CHAPTER V
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CHAPTER V.
PROSPECTS.
The physical character of the islands of New Zealand, points out at once in what way they must be settled. The country has no large rivers intersecting the interior, nor, strictly speaking, any navigable rivers at all, but is, on the other hand, richly provided with harbours. In most of these, Europeans are to be found, chiefly engaged in whaling; and the obvious course of settlement will be to establish towns on each of the available harbours, which have a sufficient extent of fertile land in their neighbourhood, to permit population to spread.
This has been the course hitherto pursued. The Bay of Islands first became the resort of Europeans; Hokianga followed; and the harbours of Cook's Straits, and the east coast of the southern island down to the extreme south, have long been occupied by shore parties, as already described.
The mode pursued by the Company in forming their settlements, seems to acknowledge the same necessity. Port Nicholson, with its town of Wellington, was no sooner established beyond
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the reach of disaster, than the Company entered into an arrangement with the Plymouth Company for the planting of another settlement on any convenient spot; and on my return to England I found that further arrangements had been made with a body of gentlemen ready to emigrate, to found another settlement of which the chief town is to be called Nelson, the site to be determined by the officers of an expedition dispatched for the purpose last April.
In this way settlement after settlement will be formed on both Islands. On the southern island there are several very eligible sites for the purpose, though little known. The soil is excellent; there is abundance of coal, and I believe the climate is much milder than that of England. Major Bunbury, in the report 1 which I have already quoted, speaks as follows of this island: ---
"At Akaroa we found a native village, and some Europeans connected with whaling establishments. A Captain Lethart, of Sydney, also here since the 10th of November last, has established a cattle run with about thirty head of horned cattle, and has two stockmen in charge of them. From the appearance of this herd, I am inclined to believe the pasturage much better
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than at the Bay of Islands. Potatoes grown from this to the southward, are unquestionably of a superior quality, and in no respect inferior to those grown in Van Diemen's Land.
"The harbour of Akaroa is an aestuary, forming a basin which extends about eight miles into the peninsula, and is surrounded by very high mountains, precipitous at the entrance, and very narrow; but as you advance, these mountains gradually slope into a succession of hills, clothed with verdure and timber to their summits, and abounding in streams of excellent water. The country has a very picturesque and park-like appearance, and seems well adapted for farms where both arable and pasture lands are required, yielding a mixed produce.
"On leaving Tavai Poenammoo, or the Middle Island (otherwise the South Island), I was forcibly struck with the bleak and savage appearance of its chain of mountains covered with eternal snow, as viewed from the sea, and contrasted with the real amenity of its climate, and fertility of the soil near the coast. I am inclined to believe that the capabilities of this island for purposes of agriculture have been much underrated, to say nothing of its splendid harbours and mineralogical productions; and I am also certain, that the intelligence and enterprising character of the natives, as well as the extent of its population, have been equally misunderstood."
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The portion of New Zealand which has become most attractive to Colonists is Cook's Strait. Port Nicholson now numbers more than four thousand souls; people are beginning to settle at Wanganui; the Plymouth settlement, when all the emigrants now on their way shall have arrived will number nearly six hundred and upwards; and one thousand persons have just taken their departure to commence the second settlement of Nelson.
Under these circumstances, the extreme inconvenience of placing the seat of Government on the peninsula at the northern extremity of New Zealand, must be apparent to every one. I do not believe the whole peninsula contains above one-twentieth part of the superficial area of the two islands, and a great part of the northern extremity is known to be barren. If Captain Hobson had been sent to New Zealand to found a small town, there would perhaps be no objection to the spot; but he was sent to govern a Colony, and it does seem almost unaccountable that he should have neglected to visit Port Nicholson, and the harbours in Cook's Strait, and should have fixed the seat of government at so great a distance from the people to be governed, and from that part of New Zealand which is and must continue to be the most attractive to settlers.
The central position of Port Nicholson is very conspicuous. If the northern island had alone
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been considered, it might have been deemed expedient to seek some other spot for the seat of Government, but even in that case Auckland would have been ill adapted to the purpose. The fact that the more attractive portion of the northern island is situated on its southern coast, would alone have rendered Auckland an ill chosen site. Still excluding the southern island from calculation, with emigration going on as it now does, it is obvious that it will soon become impossible to govern the settled parts of the island from so great a distance as Auckland. Hitherto, as I have shown, the populous portion of New Zealand has not been governed---for it is absurd to call the proceedings of a single police magistrate by the name of governing. As society becomes more complicated, the mere expensiveness of governing from such a distance will break up the scheme.
It is possible that the officers of the Government have persuaded Captain Hobson, that the mere establishing of the seat of government would at once attract population without any other consideration. It will no doubt draw a few persons who hope for some advantage, and some others who are compelled to reside wherever the seat of government may happen to be; but he will find that something more is necessary; and I am quite sure that if Captain Hobson had visited Port Nicholson, with Cloudy Bay, Blind Bay, Akaroa, and Port Otago, so as to convince himself of
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the direction which population and settlement are sure to take, before he decided upon Auckland, he would have acknowledged the necessity of placing the seat of government somewhere midway between the extremities of New Zealand; and as Wellington is the centre of colonization from England, and must in a few years become very populous, his unbiassed judgment would in all probability have fixed upon that place as the proper seat of the public offices and the principal courts of justice.
I have already described the panic at Wellington in consequence of the Sydney Act respecting titles, and the manner in which the alarm subsided as favourable accounts arrived from England. The arrangement made with Sir Geo. Gipps was not altogether as good as we could have wished, but it was looked upon as temporary, the colonists having full confidence that the Company would be enabled to make some arrangements of a more satisfactory nature in this country. That expectation has not been disappointed; yet it is due to Sir George Gipps to say, that his arrangement completed the restoration of public confidence; and if the reader will take the pains to look at the dates of the proceedings respecting the cultivation and preparation of the New Zealand flax, he will find that they commenced just after the return of the deputation from Sydney.
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Shortly after I left, the Bally arrived, bearing the terms of the final arrangement between the New Zealand Company and the Government. There can be no doubt that this wise settlement of a miserable dispute, will produce the most beneficial effect upon the Colony. So long as the position of the Company towards the government was doubtful, their chief agent scarcely felt himself justified in increasing the outlay of the Company for surveys, roads, and other necessary purposes. This I have no doubt was partly the cause of the slow progress of the Company's surveys; but the "final arrangement" will give activity to every department of the Company's service. Nor will the effect upon the settlers be less beneficial. Every one now feels secure that he will not be deprived of the fruits of his labour or capital, and every branch of production will be stimulated in a high degree.
Of the utility of the Company, no one, as far as I am aware, entertains any doubt. The Colonists feel that their own interests and those of the Company are so intimately connected, that the one cannot be pursued without at the same time promoting the other. The Directors are bound to consult the interests of the shareholders in the first instance, but it is satisfactory to reflect, that the best mode of so doing is to promote ours.
The confidence of the Colonists in the Company was never weakened even at the most trying
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period. Somehow or other we always thought that the character of the Directors, and I may be permitted to add, that of the Colonists, and the enterprising nature of their undertaking, would sooner or later have its due effect upon the Government, and incline them favourably towards us. The fulfilment of this expectation will strengthen the confidence of the Colonists in the Company for the future, which confidence will also be extended to the Government.
To complete the favourable prospects of the Colony, nothing is now wanting but the supplying of those defects in the local government of Port Nicholson which I have freely pointed out. The promise of a municipal corporation for each settlement, and the establishment of courts of justice, with a legislative council for general purposes, will complete what is wanting; and I now foresee no check to the prosperity of the Colony, except indeed in the possibility of Governor Hobson's perseverance in a policy with respect to the seat of government, which admits of no justification. Trusting that this policy has been ere now abandoned, I will only add to the statements contained in Colonel Wakefield's letter which I brought to England, that if unhappily the Governor should continue to reside, with all the heads of departments, at nearly the greatest possible distance from the centre of the islands and the seat of the great majority of the British population, and by
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means of the public money to draw off emigrants conveyed to Cook's Strait at the expense of purchasers of land in the Company's settlements, the colonization of New Zealand must be brought to a speedy and disastrous end.
Such a course would inevitably put a stop to the proceedings of the Company, since their whole system is founded on the principle of supplying population to the land which they sell, and would, moreover, cause such loss and discontent among the richer settlers as to deter others from following their steps. It is, therefore, incredible that the mere proclamation-town of Auckland should be maintained as the seat of Government, to the destruction of the real town of Wellington. Supposing that the local Government should impartially consult the general welfare, the rapid prosperity of New Zealand as a British Colony seems to be assured.
The country certainly possesses every natural capability for a series of rich and flourishing settlements. Of the singular excellence of the climate---of the richness of the soil---of the great fecundity of animal life---of the abundance and variety of the resources of the islands, not a doubt is entertained by those whose opinions rest on experience. The mode of colonization adopted by the Government at home insures, if fairly carried out, a regular increase of labour in due proportion to the increase of capital and private pro-
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perty in land. For carrying out this system, the Government has adopted as its principal instrument a private company, for whose prudence and energy the past furnishes a guarantee, and whose interests are identical with those of the Colony itself. The revived spirit of English colonization seems to direct its chief force on the "Britain of the South;" and it may be safely presumed that what has been already done in this work, remarkable as it is considering the short time employed, will appear insignificant on being compared with the proceedings of the next few years. For my own part, I will conclude as I began, by saying that the best proof I can give of the sincerity of my opinion as to the bright prospects of New Zealand as a Colony, is the fact of my being but a sojourner here, preparing to return to the place of my former residence in New Zealand.
LONDON: PRINTED BY STEWART AND MURRAY, OLD BAILEY.
