AN OCEAN CRUISE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 551, 5 July 1909, Page 5

AN OCEAN CRUISE.

' GOVEWWHPS VISIT TO THE COOK j ISLANDS. j LfFE ON BOARD A WARSHfP. j A COMPLETE MINIATURE THEATRE. j (By Telegraph.—Press AssodaUonJ 1 Auckland, Joly 3. ] Tho Press Association's ropresontaiivo who j accompanied the Governor trip to tho Cook Islands, writing from ltovtofiga-mtdor ■ . J data of Jtaao 24, says:— ' j After a most pleasant trip, H3LB. Chad- .j lenger, with Lord Phuket, oil board, sn-rwaj ' • j at Rarotonga early tlus.trKjmiiig, ooddw®pod 1 anchor off Avarua just before :, breakfast. I j Except for a little'rairi, the weaker was <fo- ' ] lightful, and for those who like fceat tho cx* j perienco of gradually leaving behind tho ohiSy i Now Zealand winter and steaming into the j gonial warmth of the; tropin .wis most <»- -'••'] joyable. Ono shed one's heavy winter wear a : garment at a timo and donned light and airy j white, which seems stoangely out of plioo in j the 'month of June to Now Zealand.' 1 This .! little incident brought hoin6 yory forcibly the \ extent tho Dominion widened lier boon- ' j danes when she reached out and took nndor her | mng; that little group of: islands which'lW away to tho north-cast- sixteen hundred ' miles as the sea bird flies io tho lieawaf .1 islet.■ V,-. : "'"'V The Governor and his aides-de-camp, Cap- . j tain Shannon and Captain Gathorne-Hardy} ! are good sailors, and they thoroughly > en- 1 joyed the trip. Liko most Mrel' inon, ' i Captain H. ; C. 0. Da Costa andi -his offioors ! are charming hoßts, and they made the time ' - pass most pleasantly." We came, along at what is knownaa "economical. speed," a little .over 10 knots cat ' * hour, as the ooal had to bo conserved; to .last' i out over tho cruise, whioh will ma into some •••• four thousand miles before Auckland is . ] roachod again, • i A Concort. ' One . night >at sea the ship's company got up a concert for the amusement of tho Vico;Regal,party, and it was a revelation of tlw '-o astonisaing; I'handiness" of the handy man 1 ■" « to thoso :who previously' know him only by repute. In h few hours one afternoon tho quarter-deck'was transformed iiito a' i inin.ia« ; turo theatrp, and if it . had not boon, fw th 4 gentle'roll of tho ship bb she rose arid fell ' . ? iin the swell, of the sea it would have been ;■] hard to realise that one was in the middle of * the Paciflo Occanaspne satandlistonM to the j programme. . Inside tho'quarter-deck- Awiiinga j were ;liung ,|ags of all colours, and the. illu« I sioii : .was; completed by tho ingenious manner in which ithe .elrctrical department had laid • on the. olootric light,., end of the ; ' stern,- was rigged a stage,, bright with flags, 1 and the' whole, thing', was coniplote'cycii to ■ ■ footlights and limelights (evolved frftm, th«' - • , laritern.used ijiaiight firing). . 'HisiExoellonoy and ! staff;' Captain Da Costa, and the officers <x the ship, wearing the handsome'evening dress ■of the ' Service, oeoupiod tho - '.'oronestra ; :.: stalls,'!, and the -remainder ox the ship's company, nearly SO moo, disposed itself on tho ;roet •. . of the' quarter-deck tuid perched itself in l all■ sorts of ; inaccessible places on guns, eto., till tho ptiro<."auditorium". was Simply,a soa o' smiling ,Jaok 'Tars,: 'who seem to have r& tained tho secret of; comnletG &njoymetit which most people lose when V they • leave school. Tfae oolour, the light, tho uniform* of ,the,offlocrs. : and the joUy sailors made up i a;scone which' is uniquo in tho world «' theatres, A man-of-war audionoowould bo an ideal .one -to niako a' flrst oppearanoo' be* fore'. It is de,\riguqur fOr aK hands to jom j 1 in the chorus, and even the raoat 1 norvoua " performer would bo put at,his easo if he heard. • j 600, Tars blending their mellifluous voiccs in ;1 the refrain of "Put Me Among the Girls,!!' or. : ;. .j some of the other classical pleoos with wjnch 'j tho r programmo bristled. ' I < ■' ■i-y'i At Rarotonga. - i . .Specd.w'aa regulated yestorday eo that ; ; 5 wo should pick up land 4t daybreak, and wo ! ■made the roadsteaid as above. 1, j : After Dr.* Dawson; the health officer, lino' j been aboarf, 1 . Colqnd. Gudgeon, camo off and ' j had an interview, with his Eicellency. It'was - .] not expected that the Challenger, would arrive before ..rilext Saturday, and it has been ' J arranged'that; the Governor shall go on" to ■ , J Mangaia,'/.A.tuai . and AituUki, and return :! hero at the qrid, of:the week for tho ofDcsiaJ.. • -"I landing. , J His-Expellericy* remained on board all day, .^■!■■■• 1 A number of the officers camo ashore, and as ■ <| i this is the first occasion on whirih the ship has > ' j been in Hhese waters they .thoroughly, en- . : jo.vod thO day's outing. , According t<i'present arrangements his Ex- : ' j oellency will spend a day at each of tho • ! iskhds of Mangaia; Atua, and Aitutaki, and ] make his official landing, hero" at" Raroton«!a •< | next MondajvTl^vihji'for New Zealand tho • ' i same; evening.; 1 ' Whether it bo Monday or •; Sunday lam not quite sure, as ivo aro on j the wrong side (from a Now"; Zealand stand- - . ] point) of. the'lßoth degree of; longitude. Any sort of oxertifthy even mental, is' impossibla-;a in this climate, where tho mercury is bump< , i ing its head against tho top of .tlie tube, -. ' r '- ;i :;|