TWO CITIES.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1030, 20 January 1911, Page 6

TWO CITIES.

AUCKLAND AND WELLINGTON OF : • TO-DAY. * . COMPARISON; AND"A .WARNING; (By "Sylvius/') Of one thing X -am quite convinced after a fortnight's soj'ouin in Auckland is that in-the abstract t Wellington understands! Auckland as little as Auckland understands Wellington. An established Aucklander is just as proud of'his city as an established Wolli:agtonian is of his. Loyalty to 'the place of one's adoption, loy•alfy'to home, and, the sights and sounds J which constitute home, is surely a virtue, rather than, otherwise, and if Auckland is a little more' demonstrative in. that loyalty thjiri is Wellington; call it a latitudinal essential.. Climate is a great factor in the moulding of character—Auckland is Bub-tropical.* Then, again, 'has not the northern city cause to sound the loud timbr6l just at present. Few who have visited the'placo during- tb'e'past' three.or four mdnths\ could be so'blind as not to note the.good time?; 1 our smiling: sister of the north is enjoying at presont Long may it • continue.' There was a fine flamboy'flncy. of.spoech>bout the Wellington maa ; four years ago. , He boasted that there .was'not a house to be hnd, no office accommodation available, and rather proudly!.drew- the attention of visitors to the tprice land was fetching. This was prosperity, natural .progress,. tho proper . advance of the'por.V that someone has called the . Gateway of the Pacific. So it was— while it lasted. Building went ou, apace, there was plenty of work for tradesmen; .they flocked here from all parts, and had ito'be accoDimodated with house-room, so the:jerry-builder and he who builds honest/were keiTt going merrily, for a; few. jenrs. People'who could not afford-'to! do go bought property worth hundreds of pounds, for ;.a. XlO depof.it; 'others risked mor£tfian< tkoy. should/nave. done unr land • syndicates... Then caine the backwash of the American financial trouble, gold was wanted across, tho .seas; the banks took a pull, and stopped of-easy money., The building and land-buying- boom, de- ; .prived of its one essential "buttress, slowly collapsed. Some I hold that the check received -will act, as\a •;wholesome ; tonic : ; those "carrying the', baby"[ lament lin silence. ' \ .'

Will Auckland's case be the same.is what quite'a number of; thinking people ■ in Auckland; are asking tlicmselves. Those iwho' do "'.not; trouble to ,'peer behind "the thin veil ; of ;things'»as:they are tell you ■that the.present-; iiigh itido of prosperity •at present'being. eii.Voyed' is tho outcome of the natural pro'gjfess of the port, and .all the saine Arguments that were -used in Wellington fivo years ago to ; ; justify jthe good'.-times are doing faithful-duty 'in tlio'north. . iHow They' Argue. "Boom !" . said one; honest citizen to itho_ .writer.: "Therp'is no., boom-here! ;This is a-' that-is'.fol-Jowing th'e'.opeairig. u'p'of'the back country. Look', at"; our- butter' and wool oxjports, ■ and. compare, therai with what they ■were ten'years' ago." l . "But you are'cutting up big blocks .of cnbiirban .lands,'and- the. prices are . rising sharply .all rourid.;'' ~ "Naturally—wo 1 ; aro,' supplying a legitimate demand!'" x "So we're "we'. ; in.' Wellington—until the Band shifted." * . "But our suburban lands here in Auckland areV not so - high"as.', the"- ridiculous • prices asked, in Wellington." ' . ."I don't i know —I have been informed that people, aro paying . .£B'and .£lO :for ..land on the.edge of the cliff over. Birkenrbead .way,', and as mucli for sections at Takapuha." "Fancy sires, perhaps. No, wo're not going, to;-let this prosperity outrun our, . judgment '. Prices must advance, because you mnstysee this is going to be a verv large city,-'and. tho chief naval "base o'f the South'' Pacific." Even :*as- my friend spoke tho dredgo groaned and shrieked at the Queen Street Wharf;'arid in tlio distance a ferry boat bound for O'Neill's Point sat on a mud bank to: wait for the rising tide. There' is no arguing with the Auckland optimist, and,'-after a sojourn of a couplo of weeks in his city, it is difficult not to become infected witli a certain sympathy for his loyalty; Auckland is a very.beautiiul place, In picturesqueness its'harbour is-a'-close rival to . that of Sydney —a veritable paradise for the yachts-' , man, who/ can cruise for weeks 'in the 1 island maze of tho Waitemata, and' find eafii anchorage every evening. The rich brown .red' volcanic soil appears to be able to grow well nigh anything. The „ parks, gardens, and the. Domain surpass in beauty; and luxuriance anything Wellington cim offer. There is a good deal of life apparent in the development of rural lands. The quantity of good laud wo have-.to offer settlers in the Wellington; district is'very small-Auckland 'tes millions of acres of good, secondclass land, to be thrown open, and a climate that'assists in making it equal'to rm ~s s "' Canterbury and Otago iho._city. -has benefited greatly by the opening of the Main Tntnk fine—moro so than Wellington. Rotorua is a wonderful money-circulating asset as far as Auckland is concerned, and holidaymakers will even be more attracted to the sunny north and its wonders than to the cold placid south. Streets and Buildings. Auckland's city buildings cannot compare with those of Wellington. Queen btreet, perhaps the finest city thoroughlare in the Dominion is flanked by several nice'.blocks of buildings, but there is one section of old buildings, right ,111 the middle, which aro pathetically old, mean, and small. I was told that one section, occupied by a one-storied. 'Shop was worth between ,£.500 and X'GOO .per foot. Municipally Auckland cannot ; compare with Wellington. That is to . ;say, we have better (and much cleaner) .trams, we have aT perfect drainage system emptying into the ocean. Auckland's ,new outlet is in the harbour at Orakei. Wellington s streets are kept cleaner than .those of. Auckland, but they are not nearly so picturesque. Wo havo no streets as'inviting as Princes Street, - ti an d,lower Symouds Street, .with their lines of fine old chestnut trees, .■whose branches interlock overhead in ; places. If Auckland had Wellington's ; winds the place would bo uninhabitable.iihe scoria used to mako and patch the i«Teets grinds up to., tho finest. powder, i which makes tho lightest form, of dtist. !A motor-car. tearing along, a street, will obscure the wholo thoroughfaro for a few minutes with the dust it raises. But _ it does not blow in, Wellington style— at least, I experienced recently over n fortnight's fine steady weather, 'fanned by only the lightest : breezes, and this appeared to be regarded as ■ typical summer weather. Tho heat was sub-tropical ■ —so were tho mosquitoes.- Oil of lavender 1 rubbed on the hands and face at ni»ht goes a long way towards repelling tho :: brutes. I was hit at tho races—in two ' ways! ';

A Pleasure-loving People, Aueklanders, like Sydney-siders, are children of the sun. They are not so keen on the "do it now" system as wo aro in Wellington, and lots of things •that could be done to-day. are postponed until the morrow. This is not a complaint—l am inclined, to call it a virtue. They do not reserve their picnics for holidays, though they are,, of course, the days of the great outings, but many hundreds may be seen any fine morning at the ferry wharves, laden with baskets, off to the seaside somewhere as jolly as sandboys and as free from care. Jforth Shore, Takapuna, Cheltenham, Motutapu, 'St. Heliers, Orakei. nil claim their sunburnt women and children patrons,, whilst the breadwinner sweats in the city close. Why not, anyhow? Tho Wellington girl is a nicely-colour-ed, free-striding, healthy matter-of-fact soit of person compared with her Auckland sister, who is inclined to be smaller, paler, and a littlo moro artificial in appearance and manner. Climate is at .; the bottom of this—its impress on the female is even more pronounced than on tho male. Still the Auckland girl is a • lively, fun-loving creature who is quit'o a delightful companion—bright, intelligent, and as a rule pretty well informed. Attention is directed to an advertisement in this issue calling for tenders for repairs to the steamer Hinemoa. This is rn official advertisement which we print at our owji cost, oiving to the boycott of The Dominion by the Government,