NELSON.
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THE BOULDER BANK.
NELSON.
APPROACHING Nelson from the sea, the attention of every stranger is attracted by the curious formation of the harbour, which is one of the most ingenious pieces of natural workmanship that can be conceived. The breakwater is formed of huge boulder stones, piled systematically one upon the other, and extending in a semi-circular shape for two or three miles. At the mouth of the harbour is the Arrow or Fifeshire Rock, which stands in a very commanding position for a lighthouse, but is only used by the birds that are perpetually hovering over it. The latter name was given to it in consequence of the "Fifeshire," one of the earliest passenger vessels, having been wrecked there. The entrance is narrow but not dangerous, and large vessels can only enter at high tide. The origin and character of the boulder bank has given rise to a great many speculations; the most feasible idea is this:--The boulders of which it consists are entirely syenite, and the same rock is found on the precipitous bluffs which abut upon the sea beyond.
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THE HARBOUR.
Fragments are constantly falling from the cliffs, and the action of the heavy northerly swell, combined with a strong current, takes them towards the south. The reason of their being deposited on the existing line is, that in all probability a submarine reef underlies them, of which the Arrow or Fifeshire Rock may be regarded as the southern termination.
The harbour is safe and commodious; it is also very useful for vessels requiring to be repaired, as in one part a ship can be left high and dry on the boulder bank, have any repairs effected, or the bottom cleaned, and float off again with the next spring tides.
Arrived in the harbour, we get a view of Nelson, and a more picturesque scene it is difficult to imagine. In the distance there are stupendous snow-clad mountains; just immediately around are the Britannia Heights, the Dun Mountain, and other high hills, and nestling beneath them is Nelson, with its pretty houses and gardens, churches and public buildings.
We will now suppose ourselves just landed, and take a trip together through the town and suburbs, glancing at all the objects of interest as we proceed. We alight upon the wharf, which has been recently erected at an expense of £4,200, and as the money has been used to greater advantage than is generally the case with local Government expenditure there, we
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will give it notice. The wharf is angle-shaped. It is 580 feet in length and40 in width; it has a depth of water of from 15 to 16 feet, for 450 feet of the quay, and in the remainder the water shoals gradually to the shore. A double line of rails is laid down for trucks, and upon the wharf are cranes, capstan, warehouses for merchandise, offices, and a good landing-stage for the receipt and delivery of goods by carts. This is a great convenience; and large English vessels can now come close alongside, passengers may disembark without any difficulty, and have their goods taken away into the town at a trifling expense, and still less trouble.
From the shore, the harbour presents a very business-like appearance; two or three large vessels may generally be seen alongside the wharf, taking in and discharging cargo. The "mosquito fleet," as it is called, is dancing over the waters, some leaving for the gold fields or neighbouring settlements, others just arrived with diggers bearing their precious produce, or returning to purchase tools and utensils to prosecute their arduous work. The "Tasmanian Maid," a pretty little steamer, and Nelson property, is always busily engaged travelling to Taranaki, the seat of war; and far out in Blind Bay--on the margin of which Nelson is situated--may be seen several schooners, or perhaps a large vessel or two, either going to or coming from Australia, between which
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THE NATIVES.
continent and New Zealand a close intercourse is kept.
From the harbour to the town is a distance of about a mile; we will therefore imagine ourselves taking the American Van, which runs at intervals between the two places, and pay the very moderate sum of sixpence for the ride. On our way to the town, we notice two brick houses of very unarchitectural appearance, surrounded by a motley group of natives, some busily employed in dressing flax, others sitting listlessly on the ground smoking, and all dressed in a curious combination of European costume. Lady emigrants imagine they would be very much alarmed to be near a half-savage race of people, some of whom are now in arms against the British Government, but they need not be under any apprehension. The Southern Island settlers have no more to do with the war than the citizens of England had with the Russian campaign, nor are they threatened with more danger. There are rarely more than fifty or sixty natives in Nelson at a time; these two houses are their head-quarters, and they use them as general places of accommodation when on their travels. Sometimes they will settle here for a month or two, for the purpose of fishing and carrying on trade with the settlers, vending their fish and articles of manufacture at extortionate prices, which none but very raw young colonists ever think of paying. It is a
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rare sight to see more than a hundred natives in Nelson at one time; their pahs are scattered about at considerable distances apart, and so few of the natives have any partiality to the English settlements that their visits are generally for some definite purpose, and then of very short duration. For instance, they assemble at good fishing seasons, or if any new gold fields are opened, in order to ascertain intelligence, and a goodly muster always arrive in time for the races--a sport in which they take infinite delight.
We next pass the Salt-water Bridge, a very plain and unsubstantial wooden affair, crossing that part of the tide which runs over a large mud flat, and has the appearance of a fine lake at the foot of Washington Valley when the tide is high; but has anything rather than an agreeable smell or appearance at low water. But this Salt-water Bridge is a place of historic interest; and as all reminiscences of the past are so very scarce in New Zealand we must not pass it unnoticed. It will be recollected that Nelson was the second settlement founded by the New Zealand Company, and was planted by Captain Arthur Wakefield and a body of pioneer colonists in 1842. The wives of the colonists followed after; and this spot was chosen for one of their first encampments. Nelson was then nothing but a wilderness of fern, breast-high; and no bridge enabled them to get from the
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TRAFALGAR-STREET.
harbour to the site which the town now occupies: they therefore pitched their tents below the hills, now called the Britannia Heights, which overlook the sea, and where vessels are signalled in the Bay. Here they endured such hardships that even now, when they talk of their hard lot, the tears will start to their eyes as they "live their troubles o'er again." They were left in this wild and desolate place, with the half-savage natives as their companions, and the few yards of canvas around them as their homes, subsisting as they could while their husbands were away, surveying and exploring, exposed to every kind of danger and privation. It is not usual for people to erect monuments, unless merit has made a great stir in the world; but gratitude to those hardy men and true-hearted women, who paved the way for others by their own bravery and industry, deserves some memorial being erected "to our pioneers."
Passing on towards the town, we leave the warehouses of the merchant-princes, and yards of the boat-builders, and make our way to Trafalgar-street, the principal street in the city. It is wide, and for so young a colony, really a very handsome street. Certainly one is not very powerfully impressed with the idea of grandeur--wooden or lath-and-plaster houses, rarely exceeding two stories high, are not calculated to produce that effect--but the idea which does strike
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every stranger, as he stands for the first time in Trafalgar-street, is, "Well, this is a substantial, comfortable, pretty and well-to-do place;" and that first impression is the right one. Commercially, it is equal to any settlement in the colony in its degree; socially, it carries the palm above all; prospectively, it promises to rise higher and higher, developing its vast mineral and other resources until it becomes the El Dorado of the South.
At the top of Trafalgar-street, set upon a hill, is the Church--I beg pardon, the Cathedral--the scene of the ministrations of the Rev. Edmund Hobhouse, Bishop of Nelson. It is a tasteful wooden building, approached by two flights of steps, and surrounded by a picturesque garden and plantation, the result of the taste and voluntary contributions of the townspeople. It is nicely furnished inside, and has a very respectable organ, to which a good choir sings on Sundays. There is no grave-yard around the Church; but the cemetery lies a short distance back upon a hill, to which the inhabitants of the valley below have protested, supposing that the wind blowing over the cemetery must be unhealthy.
As we walk up the street we look into the shop-windows, and discover that the difference between a Colonial and an English town is not so great after all. There are milliner's shops, with every variety of Mary Stuart and high-peaked bonnets; linen-drapers,
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PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
with unwieldy crinolines swinging outside the doors; jewellers, with a very tolerable show of bijouterie; and music shops, with a selection from Mozart or Handel, to "Old Bob Ridley." There are stationers shops, with all the cheap literature, where books published in England at two shillings can be purchased for half-a-crown; and newspaper offices, where, besides the "Nelson Examiner," and "Colonist," the two local papers, nearly all English papers and periodicals can be obtained. Then in more substantial matters, affecting the inner man, there are grocers, butchers, and bakers in abundance, wine-merchants, brewers, and pastry-cooks. Epicures can procure tins of salmon or lobsters, whether in or out of season; and people of dainty appetite may obtain almost any luxury, provided they are prepared to pay well for it.
Nelson abounds in public buildings, into some of which we will peep; and, first, into the new Government buildings, which have been formally opened during the past year. Unfortunately, they are poked away in a very obscure part of the town, for certain good reasons--best known to those whose interests were at stake in the selection of a site. The buildings are in the Elizabethan style of architecture, designed by Mr. Maxwell Bury, of Nelson; and the whole of the materials employed in their erection were procured in the province. The Council Chamber, or Provincial Hall, is the largest room in the colony
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devoted to similar purposes; it is seventy feet in length, thirty in width, and twenty-one feet high. It contains a reporters' and strangers' gallery, and is very elegantly yet neatly furnished. The whole of the interior fittings are of polished red pine, a very beautiful and useful wood, which abounds in the New Zealand bush.
Not far from the Government buildings is the New Literary and Scientific Institution and Museum, which has also been opened during the past year. It is conveniently situated, and possesses every requirement to make it a most valuable auxiliary to the amusement and education of the settlers, old or young. There is a good reading-room, well supplied with papers and periodicals; a library, which doubtless by this time has a considerable number of good readable books; and a museum, with a very fair collection of geological specimens and other provincial curiosities, with maps, diagrams, and works of scientific reference. An indefatigable committee of management regulates the working of the Institution, assisted by energetic secretaries, who procure, occasionally, public lecturers, and provide other means for useful recreation. At the opening of the New Institution, in May, 1861, an Exhibition was held in humble imitation of the Exhibition of May, 1851--the Nelsonians being remarkable for their powers of imitation on a small scale. All the paintings, relics, coins, stuffed birds,
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PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
geological specimens, native curiosities, and other rarities that could be got together, were exhibited; and this first attempt of anything of the kind in New Zealand was attended with such success as to warrant the promise of another Exhibition, to be contemporary with that in London in 1862.
But without dwelling on the public buildings in detail, we will just take a cursory glance round the town, and merely notice them on our way. There is the Masonic Hall, a large building with a glass roof, which the colonial children, unused to grandeur, consider second only to the Crystal Palace, at which public meetings, balls, concerts, and theatrical representations are given. On Sundays it is occasionally used for preaching, and on the periodical visits of the Judge it is converted into a Court of Justice. Farther on is the Odd Fellows' Hall, which is used for almost similar purposes.
A market-house has been erected too far from the town to command much business; but it is well supplied with meat, fish, poultry, fruit, and vegetables.
There is a large Wesleyan chapel in Collingwood-street--in fact, the largest place of Worship in the colony, the Wesleyans being the largest religious body. Closely adjacent is a Baptist, a Presbyterian, and a Roman Catholic chapel. The Presbyterian chapel deserves notice by strangers, who are unused to the make-shifts which are resorted to in colonies; the
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roof and walls are lined with white calico to hide the rafters and give the appearance of plaster.
But the thing which most pleases us is the English appearance of Nelson; not geographically, but in the number of its nice houses, with gable ends and green verandahs, surrounded with neatly laid-out gardens, and pretty flowers twining amongst bowers and archways, running round window-frames and climbing even to the house-tops. There is the beautiful valley of the Maitai, with a clear sparkling river running through it. On the banks are several good farms, and the hills around are covered with sheep and cattle. The river runs through part of the town, and flows into the harbour. It is crossed by a fragile suspension bridge, more ornamental than useful. Brook-street Valley is the Belgravia of Nelson; the Wood corresponds to Kensington; the Waimea Road to St. John's-wood; and Washington Valley to Islington.
Every visitor to Nelson who admires fine scenery, and can enjoy a day or two's pedestrian tour, should visit the Dun Mountain Copper Mine, going up Brook-street Valley, and returning down the valley of the Maitai. The view from the Dun Mountain is exquisitely wild and grand. An inspection of the works, which are now in active operation, will repay a visit; and there are places of interest to notice on the road, both going and returning. A railway is in course of formation, to extend from the mines to the port.
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MAITAI VALLEY.
Leaving Nelson we proceed along the main road to the Waimea, an extensive plain, and the chief agricultural district of the province. It is subdivided into four districts, each having its several villages. The drive to the Waimea from Nelson is one of extreme beauty; in fact, it would be hard to find in any part of New Zealand a place presenting more of the essentials to perfection of scenery than are crowded there together. The road lies through a winding valley, surrounded with every variety of hill, from the grassy mound to the lofty mountain crowned with snow and hiding its head in the clouds; and the vast plain in the distance, belted with luxuriant bush, and washed by the waters of Blind Bay, is intersected with roads and lanes, and studded with primitive dwellings and farm-houses, nestling in the bosom of miniature parks of the graceful nghio and willow-trees.
The first object of interest in the Waimea Road is the Taranaki Buildings erected by the Nelson Government for the reception of a large number of the unfortunate refugees who are located there. The site is admirably chosen on elevated ground; the buildings are roomy, and constructed with every regard to comfort as well as health, and are fitted with all requisites for culinary and domestic purposes; there is also a school, a hospital, and safes, &c., attached. However hard some of the good Taranaki people may
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have taken the arrangements to be at first, after leaving their comfortable cottage-homes and snug fire-sides in New Plymouth, it would have been difficult, nay impossible, for them to have found elsewhere more comfortable provision made for their reception during the temporary absence from their own province. It is anticipated that when they vacate these buildings to return to their own rich pastures and hill-side homes, the houses will be converted into an immigrant depot for the reception of settlers until they are able to procure house-room elsewhere.
Not far from the Taranaki Buildings, on a hill commanding a view of the city and the whole of the Waimea Plain, is the College, a Government Educational Institution, which is alike the pride and honour of Nelson, and the envy of the surrounding provinces. Architecturally regarded, it is the most symmetrical building in New Zealand, the design of Mr. Beatson, a settler, who has attained great professional celebrity from this and other works in which he has been engaged. The system of education in Nelson is the nearest approach to the unexceptionable that has been attempted in the colony. There are twenty-four schools, the college, a competent and efficient staff of schoolmasters, about 1,000 children in attendance, and an Inspector who visits each school periodically, and publishes a half-yearly report. A tax of £1. is annually levied upon every householder,
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GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS.
whether they send their children to receive the benefit of the tax or not, and £1. a-year is paid for every child attending the school; the remainder of the necessary funds for carrying on the undertaking is voted by the Government. When the children have attained proficiency in the "Three R's," they are qualified to compete for scholarships in the college, where an education of a high class is given, inclusive of languages and mathematics. This Government system of education at first met with an immense deal of opposition, but the results have shown that nothing could have been better for the welfare of the colony, and the benefit of the children, than the course which has been pursued. Those who still object, yet having to pay the tax, send their children rather than be losers altogether; for, objectors being so much in the minority, private schools are discouraged, nor could they present facilities for improvement equal to the public schools. The Roman Catholics and other sects of religion made lengthy protests against a system which interfered with their conscientious principles; but this difficulty has been obviated by most of the schoolmasters having stated hours for religious instruction, to which it is optional whether the children attend. In most of the schools, besides the ordinary routine of studies, history, geography, drawing, singing, and other accomplishments are introduced, tending to refine and elevate the minds of the children, and
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place them upon something of a footing with those in England. Each district has a Local Board of Education, elected by the people, who send a member to the Central Board (in whose hands the whole management is vested) to represent the interests of each school.
The first village we pass through in the Waimea is Stoke, about four miles from Nelson, immediately facing Blind Bay, and inhabited principally by farmers, whose well-kept estates, heavy crops, and comfortable homesteads, bespeak wealth gained by industry. Stoke is famous for its race-course; to those who take an interest in races, those in Nelson are considered to be remarkably good, which is more than can be said for the course. Some of the Nelson horses have been victorious on the Australian courses, to which they were taken by Messrs. H. Redwood and Duppa, two enterprising Nelsonians. It is an amusing scene, for those who have only visited such places as Ascot or Epsom, to witness the races at Nelson. There is a Grand Stand, it is true, and there are generally one or two hundred of the elite upon it--for in the absence of other and more rational amusements, the race-day is looked upon as an occasion when everybody must turn out and see the sight.
From an early hour in the morning the roads are all alive, not with gay tandems and fours-in-hand, but with good old heavy bullock-drays, and substan-
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RACES.
tial horse-carts, which answer to the "Wo, come hither!" and other similar sounds, better than the "tchluck" of the crack whip. And merry parties there are in those bullock-drays, notwithstanding the rate of travelling rarely exceeds from three to four miles an hour on good roads; lighter hearts and more joyous smiles, perhaps, are there, than in many a gay equipage on the Epsom roads. During the races, the drays line each side of the course, instead of carriages --although there are a few of those even in New Zealand; and when the day's sport is over, the merriment of the journey home is always looked forward to as an important part of the day's amusement.
The next village is Richmond, still in Waimea East, the principal village in the Nelson province; and it would be hard to find, in all New Zealand, one more nearly approaching those in England. It is bounded on one side with a range of fern hills, over which Ben Nevis rears his head, and beyond is an unknown and unexplored region. Richmond is in the midst of the Waimea Plain, which possesses some 40,000 acres of available land for cultivation. Some of this land is remarkably good, but the rest has abundantly fine crops of stones, which are no sooner removed than the soil sinks, and another crop appears. Nevertheless, Richmond is a very well-to-do place, as the thriving farms, fat cattle, and waving corn-fields testify. There is a church, situated, as most of the
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churches in the province are, strictly in accordance with the letter of the law, upon a hill. On Sundays, when it is time to call people to service, a white flag is hoisted which answers the purpose of a bell. There is also a Wesleyan and a Baptist chapel. The Mechanics' Institution is a neat little lath-and-plaster building, in which lectures and public meetings are held. It has a first-rate library, from whence books are circulated three nights a week, through the agency of a working committee, who take it in turns to act as librarians. The influence exerted by this Institution for good has been great, providing a place of meeting for the numerous young men who live in the village, and affording rational and instructive amusement, apart from the baneful influence of public-houses, which is experienced everywhere in the colony. In such a small place as Richmond there are no fewer than four public-houses, while two general stores, one butcher's and one baker's, are sufficient to supply the wants of the community. The principal inn in Richmond is the "Star and Garter," a very humble representative of its namesake in England.
The Waimea has one great drawback; it is visited by a strong local wind, which blows with considerable violence, especially during the summer months. It is called the "spout wind," and is attributable to the peculiar configuration of the mountain ranges. The
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VILLAGES IN NEW ZEALAND.
western and eastern ranges of Nelson, converging towards the south, form a regular wedge, which diverts on the one side the force of the south-westerly winds, and on the other side the force of the south-easterly winds. The south wind blows directly down the spout formed by these two ranges. When once it begins to blow it generally lasts for three days; sometimes it gives itself an encore and continues for a week, when, if it is harvest time, the farmers consider themselves lucky if they escape with only half their wheat shaken out; and those who possess orchards are often saved the trouble of gathering their fruit.
One village is so much like another in New Zealand that further descriptions would be tedious--I will, therefore, only give the names of those about the Waimeas. "What's in a name?" May perhaps be asked--not much, sometimes; but I fancy our ideas are regulated a good deal by names, and you may thus form ideas of the different villages. For instance, if you were seeking a house, and were to be told that Bastile Lodge and Sunny Side Villa were to be let, which do you think you should prefer, not having seen?--or, had I two friends to whom I wished to introduce you, one named Jeremiah Snooks, and the other Horace Templeton, would you not form a disparaging estimate of one rather than the other, and be influenced thereby?
The village of Hope, four miles from Richmond, has hill-side homes, rural farms, and a school hiding
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in a little forest of Australian blue gums. There is a very little green on the hills, but the lines have fallen in pleasant places in the valley. Appleby is a straggling place, with very little to interest; in the middle of the village, a stranger would innocently ask, "But where is Appleby?" Spring Grove is in a pretty bush near the fine Wairoa river. Upper and Lower Wakefield are villages about twelve or fourteen miles beyond Richmond, with good roads all the way. Forest Hill is described by its name. Motueka is about thirty miles from Nelson, a populous, aristocratic, and important village--a considerable number of natives live here. Riwaka is a few miles farther on, situate in a delightful valley, and surrounded by rivers without bridges.
