THE CITY BY THE RIVER

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1933, 16 December 1913, Page 11

THE CITY BY THE RIVER

WANGANUI,. or ; to be. pho- . netically - correct, Whauganui, is a word probably a deal moro familiar to the cars of people iu remote parts of t-lio world, than tire the names of "t-ha chief cent-res of the Dominion. This for quite a number of sound reasons. Most of the round-tbe-globe. tourists who find time to include New: Zealand in their world's ■ itinerary havo some specific object in view in steering .their course this way; To tho man with tho political'mind the visit is usually, mado out, of .curiosity. 'He wishes to . stee hoiv certain legisia-, tivo enactments are. working out in practice, and what sort of people are corcerned in their creation and'enactment. The purely commercial mind has little" in view, but to • ascertain'exactly the part wo play as producers for the world's markets, or whether we aro good for tradpi Tlie tourist- proper,however, has other ideas. He cannot ho bothered with politics, and has probably loft his own circlo to dodge the , worries of- commercial life. He wishes to commune with nature—to steady his ' nerves by tho cafhi contemplation of her' manifold glories and to rest his weary ,j ?yes on tho.naturally, beautiful scenes .ho has provided at tho ends of the .lartli. He finds-hero a satisfying combination of Test-fut repose and uplifting exhilaration in tho stately grace, and shadowed loveliness of tho Wanganui River—a river which has' acted as a magnet to' globe-trotters,. equally with Rotorua and the classic glories of the Cold Lakes, and will, no doubt, do so is long as. the 'waters How between tho Hills to mate with the ocean on tho 'air Pacific Strand. Not Another Rhine. t Oncc upon a time a tourist seeking a ■fitting siiliile called .the Wanganui River "tho Rhino of-New -Zealand." However remote the likeness tho comparison/was not a happy one, for the char- , ncters of tha two rivers are very dissimilar. . The I'hino is. flecked with - ages-old cities, gray with tradition, and i its banks are studded' with tho crumbling riiins of ancient castles and fortresses,' as well as some very- noble \ palaces of moro modern creation. How < different is the Wanganui! Here it is . the primeval in nature. —tho forest, river, and river-banks as God made them —which surprises tho eyo with pictures that trauscend-'in-enchaiitment all the fancy that may fall from tho pencil's point. 5 . Such a noble--rh;or flowing from tho . heart of must;have; its;; town —and it has it in Wanganui, the river city that .takes its mellifluous namo after tho famous- Maori tribe which once claimed bush; -■ riverj, and town as its demesne. !n Days of Old. Wanganui was not always Wanganui, but as long as tho memoiy of niau goes back it has,-always been an as- . sembling poinb.for.the.people of the dis- , trict. Long ucf6ro 'tlio: wliito man camo \ there Was a small Maori pa on the site ' of a section.of the town.' This was- the lov.- shelving banks of the river opposite 1 Shakespearo . Cliff—tho \ locality now i known as Taupo Quay, and tho rise on ' which tho Law Courts and Free Public Library now stands. The big pa was and is at I'utiki, on the south side of tho river, -where a collection of Moari wliares. looked out on. the smiling river in the-'thirties—wliares built to face any old-.way, with all .tracks leading to the beach, where a flotilla of > canoes rested comfortably in the mud. It was a sunny restful spot in a- fat laud. Life in those- days was not hard • for tho Wangariuisybiit-a vigilant watch had to be kept against the possibility of raiders from the ' north—tho fierce and warlike warriors of the King Country, and the intrepid fighters from'.Taranaki. : ; But the .Wanganui, though a naturally . peace-loving ■ tribe, was never ba<Jqvard;giviug. as' good as lie got in the 1 .mariy /iorays; .and rightdown the line, of history to Major Kcepa (Kemp) and his daughter Wikitoria (Victoria) who' only died a few months ago, tho Natives-of the-district have borno a namo for rectitude, probity, and nobleness of mind excelled by no other tribe. So much for tho past. Tho Town of Patre. In '1840 cahic' Wakefield's pioneers , and settlement gradually began. Iu 1843 according to a sketch by the late Major Heaphy, there were the beginnings of > English architecture in the hut con- ! , structioii of l'ctre. This was the name > given to the township by the AVakefield people out of - respect to tho Hou. Mr. JPetre, a director, of the New Zealand Company. But Petrc was unimpressive and inexpressive; - and Potro soon merged into Wanganui, or /to spell the word as pronounced by the Native, Whan^a- : liui (really the big harbour) which namo ' it is said to havo bcen.given it by Kupe, i '. tho somewhat mythical original discoverer of New Zealand, -when ho saw the big estuary of .tho river opening out i into the great South Taranaki. Bight. How true a prophet Kupo was remains to ha proved, but even now there aro fc-rces at work which may eventually lead to the adventurous sago being lion- ' oured with a statue, and Wanganui with a harbour .second, to none in. New Zealand. , A Steady Pull. Wanganui's growth has not been ono of fits and starts. A characteristic of tho placo has . been the steady, but re- ' markable sureness of its oxp-insion. It ' has had its dull times and its flush days, but it has never wobbled much one way or tho other, 'and probably to-day it is one-of the. most solidly prosperous of tho- provincial centros of Now Zealand—it vies in that regard with Timaru and InvercargiU, in J the South, and Napior and Gisborno in / the North Island. It is.- most fortunr ately situated geographically. Probably there is as-good country yet to.be opened up at the ba.ck of Wanganui as there is other town of tho kind in the Dominion; There is a great bolt of country bet-ween-the coast and the Main Trunk .line that one day is going to pouri its riches .into Wanganui or through Wanganui to the World be--1 yond. There are settlers scattered ' through tho district indicated, but up to the present- they havo been struggling along on their bush sections, battling against disadvantages that would appal-city folk. Yet these men would bo loath to relinquish tho struggle, knowing that one day thero Will bo a road here or there, and in the future, maybe, a branch, line to. connect the Mriri Trunk line directly .with Wanganui. This may be anticipating a little, but ono needs only to glance at thn map to become fcize'l of the fact that Wa-nganui—-given the harbour that che en-

gineers confidently promise-—is going to be tho natural outlet for a very largo and fertile district that is threaded today by a waterway navigable for a good many miles above the town. Crowing Pains. As will be seen in the accompanying photograph, Wanganui nestles within tho fond embrace of tho bend in the final curve of the river before it readies tho sea. But it has not been content to continue nestling in that elbow. It has jumped tho river in all directions ■with a rapidity, that surprises even the most optimistic of its settlers. It is houses all the way now to Aramoho; East-own is a thriving and is going to bo a closcly-settlcd Wanganui tho'Second when the new Town Bridge (now in courso of construction) is completed. There aro also tho best evidences of virile growth at Gonville, St. John's, and Durio Hills, and other suburbs aro all flourishing like tho green bay tree. Prosperity in the Air. "There's something in the Wanganui air" tho.t breathes prosperity. A glance round shows that within tho past few years tho greater portion of tho business section of Wanganui has been re-built, and still tho trade continues to be as activo as nine cats pursued by as many dogs.. Only within the last year the churches • (Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Presbyterian) havo released valuable blocks of land in the centre of tho city—some with splendid frontages to tlie principal street (Victoria Avenue) —which have already, to a largo extent, been substantially built, upon iu tho form 'of shops. As a matter of fact, Victoria, Avenue is an astonishingly modern thoroughfare, possessing as it does shop, business, and bank premises that would do credit to any city in tho Dominion. Outsiders may judgo of the scope of tho renewing business when it is stated that within two years Wanganui has been-provided"with a new Collegiate -School, Convent, Technical School, Infant School, aud theatre, and is still healthily dissatisfied . with its lot.

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