OH, AUCKLAND!

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 23, 28 January 1937, Page 5

OH, AUCKLAND!

BEAUTIES COMPARED.

WELLINGTON'S CLAIMS.

HARBOURS. HILLS, ROADWAYS

"Why don't you write something of the beauties of Wellington? I have lived in and visited many places, but I do not think I know of one which has so much to offer close to the city in the way of beautiful views and wonderful drives as Wellington," said a visitor to "The Dominion" (in Wellington), complaining of the indifference of Wellington residents concerning the attractions of their city. "If Auckland had half of what you have in this way they would never cease the paen of adulation.

"I will illustrate what I mean. During the last few years Auckland has created a very fine harbourside road, frem the bottom of Queen Street right round the harbour's edge to Kohimarama and St. Helier's Bay. Naturally, and very properly, they are proud of this fine drive, and it is now the first drive on which visitors are taken (the second is to the top of Mount Eden). Well, now, that drive, a fine broad concrete road, is a good one, quite picturesque when the tide is in; but not so good on a hot day when the tide is out and the mud flats are exposed. Wellington has a drive four times as long as that and infinitely more picturesque and interesting. It has a bitumn track most of the way, which takes in four miles of harbour frontage on the level, and then three miles of ocean frontage—from Seatoun to Ohira Bay. But that is only one of Wellington's attractions.

"Auckland has its Mount Eden, but' Wellington has its Mount Victoria,! twice the height, overlooking the whole' of the city and the eastern suburbs. A view from Mount Victoria gives a bird'seye view of almost the whole of thei southernmost portion of the North Island I in the vicinity of Wellington. True. , then , is a road along the top of Mount i Victoria, but that road has never been' properly finished. There k no structural]

rendezvous on the top; no tearoom. fur- ! nished with telescopes, and directional; indicators, such :is one would find in any, other part of the world. Such a place would be an enormous asset to Wellington, as it would induce people to visit the viewpoint and become acquainted with the picturesque environs of this most, interesting city. There should be some eyrie of the sprt, solidly built, with a turning place' for cars" Even now one notices cars along the ridge after dark, with visitors taking in a view of Wellington by night—a' very beautiful spectacle. "Your harbour is one of the finest in the world. Sydney's is more extensive, but, bless you, Sydney's intricate waterways are, from a commercial point of i view, not to compare with Wellington,! which has an amplitude of depth and space that neither Sydney nor Auckland can boast. View the harbour from Mount Victoria; from the hills above Petone

West; from the top of the Wainui Road; from Brooklyn Heights; from the Tinakori Hills, and you have a perfect picture of a spacious land-looked harbour —a haven for the fleets of the world. "Your Botanical Gardens are a paradise for the botanist and the poet. There is just enough of the wild left on the hills to remove it from the category of the super-cultivated gardens of most cities, and its rugged contours possess a beauty of their own. There are drab patches in the city itself, which only some big city improvement scheme will remove, but the circle of hills, on which the reafforestation efforts are alreadv apparent, makes a picturesque rampart, while the lordly Tararuas, in the northern background, provide a vista in the winter months unexcelled in any seaport j of the size. And what other city in Australia or New Zealand can boast of any such harbourside elysium as Dav's Bav?"