1851 - Fox, William. The Six Colonies of New Zealand - CHAPTER I. DESCRIPTIVE AND STATISTICAL.

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THE SIX COLONIES
OF
NEW ZEALAND.

CHAPTER I.

§ 1. GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLANDS.

I NEED scarcely commence an account of New Zealand by saying, that it lies in the Pacific Ocean; consists of three islands, the Northern, Middle, and Southern; and is not a part of New South Wales. Nor is it necessary to speak of its position relatively to Australia, Van Diemen's Land, India, China, or the Polynesian groups. All this any map will tell at a glance. I shall at once proceed to give a brief general description of the physical character of the islands.

The geological formation of New Zealand is volcanic. The most marked traces of igneous action are to be seen in the neighbourhood of Auckland, where, within sight of the town, are twenty-nine or thirty extinct craters, of various

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elevations up to 300 or 400 feet: some of them, as Mount Hobson and Mount Eden, in a state of great perfection. Around them, on every side, lie masses of scoria, varying in size from vast rocks to mere marbles. Curious caves are interspersed occasionally, as at the 'Three Kings,' which have been used as catacombs by the natives, and are full of dead men's bones. As you proceed towards the centre of the island, evidences of more recent volcanic action exist in the boiling springs of Rotorua, and the smoking fissures and sulphurous deposits of White Island, in the Bay of Plenty. At Wanganui, on the northern shore of Cook's Strait, are quantities of pumice-stone, floated down the river from the interior; and the rugged hills which surround Port Nicholson, bear evidence of a decided, though doubtless somewhat ancient, upheaving of the surface of the earth. The middle island exhibits fewer outward evidences of a volcanic origin: there is a greater extent of level land, and the farther south you go the more broken down (or degraded, as, I believe, the geologists term it,) is the appearance of the country. There is, however, one rugged and craggy chain of mountains, which runs completely through the island, nearly north and south, approaching the western coast to within a

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few miles of the sea, while it leaves a great extent of level or undulating land on the eastern side.

The southern, or Stewart's, island is mountainous, but indented with fine harbours.

The harbours of the colony are one of its most remarkable features. It possesses a great number, many of first-rate excellence. But one inconvenience attends most of them: they are not generally in immediate connexion with any considerable quantity of level land. The Irish moralist, who illustrated the goodness of Providence by the fact of its having placed all the great rivers by the side of the great towns, would have been at a loss to reconcile his theory with the physical character of New Zealand in this respect. Some of the finest districts of the north, such as Mokau, Kawhia, Taranaki, and the whole coast from the latter down to Wellington, are without any harbours accessible to vessels of more than the lowest tonnage and draft. Two of the finest in the colony, Akaroa and Port Hardy, have scarcely an acre of available land about them, while even Port Lyttelton and Otago are separated from the open country by heavy ridges of mountains or hills. None of the rivers are navigable for any great distance; and, with two exceptions--New River, in Foveaux Strait, and, I

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believe, the Thames, in the north--are only available for small craft.

The natural vegetation of the soil is of three sorts--forest, fern, and grass. The former is interspersed all through the country, chiefly in the more mountainous parts, though groves of fine timber are to be found scattered over the level portions. The kowrie, which is confined to the north, the totara, and the red and the white pines, grow to a great height, are of large girth, and without a single lateral branch below the top. They are all excellent timber, easily worked, free from knots, and (except the white pine) durable in the open air. The black birch grows on poor and hilly land; it is a fine, large tree, considerably harder than the pines, and proves a good timber for ship-building purposes.

The fern is chiefly found in the northern island. When it grows strong (say to the height of four or five feet) it is an indication of a good soil; but it appears to sour or exhaust the land, and the complete eradication of its roots and stems requires a good deal of labour; consequently, though fern land is easily broken up, the first, and probably the second, crop is seldom a good one.

The whole of the eastern portion of the middle island, and some extensive plains on the

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northern shore of Cook's Strait, extending as far as Wanganui and Hawke's Bay, are clothed with most excellent natural pasture. To the north of this, scarcely any indigenous grass is to be found. The grazing operations of the colony will consequently be confined to that portion of it which lies south of a line drawn from Cape Egmont to Hawke's Bay--in other words, to the southern province. The portions of the island north of that line, present no facilities for grazing, and can never become a field for pastoral enterprise. For though artificial grasses grow there to great perfection, it would be a losing speculation in a new country to lay down any quantity of land with grass for mere grazing purposes.

It is extremely difficult to form any estimate of the quantity of stock which the grazing districts of New Zealand will carry. All that can be said with certainty, is, that the natural pasture is as good as any in the world, and that there are millions of acres of it, comprising various grasses, equally fitted for cattle and sheep. The former will succeed best on the level ground, where the herbage is heavier and more rank; the latter will chiefly occupy the hills and undulating ground, than which no finer 'runs' can probably be found anywhere.

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There are, perhaps, portions of the country where a sheep could be kept to every acre, even in its present condition, all the year round; but, generally speaking, two, or even three acres per sheep, would be requisite to maintain a flock, allowing sufficient space for its proper division and management. An experienced grazier from New South Wales, who had, however, only seen a portion of the grazing country of New Zealand, estimated that the middle island and Cook's Strait would, in its present state, carry six or seven millions of sheep. There is no doubt that as the country is occupied with flocks, the quality and quantity of the pasture will both greatly improve, as they have always done hitherto wherever tried.

The climate and country in the southern province are both admirably adapted for sheep. The average annual increase on a breeding flock, supposing it to be in fair condition, and on good keep, is not less than 90 per cent.; and a flock of merinos will clip four pounds of wool all round, exclusive of young lambs. The deaths, in a district free from native dogs, will not exceed a half per cent, that is, one sheep in two hundred; though if among many natives the mortality from this cause may amount to 10 per cent., or more. The average probably,

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from all causes, will not exceed three or four per cent 1 Sheep farming will, probably, for many years to come, be by far the most profitable undertaking in which the colonist can engage. If he can secure a run which will carry, say ten thousand sheep, and will place one thousand upon it on his arrival in the colony, seven or eight years will see him in possession of the former number. His annual clip of wool will then be worth at least 1500l., while his lambs, and the tallow of such surplus as he may sell or boil down, will amount to nearly as much more. The expenses will depend on the distance of his run from a port, the amount of his personal superintendence and skill, the rate of wages in the colony for the time being, and other circumstances.

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Dairy farming will also, probably, be found to pay well. Independently of the local consumption, there is always a great demand for butter and cheese in New South Wales, and that which has already been sent thither from New Zealand has met with a ready sale at a good price; and, for some years to come, young stock will probably find a sale in the colony to new comers.

New Zealand will be essentially a horse-breeding country also. The vast plains and open country invite the gallop, and a taste for racing has already exhibited itself in all the settlements. The pursuits of a colonist necessitate his being much on horseback; a horse is easily kept, and, in a few years, almost everybody will own one. In New South Wales there is one horse to about every two souls of the population.

All kinds of live stock are imported from New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, at very moderate prices. 2 But though a good, useful animal of every sort is imported by per-

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sons who make it a trade, if the colonist wishes to procure a really superior breed, he will be wise in selecting them himself in those colonies. First-rate animals can be obtained in either, but are not generally exported on speculation. If the colonist makes his purchases personally in the Australian colonies, the risk of the voyage will fall on himself, but if advantage be taken of the summer season, and personal superintendence exercised, there is not much danger. The transport of stock should never be left to others, if they are to be at the risk of the purchaser during the voyage.

There are very few diseases among live stock in New Zealand. From the most fatal one of New South Wales, the catarrh, which sometimes sweeps off tens of thousands of sheep in a few days, it is entirely free; and as that disease appears to be the result of drought, it will probably remain so. Scab, among sheep, is common and troublesome, but can be eradicated by the usual remedies. The rot, I believe, does not exist, nor the foot rot, unless in an isolated case, where a sheep may have got into wet ground.

Among cattle, there are few or no complaints. But there is a shrub which is poisonous to them (the tutu), when they are newly imported, or it is eaten on an empty stomach. But they get

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accustomed to it, and the loss from this cause among cattle born in the country, or acclimated, is quite inconsiderable. Great care should be taken to prevent valuable newly imported cattle from getting at it. Two out of four thoroughbred cows, imported in the first Canterbury ships, fell victims to it.

The capitalist can scarcely do wrong to invest in live stock so long as there is an acre of grazing ground to be had. But some will, perhaps, prefer other pursuits, and engage in agriculture or commerce. There are, no doubt, opportunities for both. Professional men should not be recommended to emigrate, unless they have some means of livelihood collateral to their profession.

Labourers, if steady, invariably succeed. Wages are seldom lower (for the most ordinary kinds of labour) than from 2s. 6d. to 3s. 6d. a day; while mechanics will get as much as six and seven shillings for a day of eight hours, and provisions cheaper than in England. A prudent and sober man soon becomes independent, and at the end of five or six years he is probably an employer of labour himself, and grumbles heartily at the high rate of wages he is obliged to pay. I have before me a copy of a return made in 1848, from which some idea of the prosperity of this class may be formed. Forty-six labourers

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at Wellington exhibited as the result of seven or eight years colonization, the following amount of property:--

Acres.
Land cleared . . . 464 being 10 each.
Do. in crop ... 297 -- 6 1/2 --
Cattle.....255 or 5 --

And this though, owing to political causes, three years of this period had been a season of great depression and absolute distress.

At Nelson, according to the same return, fifty labourers, in the same period, and under similar disadvantages, had--

Acres.
Land in crop.....402 or 8 each.
Cattle.......589 -- 11 --
Sheep.......606 -- 12 --
Goats.......679--13 --
Pigs........392 -- 7 --

Let the Wiltshire or Somersetshire labourer, whose usual wages are from six to seven shillings a week, and whose usual diet potatoes or skilligalee, be made aware that there is such a land of milk and honey to be got at by a four months' voyage, and I cannot help thinking that it would be very difficult to keep him where he is. The only impediment to his removal would be, how to find the means of paying his passage, and that might easily be done if government or the pauper burdened parishes would assist. Let the amount be advanced, and a promissory note for

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its repayment be given by the emigrant. This security would be transmitted with him to the colony, and be recoverable before a justice of the peace. Some department of the local government should be charged with the duty of enforcing payment; and I doubt not that very few cases of evasion would occur. A proposition was made to the Colonial Office to this effect in 1849, but rejected as impracticable, apparently without consideration, or under misapprehension. Private parties (as Mrs. Chisholm) have not found such a system impracticable, and there seems no reason why a government should. The peculiar character of New Zealand, and the limited extent of its population, afford facilities for the experiment, and a prospect of its success, which might not exist in colonies of larger extent and population. It might fail in Canada --it scarcely could in Madeira, if the latter were a British colony; between Madeira and Canada it is only a question of degree, and New Zealand, I think, comes within the limits in which the proposal would be perfectly practicable.

The climate of New Zealand is, for the purposes of health and production, probably about the finest in the world. It is milder and more sunshiny than England; it is not so hot as Italy or Australia. Whatever will grow in England will grow there; many things flourish

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there, for which England is too cold, or the south of Europe too hot. Thus the grape ripens to perfection in the open air, which it will not in England; and so does the gooseberry, which will not in Spain. The only respect in which it could be improved is the wind; not that it blows harder than it blows in England, but it blows hard oftener. This, however, is at most only an annoyance,--not an actual fault of climate; and even in the windiest places people become so used to it, that I have heard an old resident express his disgust at a calm day. The windiness of the climate has been much exaggerated, owing to most of the early accounts from the colony, and many of the later having emanated from the town of Wellington, which, being situated in a sort of funnel, is windy, par excellence. The windiest season all through the colony, is from November to January inclusive--the early part of the New Zealand summer. It is remarkable that the winter is the calmest season, when there are often long intervals of perfectly tranquil and fine weather.

Meteorological registers have been kept in various parts of the colony, and a good idea of the climate may be formed from them. In one kept at Nelson, I find in the seven summer months the following number of 'fine sunny days:'--September, 25; October, 20; Novem-

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ber, 19; December, 21; January, 16; February, 19; March, 24; while the winter season gives, -- April, 20; May, 15; June, 21; July, 20; and August, 15. In September and February there was not one rainy day, and the greatest number of rainy days in any month was in May, when there were six, and five cloudy, and five showery. It should be observed, that in New Zealand a 'fine sunshiny day' means a day of clear, unclouded sunshine, from morning to night. In the register before me, cloudy days are distinguished, as are showery ones also. At New Plymouth, the number of 'fine sunshiny days' was, -- September, 21; October, 19; November, 18; December, 21; January, 25; February, 20; March, 24; April, 16; May, 17; June, 14; July, 18; and August, 16. In the three summer months of December, January, and February last, according to a register kept at Wellington, there were only two days of continued rain, and seven showery, all the rest being brilliant sunshine, yet without any approach to drought, or causing any shortness of keep for the cattle. Let any one compare these, which are fair average registers, with an English one, and he will see at once how many more fine sunshiny days there are in New Zealand.

The range of the thermometer shows perhaps

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the smallest variation of any in the world. In a register kept at Wellington, the highest mean in the shade, for the summer month of January, was 67 Fahr.; the lowest mean, in July (midwinter), only 51. In England, the highest in the corresponding months was 62, the lowest 36; the difference in New Zealand being 16, in England 26. 3 In Cook's Strait, and to the north, snow has only once in ten years been seen on the level ground, and it did not then lie two hours. At Otago, the southern portion of the middle island, it has only been known to lie for three days in the whole of the severest winter yet experienced. The foliage, with the exception of some half-dozen trees, is all evergreen; and the small green parroquet, a very delicate bird, is found winter and summer in Stuart's Island.

Nevertheless, with all these facts in its favour, some persons may not think it an extraordinarily pleasant climate. It wants the balminess of the Italian air. Its summer evenings are infe-

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rior even to the English, when the English do get a fine one. In some places there is more wind at times than is altogether agreeable. But any one who rejoices in sunshine--who likes a clear elastic air in which blue devils and dyspepsia cannot exist--or who wishes for a climate in which all sorts of European produce flourish, and all sorts of live stock thrive to an amazing degree -- will certainly be satisfied with it.

There are no diseases peculiar to it, while many English ones either do not exist at all (as small pox), or with less frequency and virulence, as colds and consumption. No climate will cure the latter when far advanced, but none probably affords a better chance of recovery if the patient be taken there in the earliest stages. I could mention more than one instance of recovery, in cases which would certainly have ended fatally in England.

The European population (civilian) in the colony at the beginning of 1850, was as follows:--

Wellington..........4747
Thence to Wanganui, inclusive .... 654
New Plymouth.........1200
Nelson............3372
Otago............1215
Canterbury, Akaroa, and Banks' Peninsula 734
Auckland and the north, about .... 7000

18,922

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To which must now be added about 3000 emigrants to Canterbury, 300 or 400 soldiers discharged from the two regiments, and an increase by births at 4 per cent, which will give a total of about 23,122.

The first colonization of New Zealand was rude and irregular, effected by runaway sailors, escaped convicts, and the hardy but rugged and nondescript characters who carried on the shore-whaling establishments. There were probably not less than 1000 of them in the country when regular colonization began. They have now, in great degree, disappeared--having either died off, quitted the colony for haunts where they are subjected to less control, or become merged in the growing population.

The regular colonization of the country commenced at Wellington in 1839, and has been effected hitherto in much the same manner as Asia Minor, Sicily, parts of Italy, and North America were colonized--by the location of separate communities at various points of the sea-coast, separated from each other by physical barriers. Each settlement has had a distinct origin and a separate aim, which, combined with their local separation, makes them more truly distinct colonies than Virginia and Maryland, or Delaware and New Jersey. One left England as the pioneer of New Zealand colo-

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nization, and still retains its old recollections of native negotiations and the early hazards of the enterprise; another, of later date, is remarkable as a Scotch settlement, and revives the recollections of the old country by its kirk, its manse and its minister, with its names of Dunedin, Leith Water, and the Clutha; another consists all of Devonshire and Cornwall men; another carries out a segment of the Church of England, with a bishop and his clergy, as a nucleus round which its sentiment is to grow; while another claims to be cosmopolite, and scorns all specialities and exclusivism. Nor do the physical characters of each, and the pursuits of their inhabitants, differ less than their moral features. One is more commercial, another more pastoral, a third more agricultural, while a fourth depends on native trade and government expenditure. Hence arises, in a peculiar manner the necessity for a complete localization of the institutions of government; and nothing has more tended to retard the progress of these colonies than the attempt to govern them by a system of centralization, the head-quarters of which are removed 200 miles from the nearest, and 800 from the most distant of them. But this will more appropriately form the subject of a subsequent section.

On the subject of society and the provi-

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sion for the religious, educational, and physical wants of the colonists, a few words will suffice. An immigrant will probably judge of the society by what he has been accustomed to at home-- it may be too good for some, not good enough for others. I will not pretend to pronounce upon its merits or demerits; but this I will say, that let him go to which settlement he chooses, he will, if he be worthy of it, be received with genuine kindness and hospitality, and with a cordial welcome to the country of his adoption. The habits of all classes are at least as moral and respectable as those of the same grade in the old country, and in some respects perhaps more so.

As regards provision for religious wants, the amount is pretty nearly equal to that at home. Every leading church of the old country has its representative there. At Wellington, for instance, there are two clergymen of the Established Church, with two churches in the town, and two or three chapels in the country; a Roman Catholic church, with a bishop and several priests; a Wesleyan minister with a large chapel in town, and smaller ones in the country; a Scotch kirk (established) in the town; Independents, Primitive Methodists, and perhaps one or two more. At Nelson there is a similar provision, in proportion to the size of the settlement, and so in each of them.

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Schools are also to be found in each settlement, generally attached to each religious denomination. Nelson has made itself remarkable by an educational movement, which bids fair to become an enthusiasm with the colonists there. Numerous schools on the British and Foreign system, educate an unusually large proportion of the children, and work harmoniously with those founded by religious sects. The credit of their organization and success is due to Mr. Matthew Campbell, whose exertions in their behalf have been most zealous and unwearied. It is unfortunate that, by an educational ordinance passed at Auckland, they are the only schools in the colony excluded from the right to receive aid from the state, though, perhaps, of all others the most deserving its support. Education for the upper classes is on the whole defective, but it is beginning to be supplied by degrees. A very good high school appears to have been founded at Auckland by the Wesleyans. Bishop Selwyn's college is also established there, though, when I visited it, it seemed not well adapted for general education, and not very successful. A college, or school, is in process of formation at Canterbury; and private academies, 'classical and commercial,' are to be found in the other settlements.

The physical wants of the colonists are amply

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provided for. Flour usually ranges from 12l. to 17l a ton, being about 2d. a pound for bread; meat of excellent quality, 5d. to 6d. a pound; tea, coffee, (without chicory) and sugar, as cheap, or cheaper, than in England; butter, from 9d. to 1s. 3d.; cheese, about 1s. a pound; bacon, 7d.; potatoes 3l. a ton; vegetables everybody grows for himself; poultry varies in different settlements; turkeys, at Nelson, 2s. 6d.; Wellington, 7s.; fowls, at Nelson, 1s. 6d. a couple; at Wellington, 3s. In a new settlement, such as Canterbury, most of these minor articles will be dear, and some not to be had till the colonists produce them for themselves; but, in a year or two, everything becomes plentiful and reasonably cheap. New Plymouth and Nelson are the best supplied and cheapest markets. At Wellington and Auckland prices are raised by the presence of the troops and shipping; but a country settler produces most things for himself, and does not much feel the higher prices of the towns.

Land is to be purchased in all the settlements; in the older ones, where the sales and other arrangements of the government and the company have glutted the market, it can be bought at prices varying from 6s. or 7s. an acre, up to 6l. or 8l., the former at a distance, the latter close to the towns. The Canterbury and

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Otago Associations still sell on the terms of the respective schemes, providing a fund from the proceeds for public purposes, such as founding schools and churches, making roads and bridges, and introducing immigrants.

Having now touched upon those points which are generally applicable to the whole colony, I shall briefly describe each settlement separately, dwelling chiefly on the particulars in respect of which they differ from each other.

§ 2. THE SEPARATE SETTLEMENTS.

The settlements, or colonies, now existing in New Zealand, are six in number:--Wellington, Nelson, Otago, and Canterbury, in the southern province; Auckland and New Plymouth 4 in the northern.

1. WELLINGTON, founded in 1839, was the first

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regular settlement established in the colony. It is the seat of government of the southern province. Its most important feature is its fine harbour, which consists of a salt-water lake or inlet of the sea, about six miles in diameter, and land-locked on every side. At one side of this is the valley of the Hutt, containing about 15,000 acres of land of first-rate fertility, but heavily timbered. The rest of the country, for twenty or thirty miles on each side, consists of hills, varying in height from 500 to 1500 feet, interspersed with narrow valleys or portions of tableland, of a good soil, but covered with dense forests. From this description, it is evident that the character of the country in the immediate neighbourhood of Wellington is at present neither pastoral nor agricultural, and can only become the latter by the expenditure of great labour in clearing off the timber.

But Wellington will be the port of deposit for fine districts equally fitted for pasture and agriculture, which commence at a distance of thirty or forty miles on either side of it. On the north-west the mountains begin to recede from the coast, at a distance of about thirty miles from Wellington, gradually leaving a splendid tract, which extends, with few breaks, all the way to New Plymouth. On the east side, at the head of Palliser Bay, is the fine

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valley of the Wiararapa, containing about 350,000 acres of level land, connected with large level grassy plains, divided from each other by low hills, which extend up to Hawkes Bay on the one hand, and the head of the Manawatu river on the other.

Of these fertile districts, however, a small portion only, amounting to about 300,000 acres, has yet been purchased by the government, and placed at the disposal of the colonists. Another portion, under arrangements of a most objectionable character, which will be further alluded to in a subsequent page, is occupied by graziers, holding as tenants under the natives. But the greater part of the country referred to remains unoccupied,--millions of acres, capable of maintaining millions of people, but which the natives, though they make no use of them themselves, will not sell to the Europeans, nor permit them to occupy in any way. And their title to the waste lands having, by an unfortunate policy, been recognised as valid by the British government (a point which will be touched upon hereafter), there is no course to be pursued except to wait patiently till the natives either become extinct, or can be persuaded to change their minds. But, considering that it has been by a mistaken policy of the British government that the native ownership of the waste lands has

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been recognised, it would seem incumbent on it to make any reasonable sacrifice to obtain, by purchase, districts which are of vital importance to the prosperity of Wellington. It is probably, after all, only a question of money; and, under the circumstances, even if it should cost £50,000, it does not seem unreasonable to suggest that it is the duty of government to obtain the Manawatu, Wiararapa, and Hawke's Bay districts without delay. The outlay would soon be repaid by the rapid prosperity of the country so purchased, and of Wellington, which, without it, cannot make any considerable progress.

The fact of its being the medium of supply for the more recently-founded settlements in Cook's Strait, and, latterly, a depot for troops, and its having, together with Auckland, enjoyed a monopoly of the government expenditure of parliamentary grants and other large sums of money, combined with the deficiency of open land and the existence of a fine harbour, have given Wellington a commercial character, to an extent not perhaps altogether consistent with its actual progress as a settlement. Too many of the population have been engaged in commercial pursuits and shopkeeping. There is, however, a solid substratum of bona fide colonization, many colonists of the upper class being settled on the land, and owning large quantities of sheep and

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cattle in the Wiararapa or Rangetiki, and not less than from 400 to 500 families of the labouring class cultivating land on their own account.

2. Nelson, founded in 1841, organized in England under different leaders, and, in many respects, different circumstances from Wellington, is, perhaps, the most successful instance of a self-supporting, self-relying settlement which the history of British colonization has exhibited since the American colonies were founded. Port Philip or Adelaide may be cited as instances of more rapid and greater prosperity; but their overland communication with New South Wales deprives them of the character of new colonies in any rational sense. It was merely the grazier driving his flocks from one field into the next. The subsequent discovery of copper in South Australia has given it a new ground for sudden prosperity, but one not at all in unison with, or dependent in any way on wholesome colonization. Nelson owes its success entirely to itself; it has never participated in the immense sums of money expended at Auckland and Wellington, but has patiently dug its own maintenance out of the ground. It presents, in consequence, a much healthier aspect than either of them, is entirely inde-

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pendent of extraneous support, and not liable to be injured or destroyed by the withdrawal of troops, or cessation of parliamentary grants.

The settlement lies at the bottom of Blind Bay. There are about 50,000 acres of level, or nearly level land, in immediate connexion with the port, but probably not more than half of this is adapted for agricultural purposes. There is, however, much more good land than the present population can use or occupy. The whole of it has been sold to purchasers under the New Zealand Company, but more than three-fourths of those are absentees, and no difficulty will, I believe, be found in purchasing from them, or their agents, at moderate prices, as much land as any emigrant may want, within a distance of from one to forty miles of the town.

Forming part of the Nelson settlement, but separated by a ridge of mountains which necessitates a journey round of sixty or seventy miles, is the Wairau valley and plain, consisting of about 250,000 acres of land, the lower portion of first-rate quality, the upper only fit for grazing purposes. It is surrounded by hills which afford excellent sheep-runs, and which are occupied by Nelson settlers, many of whom live in the Blind Bay district, intrust their flocks in the Wairau to a shepherd, and only occasionally visit them in person.

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The country west and south of Nelson presents few facilities for colonization. It has been explored as far down as Cascade point, in lat. 44 S., by Mr. Brunner, who performed three journeys through it, two of them of great enterprise and difficulty, in the years 1846, 1847, and 1848. His last and most interesting journal has been published (in a very brief shape however) in the Parliamentary Papers of 1850.

The country which lies east and south of Nelson and the Wairau has been explored within the last year by Captain Mitchell and Mr. Dashwood. A connexion has been established between the Nelson and Canterbury district, running behind the Kaikora mountains, and consisting almost entirely of fine grazing country, interspersed with plains, adapted for agricultural purposes. Mr. Weld subsequently explored, successfully, a route on the seaward side of the mountains, which proved perfectly available for sheep or cattle, and he discovered an easier access than Messrs. Mitchell and Dashwood had done to the country connecting, on the other side, with Canterbury. 5 As uniting the two settlements, and opening up

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a fine tract of country previously unexplored, these were among the most useful discoveries yet made in the colony.

The principal charm of Nelson is its climate; which, owing to the comparative absence of wind, and the extreme clearness of the air, is superior, probably, to any other in the colony I have known the sky without a cloud by day or night for a month together, even in the winter; and in that season geraniums, oenotheras, picotees, and other English summer flowers will be found in full blossom. Yet the heat of summer is never oppressive, the thermometer seldom higher than 80 deg. or 82 deg., owing, probably, to a light sea-breeze setting in regularly every day about ten A. M., and blowing till sunset, when it changes to the exactly opposite quarter.

3. OTAGO, which is situated on the southern portion of the east coast of the middle island, was founded in 1847 by a body of colonists organized in, and proceeding from, Scotland, in connexion with the Free Church, for the endowment of which, and of schools in connexion with it, a portion of the fund arising from land sales is appropriated. The principle is the same as that adopted in the Canterbury settlement. It is special, but not exclusive. The Scotch Free Church in the one case, the English Established

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Church in the other, is the only one which receives any endowment from the funds of the settlement which are contributed by the land purchasers. But all other sects are at liberty to establish their own churches, and entitled to equal political and social rights with the members of the endowed one. It is only a question of private endowment. The church so endowed does not become a state or established church.

Otago is a very good country for settlement. There is probably none much better. It has a tolerably good and extremely picturesque harbour, which a rough Scotch emigrant of the labouring class told me reminded him of Scott's description of the Trosachs. He was quite right in the resemblance between the two places, though he had never seen the Trosachs. There is a considerable amount of available land around the harbour, and within a mile or two of the town of Dun-Edin. But the principal rural districts commence about seven or eight miles off. They consist of four plains, surrounded by grassy hills, all of them of good land, but the Molyneux, which is the largest, particularly so. There is already water carriage through a great part of the district, and ultimately it will all be connected with the greatest ease by a canal, of which three-fourths have been formed by nature. Its

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grazing capabilities are also very great, as it is almost entirely a grass country, and connected through the Molyneux with a still more extensive level grazing country, bordering on Foveaux Strait.

This latter district was explored in 1850 by Captain Stokes, R.N., and other officers of H.M. steamer Acheron, and proved one of the greatest value. 6 It possesses a very good harbour at the 'Bluff,' in which the Acheron lay for some weeks --a river called the New River, navigable for large vessels; and a smaller one, known as Jacob's River, adapted for coasters. There is a good supply of timber scattered through the district.

The climate of Otago seems to resemble that of Wellington. There are more flying clouds and more wind than in many other parts of the colony, but the climate is good on the whole, and extremely healthy--certainly no Scotchman nor Englishman either need complain of it. I was there when a colonist arrived who had lost his health by a long residence in India, and who

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had been unable to regain it on the continent of Europe and the watering places of England. He seemed completely shaken to pieces. I saw him a year afterwards, when his health seemed entirely restored--he was full of activity, enjoying life, and engaged at that particular moment in presiding over one of the pleasantest scenes I witnessed in New Zealand--a harvest home, attended by some thirty or forty labourers, and their wives and children, who were in his employment.

Otago has made comparatively but little progress. It seems to have been neglected in Scotland. It has been hinted that the ministers of the Free Church are afraid of encouraging emigration, lest it decrease the number of the members of their church at home, which is in a position of rivalry with the Established Church in respect of numbers and funds. If they knew how great a boon they were conferring on the labourer by inviting him to emigrate, men of their devotedness and high character would not be induced by any motive of personal or ecclesiastical interest to discourage him from taking that step.

4. CANTERBURY is yet in progress of formation; but it cannot fail to be one of the most important settlements in New Zealand. Eighteen

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ships, containing 3000 colonists, have sailed for it within the last twelve months. It has for its field of operations an immense level plain of more than two million acres, on the east coast of the middle island, and abreast of Banks' Peninsula, one of the harbours of which (extremely easy of access and egress) affords it a port. It contains many hundred thousand acres of excellent agricultural land. It is almost entirely a grass country, and borders on other fine grazing districts, extending on the north nearly as far as Nelson, and on the south to Otago. It is, on the whole, as fine a tract as has ever been colonized. The port of Lyttelton will be the depot of the produce of a third part of the east side of the middle island, there being no other place from which it can be exported, on a coast line of upwards of 150 miles in length.

The only drawback in the district with which I am acquainted is, that the timber is not conveniently scattered over it, but lies on Banks' Peninsula on the one side, and on the hills opposite the coast on the other, where, according to the estimate of Captain Thomas, there are at least 230,000 acres of forest. The distance at which the timber grows, say twenty miles from the centre of the plain on either side, will probably not much affect the value of

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sawn timber; but it will make the supply of rough timber, for fencing or firing, comparatively scarce and dear. Yet perhaps not so much so as might be anticipated. In 1849, firewood was the same price at Auckland (which is worse off for wood than Canterbury) as it was at Wellington, which is in the heart of a forest of thirty miles in extent. In the former case there was water carriage--in the latter it was brought chiefly by land. There are facilities for getting it by water several miles into the Canterbury plains; and when the settlement is fully formed, and employment is properly organized, there is little doubt the supply of wood from Banks' Peninsula and the hills will form a regular trade, and the price become reasonably moderate. Coal from New South Wales is now imported at 2l. per ton, a price not very excessive, and which will no doubt be reduced, as it is sold in Australia at 7s.

Some reports disparaging this district have been circulated in England. The absence of any complaints from the colonists themselves, who, after three months' examination of the country, speak of it in the highest terms, ought to be perfectly satisfactory to the most sceptical, independently of the reports of numerous parties of high character and intelligence, who have carefully examined the country, and re-

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ported most favourably of it; among whom are the Bishop of New Zealand; Captain J. Lort Stokes, R. N.; Mr. Evans, sailing-master of H.M.S. Acheron; Mr. Hamilton, of the same ship; Captain Mitchell, of the Indian army; Mr. Dashwood, late of the same; Mr. Mantell (son of the geologist); Mr. Weld, of Chideock House, Dorsetshire (now in England); Messrs. Deans, who have resided there for seven years; and numerous others of equal credit. I have myself walked over a great part of it, and formed the highest opinion of it for the site of a settlement.

Whether the Canterbury Association will carry out to the full their scheme of special organization on Church principles, is a question on which colonial experience does not throw much light. No doubt it will depend chiefly on how far the movement is one of settled principle or mere impulse. There seems nothing in the circumstances of the colony to prevent a strong organization on any given principle, if those who carry it out are sufficiently imbued with it, to hold by it till it takes an abiding root in the feelings of the people at large. It is probable that the "speciality" of the scheme will not stand out so prominently in the colony fifty years hence, when its founders have become intermixed with other colonists, who may resort

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there with different views; but it will, in all likelihood, always retain something of its original savour. The American States--Pennsylvania, New England, and Maryland--are said each to exhibit a special character of its own, distinctly traceable to the peculiar religious principles on which it was originally founded.

5. NEW PLYMOUTH was founded in 1840, by a company, formed in Devonshire and Cornwall, from which counties its inhabitants have chiefly emigrated. It lies on the west coast of the Northern Island, close to Mount Egmont, which forms at all times a magnificent feature in the scenery. It rises up at once from the level country to a height of 8300 feet, in the most beautiful conical form, and capped with snow for a great part of the year. It is the most elegant, and certainly not the least imposing of mountains. Below lies a beautiful undulating country, bounded by the sea on one side, and on the other stretching away, one vast forest, into the blue distance. The soil is of the very first fertility, and the natural vegetation of every sort, except grass, most abundant. The town or village is extremely picturesque, scattered up and down the sloping sides of easy hills, and more resembling an English village than any other in the colony. Agriculture is

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almost the sole employment of the settlers. Their produce is all excellent; the finest poultry, pigs, corn, honey, and everything else that people of simple habits can desire. They have three excellent flour mills, a brewery, a church, a Wesleyan chapel, an independent minister, and schools to match. They have not been turned aside from the true pursuits of a colonist by any government expenditure; and like that of the Nelson settlers, their small society presents an extremely satisfactory aspect. The chief drawback at New Plymouth is the natives. After five years' delay and litigation, the Commissioner of Land Claims decided, that the purchase from the natives, made by the company which founded it, was valid and good. But the chief protector, Mr. Clarke, interfered, and persuaded Governor Fitzroy to reverse the decision. Instead of 60,000 acres which the Commissioner had awarded, he reduced the settlement to 3800, within the limits of which he compelled the colonists to retreat. The rest he abandoned to a turbulent body of natives, who have ever since been a thorn in the side of the colonists. Nearly 30,000 acres have since been purchased, chiefly in other directions; but instead of fine open available land, as the other was, it is chiefly heavily timbered, and not available for immediate use. Of course this has

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been a most serious injury to the settlement, and it speaks volumes for its intrinsic goodness that it has survived so great a blow.

The want of a harbour is no doubt another drawback; but the colonists contrive, notwithstanding, to import and export whatever they want. I saw a vessel loading with corn for Sydney when I was there, and considerable quantities of produce are sent away, from time to time, to the other settlements in New Zealand and the Australian colonies. If a country has the resources of wealth within it, and produces something which is exportable, shipowners will always find the means of doing business with it, though it be transacted in a somewhat exposed roadstead, and at the risk of losing an anchor.

6. AUCKLAND, the seat of the general (it cannot, while placed there, be called the central) government, is situated in the northern island, on the narrow neck which separates Manakau harbour, on the west, from Shouraki gulf, on the east. The harbour of Auckland, which is an arm of that gulf, is extremely good. Manakau is difficult of access in the prevailing winds, a tremendous sea breaking across at the heads. One of the few large ships which have visited it was lost in the attempt to enter about four years

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ago. I sailed from it myself, in a schooner of ninety tons, in 1849, but the impression it left on my mind was not favourable, and I do not think it will ever become a harbour of general resort. For all practical purposes, Auckland harbour will be the only one.

Auckland is well situated as a depot for native trade, and as the head-quarters of the missionary establishments. But, with the exception of small detached valleys of volcanic soil, the country appears exceedingly poor, with scarcely a blade of natural grass, and holding out no great temptation to the agriculturist. In some portions of the volcanic soil (I am not certain whether it is universal, but I saw a district of three or four miles extent where it was so) there is not a drop of water to be found: none can be got even by sinking wells. This description of land is generally thickly covered with blocks of scoria, which must be picked off before the land can be cultivated. The settlers build stone walls, houses, and other erections with it. It is only fair to state, that my examination of the district was limited to a distance of about fifteen miles round the town of Auckland; but I believe the character is much the same till you reach the Waikato country on one side, and the Thames on the other,--each about fifty miles off, and both still in the hands of the natives.

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The town of Auckland is the largest and most compact in the colony. It has one or two very good streets, but the lower parts are as filthy as 'Deptford and Wapping, navy-building towns.' Very little except shopkeeping was going on at Auckland when I was there. The amount of cultivation was very small, and consisted almost entirely of a few fields of grass, within four or five miles of the town, where newly imported stock were kept alive till the butcher was ready to wait upon them for the benefit of the troops and townsmen. 7 In short, the settlement was a mere section of the town of Sydney transplanted to the shores of New Zealand, filled with tradesmen who were reaping a rich harvest from the expenditure of a regiment of soldiers, a parliamentary grant, missionary funds, and native trade. As an instance of colonization, it was altogether rotten, delusive, and Algerine. The population had no root in the soil, as was proved by some hundreds of them packing up their wooden houses and rushing away to California, as soon as the news of that land of gold arrived. In Cook's Straits not half a dozen

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persons were moved by that bait. If the government expenditure had ceased, and the troops been removed at that time, I believe Auckland would have melted away like a dream. The expenditure of British money by the government has been enormous in this part of the colony, and easily accounts for so large a town having so suddenly sprung up. The troops stationed there have not expended much, if anything, less than 100,000l. a year. Two sets of very costly barracks have been erected, with a lofty stone wall round each, which cannot have cost less than about 100,000l. more. The pensioners' houses at least 50,000l; their pensions about 12,000l. a-year; besides a variety of contingent expenses. From the parliamentary grant, from 10,000l. to 20,000l. a-year expended on roads and otherwise. The revenue of the northern province about 25,000l. a year. The outlay of the three missions, which, I was told on undoubted authority, amounted to the same sum. Two men of war (not always, but frequently) in harbour for long periods. In short, in addition to the local revenue, not less than certainly 200,000l. a year of British money has, on an average, been expended annually for the last four or five years; and one or two lump

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sums, amounting to not less than 150,000l. in addition. 8

Nearly the whole population of Auckland has been imported from Sydney and Van Diemen's land. With the exception of the pensioners, I believe only one, or at most two regular emigrant ships--that is, vessels carrying bodies of men of the labouring class, ever proceeded from this country to that settlement. The returns of crime, compared with those of the southern settlements, exhibit fearful traces of the origin of its population, and display the great importance of colonizing on a regular system, which may ensure a pure origin for a colony. In the year ending December, 1847, there were no fewer than 1083 criminal cases disposed of by the resident magistrate at Auckland, of which there were 994 in which Europeans only were concerned; 857 convictions, and 529 for drunkenness; that is to say, one in six of the population was convicted of some crime or other; one in eight, of drunkenness. At Wel-

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lington, the proportion was one in 40; at Nelson, one in 79. 9

I have no returns of criminal cases tried in the Supreme Court in the north, but those in the southern provinces are very satisfactory, indicating as high a moral condition as can be found anywhere. At Wellington, in five years, the total cases tried were 92, or about 18 in the year, of which 59 were convictions. But of these, only 18 trials and 10 convictions were of English settlers--all the rest being soldiers, sailors, inhabitants of the Australian colonies or natives. At Nelson, the average is only four cases of all sorts in a year; at Otago, not one.

§ 3. THE PENSIONER VILLAGES.

In April, 1849, I visited all the Pensioner villages in the neighbourhood of Auckland, then four in number. They had been established between one and two years. The conclusion I arrived at was, that, whether viewed in a military or a colonizing aspect, they are costly failures, affording a most decided warning against the continuance of the experiment, or its renewal elsewhere. The same conclusion

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is arrived at by a careful examination of the few documents relating to them in the 'Blue Books.'

In a military point of view, they are altogether useless. Placed as a sort of cordon round Auckland, to protect it from the large tribes to the south and west, but being mere straggling villages, without any sort of fortification, if the natives should ever wish to attack the capital, they would, any morning before daylight, walk through the whole of them, massacre the inhabitants in their beds, and, having seized their arms and ammunition, proceed on their way to Auckland. The pensioners are, for the most part, considerably beyond the middle period of life, many of them with constitutions shattered by climate and hard living, and a large proportion of them of very intemperate habits.

Regarded in a colonizing point of view, the pensioner system could prove no other than a failure. With the single exception of convicts, it would not be possible to select a worse class for emigration than old broken-down soldiers, stiffened into military habits, or only relaxed by the vices of barracks and canteens. Nor are their families likely to be much better than themselves. Then the manner in which they are located is equally objectionable. The first essential to colonial success, particularly among

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the labouring class, is perfect freedom of action; liberty to go here, or there, or everywhere; to follow the calling of previous years, or turn the hand to any new employment which offers. This military colonization is fatal to such liberty. I found the largest of these villages (Howick) located fifteen miles from Auckland, on a bare and poor soil, without a stick of firewood within many miles, remote from any employers of labour, and separated from them and from Auckland by an unfordable river. Reports of actual starvation among the inhabitants of this village, the winter after I saw it, were circulated in the Auckland papers; and, unless it was staved off by eleemosynary means, I do not see how it could have failed to result from the circumstances in which the pensioners were placed.

Governor Grey, however, on the 9th of February, 1850, forwarded to the home government a return, which, he says, shows 'that the progress of the men towards comfort and competence, has been as great as could have been anticipated; that, in addition to their cottages and gardens, &c, they have three horses and 171 head of cattle among them;' from which he leaves it to be inferred that these are the results of their own exertions and industry. It appears, however, upon looking carefully into the appended report,

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that all, or nearly all the live stock mentioned, has been purchased for them by the government, which has made an advance of money for the purpose, amounting to 857l. Their houses also were erected for them by the government at the enormous cost of 37,843l., or 87l. per pensioner. And, in reality, all that they have to show as the result of their own exertions, after more than two years' settlement, is rather more than a quarter of an acre of garden-ground cultivated by each man! Now, when it is considered that these men had everything found them--excellent houses, employment for twelve months, medical attendance, an acre of land each for the privates, and two for the non-commissioned officers, that they had horses and stock to a large amount found them also, that there were officers to guide, counsel and assist them, it will appear that, at all events, Governor Grey's anticipations of their success, which he describes as realized, cannot have been of a very sanguine order. Any ordinary labourer in the Cook's Straits settlements would have cultivated far more land, and obtained far more stock in the same time, by his own exertions in his leisure hours, and the savings of his wages.

What the ultimate cost of the experiment will be, it is not easy to predict. At present scarcely any returns have been made on this

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head, as Lord Grey complains in March, 1850. But the single item given above, of 37,843l. expended in building houses for 434 men, being at the rate of 87l. per man, is a sample of what it must have been. It is certain that 100l. will not cover the expense of locating each pensioner. Then their pensions also, are continued, and many perquisites, such as the acre of land, medical attendance, and twelve months employment by government must be added. When we reflect that from 15l. to 20l. will locate a first-rate young agricultural labourer in the colony, what shall be said of such a system?

The whole plan seems to have been launched with the utmost inconsideration and haste. When the first corps arrived in the colony, nobody could ascertain who was to have the command of the force. Governor Grey contended that he was, while the senior officer of the force maintained that it was his privilege. It was twelve months before this point was settled, and in the meantime, there being no authority to control them, the officers quarrelled, and a series of courts-martial ensued, which ended in the dismissal of two of them from the service. But a much more important matter had been overlooked; that is, who was to pay the expense of the pensioner emigration? It

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seems from the Parliamentary Papers of August, 1850, that Lord Grey laboured under a delusion that the home government would pay it, and was only undeceived by the Lords of the Treasury when the expenses had been all incurred. He then directed the Governor to make it a charge on the colonial revenue, as a debt due to the military chest. What the colonists will say when they learn that they are charged with a debt so incurred, remains to be seen. The capability of the colonial revenue to bear such burdens seems not to have been considered. Already it is charged with a debt of about 60,000l., bearing 8 per cent, interest. It is proposed to add the New Zealand Company's debt, 200,000l. more, at 3 (increasing to 5) per cent. interest; and the pensioner immigration charge also. The annual interest on these three sums will amount at the lowest to 13,000l., payable out of a general revenue of less than 50,000l. The incidence of the burdens also seems unfair; the revenue of the whole colony being charged with one item (the Company's debt) with which the northern colonists have had nothing to do; and with another (the pensioner immigration) in which the southern colonists have not participated.