OUR ILLUSTRATIONS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXII, Issue XV, 15 April 1899, Page 482

OUR ILLUSTRATIONS.

THROUGH THE AUCKLAND PROVINCE WITH THE GOVERNOR. The photographic reproductions that we puldish this week conclude the series illustrative of the provincial tour of His Excellency the Governor, Lord Ranfurly. The second day spent at Coromandel —Tuesday, the 28th ult. ranked, in its way, as one of the most interesting portions of the tour. As has been already detailed, a visit was paid to the Royal Oak mine,where His Excellency started a water power scheme, which had been completed at a cost of £7,000 or £B,OOO. Briefly, the principle of the scheme is that the water compresses air, and this, after being carried by over a mile of pipes, drives the machinery at the mine, exactly in the same manner as steam would do. The pressure generated is, 1 believe, oolb to the square inch. As can be seen by the picture adjacent to the main battery, where lunch was held, the party; with the exception of the Governor, made the excursion on horseback, and as there must have been at least half a hundred present, the calvacade was by jto means unimposing. Everyone enjoyed themselves very much, and although naturally out of a large party of naval officers from H.M.S Mildura there were one or two who were st little at sea aboard tt prancing steed, minor details, like the starting of the water power scheme, went off without a mishap or hitch. The road is very fair, and its only drawback is that occasionally,both in ascent ami descent, one feels a little like a fly crawling up or down a wall. It is needless to say that the photographer. kodak fiend, snap-shotist, and gentry of the same fraternity who otherwise class themselves, bobbed up serenely, as if an indigenous product of the soil everywhere on the trip; but Thames quite broke the record. An industrious gentleman in blue informed tne that he counted no less than thirty-one photographers on the morning of the 29th at the Thames, and although his regard for veracity may not have been of that order which abhors exaggeration, there certainly were a good number of ‘body snatchers' in the vicinity of the reception. The photos we give of this function, which attracted the largest crowd which assembled during His Excellency's recently concluded tour of the province, explain themselves sufficiently to require no comment. Thames was that day thoroughly en fete. A public holiday was strictly observed, and the reception was in every way a distinct success, and to this happy issue the large crowd, of which the photos give a fair conception, con tributed in a considerable measure.

LAKE HARRIS. MIDDLE ISLAND N.Z. This little known and rarely visited like is situate in the Southland district of the Middle Island. It lies on the summit of the track from the head of Lake Wakatipu to Martin's Hat on the West Coast of the island. An attempt made ninny years ago to form a settlement at Martin's Bay by the Provincial Government of Otago, and after the expenditure of a considerable sum of money in forming the track to it. resulted in failure, and the traveller in search id the picturesque now usually takes tiic alternative route by the Greenstone. along the magnificent valley of the Hollyford, lying immediately at the back of the West Coast Sounds. The lake itself is comparatively a small sheet of water, but its features .in in remarkable contrast to the sister lakes in the neighbourhood, having a stern, gloomy aspect, shroudid usually in clouds and mist, and in winter frozen over. A mystery also attaches to the stream issuing from it not accounted lor by the extent of its own watershed, and travellers to .Martin’s Bay have been known to have crossed oxer it in winter time without being aware of its existence. THE CASQUETS. A cablegram of a recent date brought the news of a disastrous sliipw reck in the English Channel. The steamer Stella, running a special excursion from Southampton to the Channel Islands, was overtaken by a

fog, ami in the obscurity struck on a dangerous group of rocks lying some seven miles west of. Alderney, and known as the Casquets. As the vessel was going full sjieeil at the time, she sustained such serious damage that fifteen minutes after the acicdent she foundered. Great bravery was shown by both passengers ami crew, and every attempt was made to save life, but upwards of seventy are supposed to have perished.