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An Epitome of Official Documents Relative to Native Affairs and Land Purchases in the North Island of New Zealand

Whangarei.—Reporting Visit to that District and Kaipara. Land Commissioner's Office, Auckland, 20th March, 1857

Whangarei.Reporting Visit to that District and Kaipara.

Sir,—

Land Commissioner's Office, Auckland, 20th March, 1857.

I have the honour to report, for your Excellency's information, some particulars connected with my late visit to the Whangarei and Kaipara Districts.

The District of Whangarei, situated between Auckland and the Bay of Islands, contiguous also to the valleys of the Kaipara, the Wairoa, and the Hokianga, lies in a most desirable position for settlement. The main estuary forms a safe harbour, navigable for vessels of large tonnage for a distance of fifteen or sixteen miles. The country on each side presents at first sight a broken and hilly aspect. The curiously-formed Manaia rocks, rising boldly from the water at the northern side of the entrance in irregular chasms, give a wild and romantic character to the scenery, which is very much heightened by the contrast with the tame and monotonous appearance of the low, sandy country around the town-site of Marsden at the south-eastern entrance of the harbour. Numerous small rivers and creeks, navigable for canoes and boats, empty themselves into the main estuary. On the banks of these streams are some Native villages, and on the Crown lands a few well-selected farmsteads are springing up. The soil is chiefly of a rich volcanic description, intercepted with belts of timber alternating with flats of open country. Here and there are occasional patches of poor white clayey soil which have been dug over for kauri gum: such, however, is the influence of a genial climate upon even the poorest of New Zealand soil, that with slight culture it can be rendered wonderfully productive.