Nelson Evening Mail SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1936 IN 1890 AND NOW

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 19 December 1936, Page 8

Nelson Evening Mail SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1936 IN 1890 AND NOW

THERE are living in New Zealand not a few elderly people who are unique in that they have experienced all the means and methods of locomotion or travel known to mankind, from “shank’s pony” to the aeroplane, and it would be interesting to hear their opinions on the various experiences they have had, on land and sea, and in the air. When they were young (let us say, in the early ’seventies of the last century) the only railway in New Zealand was from Lyttelton to Christchurch; there was no through road from Wellington to Auckland; the middle of the North Island was largely a terra incognita inhabited by Hauhaus and Kingites who regarded the white man as their natural enemy; and the usual means of travel in the South Island was on foot, on horseback, or by horse-drawn vehicle. In those days the only road between Nelson and Blenheim (if road it could be called) was via Tophouse: there was, the bridle-tack over the Maungatapu Saddle and thence down the Pelorus Valley; but as yet the road via the Wangamoa and Rai Valleys was not constructed. In those days a certain settler in the Pangatotara Valley who was a member of the Nelson Education Board, used to walk to Nelson and back in order to attend the Board meetings, at least once a month, and once when business or duty took him to Blenheim he walked every inch of the way from his home under the western hills via Tophouse to the Marlborough capital, and hack —a journey occupying a week, which can easily be accomplished now by motor-car in a day. In the ’eighties, when the Nelson-Blenheim road via the Wangamoa and Rai Saddles was completed and the Pelorus River was bridged, there was an excellent coachservice instituted by Messrs Newman Bros. To sit on the box-seat, with Harry or Tom Newman driving, was a pleasure the recollection of which lasts through life. It was an all-day journey,, beginning at Canning’s stables in Hardy street at seven or eight in the morning, till about six in the evening, with a spell at Cooper’s accommodation-house (a few miles on the further side of the Pelorus bridge) for lunch, and then onwards during the pleasant afternoon, through Havelock and the fertile Wairau Valley, until in the cool of the day rein was drawn at the Blenheim Post Office, and the delectable journey was ended. It was an old-fashioned idea that the best way to see a country was to journey through it on horseback. From a train one sees little (except from an observation-car in the rear) and then only fleetingly and to small purpose. Now has arrived the aeroplane, which as a means for enabling the salient features of a countryside to be seen advantageously and easily is incomparable. Here is. a picture of the landscape as seen from an aeroplane bound from Nelson to Wellington: “The clouds over the hills were merely local, but a very fine sight—l had never hobnobbed with such masses of vapour-before. They were behind us when we passed over the main ridge just south of the Maungatapu, end I got a good view of both humps—old friends from a new angle. The mountains were remarkable, and the bush on them seemed an unusually yellowish green from above. Some of the ridges were extremely sharp, almost like knife-edges. Ben Nevis, or some other lofty peaks, towered up, to the south. I picked up the Pelorus Bridge and the road to Havelock and away beyond to the Wairau Plain. It was remarkable that the water of the Pelorus Sound was not so blue as that of Queen Charlotte Sound, being shallower, no doubt. The cultivation in the valleys made bold patterns, especially where there were patches of dark green lucerne. We passed just south of Pieton, and had a good view of it, with Blenheim miles away on the right, the snowy Kaikourds further still, the long curve of Cloudy Bay in front, and Port Underwood on the left. A Home steamer was coming up Tory Channel, and her wake trail-

ed far behind. Over the mountains we had risen to 6,500 feet, but we crossed the Strait at 3,000 feet. There were a few slight bumps over Terawhiti, and we crossed about Karori. The red green, and orange roofs of the suburbs suggested a toy town. We circled over the north of Newtown then headed into Lyall Bay, and

landed at Rongotai, facing northwest.” There is no doubt that flying is destined to become an everyday popular mode of travel.