The Contributor.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1057, 2 June 1892, Page 14

The Contributor.

TRAVAILS OF a TRAVELLER. ‘Listen to my tale of woe !’ (Br C.O.M) We were three—an artist of European and Australian reputation, and posmssod of as much pluck and energy as half a dozen average men, her mother, and devoted chaperone, and the present writer—filling a variety of roles: business manager, private secretary, advance agent, stage manager, and general utility man. Our impedimenta consisted of somo 15 trunks and oases, and a puzzling variety of minor articles indispensable to female

travellers, but too numerous to mention, several cages of birds, and a French poodle. This last was the most import int member of tbe parly. He was, in fact, ‘ the boss ’ par excellence. Beside this diminutive specimen of a Gallic canine, even the manager faded into insignificance. From the outset we entered upon a crusade with traffic managers, railway porters, cabmen, expressmen, and all the heterogeneous host who seem to have been created for tho special purpose of embittering tho lives of travellers. They never tired of weighing our luggage a.id demanding more freight. If you were charged at one end of a line, the porter at the other end returned tho compliment by charging over again. And they never seemed to have any common rule on which to base their exactions. Either there was a difference in the soales or in the method of assessment. But anyhow you had to pay all the same, and look pleasant over it. They had suoh a taking way with them, those porters ; and the railway regulations, with their complicated alphabetical tables, were so elastic and admitted of so many nice shades of interpretation, that the traveller gave up in despair the attempt to master them. Each of those trunks and cases was a mine of wealth to ships’ pursers and railway porters. They never looked at them without charging something for their trouble. But tho little poodle dog was the special object of their cupidity. We paid more fees for him in a variety of ways than a man would have cost. His presence in a railway carriage was regarded as a crime ; the oabin of a steamer was tabooed again.-t him. By skilful strategy the ladies continued to smuggle him into their berth, where he remained perdu for a day or two. But one day he revealed his presence by an unlucky suppressed bark, and tho fiat went forth for his consignment to the tender mercies of the ship’s butcher. By the way, what becomes of lost dogs on shipboard ? The question opens up a ghastly field of speculation. The ladies shut themselves in their cabin and hugged their pet. The captain and the chief steward lay in wait outside for an opportunity to capture the little animal. The steward tearfully besought the ladies to resign (heir poodle, and a parley ensued, which resulted in tho surrender of the hostage, after tbe articles of capitulation had been minutely negotiated. We learned afterwards that the caplain, piqued at resistance io his autocratic will, had threatened to consign the steward to the black hole if he did not have the dog removed. This was only the beginning of our troublewith that remarkable poodle. We got into Dunedin on a holiday -a race day; and, by a singular coincidence, there were races in Christchurch and Wellington when we reached those cities. I’lio apotheosis of the horse seems to have reached a eliinav. in New Zealand. Such of the talk in tho streets as we overheard scraps of was of ‘stuff’ and ‘quids,’ and wrangles over the performances of this or that horse. We had to look up a custom house officer, who, for a wonder, was not too inquisitorial over the ladies’ wardrobe. I suppose he was in a hurry to get away to the races. Then an expressman was hunted up, with some difficulty, and at last we got comfortably settled at the Grand Hotel.

After a few years’ absence from Dunedin, I was surprised at the comparatively slight extension of the city or improvement in the buildings. It is true there were some changes, and a few modern structures had replaced the primitive buildings of the early days, but there were few of those wonderful evidences of progress and material wealth that are apparent in Wellington, which has sprung up in a few years to the position of the premier city of the Colony. Look at those handsome palatial piles on the reclaimed land, which but a few years ago was covered by the sea. Truly the people of Wellington have displayed great enterprise. Like the Dutch they have conquered the ocean, and pushed back old Neptune’s domain. A score years ago all the Colony railed at the Empire City ; now it is the commercial and financial entrepot of New Zealand, at present the most flourishing Colony in tho Australian group. Twenty years ago the Scotch element predominated in Dunedin. The Caledonian accent was the open sesame to social success ; the mere prefix of ‘ Me ’ was a certificate of respectability. But now all that is changed. The tide of immigration has partly submerged

I the Scotch, and other social elements have stamped their impress upon the character and tons of the community. So tho old order changeth. The old identities are rapidly passing over to the land ot shadows, and a new generation is spreading over the islands. It is the Now Zealander. He is to the fore in politics, in art and science, in the professions, and in trade. Slowly the national distinctions aud old world prejudices are fading away, and a distinct social type is being developed. The day may not be very remote when an Englishman will bo regarded as a foreigner. Yot there are some features in the new colonial type which do nob strike one as genuine improvements on the old. For example, you ig New Zealand has a habit of monopolising more than his fair share of the footpaths. Fire or six of him stroll along leisurely, occupying the whole of the sidewalk, generally ‘ blowing a cloud,’ and not very particular as to whether it is wafted into the faces of ladies or otherwise. If you want to pass eilher way you are jostled into the gutter, unless you are self-assertive enough to push your way through, and risk a dig in the ribs from an angular elbow. As in Australia too, the native is passionately addicted to football, cricket, horse racing, and all his talk is tinged with slang relating to sport. (To be continued.)