ON WHANGAREI.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 256, 26 October 1907, Page 9

ON WHANGAREI.

(By a Casual Visitor.) Whangarei is all right when you get there, but you've got to get there first. I had the supreme felicity of travelling during the recent series of heavy storms, in which, so many of our coastal boats were wrecked, and both wind and rain seemed to vie with each other as to which could do most to add to the joys of travel. It says much for the fine seamanship of the company's oflicers that in both going and coming the vessels ! ran so true to time and without any mishap. The boat did not start from Auckland J till nearly 11 p.m., and passengers were left to gander aimlessly about town in | the rain, or else sit in "the ship's smok- i ing-rooxn, which was lit by a kerosene lamp, that did its best to justify the title given to the apartment in which it j was placed. The electric light was turned on just before starting. There was a fair number of passengers, | and the chief subject of discission j amongst the men wns the appalling state of roads in the country. People who live at Whangarei always talk ! about roads and rain. We had an awful j trip. The vessel rolled and pitched and tossed, things were flung all over the cabin, and ihe passengers who had paid for a good dinner before they j started, began to sadly reflect that their : meal would probably prove of little > permanent benefit to them. Early next morning we passed the Heads, and then we had to tranship into a small tender. The people going up North were . consoled for getting wet through during i this operation by the comforting thought j that they would miss their train and j al?o their breakfast. When the tender deposited us at the wharf, we had to take a railway ticket at a small box. This is merely humour on the part of the authorities. It would be quite easy to add a shilling to the cost of the steam- ' er fare, but then the man who sells ! the tickete would be deprived of the fun of seeing a hundred or so people fighting in the rain to get up to the hole in • the inverted packing c-.ise through which | he pushes his bita of cardboard. At last we got to the town. Whangarei I owns one cab and that cab was away, j A walk of a mile and a-half in the | drenching rain through a series of pud- \ dies called by courtesy a footpath, j brought mc to my destination. But, as I said before, when you get there the place is wholly delightful. It is most beautifully sitirated, nestled amongst hills clad in rich native bush. It has an air of great prosperity. The shops are excellent, you can buy anything you want, and they stock the latest and most up-to-date articles. Many

I tilings are '.a great deal cheaper than in ' 'Auckland. I had recently imported from i Ijondon the very latest pattern of folding opi'va glass. I was surprised to fin.l I could have. bough£ it equally as well in Whangiirei. Apparently people do not go in much for boot poK.sh. as I saw an immense jh'l , jof sixpenny tins offered for two-poivi. , I er.c'.i. 'The utmosi you can do towards j clran hoots is to wash some of the mud : off in one of the niiinrroiis puuiilca tii.it compose the footpath, and then wipe your boots in the grass that grows by i the side of the road. • There are two papers—a daily and an j every-other-day. Both are -we'll edited. I The "Advocate" makes its appearance I every afternoon. Its proprietor was I for many years connected with one of I the leading English papers, and has also ] had a good experience of political life lin Wellington, lie has a most charming I residence on the outskirts of the townT You approach the house by a long drive j which passes through a. beautiful grove lof orange and lemon trees. The view 1 from the drawing-room is one of the j finest I have seen. It comprises a maginificent piece of native bush through I which flows, with numerous cascades, i the turbulent stream which takes its (rise in the famous Wanganui Falls. The newspaper people were very kind to mc during my visit, and I-most heartily wish them and their papers the success j they so well deserve. There are many very j pretty orchards in the neighbourhood, J notably that of t'ulpnel Goring. It was with great regret that I learnt that the Gorings were thinking of leaving and I settling in Hawke's" Bay. It will be i hard to fill their place. I On Sunday I went to tun Anglican i Church. It is a very pretty little buildI ing, and in spite of the pouring rain a fair congregation was present in the I morning. The clioir consisted of a man and € t\vo boys, and the singing was mainly conducted by a young lady in the body of the church, who had a singularly rich voice. In the evening a lull : clioir turned up, and a large congregation assembled. As it had been raining ; for forty days and forty nights, they ' sang special penitential* psalms, the j psalm for the day being of a joyful ■ nature. I The people of Whangarei are most and hospitable. They do everyI thing in their power to render a visit i enjoyable. Tn the summer they organise j numerous picnics, and from the description of one of them given mc by a lady in the district, these picnics must be truly delightful. The place- abounds in bush, in which you can so easily get lost, and the bush abounds in slippery tracks which necessitates two people holding very tight to each other for fear of slipping. So at least I was told.

Every young man of marriageable age in Whangarei and neighbourhood rejoices in the name of Tom. Why this should be so I do not pretend to say. I merely state what 1 believe to be a fact. My earliest recollection of the place was an nnxious inquiry from a. young lady as to whether Tom was on board. When 1 whs paying a call, the daughter of the bouse enlarged on the many charms of a picnic at which Tom h::d been present, i was introduced to twoi suitors who both bore that magic name. My last recollection of the place was being called away from breakfast to answer the telephone. I made out that it was a young lady in the town speaking, and over the wire came the momentous question: ' ; Have you seen Tom" "