A Tour in New Zealand.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume IX, Issue 962, 20 July 1881, Page 2

A Tour in New Zealand.

No. I.—From the Sounds to Dunedin. [From the Melbourne Leader, June 25th], (We are somewhat puzzled at the sudden discontinuance of the original “ Tour,” and the apparent substitution of another, commencing from the Bluff. The following is, evidently/ from another pen.) Agriculture is not generally considered to be a humorous subject, but, on the contrary it is regarded as a study of a very serious character. The funny man of a newspaper office is thought to be the least fitted for an agricultural editor, and when the humorist of the office falls sick it is seldom that his work is put into the hands of the genius of the farm deparment. The general reader also too frequently looks upon agriculture as a dry subject, although a drought is most distasteful to farmers. I am well aware that farming is one of the fashionable pastimes of the rich, the intellectual and the noble, a fact which has had its effect in raising farm rents in England to a fictitious value, as well as of raising a number of pigs, fowls and even sparkling wine near Melbourne, but there are so many people who are not yet members of the aristocracy, and whose fortunes or tastes have npt yet permitted them to indulge in the luxuries of fancy farming, that agriculture fails to excite the amount of general interest that might be expected. It is probably more people’s misfortune than their fault that agriculture does not rank as a lively and popular subject, and it is this consideration which has led me to excuse the general reader from following me through the sixteen articles npon agricultural and pastoral matters in New Zealand which have appeared in the farm department of this paper. A bolder man might have attempted the task of educating the public up to an appreciation of the interest and the festivity that are to be found in practical farming by sandwiching notes of turnips, oats and wheat between .items of fishing, boating 1 and siich like, but I have restrained my zeal and contented myself with letting my “ talk be of bullocks ’V-in the first series of articles, and addressing a separate series to those readers who may not be able to appreciate the special delights of agriculture. “ Milford Sound is the prettiest sight in the world,” said a gentleman in the Union Co.’s ship Te Anau, and this he was prepared to maihtain after having visited very many places of interest in Europe and America. I was not prepared to question the statement, as I had not been in Switzerland or the New World, but in my travels in New Zealand I met several tourists who had been everywhere, and who were equally high in their praises of Milford Sound. These tourists, by the way, are an industrious class, and they do some of their hardest work in New Zealand. They are supposed to be travelling for pleasure, and I must say they deserve'to find it. I was travelling upon business, and was supposed to be exerting myself industriously in collecting information but I give the palm to some qF the tourists. They seemed to be working harder in spending money than I was in earning it. It was in climbing up mountains that they got the best ofme. They had to climb to the top and record the fact in the hotel book. I was content to view the beauties of the hills from the foot, and enter its ascertained height in my note book. The Te Anau was to call at Milford Sound in order to allow passengers to enjoy the scene, a course which is followed every summer by the Union Company’s boats ; but when we arrived the coast was covered with a dense fog, which rendered entering both dangerous and useless. After consult ing the passengers upon the subject Captain Carey sailed southward, leaving the far-famed Milford Sound, with its picturesque mountain peaks rising sheer from the waters edge to a height of 5500 feet, its waterfalls 500 feet high, and its various charms of landscape, unvisited. The weather partially claared up, however, in the afternoon, and we sailed for several miles up George Sound, another of the numerous fiord-like inlets which indent the west coast of the South Island. The strip of deep water which wound and zig-zagged among the mountain ranges was, I believe, some two or three miles in width, but it did not appear to be a mile owing to the gigantic dimensions of its cliftcd shores

A thick body of dark cloud touched the mountain peaks rnd bridged in the view overhead: I could not estimate the height of the ranges which touched the clouds, but they were very high, giving a solemn aspect of grandeur to the whole scene, and dwarfing the ship the trees and other objects which were forced into comparison. A thick covering of dark green vegetation, consisting of gum-trees and a variety of laurel-like shrubs, clothed the mountains in most parts from the waters edge the highest points visible, leaving here and there a bare slab of shining rock which glistened almost as white as the small patches of snow which lay on sheltered portions of the highest peaks. The sombre appearance of this grand landscape was relieved by silvery streams of water pouring down the dark mountain’s sides from under the cloudy canopy to the lake-life surface of the bay. lam

quite sure there is nothing approaching George Sound in any part of Austi*alia for truly grand scenery, and yet * in New Zealand those who have only seen George Sound must take a back seat when anyone is about who has visited Milford. I had great difficulty in getting “ a show ” for George Sound. I began several times to expatiate upon the wonders of the place, but I seemed to be continually persecuted by some man who had been at the grander Sound to the northward, so I had at length to keep quiet, for instead of getting credit for having seen something I only was drawn into the confession that I had not been where everybody of importance had visited. At first I was suspicious that these Milford Sound people were carrying too much sail, and that they were acting upon the advice of the virtuous father whose son wished to make an expensive tour “ just to be able to say he had done so,” viz., “-Then why don’t you say so without going to all the trouble.” But I afterwards learned that the New Zealand people are great travellers. A large proportion of them have been to Milford Sound, and to all the various places of interest in the Colony. Summer excursionsaround the coast sounds are got up every year, and trips to the lakes are frequently made. The New Zealanders are fond of pleasure, and their love of excursions has no doubt been stimulated by the beautiful and wonderful scenery to be found in different parts of the Colony. The number of people from New Zealand that visited the Melbourne International Exhibition must, I think, have been larger in proportion to the population than from anv other Colony, a fact which shows not only that the New Zealand people are fond of travelling in their own country, but that many of them have the inclination and the resources to visit the gay capital of the Australasian Colonies. The Bluff Harbor, at the south of the South Island, is reached in five days’ sailing from Melbourne, and here the tourist who is not fond of coasting on shipboard can land and miss the roughest part of the sea voyage by travelling by rail. All the interesting parts of the South Island can be reached by rail or coach from this point, but to many who are good sailors, the trip around the coast in > the steamer is the most enjoyable part of the tour. It may be said that I have travelled by both routes, for I went on to Dunedin by the steamer and came back to Invercargill by rail, proceeding thence northward to a different part of the island. There is a fine harbor at the Bluff, but not much to interest the traveller; but Invercargill, the chief town of the Southland provincial district, is well worth visiting, being a well laid out town of about 6000 inhabitants. This town, some account of which I have already given in a former article, can be visited by those who wish to go around with the boat to Dnnedin, the steamer staying sufficiently long to ensile passengers to proceed by rail a distance of 17 miles, and spend an hour or two in inspecting the public institutions and other objects of interest Those who wish to visit the lakes can either take train from Invercargill or proceed by rail from Dunedin, but the Invercargill route is much the nearer, being only eighty-seven miles, while that by way of Dunedin is 372 miles. The scenery also along the line from the south is more interesting than that which is seen in travelling from the north by way of Waimea > Plains. It may be pointed out that the Invercargill people believe the best wav to the Lakes is through their town, and have little sympathy with the system of “ going round the back

way,” which is frequently practised. The Waimea Plains railway, which runs from the Dunedin to the Kingston lines, makes this back way nearest for Dunedin people, but for tourists binding at the Bluff the Invercargill route certainly offers the best inducements. Port Chalmers is entered early in the morning, after sailing all night along the coast from Bluff Harbor. We were inside the Heads before the passengers were up, and as the morning was fine we had an opportunity of seeing Port Chalmers at its best. “ How pretty ! how beautiful!” were the expressions used by those who had seen the harbor for the fist time, and I was amongst the number. A fair expanse of clear, blue water, sheltered on all sides by high, rather rugged, though picturesque, green hills, made up a scehe of the most pleasing description. The town of Port Chalmers, with its graving dock and piers snugly sheltered at the foot of a high range, being well built, chiefly of bluestone, has a substantial well-to-do appearance, and raises one’s expectations concerning the city of Dunedin, of which it is the port. At present large vessels cannot go up to Duedin, owing to the water being too shallow, so that the chief trade of the city is carried on through Port Chalmers, with which it is connected by a railway nine miles in length. Extensive dredging operations are being carried on under the direction of the Harbor Board, with the view of providing a deep channel for ships, and it is expected that within a year vessels of the size of the Union Company’s steamers, of over 1000 tons burthen, will be able to berth at the Dunedin wharves. When this is done the sail up the harbor between lofty green hills, clad with ferns and shrubs, and dotted with residences,.will be one of the most pleasant parts of the New Zealand tour. The first view obtained of Dunedin from the harbor is very pleasing, giving one the impression at once of a large and beautiful town, and whether the city is approached by rail or ship from Port Chalmers it is seen first from the harbor, for the railway runs along the bay-on a narrow ledge at the foot of the hills, which everywhere rise from the water’s edge. These high ranges of* bright green, dotted with darker patches of natural shrubbery, which bound Port Chalmers, continue all round Dunedin Harbor, leaving no site large enough to build a city upon without spreading the suburbs over the shoulders of the hills. It is the hilly suburbs which give the city such a charming appearance from a distance, and their elevation giving the residents an extensive view of the harbor, and the open ocean adds considerably to the attractiveness of a Dunedin villa. The hills being subdivided into numerous small sections by valleys and deep gorges, the building sites lend themselves readily to the skill of the landscape gardener, and a blending of the natural shrubbery with the cultivated trees and plants forms many a delightful picture. There is more getting up stairs in Dunedin than in any town I know. They are as steep and high in Walhalla, that town which has set itself down where two of the Gippsland mountain ranges meet, but they are not so numerous as the steps by which the Dunedin merchant has to climb up to his roast turkey. Only one cow has been known to fall from the mountain into a bedroom below at Walhalla, but if cows were allowed to graze at will over these suburban hills, the bedrooms might become no better than cow sheds. As it is, there is no danger of cow's falling through the roofs, but until one gets used to the stairs, by which you have to wind your way up the hill, they are very tiring. The steam tramways, however, which have recently been introduced to run up the hills will be a great convenience, especially to the weak-kneed. The cars are pulled up and let down by a stationary engine, a wire rope, running in an inclosure under the street, being attached to the trams. One line was in operation during my visit, upon which, unfortunately, a fatal accident has occurred, and it is intended to work several lines from the same centre. The cars are very low, and if one is not in fear of accidents, quite comfortable, being a great improvement upon the “ Scotch navigation ” of the stairs. A comprehensive view of the city is obtained from the elevated suburbs. The main street, Prince’s-street, runs along at the foot of the hills for about four miles, being built on each side with shops and warehouses for three miles. The cross streets run from the harbor to Princes-street, and only a

few chains further where they are stopped, as far as business is concerned, by the hills. The flat ground is still limited in extent, but it has been greatly added to by cutting away 1 lie hills and the reclamation of the beach. Part of Princes-street was a bold hill, and a large part of the business portion of the town was the sea some 20 years ago, when Victorian diggers and merchants by the thousand poured into the place and frightened the weak nerves of the “ old identities.” Nowsubstantial warehouses, handsome buildings and well-made streets are found in a city which, w'ith its suburbs, contains 40,000 inhabitants. The blue stone quarries of Port Chalmers, and the fine white free stone of Oamaru have been utilised in the erection of a number of very imposing buildings, the churches and schools being foremost in this respect. The two leading Presbyterian Churches, the University College and the Town Hall are the most striking of the public buildings ; the Government Offices, built by the old Provincial Government, being commodious, butnot ornamental. The railway station is a shed about as unsightly as our ow n at Spencer-street, and altogether it strikes a stranger that the largest town in New Zealand has not been beautified very much by expenditure out of the general revenue. A large and imposing structure in Princes-street, formerly a college but now used as a bank and business offices, looks more like what the general post office ought to be than the brick edifice which bears the name. The warehouses, hotels and banks are generally of a substantial and ornamental character, and a new bank is in course of * erection, which being built of Oamaru stone, will be an adornment to the town. I must continue my remarks upon Dunedin in the next paper.