Letters from Settlers and Labouring Emigrants

First published by Smith, Elder and Co. in 1843

Digitised and made available online by the University of Auckland Libraries and Learning Services.

Epub © 2013 Early New Zealand Books Collection

ISBN 978-1-927279-45-8

[TITLE PAGE]

LETTERS
FROM
SETTLERS & LABOURING EMIGRANTS,
IN THE
NEW ZEALAND COMPANY'S
SETTLEMENTS OF
WELLINGTON, NELSON, & NEW PLYMOUTH.

From February, 1842, to January, 1843.

LONDON:
SMITH, ELDER AND Co., 65, CORNHILL.
1843.

Price, One Shilling.

[Page ii is blank]

[CONTENTS]

CONTENTS.

WELLINGTON (including WANGANUI, &c.): –

No. 1. Letter from Mr. F.Bradey.....1
2. " J.M.Taylor .... 4
3. " a gentleman at Wellington . . 6
4. " G. Fellingham ... 8
5. " Messrs. Wait and Tyser . .10
6. " Mr. H. S. Tiffen .... 10
7. " Mr. John Wallace .... 12
8. " a Settler at Wanganui ... 15
9. " a Settler at Wellington . . .17
10. " Alexander Perry, Esq. . . 20
11. " Thomas Lockyer . . . .22
12. " a resident in Wellington . . 23
13. Report on Valleys of the Hutt. Ruamahanga, and Manewatu........25
14. Letter from George Beavan .... 27
15. " a Settler at Wanganui . . .28
16. " to H. S. Chapman, Esq. ... 29
17. " from a Settler at Wellington . . .31
18. " Ditto ditto . . 32
19. " a "Producer".....34
20. " William Dew .... 35
21. " Mr. R.Stokes . . . . . 38
22. " Charles Brown .... 44

No. 23. Letter from W. Ferguson.....46
24. " Dr. George Rees .... 49
25. " David Harris.....52
26. " J- Philps.....54
27. " Joseph White . . . .55
28. " William Dew .... 58
29. " a Devonshire Farmer . . .61
30. " an Officer of the Surveying staff 61

NELSON: –

No. 31. Letter from Mr. Tuckett.....64
32. " Thomas Dodson .... 65
33. " J. C, Esq......60
34. Account of the Waimea Valley, by W.Barnicoat 69
35. " " by J. S. Cotterill 72
36. Letter from Mr. Thomas Bremner ... 73
37. " Mr. William Cullen ... 76
38. " James Harper .... 80
39. Description of the Climate and resources of the Settlement.......82
40. Letter from Captain A. Wakefield, R. N. . 84
41. " a gentleman at Nelson . . 85
42. " Mr. Robert Boddington . . .87
43. Letter received by Mrs. C. Torlesse ... 90
44. Letter from Mr. Francis Jollie . . . .90
45. " Mr. D. Moore . . . . 93
46. Account of the Waimea Valley, by W. . . 96
47. Letter from Mr. William Cullen ... 99
48. " James Barton ... . . 103
49. " Rev. C. W. Saxton . .105
50. Letter received by Mr. W. Little . . . 110
51. Letter from Captain A. Wakefield, R. N. .111
52. " William Dent . . . .114
53. " James Barton . . . .115
54. " Mr. Francis Jollie ... 116
55. " Mr. William Cullen . . .117
56. " Samuel Newport . . . .119
57. " Robert Ross . . . .120
58. " Mr. Francis Jollie . . .122

NEW PLYMOUTH (Taranaki): –

No. 59. Letter from Jane Crocker . . . .130
60. Letter to Mr. Samuel Crocker . . .131
61. Letter from S. and W. Curtis . . . .133
62. " James Thomas Shaw . . .134
63. " A. and E. Hoskin . . . 135
64. " Jane Crocker . . . .138
65. " F. A. Carrington, Esq. . . 139
66. " Mr. John Perry .... 139
67. " John and Ann French . . 140
68. " Mr. William Bayly . . .143
69. " F. A. Carrington, Esq. . . 148
70. " William Henwood . . . 149
71. " Arthur Hoskin.... 150
72. " Paul Inch.....152
73. " Mr. S. Gillingham ... 153
74. " Simon and Jane Andrews . .155
75. " H. R. A. – – – – , Esq. . . 157
76. " Henry Weekes, Esq. . . .159
77. " John George Cooke, Esq. . 161
78. " Alexander Aubrey, Esq. . . 167
79. " the Messrs. Halse ... 169
80. " H. R. Aubrey, Esq. . . .173
81. " the Messrs. Aubrey . . . 176
82. " Mr. Charles Palmer . . .177
83 " Captain Liardet, E.N. . . 179
84. Extracts from Letters from some of the principal Settlers to T. Woollcombe, Esq......182
85. Letter from Mr. S. Gillingham ... 189
86. " Captain L. H. Davy . . .192
87. " J. T. Wicksteed, Esq. . . 192
88. " P. F. Hoskin .... 199
89. Letters received by T. Woollcombe, Esq. . 201
90. Description of the Scenery at Taranaki . 210

WELLINGTON (including WANGANUI etc.)

LETTERS FROM SETTLERS AND LABOURING EMIGRANTS AT WELLINGTON, NELSON, AND NEW PLYMOUTH.

WELLINGTON.

From MR. FRANCIS BRADEY to the Editor of the New Zealand Journal.
4, Coldbath Terrace, Greenwich,
Feb. 3rd, 1842.

KIND SIR, – The numerous applications I have for information respecting New Zealand (I mean the Company's first and principal settlement, the City of Wellington) induces me to give this brief account for general information. It is from actual experience, as I went out with the first colony in 1839, and left on the 5th of May last, with the intent to take back all my family. At the same time, I am anxious and at all times ready to give information to all persons who may please to call upon me respecting the country and its capabilities. There cannot be a finer climate, or a more healthy, or productive one in the world; as a proof of this, the doctors are compelled to turn either farmers or publicans,

as they have nothing to do but to attend upon lying-in-women. The larger a mans family, the better are his prospects; if his children are brought up to industry, any man with two or three hundred pounds, with a useful family, may buy a snug freehold farm become an independent proprietor, and leave his children independent after him, in one of the most delightful countries in the world. The title to the land is derived from the Crown, and the country is governed by British laws, and with very light taxes; in fact, either small or great capitalists, or industrious labourers, cannot go to a finer country or a better market than to Wellington. There are fine pickings for capitalists if they watch the markets for the sale of land, as well as of merchandize; they may frequently make one hundred and fifty per cent, on their bargains. A great deal may be also made upon loans, on the very best security; and I am sure that both person and property are as secure in New Zealand as in any country, for the natives are true friends to the English; indeed, they are never the first aggressors, but are a very harmless race of people. Again, we are an independent colony: we are free from convicts, and Wellington is now become a populous and thriving place. We have the sons of noblemen among us, and we are backed by an influential Company, comprising some of the first gentlemen in England, who have, so far, acted with great honour and liberality to all purchasers of land, and all classes of emigrants. No town in England can be more perfect for respectable society; the people are quite united, and a number of clubs and associations, and excellent institutions are already established, such as the Working-men's Land Association; the Freemasons' Lodge, and others: indeed, any stranger arriving in the colony cannot do better than go to the Freemasons' Tavern (Mr. Monteith) as they can have the best of

accommodation, and valuable information given them how to proceed.

I advise all persons to take garden seeds with them, the sweetbriar and the hawthorn-berry in particular; though the country abounds with the most beautiful shrubs and myrtles, there is nothing so suitable for hedges. I wish to make known that there are no wild beasts, neither snakes nor reptiles of any kind, – no crows nor sparrows, nor any insects that will injure the crops, and very few pernicious weeds, so that the ground being once cleared and planted, wants but very little management: but all persons interested cannot do better than read the Hon. H. Petre's work on New Zealand, as I can testify that it is a correct statement; and as to the capabilities of the country, it will grow anything, and when we saw our first crops of wheat and barley and all kinds of vegetables, we were greatly delighted, and the most competent judges declared they had never seen such fine productions before; and they further said, that one acre of land in New Zealand, would produce as much as any two acres in England. I should, moreover, advise all persons going, to take their money with them, as the market is over-stocked with goods, and great bargains of both goods and land may frequently be had by the various changes that take place; and those that intend to emigrate cannot possibly go to a better market, or a finer country, as Port Nicholson is proved, by so many, to surpass all other parts of New Zealand, for situation and fertility, and every settler there feels well satisfied. I beg to say that I intend to return myself, some time in the spring, 1 and anyone wishing for further information may obtain it by applying to me, at No. 4, Coldbath-terrace, Greenwich, without fee or reward.

I may add that I was carrying on the business of a master boot-maker for 20 years, in the Old Kent-road, and a rate-payer of the parish of St. George's, Southwark, and a freeholder of the county of Surrey; and I transferred the whole of my property to New Zealand, and it was the most fortunate speculation I ever made.

I remain, Sir, yours obediently,
FRANCIS BRADEY.

From J. M. TAYLOR to his Sister.
Wellington, February, 10, 1842.

MY DEAR SISTER,

The last letter I received from you was brought by Mrs. C – – – – -. It was rather long on its road – short and sweet, and though short, nevertheless very acceptable. We have been very gay since I wrote you last – too gay, for there has been very little business doing. On the 26th was the anniversary of the arrival of the first settlers, and a day of rejoicing. A fete was in consequence; I was on the committee and made myself pretty active. The morning was rather gloomy, with a light breeze from the south-east, which generally brings rain. By nine o'clock, however, the clouds which darkened the horizon, and seemed likely to fill every one with disappointment, disappeared, and the day became as fine as could be wished for – every one was abroad in their best; I should say from 3,000 to 4,000 persons were assembled on the beach, at 11 o'clock, when the sailing boats started. As soon as they were fairly off, away went the whale-boats like lightning, and you may imagine they were good hands, when I tell you they were composed of men picked from the whaling stations, where they are at the work from day-dawn to sunset. It was a well contested race. They reached

the goal before the sailing boats, who had to beat back against the wind, and a prettier sailing match never could have been seen. Five minutes before the termination of it, it was impossible to say which one of them would win, and the whole then came in one after the other, nearly touching. Then came a hurdle race, and as we had given them a pretty brook to go over, there was a considerable deal of ducking; fortunately, no accident. There were many other sports, such as running a wheelbarrow a certain distance blindfold – one turned round and ran away from the post, fancying he was winning the race; jumping in sacks, &c of which I send you a card. But the great triumph of the day was the horticultural show which took place in the Exchange, ornamented for the purpose with shrubs, flowers, &c.; the show of vegetables would have done honour to the London show. One cabbage measured four feet in diameter, and weighed upwards of 20 lbs. Turnips, potatoes, peas, oats seven feet high, flowers, &c, all proved what the soil of New Zealand could produce. There were many lady visitors, and the scene was as enlivening as can be imagined. In the evening there was a ball, which was kept up with much spirit until five o'clock next morning. I am quite enchanted with the place: we have had most lovely weather for the last six weeks. At present every thing seems to prosper with me, which I am sure you will be pleased to hear; and I only wish that I could prevail on you to come out, the only thing that remains to complete my happiness being to have you or one of my sisters, until I take unto myself a wife. I do sincerely hope, my dear girl, you are well and happy. Remember me to all friends, and tell me all and every thing you can think of – it is sure to please me; and believe me to remain, ever your affectionate brother,

J. M. TAYLOR.

From a Gentleman at Wellington, to a Friend in England.

February 14, 1842.

"If I were in London, I would endeavour to get – – – – - and some others to undertake a private loan business. There has been no overtrading or overworking here; but people have actually land and but little money, and they are leading useless lives because they have not enough to start. We have not the class of emigrants that go to Canada, who put before themselves the task of working in the bush for a certain number of years. Life is too easily maintained here, and even the fine climate won't tempt them.

There ought to be great inducement for people to bring all the land about Port Nicholson into cultivation next year. Molesworth, notwithstanding his expense of clearing, must have made a very large sum of profit. I have made careful inquiries, and I believe next season there will be – – – acres laid down in wheat, which ought to go a long way to feed the population of Wellington. The potatoes this year are as good as any I have eaten in England; but even supposing that we can undersell Van Diemen's Land potatoes, in the Sydney and Adelaide markets – which there is no doubt of, for the draught would be but a drop in the bucket – what are we to do with the enormous surplus? It is said that a potatoe crop is necessary to clear the ground. I am certain we could ship 5,000 tons of English and mauri grown potatoes next year. I have contracted, myself, for 200 tons. After all, this is the best evidence of a fit country for the population of England to emigrate to: I firmly believe it will be one of the cheapest countries in the world.

Port Nicholson people deserve something at the

hands of the Company, for the staunch way they have gone through the establishment of the first colony; and however many of us may have been reimbursed by chosen town and country land falling to our lot, there is no doubt that the bulk of the people who came with the first expedition are in a far worse condition than those in the second settlement or succeeding ones; for a large part of the town acres extending back towards Cook's Straits are of little value, and their country choices partake of the same inferiority. However, I will amend my opinion of the country land; for I believe every single section, up to 1100, may receive a valuable 100 acres out of the extent of country at our disposal.

There is a considerable reliance placed here upon what the Company will do for the place; and people hear, without envy, of the establishment of new settlements, while they feel convinced this will be the principal settlement. If the Company should establish a colony at Port Cooper, they ought to reserve the sale of the town for the Emigration Fund. It would bring £100,000 for that purpose, and would be a moderate protection to the old settlements. Very little land will, of course, be sold in the districts already surveyed, whilst people can purchase land with a town acre attached.

We have a fine district at Wydrass, to the east of Port Nicholson – a country eight miles broad, and nearly forty miles back (i. e. 20,000 acres), but, I believe, with hardly shelter for a boat. The road round the beach, however, may be made so as to drive cattle round; across the hills it will be almost impracticable, until population warrants expense. With this district on the east, and the country along the coast on the north-west, Port Nicholson stands in the centre of a good district, as well as being at the eastern mouth of the Straits."

From G. FELLINGHAM, journeyman printer, to his parents.
Woollcombe Street,
Wellington, March 12th, 1842.

DEAR FATHER AND MOTHER,

The model that you sent was of no use here in the preparation of flax, as it requires to be scraped and soaked, and other preparations, before it is fit for use; the only use it could be put to is in making the flax finer after it is hackled. The way the rope-makers do here is to boil it for some hours, and then beat it with a mallet, after that they hackle it. The flax, were they to take trouble to properly prepare it, would fetch double the price they get at the present time. I am sorry to say, there is very little of this most valuable article brought to a marketable state, considering the abundance that is growing in the town and its vicinity. It is a great pity but what some person was out here with a machine to dress it: they might make a fortune in a short time.

Since the arrival of the last three emigrant vessels, our town has begun to look quite lively. Every person seems to have an inclination to build houses and fence in their ground; others are letting it, so that the town seems all life. Brick and wooden houses are springing up on ground that appeared deserted; gardens fenced in and cultivated; and roads, bridges, and drains are being made. There are, at the present time, several brick houses in course of erection, and one belonging to Mr. Guyton is just finished, and another, belonging to Mr. Hort, is in a very forward state. Was I to take a walk through the town once a week, I have no doubt I should see three or four wooden houses being built on ground that appeared, a few days before, neglected. As a proof of this, the immigrants by the Birman, although only arrived within the last

two weeks, have already begun to fence in, build, and cultivate four acres on Wellington Terrace. The Company are having a new Depot built of brick, for the reception of immigrants.

As I have before told you the particulars about the piece of ground which I purchased of Mr. Revans, part of 336, and on which I am now living, I think it unnecessary to say any thing farther about it. 1 have, since I last wrote, got a piece of Town Acre, No. 400, (being the eighth part) which I received as my share in the Town Land Association, and it will cost me about £8. 15s. It is on the rise of a hill, with a beautiful view of the town and harbour, with a reserve at the back of the acre.

I have been very fortunate since I arrived, which was twelve months last anniversary, (January) during which time I have not lost a day's work. At times I thought otherwise, when trade was slack; but since the paper has been published twice a-week trade has become somewhat steadier, and I hope, in a short time, to see the other printers in the colony at work at their own trade, as well as myself. I have a comfortable place, and regular wages, and what more can a man wish for in a colony?

You may have seen a great deal about our harbour, and the ground about it; some state that a vessel cannot enter with safety: others that the hills in the immediate vicinity are impassable, and that there is no flat land. This I deny; as a proof of which, we have mostly twenty vessels in port, while Auckland has only one. As to the hills, why they are the greatest blessing that we can have, as the scenery is most beautiful, as the hills are mostly covered with trees. We have flat land in abundance, more than can he cultivated for years; and we have some beautiful dairy farms in the vicinity of the town. – Yours, &c.

G. FELLINGHAM.

From MESSRS. WAIT AND TYSER, to MESSRS. RUTHERFORD, DRURY, AND CO., Billiter Street.
Wellington, March 28th, 1842.

"We have made inquiry of Mr. Daniel Riddiford concerning Mr. Samuel Page's town land. The acre is situated in Te Aro Flat, and about a quarter of a mile from the beach. It is perfectly level and clear, and is worth about £500. An acre in this immediate neighbourhood sold, a few weeks ago, by public sale, at £700 odd. Land in the same neighbourhood is letting at 5s. to 7s. 6d. per foot of frontage, and acres are generally cut up in such a way as to realise, in many cases, very large rents."

From Mr. H. S. TIFFEN to his father at Hythe.
April 2nd, 1842.

"I have been drawing maps to send to New-Zealand House. Two fine districts are now opening, Manewatu and Wanganui; each will contain upwards of 60,000 acres, situated on the borders of two fine rivers, both navigable to coasting schooners. But little is known of the interior of New Zealand. Mr. Brees has commenced forming roads into the interior; we expect, therefore, that land will fall. We shall be ahead of the sales in July. We had a frost yesterday: to-day is quite July weather.

7th and 8th. – The Manewatu and other lands were opened for selection. On the first day, two of the natives came to look on; on the 8th, about fifty of them, men, women, and children, came to the office, requesting payment (utu) for their land. They went away very well satisfied. One of the elder chiefs looked over the plan of all the districts, and understood it well; he gave us several new names – one of them, a small river named Opau, he wrote down, and exceedingly well too. One of the natives had a black hat bound with crape, and stuck

all round with feathers; he had whitish trowsers and a frock coat; occasionally he wears a stock. I forget the old fellow's name, but he is a great chief. I was smoking, and had half the party come to me for fire – rather close contact, a mauri's woolley head, lighting a pipe by a fellow's cigar while in his mouth. Tattooing is going out of fashion very much. Nearly all the natives have a great hole in the ears, through which they pass a bit of ribbon, and suspend a shark's tooth or some stone ornament. They are very clever carvers. Their war canoes are splendid. Their hangi (a sort of walking and shew spear) are very well finished; some of them are invaluable, as being descended from ancestors famed in war.

April 20. To-day I went into Captain Smith's garden, and received a valuable present of parsley, lettuce, lupin, French marygolds, and endive plants. He has a large garden, cabbages 12 feet round, onions 20 inches round, roses, sweet briars, geraniums, fruit trees, and all kinds of vegetables. When the proper season arrives, I wish you would send the &c. &c. seeds, and &c. &c. bulbs: I dare say the New Zealand Company will send them out cheaply.

A Mechanics' Institute was formed last night; from what I hear, (for I was prevented from attending) it was well supported. I shall be a contributor, following your example in promoting matters of usefulness, if not with purse – what is more valuable, with personal exertion. I have purchased land for a garden, and sown a lot of radishes, carrots, onions, &c, and put out 2,500 cabbages. I saw two fine wild fuchsia to-day, but not in bloom. We felt a slight shock of an earthquake on the 15th."

THE HUTT AND TARANAKI.

From MR. JOHN WALLACE to MR. DRAKE, New Street, Birmingham.

Wellington, Port Nicholson,
April 6th, 1842.

Dear Sir, I arrived here about a week since from New Plymouth, and purpose remaining here about a month. On leaving England, I promised to write to you, giving you my honest opinions of the country, and the time has now arrived when I can do this faithfully, as well as honestly. I should say that this country has some similarity to the northern parts of Italy, and to Switzerland, in its external features, but is still unlike any part of Europe in many particulars. I imagine it bears a great similarity also to the Caucasus; and if I may be allowed to form a comparison from maps and reading, that it is more like the latter country than any other on the face of the earth. Like Switzerland and the Caucasian mountains, it will doubtless give birth to a race of freemen, and its government must necessarily be framed upon a similar plan to that of the Swiss countries. The new Corporation Bill of England may possibly be brought into operation here, provided that it is greatly modified and moulded to the habits of a mixed people, in every district, or in other words, in every isolated locality. I say isolated locality, because these islands, from their construction by nature, will always be inhabited by district-social communities, whose manners and customs will originate in, and be confined by, the peculiar habits of the native population of the respective spots, combined with the rooted English prejudices belonging to the countries, from which the Europeans emigrate. So far, any congress, or meeting of representatives from the different boroughs or corporate towns, at any future period.

at the capital city of these islands – it may be inferred, will be one of the most perfect freedom, and the inhabitants will govern themselves to all intents and purposes. I have gone so far, prospectively, into the social economy of these countries, because I know you to be a family man, that looks more to the future welfare of his children than to his own present ease and convenience.

These islands are, in many respects, similar throughout; even where you would imagine that a flat and champagne country lay before you, the land is undulating, almost in every part. Occasionally, there are tables of flat land, consisting of some few acres; but these are uniformly surrounded by undulations for some distance – when the same thing may occur again. For instance, there is nothing here at all similar to the country between Birmingham and Dudley – I mean West-Bromwich – and there is no district here at all similar to Warwickshire. The whole surface of the land is more like the northern parts of Yorkshire and Lancashire, Cumberland and Westmoreland; and this very place (Port Nicholson) is as like as possible to Keswick Lake, and the valley of the Hutt to Borrowdale – only that the valley of the Hutt is much more extended, more level, and is, perhaps- one of the most even and the finest districts for agricultural purposes in all New Zealand. In fact, there is plenty of room in this one place for the exertion and capital of at least one hundred thousand Englishmen. At Taranaki, where New Plymouth is situated, there is an opening for at least a million of people; and the country there is open, so that you may have a clear view upon almost any of the rising grounds, for at least thirty miles, and in some cases you can see land fifty miles off – as, for instance, you can see Kawia plainly from Sugar Loaf Point, or Paratutu, which is the native name. You also have a view of Mount Egmont from

every eminence, which, with the hills running northwest from it, forms one of the most magnificent views in the world, – with which, in fact, the lithographs published in England, bear no comparison whatever. I have forwarded to Mr. Edwards of London, – (Edwards and Ball, Birmingham,) – forty of my new landscape sketches, and, amongst them, about eight of this mount, and from these you may form some idea of the scenery of this district of country; but even from these, which were hastily done on board ship, without the possibility of studying effect, and in the worst season of the year for this purpose, you can form but a very slight conception of the splendid nature of the scenery, and the richness of the foliage. The country surrounding Cloudy Bay, another district, is bold, and, on the shore, is composed of innumerable small bays; but there is one fine harbour in it, namely, Port Underwood, and this has numerous small bays along the whole line of its coast. Many of these are occupied as whaling stations, and how little soever this district may be calculated for the plough with the share, it is eminently adapted for the plough with the keel, and will serve to lighten up the dark nights of old England for many a day to come. My sons have one of these fisheries now, and I trust will be enabled to send a cargo of oil for your lamps to lighten and warm your dwellings in winter, and bone for the frame-work of your umbrellas, to shield you from the wet in the spring and autumn. I can safely say that the soil all over the various aspects of this country – for the aspects are everywhere varied by the undulations of the land – will enable the husbandman to grow almost all the products of the earth, from the gooseberry to the vine, and from the cabbage to the pine. Labour will be one essential power for this purpose – capital another; and judgment will be the most indispensable of

all, – so that plodding English farmers would be unable to do much without better heads than their own to direct them. The latter description of persons will, however, precede the former in almost every instance, and have done so already; so that you may send out the former without any fear of the consequences. The timber here is some of the finest in the world, and is inexhaustible for ages yet to come; nevertheless, the timber land, when cleared, is generally the best for cultivation, so that it answers a double purpose, and bears a double profit. Openings will take place for tradesmen as colonization progresses, and chances of success will ever be presenting themselves as the wants of the people increase. For instance, were you here now, with your printing apparatus complete – paper, printers, &c, you would immediately commence a paper, which is now about to be established here, but which cannot possibly be commenced until all the necessary apparatus and power is sent to the Colony from England. I merely mention this as being quite in your way, and exactly to the purpose – not to induce you to come out; respecting which every one must necessarily judge for himself. I am, your sincere friend and servant,

JOHN WALLACE.

From one of the earliest settlers at Wanganui, and the largest Landowner there, to the Editor of the New Zealand Journal.

Wanganui, May 5th, 1842.

"In some numbers of your valuable paper recently arrived, I observed a few remarks on our settlement at Wanganui: I have the pleasure of knowing the writer, and hope he will favour you with some more accounts of the country. He has not, however, sufficiently done justice to our noble

river. There is a fine passage all up it, though, on first settling here, we, of course, could not at once exactly define the two shores.

The Clydeside, a barque of more than 340 tons, came up, and went over the bar, going at half-ebb, without touching. Next month, our town sections at Wanganui are to be given out: the site of the proposed town is most admirably chosen; its situation is as beautiful as valuable; there are six and seven fathoms water in the river all along; some of the earliest choices must, directly, acquire a great value. We have the best clay yet found in New Zealand, it makes capital bricks, and some of it will make potting and pipes. Lime-stone has been found up the river, yielding 50 per cent. of lime. Some Scotch farmers recently came to look at our part of the country, and expressed themselves highly gratified with it; they spoke in the highest terms of the richness of the lands, especially on the left bank, and are gone down to Wellington to fetch their baggage, and set to work among us. The Nelson settlement will enhance the value of ours very much, as it is directly opposite us, and within ten hours1 sail; there, of course, is a more eligible market for our produce than at Wellington, and already there is a well-established communication.

The climate at Wanganui is far preferable to Wellington, as we are not subject to those violent winds from the south-east and north-west. The river is full of fish; wild ducks and teal very abundant, so the sportsman is never at a loss. We have now a regular overland mail to Wellington, which is of great importance. We can walk down here from Wellington in five days, easily, and there are vessels constantly running between; but steamers are most wanted."

From a private Letter received by the Secretary of the New Zealand Company, from a respectable settler at Wellington, who had recently visited New Plymouth.

Wellington, 5th June, 1842,

"I learned, on arrival at New Plymouth, that the Timandra emigrant-ship had been here from Plymouth – had discharged her passengers and cargo without any difficulty, or being obliged to go to sea, during a stay of nearly a month. The Timandra had also brought out moorings for large ships, one of which had been laid down at a mile and three quarters to the north-north-west of the town. These moorings are suited to the largest vessels,(the anchors and cables weighing seven tons), and render the roadstead safe and convenient for vessels visiting New Plymouth. Captain Liardet had sailed for Sydney and England, on account of his late unfortunate accident. A fine boat, built here by the Company expressly for landing in the surf, now discharges vessels with expedition. After my arrival, a gale of wind sprung up from the north-west, the first that had occurred for some months. It is not to be denied that the want of a harbour is a great inconvenience to a new settlement; but I am inclined to think that this want will prove one of the chief causes of the success of New Plymouth. It might be different, if the land were of a more varied character than it is. In that case, enterprise might direct itself in various occupations, and speculation in water-frontages and buildings might create a more stirring and apparently a more thriving state of things. But being, as this part of New Zealand is, specially an agricultural district, one feels that any diversion from the grand object of cultivation of the soil, which a port would offer, might be a positive injury to the colony. No

one can walk over this country without being impressed with its great capabilities; and when we know that New Zealand does not offer, in combination, a good harbour with a first rate agricultural district, the settlers at New Plymouth may be considered, in my opinion, most fortunate in having the first desideratum to a legitimate settler – undeniable land, with sufficient means of exporting its produce. The moorings have already increased these means; and steamers and small craft adapted to the Waitera river, which is in the centre of the rural lands, will, every day, add to them. Such a district is peculiarly suited to emigrants from agricultural counties, and the style of farming will be similar to that pursued in the west of England. The town of New Plymouth will be very compact; scarcely any unavailable land interfering with its laying out, and the quarter-acre sections favouring concentration. The points of view are numerous and striking; and the features of the land have been judiciously taken advantage of, or conquered, in the communications between the different parts of the town. The country-land, I repeat, however, is what must make the settlement; and this is convenient for approach and location. The whole settlement of New Plymouth is comprised within sixteen miles of coast-line by eight miles inland; through which run ten small rivers, available for various purposes. One of them, the Waitera, eight miles from the town, has between twelve and thirteen feet at its entrance, at high water, and good anchorage inside. The prevailing wind, the south-west, is a leading wind in and out of this river. A road to it is in progress of formation by the Company. From the sea-coast to the wooded land, the distance varies from one mile and a half to three miles. This space is covered principally with fern, which grows, in some places, twelve feet high – but in few, less than six. It is intermixed, occasionally, with the tutu bush, which is

indicative of good soil, and other shrubs common to New Zealand; but here growing to a size, and presenting a luxuriance, unknown in any other part of it I have seen. The country presents, from ship-board, the appearance of the best parts of the Channel coast of England. The apparently unbroken level looked over by Mount Egmont is, on inspection, found to be intersected with streams and gullies, between which are, in many places, extensive flats. None of it is unavailable for culture; and the wooded land, which here, as elsewhere, is the best, seems to have the most unbroken surface. Mr. Barrett's whaling station is at two miles from the town, and adjoining the Sugar Loaf on the main. Although close by the sea, and of a sandy nature, his garden produces vegetables of an extraordinary size. Eight hundred melons had been grown by his wife (who is a native) and children this season. The rats, however, which have lately made their appearance in the settlement, had destroyed nearly all of them. The traces of these mischievous vermin were to be seen on the sea-sand, as they were left by a night-march. They appear to migrate in bodies, like the Hampster species. In front of the whaling station is a small bay, which will be, at a future day, rendered a convenient anchorage by a breakwater between the main and one of the islands. A visit to some of the suburban sections confirmed my high opinion of the land. The reports of all I met are most favourable as to soil and climate; and every one seemed satisfied with his prospects, since the hastening of the surveys, by means of contracts, had insured an early delivery of the rural sections."

From ALEXANDER PERRY, Esq., to his Father, Dr. PERRY, of Glasgow, written after a year's experience of Port Nicholson.

Wellington, June 10th, 1842.

"The country in this neighbourhood is only becoming known; no sooner is one valley explored and surveyed, than another is discovered contiguous to it. They seem, mostly, to turn up from the sea, and to be sheltered, at their entrance, by high, bare hills, from the winds, which blow with such violence on the coast, which three-fourths of those who come out here only see, and have no idea of the luxuriant evergreen verdure with which the country, in the interior, is covered. Looking from a high hill, on which I spent a night in the open air, the country presented the appearance of a vast, unbroken forest, with a number of Totara trees, without a single bare spot, till you come into the neighbourhood of the sea. Numbers of the trees are highly valuable for cabinet-work, and furniture of various kinds, particularly the Totara; they are highly prized, even by the natives, who, it is said, were in the habit of handing them down from one generation to another, as heir-looms in the tribe. There is also plenty of clear land suitable for grazing, in the immediate neighbourhood, within two hours' sail of the heads. There is a large valley extending for forty miles inland, clear of trees, and covered with the finest grass, capable of maintaining large herds of cattle, if once it was opened up. It still belongs to the natives, and they now prize it much, and are unwilling to sell it. It is called Wydrass, or Warepara: if a road was opened up, it would afford a large field for the investment of capital, in one of the safest and most profitable ways in which it could be invested. A great many cattle have lately been brought from Sydney, and brought good prices. It

is quite the rage at present buying cattle, so that every cottager will have his cow at Wanganui. There are also immense tracts of clear land suitable for grazing. What would, beyond any thing, bring these places into immediate play, would be for the Company to send a few ship loads of emigrants, accompanied with capitalists, directly to the spot.

A person landed here, for instance, who has land at Manewatu, or Wanganui, finds that he must not only be at great expense in conveying himself and luggage thither, but to get labourers: he must promise them great wages, and be at great expense in taking them there; so that many, seeing this, give up the attempt, and remain here, and turn their attention to business, doing little good to themselves, and injuring the merchants already here. It is to be hoped this will soon be remedied, by sending them directly to the spots where the land lies. As an instance of the fineness of the climate, Mr. H – brought in from the garden a dish of green peas, and the mignionette which Mr. Imerie sowed in the beginning of summer has been cut four or five times, is shot up again, and sending forth delightful perfume – and this is the very middle of winter, the 10th of June. Great preparations are at present making for the whaling season, which has just begun, and will afford a profitable remittance for the imports. A Sydney house, largely engaged in the whaling trade, has contracted to take the oil and bone caught here, at a number of the stations, at £16. per ton for the oil, and £85. for the whalebone. – Why should not a Company be got up in Glasgow, and form a settlement connected with New Zealand, in the southern or middle island, and secure to Scotland a part at least of the trade?"

From THOMAS LOCKYER, a Carpenter, formerly of Kingston, Somerset.

Wellington, 10th June, 1842.

MY DEAR FATHER,

Wages are very good here: carpenters get from 8s. to 11s. per day; I worked 16 days at 9s. per day; I am now working for myself. Labourers get 5s. per day, a great many work for the Company, they get from 10s. to 14s. per week and rations, which is 7 lbs. of beef, and 10 lbs. of flour. John Tar works at it, and he says he can do better than in England. I like it myself and family. The Company serve us with flour at 3d. per pound. Provisions are as follows: – beef 1s. per pound, mutton 10d., pork 7d., potatoes 5s. per cwt., sugar 6d. to 8d. per pound, porter 1s. per pot, brandy 2s. per bottle, rum the same, gin the same. George Grant and Thomas Hollard, of Charlton, have done well since they have been here; they have bought five acres of land each. I can tell you, my dear father, I am happy and comfortable; give my love to all friends, and tell James Hilborne he could do well here. Tailoring is a very good trade here. If any come, I will do what I can for them. None of us have wanted for anything since we left home. Cooper, who worked for Mr. Stephen Masters of Ilchester, is here; he says he can do better here than in England. There are many of our neighbourhood here; we ail like it well, children and all; I believe it to be a very pleasant country, but it is winter now. It is about the same as October in England. Fish is plenty, we can buy a large fish, ten or twelve pounds, for 6d. or 8d. There is anything to be got as in England. Wearing apparel is not so dear as we might imagine. Shoes are the dearest things here; it is a good business, and so is black-smithing. Edge-tools and axle-making is a good trade. Plas-

tering is not much yet, but it will be soon, as they are building many brick houses. Bricks are £3. a thousand, and lime 3s. a bushel. Shingling is a very good trade, they get from 12s. to £1. per day: it is the same as flat tiling, but wood instead of tile. New Zealand is a very healthy country. So no more at present,

From your affectionate Son,
THOMAS LOCKYER.

From a Resident in Wellington, to a New Zealand Land Proprietor in England.

Wellington, 20th June, 1842.

"It is really lamentable to witness the want of courage and industry in a large number of young men who come here. They arrive with the idea that they are to have no difficulties or discomfort to contend with, yet most of them have fled from home in despair at the dismal prospect they were abandoning. All the prudent and the industrious who have arrived here are well to do. I should not mind landing in this place without a shilling, confident that I could make myself a pursuit in three months. We all feel that the best settlers came first – that is, by the fleet which sailed September 1839. They had much to contend with, and played their parts like men. They laugh at the idea of pioneers coming in these days, when all the country from this to New Plymouth and the East Coast, has been made known through their exertions.

You absentees ought to do more than feel anxious about the prosperity of Wellington – you should aid in it; as it is, you are content to sit by the fire-side and speculate upon the advance which will take place (upon the pound per acre paid) at our expense, in consequence of the exertions we are obliged to make. Not only do you not contribute to

our prosperity, but your agents ask higher terms for leasing or selling lands than demanded by settlers. Each day makes a demand upon our purses for a contribution to some public work which will equally benefit your property, yet you contribute not a shilling. A very bad feeling is growing up here, at Nelson and New Plymouth towards your class. Why do you not combine, and form a society to be called the "Associated Land Holders in New Zealand," and ascertain if there be not modes in which you can render yourselves useful? We want capital for agricultural purposes. Why do you not form a Loan and Trust Company? it could be made to pay you 20 per cent, with the best security. Why are no efforts made to extend the British whaling? Upwards of 100 American and French ships are now on our ground, and not one English ship. Why not form a company, with a considerable capital, to own sixty or seventy brigs to fit out of this port, and have a local direction here (the directors to hold shares) and superintend the whaling? The brigs would be coming in constantly with oil, which they would discharge into immigrant ships: the brigs of course would never go home. I have computed that men employed by such a Company would expend from £80,000 to £100,000 here in the year. Why not offer a reward for a flax machine? – Why not supply us with capital to erect saw and flour mills, and breweries? Our great want is capital, and we could pay handsomely for it; such narrow policy will assuredly bring its own punishment."

The Valleys of the Hutt, Ruamahanga, and Manewatu.

(From the report by Mr. KETTLE, Assistant Surveyor to the New Zealand Company, of the land in the interior, explored by the surveying party.)

Wellington, June 21, 1842.

"It now only remains for me to give a general description of the country through which we have passed. The Valley of the Hutt, at the present termination of the survey, is nothing more than a gorge, the hills approaching the water's edge on both sides of the river. The hills, however, very soon fall back on the eastern side, where there is a great quantity of fine land extending to the foot of the Tararua. On the western side there is no available land. In crossing from the Hutt to the Pakuratahi there is some rugged, but a great deal of available land. The formation of a road from the Hutt to the valley of the Ruamahanga will by no means be easy of accomplishment: I am quite confident that there is no communication between these by a valley; a range of hills called the Remutaka must be surmounted. They are a branch of the Tararua, and run in a southerly direction till they terminate in the western headland of Palliser Bay. To carry a road over, a careful examination would be required to be made of the hills, and sections of the country taken. This would occupy some time, and the expense would be very considerable; for which, however, I consider the value of the districts it would be the means of laying open, would amply compensate.

The valley of the Ruamahanga is often called (from a large lake that is in it) the Wairarapa valley. The lake is about thirteen miles long, and of an average breadth of five miles, the lower end of the lake is about seven miles from the sea, with which it communicates by a continuation of the Ruama-

hanga river; hut the natives tell me that the land between is of a swampy nature, and of little or no value. From the head of the lake to the top of the valley is a fine level tract of land, about forty-five miles long, and ten miles wide. The direction of the valley is about north-north-east; it is bounded on the east by the Tararura, on the west by a range called the Maungataki, on the south-east by some high mountains called Te Haurangi, which terminate in the eastern headland of Palliser Bay, on the south-west by the Remutaka, and on the north by the Rangitumou hills. Between the Maungataki and the Kuriture, there is an open space of several miles, which must lead into some fine country beyond. The greater part of the valley is covered with fern and grass, but there is a great quantity of wooded land, the timber being principally totara and mataihi. The river Ruamahanga, from which the valley receives its name, comes from the Tararua, and flows down the eastern side of the valley, receiving numerous streams until at last it falls into the lake. As we came down the western side of the valley, we saw but very little of this river. The natives inform me that it is of a considerable size, and not obstructed by timber. From the Ruamahanga to the Manewatu (a distance of fifty miles,) there are large tracts of finely timbered and level land, with a good communication, so that if we had an opening from the Hutt to the Ruamahanga, I believe we could then have a good communication with the whole of the interior of this island, by Taupo and Roturua to the Thames. On the eastern side of the Tararua and Ruahine ranges, there is that which is rather scarce on the western – materials for making roads, which the bed of every river and brook affords. The immense quantity of available land still remaining on the Manewatu – the value of the river as a means of communication, and its applicability to the purposes of

machinery, must render it a most valuable possession.

From GEORGE BEAVAN, of Wellington, to H. HENSHALL, of Whitchurch, Salop.

Wellington, June 30th, 1842.

DEAR HENRY,

This place is going on very finely; they are making fine roads and grand houses, far superior to any in Whitchurch. This is the place for trade. It was the best day's work we ever did to come here, and it would be the best thing you could do when you are out of your time, to come here, for there wants a good watchmaker here. Carpentering is a fine trade here: you will see what wages they get, by the newspapers I sent you. There is nobody out of work, neither the labourer nor any other trade that is. People are beginning to cultivate their land now, and the place is going on rapidly. Our trade is going on well, and is one of the first, for our work is increasing every week. We make a great number of whale lines now, out of the New Zealand Flax: we make them 120 fathoms in length. Dear Henry, you must not be surprised to see me in Whitchurch some of these days; I shall come and see you all before long, and then I think you will come back with me. I have been at Van Diemen's Land, and over a great deal of New Zealand. I can talk a great deal of native language. They are as fine a set of clever men and women as any in the world. I am learning to throw their spears, and we have rare games too. They take us out in their canoes to learn to swim – they can swim, themselves, seven or eight miles at a time, and do it very quick, and they can dive under twenty-five fathoms of water. If any thing is the matter with the bottom of a ship, the white people get

them to go and see what it is; if they drop a barrel of any thing to the bottom of the harbour, they will go and fetch it up; if a boat sinks, they get them to go and see how it lies. New Zealand is a fine country indeed. I often wish you were here; you would see such sport as you never saw in your life. Publicans are doing the thing here, they are rolling the money up finely. We can save ourselves about £6. in a month: our trade is a very good one I assure you: single men are getting from £2. to £3. a week, and they can live and lodge on the best of every thing for 20s. Send us some newspapers if you please. There are plenty of chances here to come back to England, so you must expect me some day to come back and stop about half a year, and then return. Now, dear Henry, do remember me to all you think I know; and now good bye, and God bless you all.

Yours, &c

GEORGE BEAVAN.

A New Zealand Paper of the 30th July, 1842, quotes the following letter from an enterprising settler at Wanganui: –

"After a year's hardships as laird of Wanganui, I now write you a few lines to let you know that my views of the place have not proved, as some thought, too high ever to be realized. Before I was nine months on the land I could live on the produce, excepting now and then having to get a pig. I met with many disappointments on my arrival, from both the white and native population; but I determined to persevere, and have at last made good my footing. Mine will be one of the best farms here; the greater part of the land is good. Several other places are better than mine for land, but I am nearest the town, at the same time, none of the surveyed lands

are distant more than two miles and a-half, and the road is good and level. I have good wood and water; and in a very short time I hope to be able to keep my horse, and ride about and superintend my farm. I have now to hold the plough, and will do so for another season. I have had a fine crop, from the manner in which I managed the land last season. My wheat-crop that is in the ground presents a very promising appearance, and I have a good breadth more land ready for seed; and should the season and other unforeseen events be favourable, I shall, I have no doubt, ship grain to Wellington after next harvest."

Extract from a Private Letter to H. S. Chapman, Esq., dated Wellington, 30th August, 1842.

"Things are in a greater state of reformation than they have been since the foundation of the Colony. We have now some appearance of order in having a harbour-master and pilots. The government party, as it is called here, consisting of the officials, is becoming more numerous, and of course stronger.

Spain's court of claims has done a deal of mischief – more than he anticipated, and more than he can quiet. In the third year a cruel stop is putting to agricultural exertions just at spring time. Notwithstanding these obstacles, there are, I should say, nearly 1000 acres cleared for crop, and every one feels assured of the profit for his labours. Wheat is calculated to pay £25 an acre, which is about the average price here, and not likely to go much lower.

The majority of the country in the neighbourhood is so difficult, and the exertions made to get on land have been so fair, that it is said that people are denied the profits they expected to derive. A vast number of the first settlers have been obliged to change their pursuits, and though the capacity for doing this is very

praiseworthy, yet it has been too universal to be seemly, and has been evidently mischievous.

Of the 100,000 acres, of which I know not exactly how many sections have been given out – say 70,000, certainly not more than 20 proprietors (or representatives of 2000 acres) have entered upon the cultivation of their land. This was never intended. At Nelson, now, at the end of nine months, 50,000 acres of accommodation land have been given out and will be occupied.

These are the common remarks here, and it is right you should hear them. This place has been created by the commercial people; and the checking circumstances which I have mentioned have, no doubt, encouraged commercial adventure in the people beyond what it would otherwise have been. I hope the Company's next settlement will be at Banks' peninsula. I am unaware of your information as to the geography of the Middle Island. There is no port or place of refuge between Cloudy Bay and Banks' peninsula, and none from them for 150 miles, till you reach Otago. Molyneux harbour is exposed; but a fine valley, I am told, extends into the interior 40 miles, and 12 miles broad. I have no doubt that the east coast of the Middle Island offers a very fine country for settlement.

At Akaroa upwards of 200 vessels entered last twelve months. The peninsula itself is a heap of mountains, but there is easy access to the main. The Company's purpose should be to extend to the southward, where all the valuable fisheries are. We have cargoes of stock pouring in from Sydney, all of which disappear in the bush. The Sydney people are becoming alive at last to this place, and embarking largely in the trade. I am quite certain that as many people as like may come out here to their own advantage. How many things there are in which capital and labour might be well employed – what numberless saw-mills might be set a going, and spars cut, and ships built!

Their stock-feeding may be carried to any extent. It would almost pay to import the lean cattle of New South Wales, keep them here three months, and return them doubled in weight: I do not think this is much exaggeration."

From a Settler at Wellington, dated 5th September^ 1842.

MY DEAR – – – ,

I think you will not be sorry to hear from me, and therefore I sit down to give you news about Port Nicholson, and some of our old friends. The place is so changed since you were here, that you would hardly recognize it. The town is becoming quite considerable, and the beach is almost built round from Barrett's old house to Tear's, where, you may recollect, we were stopped by the natives. The harbour also looks well, as we have rarely less than twenty ships of all sizes in it. They have lately appointed a harbour-master (Captain Hay), and two pilots are stationed at the Heads, who, I am sorry to say, are anything but efficient; but I hope this state of things will mend. We will do our utmost to make this a free port, and an attractive one. This port has not been frequented much by whaling ships, and that because so many ships lose their men by running away. They prefer going to Akaroa, in Banks' Peninsula, where there is only a small French settlement. No less than 200 ships entered that harbour in the last twelve months. The Hutt looks very well at this season of the year (Spring), and a deal of cultivation is going on there; but we are terribly stopped in the other districts, by a want of roads. It has obliged too many people to remain in the town, and turned many a good farmer into a bad storekeeper. Your old friends are most thriving; S – – – has built himself a nice house, and will probably turn to farming; R – – – has imported 200 head of cattle, and 600 or

700 sheep from New South Wales, and bids fair to become a rich man; D – – – has made some money in shopkeeping. If the – – – 's had stayed here, and acted with common prudence, they would have been comfortably off by this time. I have not lately heard of them. The Nelson Settlement, at Blind Bay, is getting on very well, and so is Taranaki. We are much alarmed here at the measure of Sir Robert Peel, for taking duty off foreign oil and bone, and hardly know what value to put upon it. Up to this time, the bay fishing has been almost a failure, and unless the off-shore fishing has been more fortunate, you need not look for much oil from this part of the world. The price asked for black oil delivered in Port Nicholson, at present, is £17. 10s. a ton, and £85 for bone. If the Company should form any new settlements, I should advise you to buy land in them. It is not a bad thing to buy early numbers of country land. I made a trip to the Chatham Islands the other day. It is a productive country, but deficient in any safe port, to the best of my knowledge."

From a Settler at Wellington to a Relative in England.

Wellington, 16th September, 1842.

"I have read with great pleasure and attention all your letters to me, and am highly delighted to find how great an interest you take in the prospects of our adopted land. For, although I shall probably return to England early next year, I am so much pleased with this country, that 1 think it will be only to make arrangements to remain here as my home. Your suggestions for the formation of societies and public institutions here, as calculated to raise interest in England, are most valuable; and I shall certainly do the best in my power to get them, or parts of them, adopted: but 1 am afraid that people here have got tired of

subscriptions, of which we have had a great many collected. By working the Horticultural Society first, on a proper footing, we can, however, pave the way for other societies of a scientific character, corresponding with similar ones in England. As to the hospital, an attempt was made some time ago to raise subscriptions for the purpose; but, after a clergyman, who was sent down here to us by the Bishop of Australia, had embezzled £40 of the collections, I heard no more of the affair. Before you receive this, you will have read in our papers that we have a Mechanic's Institute in full work. The sainfoin which you sent me is growing nicely at Newry, Mr. Molesworth's farm, in the Valley of the Hutt; and I hope to have some seed from it for sowing my father's land, when I get it into cultivation. The Messrs. Mathieson have as yet done nothing in ship-building; but have constructed a slip, on which their own vessel, the Clydeside, of 230 tons, is hauled up to be repaired – this is at Kai Warra-warra, about three quarters of a mile from town. I do not know the twin-brothers Robinson, and can hear nothing of them on inquiry among their own craft; perhaps they went to Nelson, and not to this place. Apropos of farms, Mr. Molesworth raised last year at the rate of eighteen tons of potatoes (kidneys) to the acre, and ninety bushels of wheat to the acre. 2 This is in the Valley of the Hutt, on land newly reclaimed from the forest, and flooded two or three times in every winter! We are just going to have a municipal election in the borough of Wellington, which affords considerable amusement to the idlers. I am happy to say that this class is daily lessening, and many are taking to the bush instead of wasting their substance by parading the beach. Notwithstanding all

the difficulties we have experienced, all the settlements in Cooks Straits are prosperous to an amazing degree. You will be pleased to read the accounts from Nelson, where Captain Wakefield is doing excellently. We expect – – -here on a visit in the course of a week or two, and I think we shall be able to persuade him to join the family circle which we form in our adopted land. We can find no one to manage the Phormium tenax. It seems odd, that no one of mechanical genius can discover a quick, cheap, and easy method of obtaining from this plant "the fibre, the whole fibre, and nothing but the fibre:" could this once be accomplished, we should have at once an inexhaustible article of export, which seems the great thing needful to our permanent prosperity. I shall write to you again by the first opportunity, and hope to be able to give you a favourable account of the result of my endeavours to carry out your views."

Extract of a Letter from a "Producer," dated Wellington, 17th September, 1842.

"I have recently been absent for a month at Nelson. The settlers were a leetle jealous of Port Nicholson, and boast of their buildings: this led me to the question, and on examination, I was astonished to find that a large proportion of the best houses were built and occupied by Port Nicholson people; and the most of the trade was in their hands; – a very large portion of the enterprise of the place was borrowed from us. There is no comparison as to the daring of the people between the two places, and the folks of the North, even acknowledge our superiority over them in this respect. Captain Wakefield is a superior man; his whole time is employed to advance his settlement, and every thought is on the same subject. The more I become acquainted with him, the more I think of his qualifications for the post he fills. I wrote to

you last year a long letter on the subject of forming a whaling company in London, having a depot here, and a local directory of persons holding shares in the Company. I named £15,000 as the capital; and went to show that it would benefit this place to the extent of £70,000 per annum. I worked the subject out fully, but you made no allusion to the letter, and as its contents were important, I do not think it would have remained silent; I therefore think the letter has never reached you. Press the subject at home. * * * Captain Smith has just sailed in the cutter Brothers, to examine all the harbours and districts in the Middle Island, under instructions from Colonel Wakefield. The plan of inquiry was drawn up before he sailed, and if he can carry it out you will say it is complete. If zeal and disregard of self be sufficient, I am sure he will carry it out."

From WILLIAM DEW to his brother MR. JAMES DEW, Gardener, Ham, near Richmond, Surrey.

Wellington, 2nd October, 1842.

MY DEAR BROTHER,

I have received your kind letter which I long looked for. I am very happy to find that you and your wife and all my brothers and sisters are well. I am very happy to hear that my dear mother is so well, and I hope she is comfortable with Benjamin. I hope she will not make herself uncomfortable about me, for I and my wife and family are all well; I have not had one day's illness since I have been in New Zealand; my family are all growing very fast; Ann and Harriett are two good girls; they have both kept their places since they have been in the colony, and Ann is grown taller than her mother. She is living with a Dairyman, and is getting very useful in the dairy. Harriett, also, is growing very tall and stout; my two boys also are growing very stout;

they will very soon be very useful, as they take great delight in using the axe, which is the pride of the colony. I am very glad to hear that Benjamin is doing so well, and am glad he broke up the meadow, as it must have been of great assistance to him. Give my duty to Mr. Algernon Tollemache: I shall be very happy to see him in New Zealand, as he is the sort of man we want here, to support the cultivation of the land, as it is a thing that is much wanted.

There is plenty of land that is fit for agriculture; it is a beautiful soil and a beautiful climate; all kinds of corn will grow well. You may grow pease all the year. That small portion of wheat which I brought with me yielded after the rate of seven quarters to the acre. I saved the whole of the seed, and made myself a hat with the straw, which I believe to be the first that has been made of straw grown in the colony. I have sown the seed on twelve rods of ground, and it is growing beautifully. I have got half an acre of land in cultivation. We sow the wheat in July, and reap in January. I am sorry to say, there are but few who support cultivation; they seem to be afraid of the bush, which is not half so fierce as it is represented.

Rutter has got nearly an acre of land in cultivation, he had a prize for his barley the first year. Philps has opened a brick-yard, and is likely to do well. Howell is a bullock driver, and is going on the same as usual; you wanted to know if he was my partner, but he is not. I have had two different partners; they were men who understood the saw. I am getting quite master of the saw, which I find great delight in. Our trade is not quite so good as it was, the timber is getting farther off. I am about to take some land in the country.

Mr. Sinclair wished me to take some of Mr. Algernon's land, but it is so far off; the natives will not allow any one to go there at present. They are

very civil in the neighbourhood of Port Nicholson. You wish to know what I did for a house until I built mine. There is a depot for all emigrants for one month, so that they may, in that time provide themselves. It is better now than it was, as there are plenty of houses to let. I have one nearly finished, which I intend to let at five shillings a week. I did not hold any situation on board, as my little family required a great deal of attendance, which took up the whole of my time.

I did not receive any money on landing. Philps held the situation as cook, which he received £10. for. There is a great deal to put up with on board, which requires a patient temper. If you think of coming, you must make up your mind to put up with difficulties, for things are not so straightforward as at home. I am getting very comfortably settled, and have no wish to return to England again. I have enjoyed the sweets of a sober life since I have been in New Zealand, which I intend to continue. We have got a bishop in New Zealand, and we expect to have a church very soon, which is much needed. Our town is in a flourishing condition; we have a great deal imported, but nothing exported, which robs us of all the ready money. We want the cultivation to go a-head. Very many of the young gentlemen which come out, walk the beach and smoke their cigars, and spend their money in the grog shops which are very plentiful. If every one was to try a little, the colony would very soon support itself; there is plenty of cattle now in the colony, and fowls. I have bought some fowls and a pig, and I intend to get a cow as soon as I can. There is but very few labouring men that take delight in anything but the grog shops. We have got a mayor elected in for the borough at Wellington. My dear brother, if you should come, don't overload yourself with tools, as they can be bought as cheap here, as at home. Shoes

are very much wanted, as strong as are usually worn at home; and bring all the money you can. So no more at present from

Your affectionate brother,
WILLIAM DEW.

From MR. R. STOKES, of Wellington. 3

3rd October, 1842.

"I am very glad to find you approve of our Agricultural Society which has found very general favour with our colonists; and with the munificent assistance of the New Zealand Company, who have very liberally presented us with a donation of fifty pounds, I think it may now be considered to be established on a permanent basis. The aspirations of its founders, in establishing the society, were not quite so lofty as those in which you indulged. They were satisfied if they could, in the first place, make it useful to the colony by exciting a spirit of emulation among the settlers in the cultivation of their lands, and by promoting the formation of gardens; they hoped, by means of the Society, to promote the more rapid introduction into the colony of those fruits and flowers usually cultivated in England, and also to render the productions of New Zealand better known in the Mother-country, by sending home from time to time, as opportunity might offer, favourable specimens of our ornamental woods, plants, &c. I think the exhibitions of the Society during the last season, will fully justify me in claiming for it the merit of having accomplished the two first-named objects. All were agreeably surprised at the collection of vegetables and other productions displayed on each

occasion, embracing all the varieties in ordinary cultivation, and which, in point of size and quality, could not be surpassed in England. Indeed, many kinds of vegetables, as the varieties of the cabbage, turnip, pea, &c, grow here much more luxuriantly. In the mean time, the formation of new gardens has continued steadily, and the spirit of improvement is rapidly spreading; during the autumn and winter, fruit trees and other valuable plants have been introduced into the colony, and I confidently anticipate that the exhibitions of the ensuing season will be productive of still greater interest, in the variety of flowers and fruit which they will display. From different inquiries which I have made, I find there cannot be less than two thousand fruit trees in the colony, the greater part of them in the town and its vicinity, but a considerable portion of them in the Valley of the Hutt. The greater part of these have been brought from Sydney and Van Diemen's Land; but some have been sent from England, and I am very anxious to see a still greater importation from thence, as the very best varieties may there be selected, and (with ordinary care in packing them and sending them in the proper season, and in putting them on board a vessel which is sure to sail near to her appointed time) no fear may be entertained as to the result. I think too much pains cannot be bestowed in procuring the best varieties, as they can be easily multiplied by grafting; but if we satisfy ourselves with inferior kinds at first, we shall lose much time in retracing our steps and correcting our mistakes, and the right application of time in a new colony is the unum necessarium. In this respect (I mean the contribution of fruit-trees and other plants useful to our colony) our friends in England, and those who desire that colonization should prosper, may materially assist us. Contributions to the Wellington Horticultural Society of fruit-trees and other useful

plants, will be of more service than subscriptions; they need not be afraid of sending too many, as, after the first and principal settlement is supplied, we have our friends at Wanganui, Taranaki, and Nelson to think of. All that I would suggest on this head would be that fruit trees should be of the best varieties, which may be readily procured from a respectable nurseryman. Peaches, nectarines, apricots, apples, pears, plums, gooseberries, and currants, are all useful, and will bear the voyage; they should be packed in cases lined with zinc, so as to be air-tight, the roots well packed with damp moss, and the plants well secured from moving with the same substance; no straw should be used, as it ferments with the moisture, to the serious injury of the plants. This I have ascertained from experience, as in a collection of fruit-trees I received from England by the Indemnity, which were nine months out of ground from the vessel's not sailing until March instead of November, as advertised, and which were very carefully packed, those packed in moss only were in very good condition; those packed with straw and moss were, from the cause above mentioned, many of them dead, and all more or less injured. It is hardly necessary to add, they should be taken out of the ground before germination commences in the spring. If a quantity of the plants of the quick-set were sent similarly packed, they would also be most useful. The thorn, I am certain, would grow better here even than in England; there can be no dispute about its making the best and most lasting hedge, or the advantage we should receive from having the opportunity of forming our enclosures with this most useful fence; but as yet, I regret to say, we have been unable to obtain any, though I hope before the end of another season we may be more successful. Any boxes of plants intended for the Society, if sent carriage paid to the New Zealand House, will be duly forwarded

by the Company's vessels, as from the liberal interest the New Zealand Company have taken in the Society's welfare, I feel assured that any contribution sent through them would reach their destination. In a very short time I confidently expect that, in the Valley of the Hutt and the valleys surrounding the town, we shall have extensive orchards formed; there are many sheltered spots peculiarly adapted for the purpose, and in summer (about the period when the fruit may be expected to ripen) we have no wind. Indeed, I do not see why cyder and perry may not be made here as readily as in England; and I have little doubt the experiment will be tried within the next two or three years. In the New Zealand Colonist (a paper recently established at Wellington, and of which I send you a number,) you will see we intend to form a botanical garden, of which a present of plants from Sydney will be the nucleus, and also that we intend to have two series of drawings prepared of the most interesting New Zealand plants, which will be accompanied by dried specimens of the plants, and specimens of our ornamented woods. The drawings (judging from those I have seen) will be beautifully executed, and one series will be forwarded to the New Zealand Company, the other to the London Horticultural Society. In the same paper you will also see a copy of a letter I have received from Messrs. Harris, the eminent nurserymen of Hackney, who have promised, with their usual liberality, to promote the interests of our society. While on the subject of horticulture, you may feel interested in an account of the different fruit trees, and plants now in my garden, which I give not from any feelings of vanity, (as I believe many of these things are to be found in other gardens in the settlement) but because a few facts like these form the best data for judging both of our progress, and of the climate in which such things flourish, and afford

the most conclusive answer to those detractors, who ignorantly assert that all is barren. I have then now in my garden at Wellington, besides an ample supply of vegetables, the rhubarb, strawberry, raspberry, gooseberry, black, red and white currant, the peach, nectarine, apricot, and fig, the varieties of the plum, and several varieties of apples and pears. I have also cherries, filberts, mulberries and quinces, the magnolia, camellia, daphne, oleander, passionflower, honey-suckle, jasmine, ranunculus, tulip and pickotee, and a very nice collection of roses, and also the elder, the privet, the water-cress, a few blackthorns, and a good sized asparagus bed, the plants of which have been reared from seed and will be fit for cutting next Spring. These were mostly obtained from Sydney, and I have every reason to think will do well. Some peaches, figs, apples, and other fruit-trees procured last season from that colony will, I think, produce fruit this year, as they have now an abundant show of blossom. I have also a few vines from cuttings from Sydney, and a few that have been brought from England; and I am sanguine enough to expect they will thrive well here and produce grapes for the table, as the thermometer from the end of December to the middle of February, is usually between 75 and 80 degrees. I may mention as a curious horticultural fact, that the carnation has never yet been introduced into Sydney; they have the pickotee, but not the carnation. I fear you may consider me almost tedious in my details, but I am persuaded that in these matters to dwell fully on details has its use. The readiest way to insure assistance from your friends is to show how they can be useful to you, and when we are all labouring for one common object – the prosperity of the colony – the best way is at once to state your wants and how they may be supplied. In a former letter you suggest a doubt as to the fitness of land subject

to floods for grain crops. In my last visit to the Hutt, I ascertained a very interesting fact relative to this point. I should state that this winter we have had more rain than in the two previous ones, and the Hutt has several times overflowed its banks. I saw wheat that had been four times covered with water, and yet was in beautiful order. 4 But the point to which I wished to direct your attention was in the instance of Mr. – – – -'s barley; that which has been flooded is, I understand, in first-rate order, that which has not been flooded has been attacked by the grub. Now a flood in New Zealand seems to produce an opposite effect to what it does in England, or a colder climate to ours; it produces a fertilizing effect in the deposit which it leaves, and, as it would appear, a salutary effect in destroying the grub, while the frosts which usually succeed floods in England, and nip the young blade, are unknown here. This is important to be known, because in the district of the Manewatu, more to the north and still warmer than Port Nicholson, on either side the river there are at least 100,000 acres of good land easily drained and still more easily brought under cultivation, but which must be occasionally subject to overflows from the river. Now if these overflows (as are proved by our experience in the Hutt) are beneficial, they must remove any apprehension or doubt from the mind of the cultivator. I have to thank you for the sainfoin seed which you obligingly sent me, every grain of which succeeded; in due time I transplanted the whole of it, so that I expect a good return of seed this summer. I am now on my way to Valparaiso on private business, but, while there I shall not neglect the interests of our Society at the colony, but I shall endeavour to procure such plants and seeds as may be likely to flourish in Port Nicholson, particularly the Spanish chesnut, and the Alpaca grass, a species of lucerne, which I understand has been extensively introduced from

Chili to the south of France, and which is considered very valuable. The settlement of Port Nicholson has everything to hope for from its situation, its natural advantages, and the liberal and fostering aid of the Company. Without referring to the settlement at Wanganui, or the more remote but magnificent extent of rich cultivable land at Taranaki, or the land in the immediate vicinity of Wellington, we are inclosed on the one side by the valley of the Manewatu, watered by a noble river, nearly half a mile in width, the land on its banks of the richest description, and not so thickly timbered or so difficult to clear as the land on the banks of the Hutt, and on the other by the valley of the Wairarapa, extending to Hawke's Bay (a distance of 120 miles); there the land is partly open, fern and grass, and partly covered towards the banks of the river with groves of timber of the more valuable kinds. All that we require is that liberal consideration with regard to our lands from the local government which we have a right to expect, and a judicious plan to be laid down and acted upon for opening the country by means of roads. I shall be happy at all times to supply you with such information of our progress, and such facts connected with cultivation as may be likely to interest you."

From CHARLES BROWN, Bricklayer, to the HON. A. TOLLEMACHE, Ham, Surrey.
Wellington, 10th October, 1842.

HONORABLE SIR,
I send my respects to you, and all of us. I hope this letter will find you well, as it leaves us all at present. We had a pleasant voyage, and arrived on the 19th of May, after a long voyage of 136 days. We don't regret coming, as I myself get 10s. per day, and William Smith the same; for we had the pleasure of building the first brick-house in the

colony. We are happy to say there are plenty of brick-houses going on at present, and there will be more yet. John Philps has got a brick-yard of his own; and as he makes them, we lay them. If you should come out, I hope we shall have the pleasure of building you one. We have had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Sinclair. Give my kind love to my mother, and tell her that I am doing well. I have heard that work is very dull in England, and tell her not to fret about me. Tell Mr. Smith's father that he is doing well: he lives close by us all, as I am living with John Philps. Tell my mother to write to me as soon as she can, with all the news. As for the natives, they are a very civilized sort of people: they come and sit in your house, and talk in their language as if the place belonged to them; but will take nothing without asking for it. We was, soon after our arrival, put under arms, in consequence of a native being found dead in the flax, all owing to the Chief, Wara Pora; 5but he is now Matu Matu, (that is, meaning dead). There are great many of them dying, and others leaving for the bush, since we first landed. Wellington is very much improved, new houses starting up every day; and we have now a Corporation of twelve Aldermen, Mayor, &c. &c. I am summoned on the Jury. Our election is just over, this day being the day for swearing in the Town Clerks, &c.: they are about chartering a vessel to bring them turtle. There is a great deal of cattle here now, and more expected. Tell my mother to give my best respects to Mrs. Tanthony, and also to Henry Dodge: also John Philps wished he was out here with him. We have plenty of potatoes, but the price is dearer than with you: at the present time, 8s. per ton. They are commencing growing wheat, barley, oats, &c, much better than in

England, where they can clear the land. The price of provisions are very dear indeed: beef. 1s. 6d. per lb.; mutton the same; pork 9d.; butter 3s. 6d. to 4s. per lb.; and most things in the same proportion. Bread 8d. the two lb. loaf; tobacco 2s. 4d. per lb. Tell Mrs. Hartfield that her son is doing very well, and thinks it very hard that he has not heard from them. And the Andersons are all well: Thomas is married. Mrs. Philps wishes you to see Mrs. Whightman, and give her kind duty to her, and particular Mary, and all the family, and tell them she is quite well; and also Mrs. Sight – and tell them Mrs. Philps is practising nursing, attending upon the ladies, and getting £4. to £5. per month. I also send my respects to Mr. Wills, Banfield, and Sawyer. I must now conclude by wishing that you may soon be here, and now remain.

Honorable Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
CHARLES BROWN.

From W. FERGUSON to a Friend in England,

Wellington, Nov. 1st, 1842.

MY DEAR SIR,

On Sunday evening, the 16th of October, – – – called upon me to know if I would accompany him on the following day in a walking expedition, through the bush, as far as Otaki, distant from Port Nicholson, upwards of 50 miles, in order to see a new vessel launched, which was built up there, and return in it. To this I assented; and the following day, taking with us three of the natives,, partly as guides, and also to carry blankets, tobacco, &c, to trade with the Mauris, we set off. We had a good road along the sea side, as far as Kaiwarra-warra, about a mile and a-half from home. Here we were joined by a Mr. Anderson, one of the ship's carpenters, who was

going to the vessel, and by a Mr. Box, who was going as far as Buccarra, and here our labours begun. Kaiwarra hill took us about an hour to get to the top, and from its summit we had a splendid view of Port Nicholson, and the harbour. We then entered the bush, and one of the grandest and finest sights I ever imagined, of wild wood scenery, began to unfold itself. Porirua river, which begun to wind its way like a small stream, gradually getting larger, until at Porirua it became navigable, lay many feet below our path, the trees tall and gigantic, of all shades of green, towering one above the other with flax growing in tufts on every branch; flowers of every hue scattered about, and parrots, and numberless other birds adding a charm to the scene by their melody. The walk to Porirua, twelve miles from Port Nicholson, where we halted to dine, became, nevertheless, fatiguing, as it was all up and down hill, and the roots of trees which lay across the path rendered walking both difficult and irksome. We dined off some pork-chops and potatoes at a warrie (house) of a person named Jackson; and after resting about an hour, took his ferry-boat across the river, which saved us about five miles. After about two miles walk along the beach, we came to Buccarra wood, which was much like that of Porirua, with this exception, that there were no trees thrown across the brooks, as in the latter, and we were consequently obliged to wade through, sometimes up to our arm-pits. This bush was about twelve miles through, and we then came to Buccarra Pa, (the native town), and entered the house of a chief. We were obliged to go through the hole into it, on all fours, and found two fires in the middle of the hut, no outlet for smoke, except the door, and after they had boiled us some tea and tiven (potatoes) we had supper, and lay down to sleep – men, women, and children, altogether. During the night, through

fatigue, &c, I was very sick, but had no occasion to get out of bed, as a hole through the wall enabled me to put my mouth through: we were not disturbed by rats more than twice during the night, but then they walked over us most gloriously. In the morning, after saying Taraqua, which answers either for "how do you do," or "good bye," we started off, and walked four miles farther, when we came to the rocky settlement Pa, and had our usual meal, potatoes and tea, which we drunk out of our tinder boxes. Our road from there lay along the beach, which, for six miles, was dreadful walking, the road being formed of sharp stones jutting up like knives, and afterwards of innumerable shells. About mid-day, we arrived at a house kept by a whaler of the name of Jenkins, where we fared better, having wild-ducks and salt beef for dinner, but no liquor of any kind to be got. While dinner was preparing, H – – – and myself lay along the floor, and overcome with fatigue, fell asleep. A few miles further brought us to Wanganui Pa, the largest we had yet come to; and there, the river being very deep, we had a boat to go over. The rest of the road being dry, hard sand (along the beach) was very very hard, and at seven o'clock at night we came to Otaki, and saw the Kibukka (Ship). After staying a few minutes on board, we arrived at last, after going a mile further to another Whaler's, (Mr. Taylor's) where our journey ended. With the exception of Wanganui, the whole of the country we saw previous to coming to Otaki, was hill and bush; but at Otaki, there was full seven acres of beautiful flat land over-run with wild oats and wheat, potatoes and cabbages as high as myself. Here, too, was a large Pa. The natives called us "Pacha." 6 About this place fish and wild fowl abound. The greens are the most delicious I ever tasted. The day after we walked, I walked up to Otaki Pa, and we were surrounded by about 300 of

the natives, men, women, and children. One of the Chiefs, called Rippa, wanted to "taboo" my head, that is, make it sacred, but I did not like the idea of his hatchet so near my sconce, and politely declined. The natives are very hospitable and very civil; and it will certainly be our own faults if we come to a rupture with them. After staying four days, the winds being against the vessel going out, we tramped it home; and passing through the same sort of scenery, arrived at Port Nicholson all safe, after being absent a week. Although day after day, I was wet through, I experienced no inconvenience from it, not even getting a cough; and although the spring is not come on, I am leaving off wearing flannel, &c. This, certainly, is a most healthy climate. You will have a long letter also by the Clydeside, entering into details of our prospects, &c. I do not regret coming out. I miss the society of our friends, but my health is re-established, my spirits good, my notion of independence of feeling and action realized, and every day makes me like the place better.

Believe me ever,
Very faithfully and sincerely yours,
"W. FERGUSON.

PETRE (Wanganui.)

Extracts from letters written by DR. GEORGE REES, late Medical Superintendent of the Lord William Bentinck.

Wanganui, December, 1842.

"The river Wanganui is one of the largest on a line of coast extending 600 miles. It is situate in lat. 40, midway between,and on the same coast as Port Nicholson and New Plymouth, being distant from the former 110, and from the latter about 90 miles, and communicating with each, and with the settlements of Manewatu, Otaki, Porirua, &c, by means

of roads; whilst the river itself constitutes part of the great highway between the former settlement and the seat of government, and the Bay of Islands in the north. It is also opposite the Nelson settlement in Blind Bay, at about thirty miles distance, and from its position relatively to India, Sydney, and the Australian colonies, the passage through Cook's Straits is avoided in voyaging between it and those places. Within fifty miles of the entrance of the river, are the Islands of Kapita and Mana, and it is the centre of the most prolific whaling grounds.

The Wanganui is a bar river, and in Wylde's Map, twelve feet at high water is erroneously marked on the bar, whereas, from actual sounding, I find that there is sixteen feet. When the Clydeside went in she drew ten feet; it was then rather more than half tide, and twelve feet was sounded in the channel. From the size of the river, it is visited by foreign vessels, and is thus enabled to carry on an independent trade; whilst its facilities for the business of a shipwright are so great, that it has already become celebrated as the place of building most of the vessels used in the coasting trade of New Zealand. To give you some idea of the capabilities of this splendid river harbour, I may mention, that off my township of Knowsley, which is situate about seven miles from the mouth of the river, on its north bank, I have capital anchorage in five fathom water; indeed the Hutt, compared to it, is as a puddle to a mill stream.

We are not here subject to the tremendous gales, which I mentioned to you in my former letters as being particularly disadvantageous to Port Nicholson, as well from their violence as their duration (lasting two or three days,) and rendering the cultivation of fruits, &c, precarious, except in its well-sheltered valleys; and having a comparatively level track of land, our communication with the adjoining country is perfectly easy, which is not the case at Wellington,

owing to the height of the hills, which separate the beach from the bush. We have already become the principal, as we are the nearest district, for the supply of fruits, corn, and general produce, to Port Nicholson. The farms here rival those of the best cultivated soils of England: and such is the propitious nature of both soil and climate, that sheep and cattle fatten by grazing on the wild pasturage, as well as those fed by the hand of man at home. Although New Zealand, generally, is a remarkably healthy climate, yet Wanganui and Taranaki are decidedly superior to the other settlements in healthfulness; and if invalids ever come to New Zealand from India, they must and will locate themselves in one or other of these two. The summer is very hot, but not as in England, sultry – there being a constant cool air floating about you everywhere – whilst that period which we call our winter, is with us totally devoid (as I have before written) of violent gales of wind.

Wanganui has got into notice in New Zealand, merely by the force of its natural capabilities; and now that people are looking out for themselves, we have scarcely a week pass without adding to the list of our inhabitants, the more particularly since the Clydeside brought so many of that useful class of settlers, who combine the possession of some capital with much energy – and, amongst the rest, several Scotch agricultural families, who, together with the others in that ship, had been living some time in Port Nicholson, and having explored Wanganui and other places gave the preference to this.

The expense of living is here, indeed, almost too insignificant to mention. We get plenty, not only of the necessaries, but many of what are esteemed, in England, the luxuries of life. A cow, with a calf by her side, we get for £10; a good useful horse for £35 (this price is coming down). We have an abundance of pigs, and our river abounds with white bait, eels, baracouta, karwi, plaice, soles, oysters, &c. &c,

and though last, not least, the harbouka, the finest fish ever tasted. At the heads of our river you can see fish, weighing one cwt. each, in such quantities that it is impossible to count them. We have hanging in our smoking room, hams, German sausages, bacon, saveloys, fish, &c. In our salting tubs, pork, &c.: and we get pigeons, ducks, snipes, &c, &c, for the shooting – to these we add, from our own stock, poultry and eggs. I think you will not find fault with our "carte" of vegetables and fruits, when I tell you that in my own garden, I have growing, amongst other things, peaches, apricots, plums, melons, strawberries west ham, cabbage, peas, beans, brocoli, carrots, cauliflowers, turnips, sweet herbs, &c, &c.; in short, I can truly say, 'Here one can live in ease, without care or trouble, in one of the most genial and healthy climates in the world, and where it only requires the hand of man to make a Paradise.'"

From DAVID HARRIS to his Mother, MRS. HARRIS, Widow, Shear, near Gifford, Surrey.

Wellington, December 5th, 1842.

MY DEAR MOTHER,

We are happy to inform you and all inquiring friends, that we experienced a pleasant voyage across the sea: the different sights gave us delight all the way from London, to our comfortable little house at Wellington. When landed, I was soon employed, and received five shillings per day, since the time beginning, for my daily labour – upon the road, and going with the Surveyors in the woods and roads, &c. – -We are well; my dear son is in good health, with a cheerful spirit, with me and wife. – The provision in New Zealand is dear in – butter, 2s. to 3s. per lb.; good cheese, 2s. 6d. per lb.; beef, from 8d. to 10d. per lb.; mutton, from 7d. to 9d. per lb.; pork, 6d. to 8d, per lb.; coffee, 3 halfpence per oz.;

tea, 7d. per oz.; bread, 6d. for two lb. loaf; tobacco, 1s. 6d. per lb.; sugar, per lb., from 2d. to 6d.; snuff, 8d. per oz.: house rent in general very high, from 5s. to 7s. per week, only with a single room. – I have met with a little house at 2s. 6d. per week; we expect a garden to be put to the house with a little advance in rent. Shoes very dear (new); soleing a pair of shoes for me cost from 9s. to 10s. – Gowns are dear – from 7s. to 8s. a common one, that might be bought in England at 3s. In my voyage, I met with work upon the vessel in Steward service, &c. – gained a sum of money, and found it useful when landed. My wife worked for gentlemen on board – with a kindness from our Captain (Pike) and when landed. The vessel leaves Wellington to-morrow for Nelson. New Zealand potatoes are plentiful and not dear. Fruit can be bought here, as apples. The gardens look well with cabbage, beans, peas, &c; the seeds for farmers, look well: rye-grass, white clover, tares, wheat, barley, turnips, &c Those who wish to come to Wellington, if they lead a steady life may do well: young women for servants are wanted, and single men. If they come to labouring work, or any other line of life, bring out with them a good stock of clothes and articles for their use, with good bed clothes, with a mattress; no feathers in Wellington can be had to make a bed, in general. My dear sister Jane would do well here, with needle-work for men and her own sex. Give our love to them, who are well-wishers towards me and my family. My wife's mother may make herself quite happy about me leading a life in New Zealand, with a sober mind, with industry. I now close my first letter to you, and hope to hear from you by the return of post, from the first ship leaving England for Wellington, New Zealand: we then will answer your letter by the same manner from us to England. The climate here is healthy, and not too hot, nor yet

very cold; with strong winds by times. The time for our day's labour is from eight o'clock (morning) till five in the afternoon. – We now remain with our good wishes to you and all inquiring friends.

DAVID HARRIS.

From J. PHILPS, Brickmaker.

Wellington December 15, 1842.

DEAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS,

This comes with my kind love to you, hoping it will find you in good health, as it leaves us at present, thank God for it. I take this opportunity of writing, as it is a very wet day, as I have but very little time; for when the weather is fine I am at work, from daylight till dark, for Henry and myself is making bricks, for it has been a hard task for me, for it has cost me twenty pounds for the fitting up the place and tools; but, thank God, I have burned one kiln of bricks, and have another made, and I hope in three months more I shall have more time to myself, as I intend to have a man to help me, if things go on as I expect. But the town is almost at a standstill at present, for we have had a dreadful fire, upwards of sixty houses burnt, and a great many stores of all kinds. If you know any one that is coming to New Zealand, pack the things in a box, so that the sea air don't get to it, and send it by them, as James Dew thought of coming, and I will satisfy them. If there is any money coming to me, you must send it the best way you think proper. Dear brother, I don't wish to advise you to come to New Zealand, knowing it to be much against your wife's inclination, but I do not regret coming myself; I hope, in the course of a little time, I shall be better off. I have had a great deal of trouble with sickness, with the two little boys. If you have, or know any one that has, £100 to spare for a little while,

tell them to buy a section of land; for if they should be fortunate enough to get a good town acre, it will fetch them from £200 to £300, for I have known some of the town acres to be sold for £500 on the beach. There is some of the country land not worth having, it is so hilly. There is one Mr. Butt, has sold his acre for £900, with six maori built houses on it. It is at present bringing in from 35s. to 40s. a week. If your wife should alter her mind, I should be very happy to see you here; there is no doubt but you would do very well, as I know you have some money. A pair of bullocks would get you a good living. Bullocks is about £30 a pair; beef is from 9d. to 10d. a pound; pork 6d. Fresh butter is 2s. 9d. a pound; we can buy cows from £8 to £10 each. – – – bought one for £8, but she has slipped her calf. My wife is nursing at present, at Evans' Bay, about three miles from Port Nicholson, at a large dairy. If you know any one that is coming to New Zealand, give them my directions. I shall be very happy to see any one that I know, that I might tell them how to act, for when a person comes here, it is a very queer place, they do not know what to do. So no more at present from your affectionate brother,

J. PHILPS.

From JOSEPH WHITE.

Wellington, Dec. 24th, 1842.

DEAR MOTHER,

We are living at the same place as when we wrote last. I have nearly declined the shoemaking trade. I devote my time to looking after the cattle, and my acre of land. We have three cows that we milk at present, one more that will calve in about ten days, and a heifer, and a very handsome bull, and four large calves; two are heifers, and two bulls. I have

the finest herd of pigs in the colony; my land is in a fine state of cultivation, and now in full crop. One half-acre is planted with potatoes and cabbage, turnips, parsnips, carrots, peas, beans, onions, &c. &c. &c.; about twenty roots nearly ready for planting; the second crop of potatoes at the latter end of January, about the time our first crop is ripe. I have not had my country land until now, we have waited to get it near the town, with a road to convey our produce to market. We have purchased a section of land about five miles from this place, on the main road to Porirua, Manewatu, Wanganui, and Taranaki, the Plymouth settlement; the road is in progress at present. I have sixteen acres of perhaps as good land as any in the colony, which I intend to begin to cultivate immediately; it was bought very cheap, it cost about £2. the acre; there is a plenty of fine timber on it for building and fencing. I intend to work three days in the week on it, and get it cultivated as soon as I can. I do not expect to go to live on it for some time to come. Cultivation goes on very spare: the reason is, that most of the landholders are gentlemen's sons, and know nothing about farming; I have often said that two of our old English farmers would do more than twenty of them. The land produces fine crops of corn, the worst of it. I planted a piece of land to wheat, a piece to barley, and another to oats. I thought the land very poor. I have an excellent piece of wheat and barley. I cut the oats when they were coming into ear, for the cows, a month since, and they are fit to cut again now. Corn will shoot up and grow the second and third year, as well as the first. Our winters are so mild that many things will shoot up and grow without planting the second time. We have two seasons in the year, and we plant potatoes the latter end of August, they will be fit for digging in January, we then plant the later crop, which will be ripe in June.

I sowed my wheat in September, it will be ripe the latter part of January.

We have a great deal of wind and rainy weather, but we have generally dry weather from this time until March, and then it is like another spring. Our Horticultural Society had their first show for the season on Tuesday last. I got the first prize, for having the largest garden, in the best of cultivation, and in the neatest order. I got the four first prizes for vegetables – potatoes, cabbages, turnips, onions. My potatoes were from a few early ones that I brought out with me. I took two cabbages; the worst head was 15 lbs. The prize for the garden is £1. the other prizes are 3s. 6d. each. We pay 5s. a year to be a member of the Society. The show of flowers was beautiful. We had an awful fire about six weeks since, it burnt fifty-nine of the best houses in the town; the damage was reckoned to be £16,000; it happened about midnight; it was all burnt in less than half an hour. Many were obliged to catch their children in their arms, and escape with nothing but their bed linen on. Some of the largest shopkeepers declared the next morning that they had not enough in the world to buy them a breakfast; fortunately no lives were lost. I believe nearly all the people in the colony gave something to relieve the sufferers. Some gave money, some timber, some clothes; the natives collected about £5 amongst themselves for the sufferers. I think in another month the buildings will be nearly complete again. It happened in a tremendous gale of wind. We have no houses for the poor; or laws, as I know of. When any case of sickness or destitution occurs, the party may apply to Colonel Wakefield, who will allow them a surgeon and food if required. All people in want of work are employed on the roads, at 14s. the week, and 7 lbs. of flour and 10 lbs. of meat. Our town is made a borough; we have a mayor and twelve

aldermen, and five magistrates besides, and a body of police. We are governed by English laws. The natives are under the same laws. Most of them profess Christianity: they meet in their chapel night and morning for prayer, and, to the shame of the white people, they keep the sabbath. By all that I can see, they have but the form of godliness. We have four places of worship; one church, one Wesleyan chapel, one Independent chapel, where I attend, one of the Scotch church. Mr. R. is living seven miles from us; he does a little to the tailoring. I have not room to say more. If I should be so fortunate for five years more as I have since I came here, and it should please the Almighty to spare me, I think I shall return.

JOSEPH WHITE, Port Nicholson.

P.S. Labourer's wages, 5s.; bread. 1s. four lb. loaf; cheese, the best, 2s. per lb.; beef, 10d. ; pork, 6d.; flour, 3d.; cows and calves, £15; a good horse, £50; sheep, £20 the score. A good cow will make from 5 to 7 lbs. of butter in the week, and get her own food in the winter as well as the summer.

From WILLIAM DEW, to his brother, MR. JAMES DEW, Ham, Surrey.

Wellington, 25th December, 1842.

MY DEAR BROTHER,

I have wrote this second letter to you since I received yours, hoping that you, your wife and family, are all well, and my dear mother and all my brothers and sisters are all well. I am happy to say that myself, wife and family are all well, and we are all enjoying this day, together in a homely way, as Christmas is in the middle of summer. We have for dinner the roast beef of Old England, new potatoes, cauliflowers, plum puddings, elderberries; –

we have none to make wine. Sugar, we have plenty, and very cheap. Beef is as low as 9d. per lb., mutton the same – flour is very cheap, at two pounds per 100. Our wheat is now in bloom; there is about 100 acres of wheat in the colony this year, which is most of it among the poor people. I have about twenty rood, which is looking very well. I have an excellent crop of potatoes, which I have had great demand for at 3d. per lb. I have a good crop of cauliflowers, which I have had the praise of the colony for second beauty: they have sold well at 6d. 4d. 3d. each, according to size. Our trade is not so good as it was, and so I fill up my time in the garden, which answers my purpose very well, as there are very few cultivators in the colony, I am sorry to say. I hope you are all enjoying yourselves in the old way. I hope my dear mother does not fret about me, for I am enjoying myself in my humble cottage that overlooks the wide sea. We have had a dreadful fire, which has burnt about sixty of the best houses down to the ground, which is a great pull back to the colony. Thank God! we lost very little flour; the wind was dreadful violent from the north-west that night, which swept the whole of the beach, which looked awful. They are building up again more substantially with brick. Money is very scarce in the colony. Give my duty to Mr. A – – – , I want to ask one favour of him, that is, if he will let me some ground on these terms – if I cannot do according to the Agent's terms – that is if I take a quarter of a section on a lease of fourteen years, to clear three acres a year, which I cannot do at present, without a little capital. I want to beg this favour, that is not to bind me down to clear so much the first year, as I cannot do so much, as my family is so small. If I could be allowed a little privilege at first, I should be able to do myself some good. I could clear about an acre the first year.

the second year two acres, the third year four, and so on, as when I cropped the first, I should be able to work the whole of my time on the ground, with my family, which, as they will in a short time be very useful to me on the ground, if Mr. T – – – will grant me that favour, I would return him many thanks, as I think it would be a good start for me. I have sent this letter by the Clydeside, that has been under repair at Wellington, which is come direct to England. She has brought with her a handsome present for the Queen, a sideboard, which is a specimen of our New Zealand woods: me and my partner sawed the stuff for it. I should like Mr. T – – – to see it, as it is worth any one's while to see it, as there is no wood in England to equal it; it surpasses every thing. We have the most choice wood of any island in the world. They are going on dressing the flax, which, if it answers, will be a great interest to the colony; it makes employment for the children, which at present there is none for them. My dear brother, if you come, mind and bring all the money you can with you, as tools can be bought here as cheap as at home, and other things reasonable. Pit-saw files very dear – at 1s. and 6d. each, would be a very good speculation to bring-some. If you should have an opportunity, send me a few dozen, as they would pack in a very small compass. A quantity of shoe-nails would be a good speculation to bring, as they are 1s. 6d. per 100. Bring all the seeds you can: pack them up very carefully. Give my duty to all inquiring friends: give my love to all my sisters, and tell Benjamin to be steady and industrious, and he will prosper. Ann wishes her love to her mother and father, and would be happy to have a letter from them.

I remain, yours for ever,

WILLIAM DEW, and family.

From a small Devonshire farmer in New Zealand, to one of the Directors of the New Zealand Company.

Petoni, Port Nicholson,
December 29th, 1842.

SIR,

You were kind enough, in London, to express a wish to hear from me on my arrival here, giving you my opinion of the land. I deferred writing until I could judge fairly of its qualities, which I think I can do now. There is no doubt about it being good, very good; and much superior to any land at home. We can produce two good crops in one year, which can't be done in England: wheat, averaging sixty bushels an acre, and potatoes sixteen tons ditto.

There is no doubt about a working man doing well; thirty shillings a week being the general pay, and provisions only very little dearer than in the old country. I consider him better off than a farmer in England, who pays £100. rent. I intend going farther into the bush very soon, on a section of land I have taken of Mr. Molesworth.

I am, Sir,
Your most obedient Servant,
C. M.

From an Officer of the Surveying Staff.

Wellington, January 16th, 1848.

"We have now delightful weather. This month corresponds with your July, but is not so warm; neither is the winter so cold as in England. The last winter has been one of the most severe that have been known by the settlers, and I never saw ice thicker than a penny piece – it is generally melted by 10 o'clock in the morning. The forest round Port Nicholson now presents a very grand appearance.

There is a species of myrtle here, called by the natives "rata;" this tree varies from thirty to eighty feet in height, and when in bloom, it is one of the most beautiful sights you can imagine; the top of the tree is covered with a splendid crimson flower, which nearly hides the leaves. When thirty or forty of these trees are growing together, it puts you in mind of some gorgeous pageant you have read of in fairy tales. The crops up the river Hutt are in a promising state; it is expected about eighty or ninety tons of wheat will be harvested this season, and next year there will be treble that amount. Vegetables are very fine here. Every thing you have in England will grow here luxuriously. There are now a great many fruit trees in the colony, and I dare say there will soon be a fine show. The natives along the coast grow plenty of water melons, which are of delicious flavour. A few people with plenty of money, or the loan company which is talked of in England, would do an immense deal of good. Great thanks are due to E. J. Wakefield and Mr. Partridge, who have lately prevailed upon nearly all the Mauries in Wellington, and also many along the coast, to employ themselves in preparing flax to send to England. The Mauries are to be paid well for it. I think ten or twelve tons will be ready to go home in the Clydeside, which sails for London in about ten days. This shows that there is really something being done. During the week the Governor pro tem. (Mr. Willoughby Shortland) has arrived from Auckland; also H. M. S. Favorite has come to have a peep at us. The arrival of the Governor here has made the place unusually lively. We have a capital cricket club here, of which I am a member; we played a match for a dinner about a fortnight ago, and I had the good fortune to be on the winning side. There has been a great stir in Wellington, in

consequence of the election of the first mayor, and Alderman G. Hunter, Esq., has been elected mayor. Mr. Halswell, who you remember came out in the Lady Nugent, is one of the police magistrates, and is also native protector. Colonel Wakefield behaves very kindly to those who have suffered by the fire; being at Auckland at the time, he hastened back to Wellington, and gave, in the handsomest manner, £10 himself, and £50 in the name of the Company. I hope some one will send out a flax-dressing machine – it will be of the utmost use, and cannot, I should think, be a very great expense; I am sure the news of such a thing arriving would be hailed with delight. Some time since, while on the survey, and resting at a Maurie's, for the sake of pastime, the native and myself proposed a game at drafts: I should tell you they are very expert at this game. We had no draftsmen, so he made his out of wood, and I cut mine out of some potatoes; and on the flat of a paddle we made a draft-board. While we were engaged in our game, a little pig ran off with one of my men, at which we had a hearty laugh. I find them always kind and obliging."

1 He returned to New Zealand in the Bombay, in August.

2 This must be considered an exceptional case; the average production per acre being estimated at sixty bushels for wheat, and sixteen tons for potatoes. See page 61.

3 Mr. Stokes was one of the first to interest himself in the formation of the Wellington Horticultural Society.

4 See page 33.

5 Waurepori.

6 Pakea – whites.

NELSON

NELSON.

From Mr. TUCKETT, Chief Surveyor to the New Zealand Company, at Nelson.

February, 1842.

"We have a thriving cheerful aspect, and most of the emigrants on arrival are pleased with the place, and the first impression is subsequently more than sustained.

I am happy to be able to announce that the town survey is completed, and that the whole 1100 acres were selected, and the choices registered, in three days and a half, to the pretty general satisfaction of all parties. Proprietors are now busily cutting up their town acres; 12s. per foot is readily obtained for frontage, or early choices, and for some 30s. per foot is demanded. The survey of the 50 acre sections is proceeding rapidly, and I trust that in six months they will be ready for delivery to the proprietors. 7

The result of my recent exploration to Coal Bay was so favourable, that it cannot fail to enhance the importance of this colony, because it assures us now of possessing some grand elements of prosperity: coal, lime, iron, and valuable timber.

Two cargoes of horses, cattle, and sheep, have been recently landed here; the first brought by Dr. Imlay, a celebrated Australian breeder, in beautiful condition, and very excellent stock. We are overrun with rats; they have no cunning or timidity, and are killed in great numbers, but there is no sensible diminution, which is not to be wondered at, if they produce sometimes seventeen at a litter, as is reported. It would be well if some colonists in every vessel would bring out some good strong terrier dogs, and some

round wire traps and gins. The increase of animals is extraordinary; for, besides the rats, we have two she-goats now here, each with five kids produced at a birth, and doubtless the increase of sheep will also be great.

Recommend emigrants to bring out seeds of various useful kinds, all sorts of vegetable seeds, fruit seeds, viz. gooseberry, currant, raspberry, strawberry, apple and pear pips, vegetable marrow; corn, as wheat, barley, oats, rape, beans, peas, vetches, clovers, turnip, and lucerne, and some good kinds of grass seeds, in canvass bags; different sorts of potatoes, and some rhubarb roots; also some forest seeds, as acorns, haws, holly berries, and dog-rose, furze, and broom, elm, and ash seeds, and the four first-named forest seeds, should be packed as soon as gathered in a box or cask, with layers of dry sand between them, and in good quantity."

From THOMAS DODSON, and GEORGE DODSON, to F. W. JERNINGHAM, Esq., Southampton.

Port Nelson, September, 1841.

"I arrived safe at Port Nicholson, on the 8th of September, in good health, after a voyage of 18,000 miles. I never enjoyed myself so much in my life; it is a very pleasant country. Provisions are dear, butter 2s. 2d. per lb., beef 1s. 2d., pork 8d. Clothing is also dear, but wages are very good; a day labourer can get 6s. per day; however, a man that would not come to the colony, let him stay in England and starve; my happiness will be complete when my wife and family arrive safe. I am employed with nine more to row a ten-oared boat daily. I am 63 miles from Port Nicholson, where they are putting up huts or houses, and the place named Port Nelson; the natives are very civil: they go naked in general; they are pleased if they can get a blanket to wrap themselves in; they are nearly

the colour of W. Smith, their hair is very strong, and they are very much surprised at my naked head, and they smooth me down my head with their hands, they are very fond of the English, but they do not like the French nor Americans; they are too much the we we – viz., they are very covetous; the natives sing and pray in their way; they make a fire, and say 'that if any do curse or tell lies they will burn in that fire, and they that are good will go up to the stars.'"

Port Nelson, February, 1842.

"George Dodson arrived in Port Nelson, February 1st, 1842, and the Lloyds the 11th after. I had a very pleasant voyage. It is nothing but a pleasant trip. The time soon passes away, and seems but as yesterday. It is a very pleasant country, I want my brother Charles not to delay coming, whatever others may do. Thomas and I are building a house, and I have got £1. 1s. per week; the work, eight hours in the day, and our rations are ten pounds of meat and ten pounds of flour, a quarter of a pound of tea, and a pound and a half of sugar per week, which is enough for a moderate family; and we have got our money wet or dry, sick or well, and I can save my pound a week clear. Thomas saw us coming, and came out with the pilot to meet us, as he expected Charles, and to his great surprise it was me, and a joyful meeting we had, and are still happy and comfortable together."

From J. C, Esq., a Settler at New Plymouth, to a gentleman in Cornwall.

Nelson Haven, 9th March, 1842.

MY DEAR T. –

I found on my arrival at Port Nicholson, that the place chosen for the New Plymouth settlement was

on the south-western coast of the northern island, and after narrowly escaping shipwreck in Cook's Straits, we were landed, with our numerous baggage, on the beach at Taranaki. A more lovely country mo one need desire to live in; but one grand desideratum, a harbour, we have not. We have not even a good roadstead, 8 and consequently, I am afraid, in the infancy of the colony, that some fainthearted, short-sighted individuals may do us great injury by condemning the locality, the Company, the surveyor, and every body connected with the choice of this settlement.

The farmer, the labourer, and the independent colonist have assumed a healthy and vigorous bearing, full of well-grounded hopes, and determination to do their utmost by a soil which barely asks for their powers to clear and cultivate it. Our country sections have not yet been given out, on account of the difficulty of cutting surveyors' lines through such thickly-timbered districts. I should hope, by the end of April, that about 2500 acres of suburban land will be ready for selection; and then I hope to see the farmers go to work in earnest. We have been at a stand-still for working oxen. I felt the want of this so much at last, that I went to Port Nicholson and bought some cattle, which are now on their way to Taranaki. In the meantime, I have been taking a trip with Colonel Wakefield to Nelson and Taranaki. We nearly escaped total shipwreck in the passage between D'Urville's Island and the main land of the South Island, from the inaccuracy of the chart given by the French surveyor. The ship grounded on a rock for nearly twelve hours, until the tide floated her again. The only damage we sustained was unshipping and straining our rudder, and perhaps tearing off a few sheets of

copper from her forefoot. During my stay at Port Nicholson with Francis M – – – – -h, that genuine good fellow, and pattern for all Anglo New Zealanders, notwithstanding all the melancholy prognostications of – – – and the idlers, went to work and cleared his land – a most formidable undertaking – and is now reaping the benefit of his wisdom and forethought. I do not know any one in New Zealand who has overcome all obstacles so well and successfully as M – – – – -h, and has encouraged so many others by his example to go to work seriously, instead of idling about Wellington, indulging in all the expensive habits of the New South Wales storekeepers. The Company's settlements seem all in a most flourishing condition.

I was obliged to leave off here in order to go on deck, to witness our arrival at Nelson Haven, where we are now at anchor. It is a very extraordinary little harbour, formed by a mere sand-spit that makes a natural breakwater; the entrance guarded by a formidable, grim-looking pinnacle-shaped rock, called the Arrow Rock. We were sorry to see one of the late emigrant ships, the Fifeshire, lying wedged into the rocks, with no prospect of getting her off. She was trying to work out when this occurred. The town is selected in a flat plain about a mile from the harbour, to which there is a road over a tolerably high hill, and another round by the beach. The place seems rather swampy, but it may very easily be drained, and made valuable. Part of it is at present covered with a grove of pine trees, which I fear must all come down and give way to brick and mortar. At the back of this ran the mountains, forming a most beautiful and striking coup d'oeil. The quantity of land fit for agricultural purposes is stated to be considerable; but I cannot judge of this, not having been into the country at all. The Colonists are spreading over the town, and all very industrious and

satisfied. They have a most excellent lime, and coal cannot be far off; so, in a few years, we may hope to see nothing but brick and mortar erections, instead of wooden houses, which would be very expensive, from the scarcity of wood. They have a capital sort of clay for making bricks, and have already made several thousands. Captain Wakefield is universally respected and beloved, and it is impossible for any place not to thrive with such an indefatigable leader. I wish you could persuade the thousand-and-one fine young English gentlemen of Cornwall, and any others of your acquaintance, younger sons, &c, how much more desirable a useful, well-employed colonial life is, to idling about London, angling for heiresses, or other less legitimate means of acquiring money. Here they may live comfortably and respected, either single or married, and be increasing their incomes, year by year, in one of the most magnificent countries and delicious climates that you can conceive.

VALLEY OF THE WAIMEA.

To the Editor of the Nelson Examiner . 9

SIR,

As so many of your readers feel a lively interest in all that regards the agricultural prospects of this settlement, the following account of one of the districts now being surveyed as suburban land, may not be considered as intrusive.

The whole valley of the Waimea may be equally valuable and interesting; but as my acquaintance with it is but limited, I must confine my description to that portion lying between the bottom of Blind Bay and a river which runs into the Waimea, about six miles south. The range of hills on the east, and the Waimea on the west, form the other boundaries of the district. The whole of this extent is level, unless

a series of low hills which jut out from the foot of the grand range about a mile or two into the plain be included within it. The part next the sea is chiefly occupied by an immense bed of flax, which runs about a mile and a half in the direction of the length of the valley. The grass is very fine, and, together with sow-thistle which springs up amongst it, forms quite a thick carpet. Here is probably abundant pasturage for cattle. Next commences a thick bush, which extends to the river both on the south and west. The bush is accompanied by flax, fern, &c.; and the whole may readily be cleared off by fire. A large space, especially adjoining the hills, is covered with fern, some of which is of enormous growth.

The soil, judging from the general abundance and freshness of vegetation, is very good. Its depth (from three or four trials) may be stated at about one foot on the hills, and in the plain itself about two. One or more of the different varieties of grass is almost everywhere to be met with. Sow thistle is extremely abundant; the greater part of the plain is free from marsh, and bears no marks of being ever flooded. The large flax bed mentioned above is marshy; the rest is generally dry.

The district is well watered. Besides the large rivers, which form two of its boundaries, several small streamlets issue from the lofty range of hills on the eastern side, and intersect the plain. Water may also probably be any where found, with but little trouble, by sinking a well, the digging of which occupied one man about two hours, and which has for three weeks past afforded a plentiful supply.

This fertile plain presents no obstructions to being brought into immediate cultivation, with the exception of the marsh, which would require previous draining; unless, indeed, its natural produce (flax) should prove valuable. This marsh, which is only partially wet at present, adjoins the sea – is in one

compact mass, and otherwise presents facilities for being drained. It might in a great measure be freed from water, by merely affording channels to one or two small streamlets, which, having no present outlet, expand themselves into the marsh in question. But the wet ground is very inconsiderable in extent, compared to the more available ground producing fern and grass. The former is at present apparently ready for the plough, particularly where it has been burnt; and the latter, even if left unimproved, must be valuable for pasturage.

The scarcity of timber may be considered one of the drawbacks to the value of this district. Little or none of any size grows within its limits. However, an inexhaustible supply may be obtained on the other side of the Waimea. The small valleys also on the eastern side are wooded, and fine timber may be procured from them.

Its facilities for communication are remarkable. The sea skirts its northern end. The river Waimea is navigable at least along a considerable portion of its western side; and the river at the south end, where I have seen it, is sufficiently wide and deep; but I cannot say how far it may be available for purposes of transport. Besides these means of water communication, a good road may be obtained by following up to its head the principal valley in which Nelson is situated. A moderate slope separates this from another valley, which, opens into a plain adjoining that of the Waimea. When once on the plain itself, the formation of roads is comparatively easy, and good materials are almost everywhere at hand.

The little branch valleys abound with pigeons, parrots, pheasants, and many other birds. The rivers are frequented in great numbers by ducks and other water fowl.

From the above statement, it would appear that the landowners of Nelson may congratulate them-

selves on the prospect of speedily obtaining land – extensive, well-watered, apparently very fertile, with great facilities for communicating with the surrounding districts; and, it may be added, within seven miles of the town of Nelson. The other tracts adjoining this and elsewhere – equally, or perhaps more. desirable – I leave others to describe.

I am. Sir, your most obedient servant,
W. BARNICOAT.

To the Editor of the Nelson Examiner 10

RESPECTED FRIEND,

Having twice visited the valley of the Waimea, and penetrated some distance into the interior, I may perhaps be able to give some information respecting that district.

The valley of the Waimea, is about sixteen miles in length, by six in breadth at its lower extremity, being intersected by the river, which runs about north through the middle of the district. That part of the valley adjoining the coast consists of mud flats, covered at high tides, which extend from one to two miles into the country. Through these flats the river runs in three channels, two running to the eastward and falling into the bay, called Mouturoa, and one taking its course to the westward, and joining the sea towards Moutuaka,

Leaving the mud flats, we crossed a large extent of land, covered with flax, manuka bushes, and grass, occasionally swampy, but affording much good food for cattle. Still more to the southward are extensive plains of grass land, more elevated than the former, often of very good quality, and with a thick undergrowth. Some woods and streams abound in this part, affording plenty of eels and ducks.

At a distance of five miles from the flats a river flows from the hills to the eastward, entering the

Waimea at right angles. This is a fine river, containing a good supply of water. One mile from this river we come to a fine pine grove, which extends from the Waimea to the hills at the westward, and continues till the river meets the hills on that side. Much of the upper portions of this wood is only manuka bush. There is a fine tract of land eastward of the Waimea, and southward of the river before mentioned, which contains a large quantity of fine timber, occasionally varied with open land.

I understand it is the intention of the chief surveyor to lay out the land on the coast-side of the Waimea, as far as the river from the hills, and also the whole of the land towards the west of the river, as accommodation sections, of 50 acres each; the tract of land before mentioned on the east side being reserved for the rural sections.

The land in the valley of the Waimea is generally very good, producing grass, cabbage, &c, very abundantly. The river falls rapidly, having occasional falls of four to six feet; but the influence of the tide is felt for some miles. The land everywhere in the neighbourhood of the river bears the appearance of occasional extensive inundations; but these might be, in a great measure, prevented by the removal of the banks and timber which at present form the obstructions to the water. I am thine truly,

J. S. COTTERILL.

From Mr. THOMAS BREMNER, one of the Cadets on the Nelson Surveying Staff, to his parents.

"THE NATIVES. – The men in general are fine grown and well made, having immense muscle; they have particularly well-shaped heads, high foreheads, and good eyes, and the tattooing gives them a manly cast when you can accustom yourself to the idea; the nose of all the natives I have seen is evidently the

worst feature; the mouth is not very good, hut the hair being a good black, and naturally curly, they are most certainly fine and pleasing fellows. I am almost afraid to touch at a description of the fairer sex, having at present seen but few specimens even decent in countenance, and not more than two good-looking girls. All are tattooed that are tap-a-tap, or married; they are particularly anxious to obtain English wearing apparel, but I am certain if they knew how much better they look in their own mats, or a clean blanket, they would never change them for a dress in which they appear so awkward; and, besides, it very materially diminishes from their height and appearance. The natives are, with very few exceptions, very lazy, and sleep an immense deal; and if you attempt to reason with them against their habits, they directly ask the question – are you Englishmen better off than the Mauri? – have you more to eat or more to drink? If you have, we have plenty, and the surplus you must waste: we plant our potatoes, fish, attend to our pigs, and make our own mats and canoes, and are happy without money: you white men must have all these, and money too. If you ask why they do not work for their children, they tell you they must work for themselves: the women here do a large portion of all labour, and are quite under the control of their husbands, yet there appears a strong affection between some of them.

FOREST TIMBER, &c. – All the way along the beach are steep cliffs, until you come to the river called the Miti, which is the site of the town. The river rises in the hills at the back, and runs down to the valley by the side of a very beautiful wood, containing about 150 acres, and in which there are some very fine trees of the pine species, with some birch, and some other native woods, of which I will send specimens for your inspection next time, with some seeds and leaves. I wait to enable me to give you

some idea of their nature: there are many fine shrubs here, of the laurel description, and some bays, geraniums, and fuchsias; indeed, all the plants remind me much of England, except that here the trees retain their foliage during the winter. The description of the forest timber, I believe, is equal to the description given by many, and is certainly finer than you can have an idea of by stopping in England, for here you see a tree 100 feet without a branch, and would square up that height six feet: this I call a fine tree, yet you see many like them in these woods.

SITE OF NELSON. – The site chosen is of itself prepossessing in appearance, and the small show of houses at present very much improves its surface; the greatest and almost only objection to this place is, that there is a large tract of land covered by the tide, and therefore at present rendered useless; but I fear from its situation being valuable, much of it will ultimately be recovered, and that its arrangement or allotment may materially interfere with the good Arrangement of our town; the greater part of our streets are at right angles, and point with the compass; the principal, if not the only wind blowing south-east or north-west, and the rapidity with which it changes from the one to the other would astonish you. Some of the streets are a mile or a mile and a half in length.

POPULATION, &c. – We have had a marriage here; – – – – – – took unto himself, a widow, not fearing old Weller's advice. There have been three burials and one birth; we muster upwards of five hundred souls, besides three bullocks, a cow and calf, more than forty goats, twenty sheep, about two hundred fowls, – and I cannot count the pigs, – a large quantity of dogs, I should say sixty; besides these there are cats, geese, ducks, turkeys, and rats; so you may be assured we are not a little proud of

the progress of our colony. There is a whale-boat come with a specimen of coal found here; this makes three quantities we have received."

From Mr. WILLIAM CULLEN to Mr. TURNER, Merchant, Langport.

Nelson, 10th April, 1842.

"FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF NELSON. – There is some very good land here, but it is very hilly, and the hills are so steep, that a person standing on one side of them, would be afraid to look to the top, lest he should break his neck at the bottom. Some of these series of hills are so very high that the snow stands on them in summer as well as winter: for our rural sections we must go a long way from Nelson, which is situated seven miles below Pepin's Island, in Blind Bay. It is a beautiful climate, and not subject to such violent winds as Port Nicholson, as we have not witnessed any since we have been here, nor have the surveyors that were here three months before us. The beautiful climate of Blind Bay has often been spoken of before by one of the principal surveyors of Taranaki, as being the best in New Zealand.

PROBABLE PRODUCE. – The cultivating of land will pay well here. Potatoes grow two or three crops a year, and sell at eight shillings per cwt. Beans do not answer here. Oats, barley, and wheat, answer very well, and a brewer would soon realize a fortune if barley was grown to a good extent here, which I have no doubt it]will be as soon as matters are brought about a little. Here are a great many things a person of small capital would soon make a good fortune by – say £500 or £1000.

WHALING. – A thousand pounds would set a person on with the whaling, which many have made large fortunes by – one now lately retired at Port Nicholson

with many thousands. A hundred sperm whales entered Massacre 11 Bay this year, in a lot.

Coal has been found at Massacre Bay, not far from here. Buying cattle from Sydney and shipping them here would do well. A plenty of lime-stone has been found at Massacre Bay, but no person has shipped any quantity, or burned any, which would pay well, and will be much wanted.

BRICK-MAKING, &c. – Brick-burning is going on but sparingly, but brick is much in demand. A person of capital, setting it on in good earnest, would make a good thing of it. Brick is three pounds a thousand. A person buying from ships, and selling out again in small quantities, could do well, and could get fifty or a hundred per cent, by it. Storekeepers, of all useful kinds, get immense profits. Mr. Dudley Sinclair told me that he did not doubt, that although the public-house-keepers pay thirty or forty pounds per year for their licences, they realize, in the least case, one thousand pounds a-year. Here are many things a man of good perception could soon get a good fortune with, had he money to set off with. I have a middling choice of land in the town, No. 259, but it is only a few very early choices that fetch much, although people stop at home and speak of one and two thousand pounds for an acre of town land. I should be glad to see one or two hundred for mine.

THE NATIVES. – The natives are very civil and harmless, though active and intelligent; very hard to deal with, and not very easily taken in. They are very graceful in their walk and address – no shyness in address to a superior – in short, I believe they think no persons their superiors. The old ones are tattooed in a most curious manner, and some are tattooed about their bodies; but I think only the chiefs are allowed it any where about the body, the

rest only in their face; they are a fine race of people, stout and well made. Much has been said in England about their fierceness, but a milder, kinder people, I believe, does not exist. Our ladies of the Fifeshire, that almost dreaded the idea of seeing an ugly tattooed New Zealander, would no more be afraid of one of them, or I believe not so much, as they would of one of their country of the lower orders – at least they are perfectly harmless, and I believe that nothing would induce them to meddle with, or injure a white man. Some say, they in some cases, steal; I believe in no case have they been known or proved to do so; I a little suspected it, but I now believe no such thing; the lost things I have found, and I have trusted them anywhere, and lost nothing by them.

SEA FISH. – There is a great variety of shell-fish here; some very good, equal in quality to English salmon, but very little in the fresh water. A kind of trout and eels are all I've seen. The trout are small and not much sought after, but the eels are most delicious, far exceeding any thing of the kind I have tasted in England; they weigh from eight to the pound or less, to eight pounds each, and some a great deal more. A friend of mine caught some at the Waimea district, weighing fourteen pounds each; this I can say is a fact, which I could not have believed had I not seen the eels.

VEGETATION. – Here are a great variety of shrubs and creepers; the shrubs are such as I have never before seen; they say they are very beautiful, but I have not seen the flowers.

BIRDS. – Here are a great many kinds of birds; the pigeons are very numerous; it is not many days but I have two or more for my dinner; people have written to England how very large they are, but those which I get are but little larger than those in England. There are three or four different sorts

of wild ducks, teal, quail, and a great variety of others, some very curious and very beautiful in their plumage.

PROSPECTS. – I believe my account is too brief to give you very full information. Letters must be deficient to the case of a person speaking, where you may ask any question and receive an answer; but I must tell you candidly, (and I believe every word I have said is so), that any man who intends to live by industry of any kind, such as trading or labour, may do better here than in England.

PROVISIONS AND WAGES. – Labourers are getting good wages, and must find a great change here, where they get thirty or thirty-six shillings per week. The Company gives a guinea a week, and ten pounds of flour, and ten pounds of beef or pork, with tea, &c. Bread is eighteen pence the four-pound loaf, port wine twenty-five shillings per dozen, bottled ale fifteen pence a bottle, fresh pork eighteen pence per pound, mutton one shilling per pound, flour about thirty-five shillings a sack; so that baking is a good trade here.

People who come should try to get good labourers that will stand by them, as it is hard to get a person here that cares anything about work; at least they won't do a master justice. Here are a great many pigs running wild, and catching them suits many better than work. You see by the position of our harbour in Blind Bay, it is better situated for mercantile business than Port Nicholson, being out of the difficult navigation of the Straits; and, on an average, they are twice as long going from Port Nicholson to Sydney, as going from Nelson to Sydney, as the Straits detain ships so long, and we have a snug little harbour. On good land here almost anything will grow; the vine, oranges, and a great many things that will not grow in England; and a farm here, well managed, must be a pleasing sight –

no such thing is yet to be seen. I have tried many seeds, and all answer well. Green peas may be gathered all the year, or nearly; here has been felt a want of rain this summer, which has not been known before; for three months in summer there was scarcely any, and very warm, warmer than in England; but they say not so cold in winter. Many have written from New Zealand from interested motives, but mine is not; though but little, and of little consequence what I have said, I defy any person to deny the truth of it. A person coming here must not expect the comforts they find in England, and must expect to live in a weather-boarded house at first, but in the course of time it will be remedied. The town acres will be given out to-morrow, and people will build more.

Yours truly,

WILLIAM CULLEN.

From JAMES HARPER, a settler at Nelson, to his friends at Wootton Bassett.

April I7th, 1842.

DEAR FRIENDS,

We embarked on the 14th Sept., and was till the 2nd Oct. before we could sail; on the 19th January we saw the South Island of New Zealand; 20th, entered Cook's Straits, and dropped anchor in Port Nicholson Bay, and there we lay for eight days, for the sailors struck, and eight went to prison for a month. Now a little about Port Nelson. Nelson lays in Blind Bay, the name given by Captain Cook, when, going round the South Island, he thought of going through the bay into the sea again, but was deceived because the Bay lays so far back. Nelson will be a larger town than Nicholson. The streets laid out here are seventy feet wide, and three, four and five miles long. High street is eight miles

in length. 1100 acres of land for building, plenty of clay and timber of the white pine like deal. The sawyers cut it out at £1 5s. per hundred. We have three brick yards begun; here is plenty of work going on. Labourers get from 6s, to 8s. a day, and are paid in money. Men working for the Company get £1. 1s., 101b. flour, 101b. beef and pork, 1 lb. sugar, 1 lb. tea per week. Carpenters and bricklayers get 12s. per day. The natives are very civil and very deep; they will beg, but not give anything away. They bring oysters, fish and potatoes in little flag baskets holding about half a peck; they put the small ones in the middle and sow the basket up, that you cannot see them till they are opened. They are very stout men, but very lazy and dirty; the women do all the work and carry the loads, and when they sell, the men take the money, and carry the children: they ask one herring for everything they get for sale, if it is not worth two pence, that is, one shilling; they will not take sixpence nor halfpence, they like new money. We have plenty of money here, one pound notes and cheques; here is two tons weight of gold landed here to open a bank. The first sermon preached by the primitives, on Easter Sunday, by a man from Bath. I heard a missionary preaching to the natives: we could not understand anything but the natives had been taking too much whipe havo of the pokeeys, that is, whipe havo is spirits, and pokeeys white men. I like the country very well. I had a master offered me 8s. per pair for making high shoes. I never found it so hot in June in England as it was here in February. I was in the wood cutting timber to build my house: here are three fresh water-brooks running nearly all round the place; all the houses are built round by the water; the wood and timber runs the same rounds and clay close to it: the town acres are given out. There is a kind of wild plum in

the wood; the gooseberry is something like the acron. Be sure and tell the people to keep out of the sun crossing the line. We arrived at Nelson a fortnight before the Lloyds. Here is plenty of goats, and dogs, and rats. If any should come, let them bring some green tea, oatmeal, nutmegs, ginger, carraways, and cheese; they may bring what luggage they like. I might have brought half a ton or more. I shall do a great deal better here than at Wootton Bassett,

JAMES HARPER.

CLIMATE AND RESOURCES.

Extracts from a Letter dated Nelson, 27th April, 1842.

"Now, remember, I am not writing to you any humbug whatever, nor giving things the smallest possible bias, but describing them exactly as they appear to myself. I think we are exceedingly fortunate, and my reasons for thinking so are as follows: – In the first place, we shall have no difficulty in finding 200,000 acres of fine land within a reasonable distance of the town: in the second place, because we have a most beautiful climate: third, because, at the same time that we have a good deal of open land, we have abundance of timber: fourth, because we have abundance of coal, limestone, and iron stone.

First, the land to be given out will be, in the first place, about 60,000 acres of, generally speakings rich alluvial soil, up the valley of the river Waimea, near the mouth of which the town is situated: second, the rest in Coal Bay, where the lime, coal, and ironstone are found. With regard to the quality of the land, a great deal is first-rate; some of it will require little labour in preparing for crops.

As regards the climate here, I never saw anything more delightful, or a greater contrast to Port

Nicholson. Instead of being tormented with winds here, we have absolutely almost too little wind, if such a thing is possible; there is always a delicious freshness in the air, most different from the climate of Australia. (The writer had also been there.) Some crops, such as pease, cabbage, and turnips, we shall be able to grow all winter; and as to grass, it will, I apprehend, be more luxuriant in winter than in summer. The effect of all this upon farming operations is not to be overlooked. As regards the timber, we have a great variety for the purposes of house building, and various sorts which are known to make beautiful furniture, besides other sorts well adapted for ship building. There is also coal in great abundance in Coal Bay. The limestone and ironstone are both first-rate. Our population at present amounts to 1700, and we know of several ships which are expected immediately. The general appearance of the settlement at present is that of a pic-nic upon a gigantic scale – tents and cottages perched about in all directions, amid groves of trees, and upon the banks of streams. There is, as yet, very little division of labour. Wages are at present ruinously high; a common labourer cannot be had under 6s. a-day, carpenters 12s., and sawyers 15s. Of course, while this lasts very little can be done, but when we have more emigrants labour will certainly become more reasonable, though never perhaps so low as at home. It is a splendid country for the working classes; and though food at present is dear, whenever its resources are called into play, with our climate and soil, every sort of vegetable will be produced in the greatest abundance. – May 5th. The population increases rapidly. In another year I expect we shall have 4000. I have been up to see the valley of the Waimea, and have been delighted with it. There is a great extent of the richest soil, and a great deal of it will be brought into cultivation

at an outlay of not more than £3 per acre. The system of emigration pursued by the New Zealand Company appears to me to have a sure basis, and only wants a good field to be tried on, and that it will find here. We shall yet see considerable things done in Nelson.'"* – Edinburgh Advertiser, Jan. 27, 1843.

From CAPTAIN ARTHUR WAKEFIELD, R.N. Nelson, April 29th, 1842.

"We are getting on wonderfully well, and expect a run upon us from England. The land must be prevented from being sold to absentees, except at a premium, or the progress of the place will be much checked.

Revans has been here, and I expect he will give a good account of the place. He sold a part of a cargo from Sydney pretty well, and bought a herd of cattle, and established a station or dairy; so I suppose we shall have him over again shortly.

The satisfaction which has prevailed since the distribution of the town acres is remarkable, and I am persuaded the accounts which go home will be so good that it will cause a run on the wheel. The most valuable part of the town, and the easiest let, is all that north of Trafalgar-square, and south-west of the river; the whole of Burnham is also good, and easily let, as the soil is excellent, and is richly timbered. This is north-east of the river. The water frontages on Wakefield and the Haven road are generally steep, and have only their frontages available, which makes them less valuable than flat acres in a worse position. All that part through which Hill-street runs, and even to the southward of it, is also very good. The immediate neighbourhood of the square is valuable all round, but more to the northward. Tuckett has chosen well for the Company and for absentees, and

indeed assisted many honestly who asked his advice; there were not a great many absentees for selection, hut they have generally not given any other powers, which is pernicious.

I have commenced building a house, or rather cottage, with three rooms, but I can really say I have felt very little inconvenience from a tent; the wind sometimes shakes it, but I have never felt cold in bed, nor have I been wet. The season ought to be now far enough advanced to make every body glad of a house and fire, but to-day the thermometer is at seventy-four, and quite a summer's day. We may now say we know the weather for eight months out of the year, and I think I never spent eight months of such pleasant weather.

Our population is decidedly good, democratic enough, and will show it when we get a corporation."

From a Gentleman at Nelson to his Father in Warwickshire.

16th May, 1842.

"As for myself, I have had nothing but good luck since I came here; I never passed a happier time than I do now. The bricklayer has finished a mud house for himself close to me, upon my land. I think he will do well. H – – – and C – – – , his wife and child are all well. C – – is saving money. He says he landed with 3s. only. He has built a tolerably comfortable house, and put some furniture into it. He shewed me a double handful of silver which he had saved, and he said his wife had some as well, and they are living close together; they are both careful and industrious, and will do well.

20th June. – Every thing jogs on very pleasantly with me. I am just going to build a cottage. You would be amused with our buildings; a great proportion of them are made with boards; mine will

be made with perpendicular poles (or frame-work) with mud between; a good three-roomed cottage with weather-boards, costs about £100. Provisions are dear, but declining in price: I expect we shall soon have pork at about half its present price, and I expect that poultry will be exceedingly cheap. Domestic fowls in summer live principally upon grass-hoppers, and locusts: pigs are kept in good growing condition upon fern root. Potatoes are generally about £4.4s. per ton. P – – – continues to live near to me; his wages are 8s. for a short day. I suppose he will be able to get a good deal more in long days. C – – and H – – – are working away furiously, and I think are sure to get on well; they have taken an acre of land for a garden, for which they pay £7 a-year. We have almost always delightful weather. I expected last week we were going to have a good deal of wet, but have had very little. The nights are rather cold, but with a stove I keep myself comfortably warm. Why, I can scarcely imagine, but it seems to be the almost constant employment of many of my female acquaintance to grumble; the men,however,generally like the country. I am delighted with it, and the more I see of it the better I like it. We have had several accidents with shipping, occasioned mostly by carelessness. You would be astonished at the extraordinary number of rats we have, the places swarm with them; they are, however, being fast destroyed, or driven away. Ferrets would be very acceptable, we have at present only two in the place. Dogs, pigs, and goats abound. We have just started a library, and a scientific institution, which I think will go on well; there are a considerable number of subscribers to it, but people are at present too busy to pay much attention to such pursuits.

S. H – is a farm labourer and tailor. C – – – is a gardener."

Extract from a letter from MR.ROBERT BODDINGTON, to Mr. W. BODDINGTON, Coventry.

Nelson, 28th May, 1842.

We reached Port Nicholson, in New Zealand, in twenty weeks after leaving England. You cannot have any idea what raptures we were in at the sight of land, and more so as it was the land of our adoption. We lived well on board of ship. We stopped at Port Nicholson four days, when we started to find Port Nelson; we found it after four days' sail. I forgot to tell you that we went on shore at Port Nicholson, and saw Jonathan Mann, Miles, Edwards, Jeffs, and Tandy. They are all, with the exception of Edwards, doing well. We were put on shore at Port Nelson. There was not above half a dozen houses in the place. We slept in the fern, with a couple of blankets over us the first night. So here we were 18,000 miles from my native place, without a pound among us, and no shelter, nor any place to lay our heads; but we were in excellent spirits. The Company gave us a fortnight's provision; we slept in a tent the next night, and were told to go and make choice of land to build a house of our own upon. We soon found a good spot to build on; we went to work gaily; went into the wood, which was close to the spot, with my axe cut down some trees, carried them across the river, which is not above ancle deep in some places, dug holes to put them in, set them up, and went to work in good earnest; and in one month got the house ready to go into. We filled the sides with fern first, and then after we had taken the fern away, and filled between the posts with good pipe clay, we have now as good a house as any in Nelson belonging to any of the emigrants. We have two good windows and a good door, and I am having a brick chimney built. One window is occupied by my wife's shop, and the other by watches

which I have for sale, and to be repaired and cleaned. When we got into the house, me and Barton went to work on the roads belonging to the Company. We received good wages and it was easy work; we received (weekly) twenty one shillings and our rations, which are 10 lbs. flour, 10 lbs. meat, 4 oz. tea, 1 lb. sugar, each of us. There was no person in this colony which could clean or repair a watch, so I went into the watch-jobbing with a good heart and determination. I soon got a watch for cleaning, and then I mastered repairing. I can mend chains, and put springs in, both pendant and main. I have done several patent levers. I have used almost all the few things that your son William gave me. I have for a watch glass, mending a chain, for main spring, for pendant spring, and for cleaning and for a pair of old hands – . I am obliged to charge a good price for every thing I do, or else they would not think it done well. You will send me two gross of glasses, a good quantity of hands, pendants, and main springs, and a few verges, and all other jobbing things; I will allow you 25 per cent. I have sold that old watch which I gave £1. for in England, for – – – . I could sell those verge watches, which you manufactured at – – , for £5 or £6. You may send me some of them if you think proper. The Australian Bank will open on the first of June. I shall open an account with them. You will not receive any money till twelve months after you send the goods, the distance is so great. I wish you had come and brought a good stock with you – you would have saved a fortune in three years. I shall be ruined if you do not send me the glasses and springs.

My wife has opened a grocer's shop, with every prospect of doing well. I bought 2 cwt. of soap, 2 cwt. of sugar, 100 feet of glass, and almost every other article, and we have a good run of business. I pay for everything on delivery.

I must now give you an account of New Zealand. It is a very mountainous country, well watered and very fertile. I cannot give you a better account than that I can stand at my own door, for my house is beautifully situated – about two hundred yards at the back runs a delightful fresh water river, abounding in fish. Close to that is one of the finest woods in the world. You see I could stand at my own door, and see the river, the woods, the sea, and the mountains, some of them so high that they are covered with snow all the year. The country is covered with fern, some of it twelve to fourteen feet high. I believe that Chambers's Information for the People gives a true account of New Zealand, as far as I know. I find my gun very useful to me. When we first came in, I went into the woods close to our house, and could shoot half a dozen pigeons in two hours; they are as large as an English fowl. I have just come home with twenty. The natives are a poor, half-naked, inoffensive race; strictly honest, and very religious. I have sent Mr. Edward Ellice's letter to Mr. Sheppard. He is in the other island, 300 miles from us. I expect to hear from him every day. I shall not give up my trade unless he gives me a place of £300 a-year, and then I would employ somebody in the shop. Simonds, and Wagstaff, and Lewis, live near to us. Stanton and Tunnicliffe are just arrived by the ship Clifford.

Carpenters get twelve shillings a-day, sawyers get more than that – labourers get six shillings a-day. People work from seven in the morning till five in the evening, and nobody works after twelve on Saturdays.

Your affectionate brother,
ROBERT BODDINGTON.

From a letter received from Nelson by MRS. CATHERINE TORLESSEof Stoke, by Nayland,

Nelson, June 9th, 1842.

"We are all pleased with our place and prospects, and every thing is going on well; we have pretty well got over the first evils of colonizing. I am sitting in a small room, it is true, but as snug as one of yours, with a good coal fire in the grate; we have good bread, fresh butter and milk, mutton, poultry, if you choose to be extravagant, pigeons, and fish occasionally, as it is at present out of season.

William has just fenced in three quarters of an acre in front of my cottage, and we are going to put in about twenty fruit trees, which I have just received from the gardens at Kew, all alive. We have two or three schools on foot, and a library, and a literary and scientific institution; several brick houses in course of erection, and a number of respectable wooden ones. Upon the whole, for a colony, I think we have a moral population: it is pleasing on Sunday to walk among the cottages, and to see the cleanly appearance of the people and children. There is a Sunday-school, consisting of seventy or eighty children, got up entirely by the people themselves. Divine Service has been performed every Sunday but one since we landed. * * * is in good health, and seems to take to the business of colonizing very well, – her husband is a treasure! I hope to get them out on a fifty acre farm before long."

From MR. FRANCIS JOLLIE, to WILLIAM BLAMIRE, Esq., London.

Nelson Haven, June, 17th 1842.

MY DEAR SIR,

We are progressing here, upon the whole, very satisfactorily; the town acres have been delivered

now two months, and many of the settlers are comfortably ensconced upon them; though perhaps the majority are yet in the transition state, building, or preparing to build, like myself. Building materials, however, are all excessively dear and scarce; bricks have been made from the first – earth, for the purpose, of a capital kind, abounding all over the place; but as yet there is no mortar to be had, which, along with the high price of the bricks (£3 a thousand) and carriage, very much retards the erection of houses of that description; wood ones are, therefore, chiefly seen: a few mud ones have been put up, and more would be, but for the season, which has lately been rather unfavourable for that sort of stuff, heavy rains sometimes falling for three or four days together almost incessantly. After all, however, we have little reason to complain of the weather or the climate. The general character is remarkably good. Outbreaks of wind and rain occur occasionally, last long sometimes, and are sufficiently violent, especially for those in a comparatively unsheltered state; but it is the time of year when we may expect such weather, and then the long intervals of steady, unbroken, glorious, sunny weather are an ample compensation for the occasional fits to the contrary. We have here travellers over almost all parts of the world, and by them, and all reasonable people, it seems allowed that one may live and enjoy existence here as much – so far as weather and climate are concerned – as any where else almost, however favoured: and certain it is, we have the best of it relatively to the other settlements in the island – have less wind, less rain, and a finer, steadier, sky.

Provisions, like building materials, and every thing else here, are just now very high – butter, (salt) we have hardly any fresh, and none sold, is 2s. 6d. and 3s. per lb.; bread 1s. 1d. the two lb.

loaf; flour 6d. and 8d. a lb.; cheese, (good) 2s. 8d. and 3s. 3d.; pork, (fresh) from 8d. to 9d. generally, but never equal to English; potatoes, perhaps the most reasonable of all in price, about 1d. a pound, though usually sold by the native basket, which does not by any means preserve a uniformity of size or weight; turnips, (native) much the same as potatoes, and nearly as plentiful and good; beef is scarce, though plenty of cattle have been imported, and high, about 1s. and 1s. 2d.; mutton 1s., and always to be had, and of very good quality, the sheep thriving very well on the hills, though the pasture appears very poor, and the ground rather too wet just now. For a week or two, we had the prospect before us of a total stop to our supplies of bread and flour: but a few days ago, three or four vessels arrived from Port Nicholson and Sydney, which have stocked the market again with the latter article, and we may now daily expect the bakers will reduce materially the price of the former: at 1s. 1d., of course, it was starvation price, no poor man could get bread; potatoes had to take its place on his trencher, and very much against the grain, of course; for John Bull of the labouring class has not left old England to fare worse than he did there – certainly not with good will to adopt Paddy's diet. In other respects, so far as wages and work go, his expectations have hitherto not been far abroad. The latter since the land was given out, has been abundant and the former very high. Common labourers are £1. 10s. a week, and here and there, more; whilst mechanics, carpenters, and others of that class, have invariably, almost from the beginning, had 12s. a day of nine hours.

The suburban or accommodation lands are, the greater part of them, expected to be distributed in August, and many of the settlers are now just waiting for that to get into the country and commence farm-

ing operations. The prospects in that way are very favourable; the land, generally, being esteemed good, and situated advantageously with reference to the town. Some of it, I am afraid, will be far too hilly; which is the great drawback upon the whole country, as I think; and some, by consequence, too low and swampy. For this latter, however, labour and capital will do great things; but these, no doubt, will be required in sufficiently large measure, in many cases.

We have not many settlers here, that is, actual purchasers of land; but some of them are very substantial; and we look for a great accession to the number so soon as the advantages of the settlement are known at home. Undoubtedly, and I speak as disinterestedly as possible, those advantages are great, both positively and relatively to the rest of New Zealand. I think there can be little doubt that the plan will succeed. We have discovered coal and limestone in great quantities, and of excellent quality, at the other side of the bay, about seven hours' sail from Nelson; and though little has been done with them as yet, they lie at the root of our future prosperity.

I am, my dear Sir,
Very truly yours,
FRANCIS JOLLIE.

From MR. D. MOORE, who went out to New Zealand as a Master Builder, to his friends in Yorkshire.

Nelson, 19th June, 1842.

DEAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS,

Now that I have arrived at my place of destination, I take the opportunity of again writing to you. I wrote to you from the Line, and gave a short account of part of the voyage. We entered Cook's Straits on the 22nd March, but to my morti-

fication, were driven back again, and, in consequence of the heavy gales and contrary winds, did not gain. Port Nicholson till the 30th: this is a fine harbour, but a very bad one to enter. No one landed at Wellington but a few passengers who remained there, and the captain. On the following morning we left for Nelson, and I felt rather disappointed when I found that it was on the South Isle, for I heard a very unfavourable account of it; but I was soon relieved from anxiety, by finding Port Nelson much easier to enter than Port Nicholson had been. We landed on Sunday, the 2nd of April, after a voyage of just 150 days. Upon the whole, I had a prosperous though rather a tedious voyage, very agreeable, leaving out the exceptions. Some families who have come out here, have certainly done their country a service by leaving it, they look like "No. 1" on a mile post. Temporary buildings had been erected for the married people, but the single men had not where to lay their heads. Being tired of strolling about, I, and another young man, took a "sweet repose" on the beach; in the morning I aroused my companion, and we took a walk over the hills, and here we found a few cottages and a beautiful stream of water. I asked one of the women to lend us a pitcher, which she kindly did, and brought us soap and a towel; and here we enjoyed and felt much improved by our primitive wash. On hearing that we had only come on shore the day before, this good woman invited us to breakfast, and I can assure you we accepted the invitation with pleasure. I care not who may boast of the hardships they have had to undergo in these new colonies, I have had my share so far. For the first fortnight, I was scarcely ever dry, in consequence of having the goods to land; but as wharfs are now being made, this difficulty will be in a great measure obviated. I had to sleep just when and where I could, sometimes with my

clothes on, but after all I never caught the slightest cold. Winter has commenced, and very much resembles your September, a rainy day now and then, with cold mornings and nights, but it is certainly a fine winter. Nelson is a beautiful place, and from what I can learn, is very superior to Wellington; the town is situated on a fine piece of level land, which opens to the sea; and the background consists of lofty hills, from which flow fine rivers, which run through the town land. I believe the suburban land is very fertile. I am sorry I was not more sanguine about this country, for every thing surpasses my utmost expectation; the only drawback is, the land-proprietors want such high rents, say from 7s. to 20s. per foot for frontage; if this is continued I am afraid it will have a tendency to curtail the prosperity of the settlement. I have erected a small house, but wood is rather scarce and dear at present. I have to cook out of doors: this is the first house I ever built without plumb-rule or square. I shall have a better house by and by, as bricks and wood are becoming more plentiful. Some provisions are very dear, and others moderate; but as our land becomes cultivated, and as we have large importations of cattle from Australia, I expect we shall soon have a reduction. Wages are very high, and are likely to continue so. I have lately contracted for the erection of two buildings, and shall shortly commence operations. My brother John would do well if he was here, and so would H. Miller; please tell him so, for stone, lime, coal, &c. are in abundance. A person with a small capital would do much better than in England. Those who come thinking of being gentlemen, without any exertion on their part, had much better stop at home, for nothing but straight forward perseverance will obtain the desired end. If any of my friends think of coming out, I should recommend them to come as soon as possible, and I should in

all cases give preference to a private ship. You will find the following articles of great service on the voyage: flour, oatmeal, tea, coffee, sago, pearl-barley, preserved fruits and milk, lemonade, soda, acid, wine, spirits, and warm and light clothing. And now I can only add, I wish you were all here to enjoy the same freedom I do. I can take my gun out into the woods without fear of molestation, and at a short distance find birds in abundance; such as ducks, pigeons, partridges, &c. and all of the first plumage. Our rivers abound with trout and eels, which are very delicious. I have not seen anything in the shape of reptile since I came; the vegetables look luxuriant even in the face of winter. I have not tried my garden seeds yet, and do not intend to do so until spring. But after all the inconvenience I have suffered, the parting with friends, the tossing and rocking, the hungry days and stormy nights, 1 would still come here, if I knew beforehand of all I should have to undergo. I feel quite satisfied with the choice I have made, and conclude by wishing you many happy days, and with my kind love to you, and to all my friends,

I remain, dear brothers and sisters,
Your very affectionate brother,
D. MOORE.

THE WAIMEA VALLEY.

[The following letter, on the geological and general character of the Waimea, appears in the Nelson Examiner, addressed to the Editor.]

SIR,

A few particulars respecting the geological and other features of the plain of the Waimea might be the means of drawing the attention of the scientific observer towards their interesting character.

For the most part, every stone that is found within it is a pebble. Large quantities of shells are scattered in numerous heaps over its surface. The rocks which jut out on the higher portions of the neighbouring hills, fragments of which have found their way to the plain, are of sand-stone formation, and are full of impressions of the commoner kinds of marine shells. Of these, the kind commonly called the cockle is the most abundant; and almost every bit of stone, however small, is, in some portions of the valley, marked with it. The rocks and stones are sometimes found, not merely with impressions of shells, but obviously altogether composed of the actual substance of the shell itself. This is particularly the case on the hills, which, the higher one ascends, the more abundant these remains become.

A most singular feature presents itself near the banks of the river. After receding a short way from the edge of the stream, the plain suddenly becomes elevated about three or four feet. A level platform then succeeds, preserving this additional height. This second plain is similarly terminated by an abrupt bank or precipice, which rises about twenty or thirty feet. On the top of this a new plain commences, which is also limited by a third ascent of eight or ten feet. The valley then goes on uninterruptedly to the sea-shore, forming one gradual slope, not distinguishable by the eye from a perfect level. It is only in the upper part of the valley that three successive banks are to be met with, as they all soon unite. The single bank may, however, after this, be traced for miles, gradually lessening in height as it approaches the bay. The bank itself is a slope rising at an angle of about 45 deg. It is singularly laid out in a series of curves (formerly bays), approaching a semi-circle in their outline.

The valuable land above this bank constitutes the bulk of the valley. On it are found, occasionally,

remains of large timber in the last state of decay; sometimes broken by time into several distinct parts, forming a long row of detached fragments, which were evidently at one time portions of the same great tree, and which have been left undisturbedly to the long process of quiet decay. Some emphasis may be laid on this apparently trifling fact, showing, as it does that the plain has not been flooded for very many years. Indeed, from evidence which an inquirer on the ground cannot dispute, it is clear that but an extremely small portion of the plain, and that adjoining the river, is at present liable to be overflown.

On inspecting a portion of the little cliff by the river's side, I discovered no less than three successive layers of soil, and two of intermediate beds of gravel; thus indicating a series of changes which this valley has undergone. The bed of the great river is covered with pebbles of granite and a stone resembling lime-stone. Neither of these have yet been found within the limits of the plain, but of course are to be found somewhere farther up the stream. On the sea-shore, and at the mouth of one of those numerous streamlets which flow into it from the plain, I found a piece of petrified wood of considerable bulk. From this it may, perhaps, be conjectured that this stream possesses the petrifying principle.

Perhaps those who take an interest in such speculations as an inspection of this noble valley would naturally suggest, would find it desirable in some respects to visit it as left by the hand of nature, and will therefore hasten to view it before its whole length and breadth is upturned by the unsparing hand of agriculture.

I have the honour to be. Sir,
Yours most respectfully,
W.

From MR. WILLIAM CULLEN, formerly of Huish Episcopi, near Langport, Somerset.

Nelson, 3rd July, 1842.

MY DEAR MOTHER, SISTERS, AND BROTHERS,

I again write to you. being the third time since I reached New Zealand. It is with feelings of the greatest pleasure that I tell you New Zealand answers my most sanguine expectations in every thing except the land, which decidedly is not so good as I expected to find it; at least here is a great deal of bad land; and yet I begin to think higher of that than I first did. I have seen wheat on fern land (which I at first thought good for nothing) better than, or at least I may say as good as any I have seen on the best land in England. The wood land is of the richest description, trees growing to an immense size and height on it; I doubt not but I may get good land, as the greatest number of choosers are for people in England, whose agents choose by the map, without much regard to the quality of the soil. My town acre is very rich, being partly wood and partly fern, the fern growing fifteen or sixteen feet high upon it. It has a crystal spring of the purest water in the centre of it, of a horse-shoe form, with an arbour of beautiful shrubs round it. I believe I could readily get £200 for it; but it is worth more to me. The acre next to mine is let at £30 per year for a brick yard; that and mine contain the best clay for bricks of any in the town, but that was chosen long after mine. The natives had their potatoes on my acre. Wide-awake (as the natives call Captain Wakefield) gave them liberty to plant it when he came here. The stalks of the potatoes were up to my chin all but an inch or so, as I stood upright. Their mode of culture is very bad; they take a potatoe planting stick, and tread it into the earth, pull it out and in with the potatoe, and

poke them out with a stick, in the same manner. The only preparation is to burn the fern and sticks, and put in the crop, and they do no more until they dig up the potatoes.

I must now state a little of George Gillard's and my own proceedings since we have been here; we have stuck to sawing (and well he acts at it.) We have earned about a £100 since we have been here, and have spent about £20 in living. I have bought two cows at £20 each. A gentleman from Bath, Mr. Bartlett of Pitney, and myself bought six, and drew for choice; I had the first choice and the last choice, so the one is worth £30, and the other not so much. Mr. Bartlett is to be dairyman for all of us.

The doctor of the Fifeshire has given me his accommodation section for three years, and I am to choose it myself; his number of choice is 289; I intend letting it. Bartlett is going to have some of it, and going there with the dairy; I shall keep some of it myself, but go to my own to carry on the farming as soon as convenient. We shall crop my town acre, the crop of which will be very valuable, and the ground is not difficult to clear.

George Gillard gets on uncommonly well, and does not give his mind to drink, like many young men that come out here where spirits are cheap; he gives his mind to work, and is very steady. I should be glad if Walter Wallis would come out here, I would give him five shillings per day, and let him have ground enough to keep his family. What a change it would be for his little family to be here, where they could live in plenty. I should also like my brother Joseph to come, but I should not wish him to come till I can spare the money for a cabin passage for him. I doubt not but I soon shall be able to do it, and more than that; when once I get a little settled to have a spring crop, I fear not but my

house will be the house of plenty, and that plenty sweetened with the idea that there are no tithe-collectors, no tax-gatherers, &c, here. I tell you, my dear friends, I shall not try to run before I can walk, and so let my good success ruin me, like fools in general; some venture more, and may by chance get rich quicker, but I like the safe side, I will proceed slow, but sure. I doubt not but, with the blessing of God, I shall soon be in affluence; I fear it not; this, my dear mother, is no false hope, no fond dream without any foundation; it is no more than any industrious man with carefulness could do.

Henry Feven of Pitney does well, is careful and industrious, and has been in constant work, at good wages ever since he has been here. The regular price for labour is 6s. per day, but he earns more.

Since writing the above, I have an addition to my live stock, my best cow having calved; she gives about eight quarts of milk per day, and what the calf does not drink, we sell at 1s. per quart; this puts me in mind of the goose that laid golden eggs. We have also several hens, and hens' eggs are 6d. each; fowls cost but little in keeping, and that is in the winter; they are 12s. a couple.

My partner with the cows is a Mr. Saunders of Bath, he has brought out a flour mill, he is a teetotaler, and a man of good capital, and very enterprising. Last night I had an invitation to spend the evening with the Surveyor-General, so you see I am respected here. Yesterday the natives brought in cabbages at a shilling each, and soon sold them, they were very fine ones; I and George have 2000 plants coming on, and we intend getting a great quantity for the late year, as our acre will stand the heat of summer better than almost any other acre in the town; and we shall then, I hope, have cabbages when they are scarce, and so fetch a good price. I wish James Cullen had not turned coward at start-

ing, but had come out here with me. If he had seen a splendid ship riding proudly through the rolling, dashing waves, would he then have been afraid to enter it? Oh, what a magnificent sight is a ship seen dashing through the waves, like a fierce sea-horse, at fifteen miles an hour, her tall masts reaching the clouds, carrying stores, provisions, and merchandize to the remotest part of the world! James would no doubt have done well here, but I never expect to see him here unless, by some supernatural power, this country should be placed down by the side of poor old John Martin's; therefore give my kind love to him, and all my old acquaintances and friends; I do not mention any in particular, (as for the moment I write, I may forget those as dear to me as those I mention) but I think of them at all times with regret; – not that I regret coming, quite the reverse; and if any think so they are quite mistaken. As I said before, any one that comes here, and is careful and industrious, may get rich, – yet persuade none; if they do not choose to come without persuasion, let them stop at home in happy poverty; it is much to leave home and friends, but worse to stop at home and be half starved. I shall not benefit by any one's coming, but I should be glad to see any one from home, and they that do not come, I hope, by the blessing of Almighty God, to return and see, and to comfort the declining years and gladden the heart of my poor old mother with comforts I have gained. I now conclude my long epistle, wishing you all well, happy, and in possession of every blessing this world will afford.

Believe me,
Your loving and affectionate son and brother,
WILLIAM CULLEN.

From JAMES BARTON, to his Parents.

Nelson, July 9th, 1842.

We had to make for Port Nicholson, (Wellington), as we did not then know where Port Nelson was: we arrived safe at Port Nicholson in the last week in January. I had an opportunity of seeing the first settlement of the New Zealand Company (Wellington). I think Nelson much the best, as it is not so subject to high winds. I met with several Coventry people, an old school-fellow, for one – – – ; also a Mr. – – – , who is gaol-keeper and constable; a Mrs. – – – ; her husband was gone about ninety miles into the country to barter for pigs with the natives. I went ashore twice. I went some distance into the country, but could not get to the end of the wood over one hill; and the next was wood as far as the eye could reach. The town of Wellington is situate the same as Nelson – at the foot of the hills on the sea coast. We arrived at Nelson on the 9th of February, 1842, and found the Fifeshire in port.

I had saved a month's ration to bring ashore with me; we were received on landing by Captain Wakefield, the Company's agent for Nelson, who afforded us every accommodation in his power. We were supplied with two weeks' rations, and a large tent, until we had built our houses, or as they are more generally called by the native name (warries): the only work at first was building houses and making roads. I went to work on the 5th of March for the Company at making roads, which I shall keep at until I can get something better; there are three parties of us at the Haven road. This road is about two miles long, and will connect the port with the town along the beach. We work from seven till five, and leave off at twelve o'clock on Saturdays. Our wages are one guinea per week and rations, which are ten pounds of flour, ten pounds of meat, one pound of

sugar, and quarter-of-a-pound of tea, which make our wages worth 33s. per week. You may be surprised to hear of my being at such heavy work as road-making, but you would be more surprised if you saw the strength I have gained since I have been in New Zealand. I have been by the sea-side at work about four months. There are several Coventry people and Warwickshire too.

Of the country and its inhabitants, &c, I have a great deal to say, but must reserve it for my next letter. The general appearance of the country is hilly and wooded – the streets are all evergreen. Our shortest day is passed, it was light from seven till five; the winter is mild, a short frost may come on a few hours before sunrise, but the days are as fine and warm as an English summer's day. I can stand on one of our highest hills and see rivers, hills and valleys, woods and forests, the sea, the port and town at a view. We have in the Colony plenty of clay, coal, slate, limestone, ironstone, marble, &c. There is a great quantity of wood even on the tops of the highest hills; also a plenty of fish and birds; there are some wild pigs; rats are very numerous, any one coming out here cannot do better than bring some rat-traps; 1 paid three shillings and sixpence for one. They are very much thinned since we came. The New Zealand Company have acted most honourably in every particular. We have a newspaper published here; a chapel, a public school-room, and a library are building. The natives I can speak of in the highest terms – thanks to God, and the missionaries, many of them are religious – they are turned from cannibals to Christians. There are not many natives in this colony. I must now conclude. If any of my relations or friends come out here I will render them every assistance in my power. A Temperance Society is formed, and a Rechabite tent is opened.

I have sent three newspapers to Coventry, in which you will see the price of provisions. Any one willing to work will do well here. I am twenty pounds better in pocket since I came. If please God we live, I shall see you all again.

I remain your loving and affectionate son,
JAMES BARTON.

Extracts from a Letter from the REV. CHARLES W. SAXTON to Mr. BROMFIELD.

Nelson, July 13th, 1842.

"Of my own land I have let only one town acre at £10 a year to three persons, with a purchasing clause of £100 (a thing much sought after here) and one suburban section to three men at £20 with a purchasing clause of £200. Mr. Somes's man, John, and a Mr. Redwood, a large farmer, near Lord Talbot's, now settling in the suburban sections, after remaining at Nicholson about five weeks, give the most decided preference to the Nelson districts. I got some carrots out of my garden this morning: very few have been raised. I get potatoes every day; parts of the acre grow them very middling, and parts very good, for there is the greatest diversity of soil within a few square yards. I have for some time got also pease or beans generally every day; those which succeeded produced very abundantly, but in many places they came to nothing at all, either from the poverty of the soil, the pernicious juices of the fern root, or from want of moisture, as the fibres of the fern root make the soil something like peat, and exceedingly porous so as to dry up very quickly; a great change will no doubt take place when this fibre is decayed. I have a small patch of vetches (given to me by Mr. Grindlay) which have grown remarkably well, and have actually killed the fern which grew up among them. They are kept for seed which will

be nearly the only seed in the colony, and very valuable. I hope that people will bring out a good deal of the seed, as it will enable them to keep a cow confined by cutting the green vetches. There is no food for cattle here at certain times of the year, unless they roam over large tracts, and the New South Wales cows are so wild, that they can hardly be caught to be milked.

On the subject of your Cousin, I should say, let him bring out money in preference to goods, and when he does bring it, let him keep it as long as he possibly can. Nothing is scarce at this time, which is saleable at Nelson. A person may be lucky to bring out an article just as it is wanted, but it is a chance.

When a settler brings out goods here, he has nowhere to put them. Mine were on the beach one night, in two divisions, with a watchman at each, exposed to a most violent rain; one portion was covered with tarpauling which proved leaky. I received some damage, but not very considerable, perhaps several pounds. I think a person is pretty safe with butter, if it arrives here good: it is retailing now at 2s. 8d. per lb. The expense of moving goods at first in a settlement is enormous. The high price of labour here is not from its scarcity, or the value of it, but because there is a kind of tacit agreement not to work under certain prices. The wages you hear of are not the natural ones, and working men find great difficulty in getting them. They get them occasionally, and live idle the rest of their time, a most mischievous policy to themselves and the colony. These colonies abound in store-keepers, who make very large profits, but have very little business. I recommend every one to settle in the country, and cultivate; but they may look for bad crops the first year, unless they cultivate wood or swamp land, which are surprisingly fertile. Great

* See page S3.

quantities of land in New Zealand are very unfertile. I try to instil into people's minds the advantage of keeping sheep, with a view to send wool to England: it is the only way of making a fortune, that I see as yet. I do not think they will ever be able to work the flax cheaply enough. There are large plains of grass on the river Waimea which would feed sheep in quantities; at present there are cattle there; the fern land cannot feed sheep until the fern is destroyed – a matter of great difficulty. I do not know whether it would pay to cultivate fern land with a view to feed sheep. Turnips and vetches seem to grow here well. A Mr. Wallace here ploughs new land, and puts a crop into it, the owner finding seed at £10 per acre, and I rather think he proposes now doing it for his. A Mr. Duppa is said to have shipped a quantity of fine wool this season, but people are not at all alive to the importance which I attach to wool growing here. The only money here is brought by new settlers, and this soon leaves the colony entirely for goods from England or Sydney: there are, no doubt, great capabilities in this country, but they are not as yet developed. A great many people complain here, but rather unreasonably. A carpenter is very much grieved because he cannot get 12s. a-day, a labourer because he cannot get 6s., and a storekeeper because he cannot get 50 or 100 per cent: the cultivator of the ground, because certain of his crops fail the first year. But the truth is, that a settlement cannot thrive without all its members labouring very hard. The work to be got through is prodigious; and I should say there is a vast deal of idling in these colonies. You would expect that every labourer would get a little garden – the fact is, that a great many have none at all. The fencing is the great difficulty, which being left incomplete, all the produce is destroyed by bullocks, goats, and pigs.

which are, to the great detriment of the settlement, allowed to roam unrestrained. If my dear wife had lived, I have no doubt that I should have been delighted with the mode of life; but as we were independent, our case would not be like that of others. A person should have a taste for a settler's life, or he or she would not like it. I think the life delightful for a person of independent means, and who has a strong taste for gardening, animals, and agriculture. With money you need not undergo the least hardships worth speaking of, and you can get almost everything you want from the commencement. All kinds of grocery, wines, and spirits are very much cheaper than in England.

I intend to leave New Zealand as soon as I have arranged for your house, for Sydney. If I have not arranged by that time, I shall leave New Zealand to start from Sydney in March, at which time I am informed that the finest vessels sail. My little boy is in the best health possible, with the exception of cutting his teeth which are just beginning to show. I hope he will get over it favourably. We have not had rain here of any consequence for some time, and the ground begins to show signs of drought. Mr. Reay, (now minister here), informs me that the natives say there will now be a great drought. The heat here is not very great, as it is always moderated by a sea breeze. At Wellington, it is always stated there is no wind here; the wind however here, is frequently very violent, and it seldom happens that there is none. One settlement tells lies of another most abominably. The swamps here dry up in summer; and a good deal of draining has been done by the Company's men, which is highly beneficial and effective. The place seems now very healthy. I wish I had delayed my departure from England some months, and my dear wife would have escaped the fever; her loss has been a

sad loss to me. John has been engaged to take a series of drawings of Nelson, to be sent to England; if you see them published you may rely that they are fac-similes of the country. I sold my bull-calf the other day for £35, the progeny of my Durham cow I lost near the line, so that I do not lose much by the whole transaction. There are a good many rats here, a person introducing ferrets here would be deified after death; had my ferrets lived (I landed them both alive in New Zealand), I think I should have been tempted to make my fortune by turning rat-catcher. I bought a fine eel yesterday weighing 5 3/4 lbs. at 6d. per lb. I have many times lately bought a certain large fish from the natives for 1s., which has served me, the two servants and baby for about three days. The eel was caught by one of your tenants while working at draining for the Company. The eels are very good. I bought a parrot yesterday for eating for 6d.; some pork today at 8d.; the new potatoes are three-halfpence per lb. I bought some flour the other day at 15s. per cwt., it was of inferior quality, the best I think is about 25s. I get black sugar, which I make into treacle, to serve instead of butter, at 4 1/2 d. per lb. I drank some pretty good claret the other day, bought at 7s. 6d. per dozen. I enclose you a valuable sort of grass and a flower resembling English flax, only whiter and larger, I have two very good terriers with me, brought from England – they will kill rats and catch a pig, a very valuable quality in New Zealand, and keep away all thieves; baby is very affectionate to one of them, delighting beyond measure in pulling his nose and ears. The fleas here are very fine and numerous, &c. Most of the suburban sections lie in districts entirely destitute of natives, a great advantage; three or four people only have natives for servants. Mr. Reay has a native boy. I went a

very pretty excursion with him the other day, to trace a rivulet; we travelled about a couple of hours up it on stones, in the streams there was a continued succession of small cascades, and over our heads an uninterrupted arch of trees growing on the steep banks on each side of us, all which looked very beautiful: we were obliged to return or wade onwards through the water, as there were now steep rocks on each side, which we could not pass. One of my servants has just made me a hat out of the New Zealand flax, it looks very well, the plat cost me 3s. I am bringing a small quantity of the flax to England, my hat looks very nice indeed. I tasted some tea the other day, made from the – [an indigenous plant, of which the name is illegible] which to me was rather execrable. Mr. Reay professes to like it. Great quantities of aniseed grow here wild, which is a valuable plant. The cattle are fond of it. Please give my best regards to your family, and my best love to all my family. I will do all I can here for your interest: and I think your speculation will prosper. In hopes to see you again, I am, dear Bromfield,

Yours very sincerely,
C. W. SAXTON.

Extract of a Letter received by MR. W. LITTLE, from a Settler at Nelson.

23rd August, 1842.

"550 of our Suburban Sections were distributed yesterday and to-day. After a careful and most laborious examination of all the districts with Mr. G – – – and S – – – , an account of which accompanies this, I selected No. – – – , in the Motuaka district, which is on the other side of the Gulf, (distant by water about 20 miles) where, already a village is forming. It is by far the finest district I

have seen in New Zealand; nay, it looks more like an English nobleman's domain; – -rich valleys with gentle slopes, and woody knolls, dark groves of pine, apparently sloped by art, rivers and mountains streams, and every bush filled with songsters, – nay, everything that can charm the eye or captivate the senses. The section I have chosen is in Rewaka valley, and unquestionably the gem of the vale. It is about half a mile from the beach at high water mark, and the sections nearer the sea are of comparatively little value, being covered with swamp and rushes. The river Rewaka (from which the valley takes its name) a never failing stream of fresh water of considerable extent, runs right through my section, increasing of course, its value ten-fold. On its banks is the richest land in New Zealand, – all flat table land, and ready for the plough at once. Fern, the most luxuriant I have seen, six and eight feet high, with a mossy carpet of a sort of chickweed, wild cabbages, and sow-thistles, upon which the natives feed, with wild fuchsias in full bloom. At the top of the section is a small cluster of trees, principally evergreens, but sufficient for fencing and fuel; and at the back is a grove of valuable pines, consisting of kaikatea and totara. I am negociating with a party for the leasing of it, and if I do not come to terms with him, I shall have it well mapped, and divided as a township, into small lots, to suit small capitalists. At any rate, it cannot but do well."

From CAPTAIN ARTHUR WAKEFIELD, R. N.; Company's Agent at Nelson, to the Secretary.

Nelson, August 21th, 1842.
SIR,

I beg to announce the safe arrival of the Sir Charles Forbes in Nelson Haven on the 23rd instant.

after a passage of 113 days from port to port. She landed all her passengers in good health, (with the exception of one woman and two children who died on the voyage) on the day of her arrival. The ship has been well managed throughout the voyage, and Captain Bacon has given general satisfaction. This arrival, with the account of the Bailey's reaching England, and the consequent commencement of emigration, has put fresh spirits into our population, although the demand for labour is not great in spite of wages being still at least 5s. a-day for labourers, and 10s. for mechanics. Flour is now selling at 18s. the 100 lbs., and sugar at £1. 16s.; salt meat is scarce at 8d., fresh pork 10d., and mutton 1s. 3d. I do not think that more than 4s. a-day should be held out to agricultural labourers, and 8s. to mechanics. I do not merely speak of the Nelson Settlement, but of the whole of New Zealand. Mechanics' wages are down to 7s. at Auckland, where they were a short time ago at 14s. This extreme change at Auckland is owing to the official expenditure having ceased, and there being few real settlers who employ labour. I have no fear of our labour soon finding employment, as 500 of the accommodation sections were distributed on the 22nd and 23rd instant. Several farms are already occupied and in process of occupation. There are about fifteen acres down in wheat, and there will be one hundred in turnips and potatoes this season, and I see no reason why, if reasonable expectation be realized, we should not have 2000 acres fairly in cultivation next season. This production will do more to render our state wholesome than any progress which has been made in the town, which is considerable. Several brick houses are nearly completed, and a spacious inn has been built; besides the streets are beginning in several instances to shew their form by the erection of frame buildings.

The Bishop arrived here in the Government brig, on Sunday, and landed immediately, and preached after the afternoon service. He was well received by a numerous attendance; and on Tuesday an address, which had been drawn up the previous Saturday at a public meeting, was presented to his Lordship by a deputation appointed for the purpose. He expressed his satisfaction at seeing it, and paid the community some compliments on the progress of the Colony, which, he was pleased to say, would only be believed by seeing it. He pronounced himself the advocate of the Company's system of native reserves, and pledges himself to support it. He is gaining an influence over the Maories rapidly, and at present desires justice to be done them in the course of settlement, always keeping in mind the belief that it is possible to amalgamate the two races, and that the settlement of the islands by Europeans is for mutual benefit. In this desire and belief I think he will be heartily joined by the majority in this settlement. With respect to the Local Government, we have lately received authority to establish bonded stores; and the authority was dated early in June, though it did not arrive until the 14th of this month. The Police-Magistrate has also received instructions to give licences to pilots, and to select two names from among the residents for a harbour master. So far, the Governor has not been unmindful of us; but we still labour under the serious inconvenience of not having a court for the recovery of debts, and the not proceeding in the administration of the native reserves is also detrimental to our progress. I have this day chartered a small vessel to proceed to Coal Bay, in company with a party of surveyors, to arrange with the natives, and commence upon the surveys of the country lands. I hope in that district to find 60,000 acres of good land for cultivation, independent of mineral productions. We shall, therefore, in all probability.

have a considerable number of rural sections distributed; and the coal trade likewise in operation next summer. The accommodation lands, I trust, will all be given out in December.

I have &c, &c,
ARTHUR WAKEFIELD.

From WILLIAM DENT, one of the labourers of the Preliminary expedition to Nelson.

Nelson, September 10th, 1842.

MY DEAR FATHER,

About a week ago, I received a letter from my dear wife, giving good account of you all. Thank God! I am in good health and doing very well. I have a good master, and though surveying is rough work, as I have to go through rivers and swamps, and climb up steep hills on my hands and knees, I like it very well.

How can you expect me to come home to England to make a slave of myself in my old age, when I can earn a good living here, with very little hard work, and save enough money, besides, to keep me when I am unable to work? The other women are all living comfortably with their husbands; but, however, my wife could come now if she choose, by applying to Mr. Alston, at the New Zealand House, Broad-street Building's, London. But she must make up her mind either to come directly, or to stop in England; for if she is not here in eighteen months, I shall very likely be gone away from here. I wish I could send you a brace or two of pigeons: I shot twenty in two hours the other day.

I will try and give you an account of the climate of New Zealand. In the summer months, that is from October to May, the days are hot, but not so overpoweringly hot as they are in England; the

nights are rather cold, and very heavy dew falls. When it rains, which it does once in six weeks, a very heavy freshet comes down the rivers; but they very seldom overflow their banks. In the winter months there is more rain; the days are warm, but the nights very frosty and cold. The soil is very fine. There is a great quantity of wood here of all useful sorts. The hills are entirely covered with wood. It is a fine place altogether. The fault that I see is, that so many labourers come out, and so few gentlemen to employ them. Nelson is quite a town now.

I remain.
Your ever affectionate and dutiful son,
WILLIAM DENT,

'Extracts from a Second Letter from JAMES BARTON to his Parents.

Nelson, September 13th, 1842.

"As I have now been in the Colony of Nelson nine months, you will no doubt expect me to give some account of it; I will endeavour to give as short and true account of it as far as I know at present. Port Nelson is situate in Tasman's Gulf, Blind Bay, in the Middle Island. The town contains 1100 sections of one acre each. The suburban land consists of 1100 sections of fifty acres each, in the plains of the Waimea, Motuaka, and the Mousteri. The country land consists of 1100 sections of 150 acres each of fine wooded land, on the shores of Coal Bay, the valleys of Motupipi, Takaka, and the Orare. The winter is now over: we do not feel the cold after sun-rise, and only see snow on the tops of the mountains. There are many hills and mountains that are covered with verdure to their very summits, and in many cases thickly wooded. Brockhurst, and the rest of the Coventry people at Wel-

lington are all well. Mr. and Mrs. – – – and family are all well. Mr. B. keeps a large shop in the retail trade, and has two houses, one of which he rents out. Mr. – – – has bought two acres of land for £35. Mr. – – – has been earning 12s. per day ever since he has been here. Mr. – – – is gaoler, and his son William is clerk to the Government Representative, H. A. Thompson, Esq. There is not one Coventry man here but what is doing well, and has a house of his own."

From MR. FRANCIS JOLLIE, to WILLIAM BLAMIRE, Esq. London.

Nelson, September 17th, 1842.

MY DEAR SIR,

We are going on here very well and steadily; half the suburban lands was given out a month ago, and already one or two farms are under partial cultivation. An old Scotchman, named Kerr, whom Captain Wakefield has set up on a farm of 100 acres in the Waimea district, has ten or twelve acres of wheat above ground; two or three more sown; and is now hard at work sowing barley, and oats, and potatoes. He has for very close neighbours two or three settlers, who are all doing something, and so far all doing well.

Captain Wakefield and a party of the settlers have just returned from Coal Bay, making final arrangements with the natives for the cession of the district, and locating upon it a party of surveyors. It is to form part of the country sections, and will form a valuable accession to our settlement. Coal and lime, and marble, and building stone may be got in any quantities; besides, it is believed, other mineral treasures of much value. I think the settlement will succeed, and perhaps better than any other yet planted in the country. We are not without

hopes, indeed, that Nelson may become the seat of Government before long.

We are in daily expectation of the Thomas Harrison, 12 from London, which was to sail on the 25th May. The Sir Charles Forbes arrived here on the 22nd of last month, and is still in the harbour, though expecting to have sailed before this. I hope the Harrison will bring us plenty of settlers – and settlers with capital, as well as emigrants. What we chiefly want here now, is capital and enterprise. The Forbes men have, most of them, got employment; but it will not do for the next ship to bring us labour only, and no employers of labour, or very few, as was the case with the Forbes. Wages are still very high: labourers 28s., 30s., and 35s. per week; mechanics 10s. and 11s. per day. Prices of provisions are correspondingly dear, but I think there is rather a tendency to fall. Potatoes sell at from £10. to £12. for seed, and very good ones are grown in different parts of the island.

Believe me to be, my dear Sir,
Yours very sincerely,
FRANCIS JOLLIE.

From Mr.WILLIAM CULLEN, to ORLANDO REEVES, Esq., of Taunton, Somersetshire.

October 21st, 1842.

"I at first very much regretted buying land here, but I now think it is the best thing I ever did in my life. My town acre will let for thirty pounds a year, after I have put up a mud house on it twenty feet by thirteen, and ten feet high, which will cost me little except my own labour. I have growing on it barley, wheat, turnips, and cabbages, exceeding anything of the sort in England. I have also the turnip-radish sixteen inches round. Potatoes,

as I have said before, are perfect weeds, but I do not think they will exceed those grown in England, even with the same cultivation. I have peas, vetches, &c, in my garden, and all looks well. This place being so near Sydney, and out of the Straits, will make it a most desirable place for settlement. Cattle and sheep have been brought here by the barque Eagle, in nine days, without losing one head of either; this makes cattle much cheaper here than at Wellington; being knocked about so long in the Straits in going to Wellington, a great many die, and the living are made to pay for the dead. The Eagle disposed of her cargo at an average of about £10 per head for cattle, and £1 for sheep. We have also coal and lime-stone; a coal company is formed, and mining is in active operation. Limestone is found close to the town. The climate I should think is second to none in the world, being much superior to England, and entirely free from the destructive winds of Port Nicholson; – you do not feel the languor here in the hottest day in summer that is felt in England on a warm sultry day. The air is very pure, and every one seems to have a good appetite; – many that never had their health before they came here are now perfectly healthy, and many of those that were healthy get stout; however, this is not the case with me, instead of getting fat I get quite the other way. Sawing is hard work, and not having my land I have stuck hard at it. Boards and scantling have sold at £1. 5s. per hundred feet until now, and we cut the timber on the roads, and it costs us nothing. On the whole I like it much, and I see no reason why it will not become one of the most plentiful and wealthiest places in the world. The rains come on regular in the spring; nothing can lie in the ground long after being sown; and the soil (especially the woodland) is immensely rich, and capable of supporting crops for a great

many years without manure, and without failing for the want of it. The best land in England is not to be compared with it for fertility; any industrious man may soon become an independent man, as he can get a piece of land and live with all the economy of America, and still receive all the benefit, or more, of Australia for his surplus produce. But many come here thinking to get rich as if by magic, without doing anything, or having any money to spend, but they, of course, are mistaken. We have had a cargo of coal from Coal Bay, and it burns well, but it has a great deal of gas in it, which causes a smell, but I do not know whether a disagreeable one or not; however, they say that it is not.

Yours truly,
WILLIAM CULLEN.

From SAMUEL NEWPORT to the Rev. J. King, Rector of Bredenham, Bucks; the Rev. W. R. Johnson, of West Wycombe; and G. H. Dashwood, "Esq. of High Wycombe Park.

Nelson, 16th November, 1842.
To the Rev. I. King.
"RESPECTED SIR,

All of my family, with the families of my two brothers, landed here in safety, and good health, eleven weeks ago, and we like the country very much; but it is not at all the place for idle men, or those who cannot put up with inconveniences. I have agreed for the purchase of one acre of land near the town, for £20, to be paid for by instalments, which I hope soon to pay off. My two brothers have agreed for the purchase of one acre each, on the same terms as myself, and both like the country. We hope to get two crops a year from the land. William Ives and Isaac Smith are also doing well."

To the Rev. W. R. Johnson.

"We received our bibles at Gravesend, and are much obliged for them and for your other acts of kindness to us."

To G. H. Dashwood, Esq.

"This is a very fine country. Most of us from Bucks have got on as well, or better, as almost any of the working men here, and we are not sorry we left England. Any industrious steady man who can bring out a little money to keep him till he can bring an acre of land into cultivation, is sure to do well. There are, however, too many mechanics here. Agricultural labourers seem to do the best of any sort of labourers in this colony. I hope you will let the neighbours see the contents of this letter."

I remain, Sir,
Yours very respectfully,
SAMUEL NEWPORT.

From ROBERT ROSS, a Baker at Nelson, to a Gentleman in London.

Nelson, 30th November, 1842.

DEAR SIR,

I have, according to promise, taken the liberty of writing you a few lines. – Perhaps long before this time you have condemned me for an ungrateful being, in forgetting the promise I made of writing to you; but my reasons were that I would not write you until I could let you know about the country.

After leaving Dartmouth, we had a very pleasant passage. The whole of us emigrants were, very much pleased with the treatment on board. On the 15th October, 1841, the good ship Arab arrived safe

in Port Nicholson Harbour. After landing, I got engaged to a baker at 30s. per week, victuals for myself and wife included; in five weeks after, I purchased his business and got on rapidly; but upon the settlement of Nelson, I left Port Nicholson, and got the first start as baker here, owing to the kindness of Captain Wakefield, who aided me in all the difficulties I at first encountered. I have got on amazingly. I have now been able to build property to the amount of £500. At present I am baking about eighteen bags of flour weekly, but let this be no criterion for your general idea of the colony. We have a great number of respectable mechanics working on the roads at 14s. per week, and their rations. Provisions are very dear.

In my idea, Nelson is infinitely better than Port Nicholson for agriculture, as there is more level land about it and easier of access. I landed here on the 2nd February, 1842. There were then no houses excepting the Company's offices and immigration barracks; but now there are about 1000 houses, some of them very good. We have got about 2500 inhabitants, of whom about 500 are in the farming and coal districts. Too much praise cannot be given to Captain Wakefield for his noble exertions for the general welfare of the colony.

Trade is in a depressed state at present, on account of the drainage of money to Sydney and elsewhere, for provisions; but I have no doubt that when we can grow enough to keep ourselves, things will get better. I took an excursion into the country last Friday, and saw one farm with fourteen acres of potatoes in, besides six acres of barley and twelve of wheat: the two former looked well, but the latter rather sickly; but the farmer thought that next year he would succeed better.

The welfare of the colony now depends on a large arrival of monied landholders to cultivate the soil.

It is useless sending out emigrants unless. The climate is one of the finest in the world: about five wet days in the month, on an average. No storms have as yet been experienced, as at Port Nicholson. We have got a Court House, and Jail, and Reading Room, and Bank, but no place of amusement. A cricket club is being formed, for which a meeting is to be held this evening.

I would take it as a particular favour if you would call on my uncle and shew him this letter.

The natives here are wide awake to their own interests, and will not sell their pigs and potatoes for anything else than money or the utu, as they call it, and charge very high besides.

I remain, dear Sir,
Your obedient humble Servant,
ROBERT ROSS,
Baker, from Edinburgh.

From MR. FRANCIS JOLLIE, to WILLIAM BLAMIRE, Esq., London.

Nelson, December 20th, 1842.

MY DEAR SIR,

With regard to the general prospects of the Settlement, I think the only very noticeable things, just now, are Mr. Cotterell's journey to the south-east of this island in search of land, and the working of the coal and lime in Coal Bay, which has just commenced by an association of working men from this place. Cotterell's journey and discoveries, of which we have only just been made acquainted, have put fresh spirits into our settlers. They are considered to have materially improved our position and prospects. He has shewn that we are not so hemmed in as most of us fancied; that, after all, we have an immediate and easy communication with the neigh-

bouring interior; that the settlement may still be formed in one contiguous, and comparatively speaking, compact block; and that our country lands may yet, in the great bulk, be looked forward to as of some tangible value; not mere refuse, impracticable swamp, hill or forest, but land, for the greater part, that we shall be able to get upon, and at once make contributory, in the shape of pasturage, if of nothing else, to the permanent prosperity of the settlement. It is not, however, merely what Cotterell has actually discovered and examined; what we are likely to discover, on a second journey, may be considered as of still greater importance. The prevailing impression, from Cotterell's account is, that the valley which he saw to the south-west, but did not follow up, will furnish us with a greater quantity of land, and at a more convenient distance, than the one which he explored, (though, perhaps, it is likely to turn out too much timbered, which would tend to render it less eligible for immediate purposes of settlement.) But be this as it may, a quantity of land has been found beyond all our expectations; land with tolerably convenient access, and in direct connexion with our principal suburban district, (the Waimea), and not fern land, as it usually is about here, when not timbered, but fine grass land, just the kind the settlement was most in want of, though it is to be regretted that the great bulk of it is so unmixed in character, so little wooded, or fit for the plough. It is true, it is far off, and does not, after all, bring us at all up to the thing we expected in England, either in respect of proximity to the town, and the bulk of the other lands of the settlement, or I should say, in general capabilities of production; but all of us that have been any time here have abandoned – reluctantly, perhaps, but still very completely, dismissed – all preconceived ideas of the country, and become prepared to take it for what it is, forgetting

as much as possible what we had supposed it to be; and we are very content, seeing how much worse it might have been, – and three weeks ago to all appearance was, – to find for the completing of the settlement, according to the scheme, such land as Cotterell has lighted on, with all the exceptions which may attach to it. The survey of a portion of the district – that nearest to the town – will be proceeded with immediately, with a view to its being included in the fifty acre sections, the remainder of which are, or were to have been distributed this month. 13 The actual survey of the other portion will probably be deferred until a further examination has been made of it, and more is ascertained about the other district to the south-west which I have referred to.

With respect to the coal and lime company's operation, I am happy to say they are now proceeding with great spirit, and with every prospect of success. A squabble, that at one time threatened rather serious consequences, in the first instance, arose with the natives, who claimed the minerals as theirs, though they acknowledged the land to have been sold and paid for in a proper manner, and would not permit the men to go to work, unless they were first paid at a most extravagant rate for what they took; but the visit of Captain Wakefield and Mr. Thompson, the police magistrate and government representative here, and a shew of vigour and resolution in dealing with one or two of the most refractory of the Mauris, (as they are called), brought things round, and the men are now actively carrying on their operations, not only unmolested, but quite befriended and patronized by their former enemies. We have already had one cargo of coal and lime, by a small schooner built over there, which was sold, the former I mean, for £1. 7s. 6d. a ton, wholesale, (the price at which it is being retailed at present is £2, car-

riage included); and we expect another very shortly. People at Sydney and in other parts are wanting cargoes; the emigrant vessels which come here will, in future, no doubt find it to their interest to carry it on to India and elsewhere; and altogether we consider it a very capital thing for the colony. The association that is now at work will probably break up as soon as the land is given out, which it will be in a month or two, for country sections (150 acres): but in the mean time they may make a good thing of it, and of course the undertaking will not want persons to continue it.

Our farming and gardening operations this season, I am sorry to say, are generally a failure. Except very small patches of the wood within the town which have been cleared for gardens, the whole of the land yet turned up and under cultivation, whether as farm or garden, has been fern land; and it is rare to find a whole patch of it doing well. To be sure, we have nearly all been too late in getting our things in this year, and in getting the ground ready; but still I think that the nature and exhausting qualities of the fern are at the root of the mischief. It has soured and poisoned the land, and also considerably impoverished it. There are some instances of prolific crops of nearly every thing on land of this description; and in general one may observe over the place, as a pretty certain rule, that the finer the crop the higher had been the fern which previously grew; but though that holds good generally, one is every here and there struck with some remarkable anomaly in production: land apparently, and from previous natural produce, very poor, yielding very abundantly; whilst, on the other hand, that which from the size of its fern, the care bestowed on it, and other circumstances, one would be inclined to judge most favourably of, brings up very little well, and almost nothing in luxuriance. I

have no doubt, however, but that next season we shall be able to get very tolerable crops from the greater part of the land, which has been turned up this , from the growth of fern which the land here usually supports, it has evidently the stamina in it of vigorous production; 14 but I fancy before we do any good with it permanently, we shall require for one thing to dig deep, and not, as has hitherto been done here, merely plough it. The fern roots go so deep into the ground, (they are found sometimes six feet long), and are so mixed and matted together, there is, I am sure, no effectual way of dealing with them, but by trenching – smashing through them with the spade at first starting. Even that, however, is not so effectual as could be desired, the vitality of the plant is so strong as to be hardly destructible at all, if the root be left in, which it necessarily is, after all one's efforts, wherever there is a heavy growth. You will, I dare say, be surprised when I tell you that we have commonly here fern of six and seven feet high, and I have measured some more than fourteen feet adjoining the wood in the town. If we had lime plenty and cheap, which may be expected to be the case shortly, we might then hope to cope with the enemy; but without that I fear it will be an uphill fight. I do not know whether you have had any experience of fern land yourself; but if so, I should be glad to have your opinion on it, and the methods best adapted to bring it under profitable culture.

As respects my own proceedings here, since I last wrote you, there is nothing worth notice, except that I have built myself a house, and turned farmer in a small way. I am, fortunately, no longer a "dweller in tents," but in a comfortable house – somewhat too comfortable, indeed, for a settler. This happy

change I effected about three weeks ago – not before it was fully required. I had lived longer in a tent than any body else, and my satisfaction in getting out of it was not trifling. My house is, I suppose, as large, if not the largest in the place, and I think, certainly the best; but it has cost me too much money; so much (near £400.) that if I had but known it beforehand, and known also that my land was worth doing something with, I should never have gone to the expense. However, I have the satisfaction that the house is a good one, and is likely to let well hereafter, should I want to let; and in the meantime I have civilized shelter, and can breathe freely – heedless of the elements – which, for many months before, I could hardly do.

The Climate continues every thing we could desire. This is the very eve of our Midsummer day, and it is of course getting rather warm. This, however, is rather a cold day; clouds are flying about, and now and then emptying themselves heartily upon us. The Barometer stands at thirty-three, and the Thermometer at sixty-four. We are never many days without rain, but the climate is a dry one rather than a moist; and the weather much steadier than in England. The dryest months of the year are apparently January and February, corresponding to your July and August; and those are just the times when wet can be best dispensed with. However, perhaps, our harvest time is naturally a little earlier than that: the end of this month will, I think, be the usual period with us hereafter. The colony certainly is suffering for want of money, and want of settlers. You will have heard, of course, of the death of the Governor.

We are on the look out daily for the Thomas Sparkes, from London. She was to call at the Cape for some horses, for Mr. Henry Petre, who is one of her passengers; but she ought to have been here

by this time. I hope she will bring me letters. I have not heard from my friends at home, by ship's letter bag, since I arrived, which is now within one month of a twelvemonth. This is the greatest annoyance that I am subject to. I know that they write. How is it their letters don't come? I am at a loss to conceive. I have now almost begun to despair of hearing – ship after ship arriving, but never one syllable for one amongst all the letters they bring. 15

21st December. – I see I have forgotten in the right place to say what I intended respecting my proceedings in the country, in the fanning way. I am happy to say my fifty acres section turns out a much better one than I anticipated, or had any right to expect, with my late choice. It is not all available, some of it being swamp, which will, however, be easily drained hereafter, and a good portion hill and stony; but there are more than fifty acres in it, though nominally that quantity, and I dare say I have thirty-five or forty acres that could be put to immediate account, with very little preliminary labour in draining or clearing. There is plenty of wood, too, upon it, or close at hand; an advantage which very many sections here do not possess – plenty of good water, with some capital watercourses for draining purposes, &c, and good natural pasture both upon it and adjoining. Three or four acres in the wetter part of the section have now a fine crop of grass, ready to mow, which my man means to do, or has done already. The men, soon after they went up, discovered a capital road from the beach, where the boat carriage ceases (about seven miles from the town,) clear of both a great hill and a great swamp, both of which nuisances

we had previously expected there was no way of avoiding, in getting to the section. So I am rather in good spirits about the affair. If I could but get my country land, adjoining, I should think myself very fortunate, so far as the land-proprietorship is concerned; and I don't know but I may be able to arrange this too, though my choice is unfortunately beyond the "thousand," and consequently desperate bad; and though by so doing, I must submit to some sacrifice of available quantity. I have a man of the name of Graham, from Renwick in Cumberland, and a distant relation of John Graham, of Yanwath Hall, managing for me. He and his son are the only persons I have at present at work. They are steady, honest folks, that I consider myself lucky in meeting with. I pay the father 27s. a week, the son 24s. About 27s. have, I think, been the usual wages given hitherto to farm labourers, in the country – of course including rations.

The prices of most things here are now much lower than they were. Were I building a house now, I have no doubt I could have it done for at least one-third less than what I paid – timber is so much cheaper, and the wages of carpenters and other artificers so much reduced. There was, for a long time, no getting anything done by a carpenter under 12s. a day; now, they are glad to take 8s. Wood is now fully one-half lower; 30s. per 100 was the price for a long time at first, it then came down to 25s. and 21s., and now you can get the best and longest seasoned timber (the Kaurie, or Cowdie) at 15s. – timber brought to the place from Auckland, or other places to the North, not cut here. That cut here is of course cheaper still; but we have no "Cowdie" on this island.

Believe me,
Very truly yours,
FRANCIS JOLLIE.

7 About half were delivered in August, 1842, and the rest in January, 1843.

8 The roadstead is now rendered quite safe, by means of some powerful moorings laid down by the Company.

9 Published in that paper.

10 Published in that paper.

11 Now called Coal Bay.

12 Arrived 25th October, 1842.

13 The final distribution took place in January, 1843.

14 See his previous observation as to the general rule respecting crops produced on fern land.

15 Persons in England, who write through the Post-office to their friends in New Zealand, should be careful to pay the Postage of their Letters.

NEW PLYMOUTH

NEW PLYMOUTH.

From JANE CROCKER to her Father, MR. SAMUEL CROCKER, Revelstoke.

Taranaki, Feb. 7, 1842.

DEAR FATHER,

I send this by Captain King to Sydney: he is gone there to buy cattle and bring here. Dear father, I hope you are all well, as we are, I thank God for it. I have got three lodgers, with one from Cawsand – one of the name of Marks, and the other Forks. I have got 15s. a week; William's pay is 12s. a week; David's pay is 30s. a week; James's, 30s. a week. I can put by until I want to buy a garment, but I have not laid out more than one or two and twenty shillings in clothing. I am to send home to you and my poor little boy, and tell you we have bought a section of land in the town. John has bought a piece of land of Mr. Weekes, the doctor. The country section we have got together. We shall have to have it down to the Waitera, and if we have the harbour there, we shall go there to live; but if it is here, we shall remain where we be. We have paid Captain King for the town section £25 six weeks ago.

Please to give my love to dear uncle and aunt Bowden, and tell them that I am very glad that we are here. Mary Ann is still living in her place with the doctor. If her father was to see her he would not know her. I should say that the wages and gifts what she gets by sewing is not less than £40 a year. She is very clean and tidy, and very fit to be

seen. Dear father, I hope by the arrival of this letter that you will be quite ready to come out, and my dear boy with you. I can assure you, dear father, when I think of you two I cry for joy, hoping I shall see your dear dear faces again very soon, and may the blessed Lord give you as good time and pleasant voyage as we and others have had. I rather think that Sam will go to Sydney with Captain King to take care of the cattle, as he works for Mr. Cutfield. Dear father, there is fifty acres in country sections. Charles wishes for grandfather to come. I sent five letters by the Amelia Thompson. The cooper and Jane I hope will come with you; it will be well for them and their family if they will but come. As the ship is expected in every hour, I fear I shall not have time to write another letter. If I have time I shall send him one. Send me a letter the first opportunity. So no more at present from your affectionate child,

JANE CROCKER,

To MR. SAMUEL CROCKER, Revelstoke, from his Daughter-in-law.

New Plymouth, Feb. 10th, 1842.

DEAR FATHER,

We have sent these letters home by Captain Liardet, the Governor of New Plymouth. Captain Liardet and mate, and one of the Cawsand men, were clearing out one of the great guns, and the gun went off, and the sand and powder flew up in their faces and eyes. Captain Liardet has lost one eye, and is very likely to lose the other; he is going home to England; every one is sorry for him, he is such a good man. I should be very glad to hear that Captain Kingcombe had taken his place to come here to New Zealand. The governor will give you the true account of the place. As to saying that

there is no harbour here for ships to lie in a storm, they can make a very fine harbour, but they must send home to England first about it. There is a fine harbour down to the Waitera, fourteen miles from here. They have grown fine wheat and barley here, the finest that you ever saw, very fine; and new potatoes and turnips on Christmas day for dinner. Dear father, when we get together Jane is sure to say. "now John, if poor father was but here, and Samuel, how happy we should be;" and John's answer is, "I wish he was, my dear, he would be quite happy here, to see our gardens and land, and to walk over them." Henry and Charles go to school. Henry is just learning to write, the schoolmaster is just newly set up; it is 6d. a week for Charles, and 9d. a week for Henry; he has been at writing some weeks. Dear father, please to bring me and Jane out a barrel of pilchards each; please to buy a gardening hook too. There are plenty of mackerel here, but no nets to catch them, and there are pilchards; please to bring one good pilchard net. I must beg of you once more to bring dear Samuel with you. I have sent him a letter; when I wrote yours I did not think I should have time to write him one, as there was a ship in sight, but it was not coming here. It is a great thoroughfare here for ships, they are often in sight. Dear father, on Christmas day six of us went up to the Moturoa Chapel, to hear Mr. Creed, and the chapel was quite full of poor missionaries. When we came home we had cold fig pudding, and cold leg of pork, dressed the day before; ten of us sat down to dinner. In the afternoon we went to see the land, and in the evening we went to chapel. The sand has been tried, and it is more than half iron: and in the interior about a mile from ours there is stone with lead in it all over the place. I wish it had been in ours to have had a mine. It is a valuable country.

From. S. and W. CURTIS, to their relatives at Bodmin, Cornwall.

New Plymouth, February 10th, 1842.

DEAR FATHER, BROTHER, AND SISTERS,

I write you these few lines hoping it will find you all well. I have been expecting to hear from you before now, as there have been three ships come here from England since I left. I suppose it is cold enough now at home; here it is harvest. This is the finest wheat and barley country that ever was seen, and that you would say if you were to see it. We have a small harvest, as we had no time, when we came, to sow much, and no cattle to plough the ground. We have got plenty of potatoes, fine crops, and fine cabbages, – all vegetables grow well here. I wish you were all here; – this is a fine place for tailors and sawyers. I can get more money here than you can get at home. I have everything as good as at home – we bought a featherbed quite new for £6 the other day. I am about to buy a town section for £40. I am certain I should never have saved that sum at home, – many hundreds have gone through my hands since I have been here. I have bought great quantities of pigs, so you must expect I am doing something and saving money. As yet I we have got no bullocks or sheep to kill, but we shall have plenty soon. It is a fine country, the only thing we want is a harbour. The trees are always green and very large, from 80 to 100 feet in height without a branch. I have seen trees from six to eight feet through and through. The red pine is splendid timber for furniture, it is like mahogany. I have three houses building, some stone, some cob. If we had only a harbour this would be the finest place in the world. Flour is 5d. per pound, beef 7d., pork, fresh and salt, 7d. and 7 1/4d. per pound; potatoes from the English 1d. per pound, from the natives 3d. per pound; tea 6s., sugar 10d. men's

shoes £1. 4s. per pair; fustian trowsers 9s., well made and lined; jackets £1. 4d.; spirits, as in England; beer and porter 1s. 6d. per pint. I have not kept an account of the number of pigs I have killed since I have been here – many hundreds, I should guess. Love to all friends, from your affectionate children,

SAMUEL AND F. CURTIS.

From JAMES THOMAS SHAW, formerly Shipwright in the Dockyard at Devonport, to a Friend in Plymouth.

New Plymouth, February 16, 1842.

MY DEAR BROTHER,

If I may be allowed to use that relative name, we arrived safe to this place and were landed 20th September 1841, after a very prolonged voyage. This place in which we are located is a fine level country, abundantly watered; but I am sorry to say we have no harbour, from which cause we labour under many disadvantages. On my landing I was surprised to find James married. I am at present living with him, but I hope in a few days to go into a house of my own. I did not put up the wood house I brought with me, not knowing where my town land would be, and owing to my very late choice, I find it very inconvenient to live there, as it fell to be in the very skirts of the town. I thought it best to buy a piece of ground that was near the centre of the town. I have purchased a piece, in a very eligible spot, about 82 feet by 42. Our houses are one story high at present, built either of cob or wood, having no building stones convenient. The houses in which we now live are built by the natives, with holes struck in the ground, with rods at right angles about ten inches apart, lined with rapo, a kind of bulrush, in a vertical direction, thatched with long grass. With respect to the natives, they

are well-grown, active people, very quiet, nothing savage about them, are very desirous for the whites to be among them, very sober and honest, and know how to make good bargains. The climate is very pleasant; it is now our hottest month, not much warmer than at home, but rather colder at night, with heavy dews; we can suffer rather more bed clothes than in England. My town section I have made a garden of, as it was situated so far off. It was covered with copse wood and timber, which is mostly cleared. I have in about thirteen land-yards of potatoes, and a good lot of cabbages. We have a good deal of up-hill work, from six in the morning till eight to nine in the evening. I work for the Company from seven to five in the evening. Wages by the day, 7s. 6d. mechanics; labourers, 4s. to 5s. per day; when working for private individuals, 6s. per day. Provisions: fresh pork, 6d. to 7d. per lb; salt ditto, 6d.; flour, 6d.; loaf sugar, 10d.; split pease, 2s. per gallon; potatoes, 1d. per lb. They have been dearer; we shall have them cheaper soon. I must draw to a close, as my paper is near done. I am still an advocate for emigration, and do not regret the undertaking, and would advise those that cannot make a living in England to emigrate. The agriculturist earning 8s. or 8s. 6d. per week at home, out here would save more than he could earn at home. I am persuaded that all classes of honest and industrious persons will do well. Yours, &c.

JAMES THOMAS SHAW.

From A. and E. HOSKIN, to their Parents.

Neva Plymouth, February 19th, 1842.

DEAR PARENTS,

I have now taken the opportunity of sending to you as I did not when the other people sent theirs; you will see the reason when you read the letter. Dear friends, I hope you received the letters I sent

to you by the vessel that we met on our voyage out. (Here follows a long description of occurrences on the voyage.) My brother Peter was on the beach waiting for me, at New Plymouth. Dear friends, I am happy to say, that the people behaved very kind to all the passengers that came out in our ship; for they that came out in the first ship had some houses up to receive us. They had twenty yards of ground given them to build on for two years, which Peter's was not finished. Eliza went into Richard Rowis's house, and Josias went in Captain King's tent, he told Eliza to go there too, but there was no room for both families and his things too; so now, thank God, we are all living in Peter's house, and we give him three shillings per week; Josias gives him more, as he has a shop to work in, so we are all three brothers together. Josias is doing quite well, he keeps a man to work for him; his price for half boots is £1. 4s. per pair, shoes 18s. per pair, and women's shoes 11s. per pair. Trades-people get 8s. per day, labourers from 5s. to 7s. per day. There is no want for work here, and when the work is done you have the money for it. Dear friends, I hope you will not grieve about our coming away, for I wish you were all here. If brother John was here, he might do well, or if Richard was here he would do well. I hope to see them all. My sisters might do well in service, for wages are very high, from £12 to £18 per year; but, if any one comes here, he must be sure and keep himself steady, for a drinking man is not looked upon by any one in this place. We are now expecting a cargo of sheep and bullocks from Sydney, what Captain King is gone after. We have not had any mutton or beef as yet, but plenty of pork. I kill from three to four pigs a week. I have now at present eighteen under hands for the inhabitants. Pork is 7 1/2 d. per pound. We can get them from the natives for

blankets, or for "money gold" as they call it, which we call sovereigns; the last lot we bought was from a ship that brought pigs for sale; we bought as many as came to £77. 10s. which, thank God, we have had a good sale for. Dear friends, I am happy to say that any one can do well, if they keep themselves sober. As for myself, I work very hard; I am taking down timber and sawing it for Captain King's house; I make my wages £3 per week in sawing. The timber is very large here – it is from five feet to seven feet through, which we have a good lot of; it is inland. Eliza works very hard too. She is at Captain King's two or three days a week, and one day at another gentleman's house, for which she gets 2s. 6d. a day and her meat. My two boys go to school, and they are quite well. Dear mother, you would be glad to see them and to hear them talk the Mowry (Maori) language. I hope, in a short time, you will hear from me again, and then I will let you know all the particulars. Sawyers get 14s. to £1 per hundred. I am now talking of having a spot of land to put a house on; I intend putting up a wooden one, as we have the skids of the timber that we saw. The inhabitants are not enough to employ a cooper at present, so I work at that mornings and evenings. When our ship was finished discharging, the schooner Regina, of Plymouth, came in sight; she had all our heavy things with her. I was ordered to go on board of her by Captain King, and see all the things taken out safe, &c. Dear friend, I hope you will give my love to uncle and aunt, &c.: tell them I will send them a letter soon. This is now our harvest time – some wheat and barley are cut. Give my love to all friends, and tell them I should be glad to see them all here. But if they intend coming, I hope they will keep themselves steady. Dear friends, I can assure you this is a beautiful country, and the natives are

very kind to the white people. Some of them are missionaries: we have one here, and they attend his house. We have preaching twice on Sundays. I must conclude; but I hope I shall hear from you again soon. If you send any parcel, please to direct it to me as you did the last. From your dutiful son and daughter,

A. AND E HOSKIN.

From JANE CROCKER, to her father, MR. SAMUEL CROCKER, Revelstoke.

New Plymouth, February 26th, 1842.

DEAR FATHER,

The Timandra was but four months; they put into the Cape, and that detained them a fortnight. They had no wind to bring them. We have had fine weather here to discharge her. No doubt that the Captain will give the place a good name. Dear father, I hope this will bring you and Samuel here, and many besides, particularly you, my dear father, and the poor boy. There is a man been to Mokou after pigs, and on his journey he has found lime rock and coals. It appears that New Zealand produces everything; the sand is three parts iron and steel. I can assure you, my dear father, I have sent home nothing but the truth. I would advise you, Jane, and William, to come here, for the sake of your dear little family. When we found there was none in the mail, we thought there was no letter for us; the next day our sorrow was turned into joy. We have let one room to a man and his wife, for 5s. a week, and we shall get another house, if it please God, against the other ship arrives here; they make as much as 12s. a week of their houses. So I must conclude, as the ship is going to sea to-day.

From F. A. CARRINGTON, ESQ., to his brother, MAJOR CARRINGTON.

New Plymouth, February 27th, 1842.

I understand there are a great many reports about the wind at this place – believe this 'tis false. I have not, nor do I intend yet to try and let the truth be known. You know what my knowledge of the British Isles is – we have not there (that I have seen) a piece of country to compare with this. The Waitera river will take in vessels drawing from nine to ten feet of water at high tide, (thirteen feet rise). This is not known. Coal which I have sent home to the Company has been picked up on the banks of this river. Twenty-five miles further up the coast north-east is plenty of coal and lime-stone, discovered by a man of the name of Seccombe, a lime-burner.

F. A. CARRINGTON.

From Mr. JOHN PERRY to the Directors of the New Zealand Company.

New Plymouth, 27th February, 1842.

HONORABLE SIRS,

I undertake an arduous task in attempting to make known to you the many valuable minerals which have been discovered in these vast tracts of rich land, which will be gratifying to the eye of the mineralist, and to the speculating tradesman. In doing so, I fear I shall fail in the execution, for want of expressions strong enough to paint to you its valuable qualities or its useful colours. First, is the iron ore; it is lying on the beach, and can be procured at a small expense, and pure in its nature, which I attempted to smelt many a time before I communicated to any of the Company's Officers. When I explained the same to the Surveyor General,

he assisted me in carrying it into execution, which we have not properly done. I have no doubt the next smelting will be perfection, and a sample of the same with the ore I hope you will receive, and likewise samples of different leads or veins that I have discovered near New Plymouth, which can be worked easily and with very little expense, as new Plymouth is bounded with water power. I have been last week and discovered three beds of coal; they are about four feet in thickness, and sixteen feet apart, and about five miles from New Plymouth adjoining the sea-shore, and easy to be exported. I have also found a bank of whiting which only requires a little cleaning to make it pure.

Gentlemen, I cannot express to you the extent of my gratitude for having conveyed me from the British shores to rest with my family in New Zealand. In England I could not maintain my family as a tradesman ought, but here we can make every improvement that is necessary. But you must yourselves judge that there is in this place disaffected persons, as well as in every other corner of the world; there are many such who come to this place as land jobbers and storekeepers; but farmers with capital to cultivate this rich soil, which is capable of producing every species of grain for human use, in the greatest abundance and of the finest quality, are what is wanted at New Plymouth.

I am, &c,
JOHN PERRY.

From JOHN and ANN FRENCH, working emigrants, to their parents, near Ashburton, in Devonshire.

Taranaki, 28th February, 1842.

Your affectionate son to his dear father and mother, brothers, and sisters, and all inquiring friends. I should like to see you all again once

more; I have no desire to come home; I am much better off here than I should be in England; I consider I am worth at least £40 ; a house 20 feet by 12, and a chimney almost finished, I built it with cob; the house is built with gable ends; I am completing one end with cob, with the chimney in it, which will be my own till the two years' end when we landed, and the garden with it, and a piece of ground close by, 27 yards, which I have planted with potatoes, and cabbages, pumpkins, and some melons, and one ounce of onion seed, which grows very well. I sowed a quantity of different sorts of seeds, but they did not all grow; the cabbage and turnips answer very well here. I consider my house and garden are worth from £30 to £40, besides a great many other things. I have bought a good four-post bedstead, cost 30s. for making it, and found all the timber myself. It is made of red pine, beautiful wood, and a door of the same, and a table of the same wood 6 feet by 2 1/2 feet, and 1 1/2 inch thick. I went sawing for three months, and this was the way I got my wood, but I had a bad partner, I lost many pounds by it; he stopped and I have not been sawing since; since that I have been most of my time working for the Company. I have £10 in money; I hope I shall soon have £10 more. I have now got cabbage, turnips, and potatoes fit to take up. I gave 1 1/2d. a pound for the seed potatoes, I tilled as many as will supply ourselves, so that we shall not want to buy so much flour as we have done. I would not go back to England again if I could have a free passage back again, for I know I could not do so well in England as I can here, nor no labouring man besides; but I can tell you a drunken man is not much good here; a good steady man is sure to do well here. The Company has been giving 30s. a week, but the last month we have had £1 a week, with 10 lbs. of meat, 10 lbs. of flour, a

quarter pound of tea, a pound and half of sugar. They that work for private individuals have 6s. a day. There is not much work going on yet. I worked for Captain Cook on his town land for a little while. If you send anything out here, pack it in a brandy keg, or something that is water-tight. I should like to see some of you here. I expect my brother William to come out, Thomas Pearse, or Benjamin Hayman and Mary. Don't remain in Old England to starve, when you could do better here; such ones that I have mentioned that can work well, are sure to do well. I wish that my father and mother would come out, there were older people than they came out in the last ship. I am certain that you can do better here than you can at home. Servant maids are not much wanted yet, although there are some living out that have got 7s. a week. There are no servant men, but there will be when the land is given out and people on it. You need not be afraid of the sea, for you are as safe there as on land; but there are many difficulties to put up with – but this is but for a little time. I should like to see some of you out. If you should come, be sure and bring out as much as you can; a plenty of bedding. Blankets are £2 a pair. Bring your feather bed tie with you and all your working utensils and labouring tools; bring out boots instead of shoes, for you will find them much the best in the woods. Carry a tin on board ship for baking; bring out your pot crooks with you – there are the same things wanted here as at home. So no more at present from your affectionate son and daughter,

JOHN and ANN FRENCH.

From Mr. WILLIAM BAYLY, Yeoman, late of Clawton, in Devonshire, to his Parents.

Taranaki, Feb. 29th, 1842.

DEAR FATHER,

Through all the mercies of God, I thank Him, through Christ, that I now have an opportunity of sending you a few lines of our affairs and health; we are all in tolerable health at present; Mr. and Mrs. Veale and family connexions are all well.

Now, what I send you is with my own judgment; if I write anything incorrect I shall err in judgment. When first we arrived in Cook's Straits, we saw the Cape Farewell on the right and Mount Egmont on the left; we then sailed for Cloudy bay, but its right name is Port Underwood; there we were ordered to receive our instructions to the New Plymouth settlement; we there sailed, but no information. Then we sailed to Port Nicholson, or otherwise Wellington; there Captain King saw Colonel Wakefield, and received information to our distant land; we were there two weeks, and I was on shore much of the time. I travelled for days and found nothing but mountains for miles, which could not be cultivated whatsoever, by no means. There were at a distance two farms; Francis Molesworth and another gentleman had many acres of wheat tilled and looking well; but I thought we were ruined, to hear so many complaints that of this island the great parts were mountains, which could not be cultivated by no means. Then we weighed anchor and sailed again for Port Underwood, to ballast our ship, for we were light, not fit to stand a sea in the Straits; there we were a fortnight, and I travelled for days, mountains a great part, some perpendicular, which no man ever went over; it is a beautiful harbour as in the known, world. A few Europeans and a great many natives; Europeans keep on the whaling station,

and every one a grog shop; they are drunkards, the worst of drunkards, in this place; and so in Port Nicholson they are, the great part, the worst that ever a sober man saw. One day, William Bassett and I went down to the bottom of the harbour, in a boat, about six miles, to a Wesleyan missionary; his name is Ironside; there we dined with him, and had much conversation. I said, "Do you know anything about Taranaki, New Plymouth settlement?" "Yes, well; I have travelled over and over it, and found it the garden of New Zealand." And now I have seen it, and upwards of six months' experience, and found it, by the mouth of another Wesleyan missionary – his name is Creed – all to be true. Here are thousands and tens of thousands of acres as level as can he found in England; I would say, when the land is cleared, all that I have seen, that the plough shall go over nineteen acres out of twenty. The soil is very deep in high land as well as low. I believe for climate and soil not better to be found in the known world. I know a man that has tilled the third crop of potatoes in the same piece of ground, and I am expecting a crop within twelve months. In front of my house there are many acres of potatoes, Indian corn, pumpkins, melons, cucumbers, peas, beans, cabbages, greens, turnips, radishes, and many things else; and you may till this in five hundred acres together, as well as here, and answer well. There is fern, bush, and timber land to clear; fern and bush extend about two miles back from the sea shore; then the timber. This fern and bush supposed anciently to be timber land, destroyed by the natives and tilled. This fern and bush land, first you must cut it all down and dry it well, then set fire to it, and it will burn the very surface of the earth; you may pull up a great part of the moats with a trifle of mattock labour. Bush and fern land will pay the first crop for clear-

ing, and a good crop will pay double; for the first crop must be potatoes; for many years past they averaged in Sydney £6 a ton, and they are eight or ten this present, and have been more. Tons have been brought by vessels and sold at 1 1/2d. per lb. in this place. Natives have plenty, and they know how to sell as well as we know how to buy. Francis Molesworth, Esq., in Port Nicholson, has cleared many acres last year of timber land, tilled it to potatoes, sent them to Sydney, which has paid him fifteen pounds per acre more than all seed and labour of cleaning the land; but he had an excellent crop – twelve tons in an acre; since he has tilled it to wheat, and how it has harvested I have not heard. I have now in the ear, in my house, wheat, barley, and oats, as fine a sample as ever I wish to see, grown in this place; but the second crop is much finer than the first; and our Rev. Mr. Creed says, since his experience, the more tilled the better the crop.

Thomas and I have cleared one town section each, and tilled to many sorts; beans, peas, cabbage, greens, pumpkins, melons, radishes, turnips, do well; French beans and carrots do not answer.

I have built two houses with wood on my town section, sixteen feet by sixteen and a half, with a wood floor under, and a sley on the back, seven feet by sixteen and a half, with a cob chimney; the wood is of one tree, it is of red pine. William Basset, and Roberts, the sawyer, from Bude, sawed the greater part of it, 5,000 feet, and T. Oxenham, and T. Neale, 2,000, which makes 7,000 feet, which cost £1 per hundred. Roberts I paid £25; Oxenham £19 12s.; and William Basset's £25 I had not to pay.

Now I state to you about content and discontent of men's minds. Our town here is fixed and cannot be altered, and here is no harbour for any ships to

lay in safety. Now, here are agents for a company of town land purchasers, from Yorkshire, in England; these company of gentlemen have bought in all these South Sea settlements quantities of town land, and sold to an immense profit; those agents are much displeased with this place; they have ten per cent, for letting and selling. Here is no harbour, and they have no view for doing anything for themselves; at present they can let and sell, but not for expectations nor advantage. Next come suburban land purchasers; they are pleased because here is no harbour. The suburban land is a belt of land all round the town; sold in England much more per section than country land. Next comes country land purchasers. About four months ago our noble Governor, and Principal Agent for the Company, landed here, and a few days after some one told him that ten miles down there is a large river that a small vessel might go up a long way. He went in a boat and surveyed it, and found that a large schooner might go up in it a long distance, thirteen to sixteen feet of high water-mark in the mouth of the river; this land was not purchased in England. Our Governor went direct to Governor Hobson, and he granted him sixteen miles along the sea shore, and eight back in the interior; that is the extent of all our settlement at present. Now I, and all us early-choice country land purchasers, poor unworthy creatures, seem to be pretty well pleased. Samuel Fishley has the seven section for choice. Thomas has the twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, and I have the twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty; which he intended to choose by this large river Waitera; where, at a future day, he expects to export and import handy by our farms; for there is beautiful land, and all say that we early-choice country land purchasers have been worth double to any. Now we have been intruded upon for want of an harbour; two

small crafts have traded here, and they have charged so much for freight of goods from our neighbouring settlements, Port Nicholson, and others, as they do from England. Here they are all against us; we have land level and rich; they have good harbours and mountains which cannot be cultivated. We shall increase, but they must decrease. I am living on my own town section; James has bought one of my town and country sections, and living on it; Rundle built his house. Thomas is living in my house at present. The Carrington road leads on before my door into the interior. Across my section runs a large rivulet of water, a never-failing stream, out of my right, across the road into the Ewaoki river, eighteen to twenty-two feet fall of water in one quarter of an acre. A mill might be erected without any interruption; here is iron ore in abundance has been proved, and this water is most convenient for cleaning of that. A sawing machine, and many other machinery, might be erected.

Now, I think, about six or eight weeks we shall have our land ready for choice; the work has all been done by the day, and the wages have been 5s. per day. Now, for some weeks, the best men have had one pound a week in cash, 101b. of beef, 101b. of flour, 1/4 lb. of tea, and 1 1/2 lb. of sugar. Second class of men 14s. a week; rations as before mentioned.

Dear Mother, – This I hope will find you all in good health, as it leaves me at present. My family, Thomas and James are all well; we have buried our dear little baby; nine weeks old when he died. We had a long voyage; our family was not on land, after we went on board at Plymouth, until landed here at New Plymouth, six months and three days on board. The ship Timandra, that left Old Plymouth, arrived here last Wednesday, with all emigrants landed safe. It is a trial for a family that has been reared well, to be closed up, as we were, in the

voyage; but thanks be to Him that cared for us over the wide and boundless ocean; and now we may all pray to him that bought us with a price on the cross, under our own vine and fig-tree, and no one dare lawfully to make us afraid. Here we have a view of doing something for a family. The best trades are shoemakers, carpenters, and joiners; but farmers will be the best. I believe, for the land is good. I am glad I am here; I would choose hundreds of farms here that might break a large breach with less labour than that I last broke upon Grensworthy farm. Carpenters' wages 8s. per day; shoemakers' – men's high shoes, £1. 5s. per pair; labourers, 5s. to 7s. a day. Not much employment for blacksmiths at present. Masons, 7s. to 9s. per perch; servant girls, £20. a year. Betsy Kerslake has bargained for £20. a year. Tell them all that have a mind to come here, if they have money they can do well; but lazy men and drunkards have no business here. Teetotalers are the men for this place, and they are the most looked upon. I am a staunch teetotaler, thank God for it; I have never used a drop since I left England. Drunkards are utterly disdained in this place; it is dreadful. Tell Samuel Northy that I shall write to him in a few weeks. Tell Mr. John Veale, Ashwater, Mr. Richard and Shadrach Beale, and Mr. Fary, Muckworthy, that we are all well; so no more at present from your affectionate son,

WILLIAM BAYLY.

From F. A. CARRINGTON, ESQ., the Company's Surveyor General at New Plymouth,

1st March, 1842.

"This country is rich beyond my most sanguine expectations. I send home some coal, cobalt, iron, sand and ore, all as found. The coal picked up on a bank of the Waitera, 2 1/2 miles inland – the vein is not

yet discovered. A man of the name of Seccombe, a lime-burner, has discovered limestone, coal, and culm, in the greatest abundance at Mokao River, 25 miles north-east along the coast from Waitera."

prom WILLIAM HENWOOD, to his Relatives in St. Germans, Cornwall.

Taranaki, March 2, 1842.

DEAR FATHER, MOTHER, BROTHER, AND SISTERS,

We left England on the 19th November, 1840. We have been landed here nearly twelve months. We landed on the 31st of March last. We had a most pleasant voyage from England; indeed, the first letter I wrote all about our voyage. I have wrote these few lines in a hurry, as the ship is about to sail in a few hours. I have got a very good situation as any man in the colony. I am foreman of the Company's carpenters. I have £150 per year, with ten men every day to work for me, and two apprentices. 1 have built the house for the Principal Agent, and he has made me foreman of the Company, to buy and sell all the timber for the Company. We are forced to build all the houses of timber, for we have no stone as yet to build with. We have found some lime rock in this country, and plenty of minerals, such as iron and copper, and plenty of coals, and some culm. This is a most splendid country for farming, when the land is cleared. You know I brought some wheat out with me, it was two quarts. I had a small spot of land, and I sowed it, and I have reaped and thrashed ten gallons from it; mine was the first harvest in the country. I had ten men and boys to cut it for me one evening. I have one section of land in the town. I have three dwelling houses; two of them are out to rent, with a small bit of garden. They bring me in 24s. per week. I have got the first cow in the country, which cost me £30. I am sure, if I remained in

England, I should not have been the owner of the tail of a cow. But not all yet: I have one nanny goat, which cost me £2. 5s.; I have got one pig, a dog, and two cats; and the best of all, I have got a nice little wife; she is another such a little crack as my sister Mary; she is a merry one, and a clever one too. If my brothers would come out, they would do much for themselves in this country. Wages in this country are as follows: carpenters wages 8s. per day. I get 10s. per day to go with my hands in my pockets. Labouring men get 5s. 6d. per day. Provisions are as follows: salt beef 7 1/2d. per lb.; pork ditto; flour 4d. per lb.; potatoes 1d. per lb.; rice 3d. per lb. I cannot stay to say anything more; but will send another as soon as possible. Give my love to uncle William, and thank him for my apple trees that he gave me. They are the first in the country. I have been offered £20 for them; but I would not take £50 for them. I have nothing more to say; but tell my mother I shall come back to England in about seven years. In love I remain, &c,

WILLIAM HENWOOD,

Letter from ARTHUR HOSKIN to his Father, Mr.JOSIAH HOSKIN, Wheelwright, Holswortky, Devon.

New Plymouth, March 2, 1842.

DEAR FRIENDS,

I am happy to let you know that we are all well, as I cannot say enough on the letter that I have now written. Dear father, I have had you in my mind many times to-day, as I have been going through the wood, as Captain King desired of me to go back in the section behind his, which is 100 acres, for to see some timber, as it is his turn to choose next; and of all the timber there never was seen in England, particularly the red and white pine;

for it is from one hundred to a hundred and fifty feet in height, and from four to six feet through. There was one tree, which they call the cherry-tree, nineteen feet round, which it is a thing impossible for me to tell how many feet there is in them where they stand. I should be glad if you would send me out a timber-measuring book by the first chance you have. Dear friends, I am happy to let you know that we are in a delightful country, and I thank God,

I we have a plenty of every thing to make ourselves comfortable, which it will be much better when Captain King's fat cattle comes from Sydney. As for potatoes, the natives have a great many acres tilled in, and they sell them to any of the people. The pigs we have got here are very good ones; for we killed seven this last week to sell out to the inhabitants, and it is sold from 7d. to 7 1/2d. per lb. We want for neither work nor money; for if any one will work, and keep himself steady, he can do well. I have wished for all of you to have been here many times. Please to give my love to John, and tell him how I shall send him a letter the next time I write; tell him and Richard how they might have done well had they come along with me. They would never want a friend. If Richard will come at any time, let him send word to me, and I will do for him by the time he comes or any of the family. Dear friends, I am glad that I left home, and I should say that all the rest of our people, for brother Peter has got the favour of sending to Sydney after iron and coal, by Captain King, for to work with, to his own account, overtime, which coal he has bought of the captain of the Timandra, the ship that brought out the last lot of people. Dear friends, I was glad to hear from you by the letter you sent in Captain King's parcel, and also by the parcel you sent by Mr. Northcott, and we are much obliged to you for the things that were in it, which, I hope, in the next

letter you have from me, I shall be able to make you some amends for. Dear mother, I hope you will never grieve about our leaving home; for the way we are all doing now is the right way for ourselves. It is expected that they will begin to make a harbour in a short time, for they are finding all sorts of minerals and mines – coal, in particular, is very plentiful; and then I hope I shall have work at my own trade; but I will assure you that there is not work enough for a cooper at present, and there is one, I am informed, but he is obliged to go out to work as a labourer for the present; but I do not wish to work at it myself as long as I am able to do as well as I am at present for myself. My dear friends, I must conclude, for they are waiting for the letter. I will write you more particulars in the next. We all give our love to, &c, &c.

ARTHUR HOSKIN.

From PAUL INCH, Shoemaker, to a friend at St. Malin, near Bodmin, Cornwall.

New Plymouth, 2nd March, 1842.

"I am happy to state to you that we had a very good passage, and landed all safe, in a fine colony of land as ever was seen. There is fine wood grows here, always green all the year round, and some of the finest shrubs you ever saw in your life in England. There is some here would make £100. each if home in England. The climate here is very healthy and good. I myself am working at my own trade, one of the best trades here in the colony – 17s. for a new pair of low shoes – 20s. for high shoes – 10s. for women's shoes – 45s. for men's Wellington boots. I also keep on the butchering as well, and I intend to keep on the same. I would be glad to see you here, and any of the old friends from home. There is no want of money or meat here. I have a

house and garden of my own, and I never intend to be an English slave more; but if ever I come home, I hope to have enough to live on without working to maintain masters. Here is the place for farmers to come to live. No taxes, no tithes, no rates of any sort, or any arbitrary exaction of money.

I would be happy to see you here and your family, as you here with your capital might buy land enough for an extensive parish. The bush-land is the best land. The fern land is not quite as good, but when the fern is burnt it makes the land much better. Some grow from fifteen to twenty feet high, and the fern tree grows here which we eat just the same as you do the apple at home, and they are very good.

The natives here are very quiet and harmless, not at all as they are spoken of. If Blewitt, or any labouring man of the place were here, he may do well. Wages are here 30s. a-week."

From Mr. STEPHEN GILLINGHAM, Yeoman, to his father, DAVID GILLINGHAM, Esq., of Canfield House, Shaftesbury.

New Plymouth, March 2nd, 1842.

DEAR FATHER,

As there is a brig leaving this afternoon for Sydney, I embrace the opportunity of forwarding a letter to inform you of our safe arrival, after one of the most pleasant voyages ever made. We came to anchor on the 23rd of February, about three miles from shore, at four o'clock, P. M., hoisted the English colours, and fired a salute of two six pounders, which was answered in a few minutes from shore. Soon after, two boats came off to us: the first had the harbour master on board, the other was Mr. Barrett from the whaling station. The next morning the boats came off to fetch all the steerage passengers and their lug-

gage. We went at the same time to present our land orders, and were informed by the chief surveyor that the land was not yet ready for selection, as they had not quite finished the suburban land, but he thinks the rural land will be ready in six weeks. We have not as yet had time to look over our town sections, but have seen the situations on the map, two of them are situated very well, close to the market-place, that is to be, the other two are on the other side of the town; the situation of these is tolerable.

The rural land is to be on the banks of the Waitera river, where many are of an opinion the town should have been; it is about ten miles along the shore, to the north of this place, it is a very fine river, about the size of the Thames above the bridges, and is navigable for vessels of a hundred tons burthen. Every person who has seen the land in that neighbourhood speaks in the highest praise of its quality; if it is as good as what I have seen, (and I have not as yet been a mile from shore) it will do for any purpose.

The town is situated between two small rivers, one about the size of that at Abbotts Ann, the other of corresponding size to that at Cann, both of which abound with mountain trout and eels, and their waters are as good as any I have ever tasted. The vegetables which I have seen here are in point of growth beyond description; I never would have believed it, had I not witnessed it, and I can answer for the quality of the potatoes, they are the best I have ever eaten, as mellow as flour. The natives bring them into the town in small baskets of 12 lb. each, which they sell for one shilling, and ask a herring (one shilling) for almost every trifle, and take care to ask enough for pigs, which are nearly as dear as they are in England, and nearly of equal breed. I have already had several dealings with them. Some dress in English clothes, the others wear blankets, which is a good article to barter with them. They are a

fine race of people. I like them much, and am not afraid to go ten miles in-land to live amongst them; they seem to be very harmless and strictly honest; they come into the tents, sit down, laugh and are very entertaining with their gibberish. The land at this part of the coast is covered down to the water's edge. There is a strip of land along the coast about 200 yards wide, covered with fern, similar to the English. Immediately behind it is a belt of bush land, as it is here called, composed of the most beautiful shrubs from five to twenty feet high, filled up with fern of the same height, which is about three miles wide. This land is considered the best; behind this commences the timber district, which I have not seen. Every one of the emigrants got employed immediately on their landing, at 5s. per day; carpenters 7s. 6d. They have taken houses from 5s. to 15s. per week. A few of them are living in the depot – a house formed by the Company – and most of them are employed by the New Zealand Company, landing their goods from the boats. I have been very fortunate in getting my things landed with the least damage, as several boats have been swamped by the surf, and the things much damaged – everything ought to be brought in casks.

I would advise all persons coming hither to marry first, as the bachelors seem to be in want of housekeepers.

I remain, yours affectionately,
S. GlLLINGHAM.

From SIMON and JANE ANDREWS, labouring emigrants to their parents.

New Plymouth, 8th March, 1842.

DEAR PARENTS,

We arrived here quite safe on February 26th, after a beautiful and quick passage, being only three

months and a fortnight at sea. We met John Lye and family, all well, who were on the beach waiting for us, and kindly received and accommodated us. I am happy to say this is a most beautiful country, abundantly supplied with water and wood – no wood of the same kinds as in England, but beautiful sorts – and plenty of fish, both salt and fresh water. Please give my love to brothers and sisters, and tell them I should be happy to see them here as quick as possible. The spring shuttle, sledge, and harness would be useful here in a few years hence. As flax grows luxuriantly and spontaneously here, it is presumed the trade will flourish here in a few years. If they come, they should bring as much clothes, shoes, and bedding as they can, as it is all very dear here; they should also bring a good gun or two, as wild ducks and pigeons are very plentiful here; likewise some apple pips or kernells in earth, and all kinds of herb seeds, as no such thing is to be got here, and the land is very rich and climate temperate. Any crop is brought to perfection here in half the time it is in England. Please to give my kind love to all inquiring friends, and tell them John Lye is looking very well – much better than in England; he is very healthy and happy, has a beautiful house and garden, and says he never wishes to return to England. Tradesmen are getting from 7s. 6d. to 8s. per day, and labourers 5s. I went to work the second day after I landed, and am now employed with John Lye, by the Company, cutting lines for the surveyors. Provisions are high, but we get good potatoes from the natives. Ships can only stay here in fair weather, as the harbour is not good, but I understand it will soon be improved. I am very much pleased with the country. If my brothers and sisters, or any of my wife's family, should like to come here, tell them to bring all the clothes, shoes, beds, and bedding, they can; but not to trouble

themselves about bringing any money, as I hope I shall be able to receive them and make them comfortable. With kindest love to all.

I remain, &c.,
SIMON and JANE ANDREWS.

From H. R. A – – – , Esq., to Mr. T. C – – – , in Cornwall.

New Plymouth, March 12th, 1842.

"Ever since the beginning of January we have had the most delightful weather imaginable; day after day a cloudless sky, and calm sea, slightly rippled with breezes from the south-east, or south-west. The Timandra has never on a single occasion been prevented from discharging her cargo. Vessels arriving here ought to leave England in September, October, November, and December. On their arrival in January, February, March, and April, they will be certain of meeting with fine weather, – when I say certain, I speak from experience. The weather was precisely the same during these months last year; the remaining eight months cannot be calculated on with certainty. There is not a dissentient voice that, as far as the country is concerned, it is decidedly the finest part of New Zealand. No tract of land has yet been discovered to equal it, and I will defy any to surpass it. Streams innumerable intersect it in every direction, which renders it admirably calculated for the operations of the agriculturist. The soil on the coast is light, and in many parts sandy, but fruitful, with an orange marl subsoil. Inland, a couple of miles or so, the soil becomes heavier, a mixture of loam and clay, better suited for wheat than the other. The former grows fine potatoes, cabbages, enormous carrots, turnips, and other vegetables. Bush land is the best: it is all humbug what is said about fern land being so good. The

fern impoverishes the soil. What I state has been fully proved by a crop of wheat grown for the Company on it. A more complete failure I never saw in my life. Another proof, if one was wanting, is N – – – 's garden, he is, as you are aware, a practical gardener; and very knowingly, as he thought, he pitched on a spot in Mr. W – – – 's suburban section, where some fine tall fern was growing. The soil was examined, and reported to be of the best description: and, accordingly, the fern was cleared, and seeds were sown. About the same time, I, who relied on information received from the natives, cleared, with the assistance of my brothers, a patch of bush land. The labour was certainly much greater, but amply were we repaid for our trouble. Our table, during the whole summer, has been supplied with a great many more vegetables than we could consume. A good many we have sold; and have now in store, for winter use, upwards of four tons of potatoes. I once visited the practical gardener's garden. Every thing was looking well in the extreme, beds raked with the utmost care, right angles, quadrangles, and all sorts of angles correctly drawn; not a weed nor any thing else to be seen. N – – – acknowledged that he had been entirely deceived, and that it was his intention to try the bush. He has since done so, and his crops are looking well. It has often been a source of much amusement to me, that although we had never in our lives before handled a spade, we should have managed to get a better garden than the practical gardener.

The natives are a good-humoured, good-for-nothing set of vagabonds; extremely well disposed to Europeans; and when inclined to work, which is but seldom, they are of great assistance in constructing houses. At first they took tobacco for every trifling service they rendered; but now nothing will do but clothing or money – of the latter they are extremely

fond, and the little they do becomes quite as expensive as if white men were employed. The golden days are past, when a blanket would purchase two or three pigs. The tattooed gentry now know full well the value of their porkers. They will not sell a small basket of potatoes for less than a shilling. There is not much fear of their quarrelling with us: they are too much alive to their interests for that. As long as they continue as well treated as they are at present, there is no chance of any interruption in the amicable intercourse between the two races.

Mineral Riches of New Zealand.

From HENRY WEEKES, Esq., to the Editor of the New Zealand Journal.

Barnstaple, April 10th, 1842.

SIR,

In a late number of your Journal, I find my name mentioned as an authority for the existence of a rich iron ore or sand, on the beach at New Plymouth. Feeling an interest in the subject which engaged the attention of your correspondent, I afterwards referred to my notes, and collected from them the following scattered remarks on the minerals which presented themselves to my notice during my residence in that colony.

Iron Sand. – "The beach from the Huatoki to Mr. Creed's, (about 1 1/2 mile), is here and there covered with a grey sand, which slightly hardens and becomes crisp on the surface. This I soon found to be magnetic, and, on further examination it now proves to contain from 80 to 90 per cent, of the black oxide of iron. A portion melted easily in a crucible yesterday, the small portion of sand acting as a flux. The iron might be separated from the sand by levigation; indeed, the wind performs this, by carrying off

the sand and leaving the iron in thin layers. I have not seen any, except on the portion of beach named. I have since obtained specimens quite pure and free from sand.

Sulphuret of Iron. – An oily appearance on the water has more than once been observed by the whalers, near the Sugar-Loaves. I have examined some of the rocks in the vicinity, and found some masses of sulphuret of iron, from which sulphuretted hydrogen is disengaged, when exposed to the sea water. Sulphur might be obtained from it by distillation.

Phosphate of Iron. – Mr. Rogan has returned from the Oronui river, and brought some specimens of a light-blue mineral, which he found about twenty miles up the coast, in a clay cliff. It was believed to be cobalt, but I find, on careful examination, that it is phosphate of iron on alumina. I afterwards met Mr. Bidwell at Sydney, who had found the same mineral during his journey into the interior, and had come to the same conclusion as myself as to its composition.

Pipe Clay. – A very fine and nearly white kind of clay, which will answer all the purposes of pipe clay.

Lime. – I have seen a specimen of lime-stone shown me by one of the men. It is very poor in lime; but as it contains a good deal of bitumen, I suspect coal is not far off. Coralines exist on the rocks from which lime might be made in small quantities.

Coal. – Some specimens of a partly formed coal have been examined, but not being so far advanced as even the Bovey coal, it is unfit for domestic purposes. Indeed, it can hardly be called coal.

Since my return to England I have been struck with the similarity of a specimen of an earth I brought from New Plymouth, to a specimen of gold earth

which I collected at Valparaiso. It contains mica, and faint traces of gold, but the specimen in my possession would not repay the labour of extracting it. I have, however, no doubt but that New Zealand is rich in minerals, and many valuable discoveries have yet to be made there. It has been to me a source of regret that I was so ill provided with the means of analysis when in that country.

I remain, Sir, yours, &c.
HENRY WEEKES.

From JOHN GEORGE COOKE ESQ., to THOMAS WOOLLCOMBE, ESQ., Devonport.

Taranaki, April 16, 1842.

MY DEAR WOOLLCOMBE,

I have to thank you for a long epistle, per Timandra, for which I am truly grateful, as likewise for the vine cuttings, although I am sorry to say they are all dead and consequently useless. I have sent Calmady an approved method of conveying cuttings and plants to the colonies, and which has been attended with success, and I look for a larger importation about next November.

I have been absent at Port Nicholson for the last six weeks, and during my stay with Francis Molesworth I agreed to accompany him and two other Wellington colonists, Mr. Watt and Captain Daniells, to the Mangenu and Wanganui rivers. We were absent about a fortnight and had a very pleasant trip: indeed the Manewatu is a very fine district, much beyond that of Wanganui, but not to be compared with Taranai. I found Molesworth living on the banks of the Hutt, which as you know is about eight miles from Wellington, from whence there is now a good road, and ardently engaged in all his agricultural pursuits, clearing, sowing, cropping, and reaping the well-earned fruits of his judicious foresight. Every

one, without thought, when first he announced his bold determination of plunging into the heart of a New Zealand forest, predicted his ruin; he, having calculated the chances better than his advisers, had resolution enough to set manfully to work, and although his expenditure and outlay in clearing must have been heavy at the outset, I believe has been amply repaid. His example has been followed by other agriculturists, and the valley of the Hutt is now occupied by a busy race of clearers and improvers. I do not think that one can estimate too highly the efforts of this really useful man – others have talked, he has performed. He is now contemplating, together with many other colonists, carrying on the same noble and good work on the banks of the Manewatu, and every well-wisher to New Zealand must pray for his success. I hope I have not bored you with, perhaps, a recapitulation of what you have heard long before; but it is impossible to go to Port Nicholson and refuse one's admiration and praise to the most enterprising person that has left England. He is, indeed, a beau-ideal of all an Anglo New Zealander should be.

In consequence of poor Liardet's sad accident, and the consequent derangement of affairs at Taranaki, Colonel Wakefield decided upon visiting this place, and taking Nelson Haven en route. The Brougham, a very fine barque, chartered by the Company, being at his disposal, he sailed from Port Nicholson on the 2nd of March, accompanied by Mr. Murphy, the chief police magistrate at Port Nicholson, and myself. We had rather a stormy day and night in the Straits, the wind blowing fresh from the north-west, but shifting to the eastward; on the 4th of March, it enabled us to run, or rather to attempt running, through the passage between D'Urville's Island, and the main. This passage has been surveyed by some French "Enseigne de Vaisseau," and the chart of it

is very incorrect. Although favoured by a very fine fresh easterly wind right aft, the tide, which happened to be setting out, was of such strength, from the narrowness of the channel, that it drove us on the rock, not two boats' length from the larboard shore, which rose above our heads, bold, rugged, and precipitous. We remained in this unpleasant predicament for eight hours, when the tide flowing, again carried us bodily off, taking part of the forefoot and false keel away – unshipping the rudder. We anchored immediately, and at day-break shipped our rudder. We found that she made no water, and were exceedingly glad to have got off so cheap. The next day we arrived at Nelson Haven. It occasioned great surprise to many of the colonists at Taranaki, when informed of the formation of a settlement in Blind Bay, that Mr. Carrington should have overlooked it, as he told us that he knew nothing of this harbour, Nelson Haven or Wataka, on his visiting Blind Bay in the Brougham's first trip there in 1841. This mystery to my eyes was now cleared up; for the harbour, which is formed by a narrow sandspit running out in a semicircular direction from the main land, is nearly invisible until you are in it, when off Pepin's Island; but from this cause I can easily believe that not a soul on board knew any thing about the harbour.

Inside this spit of sand you find a perfect mill-pond, capable of holding seventeen or eighteen large vessels, and a great many more small craft. The town, at least the principal part of it, has been laid out in a flat piece of ground at the north-eastern extremity of the harbour. They have an enterprising intelligent set of colonists, and one of the most admirable of men at their head, in Captain Arthur Wakefield. Everybody speaks of him in the highest terms of praise, as being indefatigable in his exertions to promote the prosperity and welfare of the

colony. I cannot state anything regarding the nature of the land about Nelson. Immediately in the vicinity of the town it is barren and hilly, but the surveyors inform me that there is very good land in the vicinity. I cannot help thinking, however, that we shall supply Nelson with produce for some time. It is very happily situated to enable us to carry on a constant interchange of commodities with them, it being only eighteen hours' sail from hence, and the prevailing winds favourable both for going and returning. A small vessel, 75 tons, owned by Port Nicholson people, left this place yesterday for Nelson, with 100 pigs, and 40 tons of potatoes, by which I have but little doubt that he will clear from three to four hundred pounds, owing to the scarcity of provisions at Nelson at present. If we once have small coasting vessels, built on the Waitera, we shall be able to carry on a constant trade with Nelson. But, to return to our expedition in the Brougham. Having hauled her up on a sandy point, admirably suited for docks or patent slips, and inspected her bottom, we repaired the same forthwith, and departed from Nelson on the 16th March, but were driven into Astrolabe Roads by a heavy north-wester, We sailed again on the 19th, and managed to strike on a dangerous rock, which lies half way between Adele Island and Point Nord, on the main land: it is not mentioned in any of the French charts, but was discovered by Captain Wakefield when here with the Whitby and Will Watch. We could not find that she had sustained any material damage, for, thanks to the Hindostanee builder, the old Brougham is as tough as teak and nails can make her. We arrived here on the following afternoon, Sunday 20th. We found to our great delight, that the Timandra had arrived, remained upwards of a fortnight, enjoying the most lovely weather during the whole of her stay, and had landed her cargo, passengers, and

emigrants, with the most perfect safety. We made fast to one of the buoys that she laid down, and went on shore. It came on to blow during the night from the north-west, when the old Brougham slipped and stood out to sea, where she lay to until the end of the gale, with the greatest ease and safety. Captain Robertson said, moreover, that there was now no more danger in coming to Taranaki than to any other port of New Zealand. Colonel Wakefield remained here three days, and expressed himself delighted with the country and its fertility. Mr. Murphy also was loud in its praises. I mention this latter fact, as I hear there is a probability of his being our future agent. I sincerely trust it may be so, as I believe him to be eminently qualified for such a situation. He is an active, intelligent, gentlemanly man, and well versed in colonization. Soon after my arrival here, a small vessel arrived from Port Nicholson, with eight working bullocks and a horse that I had purchased at that place. Four of these bullocks were from King and Cutfield; they were landed in admirable order, and I have the satisfaction of seeing them plough every day. Colonel Wakefield's visit has produced some good results. A road to the Waitera has been commenced, and another bridle road talked of to connect Wanganui with this place. When that is effected I shall be able to ride to Port Nicholson in five or six days. We have commenced making bricks here, and only want the actual existence of limestone in the vicinity being confirmed to make a great quantity. In Massacre Bay the Nelson people have found both coal and lime; I saw specimens of both when at Nelson. The lime was particularly good. You will receive by Liardet a specimen of the coal that our miners have discovered on the Waitera.

If you see any part of this letter that you think fit to put into the New Zealand Journal, you are very

welcome. I shall try and persuade our emigrants to write. I know a great many of them have written in the warmest praise of our favoured district, and all the complaints that I have heard, arise only from the drunken, the idle, and worthless portion of the community – fellows who would do good no where.

You will be anxious to hear something of the natives, who seem a quiet, inoffensive people, very affectionate, and well pleased to find so many white people pouring in upon them. The greater part of the population in Cook's Straits originally came from Taranaki. This name alone has a magical effect upon them. Whenever I mentioned Taranaki to any natives in the straits, they began to cry like children, and made a thousand inquiries about old friends, old pahs, gardens, rivers, &c. &c. The secret wish now universally felt amongst them, is to return to that paradise, from whence they were driven by war and its consequent atrocities. They have been of great service to us, helping us to build our houses, supplying us with pigs and potatoes, and doing numerous kind offices by us.

– – – has been selling off his large stock of goods, and has built a large house and wholesale store. He intends going home to England, and bringing out the remainder of his family, and is going to cultivate his country land under the superintendence of his factotum. Mr. Webster is appointed Collector of Customs, and is, at present, at Port Nicholson. The – – – – – – are selling off their goods rapidly, and intend following their professions, I believe.

I am delighted to hear, and to know, that you are not forgetting us at home, and that Henry Petre's example is to be followed by many of his friends. I do not think that any younger sons can do better. If they would exchange an idle, precarious existence in England for a delicious climate, fertile lands, an

active and useful life in the diamond of the Pacific, let them embark for this our happy island, with every prospect of soon making an honourable and comfortable competence.

I have omitted writing on a great many subjects which I could have wished to have done, from having some compassion on your time and patience, and am, etc.

JOHN GEORGE COOKE.

From ALEXANDER AUBREY, ESQ., to WILLIAM BRIDGES, ESQ.

New Plymouth, 10th May, 1842.

DEAR BRIDGES,

On my departure I promised to write you now and then from the Southern Hemisphere. I received your letter, and was quite delighted to hear that colonial affairs were going on so well at home. I sorry that many here are not of the same favourable opinion, but then you know it is the privilege of Englishmen to grumble; a privilege they very often abuse. I confess I was very much disappointed at first at our not having a harbour, but then we have so many advantages which the other settlements have not, that I am quite reconciled to it. What we are most in want of at present is capital. A few capitalists would be every thing. Farming upon a large scale has not yet commenced, owing to the suburbans not having been given out till the 18th of last month, about three weeks ago.

By the by, Captain King has just arrived in the Jupiter from Sydney, with a cargo of cattle. He was one month coming, and met with very bad weather on the way. Owing to his not having proper divisions put up he has lost a great number of cattle. She has brought three passengers, one

of whom is said to have brought a large capital with him. By the Jupiter we have received a good stock of flour and other goods, but every thing is sold dear, in order to cover Captain King's loss. Captain King, I hear, is about to make two trips more, to bring over the remainder of the stock which he purchased. The Jupiter is now riding at the moorings brought out by the Timandra, with a strong gale from the north-west. It would be a good thing for the place had we two or three sets of moorings, as we would then have vessels riding off our roadstead in perfect confidence, and without having to run when a north-wester came on.

We have lost a colonist in Mr. W – – – . His land here is very valuable. The remaining Pilgrim Fathers are all here. The Bryanites have proved themselves the most industrious set yet brought out to this colony. I can name many at this moment who have become independent, which is saying a good deal, considering they paid very high prices for the land they bought, and have only been fifteen months out. The Brougham was in sight yesterday, with Mr.Wicksteed, our Principal Agent on board, to replace poor Liardet, whose loss is deeply regretted by the whole colony. The natives seem very troublesome to the Wanganui people. We are too strong here to fear any molestation whatever.

Nelson is thriving, according to the Gazette. I am in hopes that, the last mentioned place will be of much assistance to our settlement, as there does not seem to be much land in the vicinity.

We had news of Auckland through two gentlemen who came overland. They described the place as having a very fine harbour, but indifferent land, with a population of three thousand. It appears indeed proved beyond all doubt, that we have the best land of any settlement as yet established in

these islands. The rural sections will be given out in about one month from this time, on the Waitera, a river capable of admitting vessels of 200 tons, with flat all round it for twenty, perhaps for thirty miles – soil which will not require manure for these next forty years. I expect a great deal of the coasting trade will be carried on there. Since my arrival here, I have been very often engaged in the pig trade, sometimes one hundred miles north, and at others the same distance south from this place. On your acknowledging this I shall give you a full true and particular account of one of these excursions. In the mean time, I beg to remain,

Yours, &c.
ALEXANDER AUBREY.

From a letter received by JOHN HALSE, ESQ., of St. James's Palace, from his sons at Taranaki.

New Plymouth, May 11th, 1842.

"You will be gratified to hear that our settlement is steadily progressing, and considering its infancy, looks remarkably well. Colonel Wakefield was here recently, and gave directions for a substantial road and bridges to be made in continuation from Devon-street to the Waitera. This will be of great value to the settlers, as it will run directly through the town, suburban, and rural land, and will enable farmers to bring their produce to market without any difficulty. The line is named the Devon-road. The Colonel also spoke of a pier, and said he would recommend it to the Directors.

The suburban land has been given out, and Mr. – – – has made an excellent selection for us. We have three frontages, water constantly running through the two which are together, and a pond. The land is slightly undulating and of good quality,

with plenty of fine timber, bush, and fern. We understand the rural land is to be given out in about a month.

By referring to the journal, you will find that our cottage was commenced on the 17th of January. We had an idea that the mode of building adopted here was exceedingly tedious; but we now expect to leave the beach in four or five weeks. Time passes away very rapidly with us here – we rise early and retire early, except during the moonlight nights, which are so lovely, that we generally turn out to smoke – a practice we are sure you will not complain of, when you know it enables us to keep off the sand flies.

From our table of the weather, continued from our last letter but one, you will see how exaggerated are the accounts of the dangers of this part of New Zealand, arising (as alleged) from high winds and heavy seas: –

1842. Barometer. Thermometer. General Observations
Feb. 14 . . . 29.85 . . . 80 . . . calm.
" 15 . . . 29.80 . . . 82 . . . calm.
" 16 . .. 29.90 . . . 78 . . . breeze.
" 17 . . . 29.80 . . . 72 . . . breeze.
" 18 . . . 29.40 . . . 78 . . . calm.
" 19 . . . 30.10 . . . 82 . . . calm.
" 20 . . . 30. . . . 84 . . . calm.
" 21 . . . 29.70 . . . 65 . . .calm – rain.
" 22 . . . 29.80 . . . 67 . . . strong E. wind.
" 23 . . . 30.20 . . . 78 . . . calm.
" 24 . . . 30.20 . .. 80 . . . calm.
" 25 . . . 30.20 . . . 82 . . . calm.
" 26 . . . 30. . . . 83 . . . calm.
" 27 . . . 30. . . . 84 . . . calm.
" 28 . . . 29.90 . . . 76 . . . calm.
March 1 . . . 30.10 . . . 81 . . . calm.
" 2 . . . 30.20 . . . 73 . . . calm.
" 3 . . . 30.20 . . . 74 . . . calm.

1842. Barometer. Thermometer. General Observations.
March 4 . . . 30.10 . . . 76 . . . calm.
" 5 . . . 30.10 . . . 75 . . . calm.
" 6 . . . 30.15 . . . 76 . . . calm.
" 7 . . . 30.20 . . . 75 . . . calm.
" 8 . . . 30.30. . . 86 . . . calm.
" 9 . . . 30.35 . . . 88 . . . calm.
" 10 . . . 30.40 . . . 88 . . . calm.
" 11 .. . 30.35 . . . 87 ... calm.
" 12 . . . 30.40 . . . 84 . . . gentle N. W.
" 13 . . . 30.45 . . . 84 . . . calm.
" 14. . .30.20. .. 84. .. calm.
" 15 . . . 31. . . . 78.. .calm.
" 16. . . 29.95. . . 73 . . .breeze.
" 17 . .. 29.70 . . . 65 . . . strong N. W. – rain.
" 18 . . . 29.50 . . . 66 . . . rain.
" 19 . . . 29.75 . . . 64 . . . southerly breeze.
" 20 . . . 29.80 . . . 65 . . . calm.
" 21 . . . 29.60 . ... 68 . .. strong N. W. – rain.
" 22 . . . 29.80 .. . 66 . . . heavy sea-little wind
" 23 . . . 29.90 . . . 65 . . . calm.
" 24 . . . 30 . . . . 70 . .. calm.
" 25 . . . 29.90 . . . 74 . . . calm.
" 26 . . . 29.55 . . . 69 . . . calm – gentle rain.
" 27 . . . 29.40 . . . 68 . . . north wester – rain.
" 28 . . . 29.90 . . . 65 . . . calm.
" 29 . . . 29.95 . . . 68 . . . showery.
" 30 ... 29.70 ... 64 .. . showery.
" 31 . . . 29.90 . . . 68 . . . calm.
April 1 . . . 29.95 . . . 69 . . . calm.
" 2 . . . 30.15 . . . 72 . . . calm.
" 3 . . . 30.10 . . . 81 . . . calm.
4 . . . 30.15 . . . 80 . . . calm.
" 5 . . . 30.10 . . . 82 . . . calm.
" 6 ... 30. . . . 76 . . . calm.
" 7 . . . 29.70 . . . 74 . . . calm.

" 8 . . .29.70 . . .68 . . . calm.

1842. Barometer. Thermometer. General Observations.
April 9 . . . 29.86 . . . 65 . . . Rain – strong N. wind.
" 10 .. . 29.75 . . . 64 . . Rain – strong N. wind.
" 11 . . . 29.85 . . . 77 . . . calm.
" 12 . . . 29.75 . . . 76 . . . calm.
" 13 . . . 29.65 . . . 75 . . . showery.
" 14 . . . 29.50 . . . 64 . . . showery.
" 15 . . . 29.80 . . . 65 . . . calm.
" 16 . . . 29.90 . . . 66 . . . southerly wind.
" 17 . . . 30. . . . 68 . . . calm.
" 18 ... 30. . . . 70 . . . calm.
" 19 . . . 29.90 ... 63 ... S. W. wind.
" 20 . . . 30.10 . . . 73 . . . calm.
" 21 ... 30. . . . 61 . . . calm.
" 22 . . . 29.50 . . . 62 . . } Calm – steady rain all day
" 23 . . . 29.30 . . . 62 . . . calm.
" 24 . . . 29.35 ... 62 ... S. wind.
" 25 . . . 29.90 . . . 64 . . . calm.
" 26 ... 30. . . . 68 . . . calm.
" 27 . . . 29.90 . . . 66 . . . calm.
" 28 . . . 29.80 . . . 68 . . . calm.
" 29 . . . 29.70 . . . 70 . . . calm.
" 30 . . . 29.70 . . . 68 . . . breeze.
May 1 . . . 29.70 . . . 64 . . . breeze and rain.
" 2 .. . 29.80 . . . 65 . . . calm.
" 3 . . . 29.10 . . . 63 . . . calm.
" 4 . . . 29.85 ... 64 ... N. W. – rain.
" 5 . . . 29.75 . . . 67 . . . calm.
" 6 . . . 29.70 . . . 66 . . . calm.
" 7 . . . 29.50 . . . 64 . . . breeze.
" 8 . . . 22.40 ... 65 ... S. wind – rain.
" 9 . . . 29.60 ... 59 ... S. wind – rain.
" 10 . . . 29.80 ... 62 ... S. wind – rain.

Ever your affectionate sons,
WILLIAM and HENRY HALSE.

From H. R. AUBREY, Esq., to THOMAS WOOLLCOMBE, Esq.

New Plymouth, 2nd July, 1842.

DEAR MR. WOOLLCOMBE,

The rural sections were given out on the 20th June. As we had foreseen, all those parties having early choices selected their land on the banks of the Waitera. The later choices were confined to the banks of the Wanganui and Mangaraka rivers. The passengers of the Timandra, as likewise many others, thought proper to reserve their selections until more sections were surveyed. Before the selection took place, I was for days examining the country between New Plymouth and Waitera; Mr. Carrington and myself have secured what we consider most eligible localities for the parties who have entrusted us with the selection of their land, and were we to select over again I do not think we could make better choices. Mr. C. P – – – , with his No. 1, has got a most valuable section on the Waitera: it commands the best wharfage on the river, and the land has the advantage of being good and level. Whenever there is a town, that gentleman may calculate upon realising from one acre the cost of the whole fifty acres; and at present, I am below the mark when I say he could dispose of it for £5. an acre. Mr. R. M – 's and Mrs. C – 's are also good sections, and Messrs. O – 's, B – 's, and B – 's, considering the high numbers of choice, very fair. I send you a tracing from the plan used in my excursions on the Waitera. It will enable you to see the order in which some of the sections were chosen. I should like to have sent you a plan of the whole suburban and rural land, but it was not in my power to do so, for Carrington will allow no tracings to be taken till his own plan is sent home. This is to be regretted, as without this information to the agents of the parties concerned, their descriptions home must be very imperfect.

The country on the banks of the Waitera in the immediate vicinity of the sea is much intersected by swamps, and several of the sections (very early choices) will require considerable outlay in drainage. As you proceed inland the swamps disappear, but the country, particularly on the right banks of the river, becomes very much broken, and innumerable ravines or gulleys present no slight obstructions even to the foot passenger; for carts and cattle, I need scarcely add, the way is quite impassable.

Timber is scarce until you get some miles inland, and even the lighter bark is only found in any quantity on the banks of the several rivers. Acres upon acres of the country between our settlement and the Waitera, except in the parts I have mentioned, are completely over-run with fern, in some places attaining almost an incredible height. The roots are frequently to be found at a depth of three or four feet from the surface, for which reason some time and trouble will be requisite effectually to eradicate it.

You will perceive, on referring to the plan, that allowance for a road has been made between the Government reserve and No. 6. The narrow patch of water frontage, Nos. 1, 2, and 3, obtained from this circumstance, will probably be laid out in one-eighth-acre allotments for the erection of storehouses, and be leased or sold at high prices.

The main line of communication (or as we term it the Devon Road, being a continuation of Devon Street) between New Plymouth and the Waitera, is pretty level; a few breaks are to be met with here and there, and one or two present such formidable obstacles that to avoid them it will be necessary, in making the road, to diverge considerably from the line. A strong body of men are employed in this very essential improvement, and the road is now completed as far as the Waiwakaio, one mile from town. Bridges have been thrown over the Huatoki

and the Henui, and one is talked of for the Waiwakaiho.

Mr. C – – – seems very anxious to have your No. 1 suburban, and tells me he has written to you on the subject. You of course are the best judge; but it is my opinion, and I stated it in a former letter, that your best course to pursue with your section would be to lease it in small allotments to different parties. O – – – , who is agent for No. 9 choice, the property of Mr. E – – – , has in this manner leased several acres in five-acre allotments, at 25s. per acre, for a term not less than five and not exceeding seven years, with all the improvements to become the property of the owner of the land at the expiration of the lease. Land let in this way, it is thought, is likely to become valuable in a shorter period than if let to a single tenant. W – – – , who left us so unexpectedly, has also reaped an abundant harvest from his suburban sections. It is calculated that he had sold it at the rate of £15 an acre. The colonists now feel assured that some assistance will be rendered them by the parent Company, and all, imbued with fresh spirit, have risen from a state of comparative inactivity; confident now that exertion only on their parts is requisite to promote their own welfare and the prosperity of the Colony. Timber begins to find a ready sale; ten or twelve pairs of sawyers find daily employment at exorbitant wages; wooden houses are rising fast, and are likely to supersede those built of cob, which latter are not found to answer so well as was expected.

Rural sections, high choices, have been selling at from £120. to £160. each. Suburban land, early choices, at from £12. to £15. per acre. Some few acres with frontage on the Devon Road at £20. You must send us out some more capitalists and labourers, if you wish town or any other land to sell well, with a ship once every six months.

Poor Captain Liardet must have reached England

by this time. His successor, Mr. Wicksteed, is an active, clever, energetic sort of fellow; just the man we want. Under his guidance I think we shall get on well. He has started a club to be called the Taranaki Club. Mr. W – , C – , and himself form the committee. It is to be managed on a more economical plan than that of Port Nicholson. We want terribly a Court of Requests here for the recovery of our small debts. It seems rather strange that no one has either come from Port Nicholson or Sydney to settle amongst us. I suppose they have not yet recovered the fright they got last winter when the Regina was lost.

We hear the Bishop has arrived at Auckland, and that £500. are granted for the erection of a church here.

Believe me, dear Mr. Woollcombe, yours very sincerely,

H. R. AUBREY.

From the MESSRS. AUBREY.

Port Nicholson, August 12th, 1842.

"My brother and myself came overland from New Plymouth, to ascertain whether or not it was possible to drive cattle back from Port Nicholson; we have now determined to make the trial, and are going to take four working bullocks there on our own account, but hope to get some one to join us. We are well aware of the difficulties we shall have to encounter, as to hardships, &c. It took us a fortnight to walk here, and I assure you the road is none of the best, and we expect to take a month to return back. Port Nicholson is a very large town compared with New Plymouth, and land very valuable. Taranaki will be the agricultural district, while Port Nicholson will enjoy all the commerce of New Zealand. Bullocks are pretty reasonable,

now from £20. to £23.; at present only four at New Plymouth, which are daily hired at £2. per day. Harcourt is quite well, and we left him building a timber house on his suburban. The Bishop is now at Wellington, and we expect him at New Plymouth."

From Mr. CHARLES PALMER, to the Editor of the New Zealand Journal.

London, 12th September, 1842.

SIR,

Having gone out with the Nelson Expedition last year, and proceeded from Wellington to New Plymouth with Captain Liardet, from whence I have just returned with him, and having the experience of six months' residence in the country, I wish to offer a few observations respecting New Zealand.

I had conversation with many settlers at New Plymouth, particularly as regards the land, and their opinion of the capabilities of the place. The general opinion is, that there could be no better soil in any country: it is well watered by the rivers Huatoki, the Enui, and the Waitera. The place is well covered with timber; and just before I left they had discovered coal about four miles inland in some quantity. The beach is covered with a sand in which quantities of iron have been discovered.

The soil is a black vegetable mould, about four feet or from four to six feet deep; generally speaking, the sub-soil is a yellow clay. Gooseberries, among other fruits, grow plentifully; and all kinds of vegetables will grow.

I have brought home a very good sample of wheat, grown about three-quarters of a mile from the shore on the northern side of the town. The soil was merely rooted up, and the seed put in, and the

wheat was cut in February last. The Indian corn also thrives very well; indeed, it is finer at New Plymouth than I have seen it in any other part of the world: the natives use a great deal themselves. New Plymouth produces, in my opinion, finer potatoes than anywhere in the Islands of New Zealand. The natives get two crops a year, merely scratching the ground with a stick before planting. Water melons are in quantity, and are eaten also by the natives.

The timber is very fine about three-quarters of a mile from the town, and may be floated down the rivers. The red pine is easily worked, and I have seen some furniture, drawers, and chairs made of it; the grain is close, and susceptible of a high polish. The furniture has a handsome appearance; some chairs were made for Mr. Cutfield.

The flax is in abundance, and very superior, being almost entirely the tall flax. There are whole fields of it, and it appears finer than what is generally seen. In the months of December, January, February, and March is beautiful weather; and the roadstead is then perfectly safe. The New Zealand Company have sent out moorings, which were laid down just before we left, and which enable vessels to lie in safety throughout the year.

By inserting these remarks, you will oblige your obedient servant,

CHARLES PALMER.

P.S. I have only accompanied Captain Liardet here on account of the accident which befel him; but it is my intention to return in a very short time to New Zealand.

From CAPTAIN LIARDET, R.N., to the Editor of the Times 16

SIR,

Since my return to England, a letter has been read to me bearing the signature of "Charles Brown," and published in The Times of the 31st of August, which contains various statements calculated, in my opinion, to convey an incorrect view of the settlement of New Plymouth. I think it, therefore, my duty, in justice to the settlers and their friends in England, to make the following short statement, which you are at perfect liberty to make public. As soon as I am somewhat recovered from the effects of the accident which obliged me to leave my post in the settlement, I hope to be enabled to give you a more full account of the New Plymouth settlement.

The accidents which happened to the shipping at New Plymouth were all before the moorings sent out by the Company arrived. Had they been there before, the Regina would not have been lost, nor would the Oriental have been endangered – both circumstances happening from the same cause, viz., the anchor trailing on the ground in the act of weighing; this rendered the sails worse than useless; which, with the united crew of a merchant vessel, could not be taken in in time to prevent her drifting on shore, whereas, with moorings after the sail is set, with or without a spring, a vessel has only to slip and go direct to sea with both anchors at the bows. One set of moorings was completely laid down the day I left for Sydney, and I gazetted the bearings at that place. I have now no hesitation in saying that they render the roadstead perfectly safe, even in the worst of winds.

The only thing now required at New Plymouth is

a boat harbour, which may be constructed at a very moderate expense at the mouth of the river Huatoki, where there is already a natural basin, into which boats can now be taken. Greatly exaggerated statements have been made of the expense of this work, but as the principal materials – namely, the wood of which it should be made, and the flax with which it should be caulked – are on the spot, the labour would be the principal expense. Such a work is of the simplest nature, and could be executed under the direction of any person tolerably conversant with naval architecture.

When I was at New Plymouth, the settlers were at one time dissatisfied, and held several meetings. They wished the town to be removed to the Waitera; but I explained to them that it was impossible for any vessel larger than a coaster to anchor off the Waitera, in safety, near enough to communicate for mercantile purposes. She would be so much embayed she could not possibly lie off the shore on either tack if it should blow from the north-west, which is by far the most dangerous wind on that part of the coast.

In my opinion, the Waitera would never do for a principal town. The river is only calculated for coasters not exceeding fifty or sixty tons, and that of a light draught of water. The ingress and egress are so very uncertain, that for everything above the size of boats they would always have to wait until half flood or whole before they could enter or go over the shallow inside. In addition to this, the surf is so high, that sometimes it happens, for days together, that no vessel could possibly go to sea or enter the harbour; the Waitera, however, is a place well suited for building, repairing, and fitting coasters. I have very little doubt a small town will be erected on its banks, but the principal business in exports, will, I think, be carried on

from New Plymouth with ease and safety even now, but with certainty whenever the boat harbour is made, from which boats calculated for the purpose can communicate with ships riding at the moorings.

The land in the settlement is beautifully undulating; the soil is considered first-rate by the farmers, more particularly about the Waitera. I should think this river well calculated for floating down timber for every purpose. Indeed, I am not aware of any place in the world, for size, with so many running streams, or so well calculated to turn mills of every kind. From becoming blind so soon after my arrival at New Plymouth, I could not see much of the interior; but from Mr. Cook, and several gentlemen who had been out exploring, I heard that the country was beautiful beyond description, and that there were many miles of the flax growing in all directions, more particularly about the Sugar-loaves, which had once been in a state of cultivation by the Taranakians: in fact, it was allowed by every one it was the finest flax district in New Zealand.

New Plymouth will have many exports: flax, a good whale station to export whale oil; coal and limestone have been lately discovered, and the sand on the beach is full of iron, which Mr. Weekes, the colonial surgeon, reported to me contained from eighty to ninety per cent, of iron, and that when smelted it turned out a beautiful specimen. 17 There is building stone of a good description, and clay from which they make bricks; but the Devonshire and Cornish emigrants build excellent houses of mud and straw mixed, which they call cob.

Before I came away a bridle-road had been commenced by the Governor from Auckland to New Plymouth, which I should think must be now open. There is also an overland communication and post to

Wellington. Captain King had imported considerable quantities of cattle, sheep, and working oxen. There is no fear whatever of scarcity, for pigs and potatoes are in abundance, and fish plentiful. The great thing which is wanted in the settlement is, however, men of capital, to carry on the clearing of the thickly-wooded forest land. But such men will, I hope, soon be found, and in that case the settlement must advance with great rapidity.

I have sent to the Court of Directors a letter from Mr. Smith, of Wellington, relative to clearing land at that place, in answer to some questions I put to him on that subject. He states that his experience in cutting down 100 acres of the thickest forest land in the valley of the Hutt led him to suppose that it could be cleared for £16. per acre. He measured off two acres of the average character, and the cutting, burning, and grubbing all, save the largest timber fit for sawing, cost £21, and was then in a fit state to plough. This gentleman, however, suggests, that the clearing of land requires at all times the eye of the proprietor to keep down the cost.

I am, Sir, yours, &c.
T. LIARDET, Captain, R.N.

From Letters received by THOMAS WOOLLCOMBE, Esq., Devonport, from some of the principal Settlers at New Plymouth.

September 8th, 1842.

"The property of the Company in unsold town and suburban sections cannot be worth less than £40,000, all surveyed and ready for delivery to purchasers at any time. Let settlers arrive, and the day after they may, if they please, be put in possession of woodland, fern-land, stiff soil, sandy soil, near the town, or at some distance from it, all equally accessible. During the winter, the numerous workmen thrown

on the Company's hands were employed in making good roads, and you may now safely say that the land in New Plymouth is very much more accessible than in the Port Nicholson or Nelson districts. At present there is not a single good workman left on the hands of the Company; all but the stupid, lazy, or feeble folk, having been hired by settlers going upon their land, or they are working for themselves. Of absolutely idle people we have none, and the settlement has every appearance of a thriving and industrious community. It will be a beautiful villagy sort of a country, wherein the population will be principally farmers and well-doing peasants, with a sprinkling of large landowners, professional men, and shopkeepers. It will take a great outlay indeed to make it a port of consequence.

The inconveniences of the port, (for that any dangers exist, to the moderately cautious navigator, I distinctly deny) have been greatly exaggerated. When we arrived, there was what people call a terrible surf on the beach, and the danger of landing was represented to us; but having seen surf before on the English coast, and other parts of the world, I laughed at the Taranaki surf, so did Mrs. – – – ; and I put my whole family and servants safe ashore, without a sprinkle. Since then several small vessels have been unladen, and no damage of the least consequence has occurred.

We want a newspaper sadly – with a little aid from home one might do very well. Are we never to have a bank? Surely it is time. You may tell the Union Bank people, that the ground will assuredly be taken up by a branch of some Sydney bank, unless they bestir themselves. A very safe business on a small scale, but conducted at a small expense, might be done here now, and the gradual extension of the concern would be certain."

September 21th, 1842.

"Between this and Wanganui, a bridle road is being made by the natives, and will be finished about January; two white men are superintending the work. They describe the country at the back of the mountain to be magnificent. Fine level grass plains, bounded by large forests, with plenty of water everywhere; but this is the case throughout New Zealand.

Nothing can exceed the promise of the crops which have been put in, wheat and barley look very healthy, grapes not so well, on account of the seed having suffered I suspect. We want a press here very much, on however small a scale; it will be a means of advertising our wants, and affording useful information to our sister settlements."

September 28th, 1842.

"I can give you now, I am truly happy to say, the most cheering accounts of our dear little settlement, to which we are all becoming more attached every day. The recent appointment of Mr. Wicksteed, as agent, has been attended with the happiest result; people are beginning to resume their entire confidence in the good intentions of the Company, which had been previously somewhat shaken.

They seem to be going on pretty well at Nelson. I have not heard any thing of Francis Molesworth lately. He is about to send me up some more working bullocks, and, together with a number of Wellingtonians, including Wakefield, Daniel Watt, St. Hill, Dorset, Chetham, and others, intends visiting us in the spring. We have in prospect a constant supply of goods from Sydney, and Port Nicholson, in New Zealand bottoms, now that we have convinced the people of New South Wales and Wellington that Taranaki is by no means a dangerous place,

provided they don't entrust their vessels to drunken skippers.

At the Hua-Toki, we have several excellent wooden and cob houses, building or built; – a new bridge completed over that river; a miserable lock-up two public houses, and about 120 Raupo and cob huts. Four large wholesale and retail stores, viz. Captain Davy's, Mr. Dorset's, Mr. Baine's, and Mr. Richard Brown's. On Devonport Hill, a cluster of emigrants' houses, and three or four mauri stores. We have seven or eight master carpenters, who have their hands full, and complain that they cannot get journeymen; four blacksmiths; thatchers, hedgers, ditchers, &c. &c, innumerable, getting from 5s. to 10s. per diem.

On the banks of the Enui we have several houses, amongst them my own; and a strong substantial bridge which crosses at Devon Street. A tremendous cutting through the bank, which is just completed, takes you along as fine a road as a man can desire, to the banks of the Wai-Wahio; on each side of the road houses and gardens belonging to early emigrants, who have nearly all bought four or five acres of land. You cross the river at present by a ferry boat; but Messrs. Brown and Goodall have contracted to build a suspension bridge for £500; and, if they can procure the chains at Wellington, it will be finished in four months. The road would be now in a very forward state, even as far as the Wai Ongua, but the landowners have nearly all the labourers in their employ. About six miles along this Waitera road are situate the farms and clearings of the three brothers Bayly, Messrs. Flight and Devenish, Pearce Paynter, Edgcomb, and others. At the Waitera, Mr. Goodall is clearing extensively. To return to the suburbans, Captains King and Cutfield have cleared about seventy acres, and built a capital house and farm

buildings upon their estate. In your section Norice has built a capital thatched house, and has cleared about three acres, which I am now ploughing in for him. This is what is going on amongst the people to the eastward of the town. To the northward, Chilman has fenced in and partly cleared a fifty acre section of Mr. – – – 's, who let or sold nearly all his land at the average rate of nearly £20 per acre, and then left the colony to abuse us at Sydney. Distin has a house and clearing in the same direction, but more easterly. Across the Wai-Waikaio, Captain Davy and myself are clearing and putting in crops. Added to all these clearings, we have nearly forty acres of garden ground this year, and have established a Horticultural Society, with every prospect of success. We have also a club, at which we meet every Saturday, which contributes much to promote good feeling and unanimity among us."

30th September, 1842.

"All well to this day. We have had gay doings to celebrate the anniversary of the arrival of the first principal body of settlers in the Amelia Thompson; capital wrestling matches and boat races, with a hall and fireworks. All went off admirably; no accidents, no quarrelling, scarcely any drunkenness – a remarkably nice show of women at the ball."

15th October, 1842. "

The Jupiter, a few days since, rode out a most furious north-west gale, at the moorings; and the Osprey, from Sydney, is now doing the same in gallant style. We have never been so plentifully supplied with provisions as at this moment. Great competition amongst the storekeepers. Flour, since the arrival of the Osprey, has fallen from £40 to £32 per ton; retail, it is selling from 3 1/2d. to 4d. per lb."

27th November, 1842.

"The rimu (red pine) is highly prized here, as is the kikatea (white pine) for building purposes. The former is a very hard and apparently durable wood; beautifully marked in the grain, and capable of taking a fine polish. A red pine between three and four feet in diameter, and 80 feet in height, fetches near the town from £5 to £6, and the same price is sometimes got for the white pine. The pukatea is another wood much in use for weather boarding and in-door work; but it is soft and spongy, and absorbs much wet. In size it runs from eighteen inches to two feet in diameter, and forty to fifty feet in height. They are frequently unsound, but when sound, I can get from 25s. to 30s. a tree. The kohe kohi is a fine grained red wood, and splits freely, for which reason it is much used for shingles; it does not attain a very large size, from eighteen inches to two feet in diameter, and thirty feet in height. It has the same disadvantage as the pukatea, being often rotten in the head; when sound, a tree of this kind will fetch from 7s. 6d. to 10s. There is also rata, tawa, honeysuckle, &c, which, though of a harder nature, may hereafter be applied to many useful purposes. The soil amongst the timber is of a very superior description, and will amply pay for clearing. The fern land is very inferior: nothing impoverishes land more than this most detestable of all weeds. 18

We had a visit a few weeks since from the Bishop; he came over-land from Port Nicholson, attended by several Mauris. The Government-brig came round the day after his arrival, to take him to Auckland; his stay was therefore short. He preached four sermons in one day – two to the whites, and two to the natives, whose language he spoke fluently. Addresses

were presented to him, and his replies were most gracious. From the manner in which he spoke of our settlement, it was apparent that he was much struck with it, and did not appear to entertain a doubt of its ultimate success.

I cannot describe the delight which was felt at the sight of the Blenheim. The labourers, immediately it was known (and it spread like wild-fire), thronged to the beach to catch a glimpse of the long-wished-for ship. Joy was on every face, and nothing else was talked of for the day. Mr. Wicksteed immediately put off to her in his well-manned boat, and was quickly followed by the port-master, Captain King, and the Collector of Customs, Mr. Webster – the flag astern shewing that Government officers were on board. Our old friend, the little Vanguard, just preceded the Blenheim, and was keeping off and on. The fineness of the day added to the smart appearance, and I never before recollect witnessing so animated a scene in our roadstead.

We are now 800 inhabitants and upwards. If you send another ship this year, as is reported, we shall number upwards of 1000. It is, therefore, high time we should have a newspaper; nothing would benefit us more, and it ought to be strongly represented to the Directors. At Port Nicholson, the first colonists had a press and newspaper immediately on their arrival – the same at Nelson; and in both cases, it is reported, in consequence of most liberal aid from the Company. We, it seems, are not thought worthy of such assistance, and we are, therefore, still compelled to write out our advertisements. We cannot but feel that in this we have been dealt hardly by.

Mr. Merchant who came out in the Amelia Thompson, is to be appointed clergyman for our settlement. The Bishop pays one-half his salary, and the colonists the other. About £75 was raised for him in a few minutes, which will soon be increased to £100. Mr.

M. is now undergoing a course of preparatory study, prior to taking orders. He keeps an academy for young gentlemen; his wife gives instruction to young ladies; and in the evenings they teach the children of the poorer classes gratis. Their establishment is of a most praiseworthy nature, and exceedingly well conducted. Messrs. Goodall and Brown are getting on well with the chain bridge."

From Mr. S. GILLINGHAM to his Brother, Mr. ROBERT GILLINGHAM, of Camfield House, Shaftesbury, Dorset.

Camfield, Mongaraki, Near New Plymouth, October 1st, 1842.

MY DEAR ROBERT,

I am glad to hear you are appointed agent to the New Zealand Company, as it is probable that you will have it in your power to do us some good, and I shall take every opportunity of giving you all the information possible. When we arrived in the Colony, many of the settlers were in doubt as to whether the Colony would ever go a-head, as the survey had been going on so miserably slow, and there having been no arrivals of emigrants for so long a time. I understood many of them had sent home indifferent accounts, but the cutting of the lines had been let out to contract about a week before our arrival, at a very liberal price, indeed at such a price as set the men at work like fury, earning one pound per day, and the contractors getting nearly one hundred pounds per month for a gang of ten or fifteen men; so that the land was ready for selection many months earlier than it was anticipated, which dispelled the previously entertained gloomy forebodings. The surveys by contract are now, however, stopped, for when Colonel Wakefield came up, he found that the Company's funds had been

expended so rapidly, that he gave orders that no more contracts were to be let; and now they are going on with the Devon road at about the same rate they formerly did with the surveys, as the men have all left the Company since the rural land has been given out, and are engaged in buying, clearing, and building for themselves; many of them came out in our ship. I have sold seven acres of my section between the Mongaraki and the Wyangana to two of them: two acres to a person working for me at eight pounds per acre; he is to pay me 10s. per week; five acres to Simeon Andrews, a Mortock man, working for Mr. Flight, to pay in six months. They will not go there to live till the road is finished beyond the River Mongaraki: one of them is at present living on a section just opposite mine; the other is living on mine, at about a hundred yards from my house, where he will remain till the road I have before spoken of be finished.

I hope you will send us plenty of emigrants, otherwise I do not know what will be done. Some of the suburban sections are becoming very valuable, selling from £10 to £30 per acre; to labourers a few rural sections have been sold at £150 to £200 each. We only want emigrants and colonists here to make the land very valuable, as I believe it to be of the best description. We find it necessary to hack the ground over very deep with mattocks, as it is so uneven. I should think there must have been 10,000 pigs kept here some years ago, for the land is thrown into humps and hollows, as if there had been a potatoe pit in every perch. We find hundreds of caves or wells where the natives used to stow away their potatoes. A native told me the other day, "that the land I am living on used to be his, and the name of it was Ongarangra." I am sorry to say my seeds that were brought in the hold of the vessel are much injured. I do not think more

than one-third of them will grow, yet to appearance they look as well and as bright as when thrashed. My garden seeds that I brought out in the cabin are all growing nicely. I am very much pleased with the country, but am disappointed in one thing, that is my not finding any grass for cattle, which I expected to find in abundance: the climate is certainly delightful. I expected to find the wind very rough at times, which is not the case, not even so rough as it sometimes used to be in England; but I understand that at Port Nicholson it is tremendous, owing to the many hills in that neighbourhood. We have had vessels lying here at times all the winter without the slightest danger. Sometimes five or six at once. The best thing emigrants can lay out their money in, is provisions of every sort; let them buy them out of bond, and they will not fail to meet a ready sale at good prices for the next two years. Flour has been selling at £40 and upwards per ton ever since we landed.

I have finished my house on my town section, and am daily expecting a ship with emigrants to get a tenant. I calculate on making about £25 per annum for it, which, if I do, will pay me very well, as it cost me but little. I consider the Colony is going a-head very steadily, but surely; I think my land would fetch, if sold to-morrow, £700.

I intend sending a sketch of my sections on a large scale, with the situation of my house and garden, as soon as I have time. I also intend giving you an account of my travels by land and by water. I don't think that there would be many return to England if free passages were given them. Remember us to all friends, and believe me to be,

Your affectionate Brother,
S. GlLLINGHAM.

P.S. Send out a watch and clock maker, for all the clocks and watches are stopped, and no person

here able to repair them. And above all things use your diligence in sending a hair dresser, for all the gentlemen are perfect frights because their hair is so long; they look more like women then men, not having had their hair cut since they left England.

From Captain L. H. DAVY, a resident Landholder at New Plymouth, to Thomas Woollcombe, Esq., Devonport.

October 12th, 1842.

"You will be pleased, I have no doubt, with the report of this settlement received from Colonel Wakefield. The beauty of the country, the fertility of the soil, the numberless streams which water it, and the healthfulness of the climate, render it every thing that can be desired. Labour and capital are yet wanting, which we hope will, ere long, be supplied."

From J. T. WICKSTEED, ESQ., to the Editor of the Colonial Gazette. 19

Mount Eliot, November 23rd, 1842.

MY DEAR SIR,

The words, "You never write," – "tell us what you are about," – "we want accounts from New Plymouth," are to be found, as I am told, in most of the English letters just received by the Blenheim.

Whether our settlers are more faulty than their fellow-colonists of Wellington and Nelson, may be doubted; but, certainly, they ought to be more diligent in corresponding with friends in England, because the newspapers of the other settlements take little notice of Taranaki; and as yet we have no journal of our own. This want, it is to be hoped, will soon be supplied, and then you may expect

trust-worthy accounts of the progress and capabilities of this settlement – its wants and productions. In the meanwhile, and with the hope of, in some degree, supplying the place of a newspaper, it is my intention to send you a series of letters, describing our actual condition and prospects. This, the first of the embryo batch, must needs be very imperfect in matter and style, as the Blenheim will remain only a few days, and I am resolved to send it with her, via Sydney, to England.

You must recollect that the first emigrant ship, the Amelia Thompson, arrived at New Plymouth in September, 1841; consequently, this settlement is little more than a twelvemonth old. Yet the bantling already shews signs of vigour; and although its growth has not been so rapid as that of Wellington and Nelson, its stamina are tough and deep-seated. Had its constitution been unsound, it would have sunk under heavy blows, which have been manfully sustained. In plain words, the New Plymouth settlers, encountering misfortunes in their outset – in the loss, (through sheer carelessness), of the Regina, and in the unhappy accident to the gallant and much beloved Captain Liardet, (which left them without a guide when aid and encouragement were most needed), now begin to put forth their strength, and develop the resources of their magnificent country.

A first-rate port this roadstead of Taranaki can never be; but a good one for the class of vessels likely to come here it may easily be made. It is safe indeed now. No life has been lost in the water; and during the last seven months (since my arrival to act as the Company's Agent) about twenty vessels of different sizes have been discharged without injury to cargo or craft. A ship of 1400 tons may hang on to the moorings in the heaviest weather; or, if she prefer it, may escape all danger from the only alarming wind, the north-west, by going out to sea.

Smaller vessels (those not drawing more than 12 or 14 feet of water) may find an excellent harbour of refuge in the river Waitera, the entrance to which is now buoyed with land-marks, &c. Once inside the bar the depth of water varies from 25 to 75 feet, sheltered and smooth in all weathers.

I notice these facts to show that emigrants from England ought to have no fear of disembarking at New Plymouth; and that, the surplus produce of the finest agricultural district of New Zealand may, with ease, be taken off by coasting and colonial vessels. And soon there will be a surplus. The Taranaki settlers are producers. They no sooner obtained their suburban and rural sections, than they began to cultivate them, generally on a small scale indeed (for, with one or two exceptions, their means are small); but the results of their united labour will be respectable in quantity and quality. In every direction may be seen pieces of ground fenced in, and full of vegetables. This is called a backward season, yet already in this (the English May), I have had peas, new potatoes, spinach, lettuce, carrots, and other vegetables on the table; rhubarb also has been gathered. The Cape gooseberry appears to thrive well in this climate. There are about thirty acres in wheat and barley, and, at the fewest, a hundred acres of potatoes.

The Maori or Raupo huts are daily losing their occupants and falling into decay, being replaced sometimes by substantial cob, or mud-walled dwellings, but oftener by neat wooden buildings. It is, indeed, difficult to procure seasoned sawn-timber fast enough for the busy carpenters.

Excellent stone, soft, sandy, and easily worked when first dug up, but becoming very firm and hard when exposed to the air, is now much used for foundations and chimneys of buildings: but stone will soon be superseded by bricks made of excellent

clay, found in the town. There are no large houses or stores, but the country is dotted over with pretty cottages; and the shopkeepers are now selling a variety of useful and desirable articles at reasonable prices.

The price of flour at present is 3 1/2d. a pound by the bag or barrel, and fresh pork 7d. a pound. Mutton is rarely brought to market, but South-downs, of the best kind, have been lambing this season, and there is also a prolific breed of Merinos. Fish is frequently caught and sold at 3d. per pound or less. The best are the rock-cod, eels, which abound in the Mangoraka, and crawfish. In the Waitera, a species of lamprey is taken in considerable quantities. Besides these are the snapper, baracouta and other kinds, common to most waters in New Zealand. From Port Nicholson we have obtained working oxen and cows; and in the course of next summer we expect a large increase of cattle overland from Wellington. At present fresh butter and milk from cows are scarce, but there are plenty of goats.

A good road running behind Mount Egmont, from Taranaki to Wanganui, will soon be finished; opening up a communication by land from New Plymouth to Port Nicholson. This is not the only road made by the New Zealand Company. Another, through the heart of the settlement, from the town to the Waitera river, is in progress. The four streams or small rivers intervening, the Enui, Waiwaikaiho, Mangoraka, and Waiongona, will be crossed by means of substantial wooden or chain-suspension bridges. Nearly half of this road has been completed; and the chain bridge over the Waiwaikaiho will be passable in three months. In the course of the next summer, it is probable that the entire line will be opened. And it will not be a stumpy, corduroy, or swampy road, such as you

and I have travelled over in America; but smooth, firm, and fifty feet wide, over which the Honorable Thomas Kenyon might safely drive his spanking greys. At present, moreover (for we are two juvenile for a Corporation), that amari aliquid, the toll, will not disconcert the traveller. That concomitant of civilization and advancemant is in store for us. Now, "John Company" pays for all. Already may be seen a number of pretty cottages and gardens (owned chiefly by industrious labourers and mechanics) bordering that part of the road which runs through the suburban sections, between the Enui and Waiwaikaiho streams. From the Waitera or Devon road, as from a base line, many other roads are partially cut, dividing off sections on the right and left; and such is the practicable nature of the country that I could undertake, at small cost, to put a purchaser on almost any section in the course of a few days, and make the approach to it a matter of small difficulty. There are few ravines, and no lofty hill (except superb Mount Egrnont) in the entire district of Taranaki; whilst the expense of making roads through the forest land is amply repaid by the value of the timber.

A glance at the map, (which will be sent to England immediately, and which, it is hoped, will be lithographed without delay,) gives a correct notion of the compactness of this settlement. The suburban land lies close to the town, and the rural sections join upon the suburban districts. No land correctly described as unavailable, is offered for sale by the Company in this settlement. The surveys are far a-head of the sales. This great advantage has been obtained by a heavy outlay in the survey-department.

The foregoing statement shows that this part of New Zealand is well adapted for an experiment of colonization, on what is now universally called the

Wakefield principle. If the Company's Agent is compelled, by the nature of the country, to go ten, or twenty-five, or seventy miles from his head-quarters to supply settlers with land, it is plain that dispersion must happen to a very injurious extent. Against this obstacle Colonel Wakefield, at Port Nicholson, and Captain Wakefield, at Nelson, have to contend; whereas, by a judicious use of the power to sell or withhold land in Taranaki, the benefits of combined effort may be secured.

I must not omit a fact which speaks better for the settlement than any eulogy or favourable description. The first settlers and others, who have seen most of the country and its capabilities, are daily coming to me for land, and are giving fair prices for the Company's reserved sections; which have only within a fortnight been offered for sale. I am inclined to think that hitherto the disproportion of capital to land and labour has not been so great in our community, as in the other settlements in New Zealand. There have been more working farmers with a few hundreds; and there has been less expenditure of money in shops and merchandize. Taranaki is unfitted for commercial undertakings, and our settlers must rely for prosperity on their success in raising products of the earth. Of these, the variety may be very extensive, including all the grain and green crops raised in England, very many requiring a more genial climate than that of the mother country.

The health of the settlers is remarkable even for New Zealand – not a single person having died from disease (except one old gentleman, who had long suffered from paralytic attacks) since the arrival of the William Bryan, in March, 1841.

A Horticultural Society has been established, and a fair show may be expected on the 1st of February, 1843, the first exhibition day. There were foot-

races, boat-races, dancing, and other old English sports, a few weeks ago, to celebrate the anniversary of the arrival of the first principal body of settlers; and it speaks well for the character of the people that no disturbance or disorderly conduct occurred. The Police Magistrates' Court was as empty next day as usual, that is to say there was nothing to do. We have also a "Taranaki Club," on an economical, but respectable footing.

The Wesleyans, with the aid of members of the Church of England, have obtained a subscription, amounting to nearly £300, for the erection of a chapel; and the recent visit of the Bishop of New Zealand has put churchmen on the alert. In a few minutes they subscribed £80 a year for the support of a clergyman, and no doubt the sum will be raised to £100. The Bishop, out of the fund at his disposal, adds £150, besides £100 as a sort of outfit for the first year; so that a decent provision is made for a clergyman, expected to arrive in the course of two or three months. The £500 given by the Company, which the Bishop raises to £1000 by his contribution, will go to form a permanent endowment. An infant school will soon be established, and evening schools for the young working people are now in operation.

I have not yet noticed the natives, and little needs be said of them. A few months ago some returned slaves from the Waikato district gave me trouble; but firmness on the part of the settlers, and the aid of one of the magistrates, enabled me to prevent any breach of the peace; and now a more quiet and contented race of beings is no where to be found. All the real chiefs, and men of influence among the natives, show a friendly disposition towards the Company and the European settlers. The native reserves here are exceedingly valuable, and as the trustees (the Bishop and Chief Justice)

authorize leases of twenty-one years, a respectable income may be anticipated from this property; though, generally speaking, there is reluctance to rent, and eagerness to purchase land in Taranaki. We are all happy in a prospect of a speedy settlement of the native question. Not only from England, but from Auckland, we learn that a disposition exists to arrange all points of difference amicably and advantageously for the Europeans as well as the Maories.

The emigrants by the Blenheim are delighted with the country, preferring it to the Port Nicholson district, of which, however, they can know little or nothing. On looking over this letter, I cannot detect any exaggeration or incorrectness of statement, though it may appear I have drawn the picture en beau.

I remain, my dear Sir, your faithful servant,

J. T. WICKSTEED.

From P. F. HOSKIN, to his father, Mr. JOSIAS HOSKIN, Holsworthy, Devon.

New Plymouth, January 22nd, 1843.

MY DEAR PARENTS,

I have now taken the pleasure of writing to you, hoping, by the blessing of God, it will meet you all well, as, I am happy to say, it leaves us all at present. We were sorry to think that a report had been in England, that Captain King was on his passage home; but I am happy to inform you that it is no such thing, for he has got the finest farm and buildings of any gentleman in the colony. My dear parents, I am happy to inform you that my brother Arthur is doing well, for he has bought a half-section of town land in Brougham Street, which cost £20, and has got up a wooden house on it that cost him between £50 and £60; he is not working at his

trade as a cooper, but has had constant employ from Captain King, at the sawing, ever since he came in the colony, and I think myself that sawing is as good a calling as any thing at present. My brother Josias has bought a piece of land in Devon Street, and has got up a house on it; the land cost £20, and the house about £35 or £40; the house will be finished in a week from this time. Arthur's house is twenty-four feet long by fourteen wide: Josias' house is twenty feet by fourteen wide.

Now, as to myself, I have to inform you that I am working at my trade at present: I worked for the Company up to the 18th of July, 1842; then I took the shop to rent, and I give them £10 a year for it. I am happy to say that the trade has been as well as I expected for time past, but is not quite so brisk at present; but hope the smithing will flourish again soon, and that I shall do as well for the time to come as I have for the time past. My dear parents, I have bought a piece of land adjoining the Company's storehouse, which cost me £75.10s.; this land cost more being a corner-spot, one end facing Devon Street, and one Currey Street, and having the frontage of two streets makes the difference. I am going to have a house built twenty-six feet long by fourteen wide, and sixteen feet high for two stories, and going to have it stone-logged. I have bought all my timber of Captain King and Mr. Cutfield. My brother Arthur and Roberts, of Bude, are sawing it: the calculation of a two story house, that size will cost between £150 and £160; but when finished, I will send all particulars about it. I have room for three dwelling houses, two fronting Devon Street, and one Currey Street, and a smith's shop on the same land. Arthur has room for three houses; he is going to put up another house soon, for he being a sawyer, has his part of the scantling, that makes his come cheaper to him. Josias

has room but for one house to have a good frontage, and one to front a narrow street.

I must tell you our population increases greatly, we have plenty of weddings and births. My brother Josias has been working at his trade, ever since his leather was landed from the Amelia Thompson; and has a very good trade ever since. I am happy to tell you I have kept myself from drinking ever since my brothers came out. I get 8s. for shoeing a horse, and from 1s. to 1s. 2d. per pound for other iron work. Any person can do well here if they will keep themselves from drinking, and mind their work. Carpenters are the most wanted, and the fewest here. A dock and watch maker might do well, as we have neither one here, and none nearer than Wellington. Do send as often as you can, and send some newspapers to us. I must now conclude with my and my brothers1, and their wives' and children's kind love to all our brothers and sisters, and all our friends; and may God bless you all, my dear father and mother, and believe me to be your dutiful son,

PETER FACEY HOSKIN.

Extracts from letters received by THOMAS WOOLLCOMBE, ESQ., Devonport, from Settlers at New Plymouth.

"We are progressing in a slow, but satisfactory manner: a great many parties have gone on their land, and are now bringing it into cultivation. Captain King and Mr. Cutfield have between thirty and forty acres of fern land ploughed up; three of which are in wheat, nine or ten in potatoes, and a good breadth for turnips and other green crops – the Bayly's, six acres of wheat, six of potatoes, and some barley and oats – Mr. Cooke, six or seven acres of potatoes. Messrs. Flight and Devenish, Mr. Gillingham, and Captain Davy, are also hard at

work clearing; and several labourers, who have bought from five to twenty-five acres, are living on their land, and making good progress. Fern land is being well hacked up, (that is to say) from a foot to fifteen inches deep, and all the root taken out and burnt, for from £12 to £14 per acre by contract. I am having an acre done by day work, at five shillings per day, exceedingly well, which will cost me about £14; for which outlay, and about £6 for seed and after cultivation, I hope to get at least six tons of potatoes; which, at the low rate of £4 per ton, will clear my land and leave a profit. The best proof of the progression of this settlement is, that there is a demand for more labourers; the Company have only six or eight on their hands, and those bad ones, that private parties would not employ."

New Plymouth, January 23rd, 1843.

"I think I may venture to say this – let any number of settlements be established, yet Taranaki will not fail; for you may rely on it, that Taranaki will prove the very vitals of the Company's settlements in New Zealand, however little they may think of it at present. Many persons at Port Nicholson are going into the bush with cattle; this is what they should have done at first, for a settlement of shopkeepers and merchants can never stand long. Agriculture must be the foundation of every settlement. To raise the common necessaries of life is the first and great object to drive at, and this must not be lost sight of; if it be, no settlement can stand long. I see all this clearly, and I am by no means sorry that we have no harbour; had we one, we should have, as at Port Nicholson, every one engaging in mercantile transactions, instead of cultivating the land, which they are driven to do now from necessity. Keep as much as possible the capital

brought out floating in the colony; if it be continually going out for the necessaries of life, there must be a break down one day or other. New Plymouth is fixed at the proper spot, and so firmly fixed as to be in no danger of removal. At the Waitera one day or other, will spring up a secondary town, for reasons which I shall presently give you. Of course, no large ship dare anchor off the Waitera – it would be madness. The boat sent out by the Oriental was not one suited to our flat shore; she was accordingly turned into a deck vessel, and she sailed for the Waitera, and entered it at nine o'clock (after dark), under the charge of our boat's crew, the coxswain of which is a good pilot for the river. The owner having got his captain and crew together, she left the river on Saturday last, working out against a fresh head wind, two hours before high water. This is the first rigged vessel that has ever entered the Waitera. Here, then, is a place that may be, when registered, turned to good account, and not more than ten miles from us, with no difficulty about a road, which is opening now. I have walked across the bar of the Waitera at low water, and found three feet on it. I do not think it shifts, there is plenty of "back-water." I am of opinion that vessels of 100 tons and upwards may go in and out. What would not a steam boat do there? The Waitera is well wooded a few miles up, and vessels may be built there so soon as labour becomes sufficiently low to remunerate the builders. Two of the cargo-boats took sixty tons out of a vessel called the Perseverance, in one day. In less than two days we have cleared the Essex. What could you wish more than this? – yet you have fancied we have not yet settled down. I must tell you we all feel disappointed in not finding cabin passengers on board the Essex, for without such we shall not thrive fast. Such persons need not fear to come;

they will, after a short time, find themselves doing-well. All we require is, to raise the loaf; and the sooner that is done the better, for then nothing can stop us; for with such a fine climate, and such good land, I don't think any place out of New Zealand can keep pace with us. We are like a ship beating against a foul wind and head sea, to weather a point of land which, when attained, the helm is put up, and she glides easily and quietly to her destination. The loaf is the point we have to weather; there is no difficulty in doing this, beyond capital, to cultivate the soil. The more capital an agriculturist has, the sooner he will attain his object; because the land in any quantity is difficult to clear, and labour is at present high. I think fern land may be cleared, if a person has oxen, at from £5 to £6 per acre – perhaps something less. Fern land will not grow a heavy crop the first year, the land having been run out by the fern; and there is such an immense quantity of fibrous root left, that, after rain, it puffs up, and you walk over it like walking over a Turkey carpet. This lets in the air, the ground dries too quickly, and you require rain every third day to make things grow. I find that the better the clearing the better the crop. A great improvement takes place the second year. I have potatoes growing the second year on some fern land, and I would not desire to see finer. We have between seven and eight acres of potatoes on our farm on fern land, but do not expect they will average more than five tons per acre. Our wheat was put in under disadvantageous circumstances. The cattle arrived late, would not work well together, being all young and then came the rain, which prevented our burning the fern root, and we were obliged to cart it off, thus losing the ash, which is a fine manure for this land: in fact, it was put in after the winter instead of before it; yet, notwithstanding all

this, we have an average crop. Our bush or rich land is too strong for wheat. I put some into my garden, and had to cut it down twice before I could get it to stand up, so luxuriantly did it grow, I have some oats growing in my garden, on rich soil, seven feet high; and some of the stems measure one inch in circumference; and a large sort of English pea growing so high, that I could not reach some of the upper pods. You will think I am romancing, but I give you my honour that I am not. Some cabbages (the flat pole) growing on a piece of bush land on our farm, measure five feet across, and have only been planted out eight weeks. We have planted 15,000 of the flat pole, Jersey cow, and 100 headed cabbage for our milch cows. Cabbage plants are 2s. 6d. per hundred, but I grew all we required and more. At this present moment my garden is groaning under a profusion of most excellent vegetables; it is most of it bush land, near an acre in extent, but not all cleared, although fenced in. Some mangel wurzel now in seed is seven feet and eight feet high; in fact, I am quite at a loss to say what the land will not produce when under a proper system of cultivation and manured: this arises as much from the climate as the soil. Cattle do remarkably well in the bush, growing quite fat. We sold a heifer the other day to the butcher for £30, the beef was excellent, and two milch cows realized £65. We expect Messrs. Molesworth and Wall from Port Nicholson over-land, with about 20 or 30 head of cattle and some horses; this will bring down the price of stock. I don't believe any country in the world will beat this for breeding; sheep, I have little doubt, will breed twice in the year. Some of my goats have kidded three times in less than fifteen months. I landed four females and one male, and in less time considerably than two years, counted twenty-five in number.

A Loan Company is the very thing: many, very many persons here, aye, and persons who fully understand what they are about, are at a stand for the want of means to push on to obtain the desired loaf. There are others with land, but can do nothing for the want of small means to start with. To all such persons it would prove of infinite service.

Mr. Hine, I believe a brother of the director, is up here from Port Nicholson, which place he is about to leave, to settle at New Plymouth; he will be a very desirable person; being both a gentleman and a man of some property. We have now for our farm 200 acres in one block, and a section of wood at one corner, in all 250 acres. A good deal of the Company's land has sold very well, I may say exceedingly well, both in and out of the town – back town sections are below par. Our two best sections on the Hu-a-toki we divided in three portions, and have sold two of them for £100 each: another town section realized £100, and another £60.

I wish you could have seen the Osprey, a large schooner, riding out a heavy north-wester at the mooring. I have just taken up Mr. Heaphy's work, and laughed outright at his recommending "large iron rings to be put into the Sugar-Loaf Islands," for ships to be made fast to. Ships had better keep at a distance.

Coal has been found at Mokau, some of which (some tons) is to be brought to New Plymouth. Lime has been brought in considerable quantity from Kawia. We have made two attempts to make bricks, but not succeeded in making good ones. We want an old hand at it; and also pug-mills to work the material. The complaint is, that our clay is too sandy. We find sand stone in large quantities, which is very good stone for building, as it hardens by exposure to the atmosphere. The stone is like that which we see about Ilchester."

New Plymouth, January 24th, 1843.

"The Essex got safely here on the 20th instant; two births and one death; the latter, that of an infant, at Port Nicholson. This vessel came to us in remarkably good condition. The captain and surgeon must have done their duty well. Nearly all the children took the scarlet fever, and all recovered. Experience has proved the want of a harbour to be a less evil than was at first supposed. We never have any accidents now.

The country improves on acquaintance. It is really magnificent; and what is of immense consequence, accessible by roads made without any very great outlay. Some of the men are employed in making roads to the Company's reserved sections; some of which, in town and suburban, have been sold to our settlers at fair prices.

In the course of the ensuing month, the road from Patea to New Plymouth, cut by Maories, will be completed. It is sixty-five miles or thereabouts in length, and fit for horses and bullocks. We shall then have an overland communication for cattle all the way to Port Nicholson, and several Wellington people are to visit us with stock this summer.

The road to the Waitera, with one chain and three wooden bridges, will be completed before winter, twelve miles long, and fit for any stage coach to drive along. The cost of this road will soon be defrayed by the enhanced value it will give to the land through and near which it is carried.

The Waitera has been sounded, buoyed, and mapped. It is a capital harbour for craft not drawing more than from 9 to 12 feet of water. The first vessel which entered the river was the cutter built here, raised in a boat sent from England. Several experienced persons report the Waitera as very superior to Nelson haven for small craft; but large

ships could not lie safely within four miles of the mouth of the river. So the chief town is best where it is.

Capital coal, and plenty of it, has been found on our side of the Mokau river, within a few days' sail, with a fair wind, of New Plymouth. I have contracted for a few tons for use next winter, to put the trade a-going. Yesterday some good specimens of lime-stone were brought to me from the Waitera. Our flax, too, is of superior quality, and I am engaged (following Colonel Wakefield's example and suggestion) in forming a school and workshop of immigrants' children, which is in process of formation, for preparing the flax for sale. It is worth £11. a ton here, for use at Wellington, and for exportation.

We have a good many small farmers and gardeners here, who produce, altogether, a good quantity of vegetables, and are preparing for the cultivation of grain crops, of which we have only about 25 acres as yet. All our settlers are in good spirits about their land – and, indeed, about everything else, as far as I can see. In the other settlements too, Taranaki is now talked of with respect. The visit of the Bishop and Chief was very beneficial. They were charmed with the country, and tell everybody how much they liked it. We got up a subscription for a church clergyman of £80 per annum, whilst the Bishop was here; his lordship will raise the salary to £250 a-year – so there will soon be a church and regular clergyman here. In the meanwhile, the Rev. Horatio Groube reads the church service, and preaches to us in a native hut.

Our first Horticultural Show takes place on the 1st of next month, and I anticipate a respectable exhibition. We have had benefit club dinners, temperance society dinners, and tea-drinking, and anniversary settlement rejoicings. So you may tell your folk that the place is alive.

But tell them this also – that within a few days of their arrival they can be put upon excellent available land, within an easy walk of the town, already surveyed, and with a road to it, at a moderate price.

The surgeon of the Essex has just been with me, to mention his intention of returning next year with a wife, and would be glad to have another appointment as surgeon, I hope he may succeed with his wish. He is the best man I have ever known in the same post, and is especially praiseworthy for his successful endeavours to preserve the morality of the folks on board. I believe there was no drunkenness or disorder on board the Essex.

Smart has chosen six sections, and works very hard. Hall has sold his goods well, and, I believe, will farm his suburban sections. There were several other excellent settlers by the Blenheim, who are doing well."

January 24th, 1843.

"In my hurried letter of yesterday, I forgot to tell you that we had received a visit from the Bishop, who walked up from Port Nicholson; he intended making some stay, but the Government brig coming in with the Lord Chief Justice on board, whose stay was merely eight hours, he left us to proceed with him to the Strait. This we regretted, as we had ample reason to wish a little more of his company. He promised to send us a clergyman on his return to the Bay of Islands. Both the Bishop and the Lord Chief Justice, notwithstanding their short stay, contrived to see and examine a considerable extent of country; and I am sure I need not tell you that they were quite delighted with it. The description of this district, which they gave in Auckland, has so put the Governor on the qui vive, that he is determined to have a look at us immediately, and has sent

Captain King an intimation to that effect. He is expected in about three weeks or a month from this time. We are rather at a loss where to stow a Governor; and unless we can induce our carpenters to bestir themselves, and make our house habitable by that time, I fear he will meet with but humble accommodation.

When on the subject of agriculture yesterday, I should have told you that a considerable quantity (for this place at present) of wheat had been destroyed by the caterpillar, which I think would not have been the case had the wheat been sown in the autumn. We had them in numbers, but the stalk being of longer standing, they did not touch it, and consequently did but little harm, and very much to my satisfaction retired in a body to the "bush" in one day. I saw nothing of this last year: it, however, is not lost sight of that it will be necessary to get the wheat in early, so that it may be beyond their depredations should they visit us again next season."

BEAUTIFUL SCENERY OF TARANAKI, OR NEW PLYMOUTH. – (From the Note-book of a Tourist.) – "For the first time in New Zealand we could see from our deck a wide green plain, edged by a line of glistening surf, and towered over, not by many ranges of mountains, but by one solitary mass, standing clear and alone – Mount Egmont. By-and-bye, the huge bare Sugar-loaves stood clearly out, patches of green, scattered houses, and then the town or village of Taranaki. The township lies very prettily, being gathered into three small groups, villages, or, if you please, village-lets, each upon its stream. The streams are all beautiful brooks, galloping or gliding over stony beds to the sea. The whole of the scattered population is estimated at 900. Mount Egmont was cloudless for the first

time for many days, and glorious beyond all conceptions of mine. I had never fully realised the majesty of one kingly, unapproachable giant peak, lifting itself alone toward heaven. The land (town, suburban, rural,) extends, with scarcely broken continuity, over a slightly undulating surface, extending twelve miles or more to the northward, and from four to five miles broad. It is, indeed, a land worthy of all we have heard of New Zealand; a land of deep rich mould – of luxuriant wood – of full streams, the sight of which gladdens you, as you see them leaping on from the great mountain to the sea. And then there are cottages after cottages, with tasty gardens (the native trees and tree-ferns left here and there to throw their shadows across the thatch), and neat gates and compact fences; and you meet with all the little civilities and kindly greetings of the west-country peasantry. There was one spot I could scarcely leave, commanding a view which I never expect to see equalled. We looked from a cliff over a huge hollow, filled with the richest wood of every shade of colour – a blue stream rushing and winding through the midst, and beyond, the clear dazzling cone whence it was flowing. Then came up, ever and anon, the piping, gushing, and thrilling of birds, just as we heard them in the woods near the Porirua road. * * * *" – Auckland Chronicle.

JOHNSTON AND BARRETT, PRINTERS, MARK LANE, LONDON.

[Page 212 is blank]

16 Published in the Times, 16th September, 1842.

17 See Mr. Weekes's letter, page 159.

18 See Mr, Jollie's remarks on this subject, ante p. 125-6.

19 Published in the Colonial Gazette of May 20th, 1843.

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A GENERAL PLAN OF THE DISTRICT SURROUNDING PORT NICHOLSON, showing the Numbers of the Country-Sections. By W. M. SMITH, Surveyor-General.

Just published, in imperial folio, price 3s.

A COMPREHENSIVE PLAN of the HARBOUR OF PORT NICHOLSON, with its various Bays, Islands, and Soundings, showing also the relative positions of the Town and Country Sections for several miles round the Town of Wellington, and distinguishing the rivers and state of the Soil, &c. throughout the respective districts. By W. M. SMITH, Surveyor-General.

"This is truly a comprehensive and highly interesting Map, beautifully executed. The whole of the Allotments in this valuable and extensive tract of country are clearly pointed out and distinguished by Numbers which at once show the Estates of the various proprietors."

Just published, price 2s.

A CHART OF TASMAN'S GULF, with the adjacent Coasts and Harbours, Cook's Strait, New Zealand. By CHARLES HEAPHY.

Intended for the use of Vessels bound for the New Zealand Company's Settlement of Nelson.

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