HOLIDAY - MAKING IN SOUTHLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 2437, 28 November 1900, Page 70

HOLIDAY - MAKING IN SOUTHLAND.

UNFURLING THE NATIONAL FLAG.

OPENING GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS AT THE BLUFF. (Feom Our Own Correspondent.) INVERCARGILL; November 21. Owing to the many public functions fixed for to-day at Invercargill and the Bluff, the Mayors of the respective towns invited the citizens to keep a whole holiday, which was generally complied with in Invercargill and entirely so at the Bluff. At 9.30 this morning the Hon. J. G. Ward unfurled the national flag 1 at the South School, In\ ercargill, and then, at 11 o'clock, with many hundreds of holiday-makers,, proceeded by special train to the Bluff, to which place thousands travelled during the day by rail. The weather, which was very boisterous and wet in the morning, improved as the day advanced. At 1.30 Mr J. W. Mitchell, chairman of the Bluff 'Harbour Board, addressed the great crowd assembled on the wharf near where the new tug was made fast, and; in doing so, gave some very interesting facts and statistic^, detailing the progress and development of the trade of ths port of late years. He concluded by asking Miss Eileen Ward to- perform the christening ceremony, which she did most skilfully, breaking the traditional bottle of champagne over the bow of the boat, and announcing her name to be similar to that of her mother, " Theresa Ward." Simultaneously with this, a covering was removed, which revealed the printed name on each bow and oil the stern, and the tug's ensign and other flags were run up. The Hon. J. G. Ward then shortly addressed the large assembly, remarking how the old order of things always had to give way to the new in-thege progressive times, but especially as regards shipping matters, where,' in the eyes of the old Jack tars, the beautiful had to give way to the practical. The Bluff Harbour Board now possessed, he believed, probably the most up-to-date tug in the colony, which the requirements of the port justified, for the towing and handling of. the ocean steamers which "now regularly visited their port to take away .the ever-increasing products of the people and wealth-producing Southland district, and which alike benefited the agricultural, pastoral, and commercial interests. He regretted Mrs Ward's unavoidj able absence, as she would have liked to per'v? j*]? 6 P leasin g ceremony jx is fc accomSf ™ S y , e - r dau g hte r, who is a native, of ths Bhiff; *Mrs Ward and her family would feel now more than ever that this was their home— where Theresa Ward would always be found at the Bluff. • He concluded a patriotic Tirlr? 6 P eecn by congratulating Captain M Donald (harbourmaster), who had been sent Home by the board to select this vessel, upon his very successful choice* and the chairman and members of the Bluff Harbour Board in not letting the trade of the place outgrow the ' requirements of the port. He also congratulated the people of Stewart Island on the valuable assistance the new tug would be to their trade and pleasure. Then about 200 invited guests boarded the tug, which steamed -at full-speed down the mam channel into the strait,' and back again through the North Channel. This was repeated several times during the afternoon,, the steamer each trip carrying a fresh live cargo. , Nautical men present confirm the opinion that the Theresa Ward is the most up-to-date -vessel of her kind at present in New Zealand waters. Shortly after the return of the tug's first trip the vast crowd wended their way to the neighbourhood of the new post office and public offices, fa block of fine brick buildings, where Mr Ward again addressed ' " them. from one of the upper storey windows, reminding them that they were then standing in the most southerly municipality •in the world. He remarked upon' the changed and improved architecture of the town during the last 10 years, and v gave some statistics viewing the growth of the postal and telegraph business from 1890 to 1899 and its exports, showing that the port and district, and the colony as a whols, were progressing in a marvellously rapid manner. Comparing the past with the present, it did not take a great flight of. the imagination to picture in the not very distant future a line of 23-knot steamers carrying, at 50s per head, thousands of Aus-

tralian residents to this port in search of outpure, fresh air, fresh water, and magnificent scenery. Mr Reid, the mayor, next asked the crowd to move to a .point on the new Ward Parade, about a mile and a-half from where they were standing, beyond the pilot station, where the ceremony of opening and naming this beautiful parade, on one "side of which are the hills and native bush, and on* the other rock and/ ocean. A platform and triumphal arch had been- erected for the speakers. Here again 1 Mr Ward was the principal speaker, declaring that with his knowledge of so many places in New Zealand he knew of no such beautiful parade as that of the Bluff, which the citizens that day "had done him the honour to name after himself. Mr J. W. Mitchell, the chairman of the Harbour Board, spoke in most eulogistic terms of the manner in. which the Government of the day had spent portions- of the publio funds in preserving > and opening up to tourists and our own people the great natural beauties of various parts of the colony, maintaining that such expenditure was profitable for the State, healthful and 1 elevating to its people, and in every way a. wise and desirable public' work. , Mr Mitchell's remarks^ met with universal approbation. ' - - To-night a banquet is being tendered to the Hon. J. G. Ward by friends and citizens at the Bluff. ' ,