DESCRIPTIVE SKETCH OF NEW ZEALAND. 



I 121 



the place from a colonial point of view, and the possession of a splendid harbour, with 

 deep water right up to the fore-shore. When, in recognition of its central position, the seat 

 of Government was removed there from Auckland in 1865, both the advantages we have 

 indicated, coupled at last with the presence of the machinery of General Administration, 

 quickly transformed the insignificant "fishing village, somewhere in Cook Strait" as it 



THE QUEEN S WHARF, WELLINGTON. 



was contemptuously styled into the fourth city of the colony. Wellington still holds only 

 fourth rank in size and importance, but at its present rate of progress it bids fair, ere 

 long, to dispute the title of Christchurch to stand next in order of magnitude to Auck- 

 land and Dunedin. Its southern competitor, however, is no laggard in the race of 

 advancement ; it still has a much larger industrial population than the " Empire City," 

 and in point of artificial beauty it is far superior. Still, the possession -of "a corner 

 lot on the ocean highway" countervails many drawbacks, and when one notes at 

 Wellington how the energy and ingenuity of man have triumphed together there over 

 the parsimony of Nature, the future becomes radiant with promise. 



An area of fifty-two acres of ground, reclaimed from what was once the beach, 

 flanked by Lambton Quay, is crowded by bonded stores and warehouses, the Supreme 

 and Resident Magistrate's Courts, the Police Station, the Railway Station and its goods- 

 shed, and the General Government buildings ; while Lambton Quay loses the significa- 

 tion of its title through being thrust back from the fore-shore. Farther along, the 

 Wellington and the Manawatu Railway Company has reclaimed a tract of twenty acres 

 additional, between the Thorndon Baths and Kaiwarra, as the site for its own railway 

 station and goods-sheds, and on the other side of the city, between the Queen's Wharf 

 and Oriental Hay, the Harbour Board has reclaimed another vacant instalment of fifty- 



