160 Willis’s Guide Book of New Route fok Tourists.

Wanganui

P.O. —Open from 9 till 5.

T.O. —Open from 9 till 5, and 7 till 8. Sundays, 5 till 5.30; holi-days, 9 till 10.

M.O.— Open daily from 9 till 4 ; Saturdays, 9 till 6.

Hotels. —Rutland (Macarthy), Steam Packet (Poster), Victoria(Chavannes), and Commercial (Cattell). There are several other goodhotels, boarding-houses, and private lodgings.

Clubs. —Wanganui, Cosmopolitan,St. John’s ; allnon-residential.

Churches. —Ang., Christ Church, Victoria Avenue; S. John’s,Harrison Street; R.C., S. Mary’s, Victoria Avenue; Pres., S. Paul’s,Victoria Avenue; Wes. Trinity, Victoria Avenue; Bap., IngestreStreet; and others.

Christ Church contains some good stained windows and interestingmemorials. It has reverent choral services. The victims of the Gil-fillan tragedy are buried in the church-yard. There are other monu-ments, relating to the old fighting days, adjacent.

S. Mary’s has a handsome sanctuary with pretty side-chapels.The services are conducted with great care, and the music is excellent.

Wanganui is built on an extensive flat on the R. bank of theWanganui River. Two sandhills, whose slopes are planted and laidout as recreation grounds, stand nearly in the middle of the town. Onthe northernmost of these, Puke-namu (Sandfly Hill) formerly stoodthe Rutland Stockade, which contained two large block-housesoccupied by 200 soldiers. Oil the southerly one, Patu-puwhao, stoodthe York Stockade, in which were buildings garrisoned by another100 men. These Stockades were harbours of refuge for the inhabitantson several occasions of real danger and of false alarms. It was at theRutland Stockade that the young Maoris who murdered the Gilfillanfamily were duly hanged in the face of a large force of angry natives.In 1887 the last of these buildings was pulled down, and a Band-standerected to commemorate the Queen’s Jubilee. A strong protest wasmade by some of the old settlers—civil and military; but the Vandalswere too strong. The band-stand has scarcely ever been used, and isnow in a ruinous condition.

Victoria Avenue, the principal street of Wanganui, leads fromthe Bridge through the middle of the town, passing between the Puke-namu and Patu-puwhao Hills, now thickly covered with plantations.The Banks of N.Z., National, Colonial, and N.S. Wales are in thelower part of the Avenue. The Post Office and Rutland Hotel areat its intersection with Ridgway Street. On the N. side of the Avenueabove this are Christ Church, S. Mary’s, S. Paul’s, and TrinityChurches. Next to S. Paul’s Church is the Technical School , andbehind that (in Guyton Street) the Infant School, which welldeserves a visit by those interested in the clever management of littlechildren. There are 320 on the roll.