IN THE CHEERFUL CENTRAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 3400, 14 May 1919, Page 60

IN THE CHEERFUL CENTRAL.

By T. H. Thompson. Those -who pass through Central Otago on a flying trip may be inclined to disagree with the expression " cheerful," and to dub the country they see as distinctly the reverse; but should they have left Dunedin on a gloomy day, and from Middlemarch on found themselves in glorious sunshine and fine light air, the aspect of this treeless and tussocky region would not concern them. I was travelling once in the company of a man who represented a British manufacturing company, and I asked him if he had in all his travels seen anything finer than that autumnal day in which we journeyed to Alexandra. In no place he had been, except once in the Andes, had he experienced anything to equal it, and he had been in most of the countries in the world. Judging from my own experience, I should say that March is-probably the best month in the year in the Central, and if any other place on the globe can produce as many perfect days of heavenly weather it is an earthly paradise in that respect. were anyone to take a trip in an aeroplane, if that were possible, from, say, Central Australia, and land at night in midsummer in Central Otago, he would be surprised to find that he was in the far south of New Zealand when he awoke in the morning, perchance beside the roaring Molyneaux. This gaunt, barren, brown land, sparsely inhabited, with not a tree in sight for miles, would be anything but typical of the world-famed scenery of the Dominion, though the songs of the soaring larks at early morning, the beautiful light, refreshing atmosphere, and the host of scudding rabbits he might possibly encounter would lead him to think th,at he had not flown about in some great circle. He would not imagine, however, at mid-day that he was in a latitude approaching that of farthest South America, for now the sun's heat would do justice to Australia, and he would be glad to take off his coat and put a handkerchief under his hat to cover his neck, so hot would it feel as ho walked along. A long walk at ISOdeg in the sun would not be an inviting prospect, and he would not envy the old-time swagger his arduous tramp of 20 miles. But at night, though till twilight ended it felt still warm, he might a little later feel it refreshingly cool in the open, though inside a dwelling his bed clothing would not need to be very heavy. Pie would notice also that the stains all seemed larger than usual, and that they scintillated very distinctly in the clear, cloudless sky above. If perchance he possessed a maximum-minimum thermometer he might find, a great variation, as I myself have seen, noting in one day 90 maximum, 32 minimum in the early autumn. At various times when out late at night it is possible to be rewarded by a view of the Aurora Australis. To describe one I remember distinctly. . First, the sky seemed to reflect a distant bush fire; then it faded to light amber tints; -again it reddened and faded to amber, and finally long streaks of amber light, like giant straws tipped lightly with red, spread away over the sky for a few minutes, and then slowly disappear below the horizon. Were our visitor to arrive in winter after a snowstorm he would think he was in Antarctica, the whiterobed, treeless mountains and valleys reminding one greatly of polar pictures, minus icebergs and penguins. To go outside from a warm hearthside and view this aspect is something requiring effort; but it will repay. The view in the clear, bright moonlight of the lofty white-clad ranges, with, maybe, a plantation of Pinis insignis at foot beside some station homestead, standing out in black against the snow, the icicles depending from some old fluming carrying water to a distant sluicing claim, some of them like stalactites, the cloudless blue sky showing Up so distinctly against the white ranges, and the scintillating stars, will be Avorth risking the biting frost to see, although it will nip one's ears and adorn his moustache with little icicles. What must the old pioneers have endured in tents in weather like this! is the thought that will come to him as his shins burn before the fire, while the keen, cold air behind him creeps tip his back and makes him shiver at the thought of going to bed. He w T ill be told tales of beer freezing and bursting bottles, of ink freezing in the same room in which a fire Was burning, and he will see evidences of other frosts in stricken trees. The blankets he will pile upon his bed will be weighty, but he will surely need them ; and when he arises to find the water in a bedroom or basin or jug frozen solid, he will have further evidence to assure him of what the cold can do. Should he be in Naseby or St. Bathans he will be invited out on the curling dams to take a turn at the " roaring game," which is similar to bowls, but played with large, flat stones, to which handles are attached, these stones being thrown forward towards the 'tec," ana rumbling like far-distant trams as they slide along the ice upon the dams, which will now he about Bin thick, and as firm as an asphalt pavement. Ho will find the curlers most sociable good fellows, and in some ways envy their existence and their happy-, care-free lives when hard winter forces them to make holiday. Gathering round the fireside with them in the evening, and partaking of a social glass in intelligent, if mixed, company, he will realise that here a man's a man, no matter what his calling. If perchance he attends a "beef and greens " supper, he may hear some humorous speeches, and realise that local. talent boasts some fair singers, that good choruses aro still appreciated, and that the brotherhood of man for a time at least is well in evidence, and here a national league of altruistic principles for the time being does not need to be suggested.

When winter has passed spring is ushered in by equinoctial gales and hail-

storms and variable weather generally, but there is a growing pleasantness in the air and in the aspect of the tussockcovered mountains and valleys, now gradually showing touches of green. A little later a view of, say, the Manuherikia Valley from some high standpoint discloses a series of farms, round which tall; green-leaved poplars and other imported trees help to make so many little oases in the widspread of yellow tussock, and show up is striking contrast to the brown-coatee! mountain barriers beyond, though at times these ranges will take on a purple tinge, and at other times a series of them will show brown, black, and blue, according to distance, with yellow tussock and silvery streams in the foreground—quite a pleasant aspect, though not at all comparable with our coastal scenery. As in the Manuherikia, so in Ida Valley, viewed from the barrier heights above Ophir, a long stretch of country that under irrigation should grow fine crops. The sheep in tins district are wonderfully fat considering the apparent scarcity of feed. The soil exudes a kind of white salt, which shows up here and there in the grass plots, and which tastes less like salt than, magnesia, a bitter flavour, but which helps to fatten stock evidently. At any rate, it gets the credit of doing so. Travelling in the trains one meets many tourists who have been doing the lakes—people from abroad, and occasionally among them amusing company. _ I remember meeting once an American from Chicago, who was grey-headed, but youthful in manner. We got talking about New Zealand, America, literary lights, slang, irrigation, and other subjects, including, of course, the other sex. Here is some of the conversation: " According to Foster Fraser all the men in Chicago over 40 are in the cemetery. You are over 40, are you not?" " No, fear, old son. I got my hair grey having a dashed good time." "Yes. 0. Henry uses a good deal of American slang. You go in for more slang here than you think, though you don't notice it, because it is common amongst you, and you arc used to it, but a stranger like myself strikes some new phrases scattered amongst it." I mentioned a sentence from one of O. Henry's yarns—viz., "What a guy a gazabo is to risk his whole roll on one turn of the gaboozolum!" He said : "It sounds funny right enough, but I remember being in a large hotel once and seeing a man go up to the clerk, and, with a very ponderous air, ask him solemnly, 'Why is a gazoozolum?' The clerk was dumbfounded." The American thought this a great joke, and laughed heartily over it. He was surprised to find New Zealand such a live country. " I expected to find some Maori villages around the coast, but here I find five fine cities and crowds of handsome girls _in them who can give our American _girls points for looks, especially the Dunedin ones. You certainly do raise some peaches down there, o'ld son, but they are some shy, sir, and don't get themselves up as spick as our women. You have a fine breed of men, too, particularly in Taranaki and Southland, where they tell me No. 10 boots are common. You have lot of sheep here also, but if you were to sink some dollars in one of our great expositions you'd soon have as many people as you have sheep, and I guess that's a fair number." Looking out of the carriage window he continued: "I see you're going in for irrigation. That's the game, sir. See what it has done for California. I held some stock in an irrigation corporation there, and got my money back several times over. Irrigation's the thing, old son, and if you take my advice, and you only have 15 cents, put it into an irrigation company." As he left the train at Ranfurly I stood on the platform and lifted my hat to him, saying, "Well, good-bye, colonel!" "Good-bye, Senator!" he promptly responded well equal to the occasion.

With this digression over, it is meet to say a final word or two about the Central Otago towns, now all feeling more or less the passing of the digging days of yore. Lawrence, still the biggest, seems to me but a shadow of its former self so far as life is concerned, but there is a good farming district about it, and it may still have a future. Roxburgh is lucky in its possession of such a fine fruit-growing locality, some of the older growers reaping fairly lucrative rewards for their foresight. It boasts also the biggest thing in sluicing that Otago ever saw, under the management of one of Otago's most progressive pioneers in that line, Mr John Ewing, who deserves well of this province for his enterprise. Alexandra, always progressive, with nil desperandum for its motto, keeps going.. Dredging becoming a thing of the past, it has turned the rabbit to good account, and runs a big, up-to-date canning factory, which has given many rabbiters a chance to make almost professional incomes, in the creation of Avhich, no doubt, the great war has been a prime factor. Fruit farms also have sprung up in plenty round Alexandra and Clyde, and the cutting up of big runs has made money for a fair number of sheep-farmers. The same remarks apply to Cromwell, now the railway terminus, which is for this reason, plus the fruit-growing prospects and the dissection -of the runs, the town with the best chances at present in the Central. Like Alexandra, it has coal within its precincts, and a few miles out, at little Bannockbtirn, can secure a good quality coal in plenty, which went last year to Christchurch in hundreds of tons. Provided the irrigation scheme from the Kawarau proves 1 ' successful, Cromwell and Bannockburn should reap a rich reward in a few years' time. Naseby, prettily situated, sadly wants something to help it along. If such a place existed in New South Wales the Government would foster it for winter sports, but people here do not care for travelling in the cold weather. In summer-time it would be a good place for health-seekers needing a quiet time, or holiday-makers who do not find it convenient to go too far, and yet require

a change inland to mountain air and salubrity. St. Bathans still keeps sluicing, though not on such a big scale as of yore, Naseby doing also a little in that direction.

No matter what is doing, however, in any of these towns you will always find a kindly, hospitable, and cheerful people, who will remember your stay among them for many years after you have yourself forgotten ifc, and who, if you ever go back, will give you a welcome that will do your heart good. If you are a stranger you will only be one for a few minutes; and, as they help the city to keep going, the city people should do their best for them, and spend some of their money amongst them annually, remembering the old adage that every little helps. The cause is good, and, as some fanatic has expressed it, a cause is higlier than an institution.