1851 - Burton, J. H. The Emigrant's Manual. New Zealand, Cape of Good Hope and Port Natal [NZ sections only] - The Middle Settlements, or Cook's Strait, p 33-47

'The valley of the Hutt extends from the harbour of Port Nicholson to the Tararua mountains, a distance of about fifty miles. The land stretching on both sides of the river is of extraordinary fertility, arising from the periodical overflowings of the river, and the rich deposit left on its retirement to its natural bed. This rise of the waters of the river was the cause of the removal of the principal town of the settlement to its present site. Not having been foreseen, this was the cause of serious annoyance to the first settlers, as far as the location for a town was concerned. In an agricultural

point of view, this is of the highest importance to the agriculturist; and happy is he who has been lucky enough to obtain a section within the reach of the waters of the river, whether for flooding or irrigation.

'Of the rural districts bordering upon the town little need be said. They lie for the most part between Wellington and Porirua, those scattered around the shores of the latter harbour being the most fertile. The remainder of the sections, in the immediate vicinity of Wellington, consist of flat table-lands, through which never-failing streams run in every direction towards the coast. Many of the sections in this district occupy the valleys at the foot of hills which have not been included in the lands given out, and which are therefore waste. Such sections are considered valuable, from the extent of sheep and cattle rims which they thus afford. But it is probable that they will not continue to lie waste. Much as has been said about the hills of Wellington, there are few which, when cleared, are not cultivatable to the summits--the land there, as in the case of the table-lands alluded to, being of the finest quality, whilst the valleys, filled with the debris of the hills, are fertility itself. It would have been folly, however, to have given hill-land as sections, whilst there was plenty of flat land for the purpose.....

'The amount of available land in immediate connection with Wellington is limited, not amounting to more than 30,000 or 40,000 acres. At the distance of forty miles north-east is the fine valley of the Wairarapa, containing about 300,000 acres of excellent land fitted for both pasturage and agriculture. At about the same distance west of Wellington commences an extensive country at Waikanai, gradually widening to Wanganui, 120 miles from Wellington, and presenting an extent of perfectly level land, estimated at upwards of a million acres, the greater portion of which is excellent arable land, and nearly the whole is covered with abundant pasture. This district is now being connected with Wellington by the military road, already available the whole way for horses, and for two-thirds of the way forming a good carriage-road.

'The Wairau plains also, on the other side of Cook's Strait, though nominally connected with Nelson, are in reality an appendage of Wellington, being much more accessible from the latter port, to which the settlers of Wellington already resort for a market.'-- (Hand-Book for New Zealand, pp. 33, 34.)

'The total quantity of land in cultivation in 1848 was 2178 acres-- the general occupation being the breeding of stock, for which no cultivation is necessary the natural pastures being inexhaustible. In consequence of the ready market for cattle, and the high price of labour, a comparative neglect of rendering land arable was to be expected; but now that emigrants are rapidly flocking into the colony, as well from New South Wales as from the mother country, the cultivation of the soil will rapidly extend; and the more so, as animal food has been brought down to a price which will render the cultivation of the land equally profitable.

'The quantity of stock in Wellington in 1848 was about 50,000 head of all kinds, pigs alone amounting to 7500; of these, upwards of 5000 were the property of the natives, who pursue this lucrative pursuit with energy. The importation of stock since 1848 has been very extensive, numerous families from New South Wales having emigrated to New Zealand with their stock; the Sydney merchants also having engaged in New Zealand stock trade to a large extent. The number of horses in the town and its vicinity was, at the above period, 672, or about one horse to every ten persons......

'The number of manufactories already established in the province is as follows:-- six breweries, two brickyards, one candle manufactory, two stocking-looms, six cooperages, one flax-mill, four rope-walks, two sacking-looms, seven flour-mills, two of which are worked by steam; seven ship and boat yards, four tanneries, and nine timber saw-mills.

'The total number of vessels owned in Wellington is seventy-six, the whole of which, with the exception of two, have been built in the colony. Of these, seven are the property of natives, and are either sailed by the natives, or by Europeans acting under their orders. The total number of buildings in Wellington and its vicinity was in 1848, 922, exclusive of native habitations. Many of these are substantial erections of stone and brick, but the majority are of wood--this being a favourite material for houses, notwithstanding the facilities which now exist for the erection of more durable fabrics.'

'Of the level country there appears to be about 80,000 acres of woodland, finely timbered with Totara, Matahi, Miro, Kahaikatea, Manuka, &c. the soil of which is particularly good; about 200,000 acres consist of open land covered with grass, fern, anise, flax, and toi-toi; the level land is intersected by several swamps, but they could mostly be easily drained. The soil of the open land in the lower part of the valley is in general clayey and gravelly, but some of the plains are of a very good soil. The undulating land consists chiefly of grass or fern land. At the southern end of the valley are two lakes, covering an area of about 50,000 acres, but they are so shallow as to be comparatively useless: there is no entrance seaward, in consequence of a complete bar of sand, and being surrounded by low swampy land.......

'The district may be divided into three parts, each possessing its distinct and peculiar characters: the lowest part, or that nearest the sea, and the western side of the lakes, is mostly swampy, and is covered during the winter months with water; the eastern side, on which the stations are formed, consists chiefly of grass-land; the lower ground near the river consists of the woodland previously described. Beyond these, in what may be termed the valley of the Upper Wairarapa (by far the larger division of the district), there are magnificent grassy plains, the soil of which is of the richest description, intersected by belts of wood, and watered by numerous streams. This district is easily connected with the plains of Ahuriri, which, at a moderate estimate, comprise an area of 500 square miles of level grass-land, from which there is an easy communication with the Manawatu district.'

'Some of these contain upwards of 10,000 acres of perfectly level land, where good grasses are growing as luxuriantly, and nearly as close in the sward, as in English meadows. Their present drawback is the absence of natural drainage; for on crossing three of these plains, I found the substratum to be of conglomerate so perfectly impervious, that I feel satisfied they will prove unfit for anything

else but grass, or other plants requiring but a few inches' depth of mould for their support. At Huangarua, and again at Waingowa, this is particularly apparent. At the extreme edge of those plains caves have been formed, the roofs being of conglomerate, which projects five or six feet, the earth having crumbled away.'

'The district is a very pretty one; the greater portion heavily timbered, and the land extremely good. Coal and lime exist in it, both accessible at the surface on the bank of a small river (the Motupipi), in which they can at once be put on board vessels of fifteen or twenty tons' burden. Of the two sections known to a certainty to contain these minerals, one, on which they have been already worked, became the private property of the company at the selection of rural lands; the other belongs to Major Baker of Wellington. The gross amount of level land in this bay is estimated at 45,000 acres, of which at least 25,000 are fit for agriculture. The greater part of it has been surveyed for rural sections, and a considerable number were selected there, generally with medium orders of choice.

'Blind Bay contains about 60,000 acres of land sufficiently level for agriculture; but not above one-half of this is of a quality adapted for that purpose. It is generally free from timber, but covered with fern; and in the swampy parts, forming a margin half a mile deep on the south and east, near the sea, with flax. The latter description of land was considered, at the period of the original selection of suburban sections, as nearly worthless; much of it was selected for the very latest orders; and some considerable portions, though only a few miles from the town, were left out of the suburban surveys altogether. It has now, however, proved to be the best land in the district, is easily drained and cleared, and bears very heavy crops. The fern-land is also good when the fern grows strong and high; though, when the vegetation is stunted, it of course indicates a poor soil. But on some fern-land, cultivated on a large scale, from thirty to thirty-five bushels of wheat per acre have been grown without manure, proving that it only requires proper culture to make it good land.......

'A purely fern district at first affords little or no pasturage for cattle or sheep; scarcely even goats will live upon it. In Blind Bay, however, there has always been some grass; and as the stock have increased, the grass increased also in a wonderful degree, so that it is now capable of maintaining a very considerable quantity. It has been owing in great degree to the semi-pastoral nature of the district,

and consequent increase of stock, that the settlement has been able to stand its ground among the difficulties with which it has been surrounded.......

'Cloudy Bay, with the Wairau Plain and Valley, forms, however, the most extensive and most valuable portion of the settlement. The whole of that district is somewhat of the shape of a skate-fish-- a broad level plain, eight or ten miles wide, at the head of Cloudy Bay, running inland for eighteen miles, when it suddenly converges to a width of two or three miles, equally level with the plain below, and extending from forty to fifty miles further inland. Though it appears level, or may, in a general description, be so spoken of, there is a very considerable but gradual fall from the head of the valley to the sea, probably not less than 2000 feet in fifty miles; but it is not perceptible to the traveller. The land for four or five miles from the sea is covered with flax and other strong vegetation, and is generally swampy, but of excellent quality, and capable, apparently, like that in Blind Bay, of easy drainage; for the next eight or ten miles it is dry, covered with long grass, and generally of good quality; beyond this it continues grassy, the land getting lighter the further you advance up the country, till the last sixteen or eighteen miles, which are very poor and stony, only fit for grazing purposes. At the very extremity there are a few miles of forest. Several portions of the district (chiefly in the valley) are very stony, which were omitted from the surveys, and have no value except for pasture. The whole district, however, contains a great abundance of excellent agricultural land; but its principal value at present is to be found in the fertile pasture with which it is clothed from end to end, including the whole of the hills which bound it on the eastern side, which present some of the finest sheep-runs in the world, and extend all the way to the east coast by Cape Campbell, and so southward to the Kaikora Mountains.'

'The immigration that recommenced to this settlement upon the completion of the arrangement between Her Majesty's government and the company in 1847, and the births since that time, have added more than 500 souls to the European population of Nelson since the date of the last returns in my predecessor's report of July 1848; the total number of Europeans and. natives at the end of 1848 being 4780. Had the re-emigration of 1000 people not taken place in the years previous to 1847, there would have been at this time a European population of 4500, or a total population, counting natives, of nearly 6000 souls. There are about 200 more European males than females, and about 200 more native males than females; shewing a total excess of rather more than 400 males in the settlement; but this disproportion is much greater in the adults than in the children under fourteen years of age. A new feature in the returns subsequent to 1847, is the addition of the natives of Wairau, Waitohi, and other parts of Queen Charlotte's Sound, which places have been annexed to Nelson by the government purchases of the last three years.

'The distribution of the population is interesting as respects the proportion engaged in agricultural occupations compared with that employed in the town. The number living within the town boundary at the end of 1849 was 1297, and 2075 in the suburban and rural districts--giving 778 more people in the country than in the town. In 1844 the proportions were--1460 in the town, and 1555 in the country; and at Port Nicholson in 1848 there were 2649 persons in Wellington and its suburbs, and only 2039 in the rural districts.

'Land in Cultivation. --There has been a steady increase in actual cultivation from 1847 to 1849--276 acres more being cultivated by Europeans in 1848 than in 1847; 84 acres more in 1849 than in 1848: altogether, 360 acres more in 1849 than in 1847; while the total number of acres fenced last year was 5203, and cleared 4167. Still, I believe that the extent of cultivated land is underrated for 1849, and that the returns of the present year will shew a considerable increase......

'The price of wheat and potatoes, and indeed of all agricultural produce, will probably be much higher this year than at any time in the last three years, in consequence of the demand for California; and though at the end of 1849 the prices of produce were lower than those set down in this estimate, it will be remembered that the grain crop of 1849, harvested quite at the year's end, will only be sold in 1850, so that its value is set down at the present rates, and not at those of the former year. But I am disposed to think that the price of flour and potatoes will go so much higher in the course of this year, that a considerable addition might justly be made to the total sum of £26,000, at which I have estimated the crop of 1849......

'The practice of squatting has been very much diminished in the last two or three years, especially since the remodelling of the settlement by the scheme of July 1847: there are now only about sixty of

them, cultivating about 200 acres, whereas in 1846 there were 210. The ordinance lately passed for enabling the magistrates to impose a fine on squatters has had a good effect, and there are some men who only occupy their land without leases, because the proprietors have not given power to an agent to grant any, and who will gladly become regular tenants when sufficient authority is received......

'Live-Stock. --There has been an astonishing increase in the livestock belonging to this settlement since 1843. The total stock of all kinds, which in that year only amounted to 3000 head, was in 1849 upwards of 72,000 head. The number of horses have increased 600 per cent., the horned cattle 650 per cent., the goats upwards of 500 per cent., and the sheep nearly 5000 per cent.; the value of the stock was nearly £80,000, upon a moderate estimate, at the end of last year; in 1843 the value did not exceed £7000: so that the money value of it has multiplied nearly twelve times in the six years......

'Adding, therefore, the agricultural to the pastoral returns, the result is, that the actual produce or income of cultivation and livestock for 1849 was £50,588; and for the eight years of the settlement's existence, the large sum of £252,930; being an average of £31,616 per annum, even reckoning the two first years, when increase was necessarily very small both of agriculture and of stock.

'The list of shipping belonging to this port shews some falling off from the year 1848, and still more from previous years; which is to be accounted for by the loss of eight vessels wrecked in various places in the last few years. A great part of the loss was owing to the shipment of entirely inexperienced persons as masters on board; but the severe lessons that have been given of such folly will certainly prevent its recurrence for the future. Six vessels, not yet in the registered list for 1849, are built or building at the various yards; and this will bring up the number again in 1850.

Buildings, &c. --The return of increase in building during the year is satisfactory, shewing one new building in less than every eight families, taking each family at the usual average of four persons. There are only two brick houses less than in 1848, which is the best proof of the earthquakes of that year not having done much damage; the clay and mud houses have somewhat diminished, and the increase is altogether in the better sort of wooden houses which form the staple building in new colonies......

'Manufactures, Mines, &c. --The account of manufactures forms perhaps the least satisfactory return under this section of the statistics of Nelson; for though no retrograde steps have been taken, no advance has been made. The only decrease of importance is in the number of saw-mills; and this has happened, unfortunately, at a time when the demand for timber is larger than it has been for years, and is likely to increase very greatly yet. There are, however, efforts making to erect one or two more mills in the course of the present year, and if the demand should continue steady, means will be found for the necessary buildings at the proper time. And although the same amount of improvement is not seen under this as under other

heads, the manufacture of goods to the amount of £16,000 is, after all, no inconsiderable circumstance for one year.'

'I will now give you a short outline of the expenses that must necessarily be incurred in order to commence with a farm of fifty acres at Nelson; it may vary a little in the other settlements: I only mention Nelson, because I know nothing of the other settlements personally. The fifty acres of land at Nelson would cost you, to buy it--if near town, or within five or six miles of it, and being good flax land--£150 per section of fifty acres; if inferior land, within that distance, £50 to £100; if at a greater distance, less in proportion, especially bad land, which at a distance from town is unsaleable: no person would have it as a gift to cultivate it: quality and situation are the two main things to be attended to in selecting land in New Zealand: but without buying the land, it can be rented at a low rent, with a purchasing clause inserted in the lease, so that the tenant can buy it at any time within seven years at a given price if he chooses. This is very convenient, and many sections are let at Nelson in this way. The rent of land varies according to quality and situation--some sections are let at 2s. 6d. per acre per annum, some at 5s., and some 6s., for the first seven years; but it is a general rule for the tenant to have it rent free for the first year, and sometimes for two years: this is regulated by the apparent difficulties and expense that the land offers to get it in a state of cultivation. I subjoin my estimate of the first year's expense, so that you may form some idea what you can do in the colony: you must recollect the first year is the most difficult and expensive--during that, you will have all to buy, and nothing to sell; but after the first year the scale will be turned; you will have plenty to sell, and little to buy. J. Ward.'

'I have supposed you to effect these improvements yourself. Although this may not appear to be a very glowing account, yet in reality it is a very favourable one; and better than it will prove to be, except you are industrious, and everything is looked after as well as it should be, and the land must be good. I see there has been

£96, 5s. 6d. earned within the year--namely, by produce and increase of stock, £17, 15s.; nett produce of crops, £42, 16s.; improvements, £40. But you must bear in mind that you have much better prospects for the second year: you would be able to get twenty acres under crop the second year; the five and a half acres would take but very little cultivating for the second crop; you would have four times as much produce for sale; and your expenses would not be one-fourth as much as the first year. At the end of the second year your accounts would stand thus:--

'I have estimated these expenses from actual experience at Nelson, and I have only to say that the prices would be different in a new settlement--the bullocks, cart, plough, and seed would be dearer; then, in return, your butter, eggs, and milk would sell for double as much, and you would get a better price for your wheat and potatoes. If you could buy two or three cows at the commencement, it would increase your income considerably: the young cows would soon make you increase the size of your dairy, and the young steers would soon be fit to assist the old ones, or you could increase the size of your farm when you had sufficient young stock to work it; this would cost you but very little, as you would have only to buy another plough and two yokes and bows. J. WARD.'

'1. Charts of the islands to be prepared with all practicable expedition and accuracy; and especially charts of all those parts over which either the aboriginal natives or the settlers have established valid titles, whether of property or of occupancy.

'2. In every district shall be kept a registry of the lands, distinguishing, with reference to such charts, the settled lands from the unsettled.

'3. At the capital town of each province shall also be kept a

general registry of the settled and of the unsettled lands, with reference to such charts.

'4. It shall he the duty of every person (other than the aboriginal inhabitants) to transmit to the registrar of lands for the district a statement of the extent, locality, and bounds thereof, and of the title under which he claims to be provisionally registered.

'5. The protector of the aborigines shall, in like manner, transmit to the registrar of the district a statement of the extent (as nearly as it can be ascertained) and of the locality of all the lands situate within the same, to which any such natives, either as tribes or as individuals, claim either a proprietary or a possessory title, to be provisionally registered.

'6. All lands not so claimed or provisionally registered by the time limited, are to be considered as vested in the crown.

'7. Within a time to be for that purpose appointed after such provisional registration, a land court shall be holden, for investigating and deciding on the accuracy and validity of such registrations, competent to decide both as between the claimant and the crown, and as between different claimants asserting opposite and incompatible titles. It shall not, however, be competent to any such land court to decide upon or to investigate any titles to land which at any previous time may have been adjudged to any person, by the sentence of any competent court, or which may at any previous time have been granted or assigned by the crown, or by any governor-in-chief, governor, or lieutenant-governor.

'8. The land registries of the districts being revised and corrected by the adjudications of the land courts, an appeal shall lie from any such adjudication to the supreme court. The registries of the several districts, when revised and corrected, to be final and conclusive evidence of the title to any lands comprised in such registries, and as final and conclusive evidence of the crown's right to all lands not comprised therein.

'9. No claim shall be admitted in the land courts on behalf of the aborigines to any lands, unless it shall be established, to the satisfaction of the court, that either by some act of the executive government of New Zealand, or by the adjudication of some competent court, the right of such aboriginal inhabitants to such lands has been acknowledged and ascertained, or that the claimants or their progenitors, or those from whom they derived title, have actually had the occupation of the lands so claimed, and have been accustomed to use and enjoy them, either as places of abode, or for tillage, or for the growth of crops, or for the depasturing of cattle, or otherwise for the convenience and sustentation of life, by means of labour expended thereupon.

'10. For insuring the observance of these rules respecting the preparation of the charts and the keeping of the registries, and for determining the methods to be followed in drawing up and transmitting claims, and in the provisional registration of them, and for ascertaining and regulating the constitution and proceedings of the

land courts, and the mode of proceeding upon appeals to the supreme courts, and otherwise for carrying into full effect these instructions, the governor-in-chief shall, by proclamations, establish all such rules as by the act of parliament charter and these instructions may be competent to him; and so far as it may not be competent to such governor-in-chief to establish such rules, it shall be his duty to propose to the legislatures of the provinces the enactment of all such laws as may be necessary for that purpose, that so the extent and limits of the lands of the crown, available for future settlement, and the extent and limits of the lands of the aboriginal inhabitants, and the extent and limits of the lands of the settlers, may severally be distinctly ascertained.

'11. No conveyance of the lands of the natives in any shape, or for any period, to be valid unless sanctioned by the crown. This is not to apply to the case of natives who have acquired land by tenure, after the manner of British subjects. --N. B. This part of the regulations is so purely technical, that it seems to have been introduced by the draughtsmen, afraid lest some case had been left unprovided for.

'12. All the lands so ascertained, as aforesaid, to constitute the demesne of the crown, are held for the benefit of the subjects of the crown at large, and especially of settlers.

'13. The demesne lands shall, by proclamations to be issued by the respective governors of the provinces, be divided into counties, hundreds, townships, and parishes, each exactly defined with reference to the charts.

'14. No crown lands in New Zealand to be alienated, either in perpetuity or for any definite time, either by way of grant, lease, licence of occupation, or otherwise, gratuitously, nor except under the regulations.

'15. No crown lands to be alienated, unless included within the terms of some proclamation issued by the governor or lieutenant-governor of the province, declaring for three calendar months at the least next before alienation, that the lands are thenceforward to be within the limits of settlement.

'16. No such lands to be so alienated unless previously surveyed, and distinguished by a mark in the chart of the county, hundred, township, and parish.

'17. The governor, with the executive council, to mark out and distinguish all such parts of the demesne of the crown as may appear best adapted for the site of future towns, and especially seaport towns --or as the lines of internal communication, whether byroads, canals, railways, or otherwise--or as places fit to be reserved as quays, landing-places, or otherwise, for the general convenience of trade and navigation--or as places of military or naval defence--or as the sites of churches, court-houses, markets, hospitals, prisons, or other public edifices--or as cemeteries, or as places fit to be reserved for the embellishment or health of towns, or for the recreation of the inhabitants; or otherwise for any purposes of public utility, convenience, or enjoyment, in which either the whole population of the province, or

any large number of the inhabitants, may have a common interest: all these to be known as reserved lands.

'18. All reserved lands, with the exception of those reserved as the future sites of towns, may be conveyed to any corporation gratuitously, for the public uses for which they were so reserved.

'19. The lands reserved as the sites of towns shall be divided into two classes--'town allotments,' and 'suburban allotments:' the town allotments being such as will probably become the future site of buildings, the suburban allotments being such as will probably acquire a greatly-enhanced value from the close vicinity to such buildings.

'20. All the demesne lands of the crown brought by proclamation within the limits of settlement are to be alienated as follows, being divided into three classes; of which the first class shall consist of town allotments; the second class of suburban; and the third of rural.

'21. In reference to each town, and the suburbs, the governor shall, by proclamation, determine the number and extent of the allotments; care being taken that they be made in reference to some convenient plan previously fixed for the erection of the town, and that no town allotments be greater in extent than will probably be required for a single edifice, with such adjacent land as may probably be necessary for the use and enjoyment of the future occupants.

'22. No rural allotment within the demesne shall exceed in extent one square mile; but it shall be competent to the governor to divide any such allotment for the purpose of such alienation into allotments of one-half or of one-quarter of a square mile.

'23. Rural allotments shall, by proclamation, be divided into such as are supposed and such as are not supposed to contain valuable minerals.

'24. No part of the demesne of the crown shall be alienated, either in perpetuity or otherwise, either absolutely or conditionally, until after it has first been put up to sale at a public auction, on three calendar months' notice.,

'25. At every such public auction the lands are to be put up in lots at a minimum upset price.

'26. No rural allotment shall for the present be put up at any minimum price less than twenty shillings per acre.

'27. The respective minimum upset prices of rural lands supposed to contain minerals, of suburban lands, and of town lands, shall always be the same in respect of each separate allotment of the same extent comprised in any one of those several classes respectively. Such upset price shall always exceed the before-mentioned upset price of twenty shillings an acre, the amount of such excess being from time to time determined by such proclamations as aforesaid, in respect of the allotments contained in each of the said several classes of land.

'28. It shall be competent to any person, within three calendar months after the auction, to become the purchaser of lands put up, and not sold at the upset price.

'29. Immediate payment in cash an indispensable condition of every sale.

'30. It shall be competent to the governor to demise, for any term of years (not exceeding twenty-one), any rural allotments supposed to contain minerals, reserving a royalty of not less than fifteen per cent, on the produce, and to introduce all covenants necessary for the faithful discharge of all the terms and conditions of the lease.

'31. A separate account to be kept by the treasurer of each province of the gross proceeds of the land-sales, rents, and royalties, and of all the costs, charges, and expenses of crown lands, after deducting which, the net balance shall be held for defraying the cost of introducing into the respective provinces emigrants from the United Kingdom, or for defraying the costs of such other public services as shall from time to time be prescribed by instructions to be issued under the act.

'32. These rules not to affect the promulgation of instructions respecting the occupation of lands by lease or licence for any term of years, or for any shorter time, to be regulated by further instructions.

'33. But this exception is not to extend to the temporary occupation of lands, for the purpose of depasturing sheep or cattle under any lease or licence. This branch is to be regulated by further instructions, and in the meantime by orders by the governor-in-chief.'