Gisborne.

The country on the outskirts of Gisborne, with its healthy looking stock and smiling farms, impresses the visitor. Given better facilities, such as only our railways can provide, the Gisborne district will progress by leaps and bounds. Many of the streets of Gisborne are named after British statesmen. The main thoroughfare is appropriately named after the Hon. W. E. Gladstone. For some years an electric tramway service (on the storage battery principle), has been in operation. Near the upper part of the town the rivers Taruheru and Waimata converge, and become the Turanganui River. The mouth has been dredged, and by the help of a retaining wall it is hoped to keep a deep water channel clear of silt, and enable coastal steamers of a fair tonnage to use the port. The present harbour improvements are of some magnitude.

To the historian, the monument on the Kaiti Beach, marking the spot where the first European, Captain James Cook, landed on 8th October, 1769, is of special interest. Across the Bay, misnamed “Poverty Bay” by Cook, because he had difficulty in securing fresh provisions, lies Young Nick's Head, a further reminder of the famous navigator. Young Nick (or Nicholas) was the first member of Cook's crew to sight land.