page 29

From a Smoker Window.

(Continued from p. 23.)

Southland mines a wonderful brown coal, as well as gaining a rich harvest from crops and pastures. And then, after a glance across to the mountains and bays of tempting Stewart Island, away up to Lumsden for the lake trip over Te Anau. Now comes the Milford Walk to Milford Sound, declared by those who have made it to be the finest walk in the world, as Milford, with its Mitre Peak, is doubtless the most lovely Sound.

* * *

Back to the train at Lumsden, and on to Kingston to join the lake steamer for the picturesque run to Queenstown, headquarters of all this wonderful Lakeland District. The sheer beauty of Queenstown's surroundings is indescribable—the deep blue of its clear water; the bold range of the Remarkables; the. lovely Park; the head - of - the - Lake steamer trip with music and dancing as we glide past isles of romance; the run past the waterfalls of the Bridal Veil, to Paradise; and the breathtaking drive to Skippers—all this has to be lived to be understood. And then by car through the gold-enchanted Kawarau Gorge to Cromwell, and down by rail through the unique rock-bastioned Otago Central to Dunedin, or over the Lindis Pass for a quick run, past Waimate and the great hydro-electric works of Waitaki to rejoin the north-bound express at Stud-holme Junction.

* * *

From Christchurch northward, train and motor take tired people to Hanmer, as the old threedecker used to take them “to the Islands of the blest.” Hanmer, up among the foothills, is a place of quiet rest, good golfing, excellent accommodation, thermal waters, and special medical treatments.

And now the last run takes us by train to Parnassus and then by motor through Kaikoura, a township of rare attractiveness, healthily-set between the sea and the mountains, and then up the charming East Coast road to Marlborough—that land of promise and rich performance, to the still repose of the deep-water Picton Port, for cruises in the deeply-indented and pleasantly-varied Marlborough Sounds.

I have given these three chats about travel in New Zealand to stir some of you out of your stay-at-home contentment, and to make you make the effort to go about and see your own country. Of course, your opinion might not agree with mine. You might prefer Hanmer and I might sigh for Mt. Cook. You might want a seaside like Timaru, and I might want a land-slide like Skippers. You might long for a sword-fish fight off Russell, and I might be happy with a whitebait net at Grey. But look them over and take your pick—from glowworms that put the stars to flight, to hot baths of healing and pleasure; from mountain to lake; from forest to waterfall; from one end to the other of this wonderful country; and until you have seen them all you are no judge of relative merits, and you can't love your country as you should because you don't know all its loveliness. To paraphrase the stone injunction at Burke's Pass, “Take the word of a child of the misty gorges”—see New Zealand first, and see it, as so much of it can best be seen, from the Smoker Window.

At Christie's famous auction mart in London, not long since, was offered to the highest bidder an old English tobacco-box in solid silver, beautifully chased, and with an exquisitely painted female figure on the lid. A thing of beauty! Originally it may have cost five or six guineas. Under the hammer it realised £35. Years hence it may fetch double. Genuine antiques usually appreciate in value. Such tobacco boxes were quite common in the 18th century. Nowadays most men carry pouches, and are (rightly) more concerned about the quality of their tobacco than about its container. Brands innumerable there are, a prime favourite with 20th century smokers being “toasted New Zealand”—remarkable no less for its soothing and comforting properties than for its comparative freedom from the health-destroying nicotine—eliminated by toasting. The five brands of this beautiful tobacco—Cut Plug No. 10 (Bullshead), Navy Cut No. 3 (Bulldog), Cavendish, Riverhead Gold and Desert Gold—are in universal request. There's no tobacco like “toasted.” But see you get the real thing. Avoid worthless imitations.*