A SKETCH OF INVERCARGILL. (FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XIX, Issue 1928, 21 September 1863, Page 3

A SKETCH OF INVERCARGILL. (FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)

In a place so very uninteresting as Invercargill, it will be no easy task to interest your readers, more especially at this time when tbey are surrounded and with this feeling 1 am conscious that I write at n. disadvantage. I will endeavour, however, to make my letter as interesting as its subject will permit. The rush to the Otago gold-fields last year attracted some attention to this place, as being the nearest port to the diggings ; and a number of Melbourne and Tasmanian merchants opened stores and imported largely, in the expectation of this being the landing place of diggers fiom the other colonies, as well as the market fiom which the diggings would be supplied with all the necessaries of a gold-field. These expectations weie to some evtenfc realized. Immigration from Victoria began, Melbourne shippers laid on vessels for this port, places of business sprung up rapidly like mushrooms in a night, and Invercargill (perhaps the uttermest end of the earth in most lespects} began to be a place— to have a "local habitation and a name," which can hardly be said to havo been the case formerly. The shipping begot a jetty (by no means a mean affair) the absolute necessity of removing the goods landed on the jetty begat a demand for drays — the drays soon made their appearance — traffic began, which assisted by continuous heavy rains created mud, — the reigning deity of the place, omnipresent, supreme. The grand and perhaps only great feature of this place is its mud, of which there is any qunntity in all its properties, length, breadth, and depth, ad infinitum. It is very peculiar mud, and most unpleasantly adhesive and treacherous, likewise retentive, and in appearance most gloomy. The only parallel in the history of this earth I can think of, is Bunyan's ' Slough of Dehpond,' which after all was only the vision of a boy. Would we unhappy natives could utter, when awaking tomorrow, " 'tis nothing but a dream." Somnambulism would be impossible here — that is successful somnambulism (while asleep walking out into the streets and returning safely), the veidict in the morning would be " found drowned," if found at all, which is doubtful. The unfortunate sleeper would most probably make his own grave. There is not so much exaggeration in thi3 de3«iption as your readers may imagine. A few days ago, a drayman, wishing to make a short cut, disappeared with horse and dray in the adjacent sea of. mud. Fortunately, man, beast, and dray soon came to the surface, and were with great difficulty extricated and placed on terra firma— that is term firma comparatively speaking, for there is little of that species of ground in Invercafgtll. Tnvercargill, in respect of its mud, has become a proverb and a by-word to the other provinces, and is certainly entitled to its unenviable fame. Perhaps there never was such mud either for quality or quantity. Your Lower Queen-street, eveu in the depth of winter, is to our Tay-street (the principal thoroughfare) as a mole hole to a grave. For the last few months females have seldom been seen in the streets ; even on an occasional fine day, tha appearance of a lady has been looked upon as a phenomenon. Some, however, have attempted the navigation of our canals, but have suffered fearfully for their daring. Forced to return, if that be possible, or to come per force to an anchor," until extricated, minus both boots, has been the painful experience of our brave fair ones who have attempted the mud. , This is no fiction but an absolute verity. A member of the Opposition facetiously suggested the other day the pvopriety of the reigning Ministry buoying and staking our streets after the manner of the harbour. To avoid misunderstanding. I may premise that my remark* apply only to the ; town — not to Southland generally. . Invercargill boattt little or no scenery, nothing grand or t picturesque, excepting a view of Stewarts Island which we occasionally have when the sky i« clear. When capped with snow and seen brilliantly reflecting the ray» of the setting sun, the island forms rather a -pleating back-ground, but it cannot be said to he very imposing. The country in the vicinity of the town is a dead level, consisting of swamps and buih. In at Word, no one, I think, would Btlect Invercargill as a home. Nothing but gold would bring anyone here. That is the attraction for the great proportion! of ' 6vx population ; they are not seeking a home, most of them have homes in happier climes; they are only, sojourners here for a seaion, and will be only too glad 'to leave th« place when it Has served their purpose, ' When aiked how do you like Invercargill, the-uaual (peculiarly true) reply it, a. miserable hole, but the place Jfor quick fortunes. We have ft Town Board, which like most of these highly, respectable intelligent and energetic bodies, is muoh abused, It has given lome signs lately of existence, 'having a few weeks ago erected lamps and laid down side wallu in Tay-«treet, both of which improvements had long bee,n .clamorously demanded by . our,muddy public. With the good aen»e which usually .characterises tuch Corporation* the»e public works ' were > commenced when the 'wortt of the winter was 'pa»t,(.an'd wUen they 'jvere not to much required. .Hflw*t^thi»Jrp)|ftMi?o|-, «»Board> : [riumb«ing

fcnitfgyi* * great boon although i somewhat late, and the nfctWw at© gwrttful., W«had JiMa so long accustomed' to the toft yielding mwd, that at firkt the clean hard side walks w«ra rathee a nuisance. So uiuoh ara yn mortals under tha'dominion of habit. Now, how•Ter, we we gradually getting into habit* of cleanliness tree from- muddy impurity ; which, acoording to the old proverb, augurs well for the improving morality of theplaoe." Wfth the tiew of absorbing tht mud the authorities have metalled (!) the streets with f«icinei— buudlei of a • shrub found in the bush. A» was to be «peoUd, the mud, instead of being absorbed, itself absorbed the fucinei which hfcd only tbe vffeot of working the mud into ft jelly. This .vegetable mutter is rapidty decaying, and la the warmthystjtjtt- day a- most, offensive sickening effluvia riseffronmt and pervade* the whole atmosphere, peii&kting even into tbe ' houses. The exhalations frW^tt>s» decomposing mass will of course be more rapid and dense in summer ; audit i« impo-wibla to »»y «lw* <*<> eflteots of it may be on the health of the inhabitants. Our present forataste of ifc'ii* sufficient to induce not a few to seek residences" out of town, where they hope to be beyond tbe "polluting air of the city." Serious apprehensions are expressed by many in regard to tbe tauitary condition of the town during the hot months, and the attention of the authorities has frequently been called to the matter by letters in the local papers, (the writer of one being I understand a medical man) from which it would seem that the gases generated from the corruption in tbe streets, over and above being most ofFensire to the nostrils, are seriously injurious to health. How far this' may be the case lam unable to say, I can only speak to the extreme unpleasantness of the vapours. Tay and Dee streets are made broader than any street in Auckland, One would, iuiinagine that for business purposes they are too wide ;-but,if this is an error-jt is on the safe side. Most of the buildings are of course small temporary erections, with little uniformity in style— all the work of a few months. With all its disadvantages Invercargill has grown with a rapidity perhaps never before equalled. Tay-street, on which are buildings continuously or nearly so for about half a mile, is little more than a year old. Bee-street not so old. Perhaps the best building in town is the new office of tbe Union Bank of Australia in Tay-street, a large wooden struoture of a mixed style of architecture, in which the colonial predominates, nothing very imposing about it except two massive pillars in the door way which seem to look down upon and strike awe into all the small buildings] in the neighbourhood. It is the only building of any pretension in the town j several others are in course of erection which may rival it. Until within a week ago the weather has <>een continuously stormy. The last few days, however, have been fine, and some sanguine people thinlf the worst of the season is past. Old identities doubt it. The few days of 6ne weather which we have had, have given an impetus to business whioh was much ueeded. For two months or more trade has been .almost stagnant both here and at the Lake District.. Now, however, some movement is apparent at the Wakatipu, which is communicated to us, and the business of the gnhl season will soon bo resumed. The 'Gothenburg 1 is hourly expected with the first instalment of the expected spring rush (about two hundred I understand), and in a few weeks the great body of the rush may be looked for. I, may mention another peculiarity of this place, and the most amusing one— the section mania. Every body is buying or selling sections. Groups may be seen at all hours of the day, and in all parts of the town discussing plans, The people rush to and fro with little rolls of paper in their hands, which are immediately unrolled when a likely new comer is met, displaying to his astonished gaze innumerable streets, crescents, terraces, gardens, railway termini, and roads, to any other town about the place one can mention, and to many others one cannot mention, being ignorant of their,«xistance— all the ro«ds apparently passing or converging at the particular section offered for sale. The traffic is sure to be on that road —business must of course "set in" on that street— and the seller is confident that his section is in the exact locality where the Government and banks cannot help building. Any number of questions will be answered satisfactorily ; information giveu on all points — with one exception, the water privileges, a question which sellers seem to avoid. And yet it is astonishing bow much money is made in these sections, with this ideal connection with traffic, roads, and railways. It is sad, but too true, that every medal has its reverse — every picture of human life its dark side. One would not expect to meet the haggard ghosts of poverty and misery brooding over the country whose chief commodity is gold — but so it is, and the more painful from the striking incongruity. The back slums (I oau think of no better term) of InvercargUl most populous ctties, wnere me ureau ot lite w Hard to earn, where gold is the reward only of incessantkUUnß toil. The hollow trunk of a tree, which does duty both as fireplace and chimney, serves to support the poor man's hovel. The roof consists of the tin lining of a packing-box, the wood of the box, patched here and there with old canvas, forming the walls. In this primitive dwelling, literally in the mud and surrounded with mire and filth lives a family, only partially protected by their fragile abode from the rain, sleet, simw, and cold of a Southern winter. And yet in all this apparent misery they seem wonderfully contented, living in hopes of a golden harvest. A few days ago I observed an inmate of one of these huts, an old woman who had measured out hen. full term of three score years and ten, attempting to chop up firewood. The blows of the old weak arm fell lightly on the obstinate wood, but nothing daunted, she worked away, evidently snpported by the strength of hope — looking for better thing*. It is sad to see that even those whose sands of life have well nigh rnn out, are not exempted from the deadening influences of the glittering idol. The whole 'scene reminded me much of the " new Eden " as described by Dickens in Martin Chozzlewit. Of a surety Mark Taply would rejoice in these back slums of ours, for to live in them and be " jolly" would certaiuly be creditable Such is my description of Invercargill as it is. "What it may be is difficult to conjecture. Subjectively as the Germans say, we have a railway to tbe Bluff, that is, the project is in the mind of the Government. Tenders for the work have been accepted, and tbe road will be commenced immediately. How it will affect the place remains to be seen.