1861 - Paul, R. B. New Zealand As it Was and As it Is - [Text] p 1-63

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NEW ZEALAND,

&C. &C.

THE Colony, which I am about to describe, is the most distant possession of the British Crown, being exactly opposite to that part of the globe which we ourselves inhabit. Hence the term "Antipodes," which means, in English, "feet against feet;" that is to say, if a hole could be bored right through the earth, and one of us were dragged through it feet foremost, and if a New Zealander started from his country at the same time, and travelled also feet foremost in the same direction, the two would meet "feet against feet" somewhere about the centre. 1 From this it follows, that an Englishman, in order to reach New Zealand, must sail half round the globe, a distance of some thirteen thousand miles.

The islands were discovered and named by the Dutch navigator, Tasman, more than two hundred years ago; but were little thought of in Europe until 1769, when Captain Cook took possession of them in the name of the King of England. As early as the year 1793 the coasts seem to have been visited by whalers, whose reckless cruelties provoked the natives

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to frequent and bloody revenge; but no European resided on either of the islands until 1814, when the Rev. Samuel Marsden established a mission in the Bay of Islands. Since that time, Church of England, Wesleyan, and Roman Catholic missionaries have been actively at work in the Northern Island, where 54,000 out of the 56,000 natives reside. New Zealand became a possession of the British crown in 1840, when a declaration of allegiance, called the treaty of Waitangi, 2 was signed by all the principal chiefs, who thereby became as much subjects of Queen Victoria as we ourselves are. From time to time there have been attempts on the part of the natives to violate this treaty; but all had been tolerably quiet for some years, natives and Europeans living peaceably together under the protection of the British government, when Wiremu Kingi began his treasonable proceedings at Taranaki. Of this rising and its consequences, I shall speak more particularly when I describe that province.

On the 29th May, 1842, Dr. George Augustus Selwyn, who had been consecrated Bishop of New Zealand in the preceding year, arrived at Auckland, and proceeded to organize a more extensive missionary system, in conjunction with the Church Missionary Society, whose clergy had been labouring zealously and successfully in the North Island since 1822. The diocese has since been subdivided, four new Bishops

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having been appointed, viz., Waiapu (a native diocese), 3 Wellington, Nelson, and Christchurch. By this arrangement Bishop Selwyn has been enabled to devote a large portion of his time to purely missionary labours, for which he is well qualified by his singleness of purpose, unshaken courage, fervent piety, and utter disregard of the comforts of civilization, whenever the enjoyment of them seems a hindrance to the great work to which he has consecrated the best years of his life. Since the establishment of British sovereignty in the islands, New Zealand has had four Governors: Captain Hobson, R.N., who died at Auckland in 1842, Captain Fitzroy, R.N., who was recalled in 1845, leaving his government in a state of deplorable confusion and insolvency, Captain Sir George Grey, now Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, and the present Governor, Colonel Gore Browne, C.B.

Having told you where New Zealand is, and given you a rough outline of its history, I will now introduce you to the country itself.

The islands known by the name of New Zealand (so called by Tasman from the island of Zealand in Holland) are three in number, extending from about 35° to 47° south latitude, and bearing the names of the Northern, Middle, and Stewart's Islands. The length of the whole country is about nine hundred,

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and its breadth about two hundred miles. The three islands together are supposed to contain an area of about seventy millions of acres, of which two-thirds perhaps are more or less available for agricultural purposes. Calculating roughly, as we needs must, where so large a portion of the country is still unexplored, we may say that New Zealand is somewhat more extensive than the British isles. Most of you know that the globe, as it appears on a map, is divided into two equal parts by an imaginary line called the Equator. Under this line is the hottest part of the earth, and whether you travel north or south it comes to the same thing--the farther you go from it, the colder the climate becomes. This causes a little puzzle at first to a man who goes out from this side (England, France, or wherever his native country may be). He will probably meet with fellow-passengers who have already been in Australia and New Zealand, and he will stare when, he hears them talk of a garden facing the warm north, or a sitting-room which is cool and pleasant in summer because it has a southern aspect. Such, however, is really the case. In our hemisphere (i. e. our half of the globe) the sun travels, as you know, from the east by the south to his resting-place in the west. In the southern hemisphere (i. e. between the equator and the south pole) he travels as with us from east to west, but makes the north instead of the south his half-way house. I need hardly tell you that the poles are surrounded by eternal ice; but perhaps you are not aware that in this respect the south pole is the worse of the two. There is also a much greater extent of sea in the southern hemisphere

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than the northern. The effect of these two causes together is, that a place in New Zealand will (generally-speaking) be a few degrees colder, but will have at the same time a more equal temperature than the place in Europe to which it corresponds. 4 A good deal will, of course, depend on locality. Thus Nelson, which is sheltered from every cold wind, will enjoy as genial a climate as Oporto (to which it is nearly opposite), whilst Christchurch, being unsheltered, will be many degrees colder than its opposite, Montpellier. But it is in the extreme south that the difference is most perceptible. The southern extremity of Stewart's Island, for example, is three degrees or more nearer the equator than Torquay in Devonshire; but I think, if I were a medical man, I should hardly be inclined to recommend a winter's sojourn in Stewart's Island to a consumptive patient.

Bearing in mind what I have told you about southern latitude, you may, without much incorrectness, call Otago the Scotland, and Auckland the Hampshire or Devonshire of New Zealand. There will consequently be as much difference between the climates of the North Cape and Stewart's Island, as between those of the Isle of Wight and John o'Groat's House.

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In the early days of New Zealand colonization, a great deal of nonsense was talked about its climate. People were told that the climate of Italy was nothing in comparison of it: that the balminess of the air, the bright blue of the skies, the perpetual greenness of the country, rendered it such a land as none of us had hitherto met with except in a fairy tale. In the words of a man, who wrote home to his friends after spending one of the best months of the year in the pleasantest part of New Zealand--"The climate of this country (John O'Groat's House and all!) is that of Paradise." Now what was the effect of all this extravagant praise? A man goes out as a settler to one of the New Zealand provinces.--We will suppose that he sails from England in April, and lands in July, which answers to our January, all the seasons being exactly the reverse of those in Europe. Perhaps his destination is Auckland.

I have seen it rain at Auckland for nine weeks in winter with scarcely any variety, except in the change from muggy drizzle to blustering storm. Or to take a more southern settlement. He lands, we will say, at Lyttelton, the principal sea-port of Canterbury. Hardly has he had time to turn round, when up comes the terrible south-wester, with the discharge of such a battery of rain and sleet, as he has only read of in books of travels. His umbrella, if he carries one, is taken aback by the first squall, so that he is glad to let go his hold of it to escape being blown over a precipice or into the sea. He is quartered at first in the emigration barracks; but this is only a temporary arrangement. In a few days he gets a room in some cottage, or

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hires a little dwelling, or perhaps sets up a tent, or what is termed a V hut, from being in the form of a V turned upside down. I am afraid the chances are against his being very comfortable in any of these habitations. Somehow the wind will find its way through the chinks of weatherboard walls; and the rain through the warped shingles of the roof. 5 I have slept (in a very tolerable cottage too, as cottages were in those days) with seven plates on my bed, to catch the rain that dripped from seven distinct leakages in the roof.

These storms last from twelve hours to three days. They are of course more frequent and last longest in winter, but even the summer is not altogether free from them. This is one side of the picture.--Now what of the other? You have in New Zealand every where, except perhaps in the extreme south, a climate where the sun shines brightly during three-fourths of the year, sending a man forth to his daily labour with a heart full of buoyant cheerfulness.

The winter, properly so called, does not last more than three months in any of the settlements, and snow in the country north of Timaru is seldom seen, except on the distant mountains. I do not remember that I ever saw snow on the low grounds during my nine years' residence in Canterbury, Wellington, and Nelson. Night frosts are always followed by bright sun-shiny

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days without wind. The most broken season, generally speaking, is the spring; the warmest and at the same time the most windy, the summer; the pleasantest, the autumn, being free for the most part from rain and strong winds. The hottest and driest month is generally February, (answering to our August), the coldest and wettest, July. I don't think it blows harder there than it does in England, but it blows hard oftener, and there are gales of wind at seasons of the year when we generally look for calms or moderate breezes. But what of that? A man does not run much risk of being blown off his legs, unless he is very lightly ballasted indeed, or persists in carrying an umbrella.

And here it may be well to mention two great advantages which New Zealand possesses:--There are seldom, if ever, any dangerous thunder-storms; and the country is entirely free from beasts of prey and venomous reptiles. Go where you will,--and sleep wherever you can find shelter,--you have nothing to apprehend more serious than the bite of a sandfly or a mosquito. Is the climate healthy, and suited to an English constitution? I think you would say so, if you could see, as I have seen, the rosy children of the southern settlers: and even in the North, the colonist is, as far as I know, as healthy and as strong to labour, as the inhabitant of any part of England; though more wiry perhaps and not quite so full blown as some of our Lincolnshire yeomen. Allowing that he has more hardships at first than he would have at home, he is supported by the hope, (in which a steady settler is hardly ever disappointed,) that in

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a very few years he will be an independent man. And certainly I should say that he has more heart to struggle against difficulties than he would have in this country: for he is full fed, getting, if he likes it, meat, wheaten bread, tea and sugar, three times a day; and whatever labour he undertakes, it interests him, for it is either some work on his own little homestead, or at worst every day's toil brings him nearer to that object of his wishes.

And then the capabilities of the soil and climate are such as you will hardly find in any other country in the world, except perhaps in its neighbour, Tasmania. "The climate of New Zealand," says Mr. Fox, who resided nine years in that country, and has recently returned to it, "is, for the purposes of production, probably the finest in the world. Whatever will grow in England will grow there. Many things flourish for which England is too cold, and the south of Europe too hot. Thus the grape ripens to perfection in the open air, which it will not do in England, and so does the gooseberry, which it will not in Spain." 6 In the North maize is cultivated by the natives, and also a sweet sort of potatoe, called kumera, very agreeable to the taste. I have seen a few oranges and lemons in gardens at Auckland; but they require, I suppose, in any part of New Zealand, more attention than they

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are worth. There are vineyards at Nelson and Akaroa, and in the former of these places the standard peach tree is so productive, that I have seen bushels of the fruit lying on the ground in almost every garden. Apples, pears, plums, cherries, gooseberries, currants, and strawberries are cultivated with complete success. I had a pomegranate in my garden at Nelson; but the fruit, though eatable, was never thoroughly ripe. "Wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, carrots, turnips, lettuces, cabbages, peas, French beans, all thrive admirably well, and so do the geranium, fuchsia, rose, arum, and a variety of flowering shrubs from England and the Cape of Good Hope. Rich, however, as New Zealand now is, in fruits and grain of almost every description, it produces naturally hardly any roots or berries fit for the food of man; nor are there any quadrupeds belonging to the island, unless you call a lizard a quadruped; nor any great choice of fish (I mean as regards variety of sorts, for there are plenty of fish on the coast, such as they are). Of birds there are the weka, or wood-hen (a little curious fellow, that peers about your camp), several varieties of the goose and duck tribes, the kiwi (a bird without tail or wings), the large and small hawk, the quail, the white crane, one of the most beautiful birds in the world, the ka-ka, or New Zealand parrot (a homely, brown bird), the delicate little green paroquet, and the tui, or parson-bird, so called from two white feathers under the throat, like a clergyman's bands, the rest of the plumage being jet black. In former days there existed in New Zealand a gigantic bird, called by the natives Moa. From bones which have

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been discovered embedded in sea-sands, swamps, and river-beds, it has been conjectured that the bird, which was of the ostrich tribe, stood from thirteen to fifteen feet high, with strong legs, large powerful feet, and wings too small for flight. The most perfect specimen that I have seen was taken out of a limestone cave near Collingwood, into which it had apparently crept to escape pursuit, for the hole into which it had squeezed itself was hardly two feet high. In this trap, being unable to back out, it was probably starved to death. The race has long since been extinct, the birds having been slaughtered by the natives for the sake of their flesh and feathers. According to their traditions it resembled in appearance a large Cochin China fowl.--Almost all of the New Zealand trees are evergreens; so that there is little variety in the appearance of the forest at different seasons of the year, except that in winter the green is somewhat less lively. The most useful tree of the pine tribe is the kauri, which furnishes vessels with the straightest, tallest, and strongest spars in the world. Large quantities of the gum extracted from this pine are exported to Europe for the use of varnish manufacturers, calico glazers, and others. It grows only in the northern part of the Northern Island. The totara is also a pine, which supplies very durable timber for building purposes. The trunks both of the kauri and totara are of immense size, being not unfrequently from thirty to forty feet in circumference. The Rimu, Manuka, and several other trees are used by cabinet-makers. The Puriri is a sort of teak, the wood of which is exceedingly hard

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and durable. There is a parasite called Rata, which twines round the trunks of other trees, gradually destroying them as it increases in size, until the trunk resembles the twisted columns of the "beautiful gate of the temple" in Raphael's cartoon. Towards the end of November or beginning of December this tree is covered with a profusion of the most brilliant scarlet flowers. The varieties of fern are very numerous. The most beautiful is the tree-fern, a tall and very graceful shrub, with drooping leaves like a palm. It flourishes best in the heart of the forest, from which the sun's rays are shut out by the thick foliage of the surrounding trees. Attempts have been made to cultivate this beautiful tree in gardens, but hitherto, I believe, unsuccessfully. The ti-palm, or cabbage-tree, is a sort of vulgar tree-fern, not unlike its elegant sister when seen from a distance, but much coarser, with leaves something like those of the flax plant. The tutu (pronounced toot) is a low shrub, the berries of which are often fatal to newly-landed or half-starved cattle and sheep. The Phormium tenax, called by the colonists flax, though it possesses no quality of that plant except its strength and toughness of fibre, is not unlike a huge iris or flag, growing to a height sometimes of six feet or more. The leaves are tough, and shiny like the laurel. It sends up a long stalk, with clusters of reddish flowers, each of which contains a drop of delicious honey. The stalk, when dry, is often used by the colonists as a walking staff. Many attempts have been made to prepare the leaves for the market, but without much success hitherto, from the difficulty, it would seem, of getting

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rid of the bark, which, after a time, rots and destroys the rope. 7 The natives used to separate the bark from the silk-like fibre by means of a sharp-edged shell; but this tedious work has long since been abandoned for more profitable employment. The leaf, when split into ribbons, is used by the colonists in the place of rope, and the gum as a substitute for glue.

Having told you where New Zealand is, and what are its climate and natural productions, my next step will be to give you some account of its native population, the Maoris. 8 From what country they originally came, can only be matter of conjecture; but as far as we can collect from their own imperfect traditions, the probability seems to be that Sumatra, the cradle of the Malay race, was their mother-country; and that thence they went on from one island to another, until a portion of them at last settled in New Zealand. There are about 54,000 of them in the North Island, of whom four-fifths reside in the province of Auckland. In the Middle Island the number does not much exceed two thousand. Thanks to the indefatigable labours of the missionaries, by far the greater number of these are at least professors of our holy religion, and many, we trust, are sincere and consistent followers of our Blessed Saviour. But a good

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deal of the old ferocity still remains, displaying itself from time to time in acts of brutal violence. The late Governor, Sir George Grey, seems to have well understood the character of this high-spirited and intelligent, but imperfectly civilized race. By his advice, large sums were voted for the establishment of schools open to natives and Europeans, the only conditions insisted on being that the children should receive industrial training, religious instruction and instruction in the English language. 9 Hospitals were established and medical attendance provided for the natives at their own homes. Considerable sums were also expended in the establishment of model farms, and the

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support of resident magistrates, and native assessors, in various native districts. The chiefs, who had always been faithful to the British Crown, were rewarded with pensions; Walker Nene receiving £100 a-year, and Te Whero Whero, (afterwards King Potatau), and Te Puni £50 each. The last named was also presented with a cup by the Wellington settlers. He is still alive,, and with his long white beard, and dignified manners, is a good specimen of the "fine old Maori gentleman."

But while he thus endeavoured to promote civilization by acts of judicious encouragement to the well-disposed, the Governor took care to teach the natives that British law could not be violated with impunity. In addition to the troops already in the Northern Island, five hundred pensioners were sent out from England, and stationed in four settlements within a few miles of Auckland. Each of these men had a cottage and one acre of land, and the right of acquiring five acres more after a certain time, on condition of being ready for seven years to serve whenever called out. Rauparaha, a powerful chief, whose fidelity was more than doubtful, was seized at his residence, and detained in custody on board H. M. ship Calliope. Several natives convicted of murder were publicly executed. On one occasion, three hundred armed Maories landed at Auckland, and demanded that a native policeman, who had insulted their chief by arresting him, should be given up to them. The reply to this demand, was a peremptory order to quit the town within two hours, and as the order was likely to be enforced by a broadside from the guns of a man of

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war, which had been brought to bear on them, no course was left for the insurgents, but to drag their canoes 10 over the mud, (the tide having by this time fallen,) and paddle away in very unwarlike fashion. The native men are fine muscular fellows, averaging about 5 ft. 6 in. in height. In complexion not much darker than gypsies; picturesque when dressed in the war-mat (a sort of mantle of dog-skin with the hair on, or of platted flax,) but snobbish, so to speak, when clad in European costume; an effect produced probably by their bodies being longer, and their legs shorter than those of Europeans. Their faces are broad, with coarse mouths; the expression of the face sleepy and rather sullen. Tattooing has gone very much out of fashion since the introduction of Christianity. The mode in which the operation used to be performed was this:--The figure was first traced out in paint on the face, and then a sharp instrument dipped in charcoal was driven into the skin by blows of a small stick. The operation was a very tedious

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one, and when completed, gave the man's face the appearance of a piece of inlaid cabinet-work. Both sexes bore their ears, and ornament them with pieces of green-stone, shark's teeth, &c. I have also seen little green-stone figures hanging round the necks of some of the chiefs. Consumption, low fever, and bowel complaints, are the diseases most common among them. Neither cholera nor small-pox has yet appeared in New Zealand; but measles have swept away thousands of the natives. Some of their chiefs are noble looking warriors, well set up, with an independent and dignified carriage. Their ensign of command is a sort of club made of green-stone. With this weapon, which is not unlike a soda-water bottle in form, and about double the size, they used to brain their enemy, having first grasped him firmly by the hair of his head. Of the personal appearance of the women, I cannot speak very highly. Their usual dress is not favourable to the development of beauty; being simply a shapeless sack of printed calico, called a "roundabout," tied round the neck, but loose at the waist. I suppose it is the most ungraceful costume that ever was invented. A bright blue under lip, and a pipe in the mouth, complete the full dress of a Maori lady. Their gait is rendered awkward by the habit which many of them have of carrying little pigs in their arms, and sacks of potatoes on their shoulders. I must, however, do the Maories the justice to say, that here and there we meet with instances of almost European civilization. Nothing, for instance, can be neater than the pretty cottage of Thomson (old Rauparaha's son) at Otaki, with

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its tidy chairs and tables, its snowy linen, its "varnished clock that tick'd behind the door," and its "pictures framed for ornament and use," among which not the least conspicuous was a portrait of old Te Rauparaha, "the old gentleman," as Mrs. Thomson proudly called him. Generally speaking, however, I cannot say much in praise either of their domestic architecture or their household arrangements. Most of their habitations that I have seen were little better probably than the huts occupied by their ancestors in Captain Cook's time, warmed by a stifling fire on the floor, around which they either crouch or sprawl, wrapped in blankets; for their European clothes are only for out of door wear. As church architects they have been more successful. The large building which they have constructed at Otaki would not disgrace an English parish, with its huge pillars each of a single tree, supporting the roof-tree, and its walls elaborately ornamented with alternate pannelling of lattice work and native painting. It is almost worth a voyage to New Zealand to see a native congregation in this church; so picturesque are their costumes, and so edifying their attention to the service. It was pleasing too to see old grey-headed chiefs standing in class with all the docility of little children, to listen to the instruction of the Sunday-school teacher. Before the arrival of the missionaries their toilet does not seem to have been very costly. I have been told that in the early days of his ministration one of these missionaries ventured to hint to a chief of some importance that it was desirable he should appear on Sundays in some article of dress more substantial than the light

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drapery usually worn in those primitive times. The chief good-humouredly promised compliance, and on the following Sunday came to church in a pair of boots. Both men and women are great smokers, but until very recently they have been remarkably temperate; and even now I should say that drunkenness was much less common among them than among ourselves. 11 Their manners are rather pleasing than otherwise, and they are by no means wanting in good-nature, so far as is consistent with as shrewd an eye to the main-chance, as any people, I should suppose, on the face of the earth. They are very curious, asking all sorts of questions, "Where do you come from?" "Where are you going?" "How old are you?" "How old is your wife?" "Have you any children at home?" How many?" "How old is each of them?" "Where did you get your horse?" "Will you sell him?" "How much?" "Have you any women horses (mares) at home?" and so on.

They will go on maundering, 12 when they can find a

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listener; are utterly regardless of the value of time; by no means fond of continuous labour; are shrewd reasoners; fond of imitating Europeans; not over warm friends, but tolerably "good haters."

The head is held sacred among them. Through ignorance of this superstition, one of the early missionaries exposed himself, it is said, to very rough treatment. A chief was observed to be inattentive to the good man's exhortation. Thinking he had caught the exact Maori style of figurative language, the missionary called out to the offender, "I suppose, if I plugged your ears with tobacco, you would hear me well enough?" To his utter astonishment the chief, instead of being edified, rushed fiercely on the missionary and knocked his hat over his eyes. He had unwittingly violated a native superstition, which forbids the associating the human head, or any part of it, with articles of food. Both missionaries and natives are now better acquainted with each other's ways, and misunderstandings hardly ever occur between them. The practice of cannibalism is entirely extinct, though many men are still alive who have tasted human flesh in their youth. It has been often remarked that the most civilized and prosperous among the natives are those who have purchased little freeholds from the Crown, instead of living in the old scrambling Scythian fashion, cultivating patches of land, the property of the whole tribe, and migrating to other places, as often as

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the soil was exhausted, or the chiefs grew tired of their residence. The sale of waste lands, of which they could never have cultivated the hundredth part, has already brought them in thousands of bright sovereigns, which they have not always wasted, but have laid them out in the purchase of agricultural implements, horses, small coasting craft, and so forth. To shew you that they have made some progress in agriculture, I may mention that a great portion of the wheat and potatoes consumed at Auckland is grown by native farmers, and brought to the town sometimes in the old fashioned canoe, but more frequently in tight little schooners and cutters, owned and generally sailed and manned by natives. Many of them have accounts at the Auckland and Wellington banks. They are very fond of horses, and often get up races among themselves in imitation of the settlers. But with all this progress there are now and then instances of simplicity that make one smile. It is not many years ago since I saw a Maori, very well dressed, in blue surtout, Wellington boots, and gold-laced cap, mounted on a good-looking horse; but not in the way in which people generally ride in this country--not he. He was seated astride on the horse's neck, and the good-natured creature, though wondering, like John Gilpin's steed, "what thing upon him he had got," carried him very quietly up and down the beach at Wellington. The explanation of this queer scene was, that our friend had bought only a share of the horse, and as that share happened to be the shoulder, neck, and head, he would have been trespassing on another man's property if he had ventured to seat himself on the back. Their language is easily pro-

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nounced, and by no means inharmonious, but some of our sounds are a sad puzzle to Maori tongues. Half our letters are wanting in their alphabet; 13 and the consequence is, that they are apt to present English words in such a quaint disguise, that the original owners find it hard to recognize them. Thus a book becomes in their mouths puka, puka. Governor Browne is Kawana Paraone; a minister, Minita; Captain Langley, Kapene Rangere; and the two rival Taranaki chiefs, Taylor and King, Te Teira and Wiremu Kingi. A recent number of the "Maori Messenger" {Te Karere Maori), published by the Hew Zealand Government, in the Maori and English languages, contains an address presented by the Canterbury natives to the resident magistrate, Mr. Hall {Te Horo), on the eve of his departure for England. The concluding sentence of this address will give you a specimen of their language: "Haere e Te Horo, a ma te Atua o Aperahama, o Ihaka, o Hakopa, Te Atua o te Pakeha o te Maori, koe e atawhai i ou haerenga katoa. Haere ra, haere ra." Farewell, Mr. Hall, farewell! May the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of the Maori as well as the Pakeha, protect you in all your journeyings. Farewell! farewell! The Book of Common Prayer, and the greater part of the Bible, have been translated into their language, and are in general use. Their attendance on the ordinances of religion is very regular and decorous.

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When friends or near relations meet after long absence they rub noses for half-an-hour or more, accompanying the action with a dismal noise like the whine of an imprisoned dog. This quaint ceremony is called Tongi. In saluting a stranger, or signifying absent, they jerk the chin upwards, instead of nodding the head. The word of salutation is "Tenacqua," which every well-disposed European returns, though it may be the only Maori word in his vocabulary. Like all imperfectly civilized nations, they are surprised at nothing. Nor is this apathy altogether confined to the Maories, for I remember hearing from the Bishop of New Zealand a remarkable instance of the coolness displayed by a young lady, the daughter of a missionary, who had been brought up among them. During the disastrous struggle between Hone Heke and the Government in 1845, the women and children had been removed to a ship lying off the shore. They had hardly got safely on board, when the powder magazine on shore, near which they had been standing a few minutes before, blew up with a tremendous explosion. Whilst all stood gazing in solemn awe on this fearful spectacle, the young lady, whom I have mentioned, came on deck and made the following announcement: "Mamma bids me tell you that the dinner is waiting, and that it will be cold if you do not come below at once." "From that hour," said the Bishop, "I gave up all hope of anything ever making an impression on her." It is so long ago since I heard this story, that I may not have stated all the circumstances correctly, but the main fact was as I have described it.

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I have purposely refrained from puzzling you with accounts of the various native disturbances which took place during the five years which succeeded the treaty of Waitangi. From the commencement of Governor Grey's administration, to the year 1856, all had been comparatively tranquil, when men's minds were again agitated by an extraordinary movement on the part of the Maories. At a great meeting in the Taupo district it was proposed, in their figurative language, to "drive the settlers into the sea." During a night debate, held in the large house erected for the purpose, this proposition was advocated by one of the southern orators with great vehemence of language and gesture. No sooner had he sat down, than an old northern chief rose, and, passing round the house, blew out all the candles one after another, and then resumed his seat without speaking a word. The orator, understanding the allusion, said, "I think you had better light the candles again;" to which the old chief replied, "It was foolish to blow them out." 14 The result of this and similar proceedings was, that at a monster meeting, held in May, 1857, on the banks of the Waikato river, the crown of New Zealand was offered to old Te Whero Whero, who was proclaimed king in spite of his refusal to accept the dignity. The deputation, after delivering their message, backed, it is said, out of the royal presence, whilst a guard of honour presented arms 15 to the poor old man, who sat shivering

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and blinking in front of his house. A very few weeks after his elevation to the throne, Te Whero Whero (or King Potatau, as his subjects called him) died, and his son was soon afterwards elected to fill the vacant throne. So the matter remains at present; but it is satisfactory to know that the King movement is by no means universal among the natives, and that the Governor has told them plainly that they will not be permitted to withdraw their allegiance from Queen Victoria, or to divide it between Her Majesty and King Potatau II. It is also gratifying to learn that the treasonable proceedings of William King at Taranaki have been condemned by the Maori General Assembly, a meeting held annually in imitation of the colonial parliament.

Before taking leave of the Maories I may mention that their numbers decrease every year: ** from what

** The population, European and native, of the several provinces (according to an estimate based on the census of December, 1838, with due allowance for excess of births and immigration over deaths and emigration) was as follows on the 30th June, 1860:--

Add population of Chatham Islands-

Europeans, 85. Natives, 500.

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cause it is not so easy to determine: certainly not from any ill-treatment or injustice on the part of the colonists.

I have told you that the soil of New Zealand produces very little without cultivation, and from what you have heard of the Maories you will have understood that they were not the men to bring its hidden capabilities to light, until they had received instruction from their European neighbours. I will now try to give you some idea of what has been effected by European skill and perseverance, and what measure of success may reasonably be expected by future settlers. The best way of doing this, I think, will be to take each province separately. The two to which I shall especially direct your attention, are Auckland and Canterbury; not because I consider them preferable to the others; but simply because they are the only provinces, as far as I know, which now offer any help to the poorer class of emigrants, either in the form of assisted passages, 16 or free grants of land.

It would be a waste of time to speak at any length to the poor man, of settlements which he is never likely to see; and as far as the capitalist is concerned, he will learn more by visiting the different provinces in person, than I could pretend to teach him in a lecture. The best advice that I could give to such an one, would be, not to choose hastily, but to visit all or most of the settlements, seeing with his own eyes, and

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hearing with his own ears. A few months or even weeks, spent in such an investigation, would afford him the best chance of escaping the disappointments which are generally the result of a hasty choice, or of lending an ear too readily to the representations of interested advisers. And here it will not be amiss to offer one word of advice to intending settlers of all classes.--Have nothing to say to the miserable rabble, who are fond of boarding newly arrived ships, with no ostensible business, but that of paying their respects to the passengers. For reasons of their own, their accounts of the settlements are generally discouraging, but in any case they are untrustworthy. The last thing a respectable settler would think of doing, would be to waste his valuable time in paying visits to people who do not require either his company or his advice. Many a hopeful spirit has been saddened for a time by the misrepresentations of these fellows. "I pray you, avoid them."

The provinces, into which New Zealand was divided, immediately after the passing of the Constitution Act, in 1853, were six in number, viz.--Auckland, Taranaki and Wellington in the Northern, and Nelson, Canterbury and Otago, in the Middle Island. Two small provinces have since been added, viz.--Hawk's Bay, (taken out of Wellington,) and Marlborough, (out of Nelson). Each of these provinces has a legislature of its own, presided over by a Superintendent, elected like the members of the legislature, by almost universal suffrage. 17 Their revenues, arising from land sales,

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customs, pasturage licences, &c., are divided, in unequal proportions, between the Provincial and General Governments. All questions relating to the customs, lighthouses, subdivision of provinces, and many other matters, are settled by the General Government, consisting of an Upper House, the members of which are nominated for life by the Governor, and a Lower, composed of members elected by the provinces, in proportion to their population. No act of either the general or provincial legislature is valid, until it is allowed by the Governor, who has a discretionary choice either of assenting at once to the Act, or negativing it, or reserving it for the consideration of the Home Government. In all native matters, the Governor is entirely independent of the colonial legislature. No private individual is allowed to purchase land from the natives: but tracts of country are bought by the Crown, as occasion offers, and re-sold to settlers, at prices fixed by the respective provincial legislatures. The title-deeds to lands so purchased from the Government, are called "Crown Grants," which may be re-sold or mortgaged by the purchaser, whenever he thinks fit. In every case, the native possessor is as free to sell or to retain his freehold as any landed proprietor in England. If he chooses to sell, the Crown is ready to purchase; if he prefers keeping it in his own possession, nobody thinks of interfering with him.

I will now proceed to give you a short account of each province, beginning with the northernmost, Auckland. The city of that name, which is the capital, not only of its own province, but of the whole of

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New Zealand, was founded by Captain Hobson, the first Governor, in 1840. The length of the province is about 400 miles, and its greatest breadth 200. The amount of its European population is 23,000; native 38,000, occupying for the most part the three southern districts, which] constitute two-thirds of the province. On the eastern coast, a little to the southward of the North Cape you have Monganui, a fine harbour, with a small European population. Then comes the picturesque Bay of Islands, where there is a Church of England mission, and a considerable body of settlers. Crossing the island to the western coast, you come to Hokianga and Kaipara, the chief places of shipment for the Kauri pine and gum. A considerable area on the western side of the island is covered with forests of this pine. The rest of the province (except the rugged district of Coromandel, where some gold has been found) is broken up by hills of moderate height, interspersed with valleys abundantly watered, and well adapted for agricultural purposes. This province possesses extraordinary facilities for water carriage, the various estuaries and rivers being navigable through nearly 1000 miles of country.

There are thirty harbours on the coast, of which four are deep enough to admit ships of the largest class. Immediately round Auckland the country, though naturally dreary, being little more than a group of extinct volcanoes without trees, has been made, more than any other part of New Zealand, except Canterbury, to put on the appearance of an English country neighbourhood. The fern, which in the uncultivated state of the volcanic soil, was almost

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its only produce, has been forced to give place to artificial grasses; and every where you see large paddocks, (one was shewn to me of 300 acres), enclosed by substantial scoria fences, and well stocked with sheep and cattle. The manner of laying down these paddocks is very inartificial. The fern is burnt off, and clover seed sown in its place; and as soon as the young sprouts of fern shew themselves, they are eaten down by sheep; a process which eventually destroys the fern, leaving only the clover. A better system is, however, gradually gaining ground in this province. I do not know what number of sheep the paddocks of which I have been speaking carry to the acre: but there is little doubt that land carefully prepared, and sown with seeds judiciously selected, will carry from five to six all the year round. There are abundance of farm-houses built also of scoria, of which every extinct volcano furnishes a quarry, and surrounded with very convenient yards and farm buildings.

The city of Auckland is no mean specimen of a colonial town. Like Folkstone in Kent, it is built up and down the sides of hills, with wide handsome streets and convenient wharves. The barracks, and many warehouses and private residences, are constructed of scoria, with a solidity justified by the exemption from earthquakes which this province enjoys. Government House is a wooden building of imposing dimensions, but no great architectural merit. The little valleys between the hills are generally occupied by villas, with their neat gardens, and pleasant sea-view. To obtain the best view of the town, you should hire a boat and row out a little way

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from shore, when the whole panorama of houses, gardens, public offices, churches and chapels will be spread out before you like a picture on a wall. In winter this picture seems to he framed in gold, from the great quantity of bright yellow blossoms on the mimosas. The town, which is about the size of Stamford, stands on the eastern side of a narrow isthmus, about four miles across as the crow flies, or six by the highway. The whole length of the road across this isthmus, resembles the approach to a good second-rate English town. Pretty country seats for the first mile or two; then neat homesteads, and every now and then a little village, with its modest wooden church.

After a pleasant ride or walk of six miles, you reach Onehunga on the shores of the Manakau, a tolerable harbour, but somewhat difficult of access on account of the bar at its entrance. Although in every respect inferior to the Waitemate, (on which Auckland is situated,) it is useful, as forming a convenient station for steamers, which ply between Auckland and the settlements of the south, (Taranaki, Nelson, &c. &c.) the doubling of the North Cape being thereby avoided. Onehunga is one of the four pensioner settlements. Within an easy walk of Auckland is St. John's College, now used, I believe, as a training college for young men brought by the Bishop of New Zealand from the islands of the North Pacific. The climate being too severe in winter for natives of a tropical country, the Bishop conveys them backwards and forwards in the mission schooner; either himself accompanying them, or entrusting the care

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of them to his chaplain, the Rev. J. C. Patteson. 18 The most southerly settlement is Drury, where coal of a good quality has been discovered. Near the southern boundary of the province is the large and beautiful lake called Taupo, and a little to the south-east, the hot springs, near the lake of Roto-rua. In these springs the natives cook their victuals, and spend hours every day in the hot baths. In every village of any importance there is a neat church, and wherever the natives congregate there are Church of England, Wesleyan, or Roman Catholic missionaries, and large native schools, supported by Government. There are, as far as I know, no grassy plains in the province; the unreclaimed country being every where covered with fern, flax, the ti-palm and coarse natural grasses of little value. Consequently there are no sheep runs, as there are in the southern part of this, and in the whole of the Middle Island.

This then is the province of Auckland, to which the attention of intending emigrants has been particularly directed of late by the tempting offer of forty acres of land to every adult, who shall emigrate at his own cost from the United Kingdom. I think it by no means improbable that such an arrangement may turn out highly advantageous to small capitalists; but it is hard to see how it would benefit the poor man, who would be met at the outset by the awkward question,

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"How will you be able to pay your passage out?" Almost all the land in the possession of Government lies to the north of Auckland; none nearer than thirty miles, and the best land at a much greater distance. But this is of little consequence, provided there is water communication between the farm and the town. Agricultural labourers, carpenters, brickmakers, and bricklayers are invited to emigrate. 19

Crossing the south-western boundary line of the province, we enter Taranaki, to which recent unhappy occurrences have given a painful notoriety. This province is about 80 miles in length, and 70 in breadth. Of the three million acres which it contains, one-third consists of forest, and the remainder along the coast of

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the richest agricultural and pastoral land, watered by several rivers. Taranaki used to be called by its inhabitants, not without reason, "the Garden of New Zealand." The great deficiency is the want of a harbour, the shipping place of the town being only an open roadstead. But this inconvenience is not perhaps so great as at first sight it would appear to be; for communication with the shipping is kept up in ordinary weather by large boats, manned by as good boatmen as any in the world. This establishment, which is exceedingly effective, is maintained at the expense of the provincial government. It is a vessel's own fault too, if she gets wrecked; for the northwesterly gales never come on without notice; and before they become violent, she can always get under way and find shelter in one of the ports in the northwest of the Middle Island. The capital, New Plymouth, a pretty village-like town, with a very neat stone church, was founded in 1841, by an Association of Devonshire and Cornish gentlemen. The neighbourhood of the town used to be famous for its beautiful country residences and neat farms; but war, I fear, has turned this garden of Eden into a wilderness. The climate of Taranaki is exceedingly pleasant; cooler than Auckland, but moister and perhaps more variable than Nelson. Within a few miles of the town, Mount Egmont, an extinct volcano, between 8000 and 9000 feet high, rises abruptly from the woody and comparatively flat country at its base. I saw it once on a cloudless winter's day, when the contrast between the snow-clad mountain glittering in the sunshine, and the dark sea of waving vegetation at its

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feet, reminded me of an iceberg I had once seen rising out of the blue waters of the South Pacific. The attention of commercial men has recently been directed to the metallic sand collected at the foot of this mountain, from which it appears to have been originally thrown out. A portion of this sand, brought to England by Captain Morshead has been analyzed and pronounced to contain the purest ore at present known. Taking the sand as it lies along the beach for miles, the produce, after melting, is 6l per cent. of iron of the best quality. I am indebted for much valuable information on this subject, as well as for a specimen of the sand, to Messrs. Moseley, of New Street, Covent Garden, who have formed the steel into razors, penknives, surgical instruments, saws, &c., and pronounce it to be by far the best article they have ever used.

I now approach a question on which it may perhaps be my misfortune to differ from some, for whose opinions on most subjects I entertain a sincere respect. A feeling has for some years been gaining ground among the Maories, that the native race were dying out before the stranger. I have already told you that one of the measures adopted for arresting this ruin, was the election of a Maori king; another was the formation of a league to prevent the sale of any more land. This league was in principle not unlike the trades-unions, with which we are all familiar. In defiance, it would seem, of this league, one Teira or Taylor, had agreed to sell a block of land to the Governor. After the usual investigation of title, surveyors were sent to mark out the land. These were met by 70 or 80 of the followers of a chief named Wiremu

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Kingi (William King) who seized the survey instruments. A detachment of troops was immediately sent to protect the officers of government; but no actual force was used, until a fighting party of King's people had erected a pa, or native fortification, danced their war-dance upon the disputed ground, and contemptuously rejected the summons of the officer in command to evacuate the pa. 20 It does not appear that King ever put forward any claim of a nature to be recognized by the Government. On his return from Waikanae 21 to Taranaki in 1848, he had been forbidden by Sir George Grey to settle on the south bank of the Waitara; but having obtained the permission of Teira's father to build a pa on his property, he had set up a sort of claim as conqueror of the land, on which he had settled, in defiance of the Governor's prohibition. The case was that of a man, who had been admitted on sufferance into his neighbour's house, and had then forbidden the owner to dispose of it. The surveyors were not sent until the land-commissioners had reported, after an investigation which lasted more than eight months, that Teira's title to the land was unexceptionable. 22 After some skirmishes, and the storming of a pa, in which the volunteers were nobly supported by Captain Cracroft, of H.M.S.S. Niger, and a party of blue jackets, an action was fought with

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a large body of Waikatos (who were on their way to join the rebels), and the enemy defeated with the loss of three chiefs, and a sixth of their number (400), killed and wounded. In this engagement, the volunteer rifles bore a conspicuous part, and well sustained the reputation which they had acquired in a former struggle. It would be painful as well as wearisome to particularize the events of this petty but most unhappy war. The native insurgents, few in number, but confident in the security afforded by the almost impenetrable bush, in which a soldier, to use their own phrase, is "All same as target," have hitherto resisted the troops sent against them. They are armed, for the most part, with double-barrelled fowling pieces. The difficulty of taking an accurate aim with such weapons is of little consequence: for their mode of warfare is to lurk in the fern until the soldier comes within easy distance, and then discharge both barrels in his face, resting the stock of the piece on the ground, instead of carrying it to the shoulder. Meanwhile the town has been fortified, and most of the women and children shipped off to Nelson. Several settlers in the outlying districts have been murdered by the natives. A poor widow writes thus to her aged father in England:--"My husband had been

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ordered to guard the wreck (of a brig) in the evening. On his return he was cruelly shot, and afterwards stripped and plundered by the savages. The body was found the next morning by his old servant; we can never forget that fearful morning, when we laid him on his bed, murdered by savages. I cannot write more. My baby is crying--I pray God help us!" The following picture is, I have every reason to believe, not too highly coloured. "In his intercourse with the natives, the colonist is exposed to daily provocations. His cattle, for example, stray from his paddock; he follows them to a neighbouring pa, and is compelled to redeem them by an exorbitant payment. In the course of the dispute a musket is levelled at him, or a tomahawk flourished over his head. On the other hand, should he try the experiment of driving native cattle to the public pound, for trespass on his cultivated land, a strong party of Maories, with loaded muskets, break down the fence and rescue them. He has to maintain party fences, without contributions from his Maori neighbours. Herds of native pigs break through to his crops. The dogs of the pa worry his sheep. Redress in the courts of law is not to be obtained, because it would be dangerous to the peace of the country to enforce the judgment. And yet, under accumulated provocations; the contemptuous defiance of Her Majesty's authority; the ruin of one British settlement; the most serious injury to several others; the interruption of the advancing prosperity of all; under the natural indignation caused by cold-blooded murders, perpetrated upon unarmed men and young boys--the

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settlers of New Zealand still restrain their passions, and in their addresses to the Governor confine themselves to the prayer, that the majesty of the law may be vindicated and the authority of the Queen upheld." 23 Such is the condition of this beautiful but most unfortunate province. That the right must eventually prevail, we cannot for a moment doubt; but meanwhile it is fearful to contemplate the amount of suffering which has fallen on the inoffensive settlers. God grant that the signal chastisement which will sooner or later be inflicted on the stirrers up of this unrighteous war, may have the effect of placing the European population of Taranaki on a more secure footing than they have ever yet occupied. 24

Proceeding eastward we reach the newly formed province of Hawk's Bay, of which I know very little, never having visited it. It is reported to contain a considerable breadth both of arable and pasture land. The climate is, I believe, very windy, but bright, cheerful and remarkably healthy. The number of European settlers is rather more than 2000--natives between 3 and 4000. Napier is the capital. 25

Wellington, the southernmost province of the Northern Island, lies somewhat in the form of a wedge, between Taranaki and Hawk's Bay, widening

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out after passing the southern portion of the latter province. The length of this province from north to south is 200 miles, its extreme breadth from east to west about 80. The European population is about 13,000--native 8000. The city of Wellington stretches for a considerable distance in almost a straight line along the shore of its beautiful harbour (one of the finest in the world, I suppose), each of its extremities spreading out into a knot of streets: so as to give it the appearance of a double-headed shot slightly bent in the middle. It contains several handsome wooden buildings, which look well when viewed from the sea. The most conspicuous of these are the Barracks, Public Offices and Council Chamber, two English Churches, Roman Catholic Cathedral, Scotch Church, Wesleyan Chapel, Government House, &c. On the hilly terrace at the back of the town, as well as on Thorndon and Te Aro flats (the two extremities) are some very good private residences. The walks through the forest at the back of the town are exceedingly picturesque and beautiful. The isthmus on which the town stands is probably the most windy locality in the whole of New Zealand; the entire force of the winds which draw up and down Cook's Strait, as through a tunnel, being concentrated at this spot. Hence the saying in the other settlements, that a Wellington man may always be known by his habit of holding his hat on his head. Wellington is the centre of those volcanic shocks, which from time to time agitate the shores of Cook's Strait. The area of their action is bounded by Wakari or White Island, 26

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in the north, and the Kaikora peninsula in the south. Beyond these limits the shocks are felt, but very slightly. The earthquake which shook Wellington so severely on the 23rd January, 1855, was not felt at the Bay of Islands--at Auckland it was felt by some persons and not by others--at Canterbury it was described as a "slight tremor"--at Otago it was felt by some and not by others. The volcano of Tongariro, in the north of the province, is reported to send out little or no smoke for some time previously to an earthquake of any violence. The commerce of Wellington is more extensive than that of any other province, except Auckland. It was founded by the New Zealand Company in 1840. Along the N.W. shore of Cook's Strait, this province possesses a considerable extent of good arable and pasture land, and three or four thriving settlements. The most northerly of these, Wanganui, on the river of that name, bids fair to be a town of some importance. There are also tracts of very rich land in the valley of the Hutt (a river which empties itself into Wellington harbour, nine miles from the town), and extensive sheep runs on the Wairarapa plains, 27

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We will now take our passage in one of the intercolonial steamers, and make the best of our way through Cook's Strait, either running merrily before a south-easterly breeze, or plodding our weary way in the teeth of a Nor'-wester; for the wind in the Strait always blows from one or other of these points, and almost always blows stiffly. The Strait varies in breadth, from 16 to 60 miles, its narrowest part being a few miles to the westward of Wellington. On the left hand are Cloudy Bay, Queen Charlotte's Sound (where Capt. Cook wintered) and the Pelorus--all well provided with fine land-locked harbours, but possessing very little land available for settlements.

There used to be a little steamer, which plied now and then between Wellington and Nelson, taking Queen Charlotte's Sound on the way. It might be worth while, supposing this arrangement to be still in existence, to run across from Wellington to Picton, the sea-port and capital of the province of Marlborough; from which a ride of about twelve miles will bring you into the Wairau plain, the great pastoral district of Nelson before the separation of the provinces. The river Wairau, which runs through this plain, empties itself into the sea in Cloudy Bay. There is a little town in the neighbourhood named Beaver, which communicates with the sea by means of river navigation.

The plain is about sixty miles in length. It was the scene of the massacre of twenty-two Nelson settlers (including Capt. Wakefield, the New Zealand Company's agent), by Rauperaha and Rangihaeata in 1843. 28

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If you continue your voyage in the little steamer, you will probably enter Blind Bay by the French Pass, a narrow strait between d'Urville's Island and the main, through which the tide runs like a mill stream, affording more than enough of opportunity for the exercise of courage, local knowledge and skill on the part of your skipper. I will suppose, however, that you have gone direct from Wellington to Nelson, and have endured the usual amount of rolling and staggering in the race off Cape Stevens, a promontory which terminates the eastern shore of Blind Bay. A few miles steaming will exhibit a contrast as great as if we had run from a Channel gale into the most sheltered harbour on the English coast. I have rounded Cape Stevens in a sailing vessel with double-reefed topsails and been becalmed very soon after entering the sunny waters of Blind Bay, or Tasman's Gulf, as it is sometimes called. "Let no man," says Bishop Selwyn, in one of his journals, "give an opinion about the climate of New Zealand, until he has basked in the almost perpetual sunshine of Tasman's Gulf." If there be any thing that can fairly be brought into comparison with the genial climate of those lovely shores, it is the warm-hearted kindness of their inhabitants. It was like them to open their doors, as they have done, to the poor exiles of Taranaki, who have been crowded into the houses of all classes alike, at no small cost of personal inconvenience, and, in some instances, of real danger to their hosts. 29 The city of Nelson is about a mile and half from the port; an extensive dock, protected from the violence of the sea by a natural break-

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water of boulders or huge pebbles. 30 The opening of this harbour is narrow, with a large rock almost in the middle of it, on which the ebb tide sets with great violence; but thanks to skilful pilotage large vessels have entered and quitted the harbour for many years without a single accident. The shallow water close to the boulder bank inside the harbour affords great facilities for examining and repairing ships' bottoms. The town itself, which was founded by the New Zealand Company in 1840, is perhaps the least English in appearance of any in New Zealand. The principal street, which is very wide, is made up almost entirely of hotels and stores, most of them built of wood, and exhibiting a very picturesque variety of architecture. At the upper or southern end of the street, on a green hillock, which has recently been laid out in walks with great taste, stands the English church, a commodious and rather handsome wooden building, in the form of a cross, with a spire. There are also places of worship for Scotch Presbyterians, Roman Catholics, Baptists, and Wesleyans. The last mentioned have recently erected a large and by no means inelegant chapel. The College, or as we should call it, the High School, is well endowed, and is at present under the superintendence of an able Principal. There are also Government schools for boys and girls, supported by a rate of £1 for each house, and 5s. for each child between the ages, I think, of 5 and 14. A settler can thus obtain a fair commercial education for four children at the cost of £2 per annum. These schools are established in all the settled districts.

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Large collegiate and Government buildings were in course of erection when I left Nelson at the close of 1859, and promised to be very ornamental to the town. In the immediate neighbourhood are some pretty villa residences, and even in the town itself many of the houses have village-like gardens, and some of them vineyards and hop grounds. A belt of hills shelters the town from the cold winds. Nelson is famous for its ale, the best, it is said, in New Zealand. Wine has also been made, but not recently. It was in this neighbourhood that I met with the heroine of Wakefield's Book (the Art of Colonization). She had been a servant in England, and having married a fellow-servant, had gone out as a settler to New Zealand. Two or three years after her arrival she writes to a friend in England: "The greatest cuss in this country is the exorbant wages." She and her husband now occupy a large farm, with a handsome house on it, and are I believe as prosperous as they deserve to be. The wages are still "exorbant," but the good woman can now afford to grumble and pay them.

About nine miles from Nelson there is a mine, called the Dun Mountain Mine, which produces a large supply of chrome, a substance used by manufacturers of paint. The mine is worked by a London Company. According to the last report of their mining engineer 2500 tons of this article were prepared for transit, and only awaited the construction of a tramway to carry it down to the port. The work, it is said, has been commenced, and will be sufficiently advanced to convey ore in about six months. A small steamer plies almost daily between the town and Motueka, a pretty rural

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district on the other side of the Bay. There is also steam communication with Collingwood, in Massacre (or as it is now called "Golden") Bay, the metropolis of the gold-digging district; a mere village at present, but likely to rise into importance with the prosperity of the diggings, of which there seems to be no doubt. Two or three companies are now at work and realizing large profits. Coal of tolerable quality is also found in this neighbourhood. The climate of this district is as bad as that of Nelson is delightful; its woody mountains catching the clouds as they rise from the western ocean, and its gulleys serving as blow-pipes for the conveyance of the north-westerly storm into the very heart of the town. It may, however, be fairly questioned, whether the wet and cold of this boisterous region inflicts half as much suffering on the Anglo-Saxon gold-digger, as the heat and drought of the Australian diggings. If he has little comfort, he will have still less fever and dysentery. The population of Nelson and Marlborough is about 11,000 Europeans, and 1100 natives. 31 Returning to Nelson, we will mount our horses (having provided, if possible, a pack-horse to carry our blankets, provisions and so forth, not forgetting a quart pot for boiling, and a pannikin for drinking our tea, and a tomahawk for cutting firewood) and start on the overland journey to Christchurch. The first day's ride will take us

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through the Waimea, a well-watered and well-cultivated valley, thickly strewn with villages and farms. Thence, on the following day, partly through open country, and partly through a dreary forest called the "Big Bush," to the "Top House," a hostelry chiefly celebrated in my day for the demolition of saddle bags and their contents by pigs, and its faithful resemblance to an Irish cabin of the most forlorn description. 32 The third day's journey takes us through the gorge of the river Wairau. I know few scenes equal in grandeur to this. The noble river, walled in on each side by precipitous cliffs, probably a thousand feet high, leaves only room for a bridle path cut out of the mountain side, sometimes at a height of 500 feet above the river, or trodden along the narrow strip of shore left sometimes on one bank and sometimes on the other, as the river's course inclines towards the rocky barrier on the right hand or the left. Here and there large bodies of water rush down the face of the mountain, flashing like silver through the thicket. In one place, the river is flanked on each side by a huge rocky pillar, forming a sort of gateway, through which the waters rush, roaring and hissing like an avalanche. The close of day brings us to a desolate valley, or rather table-land, to which the name of Tarndale was given by its discoverer, Mr. Weld, on account of the number of little lakes, or "tarns." The whole of this district is impracticable in winter, or nearly so, on account of the deep snow. It is not much more than two years

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ago that a party, I think of four, who had imprudently attempted a journey from the Leslie Hills, arrived at Nelson--two of them with loss of fingers and toes; and the others, like Hannibal's soldiers in the Alps, looking more like ghosts or photographs than living men. In this dismal region, to which we had gradually been ascending since the morning, our bridles and tether-ropes, when I made the journey, were frozen stiff, although the day (early in March) had been one of almost African heat in the gorge. The traveller will find shelter, and perhaps fire-wood here; but nothing else, unless the owners of the run happen to be residing in their hut. If he is wise, he will not waste any time in preparing breakfast the next morning, but pack his horses before sunrise, and hasten to turn his back on this howling wilderness. The sunshine of the valley into which he is rapidly descending will soon thaw his stiffened limbs, and a pleasant ride will bring him to a spot, where he can eat his morsel in comfort, and his horses enjoy themselves in a luxuriant meadow. The fourth day brings us, by the junction of the rivers Acheron and Clarence, to the foot of Jollie's Pass. The fifth, through that and another pass in the Leslie Hills, and across a river 33 and plain to the river Hurunui, which divides the provinces of Nelson and Canterbury. Having forded the Hurunui, we find ourselves on a vast plain, or rather a succession of plains, divided from each other by low spurs, and bounded on the west by a high mountain range, which here recedes to a distance

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varying from ten to twenty miles from the coast; and on the east by a chain of limestone hills, which line the coast as far as Double Corner. From Double Corner southwards you have a dead level, broken by insignificant hills along a portion of the coast, a distance of about 130 miles in a straight line. Throughout the whole of this province, except a very few miles, there is a belt of good agricultural land along the sea-board, extending inland from two to eight miles on an average. The plain between Double Corner and Timaru is supposed to contain about three millions and a quarter of acres, watered by several large rivers. The only fault of these plains is the scarcity of wood, an inconvenience only inferior to the still more vexatious one of a thickly-wooded country, which must be cleared by the axe. After floods, which happen frequently, especially in spring, all the large rivers are unfordable. The two best rules for ensuring the traveller's safety are--1. Never to travel alone, if he can help it; 2. Never to think of fording a river, of which the water is discoloured, unless he is thoroughly familiar with the locality, or has some "old hand" for a guide. The neglect of these precautions has cost the colony many valuable lives. The first town that we reach after quitting Nelson is Kaiapoi, on the banks of the river Courtenay or Waimakeriri, which is navigable up to the town for vessels drawing about six feet of water. A good deal of wool is shipped at this port, to be put on board English vessels at Lyttelton. After crossing the Waimakeriri by two ferries, a pleasant ride of ten miles, through a well cultivated country,

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brings us to the town of Christchurch, 200 miles from Nelson. If all has gone well, the journey will have occupied six days. The province of Canterbury, of which Christchurch is the capital, is about a third of the size of England and Wales, and contains a population of about 14,000 Europeans and 500 natives. The settlement was founded in 1850, by an Association of zealous members of the Church of England, whose first wish was to provide such an endowment as would place the Church of the new settlement in an independent position. This was effected to some extent, by setting apart a third of all their land sales for ecclesiastical and educational purposes; but the plan, like most similar ones, has been only partially successful. Much, however, has been gained by the formation of a settlement, in which a very large majority of the original colonists belonged to the same communion: for the founders were able at once to organize a church and school system, which would have grown up very slowly, if it had depended on purely voluntary efforts. But while these measures were taken for giving the Church of England a fair start in the colony, no wish was ever expressed, as far as I know, to exclude the members of other denominations, even if such exclusion had been possible. A pleasing proof of the harmony subsisting among the different religious bodies in this settlement was given the other day, when the Scotch Presbyterians came forward in considerable numbers, as subscribers towards the completion of the church at Lyttelton. The provincial legislature have also shewn their liberality by granting £10,000 for the

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erection of places of worship, to be divided in fair proportions between the Church of England, the Free Church of Scotland and the Wesleyan Methodists, the only religious bodies who have as yet settled in this province in any considerable numbers. 34 The College, according to a report written last May, contained 66 pupils, including three students in the upper department. Two or three of the students have already been ordained by the Bishop of Christchurch. The city 35 of Christchurch stands on flat ground on both banks of the river Avon, which is crossed by several bridges. It is said to contain 1600 souls, but, like Nelson, it occupies an area sufficient for thirty times the number of its present population. There is one long, wide and nearly finished street, several other streets and squares more or less complete, and a large number of detached houses standing in the midst of gardens and paddocks. The town contains a large

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iron foundry, three breweries, a wind-mill and two water-mills, and the usual proportion of stores and hotels. The Government Offices, Bishop's house and College are very handsome buildings. There are two English churches, neither of them very sightly, a small but very neat Wesleyan chapel and a Scotch church. A good road leads us across the Heathcote Ferry to the foot of the Lyttelton Hills, through a highly cultivated country. At present the bridle path over these hills is practicable only for horses and foot passengers: but it is in contemplation to drive a tunnel through the hill and construct a railway, which will bring produce from Christchurch to the end of the jetty at Lyttelton, a distance of about seven miles. This plan, I hear, was submitted to the late Mr. Stephenson, and approved by him.

The trade between Lyttelton and the inland country is chiefly carried on by steamers or small coasting craft, which ascend the river Heathcote to within two miles of Christchurch. There is also a very circuitous route by way of Sumner, a small hamlet on the estuary of the Avon and Heathcote. From the highest point of the bridle path we see almost beneath our feet the town of Lyttelton, with its lake-like harbour, which is so easy of access as to be entered by a perfect stranger with any wind. There is good holding ground in five fathoms water, about five miles from the heads, and a mile from the town. Vessels of 200 tons come alongside the jetty. The town contains about 1800 inhabitants, who are chiefly engaged in supplying the shipping and in an export trade, which already amounts to £150,000 annually, and is rapidly in-

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creasing. There is a very neat church, built of red sand-stone, with a belfry. Here, as at Auckland, there seems to be no imprudence in erecting stone buildings, the shocks of earthquake being so feeble. Banks's Peninsula, on the northern side of which the town is situated, is a rough, thickly-wooded district, full of harbours, like the N. W. shore of Cook's Strait. At its southern extremity is the town and harbour of Akaroa, originally settled by a French company in 1840. The vine is cultivated with great success in this locality, which is warm and sheltered. The harbour is a place of call for French, and now and then for English and American whalers. Near the southern extremity of the province is the little town of Timaru, the shipping port for wool grown in that neighbourhood. There is no harbour, but heavy moorings have been laid down in the roadstead. The provinces of Canterbury and Otago are pre-eminently the pastoral districts of New Zealand. 36 In Canterbury, as in all

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the pastoral districts, the business of sheep-farming is carried on for the most part by squatters, that is, tenants under the Crown, whose tenancy expires when the lands are wanted for sale. This is of comparatively little consequence when the price fixed by the provincial government is high; but in provinces where waste lands are sold at a low rate, the squatter occupies but an insecure position, unless he purchases a few thousand acres of his run. It would probably answer well to lay down a portion of this freehold in artificial grasses, where the sheep-farmer has plenty of open country to fall back upon in case of drought: otherwise the experiment would, I should think, be too hazardous. In Canterbury, "The land already occupied for pastoral purposes may be considered capable of carrying, even in its unimproved state, at least two million head of sheep. But it is believed the land improves by being depastured, and fresh country is, besides, being constantly discovered and occupied. The sheep-runs average from 10,000 to 30,000 acres. The goodwill of a sheep-run stocked, would probably cost at the rate of forty shillings for every head of sheep. There are about 20,000 head of cattle fed for the most part upon the rich pastures in the neighbourhood of the swamps that lie along the coast." 37 Mr. Weld says truly that there is decidedly less risk in cattle than in sheep-breeding, but the profits are more uncertain. Horses thrive well on a sheep-station. At present the supply of horses does not equal the demand, and many are still imported

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from Australia. "A considerable amount of butter and cheese is made for the New Zealand and Australian markets. Oxen fetch from £10 to £12 per head unbroken, and from £30 to £35 a-pair well broken in. Heifers from £4 to £6. Good milch-cows still fetch high prices. Horses are very dear: a good riding-horse costs from £60 to £80, and a first-rate draught-mare £100 or more. The farms vary in size from 20 to 500 acres. It is said that there are more small freeholders in Canterbury than in any other province. The price of farm produce is very fluctuating, depending mainly on the state of the Australian markets. Wheat has varied from 4s to 12s a bushel; potatoes from 30s to £18 a ton. Since the third year after its formation Canterbury has been exporting wheat, oats, and potatoes to the neighbouring provinces. Great attention is now paid to the rearing of trees, especially English forest trees. By the latest accounts we find that all who had arrived in the Colony had found employment soon after landing, and that a ship every month would not prove too much for a long time to come. The rate of wages (which, however, is constantly varying) was at that date nearly as follows:--

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The price of provisions was--

Groceries rather clearer than in England. Rent high; but every working-man should get a piece of land and build a house for himself, as soon as possible." 38

The price of waste lands is high--£2 an acre: considerably more than in any other province. This regulation is said to be popular both among the squatters and the working-men; the former considering it a guarantee that their runs will not be bought over their heads, the price being too high to tempt speculators, and the latter knowing by experience that very little land ever falls to their share in provinces where the lowness of the price makes the purchase of large tracts of country a profitable investment for the capitalist, who can afford to wait for the return of his money. There is no reason why a steady working-man should not be able to purchase a twenty acre farm (£40), and stock it, within three or four years. I have known many a man who has done

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so, and is now a thriving farmer. I do not remember any instance of a man remaining unemployed more than a week after landing. About three years ago a meeting was called by some immigrants who bad just arrived in the settlement, for the purpose of stating their own complaints, and hearing those of their late fellow-passengers. The Superintendent of the Province and some of the leading settlers attended the meeting, which was densely crowded. The newly-arrived men were desired and encouraged to state their grievances without fear or favour. After a pause, one man rose, and complained of being obliged to work "up to the knees in water;" to which it was replied, that most of the settlers present had at one time or other been glad to get work, even though the water reached far above the knee. Another then rose, and, in a dismal voice, told the meeting that he could get nothing but salt-butter to eat with his bread. This was too much for the gravity of the meeting. As soon as the storm of laughter, raised by the statement of this wiseacre's grievance, lulled a little, a resolution was put and carried that a committee, consisting half of working-men and half of gentlemen, should be appointed to hear complaints. The next day five complainants attended, of whom three were already in work, and the remaining two had work promised to them.

Assisted passages are granted by the Provincial Government of Canterbury to eligible persons, preference being given to agricultural labourers, carpenters, blacksmiths, wheelwrights, sawyers, gardeners, and domestic servants. The passage-money for an

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adult is £17, of which the Government pays half, 39 and the party emigrating as much as he can, in ready cash, of the other half. Any deficiency is made up by an advance from the Government on the emigrant's promissory note, payable at sight, with an understanding that payment will not be required for six months, unless the borrower disputes the debt or attempts to leave the province. At the end of six months he is expected to repay the debt by quarterly instalments. I may add, that the payment of these instalments is rendered perfectly easy by the high rate of wages which he is sure to receive. Those who can pay the most in ready cash will be most likely to obtain an early passage. 40

The southernmost of the New Zealand provinces is Otago, which may be easily visited from Canterbury either on horseback or by steamer. This fine province is about the same size as Scotland, containing about 17 millions of acres, of which 10 millions probably are available for agricultural and pastoral purposes. Between the great western range and the east coast there is every variety of land, plains, valleys and mountains; affording abundance of food for stock both in winter and summer. The climate, though of course colder, is

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drier than that of the Northern Island, and by no means unpleasant even in winter. The mean temperature is said to be that of London. The gardens produce abundance of strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, red, white and black currants. Cherries, plums, pears and apples do well: but peaches and nectarines require a wall. The soil is well adapted for the cultivation of barley, wheat and oats. As a grazing country, Otago is at least equal to any other province in New Zealand, owing to the numerous streams of fine mountain water, which everywhere intersect the country. It has great advantages for dairy farming. As a horse-breeding country it is second to none. In some districts the common increase from sheep is 90 per cent. 41 Here, as in Canterbury, all the sheep runs are probably taken up, but a good-will may from time to time be purchased at a cost probably of from 30s to 35s per head for the sheep on the run. The price however must be constantly varying according to circumstances. Otago was founded by the New Zealand Company, in connexion with an Association of lay members of the Free Church of Scotland in 1847. The settlement was planted by the late Captain Cargill and a body of Scotch settlers in 1848. Dunedin, the capital, stands at the head of Otago harbour. The branch on which the town stands is accessible only for small craft, but the deep harbour at Port Chalmers admits ships of heavy burden. Invercargill is situated at the head of the estuary of the New River, and there are also villages on the banks of Jacob's

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River, and on the shores of the fine harbour called the Bluff. Stewart's Island on the other side of Foveaux's Strait is well wooded, and possesses excellent harbours. Its European population, consisting principally of old whalers, is 52--natives 200. The population of Otago (I mean the province on the mainland) amounts to about 10,000 Europeans and 500 natives. The whole of the land, in this as in all the provinces of the Middle Island, has long since been purchased from the Maoris, with the exception of a few native reserves here and there. The rate of wages in 1859 was as follows:

Since that time the rate has probably fallen a little. The price of provisions on February 25, 1860, was about the same as at Canterbury. 42

The Presbyterians are of course the most numerous religious community in Otago, but members of other denominations are daily settling in the province. There are now two or three clergymen of the Church of

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England. The provision for education is on a very extensive scale.

Such then is New Zealand, 43 and such as I have endeavoured to describe them are the inducements held out by at least two of the provinces to the labouring man who contemplates emigration. Other colonies may, for anything I know to the contrary, offer equal advantages, but it would be hard I think to find one superior to New Zealand; whether we look to its temperate climate, or the opportunities which it affords to the steady settler of securing a competence after a very few years of toil.

The only objection that can be urged against emigrating to this country is the length of the voyage: but if it is the longest, it is also by far the safest that you can undertake. 44 I will not go so far as to say, that the three months or more of imprisonment on board ship will be a time of very intense enjoyment; but I think, if I had the choice, I should prefer it to the rigours of a Canadian winter, or the broiling heat

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of an Australian or African summer. Once over, it is over for ever: whereas the excessive winter's cold and summer's heat, may revisit you fifty times before the end of your earthly pilgrimage. I am far, however, from urging a man who is really doing well in this country, to subject himself to the weariness of a long sea-voyage, to be followed by years of toil and anxiety in a strange land. It is a homely but very wise proverb, which bids us "let well alone." If you are earning competent wages, if you are tolerably certain of finding steady employment for your children as they grow up, and have a reasonable hope that when the infirmities of old age at length overtake you, you will not be left altogether destitute; consider well before you decide on breaking up your happy English home.

And again, if you are conscious that you have always been among the hindmost in the race, through idleness, or still worse through confirmed habits of intemperance, remember, I pray you, that an idle colonist or a drunken colonist is more miserable and more contemptible than a sluggard or a drunkard at home--more miserable, because his conscience tells him that his poverty is entirely his own fault--more contemptible, for in a colony all will despise the man, who might have been independent, but who, through his own misconduct, is a beggar--perhaps the parent of beggars.

But if you belong to neither of these classes; if, with all your care and industry and steadiness, you find it hard to keep the wolf from the door--then

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by all means emigrate. It is not for me to foretell what your future fortune will be in that distant land. "Man proposes, but God disposes;" but your case will indeed be an exceptional one, if at the end of a few years you do not find that you have exchanged the hard and anxious life of an English labourer or mechanic, for one of comfort and independence. 45

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APPENDIX.

IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF NEW ZEALAND.

REVENUE OF THE COLONY.

LAND AND STOCK.

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