Notes by the Way.

Southern Cross, Volume 8, Issue 34, 15 December 1900, Page 10

Notes by the Way.

A ILUFFITE ABOARD. (To the Editor.) Sir,— If you can form any idea of •what a ride in a jaunting car over a chow road is like, yon have our trip to Hobart in the good ship Westralis. But though the passage was rough, the ship behaved splendidly. We were very late in arriving at Hobart and had only two hours’ stay there, but I made the best possible use of my time ; and I must say that the people of that snug town are far ahead of Invercargill in a great many things. For instance, they have the electric overhead trams, and the main streets are asphalted, so that there is no noise from drays, etc. ; and in one part of the town there is a youth stationed to pick np any refuse as soon as it is left, and as a result that part of the town is quite clean. Then, again, in the barbers’ shops they entertain their customers with selections on the graphaphone, and your hair is brushed by electricity, and instead of using the corner of a towel, a clean sponge is applied after shaving. There is one more thing I noticed and must not overlook, and that is that the streets are well watered from six a.m. till eight a.m., and they claim that the dust is laid for th£ day. The soil around Hobart should grow anything, for it is a splendid black loam that would gladden the heart of many a Southland farmer to see. I found the shops well supplied with fine ripe strawberries and tomatoes as well as cucumbers and red currants, all of which one can long for in Southland for some time yet. I also noticed an entire absence of the clumsy dray as seen in H.Z. Those for hire at Hobart are all spring, and about nine feet long in the body by about 5 feet 6 inches 1 wide, and it is astonishing the loads a small horse will draw on such good roads as they have here. I cannot say I am in love with the style of the houses. They must •surely be all very ancient English in their notions of house-building. After leaving Hobart the sea from ■ wharf to heads was like glass, and all the ladies came on deck to let us. see that they were still alive, but when we got outside they grew small for a time, thinking that the sea was ; :rdugh still, but the wind had changed !, and we had a fine smooth run to - ■ Melbourne, which we reached at nine p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 2, Yours, etc., E. G. Bast.