A GOSSIPING- UNSENTIMENTAL JOURNEY.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1295, 14 May 1878, Page 3

A GOSSIPING- UNSENTIMENTAL JOURNEY.

[from a correspondent of the press.] In venturing to record a few notes of a brief visit to a neighbouring colony, I am not unmindful of the risk of being set down as one of the numerous class afflicted with cacoethes scrihendi, who so frequently bore their readers with “impressions,” “notes,” and “jottings” of a rapid scamper through countries of which they can have gained only the most meagre and superficial acquaintance. At the same time I think many will agree with the writer who pitied the individual possessed of such limited powers of observation as could travel from Dan to Beersheba and say, “all is barren.” In the early days of the colonisation of New Zealand, when inter-communication between the settlements was slow, and only at long intervals, Auckland, for many years the seat of Government, enjoyed the almost exclusive advantage of 'regular and frequent intercourse with Sydney. It was by way of Sydney the latest news from Auckland generally reached the Southern provinces, and only in quite recent years does it appear that Sydney has become disabused of the idea that Auckland was New Zealand, judging from the fact that notwithstanding the rapid rise of Otago and Canterbury, this field of enterprise was left almost entirely to the go-aheadiveness of the Melbourne merchants. This monopoly of intercourse and commercial activity has been materially fostered and developed by such a valuable line of steamers as that of Messrs M'Meckan, Blackwood and Co. It is to the Union, a New Zealand company, that we are now indebted for the establishment of regular steam communication between Sydney and all the principal ports of New Zealand, and the two fine steamers, Wakatipu and Rotorua, leaving at stated fixed intervals, are fast developing a large passenger and goods traffic, that cannot fail to be of great benefit and to the reciprocal advantage of both countries. In a recent trip of the Wakatipu I pleasantly found myself on board that vessel at Lyttelton in the company of a friend holding a distinguished position in Canterbury, we being both bent upon a short holiday excursion to Sydney, the nucleus pf colonisation in Australia —a colony began under the most unpromising circumstances, and with such involuntary agents, that an epitome of their early history has been summarised by an expatriated one, a somewhat remarkable and notorious character in his day, in the following graphic couplet “ True patriots we, for be it understood, We left our country for our country’s good.” On leaving Wellington for Sydney direct I found there were about fifty saloon and twenty second class passengers, besides about fifty Chinese. It is not surprising that the Wakatipu has become a favorite passenger boat, as besides the quiet urbanity of her skilful captain, a good table, and numerous and attentive stewards, she is of good speed, and remarkably staunch and steady, added to which is an almost total absence or vibration, due to the engine-room being situate abaft the saloon passenger accommodation —a novelty peculiar I believe to this vessel. Among the passengers were several Australians returning home, who hpd been visiting New Zealand for the various reasons of health, business, and recreation. One, a native of Queensland, had been making a tour of the lake country in the North Island, and was enraptured with the wonders and beauty of Rotomahana, and doubtless after his arrival home will influence other* to follow his example, For the first two days, the period most trying to strangers to the sea, there was a fine fresh breeze, but a lumpy heaving sea, which caused many responsive heavings and forlorn looks among a certain number to whom a sea voyage and some of its unpleasant accompaniments was a new experience, It is generally admitted that there is no place which affords such facilities for studying character as on board a passenger shipThe accidental association in comparatively close companionship of a number of people, mostly strangers to esoh other, deprived of their usual ordinary occupations, tends to dis cover little traits and peculiaritiesthat are sometimes curious to note ; there is also a certain amount of irritability and annoyance Wi?jps Um the jwscace pf varipu# dwturbihg

elements inseparable from the sea, and the enforced leisure also affords the quiet observer, if he has the good fortune to be proof against surrounding influences, rare opportunities for noting their various idiosyncracies. The materials of some of Charles Dickens’s most felicitous sketches wore collected during his frequent steamboat excursions when travelling in America, I feel guilty of great presurap (ion in even referring to such an eminent writer in connection with my feeble efforts, which are simply limited to a little harmless gossip, for which the utmost I can hope is that it may not bore the reader. The gentleman who attracted my most particular attention was a Reverend Signor of large proportions, whose height and breadth of shoulders are very suggestive of muscular Christianity and the church militant, here on board. In pleasing contrast was a delicate pale-faced girl, with large speaking eyes, and a uleasant smile so constantly rippling over her features, that made one forget she was an invalid. She was a native of Sydney, and had been staying a few months with some Wellington friends for the benefit of her health, and was returning home, accompanied by her brother. There was also that übiquitous personage, a volatile Yankee, whoso trade instincts, though bounded by the narrow confines of a steamer’s saloon, could not be entirely suppressed. He managed to find vent for his super-abundant energies in the mild excitement of getting up sweeps and raffles. In this way ho managed to place a musical box and other trifles at about double their value. He told me that he had only been away f rom Sydney about a month, and in the trip round. New Zealand had disposed of over £3OOO worth of Yankee notions, by which it was tolerably clear that there was at, least one good notion among the lot, namely, the idea that prompted the trip. He also informed mo that the voluble gentleman who was exhibiting and selling the Yankee glass cutter and other American novelties in Cathedral square last February was one of his agent. I will conclude these desultory sketches by referring to one other passenger, a fine hale old gentleman, an octogenarian, who was in the possession of all his faculties and wonderfully well preserved. Being a scion of New South Wales, he is a Hying link connecting the present with the foundation of that colony, with whom it was a pleasure and privilege to chat. He was a midshipman in the Royal Navy in the stirring times when Nelson was distinguishing himself. Having been born in Sydney near the end of the last centnry, he has been identified with all the important phases of its eventful history to the present time. He is a reputed millionaire, and owns an estate near Sydney, some small portions of which he has recently sold, realising over £200,000. Residing in New South Wales, but having several sons settled in New Zealand, he often journeys to and fro, and appears to thoroughly enjoy the voyage. On the afternoon of the fifth day after leaving Wellington we were afforded evidence of our nearing some great emporium of trade by the number of sail that hove in sight. About 8 p.m. the revolving light on the South Head was sighted, and shortly after eleven we were berthed alongside a (jollier, the men in which were, even at that hour, busily employed coaling one of the large mail steamers preparatory to her departure for San Francisco via New Zealand. At first I felt some disappointment in not entering Jackson’s Bay by daylight, but was amply compensated by the fairy sight that gradually unfolded itself as wc steamed slowly up the harbour, and round each point at half speed, and bay after bay with thousands of dazzling lights burst on our view, until finally we were encircled within an illuminated belt, extending apparently to an illimitable distance in every direction. Daring our progress up the harbour several large steamers passed us, crowded with passengers, bound for Newcastle and other ports. The bright cheerful lights flashing from numberless saloon ports athwart the dark water, the galaxy of lights all round the shore, and the forest of masts everywhere, made up such an inspiriting scene, so instinct with life and activity, as was well calculated to impress a visitor for the firs!, time with wonder and astonishment, when reflecting that less than a century ago the place was a wild unknown solitude. The following day I had an opportunity of viewing the harbour and its environment from various “ coins of vantage.” I crossed over to Lavender Bay, and ascended an eminence from whence a comprehensive view could be obtained, and can find no words to express the varied beauties of the morning panorama stretched out before me, so must content myself by recording that it was simply lovely. The numerous bays so brilliantly lit up the previous night I now observed were encircled with tall stone warehouses and quays at which ships and steamers of all kinds were moored. Several large islands and projecting points were also fringed with warehouses, quays, wharves, and shipping, and the land being only of moderate elevation completely built over. The mainland rising at a gentle gradient from the harbor, undulating, and nowhere attaining any great altitude, brought into view the chief part of the city itself and its multitudinous and winding streets; for Sydney, unlike colonial towns, does not appear to hare been regularly mapped out, but, like Topsy, has just “ grow’d up.” The harbor, besides the countless vessels at the wharves, was also studded over with the constant arrivals and departures of ships and steamers; and, if possible, to add to the life and animation of the scene, quite a mosquito fleet of small steamers —here called ferry boats —with gay awnings, were constantly flitting to and fro from the quays and various bays, at the moderate charge of fid for the double journey, generally with a full complement of passengers. On Sundays crowds of well dressed workmen, with their sweethearts, wives, and families, go by these boats to tlio North Shore, Watson’s Bay, Manly beach, Hunter’s Hill, Parramatta, and other places, taking with them a few provisions, and pic-nic in shady places, inhaling with the fresh balmy air renewed health and spirits; the change of scene and healthful stimulus restoring their flagging energies, and helping to carry them cheerfully through the ever recurring weekday toil. Desiring to see and learn as much as possible, I went a Sunday trip to Watson’s Bay, also to Parramatta, and although at the various places of refreshment that abound there did not appear to be any restrictions upon the sale of alcoholic liquors, I did not witness a single instance of drunkenness during the entire day. This may be due to the fact that the excursionists usually found taking rational recreation of this kind were chiefly sober, intelligent workmen, having a proper pride in themselves and families, and it would amount to a social calamity if a few well-meaning, but in my humble opinion, over-zealous, mistaken men were to succeed in their efforts to stop all Sunday rail and steamboat travelling, as has been attempted. The city of Sydney may be said to bo founded on a rock—for rocks abound everywhere—a kind of red sandstone, and freestone, as easily worked as our white rock and Oamaru stone. Of this the houses are all built. The cellars are excavations in the rock, and the soil mostly consists of a thin layer of disintegrated rock through which the stony substratum crops out everywhere. In some of the streets it obtrudes unpleasantly through the footpaths, to the discomfort and danger of passengers, where it has been but imperfectly levelled down. In one part of the town, called tiie new cutting, is a street excavated through the rock and spanned by a broad stone bridge, the lofty perpendicular walls of the culling forming its natural abutments, Besides the many handsome public buildings the visitor is struck with the long vistas of lofty palatial buildings of the numerous public companies, banks, hotels, and opulent merchants, w'hich, owing to the narrowness of the streets, cannot be seen to the best advantage. The sand stone in general use is a reddish yellow, hut of varying tints, and is capable of being worked into all the elaborate forms of architectural emb llishment the most exuberant fancy could devise, of which lavish advantage has been taken. Bub where whole streets, inconveniently narrow for trade and traffic, are closely packed with buildings of this kind, individual excellencies are merged in their number and extent, The provoking manner

in which some stately building asserts its ancient prerogative by standing out from the general line, and monopolising nearly the whole of the footpath, and the retiring modesty of others in falling back as much beyond it, is a feature in street architecture peculiar to Sydney. While producing an irregularity of outline possibly pleasing to a lover of tlie picturesque, it certainly does not in narrow streets, and with a dense population, conduce to the ease, comfort, and convenience of a large and increasing traffic. The General Post Office with its long colonade, supported by rows of polished granite, is a splendid specimen of colonial architecture, but unfortunately is so hemmed in with other buildings that its beauty and extent cannot be fairly seen. The Museum is another fine spacious building, and has the advantage of fronting on to Hyde Park, and is not dwarfed by the contiguity of neighboring buildings. It contains a large and varied collection of valuable exhibits. There appeared to me, however, an unfinished vacant look about the interior that was a little disappointing, but as Dr. Hutton has pronounced the natural history collection to be the finest and most complete in the Southern seas, I suppose this impression must have been owing to the largo size of the rooms, and from being accustomed to the smaller but well-filled building devoted to this purpose at Christchurch. In Hyde Park, nearly facing the Museum, stands the pedestal ready to receive the statue of Captain Cook, a graceful and appropriate memento for Sydney to erect to the memory of the great navigator and the discover of their beautiful and commodious harbor. The loyalty of New South Wales also finds expression in a statue of “ Albert the Good,” erected in another part of the same extensive park. The handsomely constructed town hall and municipal offices in George street, in the Italian style, with its lofty clock tower 189 ft. high, is a noble pile of buildings that would do credit to the City of London, and are not unworthy such an important and wealthy city as Sydney, In connection with this, as a critical observer possessing some knowledge of municipal matters, I conld not help noticing the bad state of some of the streets and footpaths, and the wretched and unhealthy condition of some of the numerous blind alleys and back slums of the older parts of the town. I was naturally led to draw a comparison with another well known city of no small pretensions, where the streets, footpaths, side channels, and all other municipal matters receive the undivided attention of its Council, while the offices of the said Council are of the most wretched and inconvenient description imaginable. Some parts of Sydney forcibly remind mo of Lower Thames street, London, and there are other parts where English sailors would feel as much at home as in Ratcliffe Highway or Wapping. In a recent number of the “ Sydney News” appeared a view of George street on a Saturday night, and having had an opportunity of personally verifying it, I must confess to a feeling of wonder at the countless multitude filling the streets, both footpaths and roadway. Talk about the early closing movement ! Here at 10 p.m. was the late shopping movement with a vengeance. The public assembled, not in regiments only, but by brigades, and in a crowd so compact as scarcely admitting of any movement whatever, conveying the impression to a stranger that the business of the evening was just going to begin, and when about an hour later the several theatres added their quota to the slowly moving mass, it was a work of time and difficulty to effect a passage through it. I may fittingly note here a singular anomaly that at first appeared to contradict all previous experience, or rather the contention of a numerous, noisy, but well-meaning class of would-be social reformers. We are all aware that the efforts of Good Templars and other opponents of what they are pleased to style the “liquor traffic,” have been mainly directed to the abolishing or diminishing the number of licensed houses, believing that in proportion as they succeeded in this direction, so would the evils of intemperance disappear. With this view they have endeavoured to obtain stringent legislative restrictions upon the granting of licenses. Traversing the streets of Sydney has enabled me to traverse this opinion of theirs to a considerable extent. In my rambles I was struck with the number of licensed houses, independently of the hotels, properly so called. They occupy all the most prominent places. At the intersection of main streets, three of the corners are generally so taken up, and at the entrance of the theatres, and all places where people most do congregate, they are well represented, evidently administering to a want that cannot be left unsupplied. From their number and proximity to each other I infer that no great restriction exists on the granting of licenses. Notwithstanding which I can truthfully assert that, after walking almost continuously from morn to night in the most frequented and unfrequented places for six consecutive days, 1 did not encounter as many drunken men. Whatever the statistics of the Sydney Police Courts may prove, my experience, though brief, would seem to support the inference that Sydney is singularly free from the vice of intemperance, at least in its ordinary disgusting forme. I herewith offer thofollowingexplanation, which may be taken for what it is wort h. The heat of the climate inducing an almost continuous perspiration is very provocative of thirst. As the water in the public drinking fountains is invariably more than lukewarm, and, therefore, not pleasant drinking, the parched palate yearns for something cool, which is found in the prevailing beverage used, called “shandygaff.” For the benefit of the uninitiated, I may explain it is gingerbeer and ale, not ale and gingerbeer, as the latter forms the largest proportion of the mixture; into this is dropped a small lump of ice, and a deliciously cool, refreshing, unintoxicating drink is the result. The extensive parks and domains in the immediate proximity of Sydney form a very important and attractive feature. Upon their existence much of the health and salubrity of the city must depend, showing the immense importance and value of these reserves, and the far-seeing wisdom that first secured them for the benefit of the future populous city. There are numerous drives through them, and skirting one of the former stand a line of noble trees, commonly known as the wild fig, which, from their size and umbrageous shade, incline me to the opinion that they must be identical with the kind under the shade of which our early ancestors were invited to sit. On first seeing them, my thoughts reverted to Bushy Park, and its rows of widespreading stately chestnuts. In this new country, with our acclimatising proclivities, it is strange none of them have been introduced. I think they are well worthy the attention of our Domain Board, as, if they will thrive here, they are peculiarly a park tree. Being evergreen, they would be an agreeable change from the übiquitous blue gum, and form a nice feature in the part t^e future. If mosquito; are not very troublesome to the permanent resident, and seem to be treated with indifference, they take compensation for their abstinence by paying particular attention to casual visitors. In fact the immunity of the former may be accounted for by the continued influx of strangers, and the preference which these annoying little pests invariably show for them. As it is during the night season when they are most active, all the beds are enclosed with fine net curtains, which are looped up during the day, but always let down at dark. My friend complained of their attack, but 1 was singularly free from their annoyance*, excepting one night, which was partly owing to my own carelessness. My curtains had not been lowered one evening, and I let them down on retiring, without thinking that in doing so I had enclosed myiiads of the tormentors. As the nights were decidedly warm, not to say hot, I felt what peculiar advantage I had over ordinary mortals in being able to divest myself of the hirsute covering of my head with my clothes. Being weary I was soon sound asleep, blissfully unco: acioxis of the smooth succulent pasture exposed to the undisturbed depredations of the, I have no doubt, delighted guests. In the morning my poor pate was so pimpled over, that it boro a very striking resemblance to a spherical nutmeg grater. It would be a great mistake for a visitor tp omit taking a trip to the zigzag, as it is $ specialty of New South Wclos, Accordingly

in the company of my friend, who was particularly interested in railway construction and management, I made my way to the Sydney station, a substantial and commodious structure, of plain design compared with other public buildings in Sydney, but eminently well adapted for its purpose. It is really grand in comparison with the pretentious inconvenient contrivance, with its penthouse roofs, that has been lately put up on the town belt, Christchurch, for the chief passenger station of the Canterbury railways. A light iron girder roof spans a long double platform, and besides t' e usual accessories of a railway platform, are shops for the sale of fruit, books, periodicals, &c.; and last, but by no means least in attracting notice, is the extravagant length to which the abominable nuisance of the Yankee system of advertising is carried. Country platform stations are so plastered over with ordinary paper posters that a stranger might readily suppose them to be temporary hoardings put up while the station buildings were in course of erection. Even the interior of the carriages has been invaded, and some, particularly the second-class ones, have quite a dilapidated look from this course. It is strange that a Government, after spending millions on the construction of railways, rolling stock, and buildings, should, for the sake of a small annual payment, p.llow the two latter to be so disgracefully disfigured. As the train gets clear of the city, a lovely expanse of gently undulating verdant country is seen in every direction as far as the eye can reach, with here and there small forests and isolated clumps of trees, gardens, mansions, and park-like enclosures diversifying the prospect. There is a charming view from the railway of the neighbourhood of Parramatta, with its roads and park, orange groves, and winding rivers. And, as the train progresses, the details of the scene vary and change every moment, its general features however remaining the same until the Blue Mountains are reached, when the ascent of the first zig-zag brings into view mountain sides, wooded gullies, rocks, and precipices, that to a New Zealander bore quite a familiar look. From this part of the line the gradient often varies in short lengths, but the tendency is still upward until Blackheath is reached, where the altitude is 3651 ft. above sea level.

In travelling this route for the first time it is curious to note alongside of the line a sinuous track, sometimes on one side, sometimes on the other ; anon it is lost for a short time, but soon reappears again, winding its slow length along, never deviating far from the direct line, showing how nearly the railway follows the old course laid out in the early penal days of the colony, and the good judgment and skill of the first projectors of the road, upon the formation of which Q-ovett and his fellow exiles, gangs of life slaves, were for very many years continuously employed, preparing the country for the civilisation that was eventually to supersede and wipe out the stain of its penal origin. After leaving Mount Alexander the line descends by easy gradients until the famous engineering work the second zig-zag is reached, when an almost sheer descent of 687 feet within the confines of a narrow ravine effected with as much ease and safety as any part of the line not absolutely level. Here the line is for the most part cut out of the precipitous face of the rocky gorge ; but in several places is carried over deep rifts upon tiers of arches built of hewn stone, forming handsome viaducts running parallel with, but a little distance from, the perpendicular cliff, and in one place a steep projecting point is pierced with a short tunnel. By traversing to and fro, the line descends, and crossing the defile near the bottom, continues its winding course down the opposite side, when the train, puffing and twisting round the sharp curves, emerges from the rugged glen, like some huge leviathan from its lair. My experienced friend drew my attention to the substantial construction and excellent condition of the permanent way, each side of the line being stone curbed, preventing the spreading and displacement of the ballast. The engineering difficulties and costly nature of the Blue Mountains portion of the line are evident in the miles and miles of deep cuttings through hard rock, the scarped and jagged walls of which tower above the line in massive grandeur, and here and there short tunnels pierce intervening spurs and ridges. This part of the line is reported to have cost from £20,000 to £25,000 per mile. Although it is less than a century since (1788) Governor Philip sailed into Jackson’s Bay with a convoy of convicts to found a penal colony in Australia, there are many things in and about the city that strike a Now Zealander accustomed to the newness of everything, with a curious air of antiquity, and occasionally quaint contrasts present themselves that challenge the attention of the casual visitor, which from familiarity the resident passes by unnoticed. On one of the public buildings there is an inscription and date when the foundation stone was laid, headed with an old-fashioned Royal Crown, and the letters “ G-. E and at the bottom the words “ L. Macquarie, Eeq., being Q-over-nor.” In these days of Excellencies and K.C.B.’s there is a Doric simplicity about the above that ought to excite the admiration of Sir Qeorge Grey, who has been lately expending so much virtuous indignation over the conferring of titles, and the growth of a “ bastard aristocracy.” In curious contrast with the foregoing is the very gushing effusiveness displayed on the pedestal of the statue of Governor Bourke. That lie was an able administrator there is no doubt, and for his many great and invaluable services he deserved well of his country; therefore I felt it incumbent to possess myself of this tribute of the colonists to his worth; but it was a severe trial to read so many folios of foolscap cut in small gilt letters, with a powerful sunlight glancing and glittering them into confusing linos, rendering sections of the text almost undecipherable. As time and exposure are beginning to affect it, and may soon render it illegible, I would modestly suggest to the authorities the expediency of having a transcription made, and placed where it could bo conveniently perused. If anyone needed evidence of the extent of the Mongolian invasion of Australia, he might readily find it indicated by the number of shops and warehouses in the chief towns with the celestial characters, and (to an Englishman) tire comic names over the doors and windows, for these Chinese merchants and shopkeepers trade with, and are supported almost exclusively by, their own countrymen. How far this extensive immigration of “Chinese cheap labor” may influence and affect the future of Australia, is a difficult problem for its leading men to solve in other respects besides its economic one. Although the general health of the residents in Australia is good, and the conditions of life very favorable, as “^ ewn by statistics recently by the Victorian Government, yet the effect of an average high temperature is plainly written in the pale faces of the people, particularly in those of the women and children. The redundant energy of the Anglo-Saxon constitution has enabled the race to acclimatise itself more or less successfully under the most dissimilar conditions ; and in all countries, from the torrid to the frigid zone j but in no country hitherto peopled by them, has such a healthy development and vigorous vitality been noted by observers and statisticians, as obtain in the mild, at the same time bracing climate of New Zealand. With the proximity of Australia and New Zealand as the special advantages of either become known to the other, Australians will seek, as they are already beginning to do, the tonic climate of New Zealand to recuperate their enervated flagging energies, while’ the feeble, consumptive and dyspeptic New Zealander will r-sort to the haimy serenity of Australia’s semi-tropical clime. And the impetus this interchange of a largo passenger traffic wi 1 give to commerce is certain to need eve long a fleet of first class steamers for its accommodation. If a New Zealand coloni-t, entertaining perhaps same slightly exaggerated ideas of fho importance of his favoured colony, and visiting Australia for the first time, is rudely shocked with the discovery of liow little we really are in comparison, he may recover his equanimity by the consoling reflection that forty years ago Melbourne was not, and Sidney less advanced than Ohristchu'o > is at the present time, Oh.ia’chuvoh, April 27th, 1878,