APPENDIX. AUCKLAND LAND REGULATIONS.
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APPENDIX.
AUCKLAND LAND REGULATIONS.
SINCE the abstract (page 512) of the Six Provincial sets of Land Regulations was made, and since the remarks, page 509, were written, the Auckland Regulations have been altered, and the following are the leading features of the New Regulations, which are at present in force.
1. All country lands are sold at 10s. an acre cash (save where the lot is less than 40 acres),
2. When two or more applicants apply for the same lot, the lot is put up to auction at a minimum price of 10s. an acre, and sold to the highest bidder: the biddings being confined to the applicants.
3. Land in lots of not less than 20, or more than 100 acres, may be sold at 15s. an acre, on credit, as follows:--1s. an acre to be paid on making application for the land, 1s. an acre at the end of the first, second, third, and fourth years, and the balance (10s. an acre) at the expiration of the fifth year.
This alteration in the Auckland Land Regulations must, I think, tend to show that the remarks made, pages 508 and 526, as to the instability of any one of these six sets of Provincial Land Regulations are only too true. Indeed, Auckland would seem to delight in alterations. Two of her Superintendents have already given the Province two sets of Regulations; and the following passage from a third Superintendent's opening address to his Provincial Council
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shows that the unfortunate Province may soon be made the subject of a third set.
"Deeply sensible as I am of the injuries which may arise from capricious and frequent alterations of Land Regulations, I am nevertheless impressed with the necessity of an immediate change, 1 those now existing not being, as I believe, calculated to promote either of the objects which I have named. Of the several modes of administering the Waste Lands which have been in use in this Province, none appeared better calculated to accomplish those ends than the Regulations adopted by the Provincial Council in March, 1854. They were drawn up with the utmost care: received the almost unanimous assent of the representatives of the constituencies, and, in their practical effects, so far as they were permitted to operate, have not, I think, disappointed the expectations of their promoters. It has been shown that under those Regulations 20,700 acres of land were sold, and under their "Special Occupation" clauses 15,162 acres were taken on lease under the improving conditions, within a very short period. Accordingly, then, amongst the earliest measures which will be submitted for your consideration will be a Bill for the disposal and management of the Public Lands of this Province, framed upon the principles of, and differing but little in detail from, the Regulations of 1854."
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The following is the letter alluded to in the note to page 414:--
The Elms, Grays, Essex.
11th Feb. 1857.
Dear Sir,--Pray rid yourself of the idea that our Merinoes are crossed. They are quite pure. That fresh blood has been introduced is true, but it has been got from Merino flocks, reported to be the first in the world for quality of wool. Our sheep are heavier, and have a stronger constitution than the Merinoes of the Continent; they carry fleeces of extreme fineness and thickness; and we believe, that for a com-
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bination of the qualities looked for in fine-woolled sheep, they are unequalled.
We have long bred these sheep expressly for the Colonies, and on the information of Colonists themselves as to their requirements; and we cannot doubt but that with equal purity and superior size, constitution, and quantity of wool, Colonists find in them what is wanted, in a greater degree than in any Continental flocks they can select from. If you feel disposed to see them, nothing would give us greater pleasure than to show them to you.
Our present price for Rams is 10 guineas each. Ewes, we have not been able of late to part with, for owing to the great demand we have had for our Rams, we require every Ewe to produce Rams.
Out of six Rams sent last year to the Cape of Good Dope in one lot, three were sold for £80, £90, and £100 respectively, as may be seen by reference to the Graaf Rainet Herald of the 13th Oct., 1856.
You will probably be aware that these sheep of ours shown among the fine-woolled sheep of the Continent at the Paris Exhibition of 1856, were thought worthy of a gold medal and first prize of 600 f., and excited great astonishment. The Continental judges were prepared for excellence in our mutton-producing races, but hardly for what they saw in our Merinoes.
I am, dear Sir, yours faithfully,
THOS. STURGEON.
Charles Hursthouse, Esq.,
Ramsgate.
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The following extract from a late Sydney Herald shows that an emigration has actually commenced from our North American colonies to New Zealand, and tends, I think, strongly to corroborate the remarks made at page 624:--
"In Canada and Nova Scotia there exists a very strong feeling in favour of Northern New Zealand. A few years since a body of Nova Scotia Highlanders arrived in Auckland from Adelaide. They located themselves at Wangarei, a settlement about eighty miles from Auckland, having the advantage of an excellent harbour, a noble river, and a considerable area of
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fertile agricultural land, partly fern, and readily and inexpensively reclaimable; partly forest, with ample supplies of timber for fencing, ship-building, and firewood. Here these diligent Nova Scotians have created a thriving and a goodly home; and to this home they have invited others of their kindred race--the ship 'Gertrude,' from Cape Breton, with 230 immigrants, having touched at Simon's Bay on her way to Auckland, where she is hourly expected. These are the men through whom colonial wealth is derived. Those here have, this season, their 500 or 600 acres of wheat in plant, all put in with the hoe; they are seeking to add fresh strength to their own. The tidings of their success will be apt to induce others to imitate their example, and give an additional impetus to those Canadians who only wait the means of settlement to cast their lot among us. Every endeavour will be made to facilitate such true and beneficial colonization; first, by acquiring as large an amount of native lands as the provincial resources will admit, and then by disposing of them on the most simple and liberal terms."
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AUTHOR'S ADDRESS.
In the remark made page 8 as to my willingness to give the emigrant reader any little special or personal information in my power, I have given my address at 28, Thavies' Inn, London, and any letters sent there would be forwarded to any part of the country which I might be visiting. If, however, in consequence of any postal miscarriage, no answer were received in writing to this address, any communication addressed care of my Publisher, E. Stanford, 6, Charing Cross, would be sure to find me.
Woodfall and Kinder, Printers, Angel Court, Skinner Street, London.
