A Tour in New Zealand.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume IX, Issue 969, 13 August 1881, Page 2 (Supplement)

A Tour in New Zealand.

No. 111. —From Dunedin to Oamaru and Timaru. (Continued from our last). From the Melbourne Leader].

Bandmann was starring during my visit, and was also giving readings as a means of instructing the rising generation in the proper pronunciation of the “Inklich lahkwage.” It was announced one day that this tragedian, upon the suggestion of one of the school board, had arranged to admit free to the theatre, on a certain night, all the public school children who held certificates. I attended, and found the part of the theatre which, I suppose, must be called the dress circle, filled with boys and girls, there only being a sprinkling of adults, who may have been parents or teachers. The play was “ Hamletthe last act, frequently curtailed, was all gone through, and it was after eleven o’clock when the youngsters came pouring down the stairs into the cold air and the dim gaslight of the city. It seemed a strange arrangement, and something I did not expect to see in a city where a somewhat puritanical form of religion prevailed. Like the babies in Pinafore, the different social features which 1 have referred to got “ mixed up ” in my mind, and I must confess that I was not long enough in Dunedin to be able to attach to each its proper significance These are the points, however, that strike a stranger ; but I should be probably as far wrong in forming an extreme opinion of the social or religious condition of the people of Dunedin upon the Tom Pain meeting, the evangelistic notices, the number of the churches the theatreful of children, or the two columns of sweep advertisements, as many of the Dunedin citizens were in attaching significance to a meeting in Melbourne, which was attended by a high officer of Parliament, expressing sympathy with a infamous gang of bushrangers. I did not hear much of the teetotallers in my travels, but I found the local option principle pretty generally believed in, so that the Colony is likely to take a leading place in restricting the liquor traffic. Scotch whisky, as might have been expected, is extensively drunk in Dunedin, but while drinking and “ shotting ” are very common, I do not think they are more so than in Australia. In regard to this barbarous custom of drinking at all hours of the day, there is great room for improvement in-New Zealand as well as in all the Colonies.

Leaving Dunedin and travelling by the northern or Christchurch railway, one is soon brought within view of some very beautiful scenery. The line runs along the harbor beach until, coming near Port Chalmers, it climbs a high range of coast hills by a long cutting in the hill side, the gradient of the incline being 1 in 50. The mountain scenery at this part of the journey is very charming, and soon views are obtained of the wild rugged coast. Travelling by train is not very fast where the line is level, the rate being about 16 miles an hour, but in working up a five-mile hill at a gradient of 1 in 50 with wet rails, the engine groans so distressingly and the cars move so slowly that the passengers are in fear of being required to get out and push behind. This climbing up process is made more interesting by the fact that two tunnels, one of them three-quarters of a mile in length, are passed through on the incline, The highest point is reached i n the middle of the long tunnel, and then the engine driver begins to make up for lost time, travelling more than 20 miles an hour over the most dangerous piece of railway I have seen. Curves representing a circle of 4 chains radius are turned by the train, which winds along the edges of mountain gorges and around steep faces of jutting promontories. At Blueskin Bay there is a most exciting piece of travelling. A ledge has been cut in the face of the cliffs for the railway, and as the narrow cars whisk round the sharp curves which occur at this inconvenient place, there is a rattling of wheels and a clanking of rails which do not allow one to enjoy the sight of the white breakers which seem to roll their waters right under the line some 500 feet beneath. The danger from above is greater than that of falling

over into the sea, as masses of rock may fall from the perpendicular sides of the cutting. Ido not think the engine driver should be allowed to make up time in coming around the Blueskin.

After leaving Blueskin Bay the hills become smaller, and at a distance of 41 miles from Dunedin Palmerston is passed, a new-looking town of nearly 2000 inhabitants, in the midst of a fertile farming district somewhat limited in extent. About 18 miles further on, the shores of Moeraki Bay are seen, inclosing a fine semicircular 'expanse of water, correctly described by the Maori name as the bay of “ peaceful rest.” There is here a Maori reserve occupying a beautifully wooded peninsula, and which will, no doubt, in time be a favorite resort of excursionists. On the shores of this bay considerable numbers of “ frost fish ” are found. These fish, which are considered a great delicacy, are something like eels, but they are flatter and broader, looking like a silver band. They cannot be caught by any system of fishing, but are washed on to the beach by the waves at certain seasons and at such times large numbers of men, women, and children, from the adjacent township of Hampden, gather upon the sands to secure the valuable prizes. The specimens which I saw were not more than 3 feet long, but they are sometimes found measuring 6 feet in length, when they are worth as much as 10s apiece.

Oamaru is a town of 6000 inhabitants, situated upon the elevated shores of a wide and rather exposed bay, 78 miles from Dunedin. Between the town and the mountains Jo the westward there is an extensive area of agricultural land, about 50 miles wide by fully 60 miles in length, not surpassed for richness by any in New Zealand, so that the rapid growth of Oamaru, which has been so remarkable during the last ten years, has been legitimate, and its prosperity is likely to be maintained. Nearly all the buildings are built of the fine white stone, so well known by the name of Oamaru stone, large quarries of it being opened up within a few miles of the town. This building material being very cheap, the town is adorned with a large number of really fine edifices. The municipal buildings are about the poorest in the town, but the banks, shops and hotels are very fine, w r hile the gaol is an attractive-looking steucture, which one would suppose could not be got into without a good deal of influence. I do not know, however, whether the prison difcipline is of the same character as that which was in force in Dunedin during the quiet time before the the diggings. Prisoners were treated well in those times, and almost the only inmates of the gaol were unruly sailors. It is said that a skipper, who had got some of his crew put into gaol for insubordination, went some time afterwards to the Dunedin Agricultural Show, and was rather surprised to see his crew enjoying themselves at the booths. Upon being interrogated by the Captain, they explained that they were well fed, and that they had been allowed out for a holiday, finishing up by saying, “ But we must be going, for if we are late the keeper will lock us out.”

The harbor works are of great importance, having had so much to do with the progress of the town and the development of the district. Formerly ships had to iie out in the bay, and be loaded and unloaded by means of surf boats ; and under such conditions it is easily understood there was a serious obstacle to developing the richness of the land. In 1871, however, the harbor works were commenced with a vote of £20,000 from the Provincial Government, and they have been carried on step by step until now they are nearly complete; the importance of this northern port of Otago increasing as the works proceeded. Taking advantage of a bend in the bay, a breakwater has been run out into the sea for a distance of 1800 feet, which has the effect of forming a safe harbor for ships. A rubble wall is also to be constructed from the shore at another point running at right angles with the breakwater, and leaving an entrance 4000 feet wide into an enclosed space of 60 acres in extent. The breakwater is made of concrete blocks, weighing from 35 tons to 200 tons each, the largest blocks being at the bottom. There is little now to be done but construct the rubble wall, the breakwater having been nearly completed. This important work, which has been carried out under the direction of the engineer, Mr. John M‘Gregor, of Dunedin, and the resident engiuer, Mr. T. Forester,

has been so successful that it should encourage the Government to improve the harbors of the coal districts on the West Coast and different fertile parts of the North Island.

Proceeding northward along the coast we soon pass the river which separates Otago from Canterbury, and a new province with its different scenery and its changed conditions of settlement's entered upon. Rolling downs of rich land stretch from some distance south of Oamaru to a little way past Timaru, and then the Canterbury plains begin, which extend without a break, and as flat as a table, to far beyond Christchurch, a high range of mountains bounding the western horizon. Both on the downs and bn the plains there is a great deal of farming carried on, and the large number of comfortable homesteads which are seen among a few bare-lookihg ones forms one of the chief attractions of this part of the journey. Withal, it is rather dreary after the plains are entered upon, excepting when the snow is upon the mountains. When I first crossed the plains there.wap* no snow on the hills, but ”bri the second occasion the top of the range was dad in white, and there was something indescribably charming in,, the vast irregular line of snow, changing in color from white and grey to bright auburn and gold, which extended for nearly 100 miles along the horizon.

Timaru is the southern port of the province of Canterbury, and, like! Oamaru, much has been, done for the town by the carrying but of harbor works. Surf boats had originally to be used here, but although the breakwater is not so .nearly finished as that of Oamaru, it is already of great value, and enables ships to be loaded from the piers. Timaru, which is built upon an elevated site, has a substantial well-to-do appearance, although the buildings, being chiefly of brick and cement, are not so attractive as those of Oamaru. If less attractive as a town, Timaru can boast of much prettier suburbs than its southern rival. All around the town thare are very snuglooking residences, with gardens and shrubberies, and the auenues of blue gum trees along the lanes fenced with green hedges are exceedingly pleasing. Timaru is 100 miles from Christchurch, and 131 miles from Dunedin. There are large grain stores both here and at Oamaru, which at the time of-my visit were not only full, but immense stacks of bags of graid were built outside and covered with tarpaulins. The city of Christchurch' will be dealt with in the next paper.