THE CATHEDRAL SPIRE AS A LIGHTHOUSE.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2233, 30 May 1881, Page 3

THE CATHEDRAL SPIRE AS A LIGHTHOUSE.

Onr correspondent “Countryman,” who in a letter in Saturday’s issue expressed a doubt that the Cathedral spire could not be seen at any great distance seaward, will be surprised to learn that on Friday afternoon the captain of the barque Castle Holme espied the “spiritual lighthouse” quite twenty miles away. He had not before been to Lyttelton, consequently was unfamiliar with the prominent landmarks, and comparing the location of the spire with his chart, he decided in favor of its being a temporal lighthouse, the very house he was in quest of. Acting upon this resolve he headed his vessel for it, but of course found out his error before he got anywhere near it, or when the pilot boarded him. Considering that the weather was beautifully clear on Friday, the captain’s determination appears a rather singular one without further explanation. The true lighthouse, that on Godley Head, the one which marks the entrance to the Port, was, of course, many miles nearer to him than the spire. It appears, however, and it is a matter which has been reported by several first visitors to the Port, that looking from seaward the Godley Head' lighthouse is very indistinct. The keeper’s house is erected immediately behind it, and when the tower and house are in a direct lino with the eye of the observer, the house has the advantage, and it is not until the observer approaches olcsely that the shape of the tower can bo defined. Under these circumstances it would be as well that as groat a contrast as possible between the color of tho tower and that of the keeper’s dwelling should be secured. As matters stand at present, tho experience of the captain of the barque above-mentioned goes to show that either this must bo done, or the “spiritual lighthouse ” must be by some means rendered less conspicuous from seaward than it is.