programme of journeys in the South Auckland districts.

Now the great peninsula lying to the north of the Waitemate had its turn. The country to be inspected was practically unknown to many of the travellers, naturally so because for so many years it had been difficult to tour the north owing to poor roads, and the slow process of building the railways; the only ready access was by sea, and that only to the fringes of the Northland territory. Now, with the completion of the most important links it was possible to travel comfortably by rail right up to the shores of the Bay of Islands, within a few miles of New Zealand's earliest capital, and to the Kaikohe country, the heart of the widest and most fertile part of the north. As events proved, this was in some respects quite the most pleasant and the most informative section of the provincial tour.

That great inland waterway, the Northern Wairoa and its surroundings, with a typical area of the world's greatest timber-yielding tree, the kauri, came first on the train-motor car itinerary. At Kirikopuni, the rail junction that is to be when the branch line to the west is through from the Northern Main Trunk, the party took motor car to Dargaville, the principal town on the Northern Wairoa. There, and at Mangawhare, they were in the hub of the old-time kauri timber industry. They saw the mills where in former years large square-riggers loaded kauri in bulk and boards for Australia, the United Kingdom and Europe. They saw the townships and old camps where hundreds of tree-fellers and sawmill-hands made merry after their strenuous toil: heard stories of the lively years when timber was all the talk and when timber ships came up and went down the river in a continual procession. Now they saw farms and orchards and comfortable homesteads where once timber-men plied axe and cross-cut saw; rich grass fields and herds of dairy cows where once tall kahikatea trees stood like feathered spears in the swamps. The clearance of the bush and the drainage of the swamps have transformed the northern Wairoa from a land of kauri and white pine to a land of butter-fat and root crops and fat cattle and flocks of sheep.

“My truant steps from home would stray,
Upon its grassy side to play.”

Along the Banks of one of Northland's Glorious Rivers.

Dargaville was as hospitable at any place visited on the tour and that is saying much. The Mayor, page 38 Mr. F. A. Jones, and the Chairman of the Hobson County Council, did the chief honours of the place, but everywhere there was a rush to greet the commercial missionaries and to show them the goodness and the beauty of the land.

The sight of that Northern Wairoa day (1st November), that will remain longest in the travellers’ memories was the kauri forest of Trounson Park, where nearly a thousand acres of precious timber land, mostly kauri, have been preserved as a national treasure, through the generosity of the late Mr. James Trounson and Government purchases. A train from Dargaville took the party up the Kaihu Valley line to Te Aranga a run of 22 miles, and from there it was a wonderful bush walk among the kauri, many of them huge trees, the last of the primeval forest of the North. The visitors lunched in the stately bush, an interlude of delight. Returning down the Kaihu Valley the train pulled up at quaintly named Babylon — a name-relic of the days when the Maori had a craze for Biblical nomenclature—and saw A. C. McArthur's Ltd. new industry for the extraction of kauri gum from timber in operation. The plant deals with kauri swamp timber, pulverising it and subjecting the shredded materials to the action of alcohol and other solvents. Finally the dissolved gum is separated by reagents and produced in a commercial form. The first shipment of the company's product was recently sent overseas for varnish manufacturing purposes.

Farthest North, the Hokianga Country.

Moving on once more from Kirikopuni by the luxurious home on wheels, the excursionists found themselves very early on 2nd November, at Okaihau, the present terminus of the Northern line, close to the shore of Lake Omapere, set among its gracefully-shaped volcanic cones. This Omapere region is the core and centre of the famous Ngapuhi territory. There are alternate belts of rich volcanic and indifferent clay land; there were places where the gumdigger had left his trademark in the form of a myriad upturned heaps of clay. There were beautiful dairy lands, fine herds of cattle, numerous small Maori villages; great groves of the puriri tree, the most conspicuous feature of the native vegetation in this part of the country.

More motor car travelling, excellently arranged and most pleasant, through a land of great scenic variety. By way of change from so much land transit there was a motor-launch trip from historic Te Horeke, near the head of navigation, down to Hokianga estuary and Kohukohu town, twenty miles from the sea, sitting on the water's edge under its wooded hills. This road was diversified with the many by-rivers of Hokianga Harbour, such as the lovely Mangamuka; there the party toured the farming lands about its head and lunched at Broadwood, one of the richest bits of dairying and crop raising land in all this splendid Northland, and a place, the party found, of unbounded hospitality.

Scenes in the Northland.
The beautiful Whangarei Falls.

A car run through to the Otiria railway junction followed; this took the party past the eastern shore of Lake Omapere and through the old mision settlements of Waimate and Pakaraka, with their pretty churches and grand old English trees; on through the plain of Taiamai, the olden garden of the North,—where Ohaeawai township stands at the cross-roads of traffic.

The Bay of Islands.

There followed a train run through via Kawakawa to Opua, the deep water loading port of the Bay of Islands. Launch travel again, this time on more open water, past the celebrated mission station of, Paihia with its memories of those grand pioneer brothers of the Rongo-pai gospel—Henry Williams and William Williams—into Russell town, basking on its shingly half-moon of beach in famous Kororareha Bay. The great story land of the north this; a book would scarce suffice to tell its romantic legends and its sometimes page 39 tragic history. There was time to view the oldest church in New Zealand and for the more energetic to climb the hill to the flagstaff on Maiki hill before the good dinner that wound up a wonderful day.

Whangarei and its Surroundings.

The last two days of the nine days’ tour were devoted to Whangarei, the largest town of North Auckland, and the country inland, a region where the practical usefulness and great wealth productivity blended with some unusual landscapes. Some of the places visited on this section of the round were the Puwera State Farm, the Portland Cement Works (on Limestone Island, in Whangarei Harbour), the Kamo mineral springs, the Kamo potteries, the very curious and beautiful limestone rock outcrops at Waro, Hikurangi; Mair's Park at Whangarei (a pretty spot presented by the late Mr. Robert Mair), and finest of all, the miniature Niagara of the Omiru Fall, on the Wairoa River, near the watermeet where the junction of that stream and the Mangakahia River form the Northern Wairoa.

The Puwera Experimental Farm, greatly interested the city men. It was amazing to contrast the luxuriance of the pasture as compared with adjacent waste land, a vivid illustration of the latent capacity of the northern clay lands.

Mr. C. J. Hamblyn, of the Department of Agriculture, supplied the visitors with a fund of information about the land and the methods necessary in its treatment.

At Limestone Island, down the harbour, the party were welcomed by Mr. T. H. Wilson, works manager for the Wilson's (N.Z.) Portland Cement Company and were shown over the place by guides, who explained all the processes in the conversion of the raw limestone into cement. At night (3rd November), there was the last official convivial dinner of the tour, at which the members were the guests of the town, Mr. L. J. Brake, Mayor, presiding. And then on and home again to Auckland, the end of a perfect tour, as one and all described it.

The Transformation of the Land.
At Puwera Experimental Farm, where gum-land is turned into rich pasture country by modern top-dressing methods.

An Official Summing Up.

At the final social gathering at Whangarei on the Saturday evening, tributes to the ability of the officers of the Railway Department were paid with great enthusiasm by both hosts and guests.

Speaking at the dinner given by the Whangarei Chamber of Commerce Mr. H. H. Sterling said page 40 that 1,300 miles had been covered by the train, 450 by motor, and 20 by launch. The cost to the people who had travelled in the train had been 1 ½d. a mile. That was an object-lesson to the people who thought that the railways were obsolete, and were being superseded by any other form of transport, The trip had been an example of how the various methods of transport could be co-ordinated, and the comfort and the possibility of the trip had been due only to that co-ordination. As general manager of the railways, and as a New Zealander, he was trying to solve a problem which affected all New Zealand. The railway servants were all imbued with the spirit of service. A lot had been said about bringing the railways to a state of commercial prosperity, but it must not be forgotten that they were a service to the Dominion before they were profit-earning. The North had great possibilities which must be unlocked, and the key to the door was transport. He asked those present to set aside all prejudice and catch-cries regarding the railways. The Auckland Chamber of Commerce had given a demonstration of the service which could be done by the railways, and if the people of the Dominion gave their support they would get a service second to none in the world.

The Verdict.

When the long land cruise ended at Auckland it was agreed all round that the running of the Commerce Train was a success, without any qualification. There was no note of unfavourable criticism from any of the members of the large party. Commercial men, representatives of almost every branch of industry, and professional men agreed with one voice on the thorough enjoyment and solid benefit derived from the long provincial tour, covering the country from the Far North to the King Country and the outer guard of the Urewera mountains. The co-ordination of train, motor and launch services was perfect, a triumph for the organising capacity of the New Zealand Railways. In the words of one of the International Trade Commissioners, an opinion endorsed by his confreres, it was impossible to conceive that a tour of this kind could be organised more effectively or carried out more efficiently in any part of the world.

The verdict, too, of the president of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce must be placed on record. “It has been a wonderful success,” he said, at the conclusion of the nine days’ tour. The vast undeveloped wealth of the country through which the train passed impressed him greatly. “The results which have been achieved with some of the fertile lands plainly show that only scientific treatment is needed to cause the province to pour forth a golden stream of produce.” The touring party he added, had been able to study at first hand the conditions of country life, and to form closer ties with their country friends. From that point of view alone the trip had been worth all the trouble spent on it.

Attendants and Crew of the Commerce Train.

When the Commerce Train started from Auckland on 26th October, it was manned by Engine-driver G. Day, Fireman C. Irvine, and Guard J. Melican. Members of the train staff were personally thanked at the end of the tour by the General Manager of Railways for their excellent work.

“Welcome ye shades! ye bowery thickets hail!…
Delicious is your shelter to the soul.—Thomson.

Richness of Forest Verdure seen on the road to Mount Egmont, North Island, New Zealand