THE LAND OF THE LEVEL ROAD.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 841, 13 June 1910, Page 8

THE LAND OF THE LEVEL ROAD.

• s . LIFE IN QUEEN CHARLOTTESOUND.' By Whl Lawsox. (All Eights Reserved.) The launches go with their brass and' their banners, And the tongue ot the grev-beard flogs; "What with yer larnches " and grand planners, "Yer linen shirts and yer haw-haw man. ners, "The Sounds is gone to the dogs." It is Friday morning, the mail-boat Gannet is starting on tho longest mail run slie makes—to Endeavour Inlet and Resolution Bay, which are just this side of Ship Cove, where it is proposed to erect a monument'to Captain Cook. That part of Queen Charlotte Sound, which by virtue of the mimes these bays carry is a constant moniory of tho great navigator, is still a far-away place even in these silent waters. And from a sentimental point of view, no doubt it is better so. Bound the short jetties (he launches, or "larnches," as they are called, swarm like bees. There are over a hundred of . these craft in this sound, long and beamy and of shallow draught, with curved wuoiicn hoods to shelter passengers and engine and to carry deck-loads of lugpage on. They are the messengers of the Sounds—ileet-keeled and always ready. 'In i'ititon there are nearly one thousand souls;'and scattered through the Sounds, Queen Charlotte and- Pelorus, are over a ' thousand more. But. although Picton is the centre of Queen Charlotte Sound, she cannot claim all Pelorus for her own, chiefly because of the narrow isthmus at the Portage, where there is half a mile of land between the Sounds-, making water communication between the two bodies of water possible only by going round by the open sea. ' / Wellington is-already reaching out for the Pelorus trade. Every week a steamer trades from Wellington to Havelock, at tho head of l'elorus, and every week a steamer from ricton does the same. If there were a canal instead of a portage, maybe there would be two steamers from Picton and none ' from Wellington, or perhaps the Wellington steamer would come in and poach on Picton's preserves in Queen Charlotte Sound. But the Portage is there, a track over a hill, and it will be many years ere the costly work of cutting a canal is carried out. In the meantime the mail-launch from I'icton runs twico a day to Portage; passengers, mails and luggage are carried overland, to bereshipped to a Pelorus launch.. In days gone by there were a number of srmdl steamers in Picton. They maintained communication with the settlements in Queen Charlotte Souuri. If tne settlers wanted to trai'el at other than the regular steamer times they went in boats, rowing or sailing. The coming or the motor-launch has altered all that. The steamers are lying in the shallows about Waitohi Bay, rusted relics; the boats are used as tenders to the launches. And there arti old settlers who bewail tho change. Still, nearly every settler owns a launch, and ou the south-eastern side of the Sound, where there is telephone communication right down.to Te Awaite, in Tory Channel, there . are always launches passing and repassing, and t>ie big steamers pass, close in. So it is really never'loaeiv then.'. A settler, travelling on the mail-boat, said: "Once you've lived here you want to come back. I went away once, but I. soon came back." . On the same trip there were several ladies, dwellers in the, Sounds. They were talking of dances. Said one: "I missed the last two, and wasn't. I wild. I won't, tell you what I said." Then those fortunate ones, who had been, told her of all the dresses and such interesting things. To these functions, which, arc usually held at Picton, they go by motor-launch. There is no rushing for last cars or worrying about waiting horses. The dance is danced to the end, bitter or sweet, and then in tho pule of the morning they sail away home., There is something to envy in this simple life. ■■■-■ ■'■■ _ But there is something different in the ljvps: of the dwellers on the opposite,'tho north-western, shore. To begin with, they are on the.cold .side of the Sound, facing south-east. In winter they-lose the-sun early.. ..And there is.-.no telephone line. Here is-where one realises tho isolation of the Sounds. ' Endeavour Inlet is a beautiful waterway, with bush-clad hills. Its length is five miles from entrance to head, aad it runs due north and south. The settlement at tho head once boasted a wharf, but there is no wharf now. It has fallen down, save for two or three piles on which a rough jetty has been fashioned, and moored to it lies a launch, ona laro'y misses seeing one of I hem. Just alongside the-jetty is a small shed, bearing the- title "Post Office." Here the mail-bags arc carried, and letters distributed. Tho receivers open their mail at once in case a reply by the out-going mail is required. The path goes on through an avenue of native bush. A flight of steps flank the way, mounting a bank and disappearing in a labyrinth of foliage. Further on one sees the pretty bungalow "accommodation houso they lead up to. It nestles among the hills, anl is girt by shrubs. And the path goes winding still, leading to some houses which; stand at the head of the. inlet on open level ground.

With the mails on board the Gannet steams away. The picture we are leaving is a beautiful one." A careless remark of the captain'b dispels some of the charm. "It's a lonely spot, and when the wind blows it's cold. North and south winds tear straight up and down the' inlet r and it's too fa l- from Picton." "What do they do hero if they want & docbr, for instance, or a message sent hur-iedly?" "Take tho launch." "All tho way to Picton?" / "All the way." This would seem to be the simple Ufa in earnest—no telephone, no roads, threa. hours run to Picton, and a mail once a week. Half an hour's run brings us to Resolution Kay. Tho mail and freight are ferried ashore in a dinghy. There are two houses here, and wliile the skipper is delivering his mail and packings, and waiting for the return mail which is being made up by the settler's'wife, a man. comes out in a vowing boat. He passes two c<"ses of farm produce on board, speaks a few monosyllables, and pre-, pares to "go. A passenger says, "This bay of yours is beautiful." He raises quiet brown eyes. "Mavbe," he answers, "to them that like it." His oars dip and flash; he goes back to his quiet roundoo s life. And presently comes another boat, a man rowing, and two little boys in the stemsheets. This" man also passes cases of merchandise on board, produces some accounts, and eaters into an earnest discussir.n with tho owner of the steamer. The boys, shy at first, soon begin to' chatter. They are healthy, rosy clildren. As this boat departs the skipper returns in-the dinghy. He is in a hurry. The dinghy is rapidly made fast. "Eight?" he. shouts into the engineroom. "Eight"; the response comes faintly. , The levor chtters, the engines throb,"What's tho news?" asks the crgineer,, coming' up on deck. "Too much dasli talk," is the impatient answer. "They don't see many folk down here," explains tho engineer. "They l.svc no launch, and are out of 'the regular track." "Then how on earth do they manage, if ynu only call once a week?" ','Oh, they make a smoke on that point of land wirtm they want me. Jiy place' is only five miles away, and ii I'm not there. my son comes in a launch." What'a lifo this is for a woman! No. wonder they wanted to chat to someone-' fresh from the world, even the little world of Picton. Shade of Captain Cook, when you made your garden on Long Island, when you lay at anchor in. Resolution Bay, did you ever dream that men. aye, and women and little children would live here apart from the world? And it is lonliev now than when Captain Cook with his ship's company were here. The time was ripe indeed in the Ijand of the level ltoad. for the coming of the swift-heeled messengers, the motor-boats,' which the old man said "with the grand pianiiers were sending the Sounds to tho dogs."