[CONTENTS]
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CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
WHY SHOULD PEOPLE EMIGRATE?
Overpopulation--Consideration for family--Prosperity of those who have emigrated--Importance of emigration to the middle classes--To small capitalists--Monopoly of capital at home--Emigration of the middle classes the best means of providing funds for the emigration of the poor--The benefits of a practical education................page 5
CHAPTER II.
HINTS WORTH CONSIDERATION.
Colonial delusions--Causes of failure in Colonies--Self-examination--Home struggles--Colonial independence--Facility of immediate location in the Colonies of the Pacific as compared with the Transatlantic Colonies--Importance of Colonization as a spur to home manufacture--The true mission of the Emigrant..........................11
CHAPTER III.
PREPARATIONS FOR THE VOYAGE.--THE ECONOMICAL PASSAGE SYSTEM.
Necessity of economical conveyance to Colonies--New Zealand Company's plan for effecting this-- Provision for emigrants on the voyage--Punctuality in sailing--The tricks of shipbrokers--Absence of accidents in New Zealand Company's ships--Comfort of the Emigrant on board--Times for sailing--Ship-regulations of the Company--Dietary--Utensils--Conveyance of money..................20
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CHAPTER IV.
REGULATIONS FOR THE SALE OF LAND, WHEREBY A PASSAGE TO THE COLONY MAY BE OBTAINED.
Purchase of land--Company's terms, with drawback for conveyance of purchaser or his nominee--Principle of the self-supporting system--The "sufficient price" for Colonial waste lands--Selection of land.................30
CHAPTER V.
PREPARATIONS FOR THE VOYAGE.--THE OUTFIT.
Purchase of outfit--List of articles required--Packing articles not required on the voyage.......................36
CHAPTER VI.
PREPARATIONS FOR THE VOYAGE.--PORTABLE HOUSES.
Advantage of taking out portable houses.--Cost--Principles of building--Colonial dwellings--Cobb--Pise--Methods of construction--Site--Ventilation--Tools, &c.................45
CHAPTER VII.
FIRST STEPS IN THE COLONY.
Conduct on the voyage--Cultivation of the soil--Requisite capital--Town and country pursuits--Sheep and cattle-farming--Grazing--Squatting--Mechanics--Economy in living....................54
CHAPTER VIII.
THE CLIMATE OF NEW ZEALAND, AND THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE GENERALLY.
Importance of inquiry concerning climate--Temperature of the Southern Hemisphere as compared with the Northern--Mean temperatures--Transatlantic temperature--Selection of climate--Bishop of New Zealand on the climate of the country--Meteorological tables...........60
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CHAPTER IX.
OUTLINE SKETCH OP NEW ZEALAND.
General view--Northern Island--Middle Island--Stewart's Island--Harbour--Rivers--Mountains--Western coast of Middle Island--Northern and Southern districts of North Island--Western district of North Island--Fertility...................70
CHAPTER X.
WELLINGTON.
First view of New Zealand--Wellington--Kaiwarra-Warra--Petoni--Valley of the Hutt--Rural districts--Bank--Religious worship--Available land--Wellington a commercial settlement--Statistics.............77
CHAPTER XI.
THE VALLEY OF THE WAIRARAPA.
Aspect of the valley--Surveyor's report--Lakes--The river--Roads--Sheep stations--Formation of cattle stations....................90
CHAPTER XII.
NELSON AND THE WAIRAU.
Aspect--Harbour--Land--Choice of the settlement--Massacre Bay--Extent of Land--The Wairau district--Soil--Climate--Salubrity of Nelson--Population--Labour--Cottage husbandry--Removal of difficulties with regard to land--Natives--Their sagacity in trade--Rapidity of native civilization in consequence of colonization--Natives at Wairau--Education--Mr. Ward's letters--Estimate for farming--Profits--Capital requisite to ensure success--Persons with trifling capital--New Zealand a naval station--Letter from the Rev. Mr. Nicholson--Report of Committee--Port Underwood--Waitohi--Wairau plain--Queen Charlotte's Sound--Newton Bay--Statistics.............104
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CHAPTER XIII.
NEW PLYMOUTH.
Former inhabitants of Taranaki--Mr. Barrett--Roadstead--Society--Social institutions--Climate--Land--Condition of Emigrants--Wages--Natives--Letter from Mr. Hursthouse--From J. French, &c.............102
CHAPTER XIV.
OTAGO.
Object of founders of the Settlement--Extent--General description--Dunedin--Port Chalmers--The Clutha--Climate--Soil--Pastures--Products--The natives--Letters from Settlers--from Rev. Mr. Burns, Mr. Duff, Mr. Mercer, Mr. Atkinson, Rev. Mr. M'Dermid, Capt. Cargill, Mr. Ross, Mr. Westwood, Mr. Thompson, Mr. Adams, Messrs. Lakeman, &c. &c......................181
CHAPTER XV.
CANTERBURY,
Design of promoters--Letter from Mr. Cridland--Government of the Settlement--Price of laud--Preliminary survey--Roads--Immigration Fund--Selection of colonists--Mode of selecting land--Allotment of pastoral ranges--Ecclesiastical and educational endowments--Progress of the Association...............234
CHAPTER XVI.
AGRICULTURE AND SHEEP-FARMING.
The agriculture of a new country different from that of an old country--Canadian modes of clearing the bush--Firing the bush--Cropping--Mr. Lewthwaite on clearing--Mr. Graham on ditto--Mr. Dilworth on ditto--Sheep-farming--Capabilities of land for agriculture and grazing--Christian Remembrancer--Letter from Mr. Allom on sheep and cattle--farming in the Wairarapa......................250
CHAPTER XVII.
Conclusion.....................285
[INTRODUCTION]
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INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
THE object of the following book is to supply intending emigrants with the information requisite to enable them to effect their purpose certainly and economically, and at the same time to give them such an outline of the colony to which they are proceeding, as may reasonably assure them as to their future prospects when arrived at that colony. There are books without number, descriptive of all our colonies, but the perusal of the generality of these, administers rather to the gratification of curiosity than to the real requirements of the intending colonist, viz., How he should set about emigrating. This knowledge is his first want, and without this, he is often undecided as to what course he shall adopt, or to his serious cost, becomes involved in an expenditure of time and means, the latter especially, which would prove a small capital to him if saved for the purposes of his future career as a colonist.
My qualifications for this object are, a pretty long experience in the colonies of the South Pacific, and what is more to the emigrant's purpose, a still longer experience in despatching emigrants from the mother country. The following remarks are chiefly confined to New Zealand, that being the
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colony with which I am most conversant; but those remarks which are intended to afford information to the emigrant relative to his own shipment, are applicable to all southern emigration, as is the advice volunteered for his consideration relative to his individual conduct as a colonist. The causes of success are alike in all colonies, as are also the causes of the want of it; and he will do well not to despise the experience of one who has had more than the usual opportunities for observation.
The emigrant must, therefore, not expect picturesque descriptions of scenery, though New Zealand, beyond most other countries, abounds in picturesque beauty; nor must he look for those narratives of personal adventure with which it is the fashion to season colonial books. These matters are extraneous, and though amusing, as giving scope to a considerable amount of imagination both as regards the writer and the reader, will here altogether be lost sight of. Not that the writer has been without his share of adventure, or the hardships, as some would call them, of having been amongst the first of the New Zealand colonists who broke in upon the solitude of the forest, and the barbarism of the savage, both of which conditions, on the part of the colony and its aborigines are rapidly vanishing before the light of civilization. But the mere mention of these, except in a book written for the purpose of amusement, would be puerile, unless to remind the intending emigrant of the present day, that he will have none of these things to encounter. The way has been paved for him--and the first difficulties of the colony surmounted. The forest has already, in a great degree, given way to the corn-field; and the cannibal has become also, to a great degree, the civilised man and the Christian--in name, if not in reality; and even this is an important step forward.
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The want appears to be, something which may awaken the middle and labouring classes of this country to a sense of their own position with respect to the future, as regards the country, at the same time pointing out the way to escape from that future, whilst they have either small capital or strength to labour left. There is no apparent way whereby to escape from impending evil, but by emigrating. This must become a system -- not an accident: a system, not only of men ceasing to be useless in their own country from want, not of intention, but of opportunity to be useful,-- but also of converting themselves into the future employers of those they leave behind. "One colonist" says Sir Josiah Child, "employs four of the mother-country." Not that the emigrant needs to make this a point of conscience, but such will be its effect. He himself will become comparatively independent, instead of being a burden; and those he leaves behind will benefit in a double sense by his removal; he and his family, though in a distant part of the empire, will ascend in the social scale; whilst he will be a means of preventing many of those whom he leaves at home from sinking. These objects are worthy of deep consideration.
Not that we put the matter on the score of patriotism; abstract patriotism is, in our day, commonly considered abstract hypocrisy. The only patriotism which we wish to inculcate on the emigrant is that which will benefit himself; if, at the same time, it benefit the state, so much the better, since it costs him nothing, and he is still a partaker in the advantages to his fatherland.
But things in England can no longer continue as they have been: somebody must move off. The question, therefore, becomes-Who will go? The prudent man will reply, "I will, whilst I have something left; if I wait I shall have
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nothing wherewith to emigrate." Reason as we may, this is the true mode of looking at the matter. We have before us a choice of evils,-a re-modification of society by a re-distribution of society into different parts of the empire, or a convulsion of society, which will go far to overthrow all prosperity. As the lamented Charles Buller has said, but in more eloquent language, "We shall not cease to be Britons because we remove from one part of the empire where we are too thick, to another where we are too thin."
This re-distribution of society must take place amongst the people themselves. The Legislature has done nothing, and will do nothing; but if the Legislature will not save the people, the people, for their own sakes, must save themselves. The danger is imminent, and trifling with it still more so.
It therefore behoves everyone to ask himself the question- "Am I in the way?" If the querent feel that he is so, let him make up his mind to go. If he feel that he can surmount all difficulties, by all means let him stay. Every man is the best judge of his own capabilities, and by his own judgment let him stand or fall.
But he has a duty which he owes to his family. What will become of them? should he his first question. The reply is shrouded in doubt and difficulty. His next question will be-- "If I emigrate, will their condition be bettered? The reply will be, "unquestionably." Upon this let him act, whether it be for emigrating or remaining at home. The question is one, no less of judgment, than of natural affection.
