A VISIT TO PORT MOLYNEUX.

Clutha Leader, Volume III, Issue 143, 6 April 1877, Page 6

A VISIT TO PORT MOLYNEUX.

(From a special correspondent.)

It may seem to many that Port Molyneux is scarcely worth: the trouble of paying a visit to, or of writing a lettor about. I must assure such that they are mistaken. Anyone with a penchant' for curiosities of any kind, abno'rmalspecimeiis of Irumanity, and what not, will find that a few hours spent in that quarter will fully repay the •trouble. Knowing that the evening of Friday last was a high time in Port Moly,neux ; it being the anniversary of the Alexandra .Lodge of Oddfellows, when a concert and ball are provided for the solace of the lieges, and revelry, is supx:>osed to be at its height, I thought that a little mild dissipation might not be amiss',, especially as it was a holiday arid the weather charming. I have recently seen' newspaper articles which charged Port Molyneux : with being a dreary little place, but verily the half had not been told. us. Its physical features are humdrum enough, but in its social characteristics, chiefly, it resembles nothing so much as one of those little rural villages we read of as existing in the home country fifty years ago, whose' inhabitants had existed in it all their lives, and their parents and grandparents before them ; who had heard of progress, ] m t only as a monster to be avoided ; and where, if the foot-fall of a solitary stranger was heard coming up the street, every face' was instantly glued. to the window, and the moment he was past, the few goodwives were to be seen popping into each other's houses to discuss the. wonderful event in all its bearings. As I approached the building, dignified with the name of hall, where the event of the evening was to take place, I could only wonder where was the company that was expected to fill it. A few larrikins alone were visible, who flew hither and thither with loud yells, the voices and size (if nothing else) of some of them showing signs of incipientmanhood, and leading me to think that anywhere else in Jfew Zealand such speci-. mens would have been more profitably employed than in- playing ' King Oeeser ' in the middle- of the road, and frightening our horses. The hall itself is fast getting numbered among the • things that were. The wooden pathway and "platform are 'dilapidation itself, and the windows arc getting rapidly broken up, as, one after another, both glass and framework are getting smashed in. A little further on is the jetty, where vessels ought to be but are not. This erection, with its sheds, shares the general broken-downness of the whole place. The river is rapidly encroaching on the roadway inside, while the ends of the sheds nearest the stream are bending down to its embrace as though in anticipation of their rapidly-approaching fate. Some time ago your local correspondent chronicled, as a wonderful event, the fact of four vessels having come into the Port in one week. The converse of that astounding event is now more than it can manage, as not even one vessel in four weeks now makes ita appearance. There is a good hotel, far too good indeed for the place. _ How the tenant can possibly get along is more than an outsider can imagine, though he battles along with a persistency worthy of a better place. The store also is good, far too good indeed, like the hotel, and, like it, seems to be a relic of good clays in the past, but with little hope in the future. The proprietor, however, has one great fault. He is independent of local support, and this, along with his own genial nature, leads him to be guilty of the most atrocious crime of rigidly refusing to be mingled with the local bickerings, or influenced by the petty jealousies that are ever about. Speaking of bicker, ings and jealousies, I have also to note that this is a wonderful little place for scandal. If you wish, on the shortest notice, an epitome of' the dark side, real or imaginary, of any one within a circuit of many miles, there are one or two accredited houses into which you have but to drop for half an hour, and you have it. There is an aristocracy, too,, in Port Molyncux, though a stranger would scarcely think so. A few who can manage to show that they have resided here since the place was a place, and that they have resolutely stuck to it through thick and thin, especially if they have clone _ so with no profit to themselves, constitute, in their own eyes, the blue blood of Port Molyneux. New chums, when — as sometimes happens — such are so unfortunate as to stumble in this direction, are looked upon as publicans and sinners of the worst description. All new arrivals, whether new chums or otherwise, are regarded by the " upper ten" with feelings of aversions that are really most difficult to comprehend, and impossible to excuse. As might be expected, when sxich an antiquated spirit is rampant, the place is rapidly going to the dogs. I have mentioned some of the steps of this downward course ; others are rapidly appearing. A few months ago the Port was declared closed, and the pilot station a tiling of the past. Vigorous efforts have been made to have this decree reversed, but so far seem to have been without- success. The news of Mr Burns' dismissal, was received with sincere regret by the ; many, and with as sincere and unconcealed exultation by the few. And yet this rejoicing of the few was not without excuse, for Mr Burns, like some others, ' had serious faults. Firstly, he was a Government officer, and so coitld depend on having his salary at the proper time ; secondly, he had not to dig ditches and cut down trees, &c, and so was not a. working, man in their sense of the term; thirdly and chiefly, he had managed to, be in a tolerable degree a successful man. ...If these three reasons are not sufficient to prove that his present, untoward position is only what. Avas to be expected, and what he , fully deserved, there is no' value' in cumulative evidence. True,' the disaster is not his only, but will be shared'- by the Port- and every one connected with it ; but that is nothing. More than once a Lilliputian ,gold digging, situated somewherealong the beach, has attempted to raise its head, but .it has now sunk into jutte'iv oblivion. Some former correspondent of

yours had once a good deal to say, and great things to predict, of the fishing industry , which<;was -then^beong" '.tried, iov :the second or third time. It has shared the fate of everything else; - ■ Whyitshbuld be so, when, as ; every "one 'confesses, -the coasts swarm' Avith splendid ; fish, seems .pretty, difficult to account, .for,; unless it be. the prevalent .unsocial spirit which drives away every one who can get away, and depresses the '""energies of every one who is unfortunate .enough to be" forced to re-

main.