CHAPTER I. EARLY DAYS IN WELLINGTON
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CHAPTER I
EARLY DAYS IN WELLINGTON
Wm. Deans to John Deans, Sen., Kirkstyle, Kilmarnock
Port Nicholson, 9th February, 1840.
The Aurora arrived here on the 17th of January after a beautiful passage of 110 days from the Lands End with the loss of only one child by death; and she was said not to be able to stand the passage before leaving England. The climate is beautiful and the soil most luxuriant, but it will require a good deal of clearing. The land I am sorry to say will be a long time of being surveyed, and we are now located on patches of about an acre till such time as the Town Acres are surveyed. I have dug mine and am about to sow some seeds for the spring. I am likewise having a New Zealand house built on it--which is to be built for six blankets, and a more comfortable place I never saw. It is built of wood and large pieces of fern and is 34 feet in length by 17 feet broad, with three rooms--one for baggage, one for myself, and one for the servants. This letter is to go by a ship to Sydney and I have not more than ten minutes to write it in. I have not had an opportunity before, and have been so busy cutting and carrying wood that I have not had a moment to spare to write a long letter. My house is about ready and I have all my baggage carried from the beach, so I promise you a long account of the place. I will get Gebbie and Morrison employed by the Company at £1 a week with victuals and will be able to keep myself at about 3/- a week--plenty of potatoes for a small piece of tobacco, fish ditto, and a large pig for a blanket. I have bought six pigs in whole weighing about 500 pounds, and have made about £3 by them.
The ship by which this is to go is just leaving the Bay, and it has been so little known that I believe this is the only letter will go by her. So you will easily excuse me for writing so hurriedly. The Oriental arrived on Friday week; the Duke of Roxburgh to-day; and Mr. Craig's friend is in the tent where I write this, very well and seemingly pleased with the country. The captain of the Roxburgh was washed overboard about a week ago and drowned. Six children died on board;
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a cabin passenger and two children in the Oriental. The Adelaide and the Bengal Merchant are still at sea. Compliments to all, and expect a long letter first opportunity. --Your affec. son, Will. Deans.
Morrison and Gebbie please me much. They were the best behaved men on board.
8th March, 1840.
I wrote you hurriedly on the 9th of last month by a ship bound for Sydney, to which I refer. It was written, however, so much on the instant, and had to be dispatched so quickly, on account of the vessel being nearly out of the harbour, that I believe you would derive little information from it beyond the fact of our safe arrival here. I promised to write fully by the first opportunity; and have commenced this letter on a rainy day, when I can do nothing else, and will add to it as events occur till such time as an opportunity presents itself of having it speedily conveyed to England.
I mentioned in my former letter that our ship, the Aurora, had beaten all the others. Since our arrival all the ships that left England at the same time with us, have got here safe except the Adelaide. Besides we have the Bengal Merchant (by which I had your letter favoured by the Rev. Mr. Macfarlane) and the Glenberrie. The Adelaide has since arrived. The Duke took 126 days, and the Bengal Merchant, 106. We did it in 110, thus beating the Duke by 16 days, and the Bengal Merchant beating us by four days. We beat the Oriental by eight days, and the Adelaide only arrived here eight days ago! There were six deaths on board the Duke of Roxburgh, the majority of whom were infants. There was one death, one birth, and one marriage in the Bengal Merchant, and in the Oriental there was one death amongst the cabin passengers, and two amongst the emigrants. You are aware that the Adelaide (the largest ship out) left England on the same day with us, or rather the day before we did. The lateness of her arrival caused strong fears to be entertained of her safety, and everyone was deploring her supposed loss as a sad blow to the early prosperity of the colony. Her arrival was welcomed by everyone, and particularly by those who had relations on board. The fact is that jealousies arose on board amongst the ladies. Parties were formed on board ship and the captain put into the Cape to fight no fewer than four duels--he himself one of the principals; Dr. Evans
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another; Mr. Johnston, a Scotchman, another; Mr. Miller, another Scotchman, ditto, etc. Instead of having the duels fought, however, the doctor waited on the authorities, and had all concerned bound over to keep the peace. The quarrels are still kept up amongst them. We had few quarrels in our ship, although there was great occasion for many. However, we had two--one betwixt a Major Baker and a Mr. Palmer which ended in an apology from the latter; the other betwixt the Major and the Doctor on board. The quarrels took place at sea, and there was a duel after our arrival here. On both occasions I figured as the Major's second. He is the son of the Middlesex Coroner, and is a most gentlemanly young man. He has been of some use to me here in mentioning me very kindly to Colonel Wakefield (whose bosom friend he is), and also to Captain Smith, the Surveyor-General.
Of the eligibility of Port Nicholson for settlement, or of what I have seen of New Zealand generally, I should not wish to hazard an opinion, which might turn out erroneous, without having some further acquaintance with the country; and will only now tell you what I have seen, leaving you to form your own opinion as to the merits. The country is more mountainous than I expected, and this may be a great drawback to its being an immense agricultural country. It is very much wooded, and will take a great deal of money to clear. The climate is capital, vegetation most luxuriant, and the land the finest I have ever seen. Indeed it will grow anything. Cucumbers, melons, vegetable marrows, potatoes, maize, Indian corn, pumpkins, etc., etc., are most luxuriant. One thing we have been very much disappointed in is the capability of the rivers for navigation. It (the river at Port Nicholson) was represented as being navigable for 80 miles. It turns out not to be navigable for more than 15 or 20, and that only for boats drawing little water. And it will take a great deal of labour and expense even to make it fit for that in clearing the river of large trees, etc., embedded in the sand. About ten days ago we had a good deal of rain, and the water came down considerably, and caused great alarm to those who have squatted on its banks, although in reality there was no damage done. It has since been as large or larger than before. Ours being the first emigrant ship here, of course we were first on shore, and engaged putting up our houses, on land allotted to us by the Surveyor-General, on the beach. The Oriental passengers, although warned that the river might overflow,
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chose to squat on its banks, and have been followed by the passengers of the Duke of Roxburgh and the Bengal Merchant. The late floods caused them all great alarm, and many since have deserted their houses and come to the beach. We have been living very comfortably on the beach while they have made themselves very miserable. You are aware that the instructions to Colonel Wakefield were, to look out for the best harbour, and the place most fitted for a mercantile town in New Zealand, and in its neighbourhood to purchase as large a tract of land as he could. In choosing Port Nicholson, he has certainly had an eye to his instructions, because I believe it is the best harbour in New Zealand, and on its shores there is a place admirably fitted for a commercial town. Colonel Wakefield had chosen this place as the site of the town, but was absent from the Port on the arrival of the Cuba with Capt. Smith, the Surveyor-General. Captain Smith's instructions were somewhat at variance with Colonel Wakefield's, and on his own responsibility he commenced surveying a spot for the town, more connected with the place fitted for the agricultural district. This flood has caused the question to be mooted whether, from the probability of the river overflowing its banks, it was a place altogether safe and fitted for the site of the town. The place first chosen by Col. Wakefield lies on the opposite side of the bay from the river, and is about eight or nine miles distant by water and twelve or fourteen by the beach. Col. Wakefield has named that first chosen by him Thorndon, and the other Britannia. 1 These questions having reached the ears of Col. Wakefield, he called a meeting which was held yesterday at which he stated the facts of the case, and wished to have the sentiments of the land holders as to whether they would have their town acres at Britannia or Thorndon, or half acres in each. He asked the meeting to deliberate amongst themselves and state their opinions to him. Dr. Evans was called to the chair and expressed himself strongly in favour of Thorndon, and after a six hours' debate in which the sides seemed pretty equally balanced, whether the whole town should be at Thorndon or Britannia or half acres in each (perhaps the advocates for the half acres were the majority) the Col. broke up the meeting by saying that he had sufficiently gathered the sentiments of the meeting from the debate, that he would not trouble them further, but decide the question by himself. His opinion is not yet known, but is expected in the course of to-day or to-morrow. The half
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acre system seems to me the best. The prevalent winds are from the north-west and south-east. The south-easters are the fiercest, and when they blow the part of the harbour in the neighbourhood of Britannia is the most exposed--and really a south-easter in Port Nicholson is no joke. The anchorage ground is sandy and a ship in a strong south-east wind runs great risk of being driven on the shore. The site of the town at Britannia is covered with timber. On the other hand Thorndon is completely sheltered by the land from the south-east winds and ships can lie very securely close in shore. Besides the land requires almost no clearing and is very fertile. It is most suitable for a mercantile town, but having very little level land behind the township would not be so good for an agricultural place. Britannia again possesses the qualification, which Thorndon has not, of being surrounded by level land, and wants in a great degree a safe anchorage for ships and a large cleared space of level land for a mercantile town. The town at Thorndon would extend along the beach about three miles and therefore would have splendid sea frontage. At Britannia it would be intersected by rivers for three or four miles, very suitable for driving mills, but then these are only navigable for boats. There could be a road along the beach from the one township to the other, and speedy communication betwixt the two places by means of boats. I therefore hope that the Colonel's decision will be in favour of half acres.
From the map you will perceive that Port Nicholson is in Cook Strait. From the mouth of the harbour to its head is about fifteen miles, and at its head along the beach it extends about 14. From this you may easily perceive it is a splendid harbour. It has no bar at its mouth. You will recollect that I said before leaving Scotland that Port Nicholson was the most probable place for our location.
I have got my house finished and it is a good one and admired by every passer-by for its firmness and good plan. Its frame is composed of spars bound together by the flax plant split into thin shreds, and the larger timber tied with what is called supplejack (a sort of cane) split in half. It is 34 feet by 17 and there is not a nail about it. I have got a garden, too, of about a rood fenced in, and have sown in it cabbage, greens, cauliflower, broccoli, savoy, cress, lettuce and radish seeds and have very fine brairds of some of them. Plants will be valuable.
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The New Zealand Land Co. did not anticipate that there would be so much timber as there is on the land to be surveyed, and the surveying staff sent is insufficient for the purpose. As I saw no other way of employing myself and men profitably I asked Capt. Smith for a contract at a certain rate to cut straight lines for the survey. This was spoken of to me by Mr. Park, one of the surveyors (a brother of the sculptors with whom I am acquainted). It met his (Capt. Smith's) approbation and I got a contract at the rate of £20 per the 100 chains. I have employed besides Gebbie and Morrison other three men and we have been in the woods for three weeks. I expect it will pay very well and afford constant employment, although it is very heavy work. The way it is done is--Capt. Smith, or one of his assistants, lays out with the theodolite a line which requires to be cut straight, and this you are obliged to do, although you should meet trees 50 feet in circumference. We were employed one day and a half in merely cutting passages through the sides of two of them, so as to be able to see the line, and did not do more than a chain all that time. But other days we do 20 and 30 chains. I like the employment very much, and I work at it every day from six to six. There are three contractors besides myself--Mr. Barton, Dudley Sinclair and a Mr. White--besides 30 men overlooked by the surveyors employed on the survey. No more contracts are to be given, so you must see I am in some little favour with the principal people to obtain employment where there are so many anxious for it. I expect soon to go far into the bush to survey the country acres. There we will pitch tents and only be home on Saturday nights. Some are chicken-hearted enough to anticipate danger from the natives, but it is all humbug, and although there was there will be sufficient of us to protect ourselves. I consider myself very fortunate in obtaining this employment and owe it principally to Major Baker and Mr. Park.
29th March, 1840.--I have been all day scrolling and copying over this letter and I see can't finish it to-night so I have sent the latter part of the scroll. You will therefore not expect to receive the duplicate. I will write another letter with the papers. I go to the bush early in the morning.
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Since writing the preceding, Col. Wakefield has come to a decision about the township, and the place fixed upon is
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Britannia. This has caused a great noise and a meeting was held, at which resolutions were moved protesting against the choice. These resolutions were very numerously signed and presented to the Colonel. Many are of opinion that it will yet be altered to Thorndon, and I am one of them. I think it will yet be altered. Meantime the survey of the township at Britannia goes on quickly. I have been in the bush all week about five miles from where the settlers are squatted and we did a good week's work. We did 80 chains. The lines are about four feet broad.
The New Zealanders are certainly a very extraordinary people, and may one day by means of education and the example shewn to them by Englishmen become the best mechanics, the best sailors and altogether the most ingenious people on the face of the earth. Indeed now it would astonish anyone to behold with how much ingenuity two New Zealanders, clad in a native mat, without hat, shoes or stockings will construct a house, build a canoe and do many mechanical works. Besides they are most admirable seamen. You would be astonished to see with how much fervour they practice their devotions. They have prayers morning and evening and three times on Sunday. They have our Bible and Testament translated and printed at full length in their own language, and Catechism containing Commandments and prayers, all of which have been got up by the missionaries. These they prize very highly, although they seem to like the native missionaries (of whom there are many who can speak very good English) better than our countrymen. They call the native missionary Mouri (Maori) Kapi (good); the English missionary, packia (pakeha) kakino (bad). They begin now to see in a great degree the evil caused them by the very many fights they used to have amongst themselves, and they have been employed little in warfare of late and more in their potato and maize grounds. Indeed many of the tribes have made a compact to fight no more. The only fight (if one can call it such) I have heard of since we arrived here has been betwixt the natives here and a tribe called the Naticahouns (Ngatikahungunu). It took place about three weeks after we came. The Naticahouns came down to one of the settlements here and killed a chief called Balkawa and carried off a girl and a lad. They took Balkawa's head and heart as trophies of war. The outcry was most tremendous amongst the tribe here. They mustered all the fighting men they could on a
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moment's notice to fight the Naticahouns. But they were miles off before they could get to the scene of action, although that was only about two miles distant and it was within half a mile of my house. Balkawa and the two children were in one of the potato grounds somewhat remote from the settlement and they were pounced upon by the Naticahouns--how many report sayeth not. This they call making a fight. It took place about dusk and the expenditure of powder was great. They fired thousands of shots in the air without seeing each other, I suppose for the purpose of intimidation. Afterwards Waripowri (Warepouri) the fighting chief of the tribe here made a war speech to his people. The meeting was a most novel scene--Waripowri harangued his people in a most impassioned strain, flourishing his tomahawk above his head. You would have imagined that it was twirled round by magic it went at such a rate. It was resolved that a party should be sent out to the Naticahoun country to make reprisals on a cruise of two months--this on a journey of about 50 miles. The fact is they lay about in ambush in the neighbourhood of the settlements and attack some stray native of the hostile tribe and knock him on the head with a tomahawk. This again they call making a fight. Well this band returned about a week ago with one head, and then there was another great rejoicing. They brought news that the Naticahouns were in pursuit and would be here soon with five hundred men. Well last night two women came to the settlement here, daughters of one of the chiefs. They were captured by the Naticahouns in some former fight and made slaves of. They had made their escape and made their way to the pa. They reported that the Naticahouns from whom they had escaped were on their way here--about 100 strong. Great preparations are making to be in readiness to meet them, but the general opinion is that they will turn back when they find that the two women had escaped and might be expected to make their way here and report their intention of fighting. Waripowri goes out to-morrow to lay in wait for them with 200 men. The white men pay little attention to what is going on. I go to the bush to-morrow without any dread of the consequences. Two of my men are there now in the very route in which the Naticahouns may be expected to come. The Naticahouns are a very warlike tribe; they are bush natives and all heathens. Their great boast, however, is that they have never done injury to a white man. I believe they will still continue to
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do so unless they are ill-treated by the white men. If I were to see one to-morrow in the bush if he did not run away I would go and shake hands with him in a moment. I believe that two or three natives of the tribe here would not go so far into the bush by themselves as my work lays for the whole world. I believe all New Zealanders to be cowardly and cunning.
Provisions are dear here. Flour is 8d. per lb., pork (native) 6d.; one cow only has been killed, or I believe it died, and was sold at 1/- per lb. Potatoes are 7/- per cwt. when bought from Englishmen, but you can buy large quantities from the natives for trifling articles. For instance, the week before last I bought about 4 cwt. for some bed tick, giving small pieces for half a dozen baskets containing about 15 lbs. each. I have been very fortunate for one of my purchases in London was five quarters of wheat. This we can grind with the mill and it makes very good coarse bread, and it does not take long to grind.
You will easily perceive that the £100 you were so kind as to say you would give me will be far more useful to me in goods than in cash here. I would therefore wish that you would send, say, 20 barrels of flour, a quantity of oatmeal, half a dozen bolts of unbleached No. 8 canvas. I had a bolt with me which cost a guinea and I sold it here for £3 5s. These things I expect to pay about cent, per cent, at least. Another thing I could sell here at 200 per cent, profit is Scotch whisky, and this I could do without any trouble. Indeed now I have got an agreement to purchase 20 gals, at 15/- per gal., I think I can get that for any quantity. I believe it can be bought for about 4/- or 5/- without duty. I had 20 gals, of Geneva which I bought in London at 2/6 from Stayner, the Shipping Agent. I sold it here for 14/- per gal; the 2/6 included the commission for shipping and everything. I got the £14 for it, and the person who bought it unshipped it himself. Another thing peculiarly Scotch is a girdle, and English people passing here are quite taken with the bread we bake. Send therefore a score of girdles. I think that the large expense I incurred in London can yet be recovered from the New Zealand Land Company, and as soon as Dr. Evans comes on shore I shall write out an affidavit detailing the whole circumstances and get him to swear me on it and send it home to you together with the correspondence I had with Ward, that you may at least threaten them with an
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action. I think £60 can be recovered, or at least if that should fail that they will allow £30 and upwards charged for over-freight shipping charges, etc., over and above upwards of £60 for the mere expenses. I shall send you likewise Mr. Stayner's bill for the freight. I shall likewise send you a copy of the memorial I sent to the Directors that you may see everything clearly. I think I will be able to make out clearly by the evidence of one individual who I shall get to write a certificate below my affidavit attested by Dr. Evans that he received some compensation on the same account. That will be material and I think must force them to pay the money. Stayner's bill for the freight was only presented the night before we sailed, or I should have tried the Directors to get it abated.
You must see from the above that when I landed in New Zealand I had not a very large sum of money and as I wrote you before I left England that I might be necessitated to ask something more on account of these most unexpected drawbacks, I hope you will say that I do not break faith with you when I ask that you will give besides the £100 the sum of £90 of which no calculation could be made. I certainly should have asked nothing more but for the unlooked-for delay in sailing. Let the value of all the money above the price of the flour, the oatmeal, the canvas and the girdles be sent out in whisky. This suitable to be sold in casks. It will pay remarkably and I can make something out of it. Mr. Monro will see to the sending of all these things, in proper casks in good order. Get bill ladings, send duplicates, one by the ship the goods are sent and the other by the first other ship. Get them insured 50 per cent, above their actual cost--you retain policy. This has been the first proper opportunity I have had for writing. This goes by the Duke of Roxburgh to Sydney, and will be sent direct. In case it should miscarry I will send a copy when I write with the papers I have mentioned. I promised to write Mr. Monro as payment for the trouble he took in getting me well off. You see I have little time or opportunity for doing so. Will you send him a copy of this letter leaving out the private parts of it.
Compliments to all friends. I shall write you particularly soon my real opinion of the country. I shall have good opportunities of judging.
P.S.--Be so good as let John Gebbie and Wm. Morrison's friends know that they are well. They behave well, and I am
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well pleased. If Mr. Monro ships my things of course I will offer him payment for his trouble.
30th October, 1840.
When I wrote you on the 15th of August, I, along with a party of the Surveyor-General's staff were actively engaged in making preparations for a long journey round the north coast to Taranaki, for the purpose of giving a report of the character of the country, and after having been away for betwixt seven and eight weeks we are just returned here. In this journey I have seen a great deal of the country and of the natives, whose language I can now speak well, and as this is the district said to be most favourable for farming in New Zealand, am enabled to give a more positive opinion as to the chance of our enterprise succeeding than I have yet ventured to do. We travelled on foot a distance of about 650 miles--a longer way than has ever previously been done by white men in New Zealand, carrying with us our bedding, cooking utensils and articles of barter with which to procure food for ourselves from the natives--consisting of fishing hooks, tobacco, tomahawks, etc., etc. Our party consisted of Mr. Wakefield, son of Gibbon Wakefield, the Colonel's brother, Messrs. Park and Stokes, surveyors, Mr. Heaphy, 2 the Company's artist, myself, and six men to carry our baggage. All of us had to carry loads averaging from 30 to 60 lbs. apiece, and we accomplished over very bad roads about 20 miles a day during the journey. The Company own a large tract of land betwixt Port Nicholson and Taranaki, and the place first worth noticing on our route is Wanganui, where it is proposed a large proportion of the colonists now here, or who may be on their way from England, shall go and settle. It is distant by the coast from this upwards of 100 miles and by sea perhaps about 80. This is certainly a fine district and very slightly timbered, being principally covered with fern which can easily be burned; but the great loss is there is no harbour for large vessels, and although there is here a very large river, yet from its having a bar at its entrance, it is only suitable for vessels with a small draught of water, not exceeding 30 tons burden. To be sure we might have our produce exported by means of these small craft to Port Nicholson and from thence taken in larger vessels to the various markets, but this would prove a very tedious and expensive mode and
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exceed what we could well afford. For this reason one is forced well nigh to give up the idea of having a very large or numerous population there for a long time. Patea is the next place of any importance, being surrounded by a fine tract of level land, but like Wanganui it has no harbour, and its river, though a fine one, is even less practicable than Wanganui, from the same cause of having a bar at its mouth. I pass over all the rest of the coast till we come to the Taranaki district, which commences at Waimate, a distance of about 200 miles from Port Nicholson, and extending from Waimate along the coast to a place called Tura Kino, a distance nothing short of 150 miles, with a level country backwards as far as the eye can reach. It is much to be regretted that for all this fine district the anchorage should be so bad, being so small as only to protect one or two vessels and so hazardous, that whenever the wind shows signs of coming from the north-west, any vessel laying there must slip her anchor and stand out to sea, till the wind again changes, running a great risk of being driven on shore and dashed to pieces amongst the rocks. Thus the finest parts by far of the Company's territory and perhaps the finest districts in New Zealand lose much of their importance from the want of harbours. An opinion, however, is expressed that a good road can be cut from Caffier 3 Harbour to Taranaki, which will not exceed 30 or 40 miles in length. If this is the case, and from what we could judge of the appearance of the country it is so, Taranaki will still be made available to us, and it (Caffier) is a fine harbour. We were at the foot of the great Mt. Egmont, which Dr. Dieffenbach, 4 who is a great friend of mine, had ascended and calculated the height to exceed 8,000 feet. We saw it on a beautifully clear day, and its appearance was grand in the extreme, being completely clad with snow for some thousands of feet. In my last letter I gave you a very complete description of Port Nicholson and of the country around it which I had seen almost inch by inch. I still remain of the opinion that it will be the capital of New Zealand from its splendid harbour, but from the small extent of level land in its neighbourhood and the difficulty of clearing it, it is no place for the farmer. Had Taranaki been in its neighbourhood how different would have
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been the fact. Last week I made a journey on foot, accompanied by a native, to Widerup 5 or Palliser Bay, about 40 miles to the southward from the township of Britannia, to satisfy myself of the place of which I had heard great things from the natives and really I was not disappointed. It is their property, never having been sold. Would you believe it, no colonist but myself has been there. A month hence I will visit it again in company with 50 or 60 natives who are going to hunt wild pigs. It will be a fine expedition and capital sport, and will be a good opportunity of examining the land. If it turns out as well as I expect after having examined it more minutely than I had an opportunity of doing on my first journey, I think I will obtain a license and squat there with a quantity of sheep and cattle. It is free from timber and covered with tolerable herbage. From having gone so much into the country I have obtained a great favour with the natives. Yesterday I had Epuni the principal chief with me and a great host of minor chiefs to talk over our expedition. He says they will take no other white men with them and they all want me to go and live there, calling me the Tangata Widerup or the proprietor of it. I still live at Petoni from whence the town was changed to Thorndon, and am left much by myself almost all the colonists having left for the township. It answers me better and there are still some worthy persons here. Colonel Wakefield asked Epuni the other day to go and live at Thorndon; he says as long as I stay here he will.
I have now seen more of the country than any other colonist, including every place in this neighbourhood, and I must confess that I am much disappointed in it, and would advise no one in whom I have any interest to push his fortune here.
Long before you receive this, you will have seen the Bill passed by the Sydney Legislature annulling all titles to land in New Zealand except to a certain extent. It has caused much alarm here, and put a great stop to business, but no one has any idea that it will be put in force, so far as regards those who came out under the auspices of the Company.
I have squatted on the prettiest piece of ground in the neighbourhood of the harbour and have got in about two acres of potatoes and 5,000 cabbages, with numerous small seeds. Cabbages are 1/- a piece just now and I will soon have some ready.
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From the newspapers, which I hope you receive regularly, you will be able to see how things go on here, and I shall continue writing you regularly. Perhaps you will send a copy of this letter to Mr. Monro and the newspapers after you have perused them--I hope he received my letter of the 16th of August.
Please send me 1 doz. pairs of boots such as I got before I left--they answer better than the shoes--both are nearly done--let them be stout; half doz. Glengarry caps, and a few flannel drawers and shirts. In the pursuits I have been following they are quite necessary.
We are all well here. Give my compliments to all our friends, I often think of them.
P. S.--Do not believe the story of Mr. Park and I being picked up by the Magnet in an open boat in the Straits--although in a gale of wind for three days and three nights we got safe to Kapiti. It is a mistake of the paper.
25th March, 1841.
I have been anxiously expecting to hear from you for many months back; indeed the short note you sent by Mr. Macfarlane is all I have had since leaving home, surely your letters must have miscarried, but perhaps the next ship will satisfy my doubts.
We are all now at Okiwi, the place spoken of in a former letter, whereon I had squatted, but having been chosen a country section prior to any of mine and thinking it an advantageous place and to clear myself for the improvements made on it, I have taken a lease of it for 14 years, at a peppercorn rent for the three first years and £30 a year for the remaining 11, with the view of sub-letting when the place is more thickly populated. I am now erecting on it a wooden house which will cost about £120, which, together with the expenses incurred on the land, will amount to upwards of £300; the crop for this year has been very fair, and next year I expect to clear something out of it. Hitherto the expenses have been increased by employing more hands, but for the future we will manage ourselves. I intend to purchase three or four cows and make butter which sells fresh at 5/- the lb., and we are now rearing hens with the prospect of having 30 or 40 laying ones by the spring, and will go on till the stock increases to 200 or 300. Eggs are in demand now at 6/- the dozen, and are likely to continue so for some time, and during
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summer the feed costs nothing as grasshoppers and other insects are numerous. Okiwi more than any other place round Port Nicholson is suited for a tenant, it being nearly free from timber and easy access can be had to the town by water, from which it is about five miles distant.
You will have seen the correspondence between the Deputies from the settlers here and Sir Geo. Gipps, the Governor of New South Wales; by it we are insured our land, but are bound subject to the approval of the Home Government, to take the 110,000 acres for the principal settlement in one continuous block, round Port Nicholson. It is the general opinion here that this will ultimately be better for the settlement than if the population had been divided by going to remote parts of the coast, and although some part of the rural sections may not just be what could have been wished, yet I am confident it will be for the general advantage to have a block in the neighbourhood of a good harbour like Port Nicholson instead of being scattered over a country destitute of harbours and where the making of roads would have been either impracticable or too expensive for the resources of a new colony, where labour is so dear. At least it will render the settlement more desirable in the eyes of speculators and perhaps attract more capital to it, thereby keeping up its value. The boundaries of the block are now pretty well defined; there will be a road from Wellington along the beach to Petoni (lately Britannia), the works of which are now in progress, and completed so far as Kai Warre Warre 6 on the Wellington side-a distance of about two and a half or three miles. This Kai Warre Warre was the place chosen for the rural section No. 1, and where the Highland emigrants who arrived in the Blenheim are settled, and where of course a village is springing up. From this place a line of road has been marked out, leading to Porirua, a very desirable place with a fine harbour, where vessels not exceeding 100 tons may enter safely. I have walked along the line and think it may be made passable for carriages at the cost of between £500 and £1,000 per mile, the distance to the head of Porirua Bay being about twelve miles. Rural sections are in the course of being laid out along this road and around Porirua Bay, with a certainty of being speedily appropriated, the character of the country being superior. The sections will all be surveyed around the harbour of Port Nicholson, in the valley of the Hutt, along the road to Porirua, in Porirua valley, and
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between the valleys of the Hutt and Porirua, with the view of complying with Sir Geo. Gipps' stipulations. Dr. Evans has reserved several of his choices and is now entitled to choose first; he is to select at Porirua and will have a township surveyed immediately. The delays in the survey have been a great drawback to us. I have not yet got any of my rural sections but expect to do so on the 1st April. How long it may be before there are roads to them is another question.
The secondary sectionists are to choose their land at Wanganui and the Plymouth settlement is to be at Taranaki, both of which places I hurriedly described in my last letter. The country at Taranaki is certainly far more eligible for agricultural or grazing purposes than that around Port Nicholson on account of its being neither so thickly timbered or so hilly, but then there is merely an open roadstead for vessels to bring up in, and a most dangerous place it is. As the Plymouth settlement progresses (as it undoubtedly will at a rapid rate) there will be many shipwrecks on the coast from vessels being driven ashore. Thus have three townships been already commenced in New Zealand on land purchased from the New Zealand Company, besides the Government settlement at the Thames, and a township at the Bay of Islands, and this at the commencement of the second year of anything like systematic colonization in these islands, and besides we have the French colony at Banks Peninsula in the Southern Island. We hear little of them beyond a French vessel having been here several times to purchase provisions.
The success of Port Nicholson is, I think, now pretty well established, and deservedly so, because although the country is hilly and thickly wooded, it is at the same time exceedingly fertile and rich, as witness the crops reared by a friend of mine on a worn out native garden, and where the land was only partially cleared of timber. His barley weighed 71 lbs., and his wheat 70 lbs. per bushel, the quantity produced being at the rate of 40 bushels per acre. His potatoes produced about nine tons per acre, 29 potatoes of which weighed 4 lbs. He has turnips measuring a foot in diameter and carrots of a very large size-all this from ground not manured. My own crops, although not so good as those I have spoken of, are very good, although the ground was very imperfectly cultivated, being merely once dug and the potatoes, etc., put in before the coarse grass and weeds had time to rot,
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or the ground to pulverize and become moulded. I have only been on it seven months and have reaped a crop of potatoes, cabbages, etc., and there is now in the ground turnips and cabbages which I expect will not be hurt by the winter. I may mention, however, one sample of my produce--that is a pumpkin, measuring 21 inches in length and 3 feet 6 inches in circumference; the weight I have not yet ascertained, not having cut it. As a proof of the estimation in which the sections are held, I may mention that Dudley Sinclair sold one some time ago for £1,400, and that Mr. Molesworth let a town acre of his for £240, one half to Messrs. Ridgeways, Guyton and Easp, a branch of an extensive Liverpool house, and the other to a Mr. Rhodes from Sydney, on leases for 14 years, buildings and improvements to remain at the end of the lease. The wooden framework of Mr. Rhodes' store alone, I believe, cost £1,500 in Sydney. A town acre sold at one time in the colony for £35 fetched £200 the other day, and land is on the rise. You would be quite astonished to see the fine buildings we have already at Wellington.
In my last letter I advised that no relations of mine should come out to the Colony, principally on account of the heavy expense required for clearing the land. The Commissioners for the sale of the Crown lands in the colonies have since determined that a uniform price of a £1 per acre is all that is to be asked for land in the new colonies. Now in a country like New Zealand it is impossible to overrate the advantages of this arrangement; although in some places the land is not available, yet in many it is highly fertile and advantageously situated for the purposes either of commerce or agriculture, and the country being so recently resorted to by Europeans, only a few of these places are now occupied or claimed under anything like a valid or good title, or which will be recognised, and many more are not claimed or occupied at all. In these circumstances land either remarkably fertile, or in the neighbourhood of a convenient harbour or anchorage, or one of the larger settlements, where either merchants or agriculturists are soon likely to resort, is worth over and over again the £1 per acre asked by Government. Few of the settlers have yet had time to look about for such places, and some time will elapse before they do so. Now I know several places within a reasonable distance of Port Nicholson and in the line of coasting vessels, admirably fitted for agriculture, where the land is easily cleared, or in fact already fit for the plough, and
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where only a commencement is required to draw numerous settlers together. Perhaps in another year I will sell my lease of Okiwi with stock and crop and my land here, and purchase land from Government and go and settle on it, where farming may be carried on on a larger scale and at less expense than in Port Nicholson. Hundreds will follow the example and thus be the means of enriching themselves and adding importance to the larger settlements in the neighbourhood, while the land is being yearly doubled in value. For these reasons and because of the proofs (which before were only prophesies) we have had of the great agricultural product of the land, I should advise most strenuously both Jas. Young and my brother John should come out here, and that as soon as possible. If they were to be farmers at home they would probably make nothing by it, while here their success with common prudence is certain. They can buy as good land here at£1 per acre from the Government as they can rent in Scotland for £2, with a ready and certain market for their produce at prices double those at home, and they will live in a beautiful and healthy climate where there are no taxes on native produce, and free from political discord. A sea voyage, far from being disagreeable, is pleasant, and in fact the only disagreeable part of it is the parting from friends and relations. I would advise therefore that John and Jas. Young come out here as soon as circumstances permit, bringing with them what capital they can procure, principally in money. But as they would go to a place where barter with the natives would be profitable they ought to bring a large stock of coarse, strong and big blankets and rugs of various kinds, with some double and single barrelled cheap percussion guns and some common muskets, but without bayonets, caps and powder, some American axes, and Negrohead tobacco. If it is arranged that they come out, I will go to the same place as they, and they will have the benefit of what experience I may have obtained. Let them bring nothing with them in the way of outfit, merely wearing apparel. Many things can be got cheaper here than at home. A Land Office will be established in the colony immediately and they can purchase their land here. Say they can procure £600 or £700 each, it will be enough for a large establishment in the place where we would go.
The seasons here are nearly the reverse of those at home--spring commences in August and winter in May. During the summer (at least this year) we had very fine weather,
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with only an occasional shower, but in winter, although the weather was remarkably temperate, a great deal of rain fell; during both summer and winter there are very frequent gales of wind.
I shall in the meantime close this letter, promising to write again as soon as I hear from you. Gebbie and Morrison are in the same predicament as myself, and we are all very anxious to hear from home.
When you write hereafter enclose the letters to Mr. Ward to be forwarded by the Company's ships, and merely address Wm. Deans, Wellington, New Zealand. Or perhaps you could arrange with Mr. Crawford, the Glasgow agent, to forward them. Don't give any more of my letters to the newspapers.
Give my compliments to all friends and beg some of them to write.
4th April, 1841.
I am still, with the exception of a short letter by the Rev. Mr. Macfarlane, without any letters from home, and begin to be very uneasy on the subject. Morrison had a letter via Sydney from his brother subsequent to the Lady Nugent, but John Gebbie and I are without any. Very probably it is some mistake on the part of the Post Office that causes this for I cannot believe but that letters have been despatched by you which ought to have reached here long ago. Mr. Strang from Glasgow, who you know, informs me that he is in the same situation as myself, not having heard a word from his friends at home. I shall wait anxiously for letters.
I fervently hope that the consignments I wrote you to send will arrive before the 1st of June, as there is to be a duty of 8/- per gallon on spirits after that date.
Okiwi, the place mentioned in the letter of 23rd ult. as having been described in the one of November last, is situated close to the harbour of Port Nicholson and near to the entrance to the bay. If you have seen a map of the port it is laid down there by the name of "Robinson's Bay."
In this returned letter I mentioned that from altered circumstances it was better not to insist for remuneration from the Company for the expenses I had been put to in London, the chief of which was that having large transactions with the Company's agent here, it was more politic on my part not to quarrel with them. I contracted for cutting surveying lines in. conjunction with Messrs. White and Barton in the
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valley of the Hutt, and in the course of six months, although the others lost, I cleared nearly £300 by the contract. At one time I had thirty men engaged and was paying £90 a ton for carrying provisions to where the men worked in the bush.
The news brought us by the last mail from England is very encouraging and business here consequently much improved. The colony cannot fail to go ahead at a rapid rate; John and Jas. Young have fine prospects if they should come here, and the sooner they do so the better.
I wrote this letter at Wellington while a boat waits to go to Okiwi and am consequently hurried, which will plead my excuse for its being so disjointed. Had it been put off I might not have had an opportunity of getting it sent to post for a week.
26th August, 1841.
The things by the Mary arrived here safe some months ago, but on account of one of 1,000 irregularities of our and the Sydney Post Office, I am only now in receipt of the packet of letters sent by her. On her arrival at Sydney her letters for Port Nicholson were posted there, and although there have been many opportunities of forwarding them we have only now got them. These being the first letters I have had from home, week after week has anxiously passed by waiting for them before I wrote you acknowledging receipt of the goods. Although the prices of goods are much altered since I wrote you for them, the remittance has answered well considering, and fetched 50 per cent, above the first cost in England and freight.
The contents of your short letter caused me much sorrow, to hear that you had been so weak at the commencement of the winter, but I would fain hope that as the winter progressed, you did not feel any increase of the weakness, and that it had totally disappeared with the approach of summer.
With you this is near the commencement of another winter and with us the summer. This last winter has been a very different one from the preceding, and the River Hutt here which from its frequent overflow two winters ago, caused so much annoyance to the settlers has not been swollen to any extent, at least not to such an extent as to overflow its banks or cause any damage. In fact we have neither had so much wind, rain, frost or snow, although there has been a
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little snow on some of the highest hills, yet from my house which commands a pretty extensive view, we have never seen a single particle all the winter, and the ice has never exceeded a fourth part of an inch in thickness. We have had many days as warm this last winter as you have in your summers.
You are no doubt aware of the arrangement entered into between the Government and the Company, by which our titles are now guaranteed, and which again alters the mode of allotting the country lands. Instead of a uniform and compact block of 110,000 acres round Port Nicholson the choice of country sections in the preliminary settlement is to extend as far as the Manawatu River, which is about 60 miles along the coast from this place. By this arrangement the scope within which we are allowed to choose is greatly enlarged, and by far the finest agricultural part of the settlement will be that now about to be laid open for selection, and although rather remote from the town, it immediately adjoins Cook Strait, and vessels taking in produce will have a very good anchorage at Kapiti or Entry Island. The survey in this district will be undertaken immediately, and I am in hopes that I will be able to choose my country land in six months and to be prepared for going to work vigorously on it. I have sold my three town acres for £340, No. 453 for £200, 781 for £100, and 1061 for £40, and if I can get a good price I will sell the country land of 1061 as there is no great chance of its being got in a good situation; at any rate 200 acres will be more than enough for me for many years to come. I think I have got a good price for these and am almost certain that town lands, at least of late numbers, will not maintain the present high rates.
I still continue to entertain a very high opinion of the productiveness of the soil, and everybody seems to be of the same mind, but the story of my friend's wheat and barley having weighed 70 and 71 lbs. per bushel is most likely one of the many exaggerations that people are guilty of to make things appear better than they really are. John recommends the cultivation of potatoes in the lazzyhed fashion and the rearing of pigs; he will see in my last letter that I am trying both. I have already in the ground about four acres of potatoes, and am now busy planting more. We have got a very bad breed of pigs; they have been allowed to breed so much in and in, that what was originally a very good one when Cook and others left them, are now exceedingly slow in the
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growth, although they fatten remarkably well on what in Scotland would be thought poor feeding, viz., sow thistle, which grows so abundantly in the bush and on waste lands that many allow their pigs to run open in the bush and feed on nothing else. My stock of fowls increases very rapidly; what originally consisted of only two hens amounts now to upwards of 70 young and old. I have had two clutches from one hen in eleven weeks and she is now (four and a half months) sitting again. I generally contrive to set two together and put both clutches to one hen; the other generally commences laying again within two weeks.
By the New Zealand Gazette which I hope you will receive regularly, you will see that the Governor has just paid us his first visit, and that he is anything but popular with the settlers here. Their principal cause of complaint is that he did not visit this place before making Auckland the seat of Government, thereby giving it the preference before seeing Port Nicholson, and that in many of his other acts he has shown a total disregard of our wants, and in fact a decided hostility to the place and to the settlers. I think that in many things he has acted very wrongly, but am not prepared to go the length some people do. I believe, however, that from statements sent home and the influence the New Zealand Company seem to have with the Government that before this time he has been relieved, and that we will have someone out in his place who will very probably alter the seat of Government to Port Nicholson; there seems to be only one opinion from persons who have been at the Thames which is the best place, not only have we a better and more centrical harbour, but five-sixths of the population of the whole of New Zealand will very soon be located within 24 hours' sail of this port, because not only are there settlements (as I wrote you before) at Wanganui and Taranaki, and the French at Banks Peninsula, but Capt. Arthur Wakefield, who is agent for the new settlement of Nelson, has chosen Blind Bay for that settlement, which is within 100 miles of this port, and at which 3,000 or 4,000 settlers may be expected to arrive during the course of next year. The Governor tried hard to get the Captain to go to the Thames, but without success, and he is said to have acknowledged that if the Captain determined on locating his settlers in the neighbourhood of Cook Strait he would be compelled to change the seat of his Government to this place.
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From the English papers the disposition to emigrate to New Zealand seems to be very strong and to be on the increase, and although the country is not so good as we were led to believe, I have not the remotest doubt that labourers, farmers and small working capitalists will better themselves by coming here, as perhaps there is no country in the world where so much has to be done that will repay so well the trouble of doing it. The great defect from the commencement has been the slow progress of the surveys--not more than 300 sections in the first settlement having yet been allotted; this has prevented speculation both in letting and selling, and of course has kept many from yet commencing their farming speculations that ought to have begun long ago. Many have been absolutely ruined and none of us who meant to farm but have felt it severely; for myself I am sure my means would have long since been exhausted had I not got the survey contracts and wrought harder than any settler has yet done; a narrow economy caused the contracting system to be discontinued, and it costs now in my opinion more than double as much as I offered to do it for, although in the depth of the most inhospitable part of the winter of 1840 I made a considerable sum of money at the same prices at which I subsequently offered to contract, besides I am convinced several hundred more sections would now have been given out.
I have delayed sending this letter waiting for the Bailey which goes direct home.
18th October, 1841.
I am sorry to inform you that Morrison's wife died last week of consumption. For some time he had been rather dissatisfied and had not been behaving altogether right, and about two months ago I thought it better (as he was willing) to settle up his wages and get the agreement discharged. His wife was quite well when they left, but very soon afterwards took ill and died of the decay I have mentioned. When I went to see her on her death bed she told me it was against her advice that her husband had acted as he did, and he likewise is now very sorry for the step. John Gebbie and his wife and now two children, and a lad of about 18 years compose the family, and I believe there are none in the district more happy or contented.
I daresay you will be pleased to know something about our dwelling place. It is a building 40 feet long by 21 broad,
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the walls eight feet high, divided into five rooms, kitchen and lobby. Uprights of the outside walls are pieces of substantial squared timber 8in. by 10, and the inner divisions 5 by 6, sunk in the ground 3 feet, and inside and out pieces of split timber about 6 feet long, 8in. broad and 1 in. thick, feather edged like weather boarding are nailed across these uprights and rammed with clay. All the rooms are floored throughout with inch boards, and the ceiling of the same, and the roof is thatched with the same sort of rushes as there is in Scotland, about 1 foot thick. When I wrote you last I thought of a heavy house solely of wood, but this is acknowledged to be much superior and looks nearly as well.
There is a very decent carpenter here of the name of Wilson, from Kilmarnock, who is the principal one of the trade in the place, and is doing very well.
Please give my compliments to all friends.
2nd April, 1842.
I have your letter per Mr. Hay, yours, James and John's of the 25th September, and John's of the 30th October, and will now answer them as full as necessary. I have likewise a letter from Uncle Andrew favoured by a Mr. Reid, a nurseryman from Paisley, and have now written him.
The improvement in your health was very welcome news. If Mr. Meikle's son should write or come here, nothing in my power will be left undone to do what I can for him as you desire. Uncle Andrew mentions that you were likely to sell your property for £200 an acre to the Duke of Portland. Is it sold?
In reply to John's first letter.--I still adhere to the advice formerly given you not to purchase land from the New Zealand Company, at any rate not till you arrive in the colony, and can choose the spot where you intend settling. I hope you have not done so in the new settlement of Nelson before this can reach you, because the site chosen for it is not a good one; already the first emigrant ship, the Fifeshire, has been lost on the bar, the Brougham has been ashore, and also the Will Watch, with others, and the land is said not to be good. The settlements in New Zealand have now become so numerous and such a quantity of land has been sold, I feel satisfied that it will be got lower here than in England; besides a person who does not purchase till he arrives in the Colony has all the advantage of fixing on a locality that may suit
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his views, whereas if he had purchased from the Company before leaving home he is tied down to any place their agent may select for the particular settlement in which he had purchased. You will say, however, look at the town acre and the free passage! True, that is something, but townships are now so numerous, and such a rivalry has sprung up between them, that a very short time will decide which is the most eligible, and that which is fortunate enough to obtain the preference will rapidly go ahead to the disadvantage of its less favoured competitors, insomuch that in some of them town acres will be had for a mere song, country land in their neighbourhood will decrease in value and the settlement will be next to deserted.
It is true that the Emigrant Commissioners have approved of the old mode of selling Government land by auction at a low price, instead of the uniform rate recommended by Gibbon Wakefield and so far James is right, but if it is not the fact that any arrangement entered into betwixt the Company and the Government prevents the Government from selling land at £1 per acre by auction, although the Company should at the same time ask 30/- for theirs as at Nelson, and although in reality there will not be any special surveys made by Government for the convenience or fancy of an individual, yet the very nature of the country (there being such an immense quantity of really valueless land) demands even if it were for the sake of the revenue alone, that the numerous districts which are in truth valuable should be soonest surveyed and set up to auction. To prove to you how little the Nelson settlement is in vogue here, I may mention that out of 200 sections reserved for sale in the colony, only six or eight were sold. The old settlers in New Zealand, missionaries and others, you are aware purchased land to a great extent from the natives. It is expected that their claims will be decided immediately, and they perhaps placed exactly on the same footing as the Company are, or be allowed four acres of land for every£1 they have expended in the purchase or improvement of their property. Now many of these people never had the most remote intention of ever becoming bona fide settlers on the property thus acquired, and of course as soon as they receive possession of their land with a good title will bring it into the market for sale, and consequently bring down prices, so that the Company with the Government and these parties against them will not be able to obtain such prices as the Nelson settlement was sold for.
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Again, when you arrive in the colony you may think that you could do better by making cheese or butter and rearing sheep or cattle than in farming. There are plenty of waste lands for this purpose where you may squat without purchasing from anyone. This has been a very profitable occupation in the colony. Sheep and cattle can be purchased in Sydney almost as you like. Everything being so black there that once show a dealer money and there is little chance but you can purchase almost at your own price. Sheep have been sold as low as 3/6 and 7/- may be reckoned the average. Now a shipper will charge you 8/- of freight per head for every sheep he lands alive in Port Nicholson, and allowing for loss on shipboard, and immediately after landing they will stand about 16/- each, and in three months they will feed to 55 or 60 lb. on grass; mutton sells at 10d. and 1/- per lb.; this is surely a good profit; cattle cost £4 10/-,freight as before £7, say £13 a head including loss, and beef sells at 10d. and 1/-.
My advice to you now is not to bring with you anything but what you will require absolutely for your own use after arrival in the colony. Let your wearing apparel be chosen so as to suit the seasons. I sub-join a list of some of the things you will require.
I advise you to bring no servants either single or married; there are plenty to be got in the colony and at as low wages as you could get them to come with you, besides they are more accustomed to the work and to the country than those you would bring. Wood is so plentiful everywhere that thorn will not be used for a long time for fencing.
I have not yet got any of my country land, but expect to get one section at a choosing on the 7th. As I mentioned when I first wrote of having rented Okiwi, it was not with the intention of doing much to it that I leased it, but rather to be out of the town where living is expensive, and to keep myself and men employed till I got my country land, and then to sub-let it. An offer was made for a section in the immediate vicinity of mine the other day of £70 a year to be paid from the first, and refused, and nothing had been done to it before, and it is not so good as mine. I have the whole 100 acres, but a great part of it is too hilly for cultivation. I have about six acres now under crop cultivated by spade. Eggs as you surmise have fallen greatly in price, but I allow all my old hens to hatch and so have few for sale. I have about 200 hens and cocks, young and old, 28 turkeys young and
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old, and twelve ducks, and intend sending a lot to Nelson soon, where I think hens will sell for £1 per pair, ducks 30/-, and turkeys £2. Out of about 20 tons of potatoes I had this season, two tons and a half which I was sending over for Christmas were lost by the boat in which they were having swamped; they were the earliest in the market and I had them sold for cash at £18 10/- per ton; besides I lost about £7 worth of green peas and a quantity of turnips. Everything is now much down in the market from what they were last summer, but I have been selling cabbages at 3d. each, carrots 2d. per lb., Swedish turnips 1d. per lb., cauliflowers 6d. each, green peas 8d: per quart, and potatoes from £5 to £7. Expecting always to get to my country lands I have not purchased any cows.
You are mistaken about all the land in the colony after the Nelson settlement being hereafter to be sold by auction. All the Company's new settlements will be sold by private contract.
In reply to John's letter of 30th October last.--I am glad to hear that you have made up your mind to come out here. There will be a fine lot of you if James Young, his sister, and two wives come out; you had better charter a ship at once. Lillias will be likely soon to get a good husband in the colony, and I approve of you and Jas. Young getting married if you can get wives fit to manage the dairy well and likewise get some money by them, but if you cannot light on such you may be better without them. Probably if affairs prosper well with me and I can get everything well arranged for during my absence, I may take a trip Home in a few years hence--see my friends, get married and come back again Ou! as the natives say. I don't know, time will show. It would be rather a difficult matter to get a good wife here, young men are so much more plentiful than eligible young women. Could James Young not arrange to marry a wife with money, come out here and make a fortune, and not sell Peelhill, but return home again by the time he was forty; he should try.
A sea voyage, far from being disagreeable, is in my opinion a very pleasant thing. You should be in the open air as much as possible on the poop. One of the Company's vessels will be the best to come out in, and you should employ a broker to ship your things and write you exactly when the ship will sail. On board ship you will most likely breakfast at 8 in the morning, at 12 get some biscuit and a glass of wine
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or beer, dine at 3, and it is usual to go through all the nonsense of taking wine with each other. Tea at 6 and a glass of wine, beer or grog at 8 before going to bed; the lights must be out by 10. If you have a gun, powder and shot you will have good sport shooting. Have very light shoes without nails for walking on deck. A net will be very useful for fishing in the sea, say 50 yards long by 10 feet deep. It will be a good amusement for you to make one coming out; many have done it before. A rifle will be very little use and I would advise you not to bring one. Do you think you could bring out some ferrets or weasels, because rats are very numerous. You might have them in a small box in your cabin! Bring me a couple of strong pea coats and a couple of shooting jackets made of stuff like shepherds plaid, and a few pairs of trousers of the same, two blue cloth caps. If you and James Young do not get married endeavour to get one poop cabin for both, it is much larger, generally about 12 feet by 10 and is far more airy and pleasant. You may sling hammocks if you choose them, they are splendid for on board ship. If you get married you will each require a poop cabin. You can easily bring a chest of drawers or two in one of these cabins and they will be very useful here. The accounts of the horticultural shows would give you a good idea of the size things can be grown to here. You would see it in the paper.
10th April, 1842.
Since writing the preceding I have chosen one of my country sections at Manawatu, a place about 50 or 60 miles from here. The river has been proved to be very fine, a vessel having taken a sawmill up 20 miles, and she drawing 10 feet of water. I have been upwards of 40 miles up the river and like it very much. On account of the time it will take to make roads into the country it is a great thing to be close to such a river as this. Many parties are to settle there next summer.
Compliments to all friends.
LIST OF OUTFIT.
Wearing Apparel.--8 pairs moleskin trousers, 10 pairs canvas trousers, 6 pairs duck trousers, 6 moleskin jackets, 6 canvas jackets, 3 moleskin waistcoats, 3 canvas waistcoats, 6 flannel underjackets, 6 flannel drawers, 3 suits of good clothing and 3 or 4 pair good trousers, 6 blue cloth caps (no hats worn here), 6 blue cloth jackets (for use on board ship and after getting on shore on better occasions; two or
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three of these and your canvas and duck trousers should be kept out for hot weather on board ship), 2 strong shooting jackets, 2 strong pea coats, 4 dozen coloured shirts, 1 dozen white shirts, 1 dozen pairs strong shoes, 1 dozen pairs worsted stockings, 6 black silk handkerchiefs, 6 pairs blankets, 6 pairs sheets (if you care for them), 1 hair mattress, pillows and bolsters.
Tools and Implements.--1 jack plane with 2 spare irons, 1 hand plane with 2 spare irons, 2 hand saws, 1 cross-cut saw, i dozen coarse large files, 4 dozen fine large files, 6 hand saw files, 2 claw hammers, 1 clench hammer, 2 adzes, 6 American felling axes (wedge shape), 1 brace and bits, 1 large and 1 small screw drivers, 1 carpenter's spoke-shave, 6 gimblets (assorted), 6 American screw augers (assorted), 1 pair compasses, 1 pair pincers, 1 three-foot rule, 1 spirit level, 1 measuring line, 2 pick axes, 6 grubbing hoes, 6 common hoes assorted, 2 garden rakes, 2 strong crowbars, 6 potato forks, 6 spades, 3 shovels, watering can, 2 scythes, 6 reaping hooks, 6 padlocks (hasps and staples), 12 locks assorted, door hinges, table drawer locks, press locks, press hinges, a quantity of different sized nails, glue, paint and white lead, a small iron vice, a coir of strong rope and a set of blocks, a coir of small rope (ploughs, harrows, etc., can be got cheap here), 1 good tent, lamp and candlesticks (use lamp for cabin on the way), and 3 or 4 1bs. wax candles, knives and forks, table and teaspoons. There will be some other things that will easily suggest themselves.
Bring with you a small cask of Glasgow beef hams, a few Dunlop cheese in cases, a small cask of pickled tongues, a firkin or two of good herrings, and a firkin or two of Irish butter. You will find all these very useful.
Wm. Deans to Andrew Deans.
Okiwi, 11th April, 1842
I thank you for your letter of the 29th October by Mr. Reid. He has arrived in the colony and appears to like it, although I believe he will not follow his old business of a nurseryman; very probably he will commence farming his own country land. As you mention, he was very fortunate in getting an early choice, for he could now sell it for something like £1,000. The vessel in which he came out, having emigrants on board for the new settlement of Nelson, has gone to discharge there, taking with her the luggage of such passengers as were to remain here--his amongst the rest--and he has been over with me a few days here, getting his land legs after the voyage and waiting for the ship's return.
You would be surprised if you could just take a peep at Port Nicholson. It is now only two years and three months since the first emigrant ship arrived here, yet with the decided hostility of the Colonial Government towards us and the long
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and vexatious delays in the completion of the survey, our population now exceeds 3,700 persons. Our infant township commands the praise of most of those who visit it. In our storehouses can be purchased everything either of use or ornament. We have generally about twenty vessels laying at anchor in our port. News direct from England by the Company's or private ships generally twice in the month. One newspaper already and a second about to be established, and already we have canvassing from parties desirous to fill the office of Mayor or Alderman under the Colonial Municipal Corporation Act, and nothing would please you more than to see how soon we have become used to our new homes, for you could scarcely believe that you looked at a young community so far from home, their friends, and the mode of life most of them had been accustomed to, and that in such a short time and by their exertions and their means all this had been done. There is in fact no parallel to it in the history of modern colonization.
We have very heavy gales of wind on the coast and New Zealand is becoming notorious as a dangerous place for vessels. The incorrectness of the chart, however, is much more to be feared than the heavy winds; when the coast is better known and properly surveyed there will be few shipwrecks.
The climate is undeniably most splendid. Many nights I have lain in the open air with no other covering than a blanket, and have been wet through for weeks together, and yet never have had the slightest cold. As the country becomes better known I have no doubt many settlers with something like an independent income will resort hither as much for the sake of the climate as with the view of amassing wealth.
I have a letter from John by the Ridgway, but none of the letters from home mention the sale of Mr. Craig's property or my father's offer to sell his land to the Duke of Portland for £200 an acre; perhaps the sale has been now concluded, and probably I will hear of it soon. It appears to me to be a long price--the house and garden and other houses I should imagine will be paid for over and above the £200 per acre.
Compliments to all friends and wishing to hear from you now and then.
P.S.--I have written home by this opportunity. Do not allow this letter to go to the newspapers.
