December 15 Sunday – The Clemens party was en route to Sydney in the Mararoa in the Tasman sea. Shillingsburg writes:

December 14 Saturday – The Clemens party was en route to Sydney in the Mararoa in the Tasman sea. Personal appreciation by writer of “Echoes of the Week,” ran in the New Zealand Times Supplement [Shillingsburg, “Down Under” 30].

December 13 Friday – At 3:15 p.m. the Clemens party (including Carlyle G. Smythe) left Wellington, N.Z. on the Union Co.’s Mararoa. “Summer seas and a good ship — life has nothing better” [FE ch. XXXVI 324]. On board was the “damdest menagerie of mannerless children I have ever gone to sea with” [NB 36 TS 2] who raised Sam’s ire — in his notebook he hoped for a heavy storm. Also on board was the manager of the Greenwood Theatrical Co.

December 12 Thursday – The last full day in Wellington, and N.Z., Sam and Carlyle G. Smythe took a short train ride to the suburb of Hutt, where they enjoyed the gardens of Mrs. Ross, played billiards, and in the evening went to a concert. Livy and Clara likely went along.

December 11 Wednesday – In Wellington N.Z. Sam gave his “At Home” performance at the Opera House. Lord David and Countess Glasgow and party, the Governor of N.Z. were in the audience.

Reviews published: Dec. 11: New Zealand Times; Dec. 12 and Dec. 19: New Zealand Mail.

December 10 Tuesday – In Wellington, N.Z. a reporter from the Evening Post called on Sam at Moeller’s Occidental Hotel. Sam related the nine-hour train trip from Wanganui, the “continual stoppages at little stations, where apparently nothing was done” and the jolting ride.

Livy was reported as saying that she hoped they would,

December 9 Monday – The Clemens party left Wanganui at 1 p.m. bound for Wellington (pop. 37,000) some 100 miles to the south; the train took nine hours, arriving at 10 p.m., too late to make his lecture appearance. Seats sold for this night were made valid for the next evening, Dec. 10, and Tuesday’s scheduled performance moved to Wednesday. Shillingsburg writes Sam had misread the express train schedule, missing the fine print that the express only ran on Tuesdays and Fridays.

December 8 Sunday – In Wanganui, a small earthquake took place, a usual occurrence for this area. Since no trains ran in Australia or N.Z., Sundays were usually one of rest, or sightseeing. Sam wrote of this day in FE:

December 7 Saturday – Sam and Carlyle Smythe traveled from New Plymouth back to Wanganui, a ten-hour trip by train. They stopped at Hawera an hour and a half where they ate lunch at the hotel. Advertisements advised people in Wellington that Sam’s performance had been changed from Monday to Tuesday, Dec. 10.

December 6 Friday – Sam traveled from Hawera to New Plymouth, some 48 miles in four hours, “12 m per hour” riding through the garden region. “From Stratford to N.P. it was difficult to stay in your seat, so tremendously rough was the road” [NB 34 TS 48]. He’d been advertised for two weeks by The Budget to speak in Alexandra Hall, which held a thousand people. The hall was packed and included some Maoris: Shillingsburg quotes newspapers and writes,