The Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star. (And Evening Star, with which is in corporated the west coat Times MONDAY. JULY 2nd,1923 FRIENDLY VISITATIONS.

Hokitika Guardian, 2 July 1923, Page 2

The Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star. (And Evening Star, with which is in corpor ated the west coa t Times MONDAY. JULY 2nd,1923 FRIENDLY VISITATIONS.

! W'Khri.AM) folk hr*many comrcnsa- | nous for throwing in their Ini- on the | (.dust, i-v.m though we am ut times prom- to complain t. f onr isolation, anti nurse a grievance that-, hitli.*t to, we have been tin- Cinderella of the Dominion. But our complaint in togard to our "splendid isolation" is K«m to disappear,. With the advent, of the rail\v;>v in daily trading through the "tunnel" the IVi nee Charming ot .New Zealand prosperity will < v omo this way and claim -West-land for his bride. So the last, of our complaints will have disappeared aith the piercing of the mountain hairier, Yet, the mountain bariier itself eonsfitutes one of our most cherished possessions in adding to the glory of our Westland scenery. And t this period of the year, snowcapped with ail the glorious intensity of the beautiful mantle nature provides in generous measure, the mountains lend themselves to the special magnificence of tl’.e sceno which daily presents itself ut the close of day when Old .Sol sinks to rest in the ocean. Out winter sunset scenes are among the most glorious touches which nature has lavished on Westland and these friendly visitations arc not of rare occasion. Westland enjoys a great mesisuro of sunshine, eclipsed by few centres in the Dominion. Over U.OOO hours of bright sunshine are our annual average, and the winter season (with the shorter days) seems to enjoy the greater relative daily sunshine. In these Iseautiful days we are now enjoying, the sunset scenes ate most arresting. Indeed. all day long the mountains seem to dominate the picture with their intense whiteness. Tipped with the rays of the rising sun they stand out bold and brilliant, and later outlied in fiords of bright .sunshine, the contrast in coloring with the snow-capped peaks and the verdure of the forest, falling down the shoulders of the mountain sides to the flats below, supply a range of color of arresting variety. With the sinking sun the picture nature presents is inspiring. There is the generously warm glow on the hilltops, the brilliant coloring of the billowy clouds drifting about the peaks, and changing to fantastic shapes. The colors turn front gold to red quickly. Often there are rainbow hues, wnile below, the deep, dark indigo coloring of the far-stretch-ing forest. The clouds carry the coloring into the heavens which are all aglow with nature’s most wonderful painting, and then almost swiftly the colors Iteoome softer and softer, soon to fade rapidly away. But there is the knowledge that the scene if hut transient will come again to-morrow when Old Sol returns on his eternal round of visitation. Yet the picture has not wholly disappeared—rather Ims it. passed to another region—unci so, looking to the now truly golden west, the last indications of day present a picture no less wonderful out to sea, with the vaulted canopy of the heavens for the play ground of the sportive rays. Out to sea the clouds often imitate the mountain tops in shape and color, or they may appear another land—a. cloudland on the verge of the horizon. But they reflect- the golden sunshine, and present a picture again of nature in her happiest mood. If you are driving in from the east, as so many were from the Kokatahi Show last Wednesday as the sun sank to rest, there was a wonderful picture of the forest intervening between the sunset, wit-h the trees, silhouetted against the sky line —and the forest, never looked more perfect in form and stature. These are scenes perhaps over familiar to us, but. always ever beautiful. They make Westland more beautiful, and the impress of the glory of the scenes remind us, too. that Westland is also wonderful, and can have but few peers in the sunset scenes which nature can paint in her own incomparalde way of eoloting.