A TRAMP ABROAD.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLII, Issue 6, 10 February 1909, Page 20

A TRAMP ABROAD.

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NELSON. ill so far as a province is concerned. cclebiated her sixtyscventli birthday last week- I n der the auspices of the New Zealand Land Company. Nelson was actually founded in IS4I. or about one year after the Treaty of Waitangi Aas signed. ( olom-1 Wakefield, brother ot ( aptain Wakefield, one of th-* victims <»l tin* Wairau Massacre, and commander of the first expedition which landed at I’oit Nicholson in the ship Tory, purchased from Te Ran para ha. chid of the Ngatitoa. tor 300 blankets, 200 muskets, 00 tomahawks. 320 fish-hooks, 100 steel axes. 270 pocket knives. -ISO pochandkerrhiefs. 14 1 jew's harps. 30 razors. 24 combs. and 12 sticks of seal ing wax. <a a total value of £OOOO. all those lands known as Auckland. Wvllington. Taranaki. Hawke's Hay. Nelson and Ma riborough. I he second, or Nelson expedit ion, con sisting of three ships, the banpies Whit by. 137 tone, the Wil! Watch. 210 tons, and the Allow. 250 tons, under command of Captain Aithur Wakefield, arrived during the year 1841 in Blind Bay, and am bored off Astrolab. First choice of settlement was at Kaiterct re. near Rewaka. but shortly alter. the celebrated Boulder Bank, alTording such exceptional harbour protection, appealed so strongly that the present site of Nelson was decided on. Within the following year, 1542. no less than sixty-seven vessels had visited the new port, and Nelson itself numbered over 2000 souls. Before the close of that memorable year 250 good dwelling houses had been built, and the province began to be settled by those hardy pioneer settlers who have made it one of the Dominion's fairest provinces. From this out the progress became steady and sure, so

that three years later we find tic* population in town and country doubled with nearly 2001) acres under cultivation, and about 10.000 cattle and sheep grazing; whilst flour mills, flax mills, and saw mills weie springing up. and quite sixty

miles of roads joined town to country. Nelson's first representative government saw the light about 1853. in which the Constitution Act was passed. Mr. Travers and Mr. Mackay represented Nelson in the first New Zealand Parliament. The first superintendent of the Provincial Government was Mr. E. W. Stafford, the Speaker Mr. Donald Sinclair, and the

Treasurer Mr. Poynton. Soon other things, sinh as the discovery of mineral wealth. diverted attention from the cultivation of the soil, and company after (onipany was formed to mine the coal beds of Nelson, the copper of the Dun Mountain, and the auriferous deposits ot Motueka, Collingwood and other places to which small and insignificant rushes set in. but which, owing to the poorness of the gold, speedily died down. In 185!) W’airau. dissatisfied, claimed ami obtained separation from Nelson, and by an Act of the General Assembly. W’airau and Nelson became imorporated under separate provincial councils. But notwithstanding

Illis serious loss. Nelson continued to advance in prosperity, and in 1871 it became a municipality, the first mayor having been Mr. J. R. Dodson. From this our progress has been continuous and steady. The harbour has been constantly improved, roads have been made and maintained, and communication with the back country established. Railway com-

munication has alone lagged in every thing <dse advances have been made so that the province is now a smiling land of peace, promise and plenty. Social progress, too, has not been omitted, for i tinaintains a high standard in its colleges and schools, as witness the continued success of its University examinations. High in reputation have they become throughout the Dominion. many of whose most brilliant scholars owe their promotion in life from here. From a scenic point of view’ Nelson can hold her own. too. The road skirting its matchless bay to the Glenn. W’akapuaka, or over the W’angamoa to

Havelock, Blenheim, or Queen Charlotte Sounds: not forgetting Pelorus; its drives around the ’* Rocks Road,” passing en route the wahrves. the new entrance to the port, the Fifeshire-road, the many charming outlets or bays, laughing and sleeping under the frowning hills of Britannia Heights, which are picked out at all a Ititudes by the many beautiful homes

of Nrl-oiin. From thence the M*rki i r after scrllir rll'cct- lliil\ get satiety itself iii the further-oil' sights of the sands, the gardens and homes of Stoke. Richmond, and the |io|dield-> of the Waimea.is. Then

there are till' exeui Molls over the Spooner Range, or to Aniseed. Taelmore, and Motupeko Valleys. In many parts of tins J-light nil area, quail, ducks. pheasants, hares and wild pigs abound, whilst deer-

stalking also attracts sportsmen far amt near. Lastly, Nelson climate is one of perpetual sunshine, and the city lias been well built: its architecture is both quaint and handsome, and its people have long become proverbial for their kindness ami

hospitality. On the Ist Eebruary Nelson celebrated its (>7th birthday in a public holiday, and our photographic effects may serve, in some small measure, to illustrate the progress the city has made during its brief life-

ONE OF NELSON’S CHIEF INDUSTRIES. At the corner of Gloucester and Win-guard-streets, Nelson, stands one of the largest and best equipped premises of the kind in tin* Dominion: it is the jam factory of Messrs. S. Kirkpatrick and Co., which covers an acre and a-half of land, and is a credit to the city and province of Nelson. Mr Kirkpatrick is in his luxurious office, and looks well after

a holiday trip in his beautiful yacht, The Queen of Beauty, on the Sounds. Yes, he willingly shows me where and how all the wonderful and delightful jams, conserves, and sweet spices are manufactured. Let us look! This is the receiving room, where fruit, mostly apricots, is being weighed, checked. and passed in. It is arriving direct from the gardens in boxes. As we saunter through the animated scene of fruit—owners delivering their produce. and employees receiving it I note that even hero bustle is orderly. In the picking room we find dozens of smart-looking girls busv sorting and cleaning the fruit

ready for the copper hollers in the kitchen: but ere mitering that wonderful culinary department, let us pause and see how the jam tins are made: lime a steel arm with noi-vm-s blow- is striking oil’ thousand- «»f quaintly -Imped tin lids; th«r» i- .mother mysterious machine rolling up endless yards of blight tin. whii-’i another solders into cylinders; yet another iron worker fits on t ie bottom, ami we have now a tin

made, which, when it has been sterilised, is ready to receive its preserves. The machinery of tins department lias been so perfected by the enterprising proprietor that one machine alone can turn out 3,000 tins in an hour. In the kitchen rows and rows of great copper boilers >it over steam pipes cooking tons of fruit, and the operation is being assidn-ou-iy attended to by the cooks. Here, too, is every convenience in the way of up-to-date machinery, 'amongst which a marmalade maker, a chipping machine, and a fniil-stoning machine, are noteworthy. When the tins of preserving fruit have keen tilled, and the lids

soldered on. i metal frame. -lung at the corners by chain-, i- let down by aid of differential block ami tackle, ami cooked in a great wooden trough, -team again being the agent employ ed. One thing I mm h admired was t’.ie great care which the firm exercises in the selection of ruits intended for the tiie selection of jam. ami the capital prove—-es under which if all goe- before we have it readv for the table. These

are some of the secrets of our wholesome “K” jams, and has <lone so much to build up the fortunes of this eminent firm and made those delicacies of our homes so famous. In addition to that of jam and preserved fruit manufacture. Mr. Kirkpatrick has undertaken the manufacture of spices and jellies. all of which have found much favour in the market, so that throughout our Dominion “K” manufactures have long become indispensable articles of daily c<msmn pt ion. From the tin making to the tin pack ing department, from the offices to the kitchran. |fiiom the receiving room to

the preserving department. from the boiling ceqqwls to the cooling V.lt<. from the paring iml -orting rooms t«» the pickling department, from the packing room- to the -t »re loom-, orderliin*—. sy-tem. an I ’T loeklim—” prevail; cleanline--, ventilation, ami comfort for his Jimi employees appear to be Mr. Kirkp.itrick’- forcmo-t principle-. Ami so I leave this \er.\ excellent factory in full -wing on tin* -»a-»n’- fruits.

Till-: QUEEN Ob’ BEAUTY. i'lie illustration given above represents the popular Mr Kirkpatrick’s very hand-ome motor yacht, the Queen of Beauty, with all her beautiful lines. and Hying her Blue Ensign. the burgee of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, and the owner’s liag. Sin* rides the waler like any 'luck, and her dimensions arc: Length. GIHt.: beam. 1211.: draught sft. Gin.: 35 h.p.: and speed. S knots. She has just returned from the Sounds, whither she ha- been on a ten day-'