Page:Our New Zealand Cousins.djvu/26

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10
Our New Zealand Cousins.

who cries "Peace, peace," when there is no peace.

What has been done in Auckland could be almost infinitely outdone by Sydney with her greater wealth and wider commerce. A trust established in Sydney for the same purposes as the one in Auckland, would in a few years be enormously wealthy, and the reputation of the port, and the public convenience would be a millionfold enhanced. The vested interests of a selfish few, into whose hands the beautiful foreshores of the harbour have been allowed to fall, and who will do nothing whatever to move in accordance with the spirit of the times, cannot for ever be allowed to bar the way of national progress.

Queen Street is the chief artery of Auckland. It runs up a natural valley somewhat after the manner of Pitt Street, Sydney, only the street is much wider, and now that a Building Act is in operation, very handsome structures are rising on every hand. Evidences of the old régime are yet apparent in very unsightly ramshackle verandahs here and there. I observe several necessary conveniences for pedestrians at modest intervals. Here again the Maori city scores a point against the metropolis of New South Wales.

During our visit a gum warehouse and bedding factory took fire. Such is the splendid nature of the water supply, and the efficiency of the fire brigades, that in less than thirty minutes from the first clanging of the great bells the fire was extinct. Bell towers are a prominent feature in