1857 - Hursthouse, C. New Zealand, or Zealandia, the Britain of the South [Vol.I.] - CHAPTER IX. VIEWS

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CHAPTER IX.

VIEWS.--In justice to New Zealand, and I may add in justice to artist publisher and author, a few remarks are necessary on the Views which illustrate this chapter. New Zealand abounds in beautiful scenery (page 98), but as yet insuperable difficulties prevent its full and effective transference to a book. At present, there are no artists in New-Zealand, and however desirous the tourist may be to carry home sketches of some "gem-bit" of mountain coast or forest scenery; or of some rising town, smart villa, yeoman's homestead, or myrtle-covered cottage, no money will enable him to gratify his wish. In my late tour among the settlements, Canterbury and New Plymouth were the only places which offered me even the semblance of an artist. But it is not only that great difficulty exists in obtaining the original sketches--when they are obtained, the scenery cannot be transfered effectively to a book, save by some costly artistic process, which (if many views are given) will confine the book to the hands of the few who may buy rich picture books for the drawing-room or boudoir. The microscopical scale, too, to which the view has to be reduced to meet the requirements of an octavo page, sadly impairs any beauty it may possess, and mere tinted lithography is manifestly unequal to the glowing and effective representation of natural scenery like that of New Zealand. A marked feature in the real New Zealand landscape, is the sunny verdancy, the quick-fleeting lights and shadows, the warmth and brilliancy of the three prevailing tints--the golden sky, the blue sea, the green forest,-- whereas tinted lithography paints the whole in hard

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metallic hues the very reverse of natural. The artist who executes these views, stands deservedly high in his profession--yet the first glance at them struck me much as a painting of Niagara did, seen in New York the day of my arrival there, from a month's sojourn at the falls.

These "view difficulties" were partly foreseen: but as no late works on New Zealand had been illustrated, and as even a moderately good pictorial representation of a place imparts a more lively idea of it than even the most graphic pen portraiture, it was deemed best, by publisher and author, to call in the artist, and to ally ourselves to lithography; and I would only advise any future New Zealand Author who may take the pen which I now renounce, and who would illustrate his book, to give fewer views, but to present the few he does give, in the richest style of coloured lithography.

The critic, therefore, must please extenuate a little in passing judgment on the pictorial part of "Britain of the South;" whilst, without the slightest desire to paint New Zealand one hair's breadth better than she is even in the comparatively trivial matter of scenery, I feel bound to ask any fair emigrante reader, led by the eye, and who would do justice to all men and all countries, to try and picture the real originals of these six views, quite twice as pretty as they may appear to be, in these their tinted lithographic coats.

THE SIX PROVINCES.

This chapter is purposely confined to a sketch of the chief "local features" of the Six Provinces. Viewing New Zealand as one great whole, and not as a disjointed land of six independent parts, I have deemed it best to describe the great natural and artificial features of the country (climate, natives, natural-history, government, agriculture,

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trade, industrial-pursuits, &c, &c.) in special chapters pertinent to the colony, generally. Provincial statistics are placed together in the last chapter: a comparative glance at them will probably be the most useful; and by reserving them for the end, they have been made to embrace the latest in formation received in London up to the hour of going to press.

Under one of those happy inspirations which long distinguished the "how-not-to-do-it" policy of the Colonial Office, the three Islands of New Zealand were officially christened New Ulster, New Munster, and New Leinster. The only reasonable suggestion ever offered as to the cause of this queer nomenclature, is, that some patriotic young Irish clerk of the Colonial Office sought to create an antipodal Emerald Isle by stroke of official pen. Save that New Zealand produces a glorious potato and does not produce a "snake," New Zealand bears little more resemblance to Ireland, than to Crim Tartary or to Lilliput. Whilst as to her being the Irish emigration field which these names would imply, I regret to say that the "Lads of the Shamrock" are seldom heard in New Zealand. No land would suit them better; but Paddy still persists in being frost-bitten and liberty-bitten in the Land of stars and stripes.

This Colonial Office christening, however, is becoming a tradition of the past. By the New Zealand Constitution Act, the colony of New Zealand,

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for purposes of legislation, was divided into six Provinces-- Auckland, New Plymouth, and Wellington, in the North Island--Nelson, Canterbury, and Otago, in the South Island. And as New Zealand delights to style herself the "Britain of the South," she will, probably, as her population increases, subdivide these provinces into Kents, Norfolks, Devonshires, Derbyshires, Cumberlands, Ayrshires, Perthshires, Dublins, and Counties Clare.

It appears to me, too, that the national name which New Zealand bears is a very mean and sorry name. No man ever did less for any country he discovered, than the Dutchman Tasman did for New Zealand. He came, saw, and left it. He never even set foot on its shores. It is doubtful whether he was even the first discoverer; and Cook, by virtue of his explorations, surveys, and descriptions, had far more right to name New Zealand than Tasman, even if Tasman and not the Spaniard was the true discoverer. The name, moreover, which Tasman gave, is the name of a flat little province of Holland; no more resembling New Zealand, than a jelly-fish resembles a sperm whale.

Three fresh names have been proposed for New Zealand: Austral-Britain, South-Britain, and Britannia. I prefer the second, and would call New Zealand South Britain: Port Philip has been officially re-christened Victoria; why should not New Zealand be re-christened South Britain or Britannia?

If Her Majesty's various sons are ever to reign

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over Her Majesty's various colonies (a dynastic arrangement worthy of statesmen who study the "picturesque," surely King of South Britain would sound better at a St. James's Congress of British Sovereigns, than King of New Zealand--a title which might well incite maids of honour, to regale his Majesty with the song of the "King of the Cannibal Islands."

In sketching even the mere leading natural features of the six: New Zealand Settlements, I feel, as a New Zealand colonist, that I am on delicate ground. Owing partly to the early isolation of these little communities, and partly to the rivalrous action of their six independent little Parliaments, so much unnatural jealousy has been engendered among them, that you can hardly admit the merits of any one, without being accused of partiality by another. I once wrote a little book on New Plymouth; and at the risk of provoking the reader's smile, I shall say that this was a truthful little book; naturally written about New Plymouth, because New Plymouth happened to be the settlement I was then best acquainted with. In consequence of this "deed of publication," gentlemen who represented or misrepresented other settlements, were wont to denounce me as a blind worshipper who made every New Plymouth goose, a swan. Now the residence of many friends in New Plymouth, the pleasant memories of a thousand fresh and happy days spent there: Mount Elliott's and Glenavon's hearty hospitalities, the

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slab-hut and the happy family, Brookland's beauties, the midnight march on the phantom foe, Dorset's "Waikato-Medea," Barret's exhaust-less "croc," Webster's welcomes, Standish's merry "evenings-at-home;" Secombe's "remarkable," Thor-Broadmore's conquering axe, Turner's "table-talk," Titus and the sailor boy before the laughing Bench, Cooke, the "Devon," Apollo Bell, Halse and the "Hermitage," Norris' nectar, Okoaro's "Fine Old English Gentleman," the harvest fields, the prize pigs, and peaches; even the hard work, the rough hands, the honourable toil, together with the handsome "testimonial" presented me by a grateful settlement--must always make me take a lively interest in the young fortunes of the little community and rejoice in its prosperity. But if I were now wived, armed, and prepared to re-emigrate finally and for good, New Plymouth might not be the settlement I should choose. The aim of this book is to induce all fit and proper people who leave the mother country in search of a new home, to plant such home in New Zealand; and if they do this, it is to me, personally, a matter of equal interest, whether they take the field in Auckland, New Plymouth, Wellington, Nelson, Canterbury, or Otago.

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Auckland
Vincent Brooks, Lith.

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AUCKLAND. 1

Auckland, the northern province of New Zealand, 400 miles in length, from north-east to southwest, and nearly 200 miles in breadth, at the broadest part, has a coast line of 800 miles; and an area of seventeen millions of acres--of which about one-twelfth has been acquired by purchase from the natives.

The chief local characteristics of this noble province are these:--a warmer climate, almost capable of ripening maize and a few semi-tropical fruits; great area and coast line; the possession of Lakes Taupo, Rotorua and innumerable hot springs and chalybeate waters; numerous fine harbours and facilities of coast and inland water carriage; the exclusive possession of the Kauri forests; the presence of nearly two-thirds of the native population, and the absence of great pastoral plains.

Auckland (south lat. 36 deg. 50', east long. 174 deg. 50') the flourishing capital of the province, containing about 7,000 inhabitants, was founded by Governor Hobson and a body of pioneer colonists in 1840. One of the finest commercial sites in the world is that of Auckland. Planted in the centre of her Province, she stands Corinth-like on a narrow

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isthmus between her two noble harbours and outlets to the ocean, Waitemate and Manakau. An easy canalisation of four miles would unite these waters; when, through gay villas and suburban gardens, a line of battle-ship might glide from sea to sea. Indeed, Auckland is the centre of a net-work of marine highways--a young antipodal Venice, surrounded by natural canals. Close to her, on the east, she has the Wairoa, the Thames, and the deep and placid Tamaki; close to, on the west, the great estuary of Kaipara, pushing its arms up to the head waters of the Waitemata; whilst on the south, she has the beautiful Waikato, meandering a hundred miles through the valleys of the interior, and floating the rich harvests of Taupo and the Waipa down to her very wharfs. 2

A chain of military pensioner villages, Panmure Howick Onehunga and Otahu, surround Auckland to the south at a distance of from six to ten miles; and are connected with each other and with the agricultural suburbs of the town by excellent roads, displaying a continuous line of beautiful road-side cultivations. The town itself is gaily painted in the following lady's letter, which appeared some time since in "Household Words."

"It was an early December's morning when our ship entered the harbour, and the dawn of such a day as wel-

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comes one only in the southern seas. Rounding a little cape, our home lay before us--we saw Auckland! Excellently situated, between two seas, and possessing a magnificent harbour, one could already descry in its scarcely-defined streets, in its half-erected buildings, ever in progress, the childhood of one of those princely commercial cities whose names reach to the end of the earth. Even as we entered, the harbour was alive with ships -- American whalers, brigantines from California, merchantmen from Sydney and Hobart Town, schooners from the south, several English vessels, and innumerable coasters--studded the unruffled waters, which, twenty years ago, were almost unknown to Europeans. Several shore boats came out to meet us, gaily decorated with flags in their sterns. We had, on landing, but a damp reception. There is no wharf; nothing but a jetty, thrown out by one of the principal hotels. 3 It was low water, and we could not land at this, so we were obliged to disembark at a reef; in which adventure I nearly took "seisin" of my new country, as William the Norman did of England, by measuring my length upon it. Bands of Sappers and Miners are now driving piles for a wharf; and emigrants next year will have a drier reception. Going to one of the inns, we had breakfast of pork chops, coffee, and other delicacies, for eighteenpence each. We then sallied forth, and hired a small house, containing three rooms, at five shillings a-week; to be paid, the landlady emphatically said, 'every Saturday night.' The lodgings were furnished, and our first meal was a farce, at which, although we were the actors in it, we laughed heartily. Our tea equipage con-

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sisted of an inverted tub, with a towel over the bottom for a table, a couple of basins and a 'hook pot,' with plenty of new bread and fresh butter; the unimaginable deliciousness of which none but long sea-voyagers wot of. A rocking chair fell to my lot, and a crazy box supported my spouse; yet I doubt if ever tea were more thoroughly enjoyed than ours was that night.

"In a few days, when we became a little more settled, my husband was out from morning to night, walking the country in search of land; for although he is an attorney, and has now good hopes of a moderate practice here, we thought it advisable, as we were not rich, to put ourselves out of the reach of want by undertaking the tillage of a little land. It was some time before he could find any that exactly suited us. At last he hit upon five acres, with a small house on it, two miles from town, for which we gave forty pounds. It is partially inclosed, and consists of rich scoriae soil. The house is built of the rough unhewn sconce stone, plastered and whitewashed within; the roof is thatched with raupo, a kind of reed, of which the natives form their huts. The flooring is sound and the roof not low. The interior area of the entire mansion measures exactly twenty feet by ten; but by means of a curtain, is divided into an eating and sleeping apartment: these, in their time, play many parts; dining-room, drawing-room, boudoir, kitchen, nursery, library, and study. I--brought up an idle English lady, accustomed to pass my time as I pleased, to divide it between books and amusements, but giving much more of it to pleasure than to study--am the household goddess of this paradise; here I wash and cook, feed my goats and dress my baby, or when the little gentleman sleeps, endeavour to give you some faint idea of the toils and pleasures of an emigrant's life. But rude as our home is, we love and enjoy it more than I can describe, for it has the inexpressible charm of being--our own.

"Labour is anxiously demanded here. The meanest carpenter gets eight shillings a-day. We could not, for love or money, procure one to floor our house, so trifling

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a job being deemed quite unworthy his attention. Labourers get four shillings and sixpence a-day--some more; and one told me to-day that he was wanted in four places at once. Whoever, therefore, comes out above this class, must make up his mind to work (unless he bring capital with him) or he had better stay at home. I have been a hewer of wood and a drawer of water. But in New Zealand all this is done in hope--in the steadfast and sure hope -- of every day improving our condition; of being able to rest in our old days; and of leaving to our children (be they ever so many) an ample provision.

But, because I dwell so much upon the labours we have to perform, you must not suppose that we are without amusements. We have races and regattas, and own an Epsom, if we cannot boast a Derby. At the races I was not present; but the regatta was a sight almost worth the voyage from England. I mean on account of the Maori race, which was the ninth of the day. Three large canoes--their bows fantastically carved and decorated with feathers, and manned by powerful native crews--started to contest for the prize. At the stern, and amid-ship, (their dark tall figures naked to the waist) stood two chiefs, with frantic gestures and wild gesticulations, animating their men to victory. They almost flew over the course; and, as returning, they neared the flag-ship, it was a neck-and-neck contest between the two leading canoes. But Te Whero Whero one of the most powerful chiefs of the north, with unearthly yells, urged on his men. Fast flew his canoe beneath the powerful strokes of its crew, and darting forwards by a length, Te Whero Whero gained the honours of the day. Then the savages gave themselves up to all the excitement of victory. They shouted, they danced; and dashing, reeking, into the water, raised loud and long their cry of victory, and triumph.

"The climate is beautiful. I dress every morning with the door open (it is an outer door). Such are among the things we do with impunity. I am become robust and strong. My hair, from being weak and thin, is now so

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thick that I can scarcely hear its weight. Standing upon Mount Eden, as you look down upon the city and the sea, you can discern no smoke or impurity hanging over it, as over our English towns. The atmosphere is pure and balmy. Poverty hides not here in crowded and filthy dwellings. The children are chubby and clean; the women generally well-dressed and healthy. At a distance from the town, on the road to Mount Eden, lie the cemetries, one for every religious denomination. A large cross marks the Roman Catholic burial-ground. Each grave is railed in, and flowers and shrubs are coming up around. Slaughter-houses are not suffered to pollute our air. No meat of any description is allowed to be killed within three miles of the town. My husband walks from our suburban residence into town every day. Auckland being built upon hills has scarcely a level street. Most of the houses are detached; sometimes unappropriated allotments lie between them. There are no pavements, and grass grows in the middle of many of the half-formed streets. Nevertheless everything has a thriving look. New houses are being constantly erected; new shops daily opened; everything advances. From Freeman's Bay, passing by the Roman Catholic Chapel--a handsome stone edifice, with a large floriated cross--you descend West-Queen Street into Queen Street, the business quarter of the young metropolis. Here commences the great fuse. Here are the principal merchants' stores; and here sit the Maories, under little tents of white calico, their goods spread out in kits on the ground round them. In this street also stands the prison; the resident magistrate's court (similar to the English County Court), held every day, and in which much business is done; and the Supreme Court of Judicature. The last criminal sittings in this, were held on the first of this month. There were six cases for trial: one, that of a Maori for the murder of a fellow-native; he was only convicted of manslaughter. Leaving this, and parallel to West Queen Street, you ascend Shortland Street, in which is the principal inn, called

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the Exchange Hotel; and several shops, which would not disgrace any European town. On a line with this is the crescent, at the top of which is the church, neatly built of white stone, in the early English style of architecture. The arrangements of the inside are admirable; most of the seats are free. Two lecterns supply the place of the pompous reading-desk and pulpit of our English churches; and two clergymen of capability assist the bishop.

"Below the church is Cooper's Bay, then Mechanics' Bay, and, last of all, Official Bay; where are the residences of the Judge and the Colonial Secretary. Beyond the church is the 'west end' of the town, and the road leading to Epsom. The officers live here; and the men under Government. Here are the barracks and the gardens of old Government House; burned down some time since, and not yet restored. The present residence of his Excellency is a place of the most unpretending character, distinguished only by the soldiers on guard. It is situated at a little distance from the town, on the road to Mount Eden. 4

"Two newspapers are published, each twice a week, in Auckland, the 'New Zealander' and the 'Southern Cross;' the former the Government, the latter the Opposition paper. Sales at auction-marts take place every day in the week, Sundays excepted, at which every variety of goods are to be purchased at cheap rates; and auctioneers appear to do a thriving business here. There are daily schools for children, one for every sect. The Protestant, the Roman Catholic, and the Scotch churches, each have their own, and the Wesleyans possess a large college. At the Roman Catholic School, which is conducted by a Sister of Mercy, a number of Maori children attend very regularly.

"The country round Auckland is undulating: hill and dale, with small mountains interspersed. There are three different kinds of soil--scoriae land, fern land, and 'tea-

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tree' land. The last is poor; the other two are good: but the scoriae is by far the best; although it involves considerable labour and expense in clearing. The uncultivated country scenery bears an air of gloomy and solitary grandeur; but on a highway, which I traversed the other day, hedge-rows, as in England, extended for miles; singing-birds cheered us, and charming cottages, embowered in trees, stood on the hill brows, and dotted the edges of the plain.

"The greatest, in fact the only, drawback of the country round Auckland, is the almost total absence of trees, except such as are planted by the settlers; yet within eight miles of Auckland the vast forests begin. Firewood is, consequently, six shillings a ton in the place where I had fondly hoped to eat strawberries of my own planting under Kauri trees two hundred feet high. There is but one decent macadamised road in the whole district, the road to Epsom. This is a good, firm road, in the worst weather, for upwards of ten miles. The Eden, Tamaka, and Onehunga roads scarcely deserve the name; in the winter the mud upon them is up to the axle-trees of carts. 5 At the village of Onehunga is situated the Pensioners' Settlement; it is a flourishing and populous little place, on the opposite side of the island. An omnibus runs to and fro between it and Auckland every Sunday during the summer.

"The prices of provision here differ considerably from those of the mother country. Bread, when we first landed, was fourpence-halfpenny the two-pound loaf; but tea both black and green, can be procured, of excellent quality, for eighteenpence per pound. By taking a quarter-chest, you can get it at fifteenpence. Coffee, when there is a good supply in the market, is eightpence a pound; when scarce, it rises as high as eighteenpence. Butter, when we came, was a shilling; it is now fifteenpence. The prime cuts of

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beef and mutton are sixpence a pound: of pork, fourpence. You can buy, for sixpence, as much delicious fish as will serve an ordinary family for two days' dinner. 6 The kinds of fish most commonly brought about, are the snapper, the mullet, and a fish like our sole in look and taste, but rather smaller. Oysters are sixpence a kit. A kit is a native basket, made of the plaited flax of the country; one may contain from four hundred to five hundred oysters. Cockles, called here pipis, fetch about the same price. Potatoes are generally about three shillings the hundredweight. Peaches and melons are plentiful, and fine. Oranges and cocoa-nuts we get fresh from Tahiti. One may live well here on a small income. The lowest rate of interest for money lent is ten per cent. Twelve and fifteen per cent. are commonly asked and given; so that a person coming here with a thousand pounds might really live very comfortably on the interest of the money; for a hundred pounds here will go as far as two hundred pounds in England. 7

"To the tenant farmers of England New Zealand offers a tempting home. No taxes, no tithes, no rent! There is good land for their seeds, and a good market for their produce. The farmer's wife may sell her cheese at one shilling a pound, her butter sometimes at two shillings a pound; while cattle and stock of every description are becoming cheap. The emigrants most welcome in New Zealand are small capitalists and labourers.

"Let me put in a good word for my colony to any one who thinks of emigration. If you are not doing well in the old country, and you feel it; if you can discern no sunshine in the darkness around you; above all, if you are industrious and enduring, then emigrate. And though it may be only because I myself have emigrated thither, and

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am happy, that I would recommend for the field of your emigration New Zealand, yet I think that its own natural advantages speak for the place. Its climate is one of the healthiest in the world; far before that of Australia. There is not a single venomous reptile. The natives are superior to the aborigines of any other colony. The colony is yet in its first infancy, and therefore offers you, perhaps, the greater chance of making yourself rich with a small capital. At the same time, it bids fair eventually to equal any colony in commerce, as it already does in natural advantages. I would not willingly deceive any one. I conscientiously believe what I write, and I have written nothing which I have not either seen with my own eyes, heard with my own ears, or received from the most undoubted authority."

The following quotations from a little pamphlet by W. Swainson, Esq., late Attorney-General for New Zealand, will give the reader an idea of the appearance and social features of the young metropolis of the North.

"Considering its size, Auckland possesses the elements of a considerable society. The officers of the civil government are themselves a numerous body. Being the head-quarters of the bishopric of New Zealand and of the Church of Rome, the centre of the Church Missionary Society's operations in New Zealand, and of the Wesleyan mission for the South Seas, Auckland has an advantage over most small colonial communities in the number of its ministers of religion. It is also the head-quarters of a regiment; and has representatives from the brigade, commissariat, artillery, and engineer departments. Two battalions of military pensioners, enrolled for service in New Zealand, with their officers, are located in the neighbourhood; and a ship of war frequently lies at anchor in the port. A banking establishment connected with the Union Rank of Australia has also been established here. The

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officers and others connected with these various establishments, and their families, with a number of professional and mercantile men, together form materials for a very considerable society. In what may be termed its fashionable phase, the military element predominates.

"In Auckland there are two newspapers, both published twice a week, which afford abundant facilities for those who love to see themselves in print. For real grievances, for wounded vanity, for disappointed ambition, and for injured innocence--a vacant column is ever ready.

"In so small a community many public amusements cannot of course be expected. Once a week during the summer a regimental band plays for a couple of hours on the well-kept lawn in the government grounds. With the lovers of music and with those who are fond of 'seeing and being seen,' the band is a favourite lounge. Three or four balls in the course of the year, a concert or two, an occasional pic-nic or water party, a visit to the island of Kauwau, a trip to the Waikato, or the Lakes of Roturua, are among the amusements which aid in beguiling the lives of the Auckland fashionable world. While dissipation in. the milder form of temperance and tea-meetings, school feasts, 'stitcheries,' and lectures, suffices for the recreation of the graver portion of the Auckland world. To sportsmen the place offers few attractions: the annual race meeting is the great event of their year. Of hunting there is none: and wild ducks, pigeons, and curlew, afford but indifferent sport for the gun. Riding, boating, cricket, and bush excursions are the favourite out-door amusements. Once in the year, nearly the whole of the ball-going portion of the community are brought together at a ball given by the Queen's representative on the anniversary of Her Majesty's birthday. Invitations are issued to about two hundred: each successive governor taking for his guidance the list of the last preceding reign, and making such additions to it, as his judgment, taste, or fancy may suggest. As a general rule, strangers are well received; but a false step at starting is not easily recovered; and those who care for social position

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would do well to provide themselves with a suitable introduction.

"But perhaps no picture of the business and amusements of a people can be given, so faithful and life-like, as the one to be gathered from the pages of their local newspapers. Take as an illustration a single copy of the 'New Zealander.' The 'New Zealander' is published at Auckland twice a week. The number before me chronicles the sayings and doings of the Auckland public for the four preceding days. The shipping intelligence informs us that, during that time, ten small coasting vessels had arrived from the neighbouring ports, with their various cargoes of pork, apples, onions, pigs, peaches, maize, flax, and firewood. That there were at Monganui twenty-seven whaling ships, chiefly American. That H. M. S. 'Calliope' had arrived at that port, and sailed again for Wellington. That H. M. brigantine 'Pandora' and schooner tender 'Bramble' had also touched at Monganui.

"The 'Governor Wynyard' steamer is advertised to sail between Auckland and Otahuhu (on the Tamaki). Another advertisement informs the public that 'this new steamer is open for engagement for excursions, pic-nics, &c, on reasonable terms.' The brig 'Emma' is advertised to sail for Sydney, the schooner 'Julia' for Canterbury, the clipper schooner 'Cicely' for New Plymouth, and the Baltimore clipper schooner 'Falmouth' for San Francisco. The master of the 'Auckland Academy' intimates that his academy will be re-opened on Monday next. 'Branches taught, English reading and grammar, writing, arithmetic, geography, mathematics, Latin, Greek, &c.' The public are also informed that the grammar school, Victoria Cottage, will also re-open on Monday, January 26. Tenders for the annual army contracts are called for by the Commissariat Office; and under the head of 'Onions,' we are informed that 'the undersigned are purchasers of onions in quantities of one ton and upwards.' The announcement of £100 reward next attracts the eye. Under this title we find that £100 has been subscribed as a reward to any one

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who shall first discover an available gold field in the province of New Ulster (New Zealand). A column and a half is occupied with a list of books to be sold by auction; and an advertiser makes it known that 'twenty-five tons good potatoes are wanted by Saturday next.' A goodly portion of space is taken up with a report of the proceedings of the Auckland Municipal Council; of motions made and withdrawn, amendments proposed, reports presented, and of matters referred to select committees.

"So much for business. Now for amusement. Under the title of 'Cricket,' we find that the concluding and decisive match was played on Friday; when the Aucklanders proved victorious over the military, 'the Auckland Club winning with three wickets to go down.' 'The band of the 58th Regiment will perform in the grounds in front of the old Government House, to-morrow (Thursday) afternoon, from four to six o'clock,' is the next announcement. Then follows the 'Programme,' containing a selection from the music of Donizetti, Strauss, Jullien, Balfe, &c. The sporting world are informed that 'Mr. J. Codlin's bay gelding Jack is open to run any horse, mare, or gelding in the country, &c, for £100 a side;' and the 'Auckland Regatta' is announced to take place on Thursday the 29th. Eleven prizes are offered to be contested for by boats of every description of shapes, names, and size. 'For small canoes, not to be manned by more than twelve natives,' and for 'canoes manned by an unlimited number of natives.'

"The literary world, too, makes sign of life. 'Now published, price one shilling, Two Lectures on the Aborigines of New Zealand, &c.,' and 'Just published, price one shilling, Why and Because, an essay on the strange infatuation that stimulates individuals to the practice of Intemperance.'

"Nor are the wants of the epicure overlooked; various advertisements inform him where Burgundy, claret, champagne, white hermitage, hock, and Moselle, Yarmouth bloaters, kippered salmon, pickled oysters, hare soup, &c, can be procured at a moment's notice. Of some forty

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other advertisements, one may be cited for the purpose of piquing the reader's curiosity, 'On sale, Three bales of Gunny Bags!'

"The editorial column is occupied with the great event of the preceding day, 'The launching, and now the actual plying,' says the editor, 'upon our waters, of a steam-vessel, in all its parts constructed by the skill and industry of Auckland artificers, as well as owned by Auckland proprietors (Messrs. Stone, Gardiner, and Langford, of Auckland), may without exaggeration be regarded as an event in the history of our settlement and colony.' We are then told that the ceremony of naming was performed in the usual manner by the mayor; that, after receiving the name of the 'Governor Wynyard,' she proceeded on her trip, gallantly buffetting winds and waves, and that all things considered, this, her first excursion, passed off in as satisfactory a manner as could have been anticipated."

At present, four-fifths of the colonist population of the province are centered in the Town and in the Suburban districts surrounding Auckland. Russel (Bay of Islands), 150 miles to the north, is the only place besides the capital which affects the dignity of a Town; but there are various little coast settlements scattered along the shores, such as Coromandel, Otea, Wangari, Wangaroa, Monganui (the favourite recruiting resort of the American whalers), Hokianga, Kaipara, Whaingaroa, Kawhia, and Tauranga, counting from 50 to 100 pioneer settlers, which will grow into considerable importance as the extraordinary natural resources of the province become developed under the magic touch of capital and labour.

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Cottage of a small Farmer, New Plymouth
Vincent Brooks, Lith.

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NEW PLYMOUTH.

New Plymouth, the western province of the north island, about 100 miles in length by 50 in breadth, has a coast line of 150 miles, and an area of three millions of acres--not more than the fiftieth part of which has yet been acquired from the natives.

The chief local characteristics of the province are these:--small area, 8 and small portion of purchase-acquired area, moderate native population, utter absence of harbours, and absence of lakes or large rivers; but profusion of small streams and water power, possession of Mount Egmont, the "Apollo of Mountains," and large proportion of the finest available land.

Taranaki, or New Plymouth (south lat. 39 deg. 3', east long. 174 deg. 5', 130 sea miles from Auckland),

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the village capital of the province containing about 2000 people, was founded by the Plymouth Company of New Zealand: an association of Cornish and Devonshire gentlemen (Courtenays, Molesworths, Bullers, Trelawneys, &c.,) which afterwards merged into the great London Company. The settlement was planted by Frederick Carrington, Esq., and a body of pioneer colonists in 1841.

There are no "outlying" little settlements in this Province. The inhabitants are concentrated in the village-capital, and in a belt of farms and clearings, lying around within a radius of ten miles. Of the three million acres which the Province contains, about one-third (the back or inland portion) consists of forest tracts of excellent timber; and the remainder (the open, undulating, country along the coast) consists mainly of agricultural and pastoral tracts of the finest character; watered by a hundred Tamars, Doves, Dees, and Deverons.

New Plymouth has long called herself the "Garden of New Zealand;" and in soil, scenery, and climate, combined, she well merits the title. Her rivals, however, jocosely assert, that she is a "Garden guarded by a flaming--"surf." In truth her roadstead, however good, is not a harbour; and getting to the Garden, is now and then a wet, and occasionally an exciting, operation.

The want of a port is the only, but the great, natural deficiency of this Province; and with all deference to the lady who asserts that Mount Eg-

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mont is worth £100 a year to every soul in the settlement, I cannot but think that if the brilliant beauty could be exchanged for the muddiest little haven of that "waste of harbours" which indent Nelson's coast, it would be an engineering arrangement particularly grateful to the commanders of Messrs. Willis' ships, and one which would put tens of thousands in New Plymouth's pocket. 9

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The appearance of New Plymouth, in fine weather, from sea, is generally considered beautiful.

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The taste for sylvan scenery, and quiet rustic beauty, is gratified by the combination of stream

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and forest, glade and valley, pastures and trim fields dotted with cattle, or yellow with corn;

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whilst for the Salvator Rosa eye, there is the giant snow-capped mountain towering up from a sea of lustrous foliage 8000 feet in the golden sky.

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The settlement, snugly planted on the margin of the beach, embosomed amid gentle hills, and watered by the Huatoki, Mangotuku, and tributary Burns, displays its granite church and chapels, its little mills and breweries, snug hostelries, Customs, Post-office, stores and primitive shops; but affecting no "town airs," stands out before the world a robust, hearty-looking village--famed throughout the land for troops of rosy children, pretty women, fat meat, and rivers of Devonshire cream.

New Plymouth being the only settlement which has produced a "national song," it is due to the

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poetic genius of her people to give it a place in these pages. The rural Maro, too, from whose lyre it fell, is my brother; and should the reader ever assist at any public convivialities in New Plymouth, he may hear it sung, con spirito, over the parting magnum. It was written during the "panic" days of Governor Fitzroy's rule, described in the Historical Sketch; and slightly altered (by poetical licence) it is this:--

AIR--Malbrook.

CHORUS.

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CHORUS.

WELLINGTON.

Wellington, the southern province of the North Island, 200 miles in length from north to south, by 100 in breadth, near the parallel of 40 deg., has a coast line of 500 miles, and an area of some twelve millions of acres--about one-third, of which has been acquired from the natives.

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Distant view of Port Nicholson. -- Wellington
Vincent Brooks. Lith.

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The chief local characteristics of the Province are these:--Greater liability to volcanic action, moderate native population, centrality of position on the marine highway of Cook's Strait, possession of one splendid harbour, but only one; possession of two semi-navigable rivers, Wanganui and Manawatu; and a considerable quantity both of agricultural and pastoral land.

Wellington (south lat. 41 deg. 16', east long. 174 deg. 47'; 180 sea miles from New Plymouth), the capital of the Province, containing about 6000 inhabitants, and the first settlement founded by the New Zealand Company, was planted by Colonel Wakefield, and a body of pioneer colonists, in 1840. Built on the shores of a fine bay-harbour, at the entrance of Cook's Strait, mid-way between the northern and southern extremities of the two islands, Wellington unquestionably occupies the most central intercolonial site in New Zealand.

In commercial activity, town-like character, social and industrial features, Wellington bears considerable resemblance to Auckland; and (comparing rude beginnings, to grand completions) holds about the same relative position to the northern metropolis, as Liverpool may hold to London.

In bay-site and scenery, Wellington is said to bear some resemblance to Naples; and from a sketch of Bomba's capital which I have purposely consulted, there is, I think, that degree of resemblance between them which may exist between the rough-hewn figure and the polished statue.

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The two most disagreeable peculiarities of the place, are the boisterous climate, and the occurrence of a sort of quinquennial "volcanic fit." No climate can be healthier for the strong and robust. Indeed, that admirable bishop, Dr. Selwyn, says, with much graphic truth, that "no one can speak of the healthfulness of New Zealand, till he has been ventilated by the breezes of Wellington, where malaria is no more to be feared than on the top of 'Chimborazo'--where active habits of industry and enterprise are evidently favoured by the elastic tone and perpetual motion of the atmosphere--and where no fog can ever linger long to deaden the intellectual faculties of the inhabitants." But, standing on the edge of the funnel of Cook's Strait, and surrounded by steep hills, pierced by a hundred deep ravines and draught holes, Wellington for six months enjoys an almost continual gale of wind, bursting out into occasional "typhoons" --fierce enough to topple boats along the beach, or even to hurl home the strongest-minded woman bent on shop and bonnet.

Nine-tenths of all the damage ever done in New Zealand by earthquakes, has been done in the town and immediate neighbourhood of Wellington; and though Wellington earthquakes may be trifles compared with those of other countries, they have, I think, been quite sufficient to warn the citizens against high buildings of brick or stone.

With the exception of the Hutt, a market-garden valley eight miles distant up the bay, there is no

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Residences of the Revd. C. L. Reay, and the Revd. H. F. Butt,
near Nelson
Vincent Brooks. Lith.

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cultivable land near the town. Picturesque wooded steeps rise, almost perpendicular from the water's edge; and the country, for a radius of twenty miles around, consists of densely-timbered mountain ranges, cut up by innumerable ravines.

By means however of a good military road, winding through this rugged suburban belt, Wellington has been brought into communication with some fine districts lying along the northern shores of Cook's Straits; and here, for a hundred miles in an almost continuous chain of cultivation, she has planted the little settlements of Porirua, Kapiti, Otaki, Rangitiki, Manawatu, and the larger one of Wanganui.

On her north-eastern side she has ready access to the fine pastoral plains of Wairarapa; and has now commenced, in Hawkes' Bay, her latest settlement Ahuriri--a place possessing a fair coasting harbour, a central position, much good land, fine climate, and communication with Wairarapa and Manawatu; and which promises to become a considerable producer of wheat and wool, and one of the most thriving localities of the entire Province.

NELSON.

Nelson, the northern province of the South Island, 150 miles in length by 140 in breadth, has a coast line of 500 miles; and an area of

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some fifteen millions of acres--all of which, virtually, has been acquired from the natives.

The chief local characteristics of the Province are these:--Smaller proportion of cultivable land, very small native population, mineral wealth of coal and copper, profusion of deep-sea harbours, and comparative serenity and dryness of climate.

Nelson (south lat. 41 deg. 15', east long 173 deg. 16'; 130 sea miles from Wellington), the capital of the Province, and the second settlement founded by the New Zealand Company, contains about 4,000 inhabitants, and was planted by Captain Arthur Wakefield and a body of pioneer colonists in 1842.

Standing on the margin of a snug but somewhat confined harbour, at the bottom of Blind Bay, 50 miles away from the funnel of Cook's Straits; and nestling from cold south blasts under a wall-like circle of precipitous hills, Nelson enjoys a climate of brilliant serenity well fitting her to become New Zealand's bay-side Brighton.

Nelson, like Wellington, surrounded by a belt of hills and broken country (one of the hills is the copper-mine Dun Mountain, from which so much is expected) possesses but little available land in immediate connection with the town. The chief agricultural districts in the neighbourhood are the fine valley of the Waimea, a tract under high and prolific cultivation; and the Motueka, a pleasant district lying across the bay, which has lately presented indications of gold.

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Massacre Bay (the scene of Tasman's affray with the natives), a small outlying settlement at the entrance of Blind Bay, is the principal discovered coal field in the country; and despite its unpleasant name, will probably become the Newcastle of New Zealand as her infant steam service grows up and expands to full dimensions. 11

The northern end of the Nelson province, washed by Cook's Strait, is a rugged, densely-wooded country; indented with a perfect labyrinth of coves, bays, creeks, havens, and harbours, of every size, sort, and capacity. Queen Charlotte's Sound in the centre of the group, 25 miles long, with one entrance three, and the other six miles broad, is a gigantic ocean-dock, capable of berthing the whole British navy and all Russian prizes to boot; and Pelorus Sound, a little to the north, is a similar group of harbours, embracing 250 miles of shore and beach. But the wooded hills rise so abruptly from the margins of these 101 harbours, that the whole of them, put together, scarce offer 1000 ploughable acres; and until New Zealand is equipping an armament for the conquest of China, or the expulsion of the "Bear" from Japan's honeypots, this waste of (harbour) waters will be ornamental rather than useful to Nelson.

The principal pastoral district in the province, and one of the finest in either island, is the Wairau Plains: a tract about 70 miles in length opening

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out into Cook's Straits at Cloudy Bay; but distant from Nelson, overland, by the circuitous route which the rugged intervening country renders necessary, nearly 100 miles.

Wairau, and a line of coast and inland plains and downs, running back to the boundaries of the Canterbury province, but broken up by the Kaikoras and other ranges, constitute what may be termed the eastern, or "Cornucopias" half of the Nelson Province. 12

The greater portion of the western half appears to be a densely-timbered Alpine wilderness--a "Black-forest" region, unfit for man or domestic beast. Indeed, though running less into the heart of the country in its course through the provinces of Canterbury and Otago, this rugged region (including in its Alpine ranges the highest peak in New Zealand, Mount Cook, 13,200 feet high) extends along the entire western coast of the South Island, 500 miles from Cape Farewell to Dusky Bay. It is a savage, gloomy, country: silent, deso-

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late, and dreary. Here and there, in some secluded nook, two or three miserable natives (lone remnants of early fugitives from the massacres of the eastern side), true "children of the mist" and "wild men of the woods," have raised their little huts to snare the Kiwi and the Weka unmolested and unseen. 13 But this vast tract is unpeopled; millions of acres have never been trodden by human foot since their first upheavement from the sea. It is a country fresh from nature's rudest mint, untouched by hand of man--a region where, if anywhere, Audubon would meet the Moa on the mountain top; and Owen stumble over the Ichthyosaurus basking on the banks of the lagoon.

Some idea of the wild and savage scenery of this "Black Forest" region may be gathered from the following extracts from the "Journal of Captain Richards, H.M.S. 'Acheron,'" who surveyed the coast in 1851:--

"A view of the surrounding country, from the summit of one of the mountains bordering the coast of from 4000 to 5000 feet elevation, is perhaps one of the most grand and magnificent spectacles it is possible to imagine; and standing on such an elevation rising over the south side of Caswell's Sound, Cook's description of this region was

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forcibly recalled to mind. We could only compare the scene around us as far as the eye could reach, north to Milford Haven, south to Dusky Bay, and eastward inland for a distance of sixty miles, to a vast sea of mountains of every possible variety of shape and ruggedness; the clouds floated far beneath us, and the harbour appeared no more than an insignificant stream.

"A remarkable scene occurred during our stay in Dusky Bay. Our anchorage was at the head of the northern arm of Dagg's Sound, a cable's length from the shore, in twelve fathoms: the change of the moon brought a N.W. gale, with heavy rain, and in the course of a few hours no less than fourteen magnificent cascades were pouring down the steep sides of the mountains (upwards of 3000 feet high) by which we were surrounded, bringing with them trees of considerable size, and all other obstructions met with in their passage. The effect was as if a heavy surf were breaking round the vessel; the mist, floating as low as our mast heads, occasionally obscured everything but the summit of the mountains and the foam below, and produced altogether a scene as grand as it is possible to conceive, which lasted, without abating in any degree, for two days, when the water alongside, which had been as salt as the ocean, was for a considerable depth below the surface perfectly fresh."--Remark book of Commander G. H. Richards--H.M.S. Acheron.

CANTERBURY.

Canterbury, the noble centre province of the South Island, 200 miles in length, from north-east to south-west, by 100 miles in breadth, has a coast line of some 400 miles: and an area of fifteen

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Port Lyttleton, Canterbury.
Vincent Brooks Lith.

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millions of acres--all of which, virtually, has been acquired from the natives.

The chief local characteristics of the Province are these:--Small, all but non-existent, native population; cooler climate; possession of that curious harbour-stored projection Banks' Peninsula; and possession of immense pastoral plains.

Canterbury was founded by a brilliant association of peers, bishops, and commoners, patriotically interested in improving the character of British colonisation; and Lyttelton, its port-town (south lat. 43 deg. 36', east long. 172 deg. 44:'; 180 sea miles from Wellington), together with Christchurch, its young city of the plains, may be said to have been officially planted by John Robert Godley and a body of pioneer colonists in 1850. 14

Port Victoria (old Port Cooper), the harbour of Lyttelton, though inferior in some respects to the Cook's Strait, and northern harbours, is a fine land-locked, ocean-inlet; and its duplicate, planted at Deal, would be a cheap bargain to British commerce at the price of ten millions sterling.

Lyttelton, counting some 2000 inhabitants, is a neat, infant, town, laid out with mathematical precision; and presenting an air of substantial finish seldom seen in the young settlements of a new Land.

To the sea-approaching emigrant, however, who has pictured the pastoral prairies and boundless

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downs of Canterbury, but forgotten to image the mountain curtain by which they are concealed, the first glimpse of Lyttelton might well prove calculated to excite feelings of astonishment rather than of delight. If at breakfast time, the curious reader will take the shallowest cup and chip out a half-inch cleft, from brim to centre of bottom, he will have a rough model of the site of Lyttelton. The cleft is the ocean-harbour inlet; the remaining bottom of the cup (raised above high-water mark by the coffee grounds) is the level land on which the town stands; and the shallow sides are the surrounding hills--climbing which, by zigzag path, and peeping over the brim, the modelist will have before him, that great land of the "golden fleece," which Jason failed to find:--a noble plain of four millions of acres, watered by twenty rivers, rolling back in gentle rise 40 miles to the foot of the central highlands, and spreading north and south further than the eye can reach.

A deep fringe of fine cattle-grazing, and loamy agricultural land, 15 extends along the entire seaboard of the Plain. But the great inland portion of it, is a true pastoral country; composed for the most part of tracts of light loam on a porous sub-

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soil, intermixed with pebbly tracts: all covered with perpetual herbage of grasses and dwarf shrubs; and admirably suited for the breeding and depasturing of sheep, horses, or cattle.

The two marked features of this great Plain, are the absence of wood, and the profusion of water. The 4,000,000 acres scarce boast a tree. But jealousy has talked a considerable amount of nonsense as to the "treeless plains of Canterbury." Perhaps Wellington has heard of such a thing as "too much wood." There is timber enough on or near Banks' Peninsula, and at the foot of the highlands, to supply the Plains with fences, fuel, and building stuff, for five centuries to come. I grant that in certain, bleakest, spots during a "southerly burster," the position of the newly-imported merino is occasionally embarrassing: if he does not get up to feed he starves; and if he does, the blast may shear him clean. But quick-hedges, Osage-orange hedges, hedges of furze, mixed fancy-hedges of broom, bramble, geranium, and dog-rose (stronger even than "southerly bursters"); thick break-winds of Phormium tenax; together with belts, clumps and hedge-rows of blue gum, karaka, ngio, acacia, ash, elm, and other Australian New Zealand and English trees, are easily reared in Canterbury; and colonists like hers, in five years more, may make their naked plains woody and sheltered enough for fox and pheasant; and as pleasing to the eye, as they are profitable to the pocket. 16

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Profusion of rivers, not absence of forests, seems to me to be the true and the sole natural defect of the Canterbury province. In her 200 miles of eastern coast some 50 streams discharge themselves into the sea. The character of these vicious torrents, the contempt of utility they display is posi-

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tively exasperating. The river gods who rule their floods must take a heathen pleasure in thwarting Christian colonisation. On the coast, scarce one of them forms a cove fit for a bumboat; inland, each at seasons, would hurl an elephant off his legs and roll the carcase to the sea. And when Canterbury becomes peopled, when free path is more necessary, her provincial chest will unquestionably have to disburse most freely for ford and ferry service, and for repair and renewal of bridge and boat. 17

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Christchurch, the rural capital of the plains, about ten miles from Lyttelton, over the harbour hills, containing some 2000 people, is a considerable village pleasantly situated on the river Avon. The country around is dotted with corn-fields, pastures, orchards, and dairy farms; and the luxuriance of crop, the sleek full-fed look of all domestic animals which these cultivations exhibit, prove that the ragged-looking tracts of similar soil which surround them, need but the magic touch of plough and spade to be clothed with a like mantle of blooming fertility. The physical "difficulty," if I may so express it, of the Canterbury province has been the connecting of the port with the plains; and the character of this difficulty, and the manner in which it will be overcome, cannot be more clearly

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stated than in Mr. Hodgkinson's business-like pamphlet:--

THE PORT AND ITS CONNECTION WITH THE PLAINS.

"The harbour of Lyttelton, in Banks' Peninsula, is distant about two miles from the plain, from which it is separated by a ridge of hills about 1100 feet high; over which there is at present only a bridle-path. Heavy goods are conveyed by water up the river Heathcote to within two miles of Christchurch. This river opens into the sea about four miles north of the entrance to Port Lyttelton; but has a dangerous bar at the mouth, upon which several small vessels have been wrecked. This difficulty of communication between the port and the plains has hitherto been a great drawback to the prosperity of the province, and a cause of much expense to newly-arrived emigrants; but it is likely to be soon remedied by a road over the hills, which is now in progress. A sum of £12,000 has been voted by the Provincial Council for the formation of this road. Instead of following the direct line to the plains by the present bridle-path (the highest part of which is 1100 feet above the level of the sea) the road is to take a somewhat circuitous course, by way of Sumner, where the ridge is not so high. A short tunnel is to be made through the hill, about 150 feet from its top, by means of which the highest part of the road will not be more than about 600 feet above the level of the harbour; the ascent from which will be sufficiently gradual to admit of heavily-laden drays and carriages being taken over."

The small settlements of the Canterbury province consist of Kaipoi, 18 a pleasant inland village, a few

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miles from Christchurch, on the banks of the Cam; and of Akaroa, Port Levy, and Pigeon Bay, in Banks' Peninsula. Akaroa is one of the finest harbours in New Zealand; and these little peninsulated settlements, all possessing excellent ports, and lying within three or four hours' run of the provincial metropolis, will probably become the seat of a large industrial population: supplying fish, fruits, vegetables, and firewood for the shipping and town of Lyttelton; and fence-stuff and building-timber for the Shepherd Princes of the Plains.

The noble Association which founded Canterbury, commenced their enterprise under a scheme of colonisation which failed to become popular among the emigrant masses of the mother country; and after they had successfully planted the two infant settlements of Lyttelton and Christchurch, they closed their labours and ceased their corporate existence as a colonising body. Some pecuniary differences arose between the Association and its Pioneer-colonists; but the following farewell message from the noble members of the Association to the Pilgrims at Canterbury, shows that all these differences have been gracefully healed; and that the colonising parent in the mother country and

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the vigorous progeny she has planted at the antipodes, now officially part with mutual good wishes to remain the best of friends.

"LYTTELTON TIMES."

"The following interesting letter has been addressed by the members of the Canterbury Association in England to his Honour the Superintendent of the province, on the final severance of the connection between the association and the promising colony which it has succeeded in establishing, although the original scheme, from a series of misfortunes, altogether unexpected and unavoidable, has fallen through. Its publication has been received with the best feeling amongst the settlers, who will continue to regard with respect and affection the noble and disinterested labours of the association on their behalf:--

"TO HIS HONOUR THE SUPERINTENDENT OF CANTERBURY.

"SIR,--Copies of the ordinance for the settlement of the affairs of the Canterbury Association, as passed by the Legislature of the province, have lately reached England, accompanied by reports of some of the debates during its progress, and by some account of the feeling in the colony on the subject.

"Though these accounts are not yet very full, we cannot but take the first opportunity of expressing to the Legislature and the people of Canterbury, the feeling of gratitude and pleasure with which this intelligence has filled us.

"When we undertook, now several years ago, the enterprise of founding the colony of Canterbury, none of us could doubt the probability that a work of such magnitude and uncertainty might be attended, at some stage of its progress, with difficulty, mortification, obloquy, or loss; possibly with all of these.

"That in some degree such has been its course is well

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known; whether it has been so to a greater or less extent than might have been anticipated, we need not consider. But what has been altogether unexpected, is this--not merely that we should be assured by the general voice of the colony that whatever labour and anxiety have been undergone have not been fruitless, but have met with their abundant reward in the existence of a happy and well-conditioned community--but that our exertions, such as they were, should be acknowledged in so generous a manner, and that that community should be both able and willing to exonerate us from pecuniary obligations which we incurred in their service.

"What you have done, and the way in which you have done it, furnish the best reply to the charges which have been made, both as to the conduct and the results of our enterprise. Upon both these points your verdict is decisive.

"We are sensible that the course pursued by you entails upon you burdens which, in proportion to your numbers and resources, are very heavy; so heavy, indeed, that they could not be borne, unless the colony had made, and was making, the most rapid advance in material prosperity.

"But it gives us far more satisfaction to observe that this material prosperity has been accompanied by the fullest retention and development of those principles of social order and moral well-being which, from the very outset, it has been our most cherished hope to see realised among you. We see proofs of this in every account that reaches us from Canterbury.

"The existence of the association, long scarcely more than a nominal one, has now terminated by an euthanasia such as we could not venture to hope for. But there is not one of us, who will not retain for the whole of his life the most lively interest in the fortunes of the colony of Canterbury, and the most affectionate regard for its inhabitants.

"We venture to suggest that, if it is usual and proper to do so, you will communicate this address to your Legis-

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lative Council, and take such steps as you may think fit to make its contents generally known in the colony.

"January, 1856.

"(Signed)--
"Lyttelton. Edward Hulse.
Newcastle. F. Alleyne M'Geachy.
Buccleuch. Charles Wynne.
Manchester. T. S. Cocks, jun.
S. Oxon. George K. Rickards.
S. Norwich. Walter Farquhar.
C. T. Ripon. Henry Selfe Selfe.
John Manners. J. T. Coleridge.
Sidney Herbert. J. D. Coleridge.
W. C. James. Wm. Forsyth.
C. B. Adderley. Wm. S. W. Vaux.
J. Cecil Wynter. Nugent Wade.
C. M. Torlesse. Cornwall Simeon.
John R. Godley.

"The 'Canterbury Standard' has the following acknowledgement of the above communication:--

"We beg to direct the attention of our readers to a letter addressed to the Superintendent of thi3 province by Lord Lyttelton and other leading members of the Canterbury Association, which has been furnished us by the Provincial Secretary for publication. We need not say one word on the excellent spirit which the document evinces. It speaks for itself, and is a most graceful termination of the connection which existed between the noblemen and gentlemen whose names are attached to it and the inhabitants of Canterbury."

The mere tittle-tattle of one Australian or New Zealand settlement about another, is not matter for the pages of a book affecting the title of "The Britain the South;" but Australia and indeed New Zealand are (or were) so fond of fooling themselves with a

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little bit of nonsense about Canterbury, that I will e'en devote a line to the task of brushing it away. Sydney, Melbourne, Van Diemen's Land, nay even Auckland and Wellington have affected to think that Canterbury, too fine a gentleman to work, would fain clip his sheep in kid gloves. Now, doubtless, there is an unusually large proportion of gentlemen in the Canterbury community, many of whom, I dare say, do actually wear gloves; and there may be certain fair ladies there, who, when they emigrated, dreamt they were going

But so far is it from being true that Canterbury is "too fine" to work, that I fancy her annual exports of wool and wheat, and of all which brings grist to the mill and money to the chest, will prove that she works even harder than her ruder rivals.

Indeed, if we have any lurking notion that an accomplished mind and intellectual refinements are mere cumbersome finery in the "Bush," the sooner we disabuse ourselves of such notion the better. In fact those temporary privations, those occasional stoppages of "creature-comforts," that "roughing," which generally attends the Emigrant's first cam-

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A "Bush" Section on Green Island, Otago. (Fox Lodge)
Vincent Brooks Lith.

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paign or two, are not so well borne by the unlettered peasant, or my lady's maid, as by the scholar, the gentleman, or by the lady herself. As to mere "creature-comforts," I recollect, that in early days, in New Plymouth, there was a frequent scarcity of fresh butter: this privation shook many a labourer's family to the centre, and when it happened to be followed up by a cruel cutting-off of "Devonshire cream," the Cornish miners all but flew to arms. Now in these "dairy-dearths," the more intellectual portion of the little community, could conceal the poverty of the butterless board with the noble "Masque of Comus;" or go with Addison to the country and milk "Sir Roger's" cows.

Mind triumphs over matter, even in New Zealand; and gentle blood is good even in the "Bush."

OTAGO.

Otago, the southern province of the South Island, 150 miles in length by 200 in breadth, has a coast line of some 500 miles; and an area of about eighteen millions of acres--all of which, virtually, has been acquired from the natives.

The chief local characteristics of this fine Province are these:--Great area and coast line; small, all but non-existent native population; possession of Foveaux' Strait; proximity to the track of the Australian "Homeward-bounders;" and possession

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of large districts both of pastoral and agricultural land.

Dunedin 20 (south lat. 45 deg. 46', east long. 170 deg. 44'),

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230 sea miles from Port Lyttelton, is the village capital of the Province, containing about 2000 inhabitants. It was founded by an association of members of the Free Kirk of Scotland; and the settlement was planted by Captain Cargill and a body of Scotch colonists in 1848.

Dunedin stands at the head of a fine loch, thirteen miles in length, which may be said to form two harbours: the deep or seaward half running up to Port Chalmers, beyond which large ships do not come; and the shallow, inland, half, extending to Dunedin; and accessible only for small craft and light steamers. 21

In combined merits of moderately good harbour, fine town site, contiguity of good land, open back ground, and beauty of (harbour and town-site) scenery, Auckland is, I think, the only provincial capital which can compete with Dunedin.

The agricultural operations of the handful of colonists are at present confined chiefly to the beautiful valleys of the Taieri and Tokomoriro, a few miles south of the town; and to the banks of the Clutha, a fine semi-navigable river, some fifty miles distant. But perhaps three-fourths of the Otago province consist of interspersed pastoral and wooded agricultural districts of great fertility; and there is probably no Province in New Zealand,

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capable of producing a greater annual export of wool and meat and corn.

A young settlement, Invercargill (well named after the respected Superintendent of the Province, the veteran Captain Cargill), has lately been formed some 140 sea miles from Dunedin, at the bluff, in Foveaux Strait; and in combination of natural advantages, it is questionable whether there be any finer site for a large settlement in the whole of New Zealand. The position of the place is almost central, between two harbours the Bluff and New River---a fine stream, navigable for twenty miles. These harbours are practically nearer to the Australian ports, and a week's sail nearer England, than any settlement-harbours in New Zealand. There is no large native population in the country to impede colonisation, but there is a scattered population of old squatters civilized natives and intelligent half-castes, which may materially strengthen the first efforts of colonisation; whilst as to land, there is probably no part of New Zealand where so great an extent of agricultural country could be found lying in open communication with a seaport and shipping harbour. 22

Some idea of the character of the little communities scattered about the neighbourhood of

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Invercargill, and of the description of the country which it commands, may be gleaned from the following short extracts from "Notes of a Journey from Otago to New River:" presented to me by my friend Mr. Nayler, an old "compagnon de voyage," whose graphic recital of his explorations in both islands of New Zealand, I should place, "in ex tenso," before the Reader, did not publishers' restrictions compel me to compress my matter and economise my space.

"24th. This morning we started for Jacob's River, and after a walk of twenty-two miles over a splendid beach, we came to the native settlement. Men, women, and children, poured out to meet us; some ran forward to apprize the whalers of our arrival--five strangers at once was an event unheard of. Jacob's River has long been celebrated as a whaling station; but now little is done in that line. The singular social position of this place is one of those which travellers meet with but once in their lives. There had been some sickness amongst them; and a surgeon was their greatest desire. Some junior Sawbones might do worse than cast his lot in this little Ultima Thule. Next to a doctor, a clergyman was spoken of as the most desirable importation: not exactly for the benefit of his ministry; they would be content to bury their own dead, but they did wish to be married by the Church. The surplus of female children born over males was most remarkable; about one boy to ten girls. 23 The river, with its well-wooded banks, is very picturesque; and the clearings, dotted around, formed a pleasing landscape.

"The whalers were evidently anxious that a regular government settlement should be formed hereabout (Inver-

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cargill has since been formed); for they were quite aware, as a well-conducted community, of the many advantages which a regular Settlement would confer upon them.

"New River.--Hauled the boat up high and dry, and having "backed" our blankets and provisions, we turned our faces inland. The appearance of the country delighted me. Here were thousands of acres of beautiful undulating land, with natural grasses, studded with large masses of bush, containing excellent timber--reminding one of a gentleman's park on a scale 'magnifique.' Small streams of excellent water are interspersed throughout the country. To the westward, appeared a range of wooded hills, and beyond them the snowy Southern Alps. We left 'John Bull' at a clump of bush, to erect a hut, whilst Prince and myself walked on to view the land. A stock farmer could not desire a better country, a sheep farmer would perhaps like something higher, but the general agriculturist would be admirably suited. I had no implement to turn up the soil, but from the appearance of the vegetation, I judged it excellent; and in New Zealand it is rare to find a bad soil. I was grieved to turn my back on this splendid district; but night was closing on us, and we returned to see what cheer our trusty guide and forester bluff 'John Bull,' had provided for the bivouac."

About 100 miles eastward of Invercargill we find Dusky Bay, that remarkable group of harbours forming the extreme, south eastern, Ocean-Docks of New Zealand; and which are well described in the following extract from the Admiralty Blue Book:--

"The only places of shelter for shipping along the whole extent of the west coast of the Middle Island, a distance of 500 miles, are those singular, and truly remarkable Sounds or inlets, which penetrate its southwestern shores between the parallels of 44 deg. and 46 deg. south latitude.

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"The precipitous and iron-bound coast line which forms the sea-wall, as it were, in which these extraordinary inlets may be almost likened to so many breaches, runs in a N.N.E, and S.S.W, direction; and the whole, thirteen in number, are included within a space of little more than one hundred miles.

"With the exception of Cook's excellent description of Dusky Bay (explored during bis second voyage in 1773), nothing has been recorded of this remarkable region; nor until an examination by H.M.S. 'Acheron' in 1851, was it known to any but a few adventurous whalers, whom stress of weather alone had compelled to seek shelter on its desolate and silent shores. The character and features of these sounds so much resemble each other, that it seems desirable to offer a description of them generally, before entering into any detailed account of their capabilities individually.

"In approaching from seaward, there is so much sameness in the appearance of the land, that unless a vessel knows her position accurately, it is not easy at a distance to distinguish the entrance of one sound from another; and the smaller inlets, at a distance of four or five miles, have more the appearance of ravines between the high and rugged mountains, than the entrances of harbours. In moderately clear weather, the coast can be made with confidence; and as the entrances are generally equidistant from each other (about eight miles), and all running in an easterly direction, there would be little danger to be apprehended from a lee shore. It must be remarked, however, that a fresh or even strong westerly wind in the offing frequently dies away within a mile of the coast, leaving a vessel at the mercy of a calm and a swell, when recourse must be had to towing, which probably, in any vessel but a whale ship, would be impracticable; moreover, in consequence of the enormous quantity of fresh water, which falls in cascades from the steep mountain ridges, there is always an outset, particularly from the smaller sounds, and frequently a draft of wind down their narrow arms, so

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that unless with a fresh fair gale, which blows right home and up the sounds, sailing vessels will generally find it a difficult and tedious operation to fetch inside their entrances.

"The larger of the sounds are in some measure exempt from these inconveniences; they are generally divided into several arms, penetrating the coast, in some instances for a distance of twenty miles, with a breadth rarely exceeding a mile, and studded with numerous islets. The smaller sounds generally run in for a distance of from six to eight miles, with a width of about half a mile, and anchorage is seldom to be found except at their inner extremes.

"The shores, which rise almost perpendicularly from the water's edge, are, in the immediate neighbourhood of the sounds, covered with trees suitable for all purposes; among them the red pine, which, although heavier and inferior to the kauri, is well adapted for masts, and a vessel requiring spars could procure them of any size, up to a sloop of war's lower mast, with little difficulty; for this purpose the southern inlets are preferable.

"The most remarkable feature common to the whole, is their great depth of water. Soundings can rarely be obtained under eighty or one hundred fathoms, and frequently at much greater depths; and the shores, within a few yards, are quite steep-to. Vessels may frequently with advantage warp up by laying out lines to the shore; and when a cove is reached where an anchor may be dropped, it will generally be necessary to secure to the trees also, to prevent being drifted off from the steep bank by a flaw of wind. These flaws, or squalls, frequently blow with great violence off the high land, or down the gullies, during heavy gales outside.

"Excellent fish of several kinds are abundant, and may be caught with hook and line close to the rocks at the entrances, or wherever there is a shoal patch; crayfish abound in the southern ports, aho several species of ducks, pigeon, and the weka or wood-hen. Those rare birds, the ka-ka-po

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and kiwi, so eagerly sought after by naturalists, and peculiar only to New Zealand, were found here in considerable numbers. No inhabitants have been met with since the few stragglers seen by Cook."

Stewart's Island, just opposite Invercargill, across the Strait, though not officially included in the Province, may be regarded as an island-county of Otago. Various little mixed communities of tens and twenties, composed of old whalers, natives, and half-castes, are scattered about the bays of the island. It is well wooded, possesses many fertile little valleys, and a dozen excellent harbours.

Port Pergasus (60 miles south of Invercargill, south lat. 47 deg. 11', east long. 167 deg. 41'), one of the finest harbours in New Zealand, may eventually become the site of a settlement. Some "New Aberdeen" planted here, would embrace many advantages as a whaling port; and lying close on the track of the Australian, homeward, fleets, would be the only civilised spot a ship would approach in traversing the desolate waste of waters between Australia and Cape Horn. 24

CHOICE OF PROVINCE.

At the risk of exciting the pity of hostile critics, I shall assert that, everything considered,

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a British family, emigrating to plant a Home in the New Land, would now do better to plant such Home in the least favoured locality of New Zealand than in the most favoured locality of America, Canada, or Africa; and that if such family only chose New Zealand, the particular locality of New Zealand which they chose, would be a matter of comparative unimportance.

The natural advantages of the six Provinces, though somewhat different, are nearly equal. And this sketch of them, together with the special chapters on climate, land-regulations, and statistics, will, I trust, enable the reader to see their little local peculiarities, and to draw his own conclusions as to which would suit him best. Whilst if certain fastidiousness should create the "embarrassment of choice," the reader should remember that on landing at the settlement which he thinks he would prefer, he would now find it practicable to see one or two other settlements before he invested his money and took the field--"to work and win."

MEANS OF "INTERCOMMUNICATION" BETWEEN THE PROVINCES.

SEA ROADS.--The Zingaree (coast-steamer) leaves Manakau (Auckland's western harbour) about every fortnight, for New Plymouth, Nelson, Wellington, and Canterbury. Her run from place to place may average twenty-four hours; her stay in each

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place (save at New Plymouth, where it is only a call in fine weather) is about the same; and the fare from place to place some £4.

Messrs. Willis', and other English vessels, and the numerous Australian traders, commonly visit two settlements, and generally carry on a few New Zealand passengers from one to the other; whilst a fleet of small craft is continually plying round the coasts from Province to Province, and from trading post to station. Thus (save at Otago and New Plymouth, where the sea-journeying facilities are fewer) the New Zealand visitor, or tourist, has seldom to wait above a day or two in any one settlement without finding some sea-means of prosecuting his journey to another.

A powerful mail steamer, the "William Denny," runs fortnightly between Sydney and Auckland, and thus links New Zealand to the London of the Pacific. The run across occupies about a week; the fares, however, are high--£8 fore cabin; £13 and £15 saloon.

New Zealand and Australian traders (mostly smart brigs and schooners of about 200 tons) sail every week from Auckland and Wellington (say once in three weeks from the other settlements) for Sydney or Melbourne. Their run across may average about ten days, and their charge for cabin passage is about £10.

The General Assembly have it in contemplation to put on a fortnightly mail-steamer between Sydney and Wellington; and to place two powerful

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screw-boats on the coast to complete an almost weekly service between Auckland, New Plymouth, Nelson, Wellington, Canterbury, and Otago. Some arrangement of this nature will unquestionably be carried out ere long; for no enterprise would be more beneficial to the colony, or more profitable to the undertakers. 25

LAND ROADS.--As yet, New Zealand's artificial, made, roads, are confined to mere circles of country surrounding the settlements. But by beach, or by inland paths, plains, and passes, the country is traversable from north to south. From Auckland to New Plymouth it is a rough, seven days', foot coast-road by the native villages and Squatters' stations along the beach and cliffs; and from New Plymouth to Wellington, through Wanganui, it is a similar but better, ten days', road--practicable both for horse and foot. 26 There is also an inland, and an east coast, foot-road, by native paths and villages, from Auckland, by lake Taupo, or by Ahuriri, to Wellington.

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Visitors and colonists "bush travelling" in New Zealand, generally provide themselves with a native attendant, as guide, caterer, ferryman, and companion; carry a couple of blankets, some tobacco and a little tea, trust to native villages for pork and potatoes; and bivouac at night round a mighty forest fire of a dozen trees. Twenty miles a day is fair progress; and with a comrade, a smattering of the native tongue, and a couple of guides, New Zealand "bush-travelling," (in variety of adventure, in scenery, in ludicrous mishaps, and robust enjoyment alternated by fits of intense disgust,) beats a Highland tour by a hundred per cent., and dwarfs the ascent of Mont Blanc to the dimensions of Cockney sparrow-shooting.

Land travelling, in the South Island, is generally done on horseback. A visitor or exploring emigrant would now ride from Nelson to Canterbury in about eight, and from Canterbury to Otago in about twelve days: stopping at some sheep or cattle station almost every night. Stock, even now, is occasionally driven from Province to Province; and in another year or two "bush hostelries" (the nuclei of little villages) will probably spring up by ferry, plain, and pass, along the entire line of ride 700 miles, from Nelson and Wairau to Invercargill and the Bluff.