Spare Half-hours.

Otago Witness, Issue 1583, 25 March 1882, Page 26

Spare Half-hours.

PROM DAN TO BBBRSHBBA.WELLIKGTOK.

Bt Henby Lapham.

I If anything could make a sea voyage pleasant the vessels provided by the Union Steam Ship Company should have that effect. Everything about these boats is handsome, bright, and clean from truck to keelson— fore and aft —from stately stem to stern ; there is not an ugly line, or anything poor, chea^, or makej shift about one of them. There is excellont deck accommodation^ with ample room for promenading, comfortable 'seats, extensive awnings to protect passengers from the sun by day and tho chilly winds at night, Below, the saloons are extonsivo, handsomely upholstered, well ventilated, well lighted, 1 and it is' needless to say scrupulously • clean. The siiate rooms are provided with comfortable berths, while the attendants are quick, civil and obliging. One strongly objectionable feature, .however, exists in connection with all the New Zealand coast traffic, and that is tho system of overcrowding. Passengers' names are enrolled to the very last moment by the agents without the least concern as to where they shall be accommodated, and the consequence is that when they go on board they find themselves obliged to takd'such sleeping places as they can— under the tables, on the floor, or upon the saloon seats, while some more wisely have provided themselves well with warm rugs and thick wraps, and remain upon deck all night. In summer this is by far the pleasantest-sleeping-place—an awning stretches round the bulwarks and prevents the spray coming overboard—and there is coolness and fresh air and room to move about in. But such an expedient is only possible in fine weather, and when tho night is squally and tho passengers are obliged to go below, the heat and suffocation of the room is awful to think about. A couple of hundred unhappy human beings aro often obliged to lie as closo as they can upoa the floor ; the air is stifling, and sleep uttorly impossible. If, moreover, your near neighbours be afflicted with mat de incr your misery will be complete. The number of passengers should be limited by Act of Parliament, and its pro--visions severely enforced. But.. in justice to the officers of these vessels, it must be said that the overcrowding is no fault of theirs, and that everything is done to afferd comfort and ease to the' passengers. The trip from Port Lyttelton across to Wellington is very^ enjoyable. The coast scenery presents a scries of beautiful pictures. ■ ' Bold promontories, snug bays, strips of shining beach, clinging woods of falling streams, give place one to the other. Then when night comes there is always something to admire and wonder at • it may be the stars' purple dome, with its thousands of lights which: never seem to shine so brightly as at sea, or the' long track of hoary light m the wake of the screw, or the large | medusae slowly floating by like luminous gems. ! The trip does not generally occupy more than a few hours, and if one goes on board at dtfsk, by daylight he will be in sight of the coast of the North Island, and by dawn will be j?ohyr through the- Heads into Port Nicholson. As the ship goes up the harbour the eye is continually delighted by the sight of steep hills rising sheer fr6m' the water's" e l dge, and the islands lying' on all sides. Chief of these is Soames Island used as a quarantine' station. In common with most strangers, I had' heard of Wellington as the city of storms, the place where it was always blowing, whose inhabitants could anywhere be identified by their habit of eagerly clutching-their hats as if in constant apprehension of having them puffed away. But my -first acquaintance, with the town led me to think that it had been much maligned. As our steamer glided up the harbour there was not a breath to curl.the water- j the sun was just rising, and the town with its sheltering hill, looked very , beautiful in the early light. Four-and-twenty . hours later convinced me that the general report was only too correct, for by that time it was blowing a fierce gale, that drove before it sharp chiSy raini which made all out-door exercise, a misery. \ •, Wellington gives a stranger the •impression of being a most unhmneUke town— the sort of place in which no one would live if they could posibly go elsewhere— and it certainly is one of the most uninteresting , and uncomfortable places for an enforced sojourn of a few idle days that I was ever in. All that there is to be seen can be seen in one 12 hours, and is hardly worth the_ trouble after all. I speak only of the town itself ; the suburbs may be more, inviting, but I had not the time to visit them. The town is built along the foot of a bare, steep spur, parallel to which runs the principal street ; other smaller streets ' diverge at right angles from it. The inhabitants seem to have conquered the chronic dread of earthquakes to which they were for many years subject, and some really handsome and substantial brick and stone buildings are being erected— the new courthouse and police barracks being good examples. The quays are all commodious and convenient, Lambton Quay particularly so. The patent slip at Evans' Bay is, I 'believe, one of the best in New Zealand, and islcapable of taking up steamers of 2000 tons register.. If by chance it should happen to, come'a'moderately calm day;' a pleasant walk may be had by following one of the roads leading out by t fche back of the town to the hill-top. Hence a splendid bird's-eye view of the city, the harbour, and its islands, with the encircling hills, may be obtained. Then' by keeping on in this same direction and crossing) a.' scrub-covered spur, the pedestrian will come upon thft botanical gardens sheltered in a cozy gully. These gardens are small but neatty kept, and will well repay the trouble of a viait. Of course, no stranger will omit to see tho museum, and I venture to assert that no one will do so without being much disappointed. In a city which is the seat of Government one might fairly expect to find such an institution .far superior to another of the same kind elsewhere. 'Unfortunately, tho Wellington museum will not bear comparison with that of Dunedin, not to spoak of Christchurch. It is not only that tho collection is meagro and badly arranged, but there is a sense of dirt and untidiness about the wholo building, which is most disagreeable Half-mounted specimens of birds and anhnaJa aro loft lying about, and tho Maori houso, which by-thc-by is dirty and dingy in the extreme, seems to bo used as a lumber-room — for boxes, straw, bits of wire, and debris of all kinds aro allowed to lie scattered all about. I know not who the curator of this museum may bo, but it is aliko discreditable to him and to tho Imperial city of New Zealand. Nor was I impressed, as undoubtedly I ought to have been by the splendour of the vice-regal residence, but having seen the Government houses of Hobart and Melbourne, that of Wellington struck me as being ludicrously like a monster lodging-house and not a very good one at that. The Houses of Parliament, standing: on a high terrace, are built of wood, are baro and tall, and of no pretensions whatever to architectural beauty. The athenseiun is in the centre of the town, and is entered by a very steep flight of stairs, but a stranger will be disappointed to find, after he hft9 climbed them, that he can»os

be admitted even to a cursory view, and will be allowed in the reading-room only on sufferance, a state of things which I venture to say will not be found in any other city m New Zealand. The theatre is a fairly good building of its kind, and in it the expedient has been adopted of having each tier of seats upon the ground floor rising one above the other, so tnat persons seated at the back have a fair view or the stage. The boxes are not so well-cared tor, being neither very ornamental nor very comfortable. The Odd-Fellows' Hall is a commodious building, very well suited for the purposes of a concert room or exhibition, such as a flower show. Some of the banks are ornamental, though none are in any way particularly noteworthy, whilst the post and telegraph offices are such as would be seen m even an upcountry town in the South Island. Altogether, considering that Wellington is beautified by being the chosen home of Vice-Royalty, it is by no means the city one has a right to expect it , to be Wellington depends mainly upon its coastal trade for its existence, and this trade is not only large but daily increasing. Of course, all the Australian steamers call here, ana there are an immense number of small steamers, barques, schooners, and vessels oi all kinds going and coming to Wanganui,. Nelson, Napier, Auckland, and the innumerable harbours all along the coast of the North Island. It will only be fair to mention that the hotel accommodation may be had both good, and strange to say, cheap, in Wellington city. ______