The Tunnel in the Bush.

For twenty miles we climb steadily, passing farms in various stages of cultivation, and here and there a sawmill, into the rough hilly country of the ranges that separate the Waipa and Mokau head streams from those of the Wanganui River system. At Poro-o-Tarao (altitude 1,128ft., 146 miles from Auckland) we pass through the dividing range by a tunnel nearly three-quarters of a mile in length and emerge on the mountain-side that looks down on the upper Ongarue Valley. From here it is a downhill run of nearly thirty miles to Taumarunui, a descent of 650ft.

The story of the making of this tunnel illustrates the curious methods of railway construction adopted in New Zealand forty years ago. The job of piercing the Poro-o-Tarao Range was carried out years before the rails had reached the place. The plan was that it should be ready by the time the line was laid up to it from the north; but it was finished and lay useless for some years while the rails crept slowly up to it. The work was done by contract, and the firm that carried it through had an almost insuperable task. Poro-o-Tarao was an unpeopled wilderness; there were no roads, and there was no access by water. A township of workers was established at its north end, and brickworks were set up; all other material had to be carted from the head of the line at the Puniu or from Te Kuiti, to which point canoes could come from the Waipa when the rivers were high. The carters had to make their own roads. At some of the steep hills, such as the notorious “Gentle Annie,” a little to the south of Te Kuiti, block and tackle and windlass were rigged up at the hilltop, so that when the teams could not haul their loads up the slippery slant the ropes could be hooked on and the windlass manned to help the horses. Winter haulage over this wild country was a business of tremendous difficulty. But the work went on, and the tunnel was completed before the trains ran south of Te Kuiti. It had its uses for some years as a road for horsemen and pack-animals bound for the southern parts of the King Country. We used to ride through it, and it was an uncomfortable experience to get a packhorse bogged in the stiff clay half-way through the black dripping hole in the hill.

The name Poro-o-Tarao is a reminder of the fact that the long-ago chief Tarao, who was mentioned in the story about Kawa Hill, once climbed this range on his way southward. He did not bring his tunneldigging genius into play here. “Poro” means butt end; posterior. The name preserves a little jest of the chief's followers as they climbed the steep range in single file after him.