A POPULAR PASTIME.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CV, Issue 12402, 16 January 1901, Page 8

A POPULAR PASTIME.

BOATING ON HIE AVON

In spite of mud, weeds and shallow water, boating on. the Avon is more- popular now ithan it has ever been before. With the ad[vent of the warm weather, the inhabitants of Christchurch, and visitors to the city, in .their leisure time, have flocked to the river', to enjoy the cool shade of the weeping willows, and the vistas that are opened up at every point. ■ The pleasure boats of the clubs have been used more than in former years, and the demand on the boatmen who have skiffs for hire has been so great that they have sometimes been unable to meet it. There has also been something like a revival in rowing matters, as the membership of the various clubs is well maintained, and the average number of racing crews which, are training on the river at the present time is larger than the average for -any other season during the past five years. Jubilee visitors seem to have recognised that, as the Avon- is one; of the -sights of the city, to go home without having, been “ out ” on'it would be almost as' bad as to leave Christchurch without., haying, seep the Exhibition. When they have returned from their excursions, either up or down the river, they have expressed one opinion, that the Avon is ‘‘delightful.” Under ordinary circumstances, the most popular time for boating is in the -evening, when soft shadows envelop the trees, when the moon’s rays fall gently on. the running waters, imparting to the scene a truly romantic aspect, and when “all. the air a solemn stillness holds.” In tho cool of last evening several flotillas of boats were -ml • the river, many of them remaining out till quite a late hour of toe night. Occasionally the silence was broken by the strains of a musical instrument, and now and again a voice raked in song or hymn gave expression, to the fulness of a human heart. Visitors, and all those who go out in boats for pastime, and not for rough exercise, seem to patronise the upper reaches of the Avon more than the lower one?. They like Jo go up past the Hospital, the Public Garmens gliding by ,on one side and Hagley Park on the other. Tt is quite; a common thing now for parties to go right- up to Allen’s Mill, at Feudal ton, though they generally go singly and in canoes. Indeed, big boats have gone almost completely out of fashion, probably on account of the increasin shallowness of the river. There was a time when picnic parties often went down toe river past Cowlishaw’s Comer, and landed on the fields- and meadows further down, but in the lower stretches also big boats have been discarded, to a great extent, and have given way to those which will hold two or three, mostly two.