AS OTHERS SEE US.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 December 1925, Page 7

AS OTHERS SEE US.

BY TRAIN THROUGH NEW ZEALAND. (Christian Science Monitor. U.S.A.) Auckland, N.Z. Aug. IS, 1925. The persistence with which the rain falls and the wind blows in Wellington in August is only equalled, and by no means surpassed, by the uncompromising dismalness of the weather in Glasgow in the seasonally corresponding month of February. “Ah, but you should see it in the South Island,” I was assured in response to a very cautious request to know if it were always thus in Wellington. “There it even snows! And in Bluff—” there was an expressive pause. For Bluff, as you may know, but probably do not, is the southernmost town of New Zealand, located at the tip of the South Island, having nothing whatever between it and the South Pole but a few thousand miles of icy sea. “But on the other hand,” I was further informed, “at thi B very moment the sun is probably shining in Auckland, and people are no doubt sitting under the palm tree in the park!” Palm trees in the park! Vividly recalling Tahiti and Rarotonga, I immediately repaired to the Tourist Bureau operated by the New Zealand Government and ascertained that sub-tropical foliage did indeed thrive at the other end of the North Island. Amazing land of never-ending surprises and delights is this far-set island Dominion, with its snow and ice at one end and its palms and sunshine at the other! And so I immediately “booked” my seat by the payment of a few pence extra. I should exchange Wellington’is rain and Antarctic blasts for Auckland’s sunshine and mild breezes. GOVERNMENT RAILROADS. The New Zealand railways are fe<i-eral-owned and operated; and, interesting to relate, they are operated without loss, giving good and dependable service. They are narrow-,guage, 3% feet, and the line from Wellington to Auckland, 426 miles, is probably tire longest single piece of narrow-guage railway in the world. There are two classes, with an extra charge for sleeping accommodations on the night express. The first-class tariff approximates about 4 cents a mile, and the second-class about 2% cents, but the difference in accommodation is hardly noticeable. As I arrived out of the rain at the dingy station which I had heard caustically referred to as a “disgrace to the capital” I discovered, drAwn up between the platforms a long row of tiny cars, reminding one of the toy trains of childhood’s delight. Two locomotives puffed importantly at the head, one a considerable affair of the English type, the other hardly more than a diminutive “shunting” engine, which was to assist its elder brother in ascending the long and steep grades of the first part of the journey. This, then, was the “Auckland Limited.” But its accommodations were by no means uncomfortable. There was room in plenty, and, wonderful to find, there were heating arrangements, the first I had thus far encountered in New Zealand! LIKE THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND. Presently we set forth, the little train of a dozen cars winding its way slowly out of the murk of Wellington, and into a country of hills and valleys and high meadows which at once recalled the Highlands of Scotland. And everywhere, in great golden patches, brilliant against the rich verdure of a countryside green as England’s own, bloomed the gorse! The hillsides were ablaze with it; its hedges reached as far as the vision extended. Flamingly yellow, it vied in glory with the bright sunlight which we soon found. Green meadows and hillsides, radiant gorse, and even here and there early 'blossoming flowers, in midwinter! “We will have an early spring,” I heard a traveller say. Strangely has the calendar distorted itself for a ' habitat of the Northern Hemisphere. An early spring indeed! And this is August! And now we came upon vast pasture land, with numberless sheep, producers of the world-famous New Zealand wool, at graze. Horsemen, with their dogs, rode here and there, as in Wyoming or Montana. The scattered houses were of the California bungalow type, Standing in ample gardens, neat and prosperous. And everywhere the brilliant green of Killarney’s verdan t shores, intersected by the ridges of flaring gorse! Villages and towns appeared, as the “limited,” scorning unpretentious settlements, puffed along at no unseemly pace. We pass pleasantly on through the. day, the weather growing milder and the sun brighter as we progress northward. There are bloom mg flowers now in every graden. It is like early April in New England, It recalls the dawn of spring in many lands. A LUSTY CHILD. It is R wonderful country, this New Zmtiaml. enthusiastic, confident; .la lusiy and promising child of the Empire, true to the best of the. old traditions, yet eager to make the most of all that to-day has to offer. It is in the affection and loyal support of such children that the security of Britain’s future lies. As the dusk slowly fails upon a brilliant sunset, we approach the failcity of Auckland, through just such a countryside as unfolds itself to the traveller from the south of England into the Midlands, except only in respect of the houses, which are those of southern California. And there, too, where a fair hillside faces toward the sun, is an occasional palm tree, and even lilies in bloom,though this is midwinter. But it is a California midwinter; and along Auckland’s bright and busy Queen Street are all the vivaety ami blitheness of just such another now land. —M.T.G.