1852 - Swainson, William. Auckland and its Neighbourhood - CHAPTER II, p 11-19

[Image of page 11]

CHAPTER II.

THE Town of Auckland is built on the Northern side of the Isthmus which divides the Waitemata from the Manukau, and is bounded on the North by the shores of the former harbour. The site of the Town, as laid down on the Official Plan, has a frontage on the water of about a mile and a half, and extends inland to the distance of about a mile. At present, the greater number of the houses have been built near the water, in the bays and on the headlands with which it is indented. These bays are backed by small valleys which run inland to the distance of about half a mile, terminating in narrow gullies, and are separated from each other by spurs which run into the harbour and terminate in low headlands. The lower parts of the Town being thus separated, the roads which connect them with each other are somewhat steep and inconvenient.

Seen from the Harbour, the Town makes a considerable appearance, and suggests the idea of expansiveness. St. Paul's Church, with its neat spire, occupying a prominent position on the centre headland is an ornamental feature. The Barracks, the Scotch Church, the Colonial Hospital, the Wesleyan Institution, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Windmill on the hill, with Mount Eden in the back ground are the most prominent objects. Approaching the shore, Official Bay, commanded by St. Paul's Church, and with its detached cottage-like houses built on a sheltered slope, each snugly nestled in the luxuriant shrubbery of its surrounding garden, looks pretty and picturesque. Commercial Bay, seen from the water, presents the appearance of a large Town, having a mass of houses closely packed together. Mechanics' Bay is as yet but little built upon; a large rope-walk,

[Image of page 12]

a ship-builder's yard, a native hostelry, and a few small shops are the only buildings. This Bay is the principal place of encampment for the natives visiting Auckland in their canoes; here they land their native produce, in fine weather bivouacing in the open air, or under their sail-made tents; and, in bad weather, seeking shelter in the neighbouring hostelry. Freeman's Bay, to the westward of Commercial Bay, is occupied chiefly by saw-pits, brick-kilns, and boat-builders' yards.

The principal streets are Princes Street, Shortland Crescent, Queen Street, and Wakefield Street. The first is a broad, straight, spacious, well-made street, on a gentle slope; St. Paul's Church, the Treasury and the Bank, and the Masonic Hotel are its principal buildings. Shortland Crescent, which connects Princes Street with Queen Street, is built on rather a steep ascent. It is less broad than Princes Street, but much longer. On one side it is almost wholly built upon; shops and stores are here to be found of every description, and of various forms and style. No attempt at uniformity has been made; every one has built according to his means, fancy, or the size and shape of his ground. The only approach to uniformity is in the material--with a few exceptions, all are of wood. The roadway of the street is an even McAdamized surface; but no attempt has yet been made to form footpaths on a general level. Some of the shops would not disgrace a small provincial town in England; but taken altogether as a street, Shortland Crescent is irregular and unfinished. Queen Street is the least built upon, but in other respects it is the best and most considerable street in Auckland. It is about half a mile long, nearly level, and almost straight, and terminates at its northern extremity in a pier or quay, which runs into the Harbour, and alongside of which small craft can land, on this stage, their cargoes. At its southern extremity it is overlooked by the Wesleyan Seminary, or Boarding-school for the education of the children of the missionaries in these seas--a spacious brick-built and substantial structure. The Gaol is badly situated, and is by no means a conspicuous building; but by a diligent search it may be found on the west side of Queen Street, partly screened from view by the Court-House and Police-office, which abut immediately upon the street Several shops of superior description, two and three stories high, have recently been erected, and Queen Street, as well as being

[Image of page 13]

the longest, is certainly just now one of the most improving streets in Auckland. Wakefield Street ascends from its southern extremity until it joins the Cemetery-road; and is the newest and most increasing street in the town. Many of the houses are built of brick, and it already bears a considerable resemblance to a new street in the outskirts of a modern English town.

The want of a Government House is a serious drawback. Even beyond the circle of the visiting world, the destruction of the Old House has been, in every respect a public loss. Few men possess in their own persons qualities of an order so commanding as to fit them to represent Majesty without the aid of its outward trappings. The want of a suitable residence, operates injuriously on society in many respects: it is a loss to the public, a detriment to the place, and heavy blow and great discouragement "to that dignity which ought to hedge about" the Queen's Vicegerent. The grounds on which the Old House stood, is planted with English oaks and other trees, which already afford both shade and shelter; the lawn and walks are neatly kept; the situation is pretty and convenient, commanding a view of the Flag-staff, and of the entrance into the Harbour; it is close to the Town, too, without being of the town; and it excites in all who take an interest in the place a feeling of regret that it has not yet been restored to its legitimate purpose.

The most considerable public buildings are the Britomart and Albert Barracks, having together accommodation for nearly 1000 men. The former are built on the extremity of the headland dividing Official from Commercial Bay, and form a conspicuous, but by no means an ornamental feature. The buildings are solid and substantial, mostly of scoria--a dark, grey, sombre coloured stone-- square, heavy-looking and unsightly. The Albert Barracks, the larger of the two, are built upon the same ridge, but about a quarter of a mile inland. The Stores, Hospital, Magazine, and Commissariat Offices are built of scoria. The rest of the buildings are of wood, plain in style, and of a sombre colour. The various buildings, together with the parade-ground, occupy several acres, the whole of which is surrounded by a strong scoria wall, about ten or twelve feet high, loop-holed, and with flanking angles. The position of the Albert Barracks is healthy and cheerful, overlooking the Town and Harbour, and commanding an extensive view of the sur-

[Image of page 14]

rounding country; but being commanded by a rising ground within a few hundred yards, and being within view from ships in the Harbour, and within range of their shot and shell, the site, in a military point of view, is not happily chosen. Although much more extensive than those at Wellington, the Auckland Barracks have by no means the same neat, cheerful, and compact appearance. It is not probable however that so large a portion of almost level ground will for many years be allowed to be taken from the site of a town having too generally a broken and uneven surface.

Seen from the neighbourhood of St. Paul's Church, the Harbour presents the appearance of a land-locked, lake-like, sheet of water: the Flag-staff Hill, and North Head of mound-like form, bound it on the left. Over the low neck of land which connects them appears the rugged volcanic island of Rangitoto, with its triple peaks; in front are the islands of Motukoria and Waiheki, forming the middle distance, with the range of high land which divides the Gulf of the Thames from the open sea, and which terminates in Cape Colville, forming the back ground. On the right, the outline is broken by numerous little bays, and the low headlands which divide them; the Sentinel Rock forming at all times a conspicuous object.

On the shore of the Harbour on which the Town is built, the water is shoal, and its several bays, at low water, are left uncovered. Except at high-water the landing generally along the shore is inconvenient. For several years, Auckland, in this respect, enjoyed a bad pre-eminence; but the reproach has at length been removed by the erection of a neat wooden jetty, five hundred feet in length, which affords a convenient boat landing-place at nearly all times of the tide. It also forms an ornamental feature in Official Bay, and affords to the public an agreeable promenade. At a short distance from the foot of the pier is a brick-built tank, supplied by a spring of excellent water. Pipes are laid on to the tank, and run along to the extremity of the pier, where water-casks can be filled and taken off to the shipping at all times of the tide. A quay or landing-place is also in course of construction in Commercial Bay alongside of which vessels in the coasting trade will be able to land and to take in their cargoes. On the North Shore--across the harbour, opposite the town, distant somewhat less than a mile--the

[Image of page 15]

water deepens rapidly, the landing is good, and the shore is a dry, clear, shelly beach.

There are no port charges, harbour dues, or taxes levied on shipping; and the harbour is open to all the world to enter and depart free of any charge. There is a pilot, but it is optional with masters of vessels to employ him. If not employed, no pilotage is chargeable. The port is supplied with almost everything necessary for refitting and refreshing vessels--and both ships' stores and provisions can be obtained at a moderate price.

The Waitemata is well adapted for boat-sailing. Canoes from all parts of the Gulf are continually arriving and departing; and with nearly a hundred vessels from distant ports--upwards of four hundred coasters--and nearly two thousand canoes yearly entering the port, its sheltered waters present a lively, business-like appearance. But never, perhaps, is it seen to so great an advantage as when once or twice a-year the native chief Taraia and his tribe, from the eastern boundary of the Gulf, pay Auckland a visit in their fleet of forty sail of well-manned war canoes. Drawing them up in a line upon the beach, and with their masts and sails pitching a long line of various figured tents, they encamp themselves for several days--and the neighbourhood of their camping ground presents the appearance of a fair. Pigs and potatoes, wheat, maize, melons, grapes, pumpkins, onions, flax, turkies, geese, ducks, fowls, and firewood are exposed for sale in great abundance, and meet with a ready market. But the money they receive in payment does not leave the town. For several days, the shops and stores are frequented by careful, curious, keen-eyed customers. Their "shopping" ended, they take their departure with the first fair wind, laden with spades, blankets, ironware, and clothing of various kinds; their fleet departing, homeward bound, in a body as it came, extending themselves over the surface of the harbour, with their many-shaped sails of mat and canvass wide-spread to catch the western breeze.

But to the lover of the picturesque, the Waitemata, except at particular seasons, presents no great attraction. Superior as it is in its useful qualities, in beauty of natural scenery it is very far inferior to the harbour of Port Nicholson. The country around Auckland being, for the most part, level and open, the natural

[Image of page 16]

features of the country are neither bold nor picturesque. Still the harbour is by no means devoid of natural beauty. Commonly there is an excess of wind; but not unfrequently, and in the winter season particularly, a perfect calm for a time prevails--with a deep but soft blue sky, studded here and there with fields of snow-white silvery clouds, seen through a glistening atmosphere. Thus seen, the Waitemata presents a landscape of placid beauty which it would tax the imagination to surpass. On such a day the sails and rigging of the ships are mirrored in the glassy surface of the water, each, in itself, forming a picture like a "painted ship upon a painted ocean," the glass-like smoothness of the water, being rippled only by boats and canoes lightly skimming here and there upon its azure surface. With such a scene to gaze upon, devoid as it is of striking features, and deriving its charms solely from light, colouring, and repose, the mind is filled with the fulness of its beauty. But this glistening calm is the sure forerunner of a storm. Short-lived, like all exceeding human loveliness, the unearthly brightness of the scene is sure, ere long, to be followed by a boisterous storm of wind or rain.

The Suburban District comprises the rising ground by which the town is sheltered. Many of the choicest spots are already occupied by neat-looking private houses. Overlooking the town and the harbour--and commanding a view of the Gulf, with the "Great Barrier" and "Little Barrier" Islands in the far distance, and the nearer islands which give shelter to the Waitemata--these rising grounds possess numerous pretty sites. But generally speaking the scenery in this district is neither bold nor picturesque; and is altogether unlike the general character of New Zealand scenery--comparatively bare of trees, and distinguished only by the number of its volcanic hills. The surrounding country is open, undulating-- intersected in all directions by the numerous creeks of the Waitemata and the Manukau, and easily available for agricultural purposes; but it presents few of the characteristics of a New Zealand landscape, and it has nothing to mark it as a foreign country. Nor should the scenery of New Zealand be hastily judged: for no comparison can properly be made of the scenery of countries occupying the opposite extremes of cultivation, except as to natural features. It would be unreasonable, for instance, to compare the jungle forests, the fern clad hills, and the swampy plains of a new and unsettled

[Image of page 17]

country, with the rich pastures, the green meadows, the forest glades, and the highly cultivated features of an English landscape. But in beauty of natural scenery I think New Zealand will bear comparison with England in most of its principal features--mountain, river, coast, and harbour. There is nothing in England, for instance, to equal the snow-clad, silvery-peaked Mount Egmont-- or the Alpine ranges of the Southern Island. The lower part of the Waikato River--the upper reaches of the Thames--the scenery about the narrow pass of the Manawatu--and the wild grandeur of the Wanganui, fully equal in their natural beauty, any of the river scenery of England. The scenery of the West Coast, between Waikato and Mokou, and that of the Southern Island, in the neighbourhood of Milford Haven, will bear comparison with the finest views of the British Coast: while Monganui, the Bay of Islands, Port Nicholson, Queen Charlotte's Sound, and Akaroa, are unequalled in their natural features by the harbours of Great Britain. But in lake scenery, New Zealand must yield the palm. True, indeed, there are some pretty gem-like lakes in the district of Roturua, but there is nothing in New Zealand to equal the lake scenery of Westmoreland and Cumberland, combining so exquisitely as it does the beauties of nature and art. It may be too much to say that the same degree of beauty will never be found in any part of this country: but at present, in its natural uncultivated state, New Zealand contains no such views as Grasmere, seen from Butter Crags or Longbrigg Fell--Rydal, from Rydal Park--and the thousand beauties of Derwent water, Barrowdale, and Langdale.

Strangers, however, are frequently very unreasonably disappointed with the natural beauty of New Zealand. They are landed at some port which possesses, perhaps, no great natural beauty--they never travel twenty miles from home, and they conclude that the accounts which have been written of the country--so far, at least, as beauty of scenery is concerned--have been written in a spirit of gross exaggeration. A foreigner having heard much of English scenery, put down in Lincolnshire or Suffolk; and, not travelling beyond the borders of the county, would be equally disappointed, and with as much reason.

The country in the neighbourhood of the town--comprising the isthmus which divides the two harbours--is much of it cultivated. Not a stump of a tree is left in the ground. Solid stone walls and

[Image of page 18]

quick-set hedges are generally taking the place of temporary wooden fences of posts and rails. The greater part of the land is laid down in permanent pasture. At Epsom, distant about two and a-half miles from the town, and in the Tamaki district, distant six miles, there are grass and clover paddocks as large, as rich, as well laid down, and as substantially fenced as any grass land in England. Owing to the neat and uncolonial style of cultivation, and to the absence of trees having a foreign appearance, the country around Auckland presents the appearance of a home-like English landscape. One half of the road across the isthmus, from Auckland to Onehunga, has been MacAdamised, and the remaining half is good during the greater part of the year. With scarcely any exception, the whole of the land on each side of the road is already fenced and cultivated; and the traveller, as he passes along, is never out of sight of a house.

The town and suburbs of Auckland extend across the isthmus for the greater part of a mile; and the Village of Onehunga, on the other side, spreads itself inland for nearly an equal distance: almost adjoining the suburbs of Auckland, too, is the Village of Newmarket, and the remainder of the road is studded here and there by wayside houses. At no very distant period there can be little doubt but that the opposite coasts of New Zealand will thus be connected by one continued line of street.

Upwards of forty thousand acres of land within the Borough of Auckland are the property of private individuals, held under grants from the Crown. About ten thousand acres have been cultivated, of which the greater part is substantially fenced. The most noticeable feature of the country is the large quantity of cattle to be seen grazing in the district. Nearly five thousand head, besides homes and sheep, are depastured on the isthmus alone.

Immediately adjoining the boundary of the Borough, to the southeast, is the Papakura district, extending along the eastern shores by the Manukau Harbour for a distance of ten or twelve miles: this district is bounded on the west by the waters of the Manukau which deeply indent it in various directions, with its numerous creeks. The centre of the district comprises a plain or flat valley, running inland, in an easterly direction, from the Papakura Pah, for many miles, until it reaches the Wairoa River. About one-half of this plain is densely timbered--the remaining portion being clear and

[Image of page 19]

open, but agreeably diversified with clumps and belts which give it a park-like appearance. These belts and clumps consist of a rich variety of wood; the graceful tree-fern, and the deep-green, glittering-leafed karaka, clustering, in unusual profusion, around the tall stems of the statelier forest trees. Surrounded by these ornamental woods, melodious with the song of birds, are here and there clear open spots of ground of various size, sheltered from every wind --choice sites for homestead, park, or garden. The soil of the plain is of various character--a considerable portion, consisting of a light dry vegetable soil, well adapted for clover paddocks, or for the growth of barley: about an equal quantity is dark-colored, good, strong flax land, suitable for wheat and potatoes, the remainder being rich swampy land, for the most part, capable of drainage. On the north and on the south, the plain is bounded by rugged ridges, densely covered with kauri and other timber--and it is watered by a small, but never-failing, stream of excellent water. The plain of Papakura is best seen from the highest point of the southern ridge, about four miles to the south-east of the site of the old Pah. There may be seen on a bright sunny day, a panoramic view, than which, in the whole of New Zealand, there are few more beautiful.

The isthmus alone is capable of maintaining a dense population; and the country around it is admirably fitted for carrying out the principle of concentration. Vain have hitherto been all attempts to find its equal in New Zealand. At six other points, in various parts of the country, have Settlements been planted. Five of them have been founded by Colonizing Companies, systematically, and with all the zeal and vigour which public spirit and private enterprise can supply: no pains have been spared to render them attractive, and to draw the stream of emigration to their shores: and yet, at this moment, nearly one-third of the whole European population of the Islands of New Zealand is to be found within a radius of ten miles of Auckland. With a Revenue at the single Port of Auckland alone equal to that of the whole of the New Zealand Company's Settlements, and with about five hundred vessels of various sizes, and nearly two thousand canoes yearly entering the port, it is obvious now to all--since prejudice and party-feeling have passed away-that "this neighbourhood combines advantages for a large and prosperous agricultural and commercial Settlement, not elsewhere to be found in this colony,"