CHAPTER VII.
The s.s. Rotomahana—Opotiki, a military settlement—A sensible system of emigration—Faults of the Sydney system—A chance for capital—The town of Gisborne—Napier—Public spirit—Projected harbour works—Napier, the Malta of the southern seas—An attenuated army.
We left Auckland on a Thursday afternoon in the Rotomahana. She is seldom driven at her full speed, as the vibration is somewhat excessive. The catering is first-class, and the army of stewards are more than ordinarily attentive and obliging. They are quite military in the precision of their movements. At the sound of a handbell they range themselves in position. At another signal the covers are removed with a flourish. At each fresh signal some fresh manœuvre is repeated with a precise exactitude which would rejoice the heart of a rigid disciplinarian, and which, in good sooth, contributes much to the comfort of the passengers, and entirely does away with the usual scrambling and disorder at meals on shipboard.
At the bottom of the deep bay which trends southward from Auckland's spacious harbour, and a little to the westward of East Cape, lies the small military settlement of Opotiki. It was formed during the war, each settler in exchange for the fee
