H26 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



the Anglican churches stands St. Paul's Cathedral, in the Thorndon quarter, but St. 

 Peter's, rebuilt in Willis Street in 1880, has a spire one hundred and thirty-five feet high. 

 For internal finish, however, St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, situated on the Terrace, 

 unquestionably bears off the palm. The other Presbyterian Church of St. John's is in 

 Willis Street, and possesses a very fine organ and an efficient choir. 



One of the handsomest buildings of Wellington is the Hospital, erected on a rather 

 bleak situation on the hill-side near the Adelaide Road. Not far off is the wooden 

 structure of the Lunatic Asylum, both edifices, along with the Gaol and the Armed 

 Constabulary Depot, being located in the Te Aro quarter of the city. The places of 

 public entertainment consist of the Theatre Royal, the Princess Theatre in Tory Street, 

 St. George's Hall, and the Masonic, Rechabite and Oddfellows' Halls, as well as the 

 Columbia Skating Rink. The Te Aro Opera House in Manners Street was indisputably 

 the finest building of the kind in the colony, but unfortunately it was burned to the 

 ground in the beginning of 1888. All the leading banks and insurance companies are 

 worthily represented, while the industries of the place comprise several frozen meat and 

 export companies, two foundries, tanneries, soap and candle works, coffee mills, sash and 

 door factories, brick, drain and tile works, a coach factory, saw-mills, a flour-mill, woollen- 

 mills, breweries, boot factories, and cordial, biscuit and confectionery works. A private 

 company supplies Wellington with gas, and another company has furnished a capital 

 system of trams, extending from the Railway Station at Pipitea Point, at one end of 

 the city, to Newtown, at its other extremity, whence anyone in search of the picturesque 

 may penetrate to Island Bay, scarcely a mile distant. The Island Bay Park Company 

 has constructed a race-course and a people's park on the flat near the beach, and 

 successful race meetings are held here three or four times a year. Still, it is at the 

 Hutt, about ten miles distant from the other side of the city, that the Wellington 

 Racing Club holds its periodical meetings, and that the annual contest for the Wellington 

 Cup always takes place. 



The people of " The Empire City " possess in full measure the Briton's love for 

 the water, and with such a fine harbour it would be passing strange were it otherwise. 

 They possess two swimmimg baths and two first-class rowing and boating clubs, while 

 the annual regatta is quite a feature in its way. The Corporation has obtained for the 

 city a magnificent water-supply. Originally, the water was procured by a diversion of 

 the Kaiwarra stream through a tunnel into a reservoir in Polhill Gully, up the hills at 

 the back of the city, but as this source was deemed insufficient, an inexhaustible supply 

 from the Wainui-o-mata River, sixteen miles distant, has been provided at a cost of one 

 hundred and thirty thousand pounds. 



Wellington is by no means deficient in pleasure and recreation grounds. First in 

 attractiveness come the Botanical Gardens, at the back of the Terrace, and approached 

 by the Tinakori Road, or Sydney Street. They cover an area of one hundred acres of 

 hilly ground, originally dense bush, and still containing many clumps of native timber 

 in its primeval state. The Basin Reserve in Sussex Square is the favourite resort for 

 cricket and foot-ball, and the people are intensely fond of both games. Newtown Park 

 is another reserve of a similar kind, but of more recent formation. No one who visits 

 Wellington fails to hear of McNab's Gardens at the Lower Hutt, or neglects to see 



