CAPABILITIES--INDUCEMENTS TO SETTLERS.
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CAPABILITIES--INDUCEMENTS TO SETTLERS.
The following very condensed view of the natural productions of these islands is from an authority which ought to be of the most unquestionable kind--that of the governor of the colony in a communication to the colonial secretary:--
'Animals imported into this country thrive and increase greatly. There are no beasts of prey except dogs. Fowls of every domestic kind are becoming abundant. Bees succeed admirably. Hides are good, and heavy. Wool is excellent--the fibre being of uniform quality and thickness, owing to the equable temperature of the climate and continuance of pasture. Timber abounds of all qualities. Bark, fit for tanning, is plentiful. Dye-woods are numerous. All European herbage, shrubs, and trees, succeed and thrive rapidly. Clover and grass speedily conquer any fern or weeds allowed to remain on ill-cleared land. All European fruits succeed and ripen well--grapes, apples, pears, figs, melons, strawberries, peaches, &c. Flax has been undervalued, because an inferior quality has in general been used and exported. The "tihore," or silky flax, is much superior to the common kind, and will become a staple commodity.'
'Beneath the productive surface of this teeming island are mineral stores, as yet hardly known. If, from merely looking at or scratching some of the projecting corners of the land, at least twenty
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valuable minerals have already been discovered, in greater or less abundance, what may not be anticipated after years of research in the interior? The more valuable minerals hitherto found are coal, iron, limestone, copper, tin, manganese, nickel, lead, silver, bismuth, arsenic, cerium, sulphur, alum, rock-salt, marble of various qualities and colours, cobalt, ochre, fuller's earth, asphaltum, pumice, volcanic earths and lavas, &c. Of the copper, it ought to be remarked that the per-centage of metal is usually very high, and that the ore is easily smelted. Much of the manganese contains a larger per-centage of copper. Both this and the copper can be quarried, rather than mined, in abundance. Fuller's earth, fire-clay, and stone, fit for furnaces, which the bakers here use for their ovens, can be found anywhere in this neighbourhood. --ROBERT FITZROY, Governor.'
A great many of these tempting inducements for embarking capital may be safely said to be less seductive or promising than they were in 1847, when they were so reported.
If this inventory of its productions be admitted to be accurate, the emigrant's legitimate chances in New Zealand must still be as an agriculturist or pasturer. The agricultural land is divided into the timbered and the fern-covered. Neither travellers nor settlers in New Zealand talk of timber as a nuisance and impediment, as it is in North America. It is in scattered masses, not dense, unremitting forest tracts; and were there a better market for it, it appears to be in general timber of considerable value. It is at all events of great use in the settlements: how large an article of export it may yet be from the interior recesses of the mountains no one can anticipate.
One of the most serviceable accounts of the chief timber-trees of New Zealand is that given by Mr Hursthouse in his account of New Plymouth, and we shall here quote it:--
'The rimu, called red pine, more from its foliage than from any resemblance in the wood, is frequently sixty to seventy feet high without a branch, and from twelve to sixteen feet in circumference. Its foliage is remarkably graceful, drooping like clusters of feathers, and of a beautiful green. The tree opens very sound, is entirely free from knots, and, for a hard wood, works well. It is chiefly used for house-building; the finer parts for panelling and cabinet-work: these are handsome, taking a fine polish, and in appearance something between Honduras mahogany and coarse rosewood.
'The kahikatea, or white pine, is occasionally seen ninety feet high without a branch. In foliage and manner of growth it resembles the rimu, but has a lighter-coloured bark. The wood is not much unlike the Baltic white pine, but always sound, and quite free from knots: it is used for general purposes, for oars and boat-planking.
'The puriri, or iron-wood, is one of the most valuable trees in New Zealand, growing from thirty to fifty feet high, and from twelve
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to twenty feet in circumference. The wood has a strong scent, is of a dark-brown colour, close grained, heavy, and of a greasy unctuous nature; which last property is probably the cause of its being so much perforated by a large white slug, peculiar to this tree, when growing. Iron-wood is principally used for foundations, fencing-posts, mill-cogs, &c. for all of which it is admirably adapted; as it would be for any purpose requiring great strength and durability in moist situations.
'The rata in its manner of growth is very singular. At first it is a creeper, clinging for support round some young tree; for a time both flourish together in close embrace; but as they grow, the subtle rata, appearing to sap the strength of its early supporter, winds its strong arms around, by slow degrees, crushes it to death, and eventually becomes itself the tree. The pukatea is generally favoured with these embraces, which, though slow, are sure to kill. The wood of the rata is a reddish-brown colour; very strong and tough; well adapted to wheelwrights' work; and from its crooked manner of growth, furnishing suitable stuff for shipbuilding.
'The kohe-kohe attains a height of about forty feet without a branch; it has a handsome laurel-like leaf, and is the most common tree on the edges of the forest. It splits well, and is used for shingles, fencing-bars, and rails.
'The pukatea, a large tree, is a soft, easy-working wood, of light-brown colour, chiefly used for common work, and weather-boarding rough outbuildings.
'The tawa and the rewa-rewa are handsome trees, particularly the latter; both, however, are of inferior quality, and not used except as split stuff: the first, being highly resinous, makes excellent firewood. The hinau is remarkable for the whiteness of its wood, and chiefly known for its valuable dyeing properties; the rich black dye of the native mats is obtained from its bark.'
There never was perhaps a naturally fruitful country so destitute of indigenous productions for food as these fine islands. Fish, especially the larger kinds, have generally been abundant; but on the land the only considerable animal has been man, and consequently he has been eaten. There is a similar destitution in the vegetable world. Except the roots of the great forests of fern, and the cabbage plants, there seems to have been no edible vegetable -- there certainly was nothing that could be classed either as grain or fruit; and when some seed-vessels of a luscious aspect have been produced, as contradicting the latter deficiency, they have been found unsuitable for food. The nearest approach to edible indigenous fruit seems to be the poropo, of which Mr Hursthouse says--'When quite ripe, its flavour is something between that of apple-peel and a bad strawberry; but if tasted before it is soft and mellow, the poropo is most nauseous.'
Yet almost every fruit, pot-herb, and grain known in Europe,
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seems to take naturally in New Zealand; and there is, besides the forests, at least one native vegetable of the smaller growth which is useful and valuable-- the Phormium tenax, or New Zealand flax. As it has been hitherto considered the raw material of a native manufacture, the fabrics from it have been already mentioned in connection with the history and habits of the natives.
The agricultural capacities of the islands need be only generally spoken of, as they have to be mentioned in connection with each settlement. There are two kinds of agricultural lands--the forest and the fern--and it seems to be undecided which is the better of the two, either for the poor settler, demanding rapid returns, or for the capitalist, who looks for the best ultimate investment. Of this topical peculiarity, the fern-land, the most practical-looking account we have seen is in Mr Hursthouse's account of New Zealand. He says:--
'Fresh fern-land has one marked peculiarity, called "sourness," by which is meant some property hostile to the growth of crops put in directly after the breaking-up. The probable cause of this is the absence in the new soil of such promoters of vegetation as the ammoniacal gases, readily absorbed from the atmosphere when the soil is loosened and exposed; although, if "sourness" arose entirely from this cause, it would appear strange that the bush-land also is not subject to it. If a piece of the finest fern-land be cleared and sown at once with wheat, the yield would probably not exceed fifteen bushels per acre; the same piece prepared nine months beforehand, might yield from thirty-five to fifty bushels, but on timber-land this would make no difference.
'In cultivating fern-land, the first operation is to clear away the fern, which is best done in some dry month. Choosing a gentle breeze, the fern is fired; if it burns well, all the thick and matted dead stuff at the bottom, with the leafy part of the live fern, will be consumed, leaving only the shrivelled "tutu," and the cane-like fern stalks, which, as softened by the fire, should be cut at once, either with a strong hook, or, still better, with a short scythe, and the "tutu" slashed down with a bill-hook. Lying a few days to wither, the stalks are loosely raked up and burned with the "tutu" branches; and the "tutu" stumps have then to be taken up, and carted into a heap, or carried off. After these operations, which cost from 15s. to 20s. per acre, the land is ploughed with a strong plough, having a wrought-iron share, and four oxen. The best depth is about ten inches, turning up a little subsoil. When broken up, the soil should lie some time to get pulverised, and to dry the fern-root. It should then be harrowed and rolled, so as to allow of the easy raking up and burning of the fern-root; and to get it into superfine order, ploughing and these subsequent operations should be repeated, when the land, after lying about six months, will be in the finest possible condition for any crop which may afterwards be grown.
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'A complete course of "double working" such as this costs from £2, 10s. to £3 per acre; but it should be observed that as this sum is for work performed chiefly by bullock-power, it will be materially reduced as cattle become cheaper. The price of working oxen in New South Wales is about £8 per pair; in Wellington and Auckland, £20; whilst here it has generally been about £35: but as cattle are fast increasing, and as a direct trade has been commenced with Sydney, it is probable that in another year a pair of oxen will be purchased here for £20.
'The best method of cropping fern-land thus prepared is hardly yet determined. If the soil has been exposed about nine months, well mellowed, perhaps the best course would be two wheat crops, then manure a little for potatoes or fallow, and so round; but if it is likely to prove at all sour, the first crop should be potatoes, which might be followed by two grain crops, and then a fallow. Sheep have a surprising effect on fern-land: a flock folded a single night has been known to increase a crop of wheat in the particular spot nearly 100 per cent.; and all animal manure is considered to go twice as far as in England.'
The question between agriculture and pasture as a settler's occupation is not so wide as it is in Australia. The pasturage capacities of these islands, whatever they may be, do not appear to have been tried on any large scale. Agricultural capacities can be tried on any scale; and the cultivator's success in New Zealand seems to point it out as the safer walk, at least for a man of moderate means. It does not appear that the operations, or even the machinery for large farming, will certainly apply to the peculiar state of the country and its inhabitants. Mr Earp, who speaks as a practical man, says that when he left the colony, thrashing-machines, patent harrows, and ingenious ploughs, lay rotting on the shore; and he recommends the agricultural settler to trust to the spade and mattock. Perhaps this may be sound advice until ingenious and sagacious men indicate the kind of agricultural machinery best suited to the organic character of the soil.
Dr S. M. Martin, who had resided for some time in New Zealand, and had been a member of the legislative council there, attested its superiority to Sydney, where he had also resided, for purely agricultural emigrants, on account of its abundant and invariable supply of moisture. He thought the North Island the best--he had there seen, he said, excellent wheat, and still better barley. He thought all English agricultural products would grow there, and some not known in England. Flax was indigenous, and abundant; and he conceived that the vine, Indian corn, and hops, could be easily cultivated, but he did not think the soil and climate adapted to rice. He recommended the home system of farming
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as the proper one for the place--a combination of pasture and agriculture.
The mining mania generated in South Australia spread everywhere among the southern colonies in which there were any chances of its finding materials to operate upon. These appear to be abundant in New Zealand. Near Auckland manganese has been worked and exported with great success. In the same neighbourhood there are several copper-mines, where the metal has been prepared for shipment at the several rates of £8, £6, and £4 per ton, according to quality. The mining mania has had a characteristic influence on the natives, who, though given to industry, are still more partial to bargaining than to producing, and seem ever ready to make their own out of the desires and wants of the colonists. 'The very natives,' says an eye-witness, 'have become infected with the mania, and are nearly as expert judges of copper and manganese as the settlers, and may be seen going about with fragments of stone and bottles of nitric acid for the purpose of testing its composition. They serve to keep the settlers in a perpetual excitement by pretending to have discovered copper or manganese upon their lands; and no little money is spent in fruitless expeditions to prove the fact. In some cases the eagerness of the settlers outruns their prudence, and they are induced, by the solicitations of the natives, to purchase the land before seeing it, fearing some reckless speculator may otherwise secure the prize; but it is needless to say that they are almost sure of losing their money, as the specimen of the ore shewn to them has in all probability been taken from the mines of the great barrier, or from the island of Kawau' [near Auckland.] --(Brown on New Zealand and its Aborigines, p. 203.)
With a laudable desire to afford every kind of useful information to emigrants to New Zealand, as well as to all the other emigration fields, the Emigration Commissioners, in their official circular for 1850, give the prices of provisions and the wages of labour there. But in a territory so scantily supplied with European inhabitants, so apt to have its population in any district rapidly increased, and also so apt to have its market for goods affected by the unexpected arrival of a vessel, or any like cause, one can scarcely speak of a fixed scale of wages of labour, or of the price of commodities. It will hardly be a practical guide to people proposing to emigrate thither, to know that in 1848 the wages of bakers were from 4s. to 6s. a day; those of bricklayers from 6s. to 8s.; and those of carpenters from 7s. to 10s.; while those of cabinetmakers were from 6s. to 7s. only; and on the other hand, those of blacksmiths, generally one of the most serviceable of all trades in a colony, were from 3s. to 5s. The least
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vibration in the labour-market, caused by the influx of a few carpenters, bricklayers, or other trades, might completely revolutionise this scale.
In the circular there is also a list of the prices of commodities. It is pretty clear that, unless in so far as manufactures happen to bring a very different price in New Zealand from what they bring in the Australian colonies, it must be owing to conventional circumstances, not likely to last--to incidental circumstances, for the moment enhancing or lowering the price. For instance, in this list, while baize shirts are quoted in Western Australia as from 5s. to 6s. each, they are in New Zealand from 10s. to 16s. Then, while strong boots are in Western Australia sold at 12s. to 16s. per pair, the price in New Zealand is from 8s. to 10s. It is clear that these prices, in the case of New Zealand at least, are temporary and capricious.
