A City of Sunshine and Optimism.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1866, 27 September 1913, Page 13

A City of Sunshine and Optimism.

MAPIER, favoured in many things, is in one way distinguished above all other cities. Young and radiant, it stands jri tho very gateway of the future, for it is tho first city in the wide world in which to-morrow becomes to-day. From the cliff that towers up at the end of the town one can look, not only over one of tho imost charming and far-stretching panoramas to be found in New Zealand, but far out. to sea almost to that mysterious spot in the ■ Pacific wheye the geographers have decreed, that'all yesterdays stall die and all .to-morrows have their birth. Napier is',the first full-fledged city westward of the day line, and when the dawn comes stealing over the sea to it, it is the first breaking of that particular day for all civilised mankind. And if the sun makes his first call at Napier every morning, it is also one of the longest calls he pays during his whole twentyfour hours' progress. Liko most visitors, even Old Sol finds Napier a hard placo to tear himself away from] and he lingers on until 'it is possible to stay no longer. Even Nelson, which prides itself on' being one of tho sunniest towns outside of .tho tropics, has had in the latest weather statistics to fall - into second place behind Napier. While the rest of New Zealand has just been awakening this , month to the fact that Bpring has arrived—Napier is well into summer, and already one instinctively seeks the shady side of the street in the middle of the day. They don't call it summer in Napier, but it would pass for a vory__ fair summer indeed in most other placos. When the sun opens up business for the day by coming up out of the sea to visit Napier, he must surely feel that this old world is a very good place to be shining over. The.first things that his eye lights on are the tree-tops and gardens on tho liills of-Scinde Island, and he'gradually steals down in among the hollows .and finds still more'gardens and ' trees, * the gardens just now full of spring flowers, and trees alivo with twittering'birds. Then his beams fall across thd roofs of work-a-day Napier, which lies spreading out from the foot of the hills over the plain, and every other morning he finds another outpost of the town still a little further "out over the flats. Finally tho sunlight strikes the beach, and turns the long lino of the surf to a dazzling white, vanishing far in tho distance to where the hills rise twelve miles away to the ' south, and run out into the bay, to end abruptly in the rugged limestone cliffs' of Capo Kidnappers. Inland, the light fills a wide plain dotted over with clumps and belts of trees, and with tho early morning smoke rising up from hundreds of farmhouses nestling in the midst of orchards and gardens. A few miles back aro the slopes of the foothills, and beyond t'nem_ a peak or two oF " the main range shows up with a powdering of snow on its orcst.. Northward the coast runs in a wido crosccnt to where the Tanges are lost in" blue haze sixty miles away, and then it juts down fifteen miles south form Maliia Peninsula. From Cape Kidnappers to the southern end of Maliia, the two extremities of Hawke Bay, is a distance of fifty miles, and the depth of the bay from 'the centre of this opening in to, Mohaka is about thirty , miles. A Land of Many Changes. Down , toward the southern end of this bay rise tlie hills of Scinde Island, from 200 ft. to 300 ft. lii<_'li, around which Napier clusters.' Scinde Island, it needs to be' explained to those Ne.w Zcalanders who, do not- yet know Napier, is not an island, but .a peninsula at the north- , j em* end of a long shingle bank beginning down near Cape Kidnappers.'Probably no other part of" New Zealand has undergone such changes during the last sixty years as tho spaco between this bank and the "hills which lio from three to five miles back from it. Wh<?n tho first whito man looked upon it, it was an impassable morass. To-day, it is one of tho most fertile and prosperous stretches of countryside in the Dominion. This result is mainly duo to the settlers who drained and reclaimed acre after acre of desolate salt marsh until now' only a comparatively small area surrounding the Inner Harbour, to tho south and west of Scinde Islarrd, remains to be ;won from tho sea. The most important work of. recent years has been tho reclamation of Napier South. Ten years ago this was tho favourito boating and yachting ground of Napier. Five years ago it was dry land, hut without- a house upon it. To-day there arc three hundred homes scattered over it, many of them surrounded by trim and well-grown gardens. This remarkable progress has not been at the expense of 'the older part of tho town, for bouses to let in Napier arc few and far between, and new buildings are also steadily going up there. -. A Sunshine Rocord. 'As a residential town and" holiday resort, Napier offers many attractions. The surroundings are 'charming, and there is the comfoitablo certainty that clear sunny days and light breezes will prevail 0n.75 days out of every 100. The weather at many holiday resorts in Now Zealand is an ever-present problem. It ceases to bo ono when a holiday is taken in Napier. These statements aTe not made at random, but will bo borne out by most visitors to .tho oitv, and arc fully supported by tho weather statistics. ,-The Government Meteorologist,, the Rev. D. C. Bates, in the advanco sheets of the new issue of the "Year .Book," compares tho climato of New Zealand with that of Europe, and finds that while, for instance, the average amount of sunshine per annum in Great Britain ranges from 1200 hours in tho' north of Britain to 1600 hours in the south, Jnany Now Zealand stations can boast of more than 2000 hour'. The Italian record runs from 2000 to 2400 hours a year, but sunny as tho skies of Italy are, those "of Napier are sunnier, for Napier's average amount of sunshine during the last six years amounted to no less than 2501 hours a year. It only needs a little calculation to discover that this means an average throughout those six years of 6J hours of-sunshine every day of tho .week. What moro could anyone ask than this? Nelson comes second after Napier, with an averaige record of 2467 hours of sunshine in each of tlio last four 3 cars. A Progressive Municipality. Though Napior has such a remark-

ably fine climate, the town is by no means dusty, as might be expected from the amount of dry weather. It is, on the contrary, one of the tidiest towns in New Zealand, and has the. general appearanco of having been dusted down every morning. The principal streets are asphalted and are unusually well cleaned, and the residents have for many years past shown a determination to lose- no opportunity of increasing the natural attractiveness of their town in every possible way. About twentyfive years ago they began the construction of the magnificent Marine Parade that' now' runs along the beach for a. distance of two miles. This parade is generally recogniscd as the finest promenade in New Zealand. It is planted from end to end with Norfolk pines, and- in between each tree and the next is a comfortable seat, where one may sit to enjoy the view and watch the •Pacific thundering down on the beach, below. . Near tlio town, and 'fronting the Parade, are the municipal baths, which possess a large swimming pool much frequented in the summer. The. municipality lias' also erected one of the most modern and luxurious theatres to be found anywhere in New Zealand, and the town is frequently visited by-travel-ling companies). Band performances are given'during the season, both on the Marino' : Parade and at the rotunda, in the. Clivo Square Gardens. The borough water and drainage services are efficient and well managed, and a garbago destructor has recently been installed. The new electric trams, opened three weeks ago, are fully described elsewhere, and now provide an easy and inexpensive means of getting from one end' of the town to the other. The Botanical Gardens are picturesquely situated on the hills overlooking the bay and the ! Heretaunga Plains, and • a quiet afternoon can be pleasantly spent in them.. - There aro excellent day and boarding schools in the district, and a person'of independent means seoking a home in New Zealand certainly should not overlook the claims of Napier. The town is within easy reach of the two principal centres.'of the' North Island, a ten-hour railway journey or an overnight run down the coast by sea' brinfes the traveller to Wellington, 'while Auckland may also be reached either by land or sea though in a so'meivhat longpr time. ■ Bound To Co. Ahead. . From a" business point' of viqw tho town is ail exceptionally solid one, and even a casual observer cannot help being ' struck by : the general air of afflu-

ence and prosperity prevailing from one end of tho place to the other. _ Tho great mainstay of tho province is of course tho pastoral industry, but dairying is rapidly growing in importance, and the Heretaungii Plains are also farfamed for their orchards. Napier is tlio seat of a number of industries and among other things possesses one of tho largest iron foundries in the Dominion. The sea as well as the land has its harvest, and from the Marine Parade the smoko of two or three of the dozen steam trawlers which have their head-

quarters at Port Ahurirj is nearly always visible. The whole district is one capable of great industrial development. In Hawke's Bay County there is a big hinterland yet to be opened up, while Wairoa County is at the present moment almost a terra incognita so far as trade and industry are concerned. The con-

struction of the Napier-Gisborne iection of tho East Coast railway, recently begun, will open a huge area of fertile land, and greatly increase the importance of Napier. Communication with Wairoa is at present maintained more or less irregularly by sea, as the bar har-

hour there is frequently blockcd after southerly weather. River improveworks aro now in hand' and a much improved steamer, scrvico is planned against the timo when the. port is freely open to coastal vessels. Tho overland route to Wairoa is by 110 means as good as tho possibilities of tho district warrant. The distance by road is about eighty miles and of this a stretch of some forty miles or so in the centre is unmetalled, and after heavy rain in the winter time is almost impassable for vehicles. Fortunately in the fino wea-

ther climate of Hawke's Bay tho road i 3 sufficiently dry for' motor traffic to get through except in mid-winter. Undeveloped Back Country. What the opening-up of Wairoa would mean, to Napier may be gathered from some figures compiled by Mr. C. Douglas, tlio secretary of tho Napior Chani-

ber of Commerce.- At the present moment this county carries .57 of a sheep to tlio aero, hut it is estimated that fully developed, and with the railway to carry fertilisers in, the country should carry two sheep to tho acre. This estimate may seem a triflo on tho

high side, hut it is beyond question that a sheep and a half to the acre could as easily bo carried in Wairoa as is now done in Weber and Waipawa Counties. An increase to this figuro in Wairoa would moan an addition of 110 fewer than 1,118,000 sheep to the Hocks of Hawko's Bay. Another inland district which promises before long hp of importance to tho business pcoplo of Napier is Pukctitiri, some fifty miles or so westward of the city. Already there is an agitation for tho building of a light line of railway into the district.- It is proposed that, the line should be constructed either by the Hawke's Bay County Council or by private enterprise. It is obvious that Napier besides being a very delightful placo of residence is 0110 that possesses solid advantages from the business point, of view, and its fertile soil has already produced the wherewithal for the building of many hundreds of comfortable, not to say luxurious, homes, tho laying out of spacious gardens, and tho purchase of shoals of motor-cars. A Holiday Town. From the holiday-maker's point' of view, Napior is an ideal spot, for in few other places is the call of outdoors so insistent. The air is fresh from tho broad Pacific, and in summer, when the temperature soars up inland, there is always a chance of a cooling breeze beside the sea. With such a climate, sport! of all kinds flourishes, and there are ample opportunities for tennis, golf, bowls, etc., while one can always find a cool retreat in the hottest of summer weather in the .municipal baths. Accommodation eqiial to that in any centre in'the Dominion can be obtained, and horse aiul motor vehicles are always available for a run into the surrounding country, which is traversed b.v a number of picturesque roads, afTording glimpses en route of sea and river scenory. The rivers possess 6ome fine

readies for boating on, and pleasure boats can ho obtained at reasonable rates. Napier has the advantage of being on one of the routes into the Hot Lakes district, and Taupo, with its thermal springs and trout fishing, lies a bare hundred miles away, and can bo reached by motor in six hours. Visitors to

Napier, who have tho necessary time,* should endeavour to visit Lake Waikarcmoana, which is reached via Wairoa, after a journey, of about 120 miles from Napier by the coach road. This lake is surrounded by dense forest, and precipitous bluffs. It is easily tbo-.most

majcstic of the North Island lakes, and in tho opinion of many is second only to Mauapouri in beauty. To Escape Winter's Chill. The mildness of tho winter makes Napier an excellent resort for those in search' of health, or whose constitutions aro not sufficiently robust to stand tho bite, and bluster of winter as one finds it elsewhere. Tlioso who seek the fine weather winter, but wish for a moro bracing air, can find it on the hills near by. Except for a short period in tlio mid-summer heat, it would be difficult to discover a more agreeable spot ill which to spend a con- I valeacence after an illness. Even the most perverse of mortals must feel that it is good to bo alivo in tlio genial j breeze and sunshino of Napier.

named after living Napier citizens, and most of those presented tho trees for planting tho streets bearing thoir names. Tho club is now busy arranging a Mardi Gras Carnival, the first of its kind in New Zealand, which will be held in tho midst of tho holiday season on December 26 and 27 next. Out of tho Mardi Gras funds a sum will

be set aside for a "Children's Week," when the country" school children will be brought down in batches and given a two-day outing in Napier. The children will bo quartered in marquees on tho beach during their stay, and .will doubtless have a right royal time.