A LECTURING TOUR.

Dunstan Times, Issue 812, 9 November 1877, Page 3

A LECTURING TOUR.

(to the editor of the dunstan times.) Dear Sir,—Having returned from a lecturing tour up country, allow mo a space in your columns to make your numerous readers acquainted with the experiences I have gained. As regards the scenery of the Lakes, and on the way up to (hem, there arc but very few localities in tbo *old country that can in the slightest degree come up to it. More particularly this can be said of some of the spots between Cromwell and Arrowtown, where the river is often, to all appearances, completely jammed in by mighty perpendicular rocks, hurrying through its narrow bed with all the impetuosity of a youthful agitator, overthrowing ancimt institutions on his revolutionary way, only to flow into a gentle lake like opening quietly to pursue its onward course. The attention of the tourist will more particularly bo attracted by tbe scenery where tbe Roaring Meg joins the river. Foaming and roaring this tributary rushes down, the wild ungovernable daughter of the ranges fully deserving hei rather unpoetical name. The view from the 1 ridge is fully deserving of a special visit. A few chains beyond the bridge there is a place in the bed of tbe principal river which is so narrow that it forms a natural bridge, which you can easily step over ad any time of the year. Fertile plains now perpetually vary with rugged mountain scenery, and it is this perpetual variety of character that is peculiar to the up-country scenery in this island, heaving a fuller description of these scenes for some other time, I will now give you a slight outline of the towns and their inhabitants. Cromwell, at first sight, appears to the stranger rather an important and fl -urishing township. The buildings are—some of them —really very imposing, as far as outward appearance goes ; but L am sorry to say that they rather reminded me of the painted sepulchres alluded do in the Bible—fine outside, but rather full of the dust of pride and conceit inside. In the opinion of the Cromwellites the town appears certainly to be destined to become the Athens of the Southern Hemisphere ; ;and were you to believe some of the leading men in it, you might at first be led to suppose that her resources, both natural and intellectual, were perfectly inexhaustible, but on closer examination yon will very soon find that all their ideas are but so many words, and when it comes to the part of acting, they certainly show a most wonderful propensity for the American commobty of “ bunkum.” Patriotism is a wonderful virtue if not confined to a town, and not degenerating into selfishness. Arrowtown is a very nice little township, which, though it has less pretensions to outward appearance than Cromwell can most assureiHy boast of far more Stirling inward value. The inhabitants appear to be a thrifty population, unpretending Int pushing, and keeping pace with regard to the march of intellect with the outside world. There is great credit due to them for their Afhemenm and Library, the latter being a vary creditable selection of books in various languages—l found a G-man edit ion of Schillers works among them. A small, but very good collection of oleographs is in the reading-room. [And here permit me publicly to return my heartfelt thanks to Mr Gruber, the chemist ; the editor of the Arrowtown Observer ; and other kind friends 1 became acquainted with in that town, for tbe kindness they showed me ] Queenstown, though in position as well as in outward appearance the finest and largest of the inland ciries. is certainly addicted to the fault of outward show—more so even th;n Cromwell. Governed by cliquiam of the most intolerant kind, it is totally dead to anything like intellectual amusement. Passionately fond of show, Rs population, in most cases, appear to outstrip the boundaries with regard to expenditure on outward appearance, whilst there is not the slightest semblance of thought or opinion in them. Th° Queenstownites certainly remind me very much of so many animated dummies newly-imported from a West-End 1-ondon tailor’s shop, for the special benefit of the up-country public. The peculiar gentry of the “haw ! haw !” genus abound to an alarming extent, among them. The sooner a-man given to intellectual pursuits turns his back upon that most notable of all assemblages the more agreeable it will be both to them and to himself. With the Oromwellites there is some hope of their changing for the better, as they possess a good deal of energy which, however, is wrongly directed. With the inhabitants of Queenstown, howeve-, even that spaik of hope for their improvement must vanish, as they appear to be so much wrappe 1 up in themselves that they are perfectly incapable of liberating themselves from the weighty chains with which their own conceit has loaded them. So much for tho present—Respectfully yours, Viaticus.