WANGANUI THE QUEEN RIVER CITY

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2929, 15 November 1916, Page 9

WANGANUI THE QUEEN RIVER CITY

A |?n.j7 ANGANTJI is one of the pret- \ A / P ToS P ercraß \j\J towns in New Zealand. Situated on tho curving banks | of a splendid river, whoso Itaaaifold scenio glories have driven IjWets and painters into ecstasies *>f delight, it flourishes in. the centre jof a veritable land of milk and honey. [Aor has it nearly reached the renith of ■its productiveness. Behind tho . fair ■■demesne of rolling swards, flecked'with thousands of the best sheep in fthe country, behind the chocolate 'brown ploughed fields, and those that fare already shimmering with the silken 'green of coming crops, lies a Dig bush'wwered back country, that is slowly /but very surely falling into cultivated tu-eas under the brave efforts of those jpioneering farmers, whose reward for days of hard slogging and heart-break-Sng bogging, will be, as surely as the laight follows the day, a fair roof-tree &nd days of comfortable ease. With the fharaessing of the wilderness wealth' must flow, and the waves of that flood ■will make the town of Wanganui a of ever-increasing importance. :The spirit of growth ib in the air of Wanganui. Just as infalh'blv as one ,oan scent stagnation in a place, so surely can one sense the vigorous vitality tof growth in Wanganui. It is represented in tho busy streets, the lively ishops/ the new buildings, and fresh enterprises that are springing up continuously the year through. One only has ,to stay away a twelvemonth from Wanganui to note its jumping progress. Only three or four years ago Easttown fras a remote district, sparsely freckled with residences.. To-day a handsome • "bridge, built to endure, connects the fawn directly with the suburb, electric cars clang their /way across the waters of the river, and streets of neat, teomfortably designed cottages, favouring the bungalow style, are spreading out in ordered array. Gonvillo, stretching away down the river as it winds its way to Mother Ocean, is also a .■wonderfully progressive suburb, and • has a- big industrial-future before it.On the May lands (named after the late Mr. Imlay Saunders, a former Wanganui identity) a most mpressive agglomeration of.substantial brick build-, ings marks the presence of a new in'dustry—enormous modern meat works, called:tho Imlay Freezing Works, .■which have been erected by the New Zealand Hefrigerating Company, whose fcusiness is more particularly referred to elsewhere in this issue. Formerly, .too, Aramoho was distinct from Wanganui. Now houses are locked'thickly together the whole way. and the civilising electric car whirls one into .town in a few minutes. Many who. "know the ropes" leave the train at iAramoho and take the car into town, for by so doing considerable time may . be saved. Improvements are always ,fceiug made in that part of the river between the town and the Heads, and iWanganui lias hopes of creating a perfect harbour at Castlecliff, into which ;i tlic big steamers may one day glide to pick up their cargoes of wool and "frozen meat, instead of having, it lightered out, as is at present tho practice. When that atrvanod is achieved jWanganui will take another big .leap forward, and -will take rank as one of .the chief ports of the day.

, Wanganui must always attract the attention of tourists'. Unfortunately a ■'Colossal war has practically stopped fsuch traffic from overseas.' With tho >ery life blood of tho nation at stake, ."with the seas strewn with ghastly'mines, and patrolled by fiendish craft •'.•whose only mission is. to destroy, it is •Email wondor that tho travel-loviDg i Englishman or Continental has no •'.thougat of luxuriating on. the scenic .trail. He is at present more concerned ..with tho output of shells and his suffering fellows in tho trenches. But :.cven great -wars must end in time, and • with England still mistress of tho seas, making them safer than ever for those .who delight in the wonders of nature, in which the Wanganui district is so abundantly prolific, tho ; tourist will again bo a, familiar figure in Wanganui. •

What has been said of the fertility of the soil in this district can easily bo hacked up. At a recent meeting of tho Advisory Board of the War Relief Patriotic Societies' Federation there arose the question as to whether it was wise to advance money to enable returned soldiers to go upon tho land. There were sharp differences of opinion among the members, but among the'stoutest supporters of that policy was Mr. HopeGibbons, of Wanganui, who, speaking S3 one with a very close and accurato knowledge of the people on the land, paid that ho never knew of a single failure of a man whose efforts were rightly in 'his district, and many of those who had taken up land liad had no previous experience of fanning. This was a spontaneous and gratuitous testimony to the fruitfulness of the soil of this country, based on the experience of one who has not altogether sown in vain.