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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Wellington Provincial District]

General

page break

General.

The City of Wellington occupies the shores of the western arm of Port Nicholson, admittedly the best harbour in New Zealand—the best, but very far from the prettiest. In the quality of beauty, Auckland harbour is vastly superior, being, in fact, unapproached by any in the Australasian Colonies, save that of Sydney. Still, notwithstanding the forbidding frown of its dark circlet of almost bare hills, the harbour of the Capital is justly an object of complacent pride. On a fine, clear day in winter—a blessing not very uncommon even in breezy Wellington—the visitor is moved to no mean measure of praise. At the narrow but perfectly safe entrance, the lighthouse and the signal-station show the only signs of civilisation. For aught else that can be seen, Wellington might still be the wild waste of a hundred years ago. Even the pilot-station needs to be pointed out as it is passed, and here a moderately keen eye can discover the first sign of cultivation. The passage through which the harbour is entered is less than a mile in width, and about two miles long; and at the innermost point stand the frowning forts—” our sure defence.” The harbour itself is about eight miles from east to west, by a varying width of three to four miles, the area being about twenty thousand acres. There is good anchorage throughout, the depth of water varying from six to fourteen fathoms.

Botanical Gardens.

Botanical Gardens.

Safely past the forts, the stranger seeks his vessel's bridge, or some point of vantage, and finds a great deal to attract his attention, and call forth exclamations of admiration and surprise. Straight ahead is Petone, where the first settlers laid out (but soon abandoned) the town of Britannia in 1840; on the right is the pretty Hutt Valley, bounded by the snow-clad mountains of the Rimutake Range, and on the left the Capital is in full view. The forests of masts and funnels at the wharves, with the tall hydraulic cranes — some standing like sentinels, others ooiselessly and swiftly elevating huge loads of merchandise—give to the place an appearance of prosperity not to be seen elsewhere in New Zealand: for Wellington, having the only central position of great importance in the Colony, is the main transhipping port—a fact which is daily becoming more widely known and more fully recognised.

Among the prominent buildings which never fail to attract the eye of the stranger entering Wellington by land or sea are the Government Insurance Offices, a handsome red brick pile of three lofty stories; the General Post page 214 office, similarly occupying the main frontage of the adjoining block; the splendid three-story offices of the Harbour Board, the Government Buildings (the largest wooden structure of its kind in the world), the Supreme Court, the offices of the Education Board, the Free Library, and the mercantile houses of Messrs. Sargood,
Lambton Quay, Looking South

Lambton Quay, Looking South

Son and Ewen, Messrs Briscoe, McNeil and Co., Messrs. Sharland and Co., Messrs. W. and G. Turnbull and Co., and Messrs. Bing, Harris and Co. These and many others may be seer from the harbour, but the flatness of the business parts of the city hides some of the finest buildings, Private residences are dotted about in almost every conceivable position among the hills which surround the town. From the harbour it seems impossible that there can be roads and streets giving access to them all, but a closer inspection proves the contrary.

The stranger, on landing, soon discovers that no very commendable foresight was displayed in the laying out of Wellington. The streets are straight and rectilineal where the natural configuration of the land first settled upon would admit of that arrangement; but they are much too narrow, the majority of them being only about fifty feet wide. Fortunately, the blocks in Te Aro are large enough to admit of chain-wide streets being run through them. In some places this has been done with admirable effect. The good example should be followed without unnecessary delay. Wellington might be made one of the prettiest of New Zealand towns, but to accomplish that desirable end, very great alteration would be needed. In many parts these alterations are in progress, Of late years very much better taste has been displayed in the architecture of houses, churches, schools, and in fact all kinds of buildings, The use of bricks or other rigid materials is not only encouraged, but enforced in some parts of the city.

One very serious drawback to the appearance of Wellington must certainly exist for many years to come, if not throughout centuries, and that is the irregularity of Lambton Quay, its oldest and still principal retail business thoroughfare. To have made Lambton Quay perfectly straight throughout its entire length would certainly have been a work of much difficulty fifty years ago, but the smallest measure of forethought would have revealed the desirability of laying it out in such manner that as time should pass it might be made semi-circular.
Lambton Quay—Another View.

Lambton Quay—Another View.

eliptical, semi-decagonal, or at any rate some shape for which the English language provides a word. Even the term “irregular” but faintly describes the bungles in the surveying of this important business street. In some places it is objectionably narrow, in others exceptionally page 215 wide, but nowhere is there a graceful turn, a bold stretch, or a handsome entire block. This is to be deplored, and should be made up for in every way possible. Wellington should remember her importance as the capital of a progressive colony. The people of New Zealand have abundant right to expect their leaders and exemplars at Wellington to seize every opportunity of improving the appearance of the Capital City. The present Government has recognised this claim in various ways, as witness the improvements, internal and external, at the Government and Parliamentary Buildings; and, doubtless, as time goes on much more will be done. During the last few years, extensive alterations have been made to Government House and the surrounding grounds; and the Supreme Court, with its pretty shrubberies, is certainly an ornament to the city. The Te Aro Railway Station, though not built of brick, as it should have been, is an exceedingly creditable structure, and a distinct advance on everything else in that part of the city; and the Government Printing Office, when completed, will certainly be a handsome building—a most wonderful improvement on the old, tumble-down place of a few years ago.
Manners Street.

Manners Street.