CHAPTER LX. TARANAKI.
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CHAPTER LX.
TARANAKI.
BY the constitution of 1852 New Zealand was divided into six provinces, of which New Plymouth was the smallest in area, in white population, and in the amount of land purchased from the natives by the Europeans; but in native population it ranked next to Auckland and Wellington, and among all the native tribes there were perhaps none so hostile to the settlers as those of Taranaki. In 1858 the province of New Plymouth assumed, by Act of the General Assembly, the old native name of Taranaki, keeping the English appellation for its capital. In 1853 the native population of the province was estimated at 3,000, and the Europeans were counted to be 1,985. In 1871 the Europeans had increased to 4,480, having something more than doubled themselves. In the province of Auckland they had increased sixfold; in that of Wellington, including Hawke Bay, --a new province formed out of Wellington, --they had increased more than fourfold; in that of Nelson, --including Marlborough, formed out of it, --nearly sixfold; in that of Canterbury, --including the county of Westland, formed out of it, --nearly sixteenfold; and in that of Otago twentyfold. In the meantime, the Maori population has certainly decreased in every province except that of Taranaki, --in which, owing to the shifting of the tribes in consequence of the wars, it has not improbably increased. As by far the greater portion of the province is not at present accessible to Europeans, as we have no settlements in those districts, occupy no land, and as, in fact, the Queen's law does not run there, no information can be obtained with any precision as to the number of natives there located. The figures above given are sufficient to show that of all parts of New Zealand, this has been the least progressive, and that in the improbable event of a further Maori war, property here would be more precarious than elsewhere.
I was informed at New Plymouth, --during the few hours that I stayed there, --that the settlers are presumed to own about 150,000 acres, claiming to have bought that amount from the natives; that of this about 80,000 were in the possession of persons preparing to occupy them, --that is, ready to go on their property when things should be sufficiently settled to enable them to do so, --but that no
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NEW PLYMOUTH.
more than 22,000 acres were actually at present in permanent use. I find that in 1870 no acre of country land, --as distinct from urban and suburban land, --was bought by the settlers in Taranaki, though in that year such land in all the other provinces was either bought, or given to immigrants, or made over to military settlers. Wool-growing is the trade of the Middle Island rather than of the Northern; but from every other province in both the islands rent is received by the government for pastures. But no such rent is received by the government from Taranaki.
And yet when the New Zealand Land Company planted a young community of settlers here in 1841, New Plymouth was called the garden of New Zealand. The land is said to be good, but light. Hitherto the people have not grown wheat enough for their own consumption The little town is beautifully situated under Mount Egmont, which is 10,000 feet high, --with a lovely summit of snow, sharp almost as a church steeple. The land around Mount Egmont is grandly timbered, and said to be of high quality; but, at thirty miles distant from the town, it is held by the natives, and is inaccessible. And then there is no harbour at New Plymouth, -- a want which must itself go far to mar the prosperity of the settlement.
All along this coast the sand is composed chiefly of iron, or, as the people there say, of steel; --so that when you handle it, though it be as soft as sand, it is almost as heavy as iron. I was told that from some of it 70 per cent, of pure metal has been extracted. Works have been established at New Plymouth for utilizing the iron, and making steel, --but have never as yet prospered, from the want of a proper flux for the metal. I heard the matter discussed there, at Auckland, and elsewhere, and the opinion seemed general that ultimately these sands would become the source of great wealth. They are found along the east shore of the North Island as far as Manukau harbour, in the province of Auckland. The sensation of weight when the soft stuff is gathered in the band is very remarkable.
Of the way in which the Maori troubles originated in Taranaki, of the original difficulties as to the purchase of land from the natives, and of the manner in which those troubles were perpetuated by the war, I have spoken in a former chapter. The miracle is that the settlement should have survived after the perils to which, in its isolated position, it was subjected, --and that the inhabitants did not flee from it as they did from Kororareka, when Heke for the third time cut down the flagstaff. But they did not flee, but are
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still there, expecting golden days and future prosperity. "I do not quite see," said I, to one of the leaders among the citizens, who was kindly showing me the place, "how ordinary trade can hold its head up in a place so small and so remote." "It does," said he, "and we never have any bankrupts." I could not continue my ill-nature by remarking that there can be no bankruptcy without credit.
But there is the province, with its own little House of Commons, with its own Superintendent, and its own three members in the General Assembly at Wellington; and if it lives, --as it surely now will live, --till the Maories have melted, it will have scope for its energies, and land on which to grow its own corn.
