LURE OF THE NORTH.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 245, 16 October 1922, Page 3

LURE OF THE NORTH.

IMPRESSIONS OF ATTCHXASrD. STREET LIFE AND HOME LIFE. Auckland is ac.laimed the Queen City of the North, and at the present time is certainly the Mecca of New Zealand. The lure of the North is real and most marked, says "Pasquin,"' in .the "Otago Daily Times."' The population, now bordering on LO,OOO, is increasing daily and appears ito be increasing 'hourly.' One almost sees the people settling as they arrive by road and river, rail and steamer from all quarters of the globe. Thousands stream the streets from daylight to dawn. Queen Street, when picture theatres empty their laughing crowds, at 10 o'clock to swell the throng, is a sight to be remembered. "A Second Sydney" is the apt comparison as the crowds seethe and sway, fighting frantically for tramcar and motor bus. There is little or no consideration for rank or person, for woman or child, for priest or preacher. The suburban resident competes with the charwoman for possession of a seat Or the right to hang on to a strap in the desperate struggle to board a suburban-bound car at the rush hour. The youth, a product of the war. with a Prince of Wales Stetson set jauntily, vies with the Mapper in Haunting his superiority in tram and ferry boat, motor bus and motor car; while the weary business man scornfully thrust aside in a fight for a foot hold and a scramble for strangle hold on a tram rail falls back wearily to wend his way homeward rather than be mauled in the 5 o'clock rush.

• TIUE TRAM SERVICE. The Auckland Irani scrv-ce would be 1} joke if it wore not so serious, "i m scramble and struggle at rush !ioi.t s and theatre-cloeing time is exciting, thrillim to a degree, bikl dangerous withal. Au.-k land appears to delight in its discomfort and inconvenience, apparently accepting the position as part of tho daily existence. Any other city in the Domiiron with a third of its population and ,v,th an intelligent resrard for the necessity for future req-irirement-* would have remedied the conditions years ajro. Improvements arc now being effected, but eoniethinar more has yet to he done to cope with the increased and constantly increasing trallic T'.io trnm service is a problem yet to be overcome. The Auckland tram conductor, unlike his brother in rhe South, is querulous--not impolite, but not as polite, perhaps, as his Southern confrere. The climate possibly gets on hie nerves, especially in mid-February, when streaming tliu'isands—[ had nearly written sU'aniinjj— pack the cars to escape the humidity of 'Queen Street. I It would be a glorious si?lit in Auckland, and a rare one. lo witness what one has seen in Dune.tin. a eonduecor carefully lift a baby from Us pr«!i., ~.\n.l it to its mother on the car, an.i rnlm'y fold the collapsible carriage to place "t in a safe position beside the niotonnan. HOME LIKE. What mainly impresses the southerner i.« the almost entire absence of home J life, as we understand it-in Auckland I the lack of the attractiveness in a I general sense and the casualness with which the home U regarded. The climate again is proferred as the reason --the call of the out-of-door. This apart, the average Aucklander, unlike the southerner, would sooner welcome you with what, he terms "a spot' - with cracked ice at Tiffany's or afternoon tea at Dixieland than take you to his home to meet his wife and family at dinner. The Aucklander means well but he doesn't know, or knowing doesn't <r.ire. Some lim: , lie m:i\" bi'i'oinc like hi». sou€7iern host, who, not. satisfiec until he has welcomed you by taking you to his home, introduced yon i< hie wife and children, sits you down t< dinner, and in all sincerity says: "1 suppose you like Auckland?" Of .ourso you like Auckland. Wh( don^n't, who comes from south ,, for a sunny smile and eager foi the attractions of the pay city? Vo; immediately reply, if you ai'e a rea southerner, that while you like Auck I land you prefer to live at Dunedin. And then you carefully explain, witl like sincerity, the ideal conditions o living in the southern city. If he i. a Teal Aucklander. which mostly he i = he casually counters, telling you that i —Dunedin —is too slow; you don't iive I you merely exist: You are annoyed I but you do not show it—not. if you ar< a real southerner. Again, if he is ; real Aucklander and has taken you t< his home, introduced you to V,U wif md children, set you down to dinner a lis own table —which he doesn't —yo remember that you are his guest an< say: "What a lowly harbour: wlia j. glorious view from Mount Fden an■._ , Rangitoto!' , While his charming wife —all are charming at Auckland—says: "And liave you taken the Bulgarian Bug?" But that was a year ago. Jo-day slip says: '"Do you jazz?' , and suggests Dixieland. Queen Street surges with the idle rich and the idle poor, with the cream of j society and the flot?air. and jetsam of a cosmopolitan city ;—prosperity and pov. j erty. not hand in hand, but constantly in evidenlee. with prosperity paramount and pleasure at the prow. The pursuit of profit and the pursuit of pleasure are striking features of Auckland city life, which, to a stolid southerner, nppear an extravagance only pofi-sib-le in a large centre with tho possibilities of Troth desires adequatvly served. The other phase of Auckland is the splendid progressive, sporting spirit, which pervades and stimulates tile apparent joy of living to a degree. As an illustration of "life" at Auckland one has only to difr a hole in Queon Streetrto attract a crowd of tTi» curious, while the operation of asphalting with hot irons is an attraction of delight and a free show to hundreds. The lure of Auckland is its warmth and its golden sunshine. Patriarchs liv* for 0!) years, and sometimes re.vh « century "not i>ut." Yet one lias enioyed warmth "and sunshine better at Saigon and Colombo. Queen Street ill February is inferno, and a plunge into the still waters at C'heH.enl'oin is « steam bath. - One =.i n <rs grand opera under the showor at Dunedin and a paean of praise in the surging surf at St. Hair. THE AI'CKXAXD GIRL. The Auckland girl is distinctive. She has a beauty essentially her own; a disposition for gaiety and love of life; made merry and expectant by the charm and call of the climate. She has not the bewitching Kfautr nor the witchery and fascination of her southern sister, whose complexion clear rings true, and her reasoning real. The Auckland girl wears her clothes with an air; dresses in style, but not with the care and distinction of the Dunedin girl, whose clothes, indicative of character, are worn with an easy grace and dignity of refinement. The Auckland girl is" seen at her beet in Queen Street on any afternoon, or

drinking China tea in a fashionable cabaret or cafe, chantant. She would sooner jazz at Dixieland than attend a classic at the concert chamber. She smiles' with a moiie, wears rosemary for remembrance, but with a difference. AUCKLAND'S FINE HARBOUR. One of the attractions of Auckland, and certainly its greatest asset, is its fine harbour* "What do you think of our harbour?" is the fir9t question the stranger is greeted with as he steps off the Main Trunk or the Sydney mail steamer. Nobody thinks of asking: "What do you think of our railway station?" That is taken for granted. One hastens to advise him —but it is mostly a "her" —that one has not yet seen "our harbour." "Oh, but you must do the round trip to Rangitoto. nnd —have you been to the top of Mount Edeii?" Again you say you have just arrived, when the advice, is given. "Don't forget One-tree Hill and KUerslie Racecourse." When you have seen these things you think you have "done" Auckland. You haven't. When you have climbed to the edge of the crater at Mount Eden on a , sparkling spring morning. looked straight in the eyes of the sun, turned from the east to the north, to the west, to the south, you are silenced with admiration and "thrilled with the glorious panorama —the green and the gold, the blue and the freedom; the shimmering, shining sea in the grey-greon distance; the suggestion of space and the sublimity of the world. For this you forgive. Auckland! What strikes the southerner visiting Auckland is its wonderful assurance. There is only one oily in New Zealand, and that is "not Wellington! Here, one has the secret of Auckland's success. "Boost jour city" is its watchword; praise the warmth of its sun, of its interesting eclipse, of the fullness of its moon, of the calm of its climate, forgetful of its humidity; praise its harbour, its Mount F.dens and Rangilotos. its progressive policy and promising ' possibilities of its many and undoubted attractions.