TURNING OF THE WHEEL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16943, 31 August 1918, Page 1 (Supplement)

TURNING OF THE WHEEL.

BY MOEET VERNE. Somewhere it is written that Chicago is the melting-pot of nations. I am inclined to think that Auckland City is the melt-ing-pot of the Pacific and "all that dwell therein. I landed here, a stranger in a strange land, I told myself. Going up Queen Stroot, I followed the moving crowd, and in that sea of faces I picked out one which instantly took me back to loug-ago Sunday-school days. To be sure—l remembered the girl who carried off the much-envied prize for good conduct; votod by the children themselves. I had occasion to turn in at a well-known draper's — there, behind the counter, stood an old schoolfellow. I don't think I had seen her for 20 years or more. The same grocer who supplied us way-back on the plantations (having long sinco pitched his tent in one of the suburbs), now supplies our household with the necessaries of life.

I turned in at an Indian fruit shop; here was an absence of the white turban, " dhoti " and " bundi," and tho bare feet of his brown brethren in wanner climes. In their place was a coated and trousered youth, all smiles and urbanity! Here was an opportunity, thought I, of airing my Hindustani; and a wave of homesickness swept over mo. I asked the price of his bananas in his native tongue and in my very best style. He looked confused, and mumbled something, then another youth popped into the shop, and said with groat suavity, " Bananas, lady, are sixpence a oranges, grapes, apples; what can I servo you with ?" Hungry for Island fru.t, I ordered bananas and oranges in the English tongue, and crept out of the shop. Evidently here was a case of familiarity breeding contempt! On first arriving in Aucklandthe Mecca of Pacific peoples— attention is attracted by the wonderfully fit condition of the draught horses plying backwards and forwards on the quay, 'inch great shining haunches and mighty thefts, and such strength which might well, remove mountains of cargo. There i'j an appreciable absence of the poor, rawboned, overworked animal, which arouses one's pity in most cities. And further up the street we come on the cab horses they wear such an air of -being and refinement which is not usually associated with ordinary cab horses; and such polite cabbies! Another fact which impresses itself upon the new-chum is the patience of the Auckland people. In fact, patience seems to be the keynote of all New Zealanders. And they take their conscription as though it had ever been a factor of their daily life. while other countries are angling era' compulsory training, religion, and the lack of food and materials—New Zealand is " quietly toiling upward through the night," putting her shoulder to the wheel —turning out foodstuffs, materials, and soldiers in abundance, [hat they may " carry on " who fight across the seas for our nation's freedom. Outsjde of New Zealand one hears it many times New Zealand—why it's God's own country 1" Well, I am inclined i to think it isj