CALL OF THE MOUNTAINS

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 81, 3 October 1923, Page 2

CALL OF THE MOUNTAINS

LECTURE BY MR. F. W. VOSSELER.

The rewards o£ the tramper was the subject of a most interesting lecture given last evening to members and friends of the Hutt Valley Tramping Club in the St. James Hall, Lower Hutt, by Mr. F. \V. Vosseler, hon, chief guide of the Tararua Tramping Club The preident of the Hutt Valley Club, Mr. A. F. Roberts, occupied'the chair. The delights of tramping, said Mr. Vosseler, were not merely the covering of a certain amount of country in a given ,tirae, or the mere physical exercise, but the rewards which came to. man's higher nature in getting to the heart of things in the great silence of the mountains .or amidst the beauties of the forests.. It was. in such situations that the Creator seemed to take hold of one and enabled one to see things, not before realised. A truer perspective of the relative greatness of things wbb given to the tramper in Nature's ; solitudes. The glories of a sunrise viewed from a mountain top was described as being well ■worthy of the early morning exertions of the tramper, while the sight of "the sun going down in the sea "in a flame of glory was painted in glowing colour*. The music of ;the New Zealand songbirds in early morning was the glory of the forest, and unless it were the "ansel choir of Heaven" there was no other music to which it could' be likened. The alpine meadows with' their carpets o£ flowers glowing in rich beauty,, were sights never to be * forgotten, the awe and gradeur of a thunderstorm on tha mountains was described, as well as the soft, beauty, of the moonlight in the forest. The value of friendships made around the camp fires was emphasised, and filially all present were urged to use all their influence for the preserva-. tion of New Zealand birds and forests.

The lecture was illustrated by a splendid series of slides taken by Mr. Milne, hon. photographer to the Tararua Club, and shown by Mr. Walsh, on a lantern lent by Mr. Clout, of Petone.. Tha pictures included views of the Tararuas, National Park. Mt. Cook, the Waneanui River, nlnine flowers, and rock climbinpr about Wellincton.

The lecturer was accorded a hearty vote of thanks. - "