TIMARU.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 58, 11 March 1915, Page 2

TIMARU.

A JOURNALISTIC TRIBUTE.

The "Spell of Timaru" has been upon tlic newspaper men of tii< ■- Dominion of late for at that greatly growing and prosperous town (soon, it is whispered, to become a city) this year's

Press Conference took place. Those who know Timaru ol old were pleased to renew acquaintance: those who knew it not were glad to have the opportunity of learning a little about this healthy and flourishing South Island port. All visitors were unstinted in their admiration of the town, the harlior, Caroline \hiy, and—of course -the Hydro. One "Visiting Journalist" came heavily under the Spell and opened wide the flood-gates of his poetic soul. From the Timaru Herald we reproduce his "poem" as under:—

•'] did not come to Timaru to bless it. I am a journalist on tile dawdle—with shame he it said. From Scotland, through England, I began my 'saunter, leaving dear, dirty London a vear ago to come hither through immeasurable leagues of lucent sea to this land of perennial youth in the South Seas. Every Highlander—l

am one, redolent of Gaelic and neat smoke—always drer.ms of a blessed land of peace and liappiness—the iswd of Arcady, "Eilean n'an og," the island of youth—but while other Celts dream of it, I have found it. And here it is—known in the prosaic world by the name of New Zealand, while one of the most beautiful spoos in a iwholly lovely land is right hero, whence as I write, lovely, witching Timaru.

"Experienced now in the matter of seeing new and strange places -jadel I might sa\v, indeed, —I have learned to eschew guides and guile hooks. These drag you along relentLospJy, pointing out the beauty spots of gen. oral acceptation, and their paining for the hurst of applause which jou are expected to contribute as.surely as a tunned top pours on the v.ater supply. That sort of thing "becomes a weariness to the flesh. Let nie explore a new town by myself. Let me speak of what T tliink is beautiful—and what I may think is not so beautiful, —but in tho an me of truth, let me spoal» just exactly what I think, whi'Jj-ir it be good or had. And so, insh'iklei by opinions of greater • r lesser men, 1 offer bore it handful of my impressions of Tnnaru.

"I dawdled, leisurely from the station, the doloe far niente cast its dreamy influence on m:nd as on body. And soon I came :■:> what I take to be your chief stree'-is it net called Stafford Street? Up there I wandered, passing by shops rich and beautiful with all kinds of produce, from jewellery to fruit, and thinking all the while of how in some ways it reminded me of some busy streets in the Old Country. The street, for example, was not so wide as many towns in New Zealand show—though, to be quite fair, greater width would not be a defect or disadvantage. The crowd hurrying along might be an Englihh 'crowd, though (alas for my Home land!) there would soon be seen the sordid rags of poverty peeping through the apparent prosperity as 1 could ;,to in every city at Home. Here were life aiid activity, and the light-hearted bustle of content, and as my mind ranged over the towns and cities J lhad traversed in my the world, seeking a counterpart to thu busy scenp, I .suddenly arrived at Cape Town, and decided that here, on a lesser scale, was the Adderley Street of the South African metropolis reproduced. "I sauntered along until 1 came to some height overlooking the town. iThen like Balboa: "Silent upon a peak in Darien," I ga%ed down and around, and saw as magnificent a stretch of landscape and seascape as these eyes have looked upon. The town down below, with its warm red roofs, its bustling streets, the ha roomthat seemed calling, siren-like for tlie great ships that were hurrying thither from the far ends of the earth and sea, further beyond the rich country of meadow and pasture, and n'cii crops, and by the side of it all, bailing and thundering, the cease'ess surge that beat like the pulse of the world, with the eternal life of the far stretching sea. I do not pick (his scene or that out as being .mcially beautiful as a whole. I take it and its sotting as it stands, -ind h'.f iii\ hat to this queen of the South that holds me in fealty to her.

"I am not at all concerned as to the commercial greatness, present of prospective, of Timarn. 1 have no desire to know the volume of her trade, or the gorgeous credit balance of her bank account. All I know is that she is beautiful, and her people as is fitting for dwellers in a beautiful land, are happy and contented. Progress and prosperity are blazoned on Inn- bro.v as her countersign. A kindly people, a beautiful town, comfort in ll;e Louies, radiant hope in tlie heart, an omitting future—what more can the heart of man desire ? And Timani has ;.!! these, wherefore, and with good reason, the Timaru man goes proud and glad, his life filled with the seroi e content that should be ..lie lot •;!' all dwellers in this happy land. "If 1 have not attempted to convey in concrete or commercial terms the material prosperity of the town it is not because ] do not appreciate it to the full. The scenic beauty of rimarn would be nothing were it not an,appropriate background to the happy prosperity of its inhabita i:s. But let Blue Books and abstracts speak of that ; my purpose is merely to give a spontaneous tribute to the beautiful

town that has so instantaneously cap. tured me.

! ''l awoke through tbo night, and listened for an hour to the booming of the surl on the shore, and no«v 1 know that in the coming years thoro

will often recur to my memory fclie happy day or two I spent at Tiniaiu, and I shall hear, dream-like, the I'oom of the surf again and vaader through those streets and roads I walk today; and I shall long to he back again 'in this dear town of '.he Sou Mi Seas, that has lor ever cast her spell upon me."