Auckland Jottings.

Woodville Examiner, Volume XXII, Issue 3680, 28 March 1904, Page 2

Auckland Jottings.

{By our Travelling liejwitcr.) THE CITY. Over twenty years in the colony without ever getting a eight of the much-praised city of the North made a trip to Auckland an event to be looked forward to, and it will be an event to .be long remembered. It did not commence very grandly, for on the way wet weather set in about Waverley and kept with the train up to New Plymouth and out to sea beyond. It bad been a pleasure on land to think of the ruin that was so badly needed coming at last, although it made the carriage close and stuffy. But out at sea the rain had no redeeming points at all, and when it shaded off into mist and fog that made the skipper anchor the liarawa outside the Manukau Heads, it was enough to make one feci badly. However, after a bn i,- lifted, so that the old man could make out the leading marks and took the steamer in, and in about an hour or an hour and a half we were alongside the Ouehuuga wharf. A very lino boat the Rarawa is—not, of course, a large one, but the largest on the service between New Plymouth and Onehunga, and larger than the boats that used to be in the intercolonial run when the U.S.S. Company took up the trade. But she is fitted up in capital style, and gives her passengers all the comfort possible on board a steamer in so short a run. But the rain did a good deal to spoil it. The Rarawa is named after one of the six canoes in which tha, Mamie originally came to New Zealand, and when she arrived in the colony the directors of the Northern 13.8. Company, which owns her, sent her on a trip to Hukianga, where the bead quarters of the Rarawa tribe are, to the great delight and excitement or the natives there, who came on board and all over her, examining her in all parts, the head chief declaring that she belonged to him. Arrived at Onehunga wharf, we made for the train, winch was on the wharf close by. Having got on board we found that the next thing was to put up our umbrellas, for the rain was coming through the roof, and we kept them up ii; Iwe reach.d Auckland. The first thing that strikes one about Auckland i. 3 that it is a very big place, it is true that its population only runs to about fifty thousand, and that is not a big population for a city as cities go, but it repreeents a very much larger city out here than it would in the Old \Voriel, for in no part is it as crowd'd as the cities are there. In fact, the whole isthmus over to Onehunga is covered with houses, and a stranger could not tell where Auckland began aud the suburbs ended. Arriving at the railway terminus, the size of the city and the volume of the traffic is found reflected in the station, which is one of those so common in the Oid Gauntry and so rare in this one, where there are separate platforms for trains arriving and for trains departing. A very largo amount of suburban traffic is done by the railway, and in addition it is the metropolitan point of lire nortlr of Auckiond, tiro Main Hnuth, the Rotorua, and the Thames lines, so that there needs to be abundant accommodation.

The next thing that stakes one about Auckland is the electric trains, which run clown just opposite th.station cud. They radia'e thence in all directions through and out of the city. They are mostly on double linos, and between these are poles with cross arms. On these are su--j ponded wire, like telegraph wires. A ■ long arm stretches up from the top of the oar with a little grooved wheel at the end of it, and this wheel presses up against the wire and conveys the current to the motor on board the car. vVhen the wheel has to be changed from one wire to another, the conductor pulls it down with a rope and swings it to the new wire, and practice makes them very sharp at picking them up, I had almost sa : d, but at catching them again. This has to bs done on toversing the cars at terminal points, and on changing direction at junctions. The cars have way enough on them to carry them along iar enough, but the moment the wheel is pulled from the overhead wire the current is cut off, and the lights go out. As soon as the wire is caught again the lights brighten up. The cars are a decided disappoint meat. They arc very cramped, and although only in use for a lew mouths, decidedly shabby. They have a centre aisle with scats t.) hold two at each side. ’ But I lie seats are hardly thirty inches wide, and I the a : slc not much more than twelve, ! so iliat affairs are decidedly awkward for fat people. They travel very rapidly, getting up their speed very quickly and stopping almost suddenly. The drivers (motor-men they are called), have them under complete control, and a car can be soon miming close behind another till it would seem bound to crash into ir, and yet slopping cic-ar of it. They make a tia moudous grinding noise while running, and tin ir gongare sounded c Distantly, so as to give warning of their .approach. But it is necessary to keep a sharp eye out for them when cro.-sing the lines, or one m-.y be overtaken by a car without time to got away. Passengers a:c not allowed to h ave cai?, and are not supp ucd to tutor them,,except from the outside of the lino, bu* pvo.i limn care is no ossavy. A n o in I)-;;' of accidents live hiippe ml, and a cor nicn’o jury on the section of one added a rider to its verdict that was alino-t comical uhhueg t:ie cu'-j ct was so gnu.. It was to th; (•la-..t tbit on hi!; in the dillu ulty of lifting I bo cars i if ob.-truot-ioiis I fdll's they i; \d run over), me | tramway to rvr i mile j icl;< mi: jhcmg ihua ell u.ijii jTh;; main fdi'ad:-- of Anr-piem] ore | i i o-o v.i-de cues, tnr : n.-vc-yor \ih > no ct’ial.-i ut tile (op. The come- (

qnence is that in going on foot from omi side of the city to the oth*r the* route is sure to h-arl up a bill or down a Lull, over o hill, along a bill, and around a hid. But one s*ooc gets hold of she main lines of communication, am; how to make shoit cuts. The ride streets, however, ! are very poor and narrow 7 . Queen ‘ Street is asphalted, not tarred and sanded, but really asphalted, and the other main streets* fairly wel kept, but the side streets are very poorly attended 10, and in many of them the grass is growing along the sides. The lighting is not very grand, indeed outside the centre it is very poor, and the show of lights as seen from the harbour in the evening is decidedly disappointing. Generally the lights of a waterside city set on a hill look very well from the water, but Auckland is an exception. There can be no need to say anything about the harbour, for every one praises that except the Wellington people. The shipping trade is very small, however, compared with what is to be seen at the southern port. There is an immense number of coasters varying from the first-class boats of the U.o.S. Company and Huddart Parker Company to little cralts no bigger than the one Columbusorossed the Atlantic in, but there are very few of the big Home-going boats or sailers from Europe or the States to be seen there. Toe buildings and shops in Auckland are decidedly disappointing. The shops are mostly small, comparatively, not by any means of the class generally that might bo expected in a city claiming to bo the Queen City of the colony. One surprising tiling about them was the number of them that kept open late. Up to nine o’clock it would be almost a certainity to be able to find a shop of any sort wanted open and ready to trade. Up to 10 o’clock there would be a good chance of doing so. On the ether hand many of the largest i shops in Queen stre< t close at six from Monday to Thursday, nine on Friday, and one on lo a tun:! ay. Some or the new buildings going up for warehouses, and those recently erected are very fine, but many of the business blocks that have been up for some time are two storey, affiirr, and shabby at that. The residences round the city vary, of ci.ur.-e, but the new ones of the i smaller class arc well finished, and from them they range up to stalely 1 mansions. j One result of the hills and the : electric trams is that there are hard- j iy any bikes or motors to be seen j about. It stems strange not to be | meeting a bike every few yards, and . slid more strange not to be coming I across bike shops in every street. But it would be a hard job to find one in Auckland equal to the Palmerston ones, and certainly there are very few of any sort. A syndicate sent a man Home to inspect the different styles of motois with a view 7 lo setting up a motor bus service. He w 7 ent Home and reported that he had looked in io all he saw, .and had found nothing that he thought w 7 .mid be able to stand the Auckland hills. Still, the trams, which seem to eijoy running up hill, give a very good, rapid and cheap means of communication. [XO IJH CONTINUED.]