KAWAU.

Observer, Volume XXVIII, Issue 15, 28 December 1907, Page 21

KAWAU.

One of Auckland's Brightest Playgrounds.

KAWAU is an island associated in the minds of Aucklanders with

the name of one of the most remarkable men the colony ever knew, and also with the recollection of delightful holidays spent under its trees and upon its beaches, within the range of his benevolent smile. Sir George Grey made the island his home for a considerable part of his lifetime, and, even while he was living in comparative seclusion, made it a practice to extend the hand of hospitality to the Christmas and Easter trippers who flocked in their hundreds to his beautiful estate. As time is reckoned in the colonies, the period when the great statesman used to stand on the wharf and personally greet the holiday-

makers as they landed, and to personally conduct them through the grounds and the principal rooms of his mansion, is drifting towards ancient history, but there are still crowds of people in Auckland who can tell their children of the old-time courtesy of the great Pro-Consul as he did the honours of his island home, and of the privilege they esteemed it to be his informal guests for an hour or two at holiday time.

To-day there is no venerable statesman to welcome visitors to Kawau, but the place is more freely than ever thrown open to the public as a sanatorium and playground. Sir George Grey's house and grounds remain, in general plan, virtually as he left them, and the rare trees and shrubs which it was his delight to acclimatise are now in full maturity. So that to those who reverence the associations of twenty odd years ago the old establishment still has its peculiar attractions. But the property has passed into the hands of enterprising owners who design to equip it in the manner that they know will meet the inclinations of jaded townsfolk, anxious to find a restful place where they may pass week-ends, or single holidays, or to linger for more extended periods in the midst of surroundings the most soothing that art and nature can supply. Up-to-date is a word that is very much overworked, but it aptly describes the plan under which Mr Cousins, the present lessee of Kawau, is labouring to make the island attractive and convenient to the masses.

The mere fact that Sir George Grey selected Kawau for his retreat is in itself a powerful voucher for the rarity of its charms. For Sir George was a man of taste and discrimination, he had practically the whole of an islandstudded gulf to choose from, and it was upon Kawau that his decision fell,

as the gem of them all. And where nature had provided a glorious framework of bays and beaches and fine native bush, Sir George introduced as a fitting picture his mansion and grounds on the shore of Bon Accord Harbour. Here it is that the new sanatorium has been provided. The old home is taken as the centre, and, together with additional accommodation erected in the vicinity in recent years, is capable of providing for something like 160 visitors in sumptuous surroundings. Lately the island has been in the possession of a corps of painter? and mechanics, engaged in re-decorating the premises and illumining them and the grounds with electric light. The result, when finished, will be something in the nature of a transformation scene.

The novelties that are being provided about the grounds are manifold. Chief among the innovations is the installation of the electric light. Not only has it been provided in the buildings, but its cheerful rays will extend far across the estate. Electric lamps will convert the beautiful plantations at night into something akin to Fairyland. Artistically-shaded globes will glow in the great central drive, and along inviting walks under the tropical palms and other curious trees brought from afar. Bowlers and tennis players will find their pastimes catered for on well-grassed lawns, which also will be lighted up afc night with the all-per-vading rays for the purposes of play. There are to be luxuriously - fitted billiard and card rooms about the grounds, and a large rotunda will provide a place for general intercourse, and an acceptable rendezvous for young and old when the weather is unsuitable for faring further afield.

Another of the glories of Kawau consists in the facilities it affords for sea sports Every yachtsman knows the delights of sailing or boating in and around the charming nooks that, indent its coast, and boating is a pastime for which the management intend to cater liberally by placing motor-launch and pleasure boats at the disposal of visitors. To the fisherman the island is a place of endless resource. Every kind of fish known to eke Hauraki Gulf abounds in its bays, or at no great distance from its sb.oie, and can be taken with either rod, band-line or net in profusion. To draw 1 he net in Bon Accord Harbour itself, even within a few yards of the wharf, means the securing of a rich haul either day or night. Then for the lovers of deep-sea fishing there is the famous Canoe Rock within a few miles' sail — the habitat of the huge hapuka, whom the big 'fishing clubs'

oft sally out from Auckland to snare. Bathers can cool their limbs in the waters of the gulf at numerous seductive places, and, for those who prefer not to venture into the open, large swimming-baths are being provided at the sanatorium, the water for which will be pumped up from the harbour by means of electric machinery.

Land sport is also plentiful and various. Sir George Grey stocked the island with deer, and opossums, and wallabi, and the progeny of his herd of deer can be stalked on the higher levels. The wallabi have become so numerous that an organised wallabi - drive by Auckland sportsmen, under proper precautions against indiscriminate slaughter, is to be one of the events of the near future.

However, it is for the general holiday-maker rather than for the specialist in sport that Mr Cousins is principally catering. For the businessworn citizen who wants to take his family to a convenient retiring-place for a few days, or for an isolated holiday, the Kawau is an ideal spot. Amid its peaceful scenery — out among the bush, or on the shores of its pohutu« kawa-clad harbours and bays, or in the spleudid grounds which Sir George Grey planted with loving care — it is possible to forget the busy world and its anxieties and spend the days and nights in one long, delightful picnic. And the facilities for getting to Kawau from the city are excellent. In the Daphne, which plies regularly to the island, we have one of the sm a rtest and most comfortable steamers amongst our coastal fleet, making the trip from wharf to wharf in three hours ; and on ho lida y s the steamship companies compete for the honour of con veying the largest

crowds to Ka-

w a v. Nature has made the island one of the finest playgrounds of the citizens of Auckland, and it is the aim of the present lessee to add to the fullest measure to its attractions.