TO INVERCARGILL AND BACK.

Evening Star, Issue 3395, 8 January 1874, Page 3

TO INVERCARGILL AND BACK.

V : , {By our Reporter.) ■ r , 1 I was. with the team of cricketers thatdeft Dunedin for Invercargill in the Wanganui oq Wednesday eveniiog. We cleared the Heads at half-past six,-and.immediately on-getting over' the hdr spoke tbfe Warrior Queen.' ; Let’me- ask parenthetically... hour, it, came that neither, the morning papers, nor any of the Port .people knew .till the next day of the ship’s"amval/Wbea the pilot'boat left her ft few minutes after six ?] We ‘had: a pretty rpugh nighfc at : both inside and butsidfi of the’vessel, for on.board we bad < 4 'dozf^npeople who' Vrere- unusually:boisterous; and'saw.'lii the I ’New Year With more noise than T should again cate to experience at sea.' That morning, as'yqnr reftders already knqw, we pabseA the ilhfated Surat',' and at 3:40 p;m, were landed-'ab the Bluff, the ’cricketers were received by ’two representa* tires of the Invercdrgill Club, As ’only tfro trains run between the Bluff and lnvercargill each day; and’-as the first.;return. pno: bad only gOne amhour before our arrival, we £ad two good hoars, in which We: could:knock about the> piace-csome to climbtbehiUtbat )gives » : nauie:tojthe harbor,:others, (andythtis class included most of my fellow-passengers) to patronize the hotels ■ and their billiardtables,’ ■ while a few of us strolled along the wharves and up the township to see all that wasiwprthanqppction. - It takes mqph longer to describe rials for a description! The latter is the ■ wotk of about-two minutes, for the. whar.yes and shipping are the .principal objects; The wharves are two in number—the bid and the - hew— and as? their history .was ■ so well told in one of the local papers, I clipped .the following extrdbt from it : ! The bid wharf- traa built 1 in 1664, at a 1 cost of LIB,OOO, .and, was a subrtantial, structure to look at. In shape it Wfts ; o'Hohaily three of a square of 300 ft; The material used in construction was jchiefiy r.ed pine,- foi: both of which woods the teredo has a strong partiality. Consequently, in a short tinie the piles were honeycombed, although still capable resisting considerably vertical pressure—the W»”a. of the tunnels 'left by‘ the boring worth remaining sbimd. ‘ How lohig'it will : yet last ib a matter for^^lspeculatloh; l - ••The , *‘neW? wharf Wab not built'so muoh on account of ithe ddbay of the oldjfuosj because of the increasing -traffic of the port, it which, it has been of late years no uncommon thing to have six or eight ships or steamers;‘While the wharf could accommodate only one “big ship” anti a steamer or, two. An extension .wivs contemplated someAvd years ago, but finanoial difficulties were in the way, and it was nob until after tbe re-unjon of Otago and Southland that it was finally decided upon, and commencedahout this time lost year. The original design—a quay extending westward . 290.x 40ft.jfrom the old.wharf wbs departed from' aV starting by giyigg, a northeriy rtend, but this was sootr'seento I We an injurndfods 1 fm w

jnearlyajjpossible, an extra jcost of TiToO or XlßOO—the t'etal cOBt of the ;Work being about L 4,000, The timber used ■ was chiefly totora (which experience proves to |be the best of native growth for resisting the teredo), the piles which, from 30ft to 4Sft in ■ length, are driven to a depth of 7ft or Bft on the average through sand and clay-to the bed rork. These support a substantial deck plankTng, on which rails are laid to bring the railway 1 trucks to the ship’s side. The depth of water alongside the new wharf is 20ft at low tide, so that ships of large tonnage are afloat at all times. The additional accommodation it affords —a berth for a ship of 1,000 tons or more outside, one for a smaller vessel inside, and one for a steamer ol the class visiting the port at the end—is, in the meantime, under ordinary circumstances, sufficient; but it is evident that the increasing traffic will soon necessitate a further extension. Of the approach to the wharves and the appliances, the least said the better—the former is next to impassable, while the latter are miserably inadequate. A most urgent requirement is additional storage room. At present goods are hurriedly discharged out of the ships on to the railway trucks, rendering it almost impossible, with constant vigilance, to prevent confusiom What is required, instead of a mere shed, is a capacious building fit to receive a whole cargo, and roomy enough to allow of proper examination and classification. The wharfage business is samed on in connection with the railway, the staff of which—ther are only two porters—has occasionally more than enough to do to keep the wharf clear. The trucks have to be moved about by manual labor, a heavy and needless task, as horsepower might bp used to greater advantage, although ultimately it will no doubt be found best to have a small engine for the purpose.

At the wharves, on our arrival were three ships, including the May Queen and Bebington, a barque, two schooners, and the Wallabi. On shore the principal places are the hotels —three, I think— and the stores of Messrs Nicbol and Tucker, and Waddell. The former are also ateve lores ;|possesß a portable engine which can discharge 100 tons of cargo a day ; have a hydraulic press for dumping wool, and are entitled to the crcdi l : of being the original superseders of store dumping. Port Chalmers and Lyttelton followed the example of the Bluff, of dumping on board the ship. There are the old signal-stations von the»,hill-top,-.now discontinued ; but which sh|uld be kept up, af it was of immense service, because vessels' coming in cbuklbe signaled iff; fair weather fully four hours before they ordinarily are ; a railway station of_miserable proportions > and design ; and a post-office, telegrapboffice, the'wofse for wear and more to for tear. 7 iiosa;wbo ; daid.f)off tb,'e /Bluff., either ideas of the probable progress of the place, or i intended, fp.r tbeJar futupo/m?: a i town is laid off, compared to which the; Campbelltown rof; • tp-day* ;is small indeed. The houses, as might be expected, are few and far between. ~..j was; not, sorry-to leave! the Bluff, which I did shortly after six ; o’clo.ok, iand/an. hour later blighted on the ; platform of the Invercargill railway station! —A ver.y-eubstantial building indeed, and: one that would bo creditable to a town of -! much larger extent and.greater age. All li need say about tho trip by rail, is that the 1 broad gauge gives one as much shajdpg, as I - some of our party say more—than tho port i one does. With the cricketers,,l \yaa lodged; at the Club, and with them turned out in! the evening to see such sights . as (they were, i A flower show, furnished with indifferent ex- 1 hibits, and a* fearfuj.; crqshrin a sma'l build-1 ing, did not detain us long ; but at a quiet i dance,ito.xYklcb wo were all invited, several' hours were 1 leiaantly spent. The nextmorning we were at thq cricket field, and there I remained till called away in the; afternoon to proceed, to. thpf wreck of the! Surat. With the details of the match, the! readeip, -Star are already familiar. 1 The match was to have been played on NewYear’s Day, when, as tho luvercargillites told! us, we should have as lovely a day as there had been in Southland ; as it was pur men! had to play in a galo of wind, relieved by; storms of .dust—dust,,so.thick at times thatthe players were invisible at a dia-i tance of -a hundred yards. Our men won, but they had some trouble to do, it, though at- one time the game seemed a gift to them. The Dunedin team has every-reason; to- epeak well of its,treatment; at Invercargill," and I have no doubt the men enjoyed themselves thoroughly. I; came back with a lively recollection of Invercargill’s dust and wind, and a profound admiration for the man who/ laid out the' fine broad streets it possesses.