Two comfortable and well-managed clubs exercise the proverbial hospitality of colonists to properly accredited arrivals from England. In addition to which the Auckland Yacht Club is an association from which all information as to both cruising and racing will readily be obtained.
The history of yachting in New Zealand is of but recent date; for, although for many years races have taken place and regattas been held annually, the competitors were rather the cutters, schooners, and scows that did the coasting trade of the colony before the Union Steamship Company inaugurated their line of well-found, fast and regular coasting steamers to and from every port of New Zealand. These were assisted by the boats and crews of Her Majesty's ships, whose presence was, and still is, ardently in request on Regatta days. The era of pleasure yachts dates from the last eight or ten years, and the Auckland Yacht Club now occupies, in the number of yachts belonging to the squadron, the first place among the Australasian Colonies. The club has one hundred members and the register of yachts exceeds sixty, which does not by any means exhaust the number of vessels used solely as pleasure-boats in the harbour.
Colonial yachts, like the great majority of colonial incomes, are not large, and nearly all the boats used are built locally. Shipbuilding is a trade extensively carried on at Auckland. During the year 1875, when the prosperity of that part of the colony was at its highest, not less than forty vessels were built, their aggregate tonnage being 1,930. A few steam yachts, such as the 'Sunbeam,' the 'St. George,' and the R.Y.S. schooner 'Blanche' with auxiliary screw, used by Sir James Fergusson when Governor of the colony, have cruised in New Zealand waters; but a vessel of 20 tons burden is considered among the Tritons of colonial pleasure craft. The 'Thetis,' a small yacht of 10 or 12 tons, was built on the Clyde, and was brought out by five gentlemen, her owners, to the Antipodes.
Perhaps the most interesting yacht now sailing in New Zealand waters is the 'Mascotte,' both on account of the circumstances under which she was built, as well as for the remarkable success which has attended her during her sailing career.
In the year 1890 a strike in the shipping trade broke out in Australia, and after a few days was extended to other trades connected with shipping, finally spreading to New Zealand. During the enforced idleness of certain shipbuilding hands at Lyttelton, the port of Christchurch, some of the men bethought themselves of laying down the lines of a yacht for themselves. The 'Mascotte,' commenced under these circumstances, was found, when finished, to be an exceptionally fast sailer. Within eighteen months of her completion she was manned and sailed by her owners in six regattas, netting for them 395l., besides numerous smaller prizes in club races—not a bad outcome of work which, at the time, was doubtless done with no little amount of grumbling, because no wages were coming in weekly on account of it. The result, however, has been a very considerable falling off in the entries for the races last year. For the Champion Cup at Lyttelton only the 'Tarifa,' rated 8, the 'Mima,' 10, and the 'Maritana,' 14, put in an appearance. The First Class Championship race for 100l. at Wellington, the capital, was among those secured by the 'Mascotte.'
It is, however, in the cruising opportunities to be found in New Zealand that readers of the Badminton Library will be chiefly interested. Taking Auckland as headquarters, it may safely be asserted that throughout the season the yachtsman may lie in a different creek, harbour, or estuary every night that he is out.
He may coast up the north shore till he reaches Waiwera, where he will find an excellent hotel. He can bathe in a large and luxurious hot swimming bath, formed from the thermal springs rising close to the sea, or he may go on to the beautiful island of Kawau, once the property of Sir George Grey, which has been so graphically described by Mr. Froude in 'Oceana.' He may lie in the harbour of Bon Accord, which indents the island a mile and a half, and affords shelter in all weathers.
On landing he will find planted by the erstwhile owner of Kawau every sort of tree, shrub, and rare plant that will live either at Madeira or the Cape.
He will see the wallaby from Australia, deer, sheep, and wild goats. The beautiful Pohutukawa, or Christmas-tree, covered at Christmas-tide with scarlet blossom, feathering down to the clear blue sea till its lowest branches are covered by the rising tide, so that oysters cluster on them with all the appearance of being the natural fruit. In the rocky depths of the clear water great lazy stingarees may be seen floating along with the tide, like sheets of brown paper flapping idly from side to side in the tide race. A perfectly appointed English country gentleman's house fronts the harbour. Its lawn and park-like slopes are timbered with the forest trees of Europe. The opossum of Australia may be seen nimbly springing from the boughs of an English oak to those of the silver tree of South Africa, the whole being a combination of the flora and fauna of all continents, bewildering to the brain of the naturalist.
As the total population of the island is thirty-two, and consists of the family and dependents of the owner, visitors, unless they wish to run the risk of abusing hospitality which is always cordially accorded, must bring a sufficiency of provisions with them.