Chapter XXIV: Australasian Journalism 258 (5)

Of course in this, as in so many other modern industries, the value of the by-products makes the business profitable, even though the main product be sold so cheaply. There is absolutely no waste, even the blood, except that portion which unavoidably stains the floors and walls of the abattoirs and is washed from the recently slain bodies of the beasts, being saved and converted into special manure of the strongest kind and of high value. The offal is similarly treated after the tallow is separated from it, and although this must be a disagreeable business, I testify that it is conducted without any offensiveness to either smell or sight. Then there is the great business of the hides, especially of the sheep, which are chemically treated, so that in a few hours the wool may be scraped off, uninjured itself, and leaving the pelt perfectly free from trace of wool as well as improved by the process.

Bearing in mind the conditions of labour in the land of the free and home of the brave, I was curious to see what manner of men these were employed here. And I found that, as elsewhere in New Zealand, there was a great deal of equality between master and man, that labour knew its worth and was able to get that worth recognised in every needed way. No speeding up or working out here--the Unions and Government look after that. I cannot say that there was very much to learn about the simple process of slaughtering and freezing meat for the home market, but there was a very great object-lesson in the conditions under which it was performed and in the position of the works in which it was carried on: in the heart of the country and close to the sources of supply on one hand, while on the other there was the big ship almost alongside the works, so to speak, for which cause handling was reduced to a minimum--a desideratum always greatly to be desired for many reasons.

By great good fortune I had the opportunity offered me of visiting two places of very great interest to all who love the primitive races, and regret to see them dying out. Now the Maori is one of those aboriginals, exceedingly scarce, who seem able to absorb the civilisation of the Anglo-Saxon without dying out. I know that there is a conflict of opinion about this, but on the best authority I am informed that there is a small increase among them, the only danger-signal being the preponderance of male births over females--a feature which the closest students of the Maori are unable to account for. At my lectures in Gisborne I had as part of my audience the students of the Maori Theological College, and by the courtesy of the principal, the Rev. Mr. Challoner, I was invited to the college itself, where one of the students, a stalwart youth of about twenty-one, gave me an extempore address of welcome in his own mellifluous language, the same being translated into fluent English by a fellow-student, clause by clause. It was intensely interesting, for these Maories are born orators, and although I know that our staid English cannot reproduce the flowers of native speech, yet I heard enough to show me what an amazing effort of diction it was.

Then another gentleman, the Rev. Herbert Williams, son of the Bishop of Napier, drove me out to the Maori Church of Te Aro, a building which was commenced by the Maories in the best style of native art, but, getting tired of it, the artists abandoned their self-imposed task; which was unfortunate, as they represented the last and the best of the fast dying-out school of native artificers. But the missionary in charge decided that what had already been done must not be wasted, and a plan was formulated whereby the church should be constructed in European fashion, and the immense carved _rimu_ and _totara_ columns so lavishly adorned by the Maori artists should be incorporated in the building. This has been done, and the result is certainly most striking. Many of these columns, or pilasters as I suppose they should be more properly called, are trees cut in half longitudinally, and measure well over three feet across. They are carved from top to bottom, grotesquely, floridly; but undoubtedly in strict conformity with the canons of native art. They are undoubtedly of immense value as the last emblems of a primitive race, but unfortunately even the artists who designed and executed them have forgotten what the symbols signify. This is undoubtedly the case. They preserve an air of mystery as to the meaning of what they have designed, but the plain and obvious fact is that they do not know. The pattern has been slavishly followed, but the significance thereof has died out. And I suppose it only awaits some new Champollion to formulate a theory of derivation by means of which these grotesques may be linked on to the Maya and Egyptian works. Which warns me that I had better leave them.

It happened--for in these matters we are the sport of the elements--that it was a perfectly propitious night when I was to leave Gisborne for Napier. There was quite a crowd of people down on the wharf ready to board the little steamer which was to take us off to the _Victoria_, one of the fine coasters of the Huddart, Parker Company, of nearly 3,000 tons register, and quite palatially fitted. To give you an idea of how the Colonial passenger is catered for, not only are you invited to enjoy a _chota hazri_, or little breakfast of porridge, tea or coffee and biscuits, in your bunk before rising, that is between 6 and 7 a.m., and the usual six meals a day of the ocean steamers besides, but the Company provide rugs and steamer chairs for the comfort of passengers on deck. Also the liquid refreshments dispensed from the bar are, despite the tariff, on a much more modest scale of prices than in the case of the deep-sea ships, sixpence being the standard price for practically all drinks that the ordinary man calls for. There was also everything that the most fastidious passenger could look for on board ship in the way of ladies' rooms, reading and smoking-rooms, &c., and altogether I doubt very much if any vessels in the world can offer more comforts to travellers than do these splendid coasting steamers of Australia.

We got away at nine o'clock, and proceeded at fourteen knots down to the coast to Napier, which was reached at daylight, the navigation being of the simplest character along this steep-to coast. It struck me, though, that the service was an exceedingly arduous one for the officers, who, except at certain stated ports, do not get much rest, while the men, who undoubtedly work hard, have the intense satisfaction of knowing that their earnings are correspondingly good, since the eight hours' day holds good for sea-workers as well as land-workers when the vessel is in port, and overtime is paid for at one shilling per hour.

XVI

A HOMELIKE TOWN

Napier, Hawke's Bay, is apparently totally different from any other town that I have seen in Australasia. It has a character entirely its own, which indeed is not an unfamiliar feature of New Zealand towns, many of which still bear the impress of their pious founders. A fine breakwater and a good pier within its shelter awaits the steamer, which lies cosily alongside, although it was obvious from the magnitude of the mooring chains and girth of the rope springs by which the ship was secured, that there were occasionally some lively times here under certain conditions of wind and weather. But _the_ feature which was most impressive was a precipitous cliff, which, only about fifty yards from the shore end of the pier, rose a sheer 300 feet into the air, as if defying all further ingress to the country. A good road wound around the base of this cliff--as good a road, indeed, as any we can boast of at home--and I noticed presently that a low, concrete sea-wall had begun to skirt it. Then the side-walk of asphalt was planted at intervals of about six or seven yards with the beautiful Norfolk Island pine, a species of araucaria, but not nearly so grotesque as the "monkey puzzle" tree. As we walked on the cliff to shoreward sloped downward, and gave pretty views of houses perched here and there amid embowering foliage, until presently we turned a corner, and lo! I was in Tunbridge Wells, at the corner of the Pantiles looking towards the Pump Room. The illusion was almost perfect, in spite of the many wooden houses which alternate with the stucco-fronted ones here, as elsewhere in New Zealand. And then another peculiarity obtruded itself, the naming of the streets, which has been done upon an original plan, the main thoroughfares being called after celebrated Indian generals and administrators, to keep company with Lord Napier, Hastings, Clive, &c., while the streets which run at right angles to them commemorate great poets and authors--Tennyson, Browning, Milton, Shakespeare, Dickens, &c. And splendid streets they are, as far as the roadways and footpaths are concerned, the buildings being all of the usual character in the other towns which I have mentioned. The town wears an air of solid prosperity, but is quite sedate and satisfied in its appearance, as if bustle and growth were neither looked for or, indeed, much desired. Of course it does grow, but very slowly, and I for one think of it as of other Antipodean towns, that if hurried growth means, as it too usually does, a large accession of the submerged tenth, then it is much better that it should hasten as slowly as it is doing.

But to my mind the chief glory of Napier is its frontage on the magnificent bay. From the landing-place an asphalted esplanade, fronted by the low sea-wall before mentioned, runs for over two miles in an almost perfectly straight line. Over the wall the foreshore of shingle slopes gently down to near the sea, where it is carpeted with fine sand, making it an ideal watering-place. There are houses of varying character, but none at all pretentious, on the shore side of this esplanade for nearly its whole length, facing the open Pacific and fully exposed to the winds from the east, which bring in at times an enormous swell from the widest ocean of all, there being nothing in the nature of obstructing land between it and the west coast of South America. But of course the tremendous prevalent westerly gales which assail the west coast of New Zealand so furiously are not felt here, this being the sheltered side of the islands. Still, I could imagine that an amazing spectacle of assailing seas must be sometimes witnessed from the windows of those houses, and that the broad, smooth esplanade must at times be anything but a pleasant place for a promenade.

As I before noticed about Gisborne, Napier is built upon a level plain bounded by the ranges, so that whichever direction the eye travels along the straight, wide roads it meets with either the sea or the hills, an impression always being given of restricted area, of living on a ledge, as it were, beyond which exit could only be gained by climbing high hills or going out to sea. But it must be remembered, first, that the area is far less restricted than it seems, there being land enough for all the expansion there appears likely to be for many years to come, and next, that although New Zealand is undoubtedly a hilly country, it is only in the interior that the hills attain any great magnitude, and that, as I have before noted, those hills are of great value in the pasturage of sheep. As in Gisborne, one may look in vain for any evidence of hustle, of determination to go ahead. A Sabbath calm even at noon of every day seems to pervade all the streets. Nobody is in a hurry, nobody seems to consider that haste in anything is necessary or desirable. And they are doubtless right; but it is curious that men who have lived in this calm atmosphere for thirty or forty years should be anxious to impress the visitor with what they have grown to believe is the fact--that the city is growing very fast. With all my admiration for New Zealand and her institutions, I must say that as far as growth is concerned she appears to me almost at a standstill, especially when compared with provincial towns at home which might be named by the score. I should not have mentioned this but that every one with whom I converse seems to be under the same curious misapprehension, based I suppose upon the fact that they have lived here so long, or have only travelled to similar or even smaller places that they know every brick and plank in the place, and watch the erection of each new edifice, however tiny, with an almost parental solicitude.

The railway runs from here to Wellington, but except for places _en route_ is but little patronised, owing to the fact that in the splendid steamers which call here and are replete with every modern comfort the traveller may leave Napier late in the afternoon and be alongside the wharf at Wellington early in the morning--a method of travel which in a country where the inhabitants are as peripatetic as they are here, is of course immensely favoured. But as yet the harbour is not sufficiently commodious or safe to invite ocean-going liners, and considering the enormous expense which the making of an harbour in an unprotected roadstead (for Napier is nothing more) entails upon a very small population, I doubt very much whether the present generation or even the next will see one completed. It is to me a really marvellous thing how these tiny communities do shoulder burdens of this kind though, and an almost tragical interest attaches to the way in which such a painful mass of expenditure is sometimes wasted entirely.

But I must bid farewell to pleasant, sunny Napier. It was Midwinter Day when I was there--the 21st of June--and the summits of the loftier ranges were lightly powdered with snow, but the air was mild and balmy, the sky cloudless, and the shade temperature at 9 a.m. 52°--a delightful day, which I was earnestly assured was not at all exceptional, but rather the rule, in this sweet and equable land. I am extremely glad to have made Napier's acquaintance, but I feel that, in spite of its being in the most progressive land on earth, it is, like other places which I have visited lately, a spot where men take life easily, where nothing is strenuous except football and horse-racing--two sports which out here seem to constitute the chief business of life for the majority of the male population, speculation coming next, commerce next, and production last of all. If this judgment sound too severe, I have only to say that I have no prejudices at all, I merely record my impressions with an entirely unbiassed mind.

We left Napier in the afternoon of this lovely day, skirting the coast at thirteen knots, to be reduced later on so as not to arrive in Wellington before daylight. We steam closely along the land, which everywhere presents the same rugged, irregular appearance of wooded ranges of hills, some of which indeed are high enough to be dignified by the name of mountains, these latter being now capped with snow. But I am not again likely to make the mistake of supposing that these rugged lands have no value, since I have learned their possibilities in sheep and timber, for both of which products New Zealand justly stands in the very front rank as regards quality. Nevertheless, I cannot help noticing that on this long stretch of coast between Napier and Wellington, there are only two tiny hamlets, there are scarcely any roads, nothing that could by any stretch of courtesy be called a harbour, and only a few little streams pouring their tribute into the Pacific Ocean. It is here, if anywhere, that the visitor realises the sparsity of the population, and by contrast the amount of energy that _must_ be concentrated somewhere in order to have made New Zealand the much-discussed country that she is. It is worthy of note that with great wisdom the Government of New Zealand have established a tourist department under the charge of a Cabinet Minister, the Postmaster-General, Sir Joseph Ward.[3] Under him, as general manager or agent, is Mr. Donne, who is given control of a very large sum for advertising purposes, in order to bring to the notice of the pleasure-seekers of the world generally the wonderful possibilities for sport and pleasure that New Zealand presents. Owing to wise precautions taken in stocking the country with game and fish, which have been, and are, most carefully protected, New Zealand is a thorough sportsman's paradise, red deer and fallow deer abounding, and trout of extraordinary size swarming in the lakes and rivers. There must be something amazingly congenial in the climate of this little wonderland to British game, whether fish, fur, or fowl. For the trout especially, which having been brought here from home or from Canada, in the form of ova, are now often caught up to a weight of 20 lbs., while other game is equally hearty and plentiful. The Government issues licences to shoot and fish at a very cheap rate, and the restrictions are only against indiscriminate slaughter or wanton destruction of any kind.

Then the natural beauties of the country--its fjords like those of Norway, its Alps like those of Switzerland, its geysers and hot springs like those of Yellowstone Park--are extremely fascinating, while an additional charm is lent by the fact that all these wonders are easy of access, are at no great distance from each other, and that the charges are everywhere extremely moderate and the accommodation is exceptionally good. As indeed it must be, for the hand of the Government is extended over all in paternal care, and ill would it fare with any hotelier's prospects who should by rapacity or neglect of his guests do anything to hinder their efforts to make New Zealand a popular pleasure-ground. Then perhaps the greatest charm of all is the delightful climate. Even in midwinter, except in the extreme south, it can hardly be called cold, while in summer the climate is as nearly perfection as it can possibly be. The Union Steamship Company have also established a good service of steamers to the delightful South Sea Islands, with all their manifold charm, and Tonga, Fiji, or Samoa can be reached in a few days from Auckland through shining, slumberous seas and velvet nights, until, upon those Lethean shores, the peace of perfect rest descends to the wearied man or woman almost crushed out of existence by the mill-wheels of civilisation. Owing to the wise and fostering care of the Government of New Zealand of its oversea communications, it has, in spite of its Antipodean distance from the Old World; of its being, as it were, the very last outpost of civilisation on the confines of the globe, a splendid choice of routes thither, and by one of these routes, the dearest but certainly the most interesting, Auckland may be reached in well under a month from London. That is the route _viâ_ New York, San Francisco, and Honolulu. For those who prefer to take the Australian Continent on their way and touch the East also _en route_, there are the Orient-Royal Mail, P. & O., and other lines according to choice, but at practically the same rates, while to others who have plenty of time and no objection to a long sea journey, there is offered an economical route in magnificent ocean steamers of the largest size either direct by New Zealand Shipping Company or Shaw Savill and Albion Line, or _viâ_ Australia by half a dozen lines running thither round the Cape. In the former case the journey is made in about six weeks--a sumptuous rest cure for those who are good sailors; in the latter of course another week must be added in order to reach New Zealand from either Melbourne or Sydney.

But I have said enough to indicate my belief that as a relief from the so-called pleasure-grounds of Europe with their terrible expensiveness and nerve-racking pleasures, it is a change of the most perfectly delightful and health-giving kind to pay our Antipodean brethren a visit, remembering that in these days of luxurious ocean travel the distance is, as Mr. Micawber said with less truth, merely imaginary.

FOOTNOTE:

[3] Now (1907) Prime Minister.

XVII

THE CAPITAL OF WONDERLAND

At daylight I came on deck to witness the steamer's arrival at Wellington. I have often heard many hard things about the capital of New Zealand. How, for instance, it was so subject to tremors of the unstable earth that no buildings could be erected save of the flimsiest character, how every day was evil, in that gales of wind were the rule and fine weather the rarest exceptions, while rain was almost a permanent feature of the atmospheric conditions. All of which statements were, of course, exaggerated, but still I felt must have a certain basis of truth; and I wondered why. This morning I know, and although I gladly admit the exaggeration, I feel fully persuaded that Wellington, despite its truly splendid harbour, is hardly used in the matter of climate. It lies at the foot of a closely investing range of high hills, the other sides of which are exposed to the full fury of the brave westerly winds which sweep around the world, only just deflected slightly by two outlying points of the South Island, Cape Farewell and D'Urville Island. Consequently the immense amount of moisture brought across the mighty Southern Ocean finds a congenial arrestment by the hills on whose eastern slopes Wellington lies, and the fierce squalls which sweep through the streets are only what will always be experienced on the lee side of high lands. Then, too, Wellington lies in the direct line of the backbone of New Zealand, the mountain chain which, with hardly a break, extends through its whole length from north to south, or, more correctly, from NNE. to SSW.; which, in view of the fact that this is essentially a volcanic country, will, I think, sufficiently account for Wellington's liability to seismic disturbance. At the same time it must be remembered that of late years these terrifying vibrations of the earth's crust have been so few and feeble here as to encourage the erection of substantial buildings, all of which, however, have been put up with the greatest possible attention to such details of structure as may be expected to minimise as much as possible any earthquake effects.

Fortunately my first view of Wellington was a favourable one. The weather was fine but overcast, still, although the sun was hidden, the air was clear, and I was able to take in the details of the grand land-locked harbour, the really splendid system of wharfage, and the imposing appearance of the buildings, which came right down to the wharves themselves. But I was, I remember, also impressed by the fact that Wellington looked cramped for room, and I was not at all surprised to hear, as I had been at Auckland, that an enormous amount of this crowded foreshore was reclaimed land, won back from the sea by an enormous expenditure of capital and labour, and returning a very high percentage upon the outlay. As in recent places which I have visited, but in a more restricted sense, Wellington appears from the bay like a town on sufferance, incapable of being extended in any direction save seaward, which extension has, of course, severe limits. But I learn without surprise that the surrounding hills are gradually being taken up for suburban residences, for the electric car takes little account of hills, and Wellington has a very fine system indeed, exactly like our own at home.

The business aspect of Wellington, especially as regards its shipping, is so striking as to make it difficult indeed to realise that its population is less than 60,000, or a quarter less than that of Auckland. The wharves here have an enormous area, and such monster ships as those of the White Star Line and New Zealand Shipping Company, that is to say vessels up to 12,000 tons register, lie at these wharves and load quite comfortably, while the position is so easy of access and so sheltered that vessels may come and go at any time of the day or night. This is the great distributing centre for the whole of New Zealand, most advantageously placed, geographically speaking, and with its people most keenly alert to extend their trade in every conceivable direction. Here may first be realised what a gigantic concern the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand has grown into from its very small and tentative beginnings about thirty-five years ago. It has now a fleet of fifty-five vessels, speedy, efficient, and well kept up; from vessels of nearly 6,000 tons gross register and 6,000 horse-power, which carry the "all red" mails to Vancouver, and the scarcely less splendid steamers of the Intercolonial service, in one of which I shall presently be sailing--the _Manuka_, of 4,505 tons and 4,500 horse-power twin screw--down to the few small vessels which act as feeders from the tiny outlying coast hamlets. This fleet, which is almost essentially a coastal one, has a total tonnage of 112,540 tons, which is not surpassed by any similar service in the world with the sole exception of the British India. And there the comparison is manifestly unfair, since quite a large proportion of the B.I. fleet are ocean liners in the fullest sense of the term. It is nothing short of marvellous how so small a country as regards population should have developed so splendid a fleet out of its coastal trade and communications with Australia.

I took a walk round the well-groomed, busy thoroughfares of Wellington as soon as I could get ashore, just for a casual glance in the few hours that I am to remain to-day. My next ship for a short and interesting trip to Picton and Nelson is the _Pateena_, of 1,212 tons and 2,000 horse-power, which is to sail at one o'clock; so that I must leave any detailed remarks about Wellington for my return here, when I hope to spend a few days. I note, in passing, that the city seems to be as yet completely dazed by the shock of Mr. Seddon's death, but that, I think, is because yesterday the public funeral was carried out, and the remains of New Zealand's idol were laid away to their long rest.

Getting tired, I returned to the wharf and boarded my new ship to enjoy the spectacle of a couple of large steamers getting away in truly British fashion, that is without fuss or bawling, but as if the movements of the ship were directly controlled and regulated from the brain of the master. It was a beautiful sight, and it was hardly over before our ship also glided away from the wharf, and in a quarter of an hour was outside the harbour heading directly across Cook's Straits for the wonderful series of fjords which must be navigated in order to reach Picton. Then I became aware of one of the main difficulties of our modern navigation. Here is a man charged with the care of (on an average) 200 lives, to say nothing of property, who from week end to week end never gets more than three hours' continuous rest. By day the intricate navigation of these wonderful sounds and bays is severe; at night, in fogs, in gales, and pelting rain the strain is terrible. And it is incessant. Talk about business strain! Wherein does it compare with this? To the thinking man the spectacle of this overwrought son of the sea in such a position of authority, watching lynx-like each headland as it looms like some glooming cloud upon his view, making mental combinations of the direction and force of the tides according to the time of day (or night, for people ashore do not understand that the maritime day counts twenty-four hours) taking into the hotchpot the age of the moon, and withal to combine these facts with the temporary contingencies of wind and weather, is fraught with deepest wonder that any man should be equal to it at all. Yet these men are, and by the universal rule that those who do the most get the least are always in what are subordinate positions. Although it must be admitted that compared with our coasting skippers at home such men are well paid. Yet no pay can compensate any man for such a wreckage of manhood as must result from the incessant strain of such a life. It is more than flesh and blood can stand.

I did not see the worst part of it going out, because at Picton I went fishing in the dark, and got so tired that I slept through the passage of the French Pass, in the anticipation, too, that I would see it on my return. So when I awoke in the morning the _Pateena_ was stopped off what I find every one here imagines to be a phenomenon of unique quality, the Boulder Bank. It is a natural bank of pebbles nicely graduated from fine sand at the water's edge up to the huge pebbles weighing a couple of hundredweight at the summit of the ridge and stretching parallel to the foreshore of the port of Nelson. It begins far beyond the limits of the port, having indeed a total length of eight miles or thereabouts, and has, hitherto, compelled all vessels of any size entering the port to wait for tide in order to get round its extremity and between a curious outlying rock perched upon a bunch of reefs of the most dangerous character. Now, however, the harbour board, greatly daring, have cut through the natural bank at a spot nearly opposite to the town and speak of having a channel deep enough to bring in ships like the _Athenic_ and the _Corinthic_ of 12,000 tons. _Nous verrons._ I hope their enterprise will bear fruit, for here, as elsewhere, the expense of such works falls with tremendous weight upon a population, all told, of some 9,000 souls.

Now comes the joke. This "Boulder Bank," as they call it, is an almost exact replica of the Chesil Beach, which extends from Portland to Weymouth, or _vice versâ_, according to which way you look at it. In the composition of the Bank itself there is absolutely no difference from that of Portland, but in direction and situation there is a great dissimilarity. Chesil Beach runs directly seaward from Weymouth in a very slight curve, having at its Channel end the English Gibraltar, Portland Bill. As most people know at home, the naval haven of Portland has been constructed by running a massive breakwater from Portland to the western horn of Weymouth Bay, or to leeward of the Beach, with two small openings almost like dock entrances without gates thereto. In Nelson, as I have mentioned, the beach runs parallel with the shores of the port, and the authorities have cut through the beach itself at a point nearer to the wharves already built, in order to bring the big oversea ships in for such modicums of cargo as there are to give them.

Nelson is a typical New Zealand coast town. Its streets are wide, its buildings humble, and the ranges shut it in to its little foothold on a foreshore. Its growth is imperceptible. It seems hardly credible that, remembering the natural advantages of Nelson that after over half a century of enjoyment of these natural privileges it should still remain so small and feeble in point of population. Yet the fact remains, and it is due to the same causes to which I have so often adverted, that I hardly dare to recur to them again, the determination not to have anybody come here who has only his labour to sell. That is beginning to change, but in spite of the progressive legislation in labour questions, for which New Zealand is famous the world over, the Labour member and the labourer already established in a comfortable position looks sourly upon any proposition to introduce a competing element whether of his own blood or alien. And as far as I can see it will ever be thus with Socialistic schemes, so called, because they never seem to realise the _individual_ factor. And until they do every form of legislation adopted is bound to be a failure, as all such schemes must fail which run in opposition to the fixed laws of nature.

One feature of all these New Zealand and Australian towns always strikes a stranger from England at once--the number of huge telegraph posts through the streets, laden with telegraph and telephone wires. No matter how small the town may be, these great mast-like posts bear their complex burden, for the telephone is a necessary of life here as it is in America. Indeed this particular feature reminds a visitor who knows both countries, of the United States, except that out here the people show their British love for order and neatness by having the posts neatly squared or rounded and painted, while the Americans, even in quite large cities, are content to have the rough tree with just the bark off, and sometimes not even that. Nelson, small and sleepy as it seems to be, is no exception to the general rule, but it has puzzled me more than a little to understand what use can possibly be made of all this network of wires. There does not seem business enough done to employ the half of them. Perhaps what business is done requires a much more liberal use of the telephone than is the case with us.

XVIII

A NATURAL MARVEL

Many things might doubtless be written about Nelson which would be intensely interesting to people who live there, some indeed who, in spite of the absence of bustle and general air of ease, have managed to make comfortable fortunes there. Of its glorious climate I can unfortunately say nothing, having been favoured during my stay of five days with exceptionally cold and very wet weather, which you are always told in such places is something unknown, even to the oldest inhabitant. But I have no doubt from its beautiful sheltered position that Nelson must for most of the year enjoy a climate almost ideally perfect, and a strong proof of this is to be found in the establishment there of several higher grade schools or colleges for both sexes, to which I am told parents send their children from all over New Zealand. It has, however, one eminently undesirable feature, such as I have noticed nowhere else in New Zealand, a vast foreshore of unpleasant mud flats which are laid bare at low water, looking and smelling most unpleasantly. Of course, the daily lavation by the tides makes even this of no effect upon the health of the town, but it is curious, to say the least of it, that in a coast where steep-to shores are the rule--and it is quite common to get a depth of 50 fathoms almost touching the rocks--that this long stretch of shallows should have been formed. I put it down to the influence of the Boulder Bank; and perhaps some day when Nelson has grown, that mud flat will be reclaimed, as at Auckland and Wellington, and be worth much money for building upon.

As the steamer in which I am to return to Wellington is fixed to leave in the middle of the day, I am looking forward with a great deal of interest to the return journey, because of the opportunity of witnessing the intricate navigation between here and Picton. For a slow steamer, unless under very favourable conditions, and for sailing vessels at all times, this route through the French Pass from Tasman Bay into Pelorus Sound is impossible. The passage is between D'Urville Island and the main South Island of New Zealand, which here forms a series of fjords and bays of great depth of water and wonderful picturesqueness. There is very little cultivable land, but as on the rest of the ranges I have hitherto mentioned, there is splendid pasture for sheep, which may be seen quietly grazing all over those desolate-looking hills. Many of the settlers' houses, nay, most of them in this locality, are right down on the foreshores of sheltered little bays, and the people find easy and swift communication with each other by water owing to the amazing spread of motor-boat industry. It is no exaggeration to say that the petrol motor for boats has caused a perfect revolution in travelling by water out here, there being hundreds of these neat, swift, and handy little vessels all round the coasts. Of course the great petroleum companies are largely responsible for this, in the same manner as the gas companies at home by introducing the penny-in-the-slot meter and free fittings have enormously extended the use of gas among the poorer of the people. These companies have made the acquisition of a petrol motor, which can be fitted to any ordinary boat at a very trifling expense, most simple, easy, and cheap, trusting to the increased sale of petrol for their profits. Again and again I have been compelled to notice the spread of the use of motor-boats throughout Australasia, especially for fishing purposes, but nowhere is this so marked as in New Zealand, for which country, with its deeply indented coast-lines and rugged land surface, this form of locomotion by water is particularly suitable. It is also found most useful for schooners and other small sailing craft, which by its aid are independent of towage in and out of harbour, and also on the failure of the wind at sea can, by starting the motor, make from three to five knots through the water in a dead calm.

Viewed from a distance, the French Pass did not look particularly formidable; I judged it to be about two miles wide. But as we came nearer the captain pointed out to me that the actual passage was reduced to less than a quarter of a mile by the upheaving of rocky obstacles until at last the deep-water channel was limited, as I have said. On the two extremities of the reefs which form the "heads" of the pass there are erected beacons, on one of which there is a light of about four candle-power, I should think; at any rate, as the captain said, it looked as if you needed another light to see it by. The tide, coming in from the vast open Pacific, fretted and foamed and boiled through the narrow pass and over the adjacent rocks, the vessel being hurled forward over the ground at the rate of twenty knots an hour, her own speed being about fourteen. A fool could see how bad a place it would be for a slow ship or an ill-steering one, such having often been swept right round against the helm, perfectly unmanageable. And I shudder to think what this passage must be like with a westerly gale blowing, an enormous breaking sea on, and darkness over all. Yet it is done, and twice in twenty-four hours, too, by men who from week to week never have their clothes off except for a bath. Personally, I feel that it is utterly unfair to subject any man to such nerve-wrecking strain as that, especially when he has hundreds of lives depending upon his coolness, courage, and skill. Promotion to a long-distance clear run must seem to these sorely tried men like a change to Paradise.

We had hardly dashed through the foaming, whirling pass into the smooth waters beyond when a motor-boat, or oil launch as they always call them here, darted out from behind a headland to intercept us. The engines were stopped, the visitor swung alongside, and in five minutes had cast off again, having hove half a ton of potatoes and some fish into us for the Wellington market, due to arrive there soon after daylight in the morning. Away we went again, the forecastle now being crowded with passengers to see what, I believe, is the most interesting and extraordinary sight in the world connected with natural history--the visit of Pelorus Jack. Prior to my coming here I had heard numberless stories about this strange sea-monster's ways (he is usually spoken of as a fish), but although I could not refuse to believe altogether, I confess I made many mental reservations until I should see for myself. Fortunately the day was fine, the sea smooth, and the light good, it being about four in the afternoon. And as we passed the point off which he is expected and nearly always seen, he joined us, taking up his station on the starboard bow, right alongside of the stem. The first sight of him was sufficient to determine what he was--_Grampus griseus_, one of the smaller whales of the _Orca_ species, whose colour is usually chocolate-brown, this one, however, being piebald, brown and grey in patches, which show him almost white when he is just beneath the surface of the sea. Now the ship was going fourteen and a half knots, yet that grampus maintained his position by her side with the utmost ease, only the slightest quiver of his tail being noticeable. Occasionally he changed his position from starboard to port, pausing for a few moments right ahead of the swiftly moving ship, then, dropping astern a few feet, he would cuddle up lovingly against her side, turning over as he did so, as if he enjoyed feeling her chafe against his body. When thus engaged he rolled over sideways, presenting his back to the ship's side, but never once exhibiting any energy, as does the porpoise when accompanying a ship. It was an amazing instance of power in locomotion, and I could not help feeling that if he had chosen to exert himself he could have made rings round the vessel, _i.e._, travelled at the rate of about thirty knots an hour.

Now there are some facts recorded about this wonderful sea mammal that are of keenest interest. No other creature of his kind has ever been seen in these waters. He is of so quaint an appearance that the many thousands who have observed and snapshotted him--including, of course, mariners from every sea--all say that they have never seen his like before. That is, of course, in colour and habits. I have seen rorquals come and chafe the barnacles off their huge bodies against a ship lying becalmed, but never come near a ship in swift motion. And there are men who have been on this coast for half a century who aver that they always have seen him; he seems to be a permanent institution. Nay, more stories are told by the Maories, as well authenticated as such stories can ever be, that he has been known as long as their verbatim history extends. I do not profess to believe that he is immortal, but as we know nothing practically of the longevity of whales, it does not do to be too sceptical. What I do know I have told, and it is, I think, sufficiently marvellous to be entirely disbelieved by the average person as savouring of a sea yarn. I can only add that he remains with the vessel for the space of twenty minutes or half an hour, during the whole of which time, by day or night, he is in plain sight of any who choose to look over the bows. At the conclusion of his visit he departs, as he came, in a straight line for the shore. It is said that he was once injured by one of the regular steamers, or by some one on board of her, and that since then he has never been near that particular ship. This may be true, and I confess it does not seem to be a more wonderful instance of animal instinct than what I have myself witnessed, but it is not necessary to believe it in order to appreciate fully the strangeness of this natural history phenomenon. There are several photographs of him on sale in the form of postcards, and on them it is stated that he is the only "fish" in the world that is protected by Act of Parliament. That, I find, is an accretion of imagination. There is a resolution of the New Zealand Parliament on record to the effect that he ought not to be molested by any one, but no special legislation exists. His dimensions are about fourteen feet long by six feet in girth at the thickest part of the body, behind the pectoral fins or forearms.

As the shades closed down upon us we skirted closely the bold and rugged headlands of that picturesque coast and entered Queen Charlotte Sound, a deep fjord or indentation at the innermost point of which lies Picton, a tiny town of about 1,000 inhabitants, connected by railway with Blenheim, another similar place. Not having been privileged to see it, on either of my visits, in daylight, I can say nothing about its appearance except that there is a fine substantial wharf, and that as far as its accessibility by water and shelter for vessels is concerned, it may safely challenge comparison with the whole world. But it has no growth, does not appear likely to have, for reasons which I did not care to go into, but which I shrewdly suspect are much like those applying to other stationary towns out here--dearth of population and consequent paucity of production and utilisation of the great natural resources of the land. In this connection I may note that I have just seen, with intense surprise, that the New Zealand Government are advertising extensively in the United States for English-speaking farmers to come here and take up land; and I wonder why this should be so, in face of the oft-repeated assertions of love for the Mother-country which has so many of her citizens unemployed and eager to make their homes in new lands under the old flag. It is on a par, I suppose, with a series of paragraphs which I saw here in one of the papers the other day upon the discovery of oil in New Zealand. There had apparently been inquiries on the part of the agents of the American octopus, Rockefeller, and some people were indignant at the idea of "Standard Oil" getting a footing in a free country like New Zealand. But the editor of the paper in question suggested that it would be a very good thing for the stock-holders, and, anyhow, whether they liked it or not, the Standard Oil Company could compel them to sell their property or prevent them from selling their oil! Unpleasant reading that for free people of the British race!

Daylight saw the _Pateena_ steaming up Wellington Harbour again to her snug berth at one of the fine wharves, and there, opposite to her, lay the splendid steamship _Manuka_, twin screw, 6,000 tons gross, looking more like some grand ocean liner than any coasting vessel. I was glad to find that I had been able to catch her, and thus travel in her down to Dunedin, although it reduced my stay to a few hours only, as before. Nevertheless, I was able to get about a bit and note some of the more obvious improvements in the city. It was rather ominous, however, to note, as I did in the case of one large building in course of erection, the structural precautions necessitated by the extreme possibilities of earthquake shock. I feel that nothing could induce me to settle comfortably in any spot, however beautiful otherwise, where at any hour I might find my own abode and the adjacent buildings tumbling about like houses of cards before a strong breath. Yet in how many parts of the world is this indifference to one of the most terrible calamities that can befall humanity to be witnessed! It is a curious phase of the influence of hope upon man.

XIX

NEW ZEALAND SHIPPING

Wellington has certainly, as far as my experience of it goes, been grossly maligned for its weather. To-day is again as nearly perfect as possible, and that, I remember, in midwinter out here. I have had another pottering day such as I love about the city and its environs, and among my experiences has been a visit to the suburbs _viâ_ a sort of funicular railway, a cable-car running up the side of a steep hill starting from a tunnel, the entrance to which is in a back street only to be found by the initiated. The service is frequent and swift, and the journey to the summit and back well worth the taking, if only for the beauty and comprehensiveness of the view. It compels me to admit that beautiful as other parts of New Zealand undoubtedly are, the capital has charms peculiarly its own, especially now that the ingenuity of man has overcome the difficulties of transit.

Looking down from the great height to which the cable-car has carried us, the panorama spread out before our eyes is full of beauty, and without going back one word on what I have said of the glories of Sydney and Auckland Harbours, I gladly admit that Wellington has no reason to be ashamed. She has a harbour that the proudest nation in the world might well envy for its capital. It is, as I have before had reason to say, immensely difficult to realise, looking down upon that splendid series of wharves, with its thronging ships of the largest size, that I am in a city of less than 60,000 inhabitants, the capital of a country whose total population is less than that of three of our London boroughs. It is, of course, only to be accounted for by remembering that here we have a selected population whereof every adult unit is of account. There are neither unemployed nor unemployable paupers or pauperising agencies. Intensely Socialistic as is the legislation, it must be accounted unto them for righteousness that they do not tolerate the loafer, the workshy, and the unfit. They do not make the mistake which our Socialists do at home, of fostering and coddling the parasites of the proletariat at the expense of their fellows who _will_ work, and scorn to accept doles from anybody while able so to do. It is impossible to imagine out here the spectacle of able-bodied men being driven to pauperism because they see so clearly that it pays better than work.

Now the _Manuka_ is ready to start, and I am charmed by the manner in which this huge steamer is manipulated in truly British fashion--_sans bruit_, as the admiring Frenchman says. Hardly a sound is heard as she slips away from the wharf, and in a space little larger than herself is turned around and headed for the open sea. A delightful discovery has dawned upon me since travelling upon this coast, which is that the fine fleet of the Union Company and Messrs. Huddart, Parker & Co. are largely, if not entirely, officered and engineered by the native-born: if not exactly native-born, then brought out here so young that they are to all intents and purposes New Zealanders. Is this not as it should be? and should it not teach us a lesson at home, if we could learn a lesson, which seems doubtful as far as the Merchant Service is concerned, how good and useful and profitable a thing it is to have our most important trade in the hands of our own people? If only our clamorous so-called Free Traders at home could be brought to see the extent of the evil they are permitting in allowing the enemy--that is, the foreigner--to get his molluscan grip upon all our industries while our own best blood is being driven out of the country! No such mistake is being made here, although, of course, plenty of other mistakes are made, which is only natural.