NAVAL RENDEZVOUS, STEWART ISLAND.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13210, 17 February 1905, Page 2

NAVAL RENDEZVOUS, STEWART ISLAND.

The visit paid by tlie Australasian sqnrdron tends to give Pntersoii's Inlet what an old-time mariner unceremoniously dubs "a leg-up." I do not take mueli, if any, account of tho vaguo roporls that tho l.aval authorities havo it in their liiind's eye for establishment of a New Zealand Nation or On the gcnc-ral aspect of the case, anart altogether from naval preferments, it merits attention, and it is. in pursuance thereof I havo jotted <)own the™ lew particular?, pickcd up from timo to time. I say that as a sea resort it is capacious enough to accommodate the witire British fleot i 1 am using poetical lioensa, not attempting to awo your readers inlo a sense of transcendental knowledge re the Navy or its requirements. It inakeS grand if not the grandest of all New Kealand kylevoe, oce:.n stack, and islet systems. Outside 1U , ts COlltaot the Q i( . lias a breakwater of island skerries-one might imagine, facsimiles of tlm 'ftollindoro liewitehed rocks) of Fiordal Nonvav. ll le legend of the latter is that the national j.aillt -Saint Olaf—found his efforts frustrated by the evil spirits. In virtue of toe powers •--let? m him lie changed these spirits stone, and there they remain Norway* "Iwwilobcd utiles" to the prethel <$' y e T1 aro ' nol " ; prepared to say the.e Stewart. Island rocks, to any great nrotcct lh re t 1 °f kh S "' & " or ot!le ™'ise V the harbour. In rusticity and romance, However, they are most effective, affordin* ? kind of entranec-imlex to what may inquired for within.

I lie inlet itself is subdivided into throe well-apportioned compartments — namely Kiwio'umerua (North Arm), Rakonluw A i rni BKITO (Of the SouthT l ' ,s ' a " ds > eight ill number, f If 1 al ' oun " forefront entrance, and to that extent the inner compartments are land-locked. As an open cap the mouth is. say, two miles am] a-hnlf wide. ■ Beyond the island cluster, three or three and a-half miles inland, the inlet spaces out to about l!.™,nifru i certainly » its maximum bicadth. The two principal islands lie in the ehops of 110 channel-one, Native Inland iko a molar front tooth, intercuts the mouth leavjng- a passage on both sife of about half a mile in width. Tho southern branch is the only pa 5 ?ago available for ships. Beyond that there is Ulva Isle, snugly nestling; behind its more exposed neighbour. As islands, IkjMi aro' ridgy, with combs 100 ft to 150 ft high. Ulva, at the head of a snug little "heave down " with tho equivocal name of Sydney Cove, w the site of a post office awl general store, it is centrally situated to the neighbo'iring settlements, and in a way has attained a popularity which cannot lie claimed ty ilio ni ,ns - ag A"n tllc due north from Ulva is Golden Bay. Its proxrfTt L .° ? is °" e of tho clations the inlet, boasts of as a. tourist hin Hr ? a mile of the townS f * necessity. of going jound Altera 5J i i reaC ' 1 \ llG " ,Ict - OT - in( W. noinj h , ' «t All, is obviated. Biv >« l-f ?" enet ° rt hom Ha,f Moon aj ,ni S'it have been rquallv safe and hart"*' but could M .have been more- so. The rtev»looni.-.nt hL » ,)v Golden" )lav it should T a ' Kl ° ne llla^ls «»'t it should have been so long dolaved. It makes one of the most obvious and at the named A " t ' ti ', ,n i 9 l We !' r .°i Mts tlla t could bo outTr'pm V steamer sa-'lin<r t le i, leM ™ B, V ould , ™'«> " WP round the inlet m one day, p l anltl g witbin ronc |, of a n.ass whoso time and resources debar hom from morn elaborate holiday evcurs'ons 71 SC n el ' y nlu ' seascß P ra - 55caland, t would seem, has yet to learn that the masses, in contradistinction to the Classes may bo made a valuable asset in onrist under nkniKS. At the. risk of insistency I would reiterate the necessity for moderate provision .being mad© in the way of tourists' huts. '. • Tr° '"M a w,lole is walled in. There is Mount Anglein and its ridges lying to the north, terminating in a cone 3200 ft high -wcs crly t e Rakeahua Ranges rise , ! ' ". IHI Hill, due south, 1668 ft. Intermediate ridges towards the north and not Hi-west fall away, and in ono instance disappears in tho through pass to Mason's Jjay. betting into these hollows, westerly winds stnko the inlot in its more exposed parts with great vigour. They' pret broken lip, however, by the islands and island promontories, so that' slack water and sheltored situations are never far away. Anyone acquainted with tho inlet is able to select nZ Ug ui ! I,e n ant ] dDd G° tho storm, Men although the trip is rendered more roundabout in doing so. The north end of the inlet is moro'comPlotcly fissured than the south. Kaipipi .fii ' ; i r< i t l le . flcet shored, is emphatically bunched into honevcombs. It-has wheels within wheels, so that outside swells aro rendered innocuous. The southern boundary of the bay terminates in Price's Joint—so named in memory of Jaclty Pn'oo, one of the boldest of the marauders that infested the Coast during the whaling period He forcibly carried off one of the island brouties." That i s the stoi-y a3 toltl; but, .nidging from tho after-part of •tacky s matrimonial adventures, tho "force" need not have been overwhelming, .Taeltv his wife, and dog became a most mendacious trio of sea-robbers; so much so that tliev were ( surprised in their cave dwelling at Trices Harbour, on the mainland, and deported to the Solanders, where tliev wero left, to shift for themselves. An offer was made the woman to convey her back to her people at Stewart Island, which offer she indignantly refused. By way of reprisal sho gave the invaders a shot out of .Tackv's guiij which had tho effect of introducing one. of them to " kingdom come." To the day. of his death .Tacky maintained he had, in virtue of his wife, a right to the lands at Kaipipi Bay. The claim, however, was never established. Although much more solidified, tliefiouthern coast of tho inlet has some choice shelter spots. Glory Ilarboilr soeMu through its name. It is just the exclamation that would come from the lips of a well-satisfied "old salt, ' and, when wo take into account how difficult it was to satisfy old salts in the matter of atiehorauo, the uame speaks volumes. Bravo and Bravo Harbour'were christencd in the same spirit, on similar grounds.. Another of theso " shakedowns"

' i 9 named- Besom. It smacks of ' Scripture, but nevertheless excites ontliuIn these three nahlM, therefore, wo find doublo-barrellcdassurances thnt— The wind without might rafr and rustle, • Tnm did na' mind the storm a wliustlo.'