V 
A CASE OF BETTERMENT 
215 
addressed me by name, and reminded me that, close to 
the train line, we had passed through my husband’s 
farm, which years ago he had sold for £10 an acre, 
some of which are now worth ^500 each. Several other 
old soldiers came to meet me on the road, some of them 
now well-to-do farmers. One, with his carriage and a 
good pair of horses, insisted on driving me to Mr. 
Livingstone’s farm, the best and largest in the district, 
which in richness would vie with the finest English 
holding. Here I met Marian Bleazel, my dear and 
faithful friend who had lived with me for so many 
years in Victoria and New Zealand. She took me 
all over the pretty garden, and into the orchard, where 
the apple trees were laden with fruit, and two crab- 
apple trees were breaking down with the weight of 
their crimson berries. I had lunch off junket and thick 
Devonshire cream, and did not wonder when the two 
visitors there from Napier told me that they had gained 
a stone in weight in one month. Everything was 
home-grown and home-made. 
I went on from there by coach to Opunake, which 
we reached about seven, after a very rough drive. It 
had been an oppressively hot day and the air was 
heavy with dense smoke from bush fires. The sun 
went down like a ball of flame, but the little coast 
town was all conleur de rose for me, for here I met my 
best friends in New Zealand, Major and Mrs. Tuke. 
At one time during the war this was a very im- 
portant town, and a great many troops were stationed 
here. The walls of a very strong redoubt remain, and 
some of the old military buildings are still left standing. 
People even now predict a great future for this town ; 
but at present it is not by any means an exciting 
place to settle down in, the only beauty being its 
mountain, for here you see Mount Egmont from the 
