BY-GONE 29THS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 24, 29 January 1926, Page 9

BY-GONE 29THS.

OUR GREAT WATER CARNIVAL ANNIVERSARY. REGATTA WITH LONG PEDIGREE. There was no special reason why the early Aiuklanders should et-iebrate anniversary day on the Waitemata: that is ;o say they were not more nautical than any other similar number of people who had left the Old Country and settled in the new. Xo doubt the long sea voyage, whii-h in those days was quite an undertaking, had h< effect, and the pioneers found ir difficult to shake off the habits of tlie nld »ea dogs that they became in those weeks at sea in the old wind-jam-mers. To the man who really knew the differfnre between a to'gallant and a cro'jeck yard, ii mn-t have been hard to return to the habit of thought of the mere bucolic person, and picnic soberly on dry land when there was that glorious sheet of water right at his front door. It is to be strongly suspected that the roade outside early Auckland were even more primitive than they are to-day, and that our forebears had to go a-picnicking on salt water rather than "spend the day in the country." This water habit of the Aucklanders has persisted for many years, and it is only in recent years that harbour and gulf excursions on highdays and holidays have ceased to be the strong attraction they once were to the citizens. To day water excursions are not half so popular, and the thing that lias brought about the change is the motor car. Though there is always more or less bother about a sea excursion, everyone dearly loves the salt water, especially when it is bordered by a beach of nice tine sand. Nowadays the family man packs his live belongings into the car, and after a short run lands them and their lunch baskets in some pretty bay, anywhere within 30 miles or so of town —a feat which would have been the work of hours and much inconvenience in the old days. That is how the motor car has weaned our "island people" from the element which is supposed to be their natural home. It is the same all over the world where people are in a hurry. Three hundred years ago the quickest way from one end of London to the other was on the Thames. To-day about the only people who patronise the few steamers that ply on the famous river are colonials and other tourists. To come nearer home Ponsonby wharf has not felt the bump of a ferry steamer in the memory of middle-aged people, and the other once busy piers on the lower reaches of the harbour, Orakei, Kohimarama and St. Helier's, would be similarly deserted if it were not for the advent of a stray piper fisher, or in the case of Orakei, aji occasional cattle boat from the coast. Rounu. Tiri. But in spite of all temptations to turn to some other form of celebrating the 29th, Auckland still sticks to the harand in the long pedigree of the event, there have been very few gaps. If you turn back to the files of the old yellowing "Stars" you will see with commendable regularity on the 29th a full account of the great water carnival —an account which breathes loyalty and unfailing reference to the almost hallowed nature of the annual rite. When the ''Star" was a yearling, that was in IS7I, one reads that "All Auckland with sandwiches in one hand and lorgnette in the other, has been abroad"' watching the decision of the- various events. 11l those days we were more simple as one is reminded by the reference to the sandwich, and as for the lorgnettes, there was some need for them, if the reporter means a binocular glass, for in those far away days there was a great race right round Tiritiri for ''trading vessels over 2o tons." None of your '"round the buoy oft" the North Head," but round Tiritiri, and if the wind were, from the north it was a glorious sight to see the clumsily graceful big trading schooners, scows and cutters, come booming iv with everything set—mainsail, jib and staysail, jib-topsail, topsail, ringtail, watersail, and many other queer contraptions of the skipper , own invention—for there was no absurd limit as to what a vessel should or should not carry. And there was generally a keg of beer on the deck from which the crew, augmented by willing friends from the waterfront, could be seen quaffing a frequent mug'as the craft swept by the flagship. Swept is the word wiien there was a good breeze, but the old-time Januaries were often just as calm as they are to-day, and sometimes it would be next morning when the boats got back from circling Tiritiri. Handsome Flagships. Alas! the old trading vessels have sailed over the horizon, and our sailing matches of to-day are very artificial affairs by comparison. Another picturesque feature that disappeared as the years rolled on was the clipper ship as flagship. They were fine vessels, those ships and barques which used to trade between the Old Country and New Zealand, and if you cannot appreciate the beauty of a photograph you should hear one of the old hands expatiate on the glories of the four-masted barque Vanduara, the clipper ship Lady Jocelyn, or some other of the famous craft of long ago. It was always a strong point in the arrangements for Regatta Day that the finest Home trader in port should be obtained for flagship if possible. At the close of the day there would be an informal gathering of the committee and ships' officers in tlt£ cabin, and the committee would present a binocular glass to the captain, who probably had half a dozen better pairs in his locker, and a pair of hair brushes to the mate, who was generally either bald or else did not bother with such frivolities. Going back over some of the old regatta days, as recorded in the "Star," it is interesting to note the change in the character of the races. Iv 1871, for instance, we read of "licensed cargo boats" and "licensed watermen's boats," and there is also on the programme '"a sculling race for single oar," which must have been a fascinatingly exciting event for people watching from Campbell's Point, for instance. Reading through the names of the regatta committee of that year, there is only one Aucklander who has lived to see the regatta of 1920, and that is Sir Henry Brett. A Missing Judge. Though most of Auckland flocked to the waterfront on regatta day, they were evidently not all "wet bobs," for in 1871 we read that "the Domain was not without its patrons, and many a pleasant little flirtation and love-making was engaged in, in the sequestered and ella<l y retreats." People were more -unconventional r>o years ago. so we need not be surprised to read of regatta day, IS7O, "that a good deal of astonishment was evinced at Captain Casey, who had accepted the officf of judge, being seen just when his services were required going away in tae Geniaiiui to Riverliead," This

Captain Casey was a rare old character —from the Emerald Isle, of course—and many tales used to be told of his unconventional ways. He was the master and owner of the Gemmini, which used to run up to Riverliead, then an important point in the route between Auckland aud Helensville. It was this gay sailorman who a few years before had Eecured the job of hauling the first railway locomotive from Auckland to Newmarket, as there w-as then no line between the city and that village. In the Irishman's bill there was a charge for a keg of beer for the refreshment of the haulers, and a man to go on in front and play a comet — apparently either for encouragement or warning purpose;. Per Carrier Pigeon. In these present days of telephone? and wireless, the report of the 1881 regatta is interesting, as most of the report was sent from the flagship and other points of vantage to the "Star"' Office per "Star" carrier pigeon, and details of the position of the competing boats were given up to as late as 3.15 p.m. In those days the "Star" Office was in Wyndham Street, where the "Observer" office is, and the pigeons were kept in a big loft specially built at the top of the oflice. Coming down to 1891, we find somp fuss being made over the s.s. Te Anau, 1052 tons, then one of the crack boa'.s of the Union Company's fleet. When steamers replaced the beautiful sailiag vessels as flagships, an attraction for the public was tlbe "cruise at the close of the regatta down the Rangitoto Channel, as far as the Beacon, before returning to the Queen Street wharf." In that year there were stLll some unusual items on the programme, such as ladies' race, greasy boom, race for merchant ships' gigs, and a durk hunt, They had nothing like the 30-mile speed launches of to-day, and even the pleasure yachts would be rather dowdy beside some of our modern racing machines with their distorted underbodies and their sails from Lapthorne, but it is extremely doubtful whether we get quite the same amount of pleasure out of the great water carnival as those unsophisticated forerunners of ours who used to hike out in the morning with ''sandwiches in one hand and lorgnette in the other."