If I escape the traffic of this damned city I may survive to be killed in London. That however is by the way. I have had to miss the Tahiti's mail this morning direct to Wgton through being out with Jean ever since I got here, but you oughtn't to get this very much later per Auckland.

What Tasman wanted to go and discover such a sea for beats me. Friday afternoon was very bright & charming, & I patrolled the deck till I couldn't see the Tararuas and the road to Gollan's Valley & Fitzroy Bay & the Karori Beach any more, and then I went down to the Saloon & had a good meal, on the principle of getting in hard & solid while the going was good. This was just as well, because I didn't get another good meal till breakfast on Monday. The Straits were all right, but when we got out past what I suppose was Cape Farewell the oscillating motion started. So I thought I would anyhow work off a few arrears of sleep; but when the steward politely intimated that dinner was now on I decided that a little fruit diet would be the best thing for me. I had a two-berth cabin, but had it to myself, which was a great help to my self respect. In the night the wobbling got worse — I not that I knew, being asleep — so much so that it was only with considerable difficulty I saved myself from being precipitated out of the bath next morning at t each reverse roll. Then I leant against the wall & felt very ill. Here I must insert a tribute to the Union Co's baths — not very long, but very deep they are & you get them almost full of hot salt water & wallow. Lest you should soften into extreme hedonism, a good thick heavy cold freshwater show is also provided. So however wonky I felt, I always turned up for my bath in the morning. I forgot to mention the bath-steward, a polite well-spoken young feller, who called me every morning & presented me with a clean towel which I only used once. I was the first to be called, which if it had the disadvantage of get dragging me out of bed at ¼ to 7 every morning, gave me first chance of making the bath-room wet. I dare say that passed on my wet towels also to the next blokes, but that didn't worry me. Such was the loftiness & integrity of the my bath-steward's character & general bearing, such the unfailing tact of his morn- ing observations on the weather, that I felt impelled to give him ½ crown on parting from him. But of course what I spent on the roundabouts I saved on the swings — I mean I didn't need to tip the table-steward much.

To get back to the chronology of the trip — Satur- day was a ruinous day, & I lay stretched out in my nice new dressing-gown on my bunk all day very weak & pitiful to behold, still on a meagre fruit diet. Sunday dawned finer & I got as far as putting on my clothes as far as my waistcoat and reading a few light frothy stories, and that just about finished me off again. However Monday was perfect & I leapt up on deck with alacrity and mood save with a firm head, dashed into breakfast with vim, & demolished shell stewed pears, omelette, bacon, toast, marmalade, scones & coffee with the ut- most ferocity. Then I spent the morning reading a girl's thesis I didn't have time for before I left & making sage notes on same; & then I dashed down to lunch & made extensive ravages in that direction. They feed you well. Then I read a bit; & then a shadow passed over the sun & the wind rose, & the ship began to pitch & toss like one of the unfortunate small boats in stories in the Bible. Well, I decided I would stick it out, so I strode up & down the bounding bank in the spray, while first one end & then the other kept falling, falling, till the top deck was nearly under water. W'd Lord Nelson have gone below?, I sternly asked myself; then wherefore you? However it wasn't only the up & downness of the boat, but the wind was cold & cutting & the decks were wet; & the smoking room I didn't fancy, & the music-room was so far in the bow that it got the worst of the swings. So after following the adventures of Felix the Cat in the Auckland Herald there, so far as possible at considerable risk to my stomach I decided there was nothing for it, & went below. That was the finish. Up till then I had been squeam-ish, but not in pain; but this night was dumb misery. But in good time I slept, & Tuesday once more dawned delightful & I breakfasted once more with heartiness, amusing myself thereafter in common with my fellow-travellers looking for Australia. The only people I knew on board were that ghastly Castle gang, who I discovered were also going Home on the Osterley. I decided that a good deal of my time & effort wd hence- forth be given up to avoiding them; but as it happened that caused me no difficulty. Una is not so bad — I mean she's bearable, if you can get past her face; though she does- n't strike me apart from her special knack as having the intelligence of an ox; but as for the elder one — my oath! The blood congealed in my ven veins whenever I caught sight of her. Luckily Sydney is big enough to lose them in, & if I can get pally with a steward on board the Osterley & avoid their table all may yet be well. I'm not saying that they mayn't be a morally impeccable family, you understand, or full of good intentions & the milk of human kindness of a City Council standard of purity, pasteurised & full cream, so you needn't come back with any moral reflections; but it's their grin that knock knocks me out.

Well, after a while Australia turned up, not at all like what its photo on the map; so what use maps are I'm damned if I see, & after a while we got into Sydney Harbour, which I endeavoured to gaze at with intelligent apprecia- tion. One side of the Heads is impressive, the other less so; but as the whole place, except the Heads, is covered with houses & flats & factories, its beauty struck me as a thing which might possibly have to sink in. Anyway I was partly engaged during the traverse of said harbour in mopping up a scratch lunch; a meal which caused the stewards considerable annoyance, as it stopped their getting off in the afternoon, & was anyhow an unprecedented thing. Such was the roughness of the trip, you understand, that the boat was about 6 hours late. And then, for some inscrutable reason, it may be because the captain had had too much lunch, it stood in the middle of the harbour & turned round in circles before it could make up its mind to drag itself to a wharf. However we got off at last & through the Customs (very free & easy birds — What've you got in here? says one of them to me. Clothes, I says. You haven't got any samples? says he. Now what wd I be carrying samples for? says I. Right, says he, & scrawls chalk all over my bags. I then found that I had nothing but ½ crowns for tipping porters; so I gave one to one bloke, who said he usually got about two bob. I cdn't be bothered calling him a liar as I was weighed down with my bag fast-clutched & tins of biscuits, camera, lemons, coats etc, etc; but I got a taxi-driver to change ½ cr. & gave the next bloke 6d- Then he stood round and wailed. So as his wailing afflicted my ears, I gave him 3d more, & he stood round & wailed still louder. So I gave him 6d more & took back 3d & consigned him to blazes. I was also diddled by the taxi driver. The taxis are all run by companies, & I thought, well, it can't be far to the YMCA., & this will get me there & be no more expensive than a carrier, so of in I hops; but I couldn't make out why the driver put my luggage in the front seat with him, so that he had to leave the door open to the imminent danger of all & sundry as he dashed through the traffic (So far as transport & transit is concerned, the whole of Sydney appears to be one vast murder gang — the cars & lorries & taxis dash over the most crowded crossings at about 30 m.p.h. — you just close your eyes murmur a prayer & throw yourself into the seething tide.) However during the ride I had a look at a little pamphlet that the taxi-car provided extolling their virtues & the cardinal position they occupied in the municipal economy of Sydney, & discovered that luggage carried in the drivers seat cost 1/- extra. This though there was room for about 2 tons in the seat with me. Apart from this the taxis are cheap enough; same price for 1–5 persons; 1/3 for first third of mile & then so much a minute. But it cost me 4/3 to the Y.M.C.A., which was pure waste as it turned out. Keith is a bit of a mutt. Didn't he say that the Y.M. was 27/6 a week bed & breakfast? Either someone was pulling his leg, as usual, or if he stayed here at that rate he was a pretty clever bloke. I prefer the former alternative myself. 39 bob they charge for bed and breakfast & neither bed nor breakfast is anything to skite about. Upon my heart & soul; I got a bit of a shock when the lad at the desk told me! Well, I said, after considerable discussion of the point, & out of family loyalty but not with much confidence & putting Keithles for- ward as an authority, I'll leave my bags here if you don't mind & amble down town & see if I can't pick up something better. I bought an evening paper which was nothing but headlines & pictures & was consequently no help at all, & tried a place to which an agent had given me a card at the wharf at 30 bob, but they were full up, other people without brilliant brothers having hopped in first. So I rung up Jean to see if she knew of any place or what the prices they charged were; & apparently they are all sky high. So as it was getting late I bugged back to the Y.M. & said I wd stay a night anyway at 6/6. They're a rotten mean crowd — if you don't clear out by 10 next morning they charge you for an another night; they give you two measly rolls of butter for breakfast and the menu says, More butter, 1d extra!!! & serviette 1d extra!!! My oath! I thought the Australians were a generous race. I trotted back to this other place next morning, as per instructions, the owner of same saying that she cd do something for me then; but all she had was ½ a room at 35/-. So I thought after considering the matter for the rest of the day at inter- vals that I would lose in shifting what I wd gain & that anyhow I had a room to myself at the Y.M., with a key, & that I cd lock the door; & that there was hot water all day & night for baths & showers; so I think I will let things go at that. I have a hot bath every morning to take it out of them, anyhow; with a cold shower lest I shd lost my prist- ine Spartan character. But Lor' love a duck! 1d extra for more butter. I have a good mind to go and buy ½ lb of my own & consume Auntie's excellent biscuits in the secrecy of my own room. I shall probably do this at whatever expense. Meals are very expensive here too — you can't get fish & chips for less than 2/-; tea & toast 1/3 & so on. I reckon its up to Keith to send me the difference between 27/6 & 39/- — 12/6. He can send it c/o Bank of N.Z. London.

Well, to get away from material things. (By the way you can see what a nuisance it is being a man of means, having to consider keeping expensive rugs & cameras & dinner-suits & biscuits & dressing gowns & so forth under lock & key. The curse of great possessions has settled down on me. If my Lord called me now to follow him, what sort of answer cd I make?) Jean had been expecting me to ring her all day, as she was on duty; & as she was off at night she met me after tea; and we said simultaneously "Well, what do you want to do let's go to Chaliapin!" So we went. Well, by gum, he's worth crossing the Tasman Sea for. Wonderful, marvellous — about 7 ft high, broad in proportion, & with a voice to suit. But Lord, what a voice & how he uses it! He sang twelve tunes, all sorts of songs, comic, tragic, folk- songs, Schubert, Schumann, operatic, everything. Enough to make you rave with rapture. We got in for 3 bob, and then moved down to 5 bob seats half-way — they let you do that here, if the 5 bob seats aren't full. But there weren't many seats to waste. He's a great man. We then adjourned to Sydney's most exclusive ice-cream joint & had the most astonishing confections — Golden Gate sundaes they call 'em, about 6 different kinds of ice-cream, whipped cream, marshmallow sauce, a cherry, lots of pineapple, enough to turn your brain if at all weak. Followed by a deep goblet of lemonade to quench our thirst. After that we parted in mutual rapture.

Next day being yesterday was Jean's day off; so after investigating a small portion of Angus & Robertson's (a good shop it is too, but prices the same as Whitcombes) I met her & she took for a walk around portion of the harbour, Govt House, the Conservatorium, Art Gallery, etc (I mean we went round the outside of these); hence we adjourned to Manly where we bought an immense lunch & consumed same on the beach. Manly is pleasant on the ocean side, but ghastly on the harbour side & wd be awful in the summer. Nothing but flats, shops, horrible, horrible, as the boosters will make Lyall Bay & Eastbourne pretty soon. Coming back from the harbour was beautiful, we saw Cobham descend from the skies, we parted for a wash and brush-up, we met again for a drink, we adjourned to the theatre, & saw — Quality Street! And jolly well done too. There is a Barrie Season on, produced by Dion Boucicault; three weeks to a play. They are just finishing up on Quality Street, & are doing What Every Woman Knows next, with the Admirable Chr Crichton to follow. About six in all I think. My word, Q.S. created enthusiasm too — there was one bird behind us roaring in great paroxysms of laughter. But the Sydney- ites are rude — heavens alive; a long string of them came strolling down the aisle for about ten minutes after the thing had started, as nonchalant as you please — we were in the back stalls, as every seat in the Gods for a matinée & evening had been sold out by 11 in the morning. A good thing Daddy wasn't there for I felt like murder myself. Trams tearing up & down outside all the while too & if anyone walked down on the other side of the theatre wall their voices crashed into the theatre. So that a good many of the most delicate bits were lost. The beginning wholly so. Then half-way though an interval a girl next to us wd get up & go & chat to a friend of hers farther down the aisle & overlap about five minutes into the next act; not merely whispering, talking loudly. I kicked her ankles the first time & tripped her up the second. If there had been a third, I would probably have bashed her over the jaw.

All I have done today so far is to write to you. I am going out to a place called Lane Cove to some friends of Jean's tommorrow on Saturday afternoon for some music & so on; & on Sunday I have the choice of listening to the orators in the Domain or to the City Organist in the Town Hall, so you see there is plenty of amusement. Lord knows what else there isn't to do.

The place generally speaking is dirty & noisy. The trams don't seem to have been painted since the year 1; They are of that type banished from Wgton donkeys' years ago as dangerous, where the conductor walks along the outside to take the fares. The newsboys leap on while they are tearing along the street full tilt, but I have only seen one bloke knocked out in the traffic so far. Some of the shops, furniture & drapers, are wonderful; but Lor' bless you what's all this to me bound to Europe on a first class free pass? I just gaze & sniff superciliously. If you want any pictures you can get the Medici prints at Anthony Horderns at the English price, but I have yet to inspect them.

By the way: FINANCIAL & Business You under The advantage of leaving in a hurry is that you certainly have no time to be merely melancholy, but I'm afraid I left rather a mess for you to clean up. I'd like all the papers with writing on to go into a box or drawer some- where; the others if any can go into the fire.

I forgot to give Keith the £ 1 for that camera; I enclose same.

Wd somebody mind paying this dentist's bill which I forgot; cash enclosed.

The baggage insurance policy Daddy got me struck me as being rather a wash-out — it doesn't insure the stuff against rough usage or from loss or damage caused by capture of the vessel, except by piracy, nor from any consequences of riots, civil commotions, hostilities, and warlike operations. What's the good of that to a man? About the only way I can get any money out of them is to sink or burn the vessel, in- cluding I suppose myself or to arrange a collision. And I daresay they'd put all that down as rough usage when it came to the point. However I enclose the cash, hoping that something will happen — 25 bob.

Cash enclosed therefore: Camera £ 1 -- 0 -- 0 Dentist 5 -- 0 Insurance 1 -- 5 -- 0 £ 2 -- 10 -- 0