“FREER THAN A KING”

Taranaki Daily News, 21 December 1931, Page 9

“FREER THAN A KING”

TAMBS OF THE TEDDY. deception in dominion. “New Zealand gave us a heartier welcome than we had had anywhere else; it ie one of the most hospitable countries in the world.” So writer Captain Erling Tambs, owner of the yacht Teddy, who, .with his wife and young children, spent several months in Auckland, in a lengthy article in the National Geographic Magazine. The Teddy is now on a, cruise of the Islands and is expected back in /Auckland next month to compete in the next Tasman yacht race. Under the heading “Overwhelming Courtesies in New Zealand,” Mr. Tambs goes on: . “Congratulations, flowers, •. in-, vitations, and all sorts of courtesieswere showered upon our undeserving persons. It kept me quite busy writing to all these kind people. After a fort* night, however, following an invitation from my New Zealand aunt, who owns * sheep farm in Hawke’s Bay, three of u> took the service car to Napier, leaving the boat and the dog in Auckland, in the good care of some yachtsmen friends.

“On the way we stopped at Rotorua, the centre of the wonderful thermal ■ region. We had been invited to come and stay with an old . countryman of ours, old Peter, proprietor of the Lake House Hotel. The incessant volcanic activity, which crops out everywhere in this district, penetrating an obviously thin crust of earth in the form of geysers, 'boiling mud pools, hot springs, roaring steam holes, or fumaroles, is certainly a phenomenon that no visitor to New’• Zealand should miss; yet .1 would not like to- live ■ quite so near to the internal furnaces of the earth . ; . After a few day’s stay we proceeded to ; Hawke’s .Bay. ' . ' ‘‘My aunt’s farm was situated in the « neighbourhood of Hastings, in a pleasant, , hilly country which feeds even U P to six sheep to the acre. Hawke’s Bay, however is a . district which occasionally suffers from long droughts,, and at the time of our arrivafthe country .had been ‘ without rain for, seven mouths. , It. did not- look its best. The paddocks were ■brown and scorched and to me it was astonishing that the sheep could still keep in .such good condition. “I soon found: that riding up and down ’the hillsides, chasing sheep and cattle, was'great fun, and therefore took my share of it ..whenever opportunity arose. My wife and the boy, in the meantime, spent a; happy time about ‘ the 7 : place,. where all w.erd doing their . best to spoil them/ .’ . • t •. “In this manner two pleasant weeks had passed when the great earthquake of February 3 put a sudden end to our 'gaiety.. I shall not dwell on the horrors of this terrible catastrophe . It all seemed so. incongruous. It happened on a bright, sunny morning when no one thought of death and disaster. My aunt’s little nephew, who had left the before to resume his schooling at Hastings, was. buried under the falling walls, of a big department store in that town. No one on the farm w’as injured,’ .thanks to. the fact that the buildings were of wood, but even there -the earthquake did great damage. / “It had been our intention to leave in f a few days, but seeing that I cbuld be of some service, we/remained . However, three weeks later I returned to Auckland to make my boat once more ready for sea. We had made up/our minds to go to Sydney, :/ i '. . “How it came about that I camo to take part iif an ocean, race on this journey, instead of/jogging peacefully as usual,/is a matter of no special iterest. I think I did it because I could not resist tile temptation s to give the old boat a chance. She deserved it.” Concluding in meditative strain Mr. Tambs says: “I am happy; I know I did the .right thing when 1 bought this boat three years ago. It has been worth while. I am my own master, lord of my actions, more free than , a king. I have made friends, good friends . . . My heart is full of dear memories. Therefore I am rich.”