Page:Our New Zealand Cousins.djvu/162

 Square, was our caravanserai. No home could have been more comfortable and no host more hospitable. Warner is a host in himself, and his gentle-mannered nieces do the honours of his house with a grace and geniality that makes one feel sorry to leave the home-like atmosphere of the place.

The autumn winds, too, had swept the leaves from the deciduous trees, of which there are more here than in any New Zealand town; and the bare branches added to the English look of the place. Altogether Christchurch is the most English-looking town we have yet seen at the Antipodes; and, as it was the object of the fathers who founded the settlement, to transplant a slice of England bodily into their new garden ground, they are to be congratulated on having so successfully accomplished their purpose.

Notwithstanding the prevailing cry of dull times, the streets were thronged with cosily-clad and well-fed crowds; the shops were full of customers; the theatre was well patronized; and a general well-to-do air was apparent everywhere.

I only found one croaker. He complained bitterly of the bad times; but when I asked him where lay the blame, he was rather hazy as to how to allocate it.

"Was it the Government?"

"Well, no! He believed they were doing their best. Of course there used to be more public works going on; but then these were finished, and no Government could always be putting up public buildings."