The motor car has superseded the gig and sulky, and the large number of automobiles in the streets indicate prosperity. Instead of slow-moving bullock teams and drays, one finds large motor lorries used for conveying produce to the centres. Large consignments of dairy and pasture products are continually arriving there, and the fact that there is a daily steam service between Whangarei and Auckland, will show how important the district is becoming, as a feature in New Zealand’s commercial development.
The importance of the North is not confined to its agricultural enterprises, and we find a mineral wealth which will one day become one of our main assets. Gold, silver, copper, mercury and other minerals have been successfully prospected, and energy and capital will soon create new interests for the speculator.
Whangarei is a good business town, and its commercial men are progressive to an extent which surprised me after my experience of Auckland and Wellington. With their assured positions in the groove of success—for it is a groove—many Auckland business men have lost the keenness which characterises the work of these pioneer developers of North Auckland.
There is no atmosphere of the one-horse-village, about Whangarei, and there is a happy condition of systematic treatment in offices and workshops andPage 12
