Popular Account of New Zealand as a Field for British Colonization

First published by Lumsden and Son in 1839

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

Epub © 2015 Early New Zealand Books Collection

ISBN 978-0-947487-04-1

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POPULAR ACCOUNT
OF
NEW ZEALAND,

AS A FIELD FOR BRITISH COLONIZATION.

COMPILED
FROM VARIOUS AUTHORS;
WITH
AN INTRODUCTION AND APPENDIX.

"Lord Bacon calls the plantation of a Colony a heroic work: and we believe systematic colonization to be emphatically the want of our age."

GLASGOW:
LUMSDEN AND SON.
MDCCCXXXIX.

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NEW ZEALAND

J. Neilson, Printer, Paisley.

[CONTENTS]

CONTENTS.

Introduction..........5

Position and Extent of New Zealand..........13

Rivers..........17

Harbours..........18

Climate and Soil..........20

Natural Productions..........25

Native Inhabitants..........29

APPENDIX.

No. I. J. Liddiart Nicholas' Narrative, 1815-1817..........42

No. II. (Circular) New Zealand Land Company..........46

No. III. (Circular) Terms of Purchase for Lands in the Company's first and principal Settlements..........48

No. IV. Advertisement of Local Committee for the West of Scotland at Glasgow..........51

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[INTRODUCTION]

INTRODUCTION.

NOT six months ago, the Colonization of New Zealand was a mere idea existing in the minds of a few individuals in different parts of the kingdom, hut not a bit farther advanced towards realization than it was in 1771 – a year or two after its discovery by Captain Cook, when the celebrated Dr. Benjamin Franklin propounded a plan for colonizing the country, and opening up a means of intercourse betwixt the native inhabitants and the civilized world, but which, for want of funds to carry it into effect, fell to the ground. An expedition, on something like Franklin's plan, was fitted out in 1825, but owing to unfortunate circumstances, it did not succeed. The failure of the Bill brought into Parliament by Mr. Francis Baring, in 1837, is well known. And it appeared as if the expectations of those who knew something of the superior advantages of New Zealand as a field for British Colonization, that a settlement would be founded there, were to be completely disappointed. An attempt, however, by one or two ardent friends of the cause in the West of Scotland, to found a Joint Stock Company, under the denomination of "THE NEW ZEALAND COLONIZATION COMPANY," having been made in the City of Glasgow, in the beginning of the present year, and this having reached the ears of the promoters of the Bill of 1837 in London, they were prompted to renew their exertions, and the result was the formation of "THE NEW ZEALAND LAND COMPANY." This Company has been formed under the auspices of the Earl of Durham, who takes a warm interest in the colonization and civilization of New Zealand, and than whom, as undoubtedly of all our modern legislators the statesman who has evinced most knowledge of Colonial affairs, and of the true principles of colonization, the Company could not have a more enlightened nobleman at its head. Among the promoters of the London scheme, are Mr. Hutt, M.P.; Mr. E. G. Wakefield, to whom the distinguished merit belongs of elucidating the true principles of colonization, in his Work entitled England and America – of establishing, in short, what may now be called the science or art of colonization; Dr. G. 8. Evans, to

whose persevering and enthusiastic labours the Company are greatly indebted, and other learned and enlightened friends of colonization, while the Company numbers among its Directors, several Members of Parliament, among whom is our countryman, Sir George Sinclair, besides several of the richest and most extensive merchants in the City of London. It is not yet two months since the Prospectus of the Company was published. On its announcement, the promoters of the Scottish scheme were induced to join the London Company, and a branch of the latter, under the management of a Local Board, has been appointed in Glasgow for the West of Scotland. The operations of the Company, since its commencement, have been most successful. The first step they adopted, was to fit out and dispatch a vessel, on an exploring expedition, under the command of Colonel Wakefield, as Commissioner, to choose the most eligible locality for the first or principal settlement in the country. The printed instructions to Colonel Wakefield are most judiciously framed; and we have no doubt he understands the spirit of them, and will act accordingly. Several scientific men are on board, and a native chief to act as interpreter. Of course, it is not known where the settlement is to be fixed; but, in all likelihood, it will be either at Port-Manikou, or in Queen Charlotte's Sound, in Cook's Straits. The Company have resolved that the first settlement shall consist of 11,100 acres, including 1,100 acres of town land, or about twelve miles square, divided into 1000 sections, of 101 acres each, and that these shall be sold at £l per acre. Nearly 700 sections have been already sold. One fourth of the price is to be reserved to pay the expenses of the Company, and the remaining 3-4ths, or 75 per cent, is to be expended in providing a free passage to young people of both sexes, belonging to the labouring class. A colony, numbering nearly 1000 individuals, is already formed in London, under the title of, "The first Colony of New Zealand," and will sail from the Thames in August next. Dr. G. S. Evans, whom we have already mentioned, is Chairman of this Committee, and as father and founder of the colony, his name, as that of another Penn, will yet shine in the future annals of New Zealand. The other members of committee consist of gentlemen of the first respectability, in point of birth, fortune and education. As to the West of Scotland branch of the Company, it can hardly be said it has done more than commence operations, yet several sections of the Company's lands have been sold, and a number of gentlemen of great respectability have been enrolled as colonists, under the title of the "First Scotch Colony for New Zealand," and it is expected that a sufficient

number will have joined the association by September next, so as to enable the Company to dispatch a first class ship from the Clyde, for the new settlement, some time during that month.

Thus it is, that, in the short space of two months, by the energy and perseverance of the men who have originated and set agoing this great enterprise, has what was but an "airy nothing," which your mere practical men, with "no speculation in their eye," and always so prodigiously wise in their own self-conceit, derided as the phantasy of a heated brain, assumed a substantive form, and acquired "a local habitation and a name;" and thus it is that the present project of the colonization of New Zealand will establish a new era in the history of colonization, and of the civilization of the human race, – as giving birth to a great empire in the opposite hemisphere of the globe, in which the English language and literature, English institutions, arts and industry will be extended and perpetuated.

One agreeable feature in the character and proceedings of the Company, is the total absence of every thing like political feeling, – Whigs, Tories, and Radicals being to be found both among the Directors of the Company, and its Proprietary, and also among the Colonists; the latter having agreed to discard all party feeling, as wholly unsuited to the circumstances in which they are now placed, or with reference to the object in view.

Instead of party or factious feeling, the Colonists – especially those in London who constitute no contemptible community – are animated solely with preparations for their departure, and in making arrangements for the various pursuits they contemplate engaging in in the Colony. Some have already entered into partnership as commission agents – some intend erecting saw-mills – some the preparation of flax, &c. &c. Ladies – the wives and sisters of parties going out, who have been brought up and accustomed to all the refinements of London life, are entering with true heroism into the spirit of the enterprise. – One lady intends to establish a school for the education of native girls when she gets out. Every bosom is filled with hope; and it is delightful to witness the number of individuals whose energies were misemployed, or running to waste at home, who have been roused into activity by the prospect and opportunities which the new Colony presents of engaging in undertakings appropriate to their means and abilities.

If any thing more than another could speak in favour of the colonization of New Zealand, it is the unanimous support the subject has received from the public press. Papers have

appeared in nearly every periodical of the day, from Blackwood down to the Penny Magazine, in which the measure has been recommended and enforced. The only exception has been in the case of the Times, which has certainly thundered a deal of declamation on the subject. The dangers of the voyage, and the risk of being made minced meat of by the natives, have been depicted in the darkest colours, as if any but the most ignorant and timid could be influenced by such representations. As for the voyage, it is neither longer nor more dangerous than that to Calcutta, Sydney, or Hobart Town, and yet the Times never dreams of dissuading the thousands of our countrymen who are monthly, aye weekly embarking for these dependencies, from risking their lives in such fool-hardy enterprises. But why does the Times not extend its concern for the lives and comfort of her Majesty's loyal subjects to all who "go down to the sea in ships," – in her Majesty's navy, as well as in the commercial Marine of the country. Why not show that Britain really does not owe all her power and greatness to her "Ships, Colonies, and Commerce," – that it is a mere vulgar error to suppose she does – and that it ought not to be her peculiar boast that she has a garrison or settlement in every corner of the Globe, where the British Standard is to be found floating on the breeze – and that in every sea, the meteor flag of England maybe seen waving in the wind. It seems not at all to occur to the Times, that there is a possibility of shortening the voyage, and by proper precautions and regulations, providing against many of the dangers and disasters that emigration ships have often had to contend with. As to shortening the voyage, there is a project on foot at this very moment, for establishing a regular steam navigation betwixt England and New Zealand, by way of Panama, or the Isthmus of Darien, and if this project succeed, and we do not see what should prevent it, the voyage will be reduced from four months to six or seven weeks; and then, when we consider what wonderful things happen, now a-days, in "the world we live in," it is by no means improbable, that ere long a trip to New Zealand may become as fashionable as the one to New York in the Great Western or British Queen. We know it is the determination of the Directors of the Company, that the very greatest attention shall be paid to the safety, and comfort, and convenience of the emigrants sent out by them, and to see that none but vessels of the first class, under the command of skilful captains, and with skilful and experienced surgeons on board, are employed. They are satisfied of the importance of very strict regulations being enforced on these points.

It is their interest, as well as duty, to see that these are attended to. It is their wish to divest emigration entirely of its supposed or imaginary terrors, and of all its real evils, as far as it is possible, by proper regulations and precautions on their part, to do so – in short, to render emigration much as possible, a pleasant and agreeable thing, instead of repulsive, as by many it is considered to be. With respect to the cannibal propensities of the natives, we suspect not a few of them have by this time acquired a relish for roast beef and plum-pudding, which they reckon more palatable than the dead bodies of their enemies – in short, they are fast losing their character of anthropophagi, and we are afraid we shall soon lose all the romance of savageism in as far as they are speedily becoming rational beings, much after the fashion of Englishmen. By the latest accounts, brought home by parties who have lived amongst them, they are, in point of fact – on the banks of the Hokianga, at least – farther advanced in civilization than our own countrymen in many parts of Ireland, and of the Highlands of Scotland. The opposition of the Times can be easily accounted for. Its conduct is of a piece with the selfish, narrow-minded hostility of the Church Missionary Society, who actually maintain that the settlement of industrious, well educated, high-minded Englishmen, and the establishment of British law and authority in New Zealand, are wholly incompatible with the civilization of the natives. Mr. Dandison Coats, the Secretary of the Church Missionary Society wishes, in short, to be the Pope of New Zealand, and to enjoy all temporal, as well as spiritual power, over the New Zealanders. The leading Journal of Europe lends itself to promote his designs. But fortunately, so far as respects New Zealand, the "signs of the times," and the designs of the Times, are two very different things.

The principle on which the present scheme for colonizing New Zealand is founded, is no untried theory. It has been sufficiently tested in the case of South Australia. The progress of that colony is truly wonderful, and its prosperity throws discredit on the whole system on which our colonial dependencies have hitherto been managed by the Government at the Colonial Office. It will not be three years till December since the first body of colonists landed on the shores of Spencer's Gulf, and already 10,000 souls are located in Adelaide and its neighbourhood. About three hundred houses have been built in the town. There are three or four Churches – three Banks – two Newspapers – Hotels, &c. &c. The rise in the price of land almost exceeds belief. Town acres, which originally cost 12s., have sold as high as £300 – £400 – and £500, and in one instance an acre was sold at the extraordi-

nary rate of £1400. If the newspapers are examined, it will be seen that more vessels are advertised for Port Adelaide, than almost any other foreign port. The principle works in this way: – In proportion as land is sold, the larger is the fund for sending out labourers, and in proportion to the influx of labourers, the demand for land increases. It is intended, that this principle shall be worked with vigour and skill, in the case of New Zealand. All the power and influence of the Company will be concentrated, in the mean time, on the first or principal settlement, and judging from the example of South Australia – the spirit of emigration so widely spreading among all classes – and the superior capabilities of New Zealand in every point of view, for the foundation of a British colony, there is no room for entertaining the smallest doubt of the entire success of the scheme.

Darien – Poyais – Swan River, are notable instances of failure, through ignorance of the true principles of colonization. The Darien expedition was a grand conception – honourable to its author, and the spirit for enterprise among Scotsmen at the time. The whole country embarked with enthusiasm in the project. £300,000 were subscribed in Scotland – an immense sum in those days – when the comparative poverty of the country, and the high value of money are considered. Six millions would not be a larger sum at the present day. Ample as the capital of the Company was, the colony established under its auspices would still have failed, independent of all the open hostilities from without, and dissensions from within, with which it was assailed. Two expeditions sailed from Scotland – the first from Leith, consisting of 3 vessels, carrying 1200 settlers, and the other from the Clyde, with 3 or 4 vessels, carrying 1300 settlers, but all men – no women amongst them. Here was a capital error. No colony can succeed without the sexes being, in as nearly as possible equal proportions; and this is a leading principle of the new mode of colonizing, and its observance is to be enforced in the plantation of the new colony in New Zealand, as well as it has been in South Australia.

The Poyais expedition was an act of sad infatuation; and as for the Swan River settlement, there could not have been a grosser delusion than the idea that, because individuals were receiving extensive grants of wilderness and unpeopled lands, they were thereby rendered rich. The settlers no sooner arrived than they dispersed themselves, each to take possession of his grant – situated, miles it may have been, from his neighbour. Without concentration and mutual co-operation, so necessary in a young colony, what other result could have happened than positive helplessness, and poverty, and despair. The settlers sunk into savageism; and the establish-

ment of the Swan River settlement, in its early history, will ever remain a memorial of the folly and ignorance of the men in the colonial department of our public affairs at the time.

The title to the lands ceded by the New Zealand chiefs to the Company, is constituted, in some cases, by written treaties, evidenced by the Missionaries, called by the natives Booka Booka, in addition to the ceremony of the taboo, but in others it consists solely of the taboo. No form could be more sacredly observed by any people. A Scotch lawyer may not be able to understand how any title can be good without charter and sasine, but any one, not a mere cantor formularum, and who has extended his studies to the rationale of such things, can have no difficulty in perceiving that the ceremony of the taboo may be as valid, as in truth it is more sensible, though the institution of a savage people, than the childish form of delivery of earth and stone, still so fondly clung to by our learned feudalists, even in these days of advanced knowledge and civilization.

At present, there is no law or authority in New Zealand, except the will of the chiefs, and the influence of the Missionaries, and of the British resident at the Bay of Islands. It is satisfactory, however, to know that Government intend to confer a constitution on the colony either by act of Parliament or Royal Charter – that a British Governor – also a Judge, and a Military Force, will be established. 1 A British frigate has already been dispatched for the protection of the shipping that frequent the numerous bays and harbours on the coast. The appointment of Governor, is a matter of the very first importance, and we trust the office will be conferred on no mere political partisan, or protegee of the Colonial Minister – and above all, on no military martinet – but on some individual of enlarged views, and benevolent feelings – possessed, at same time, of energy of purpose – superior to the assumption of any hauteur to uphold his dignity, and who will command respect by inherent greatness of mind and force of character – some such man as we conceive Sir Thomas Munro, or Sir Stamford Raffles to have been, whom we have always regarded as the proper kind of men for colonial governors.

It is intended that a Bank, under the title of "The New Zealand Banking Company," shall be forthwith established. No institution could tend more to promote the prosperity of the colony; and if judiciously conducted, it cannot fail to be a most successful undertaking. Nowhere have banking establishments yielded such high dividends as in our Australian settlements. The annual dividends have amounted,

in some instances, to 26 per cent., and they have never been less than 12 per cent. The current rate of interest is 10 per cent. A considerable portion of the stock will be reserved for the colonists, and the management in New Zealand will be under the direction of a Colonial Committee.

A printing press is to accompany the first Colony from London. An engagement has been made with a printer, and on arrival, a newspaper, under the title of "The Now Zealand Gazette," or some such title, will be published. Indeed we do not see what is to hinder the press to be set to work on board ship on the voyage out, and the first newspaper ever printed at sea, be made to commemorate the passage across the great waters of the first body of colonists, to the favoured country of their adoption – the future Great Britain of the Southern hemisphere.

Not forgetful, either, of the moral and religious interests of the colony, it is intended that schools shall be founded, and churches built. Several of the Scotch colonists have expressed a wish for the appointment of a clergyman of the Church of Scotland, and it is hoped their countrymen, both churchmen and dissenters, will aid them in accomplishing so desirable an object.

The account of New Zealand given in the following pages – to which these observations are intended as an introduction – has been hurriedly got up, for the purpose of diffusing in a cheap and popular form, some general knowledge on the subject, amongst those numerous individuals in Scotland who are contemplating to emigrate to one or other of the different settlements in the Southern Hemisphere, and who ought to be presented with an opportunity of acquiring information respecting New Zealand and its numerous advantages, and of the present project for colonizing it.

In our opinion, no enterprise could be more interesting than the British colonization of New Zealand. Independent of the individual benefits the colonists may reasonably anticipate, what mighty interests does it not subserve? The lifting up of a savage nation to civilization and humanity – the diffusion of knowledge – of peace and good government, and above all, the knowledge of the true God to the uttermost ends of the earth; so that civilization and Christianity, with all their attendant trains, may radiate from this country as from a moral sun.

"Even till the smallest habitable rock
Beaten by lonely billows, hears the sound
Of humanized society; and blooms
With civil arts, that send their fragrance forth
A grateful tribute to all-ruling Heaven."
...Wordsworth's Excursion, Book VI,

JULY 3, 1839.

1 Mr. Labouchere intimated in the House of Commons, on the 25th ult., that Government had come to the resolution of establishing a Colonial Government in New Zealand.

[Text]

NEW ZEALAND.

1. – POSITION AND EXTENT.

THE islands of New Zealand are situated between the 34th and 48th degrees of south latitude, and between the 166th and 179th degrees of east longitude. In fact they are the lands nearest to the antipodes of Great Britain, – Queen Charlotte's Sound, on the southern shore of Cook's Strait, which is about equi-distant between the northern and southern extremities of the two principal islands, being only 700 miles from the antipodes to the equator. The distance from the same place, taken in round numbers and in geographical miles, is to Sydney and Hobart Town about 1200 miles, about the same to the new Hebrides and the Friendly Isles, to the Marquesas about 3000, to the Sandwich Islands 3600, to South Australia 1800, to China and to Valparaiso about 5000.

The length of the voyage from England is about the same as that to Sydney. The westerly winds blowing steadily in those latitudes, for about nine months in the year, the distance northwards from Bass' Strait to Port Jackson would be found practically greater than from the same point of separation to Queen Charlotte's Sound. In returning to Europe, by Cape Horn, the whole distance between the two places mentioned is gained; since most of the homeward-bound ships from Australia pass through Cook's Strait, and the facilities of every kind, which this would afford to a settlement there, need not be pointed out. The Bay of Islands in the north is the rendezvous of the South Sea traders. Twenty-seven vessels have been at anchor, and upwards of one thousand white

men have been seen ashore in that harbour, at one and the same time. It is the key to the Pacific Ocean; to an archipelago more than 30,000 miles in circumference, containing literally thousands of islands, but without one authorised British settlement. The islands present an oblong appearance on the map, extending in the direction of north-east and south-west; thus securing the greatest variety of climate for the given extent of surface. Leaving the peninsula of the northern island to fill up the irregularities of the coast and straits, we may fairly suppose, on a rough estimate, the whole territory to be reduced to the form of a parallelogram of at least 800 miles in length by 100 in breadth. This would give 80,000 square miles – more than fifty millions of acres. Allowing one-third, or any large proportion, that could be reasonably calculated upon, for unproductive land and water, it is clear that the islands, without any extraordinary fertility being assumed, might support as large a population as Great Britain and Ireland, to which they are in many respects the counterpart, – in shape, in relative position to the neighbouring continent, and in the physical and mental vigour of the aboriginal inhabitants. The facts we shall adduce will show that the New Zealand islands contain more of available land, a richer soil, and an incomparably better climate, than the British islands themselves. The first and greatest authority that we rely upon is that of Captain Cook, the first European that ever landed upon these islands. They were seen by Abel Jansen Tasman, in the year 1642; but he never landed, and he supposed them to form part of a great southern continent. Cook not only proved that they were islands, by circumnavigating them, and by discovering the strait which divides the two largest of them, but he surveyed the coasts with such remarkable accuracy that scarcely anything in that way remains to be done. A French navigator bears the following testimony to the excellency of

Cook's charts: "I compared with care," says M. Crozet, "the chart which I had drawn of the portion which we ran along of the coast of New Zealand with that which was taken by Captain Cook and his officers; I found it to possess an accuracy and a minuteness which astonished me beyond all expression. I doubt whether our own coasts of France have been delineated with more precision." All the writers on New Zealand, – particularly Mr Yate of the Church of England mission, who has resided on the island upwards of ten years, confirm the statements of Cook, as far as they extend. Mr Yate says, "many subsequent visitors, possessing superior advantages, though more diffuse in their details, are by no means more correct." Nothing will surprise an ordinary reader more than the mass of information at command, upon a subject hitherto so much neglected as these islands. In Cook we see nothing but facts, embodied in grave, simple, and philosophical language, indicating, however, the great idea he had formed of the capability of these countries; but in his mode of expressing himself he is singular; all the other writers appear unable to control their feelings, when describing the aspect of the country. Yate says, that "nothing can exceed the rich and varied scenery – every thing which naturally strikes the eye is beautiful and sublime." He speaks with enthusiasm of the "cloud-girt or snow-capped mountains, – some of them 14,000 feet above the level of the sea, and their whole appearance strikingly rich and grand; and all covered with forest-timber, of the most enormous size and the most useful kind." The last piece of information is more to our purpose than that relating to the magnificence or loveliness of the scenery, for which another writer, – Augustus Earle, – himself an artist, – invokes "the pencils of a Salvator Rosa and a Claud Lorraine." It is more, we say, to our purpose to show that these mountains are composed

in great measure of primitive rock, and, there is every reason to suppose, contain useful minerals; that the timber is available for most purposes, and that the spars are used in the British navy as substitutes for those of Riga, with which they bear no mean comparison. These Alpine ranges give rise to a greater number of streams and waterfalls than appear to exist on the same extent of surface in any other country so near to the tropics, the consequence of which is a perennial vegetation on the most gigantic scale. It is obvious from the map that the basis, or rather the backbone, of the islands is a chain of mountains running the whole length, through the middle of the southern island, and continuing, in the same direction, through the northern island, to its south-eastern extremity. There are some great out-liers and some subordinate ranges of hills, – the beauty and value of which consist in their being covered with this immense timber, up to the verge of perpetual snow. Mount Egmont and one or two others are volcanos in an active state. Captain Cook speaks of two slight shocks of earthquake, when he visited those parts of the world; but none are included in the experience of other Europeans, that we are aware of, or in the known traditions of the inhabitants. Our geological information is at present very defective; consequently, in stating that the missionaries have discovered "iron stone in abundance, also quarries of granite, specimens of quartz, carbonate of lime, fine marbles, sulphuret of iron," &c., &c., we must leave such inferences to be drawn by scientific men, as result from the fact that there is a range of mountains, composed principally of granite, 800 miles long, and from ten to fifteen thousand feet high. The entrance into the Straits of Cook, with Mount Egmont in the horizon, is compared by voyagers to the Bay of Naples. The Bay of Islands is, however, the more favourite resort. The mountains are less elevated, the foliage more

variegated in hue, and the climate is described as genial and invigorating in the highest degree; this arises partly from the lower latitude, and partly from the great mountain-range not extending in that direction. It is to be hoped that coal will be found, – not for ordinary purposes, for which the boundless forests will answer, – but for the use of steam engines. Should not that be the case, the neighbouring shores of Australia will furnish it in unlimited quantity.

2. – RIVERS.

The rivers do not – in tact it is impossible, from the nature of the country, that they should – run to any great length or depth; but they are very numerous. Mr. Yate says, "the River Thames, the mouth of which lies about a hundred miles from the head of the Bay of Islands, is a splendid run of water, which from Aotea, or Barrier Islands, as far as Kopu, – a native fortification just within the narrows, – is navigable for vessels of 130 tons burden." The Knowsley river, laid down in recent charts, empties itself into Foveaux' Strait, and is said to be navigable for large ships.

The waterfalls, as affording mechanical power in all parts of the country, are very important. As specimens, we may refer to the falls of the Kerikeri. "The river rolls over a rock, whose perpendicular height is about ninety feet." "The Waianiwaniwa, a mountain stream, passes swiftly through a deep ravine, for nearly the space of a mile, when it joins another stream, and rolls peaceably on for a few hundred yards; the united streams then fall over another rock about thirty feet high, and then, rushing on to the Kerikeri settlement, the river again falls ten feet, and then mingles with the ocean." "The Wairoa, another stream, though not so considerable, falls at least sixty feet;" – the Hararu, though not a perpendicular

fall, is a greater current of water than the preceding; it is rather a succession of rapids, which is the case with the Hokianga and a great many others. All these are in the northern island, and are described by Mr Yate. Captain Cook speaks of "very fine fresh water streams emptying themselves into the bays at the southern extremity of the southern islands, particularly at Dusky Bay." The mountain torrents, which are perpetually supplied by the melted snow, and the waterfalls, are in the midst of the forests to which we have alluded. The mouths of these rivers generally form excellent harbours.

3. – HARBOURS.

There are other harbours formed by small islands, &c., and it will be apparent, from an inspection of Cook's chart, in which soundings are given, that, for the size of it, no country possesses finer harbours, in greater number, or better situated. "They are now generally known from the vast number of whaling and other vessels which visit all parts of the coast for timber and flax, and for supplies of fresh provisions." Commencing to the northward, the harbour of Wangaroa, lying twenty-five miles to the north-east of the Bay of Islands, is beautiful, romantic, and capacious, – capable of containing the largest fleet, and of obtaining good anchorage, in from five to eleven fathoms, completely sheltered from the sea and all winds." "The Bay of Islands – properly so called from the number of islands with which it is studded – is a remarkably fine and capacious harbour, affording security for an almost unlimited number of vessels, in all weathers, and at all seasons of the year. The value of this harbour is enhanced, from the perfect ease and safety with which vessels are able to enter it. "Shouraki Bay, or the Frith of the Thames, affords excellent shelter and anchorage, and is naviga-

ble for a considerable distance; but we have not very accurate information as to the particular anchorages, or as to the navigation of the river; but we are assured by Mr Yate, on the authority of nautical men, "that it is both safe and commodious." The "Bay of Plenty" (of the charts) may be considered an immense roadstead, affording anchorage, to a great extent, for the purpose of shipping produce, – having also the advantage of several bays and harbours, which afford shelter to small vessels. Proceeding to the south, Poverty Bay – the first place where Cook landed, accompanied by Banks and Solander, on the evening of Sunday, October 8, 1769, a day for ever memorable in the history of these islands – is considered by that great navigator to be a safe anchorage. Hawkes' Bay is capacious, and affords shelter from the prevalent winds. Port Nicholson, at the southern extremity of the northern island, in Cook's Strait, is little inferior to the Bay of Islands. The harbour and bays on the western side of the south island are numerous; but, owing to the prevalence of the westerly winds, have not been much frequented, except that of Hokianga, which, on account of its bar, is only accessible to vessels of light burden, but from its contiguity to the lake Maupero, abounding in fish, to the Bay of Islands, and to the harbour of Wangaroa, has already become important.

Amongst the numerous harbours in Cook's Strait, on the southern island, Queen Charlotte's Sound, according to our present information, is that which holds out the greatest advantages; a proof of which we have in the frequent returns to it of a discoverer whose judgment, in the selection of harbours, and in the capabilities of countries, stands pre-eminent. There is also to be found good and safe anchorage in Cloudy and Admiralty Bays. With respect to the south-east side of the south island little is positively Known. Cook describes the appearance of a fine har-

bour on a part of the coast which he calls "Lookers-on," and about sixty miles south-west Cape Campbell. An excellent harbour, Akaroa, is laid down in Banks' Peninsula, 100 miles farther to the southward, in the neighbourhood of a fertile country; the peninsula being separated from the main by a very narrow isthmus. Port Otago, in the vicinity of Cape Saunders, also appears a good harbour, but has a bar. Little is known of the estuary of the Knowsley river, which, by accounts, forms lagoons, which are said to be navigable. After rounding West Cape we find an anchorage, frequented by Captain Cook called Dusky Bay, protected by Resolution Island; and described by that discoverer as secure and convenient, with a good supply of water, and the land in its neighbourhood fertile. From Dusky Bay to Cape Farewell, we have no information of importance to be relied upom; great part of the coast remaining still unex-

4. – CLIMATE AND SOIL.

"The climate of New Zealand is decidedly temperate, neither exposed to scorching heats in summer nor to blasting frosts in winter; though the summer is warm and the winter cold. It is no doubt salubrious and congenial to European constitutions. North of the Thames snows are unknown, and frosts are off the ground by nine o'clock in the morning." "The spring and autumn are delightfully temperate, but subject to showers from the W. S. W. Indeed, however fine the summer may be, we are frequently visited by refreshing rains, which give a peculiar richness to the vegetation." So far Mr Yate. Augustus Earle says, "Although we were situated in the same latitude as Sydney, we found the climate of New Zealand infinitely superior. Moderate heats and beautifully clear skies succeeded each other every day. We were

quite free from those oppressive feverish heats which invariably prevail in the middle of the day at Sydney, and from those hot pestilential winds which are the terror of the inhabitants of New South Wales; nor were we subject to those long droughts, which are often the ruin of the Australian farmer. The temperature here was neither too hot nor too cold, neither too wet nor too dry." Mr. Cruise, in his "Ten Months' Residence in New Zealand," which period included the whole of the winter season, but neither of the two finest months in the year, namely, January and February, corresponding to July and August with us, and who kept a record of the indications of the thermometer, informs us that the lowest degree of heat during his residence in the islands, (though he does not inform us at what hour of the day the observations were made,) was 40°, and that only on three days-the highest was 78°; another writer informs us that the annual range is from 40° to 80°. Captain Cook says, that at Queen Charlotte's Sound "the agreeable temperature of the climate contributes, no doubt, to the uncommon strength of the vegetation; – in February – the height of summer – the thermometer did not rise higher than 68°, in June, corresponding to our December, it never sunk below 48°, and the trees at that time retained their verdure as if in the summer season; so that I believe their foliage is never shed, till pushed off by the succeeding leaves in spring." "The quality of this soil," he adds, "is best indicated by the luxuriant growth of its productions; – superior to any thing that imagination can conceive, and affording an august prospect." The best evidence is afforded in the vigour and plenitude of all animal and vegetable life. All the productions of the south of Europe flourish; and, even in the extreme south, nearest to the pole, at Dusky Bay, Captain Cook observed that various roots and herbs which he had planted there, in a former voyage,

were still thriving and propagating themselves, although they would certainly have perished, if they had been exposed in a similar way in England. At Dusky Bay the climate is so mild, that "a great number of aromatic trees and shrubs, mostly of the myrtle kind, were found growing down to the water's edge." Now, it is well known that the myrtle grows only in a very few, and never thrives in any places in the south of England. The whole of the evidence goes to prove that the coldest parts in New Zealand are as mild as Devonshire. The latitude of Queen Charlotte's Sound is about the same as that of Oporto, Madrid, Naples, and Constantinople; but as comparisons between places on opposite sides of the equator are often fallacious, we think it better to rely upon experience, which we have already quoted. Mr. Yate says, that "vegetation is scarcely, if ever, suspended," and that "most of the trees are evergreen. The native grasses flourish throughout the year." In speaking of the climate, we should have remarked that there are no diseases peculiar to the country; in fact, none of any importance but such as have been introduced by the Europeans. Cook says, "as there is no source of disease cither critical or chronic, but intemperance and inactivity, these people enjoy perfect and uninterrupted health, – we never saw a single person among them who appeared to have any bodily complaint." Their wounds healed with an astonishing facility; and "a further proof that human nature is here untainted with disease, is the great number of old men that we saw, many of whom, by the loss of their hair and teeth, appeared to be very ancient, yet none of them were decrepit; and, though not equal to the young in muscular strength, were not a whit behind them in cheerfulness and vivacity. Compare this with what Mr. Yate says of them, when half a century of European intercourse had done its usual work upon them: "There are

comparatively but few old people in New Zealand; scarcely any who have much exceeded fifty years of age, – the population in the neighbourhood of the Bay of Islands has evidently appeared to be on the decline."

The soil is spoken of by all the writers in the most favourable terms, from Captain Cook downwards. After describing the fertility of many particular spots, he sums up his account, by saying that "the hills and mountains are covered with wood, and every valley has a rivulet of water; the soil in these valleys, and in the plains, of which there are many that are not overgrown with wood, is in general light but fertile; and, in the opinion of Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander, as well as of every other gentleman on board, every kind of European grain, plant, and fruit, would flourish here in the utmost luxuriance; from the vegetables that we found here, there is reason to conclude that the winters are milder than those in England, and we found the summer not hotter, though it was more equally warm; so that if this country should be settled by people from Europe, they would, with a little industry, be very soon supplied not only with the necessaries but the luxuries of life in great abundance."

Mr. Yate says, "we have here almost every variety of soil. Large tracts of good land, available for the cultivation of wheat, barley, maze, beans, pease, &c., with extensive valleys of rich alluvial soil, deposited from the hills and mountains, and covered with the richest vegetation, which it supports summer and winter. We have also a deep, rank, vegetable mould, with a stiff marly subsoil, capable of being slaked or pulverised with the ashes of the fern. All English grasses flourish well, but the white clover never seeds; and, where the fern has been destroyed, a strong native grass, something of the nature of the canary grass, grows in its place, and effectually prevents the fern from springing up again. Every diversity of Euro-

pean fruit and vegetable flourishes in New Zealand." Mr. Yate then enumerates all the most important productions of Europe which are raised in New Zealand, and adds, "where the rich alluvial valleys are cultivated, the labourer receives an ample harvest as the reward of his labour." Mr. Nicholas says "the lands in this country, which are at present overrun with fern, might be brought to produce grasses of every description; were the experiment tried, I doubt not but it would prove invariably successful, and that the islands in general would afford as fine pasturage for sheep and cattle as any part of the known world." The experiment has been successfully tried by the missionaries. Augustus Earle says, "in whatever direction I travelled, the soil appeared to be fat and rich, and also well watered. From every part of it which the natives have cultivated the produce has been immense. Here, where the finest samples of the human race are to be found, the largest and finest timber grows, and every vegetable yet planted thrives, the introduction of European grasses, fruits, &c., is a desideratum. Were this done, in a very short time farms would be sought after here more eagerly than they now are in New South Wales. All the fruits and plants introduced by the missionaries have succeeded wonderfully. Peaches and water-melons were now in full season; the natives brought baskets full of them to my door every day, which they exchanged with us for the merest trifles, such as a fish-hook or a button. Indian corn was very abundant, but the natives had no means of grinding it." Mr. Earle saw a hundred head of fat cattle at a missionary station, and was surprised to find, "that, although they never tasted anything but fern, they gave as good milk, and were in as healthy a condition, as when they grazed on the rich grasses of Lincolnshire." Mr. Yate says, in another place, "the forest land is peculiarly rich; indeed, were it not so, it would be utterly impossible

for it to support the immense vegetation constantly going on. In spring and summer, and autumn and winter, there is no visible change in the appearance of the woods; they are as beautiful in the depth of winter as in the height of summer; leaves no sooner fall to the ground than others directly assume their station; no branch withers from its trunk, but another, and a more vigorous one puts out in its stead. The fairest and most tender shrubs shrink not from the southern blast, nor faint beneath the rays of the sun, when he rides highest in the heavens." Though the greater part of the country was covered with timber, Captain Cook observed an extensive tract of open country, "more like our high downs in England," between Hawkes' Bay and Queen Charlotte,s Sound.

It maybe briefly mentioned here, that "the only animals indigenous to the country are the field-rat and a harmless lizard; there are no snakes, nor any venomous creatures of any description, large or small."

1. – NATURAL PRODUCTIONS.

The two most important of these are timber and flax. Of the former it would be impossible to enumerate one-twentieth part of the varieties. They are found to be of first-rate quality, and our own ships of the line are now furnished with spars procured from New Zealand. We will give as an example the Courie. Mr. Yate says, "It grows in some of the forests from eighty-five to ninety-five feet high, without a branch. The trunk of the tree is of immense girth, being sometimes twelve feet in diameter; and, when the bark and sap are removed, the circumference of the solid heart of the log is thirty-three feet, being a diameter of eleven feet. It will scarcely be believed by an English timber-merchant, that I have measured a courie tree whose circumference was forty feet eleven inches, perfectly sound

throughout, the gum oozing out of it, where the bark was wounded, as though it were a plant of only a few years' growth. Its top is crowned with the most splendid foliage, and its immense height raises its head above the other trees of the forest. The wood is very light in its colour, is beautifully grained, planes up smooth, and otherwise works well. It has many valuable properties which we cannot now enumerate. There is also the kohukohe, a fine, handsome tree, with a trunk free of branches to the height of forty feet, and a diameter of three feet, producing a fine-grained, red wood, closer than the cedar, and rather heavier than that wood. Its bark is clear, it splits freely, and will no doubt answer for all common household furniture." There is a great number more, described in a similar way, by Mr. Yate and others; but we shall only mention one more – the rata. "This is a fine and useful tree, producing a heavy, close-grained, durable, red wood, capable of being turned to almost any purpose of household work, and valuable to the ship-builder, as he may find its branches curved to his hand, and requiring but little of the labour of the axe to form it to his purpose. It is found in perfection, of all sizes and lengths, from twenty to seventy feet high, and from eighteen inches to seven feet in diameter." There is a kind of spruce-tree, of which Captain Cook made beer; also a tea-tree (as it is called) which forms a substitute for China-tea; wild celery, a great variety of herbs, and superb shrubs and flowers at present unknown in Europe. As there are many deciduous trees, and gigantic ferns of a vivid green colour, the forests have not the brown and monotonous hue complained of in Australia. Mr. Savage informs us, that "they have two crops of potatoes in the year," and that he "has heard that they never fail from accidental causes."

Flax is another staple of the country; it grows wild in all parts, and appears to be indigenous and inex-

haustible. It is of a good quality, and never fails in the European market, except from the improper manner in which it is dressed by the natives, who have no machinery, and satisfy themselves with separating the fibres of the vegetable, and rolling them upon their thigh with the hands. If proper machinery were introduced, there can be little doubt that persons living upon the spot, and superintending their own establishments, would produce a more marketable commodity. It is now introduced into the British navy, and experience has proved it to be very serviceable. "The banks of the Thames are remarkably fertile; thousands of acres of the finest flax flourish there undisturbed." But this important article of commerce is now becoming so well known, even in England, that it is unnecessary to quote more authorities in its favour. Mr. Yate says, "the flax-trade, on the present system, cannot last long. The natives wants are supplied, and idleness will prevail over their desire for luxury. Could the flax be properly prepared, it would be an almost incalculable source of riches to those engaged in it." The same water-power applicable to saw-mills would propel the machinery necessary for dressing and spinning the flax.

From the accounts given by Captain Cook, and reiterated by all subsequent writers, every part of the coast, and all the inland waters, abound with excellent fish. "The ship," says Cook, "seldom anchored in any station, or with a light gale past any place, that did not afford us enough, with hook and line, to serve the whole ship's company, especially to the southward. Where we lay at anchor, the boats, with hook and line, near the rocks, could take fish in any quantity, and the seine seldom failed of producing a still more ample supply; so that, both times when we anchored in Cook's Strait, every mess in the ship, that was not careless and improvident, salted as much as lasted many weeks after they went to sea.

Of this article the variety was equal to the plenty." He then goes on to enumerate mackerel, lobsters, oysters, &c., including nearly all the most delicate fish of Europe, and a great many which he had never seen or heard of before. The lakes produce conger eels, of an enormous size and excellent flavour, which the natives dry and preserve in an ingenious manner. Lastly, the Bay of Islands is the head-quarters of the whale fishery in the South Sea. The whales resort to the coast of New Zealand for the purpose of calving, and are captured in great numbers. Mr. Nicholas speaks in terms of admiration of the vast quantity and endless variety of fish, swarming in the waters of New Zealand. New Zealand can boast of a great variety of birds, – pigeons of great size and fine flavour, wild ducks, parrots, parroquets, &c., &c. The singing birds are much admired. "Nothing," says Mr. Yate, "can possibly exceed the exquisiteness of a morning concert, as performed in the ample woods of these islands. One of the greatest treats I enjoy is to be awakened in my tent by the loud and lovely voices of the only musicians I have met with since I left the lark and the nightingale behind us in England. Their song is too sweet to be of long continuance; at the first dawn of day it commences, and gradually heightens as the light increases: but no sooner does the sun appear, gilding the mountains with his beams, than the performers, one after another, retire, and all the lovely sounds die away into profound silence." Captain Cook says, "The ship lay at the distance of somewhat less than a quarter of a mile from the shore (in Queen Charlotte's Sound,) and in the morning we were awakened by the singing of the birds; the number was incredible, and they seemed to strain their throats in emulation of each other. This wild melody was infinitely superior to any that we had ever heard of the same kind; it seemed to be like small bells most exquisitely tuned, and perhaps the

distance, and the water between, might be no small advantage to the sound. Upon inquiry we found that the birds here always began to sing about two hours after midnight, and continuing their music till sunrise, were, like our nightingales, silent the rest of the day." The mocking-bird is very extraordinary in its powers of imitation, – "there is not a note of any bird of the woods but what it exactly imitates, and when confined in a cage, it learns, with great ease and correctness, to speak long sentences. It imitates dogs, cats, turkeys, geese, and in fact every sound which is repeated a few times in its hearing." "The organ bird," says Mr Nicholas, "is, I believe, peculiar to New Zealand. The notes of the nightingale, however exquisite, are, in my opinion, much inferior to the song of this bird, and I never thought before that either the grove or forest could boast of such a vocal treasure."

We have now quoted all that we think necessary to give a fair idea of the natural productions of New Zealand. We proceed to the more important subject of the

2. – NATIVE INHABITANTS.

The number of the inhabitants is very small, quite insignificant in proportion to the immense fertile territory they possess. This may arise in some degree from their want of animals, whether wild or domesticated. Before the arrival of Europeans among them, they had no species of animal, except a small, harmless, and beautiful lizard, which they regard with a superstitious horror. The rat and the dog, which some consider indigenous, the natives themselves affirm to have been introduced within the memory of man. It is in this way that Captain Cook accounted for the undoubted prevalence of cannibalism among them. He supposed that it was a dreadful manifestation of one of the physical instincts of man, – and it

proceeded from a natural and irresistible desire to taste animal food. It may be so; but, if our limits permitted, we should endeavour to show that it has been a propensity characteristic of that great race of men, scattered over the Indian Archipelago, Madagascar, the South Sea Islands, and probably the American continent, to which the New Zealanders belong, and of which they present the noblest type. Their ignorance of agriculture and of the use of metals is another check to population. There is little regular culture undertaken by the aborigines, except those few in the vicinity of the missionary settlements, and of the harbours frequented by Europeans. The quantity of land brought under cultivation is a mere nothing, in comparison with the boundless primeval forests, whose magnificent timber has been thriving undisturbed, and enriching the soil with its decomposed vegetable matter, for thousands of years, and with those undulating downs and savannahs, where the flax grows wild on millions of acres, – a fact most important with a view to colonization. We have ascertained from a careful perusal of all that has been written on the subject, and from inquiry among those that have visited the country, that in the southern island there is no agriculture or appropriation of lands to interfere with colonization, and that in the northern island, where the missionaries are, the quantity cannot amount to more than a very few thousand acres. The inhabitants live almost entirely upon fish, birds, roots, and the uncultivated productions of the earth. The fisheries alone, if properly conducted, would support five times the actual population. The aborigines are in fact no charge upon the soil.

Their superstition is very fatal to the increase of numbers, – for example, no sick person is allowed to remain within their cabins. The accouchement of the most delicate females must take place out of doors, – a patient seized with inflammation of the lungs,

rheumatism, or any other disease, remains in the open air, day and night, even in the rainy season. No wonder then that their numbers are kept down by disease. Augustus Earle says, "It seems unaccountable that the natives of an atmosphere so dry as this is, in a country in which there is no marshy bogs, and where, though there is an abundance of water, it is generally seen in clear and sparkling rills rushing down from the mountains into the rivers, should be subject to so fatal a disease as consumption. The only cause to which I can attribute such an affliction, is their indifference to lying out all night, exposed to every change of weather, – to cold and rain – which, in young and tender constitutions, must produce the most pernicious consequences. If some few are rendered hardy and robust by this process, many no doubt are killed by it. I endeavoured to impress on the minds of all my female friends the great danger of thus exposing themselves to cold; but they only laughed at my precautions, and said, 'If Atua (God) wished it, so it must be; they could not strive with the Great Spirit.'"

Polygamy among the chieftains tends to diminish the population, – to this we may add suicide, which is often practised by females under the influence of jealousy, and is considered the duty of the head wife when the husband dies. Lastly, we must adduce the spirit of revenge incident to all savage nations, and the incessant wars in which they are continually involved by their minute subdivisions into small tribes, without any supreme government, law, or bond of federation. Labour and skill are combined, in a very small degree, with themselves and with each other; and the consequence is, that the population of all the islands does not, at the most extravagant estimate, exceed half a million. The race of people bears no affinity to that of the neighbouring continent of Australia, which appears to be identical with the oriental

or Papuan negro. The New Zealander is physically so superior to the Australian, that he regards him with the same contempt that most Europeans do the negro. Augustus Earle says, "the natives of Australia seem of the lowest grade, the last link in the great chain of existence which unites man with the monkey. Their limbs are long, thin and flat, with large bony knees and elbows, a projecting forehead and pot-belly. The mind, too, seems adapted to this mean configuration; they have neither energy, enterprise, nor industry, and their curiosity can scarcely be excited. A few exceptions may be met with, these are their general characteristics; – while the natives of the latter island are 'cast in beauty's perfect mould.' The children are so fine and powerfully made, that each might serve as a model for an 'infant Hercules;' nothing can exceed the graceful and athletic form of the men, or the rounded limbs of their young women. These possess eyes beautiful and eloquent, and a profusion of long, silky, curling hair; while the intellect of both sexes seems of a superior order. All appear eager for improvement, full of energy, and indefatigably industrious." Mr Nicholson says, in describing a chieftain, "there was an easy dignity in the manners of this man, and I could not behold without admiration the graceful elegance of his deportment, and the appropriate accordance of his action. Holding the pattoo pattoo in his hand, he walked up and down along the margin of the river with a firm and manly step, arrayed in a plain mat, which, being tied over his right shoulder, descended, with a kind of Roman negligence, down to his ancles, and, to the mind of a classical beholder, might well represent the toga, while his towering stature and perfect symmetry gave even more than Roman dignity to the illusion." In another place he says, "Duaterra's two sisters were the most remarkable among these, one of whom was distinguished for her uncommon beauty, and the

other for the facetious vivacity of her manners. The former appeared about seventeen, and would have been deemed, even in England, where there are so many rivals for the palm of beauty, a candidate of the strongest pretensions. Her regular features, soft and prepossessing, displayed an engaging delicacy, the effect of which was heightened by the mild lustre of her eye; and her cheek, lightly tinged with the roseate hue of health, needed not the extraneous embellishment of paint, to which some of our finest belles are so fond of resorting. In her figure she was slender and graceful, while the artless simplicity of her manners gave additional interest to her charms." 2

Lieutenant Breton says, "they are a fine race of people, being well formed, athletic, and active." He then gives some extraordinary instances of their activity and strength while employed as sailors on board of English vessels. Mr Savage says, "The natives are of a very superior order, both in point of personal appearance and intellectual endowments. The men are usually from five feet eight inches to six feet in height, well-proportioned, and exhibit evident marks of great strength. The colour of the natives, taken as a mean, resembles that of an European gipsy; but there is a considerable difference in the shades, varying between a dark chestnut and the light agreeable tinge of an English brunette."

But it is needless to accumulate evidence, the only value of which is to prove that you have a race of aborigines calculated, by intermarriage with Europeans, to form the basis of a great nation; there is not, as there is in the United States between the American and the negro, any physical repugnance to the complete amalgamation of all classes of settlers, should a colony be founded there, with the native population, as fast as they become civilized, for which

they manifest an extraordinary aptitude and desire. One point in their character is very satisfactory, – an invincible dislike to ardent spirits, and a general habit of temperance and sobriety. Captain Cook bears testimony to their modesty, by which he says they are distinguished from all other inhabitants of the South Seas. They are as ardent in friendship and love as they are cruel in their jealousy, hatred, and revenge. There is a natural politeness and grandeur in their deportment, a yearning after poetry, music, and the fine arts, a wit and eloquence, that remind us, in reading all the accounts of them, and in conversing with those who have resided among them, of the Greeks of Homer. Their language is rich and sonorous, abounding in metaphysical distinctions, and they uphold its purity most tenaciously, although they had no knowledge of writing until the missionaries reduced their dialect to a grammatical form. It is radically the same with that of Tahiti, and of the kindred nations. They have an abundance of poetry, of a lyrical kind, of which we have seen many specimens, in a metre which seems regulated by a regard to quantity, as in Greek and Latin. They are passionately fond of music. Mr. Nicholas speaks of "a plaintive and melodious air, which seemed not unlike some of our sacred music, in many of its turns, as it forcibly reminded me of the chaunting in our cathedrals." They excel in carving, of which their war canoes, carrying 100 men, are specimens – they display their natural talents also in their pursuit of astronomy. Mr. Nicholas assures us that "they remain awake during the greater part of the night in the summer season, watching the motions of the heavens, and making inquiries concerning the time when such a star will appear. They have given names to each of them, and divided them into constellations, and have, likewise, connected with them some curious traditions, which they hold in superstitious veneration. If the star they look for

does not appear at the time it is expected to be seen, they become extremely solicitous about the cause of its absence, and immediately relate the traditions which they have received from the priests concerning it." Baron Hugel, a distinguished botanist, who visited the island, affirms, as do the missionaries, that there is not, in the northern island at least, a single tree, vegetable, or even weed, a fish, or a bird, for which the natives have not a name; and that those names are universally known. Baron Hugel was at first incredulous about this; he thought that, with a ready wit, they invented names; but, on questioning other individuals in distant places, he found them always to agree.

The strength of their understanding is shown in nothing more than in their total freedom from idolatry. Mr. Yate, the Church missionary, bears the most decisive testimony to this, and assures us that they have many just and admirable notions of God, quite conformable to the Scriptures. They call him Atua, and believe that he is a spirit infinite and eternal, who governs the world by his providence. They believe in the existence of the soul, and in its immortality, and upon the whole there has never been found a people who, whether from traditions or by force of reasoning, have made a nearer approach to the Christian religion. They have interesting traditions concerning the Creation and the Deluge. For example, they say that "the first woman was formed of one of the ribs of a man, and they call her name Heevee; an extraordinary coincidence. They say also that the first man was created by three gods, of whom Toopoonah, or the grandfather, was the greatest. They have many traditions about the flood, and the escape of one family only, in a canoe. The dove, likewise, is represented by them as instrumental in raising New Zealand from the bottom of the sea. What is very singular, they baptize their children on the eighth day, when they name them. This is done by the priest,

who, as they have no idolatry, is more of a teacher than a priest. They believe also in the existence of the devil, whom they call Wiro, and to whom they give, as Mr. Yate informs us, the same attributes as are assigned in the Scriptures to the enemy of mankind.

With this foundation to begin upon, it is not wonderful that the missionaries have met with great success. The recent publications of the Church Missionary Society, attested by many respectable eyewitnesses, have satisfied us that the missionaries have accomplished a great revolution in New Zealand, and have prepared the way for an enlightened Christian colony that would protect them, sympathize with them, and co-operate with them in their labours. These indefatigable men have established many Christian churches, have taught their converts agriculture and the mechanical arts, and have organized schools for both sexes, in which several thousands have been taught to read, and have acquired the elements of European knowledge. Already they have shown their capacity for improvement, not only in examining and adopting a new religion, but likewise in carrying their freedom of inquiry so far as occasionally to dispute the interpretation of the Scriptures given by the missionaries, who seem alarmed at the progress of a species of non-conformity. We mention these things, not with a view to theological inquiry, but in order to prove the capacity of the New Zealanders, as well as their desire for improvement. Their eagerness. to be taught anything and everything, is attested by every writer, and by all the voyagers that have held intercourse with them. Many of them visit Sydney, and even London, in the South Sea whalers. Dr. Lang assures us, that "the best helmsman, on board a vessel by which he once returned to England, was Toki, a New Zealander." "Nothing," says Dr. Lang, "could divert his attention from the compass, or the sails, and the sea; and whenever I saw him at the

helm, especially in tempestuous weather at night, I could not help regarding it as a most interesting and a most hopeful circumstance in the history of man, that a British vessel of 400 tons, containing a valuable cargo and many souls of Europeans, should be steered across the boundless Pacific, in the midst of storm and darkness, by a poor New Zealander, whose fathers had, from time immemorial, been eaters of men."

"The New Zealanders," says Mr. Yate, "are by no means suspicious of foreigners. It is true they dislike the French, and have so ever since the destruction of Captain Marion, in the Bay of Islands; but the English and Americans, notwithstanding the many injuries they have inflicted on the natives, are always cordially welcomed, and in most instances sought after and encouraged. I have known a thousand Europeans and Americans in the Bay of Islands at one time; it was the case in March, 1834," (the same fact we have stated already on the authority of another eye-witness, Augustus Earle,) "yet no jealousy was expressed by the natives that, from their numbers, they intended to take possession of the island, or that they wished to do so. I believe a severe struggle would ensue before they would allow any force to take possession of their soil, or of any portion of it, without what they deemed an equivalent.

Large purchases of land have been made by the missionaries, at various times, and have been held sacred by the natives. The price appears to have been a few axes, or other implements of industry, articles of dress, &c. Mr Cruise describes a chieftain as offering to sell a large and fertile island for a single hatchet. Mr. Nicholas informs us that he was present when the hereditary chieftain of Motooroa, a large and fertile island, offered to sell it for two muskets. No doubt he probably calculated on retaining the muskets and expelling the intruders from his land;

but it is quite certain that they are willing to dispose of their land, uncultivated and uninclosed land, at a price which, to us, would be nominal. At the same time we must always religiously, that is, justly and generously, respect the primary and inalienable right of the aborigines to a subsistence out of the soil on which they were born. No plan of colonization ought to be encouraged, or even tolerated, that does not begin with the principle of upholding the rights and improving the conditions of the aborigines.

"We spoke frequently," says Mr. A. Earle, "to our friend George, as well as to several others of their powerful chieftains, respecting the erection of a small fort, with a British garrison, and of permanently hoisting the English flag. They always expressed the utmost delight at the idea; and from all I have seen of them I feel convinced it would prove a most politic measure. George (who had visited Port Jackson) said, "This country is finer than Port Jackson; yet the English go and settle there. Our people are much better than the black natives of New South Wales; and yet you English live amongst them in preference to us." This is curious and important. The most powerful chieftains of New Zealand consider it a personal insult that we settle among the Australian negroes rather than amongst them. They are offended that we do not colonise their country; and with good reason, for they see the substantial benefits that would accrue to them from the establishment of our laws, and the rest of our civilization, and that it is no longer a question whether Englishmen shall come into their country, but whether they shall do so, under the sanction and control of a proper authority, acting with strict impartiality between both parties, or whether they shall come with gunpowder, brandy, and debauchery, to corrupt their wives and daughters, plunder their potatoe grounds, and set all the neighbouring tribes at variance; whilst the unhappy natives,

if impelled by the irregular impulses of their nature to seek for justice in the form of revenge, are held up to the execration of mankind as murderers, and as proper objects of retaliation. It needs no evidence to convince us that, where a thousand English sailors can be ashore, among such a people as we have described, without laws, government, or police, or the force of English public opinion to control them, scenes of disorder and licentiousness will occur, that may be expected sooner or later to end in sanguinary affrays between them and the natives. The missionaries appear to have brought down upon them the hostility of the lawless settlers by their very proper discountenance of such proceedings. Lieutenant Breton, who does not profess to be actuated by any motives of a religious kind, has vented an indignation honourable to his feelings in powerful language. After alluding to the sailors, and to the runaway convicts who flock thither in great numbers, as well as men who have deserted from vessels, and are little, if at all better than the convicts, he says, "it may easily be conceived how much immorality must be imbibed from a set of convicted felons, who are far greater savages than the islanders themselves, although the last are pagans and cannibals." He then goes on to relate acts of loathsome barbarity perpetrated on females in his own presence. We think it justice to the American character to add, that a captain in that service having witnessed one of these acts of cruelty, very properly took the law into his own hands, and inflicted upon our countryman a sound flogging. A British agent was sometime ago appointed to reside at the Bay of Islands; but as he has no kind of authority, no physical means of enforcing his opinion, whatever it may be, the inefficiency of that office may be seen, without any evidence being adduced, by estimating the probable power of mere official advice upon the population of a seaport town in England.

Many vessels abstain from touching at New Zealand, even when desirous of so doing, from fear of being involved in some scandalous affair. "Nothing," say all the authorities, "is wanting to make New Zealand one of the greatest countries in the world but a good government."

There is another evil among the natives which can only – but very easily – be removed by the influence of an enlightened government, and that is slavery. The people are divided into three classes – the Cookies, or slaves; the Rungateedas, or middle class; and the Areekees, i. e. the chieftains. The Rungateedas are bound to serve the Areekees only in war; but the Cookies are held in complete slavery by the combination of the other two orders. Of the prisoners taken in war all those who are not eaten are reduced to the condition of slaves. We are pleased to learn from the missionaries that there is no difficulty in redeeming these unfortunate beings, (who are treated with horrible cruelty,) by the payment of a mere trifle. The women are often ill-used; and, in a word, without any impeachment of their natural character, – notwithstanding their correct opinions and feelings on many points, – the natives of this country habitually perpetrate all the crimes, and suffer all the injuries, in turn, which would be expected to flow from the total absence of laws and a central government. In vain we charge them with atrocious crimes. What are Englishmen? If we were required to transfer to our pages, from the volumes before us, all the villanies perpetrated by English captains and others on the unfortunate New Zealanders, instead of a pamphlet we should produce a book larger, more appalling, and more disgraceful to the national character, than any single volume of the Newgate Calendar.

We have only to say further that all the labour in these islands is undoubtedly at the command of those Europeans who should establish in them just laws and

government, and be willing to treat the natives with liberality. The missionaries have demonstrated this; they have shown that the natives have an inherent curiosity and industry, which lead them to work under Europeans voluntarily for their own amusement and improvement. To show their great thirst for knowledge, we might quote the accounts of their thronging round the missionary mechanics with expressions of amazement and delight, when they saw the wonders of the anvil, and the forge, the saw, the lever, and the axe, and thus explained the idolatry with which the ancients commemorated the authors of those now common, but once novel, and always admirable inventions. One chieftain burst into tears on being introduced to a rope-walk at Sydney, and exclaimed, in the bitterness of his regret, "New Zealand, no good!" Another worked his passage to England purely from a desire to carry back knowledge to his countrymen; but the savages in the English Thames never once permitted him to go ashore. These were not irreclaimable minds in which such noble sentiments existed.

At the suggestion of the missionaries, roads have been formed, many substantial wooden bridges have been erected over broad rivers, ships of 300 tons burden have been built, and all with the superintendence of only two or three Englishmen. The numerous and extensive buildings of four or five missionary settlements have been completed, and the agriculture of several extensive farms, as well as the operations of several flax-dressing manufactories, rope-walks, and other establishments, are now carried on by means of the voluntary hired labour of the New Zealanders.

2 See Appendix, No. V.

APPENDIX.

d 2

APPENDIX.

No. I.3

Reverting now to the subject of forming an European colony in the fine and fertile country of New Zealand, I shall proceed to submit those additional remarks with respect to it which the restricted order of the narrative precluded me from offering in the first instance. * * * It cannot be supposed that a colony of Englishmen (for such I should wish them to be) would proceed to New Zealand without the strongest inducements; yet, from what has been already made known of that country through the medium of the Church Missionary Society, a considerable number of persons in England are become desirous of going out there as settlers. Without hazarding any opinion inconsiderately, I have no doubt but an English colony in New Zealand might soon become flourishing and happy; the space being so ample for their industry, the soil so fertile, the climate so salubrious, they would have every natural advantage in their favour. And I shall now state some particulars in detail, which certainly hold out a rational encouragement.

The whole of the northern part of New Zealand, and much of the southern likewise, are admirably adapted for the growth of every kind of grain, as also of various other productions; and the vine, the olive, the orange, the citron, with all the choicest fruits of the countries in the south of Europe, might be produced here in the greatest abundance by proper cultivation. In fact, there is scarcely any production that can stimulate man to exertion by rewarding his industry, which this country, with moderate labour,

could not furnish, if we except those plants which require the heat of a tropical sun to bring them to perfection. The immense surplus of the native productions of the country, above what would be required for the use of the colonists, would be extremely valuable in a commercial point of view. The timber of its extensive forests finds at this time a quick sale in the market of Port Jackson, where it is cut up into scantling, and preferred to the timber of that place, which, from its hardness, is difficult to be worked, and, from the quantity of its gum-veins, occasions a considerable waste. When a free communication is opened with the Spanish colonies on the south-west coast of America, which, from the present posture of affairs in that part of the world, may be reasonably anticipated as an event very likely soon to take place, a fine field for speculation would present itself to the colonists of New Zealand, from which country timber has been already carried thither, and I believe with considerable advantage to those commanders of vessels who have taken it. Wood being scarce, in these colonies, is always sure to bear a high price; and the settler at New Zealand, receiving his payment in specie, would be enabled to purchase those European commodities which are necessary for the comforts of life, as well as for its more refined enjoyments. For the smaller timber which abounds here, a ready market is open at Calcutta, where the heavy native wood is not adapted for the yards and topmasts of vessels; and when I left Port Jackson, Mr. Marsden had it in contemplation to have always a supply of spars for the ships that came from India. Though the timber in the part of the country that we visited is not fit for the purposes of ship-building, which requires wood of considerable firmness and solidity to resist the destructive action of the worm, and the violence of the elements, yet on the Southern Island the timber is much stronger and of a closer grain. A vessel of one hundred and fifty tons burden is said to have been constructed some years back in Dusky Bay, but I have not been able to learn how far it answered the expectation of the builder. However, from what Captain Cook states respecting the timber in this quarter, I am disposed to believe that ships both durable and substantial might be built from it.

The fisheries of this country would be an invaluable source of wealth in themselves; and the vast quantities of fish which they would supply for exportation might be sure, I should think, of finding a market in the Spanish and Portuguese colonies. The two species of the whale, so very valuable, the one for its sperm or head matter, the other for its oil, are frequently met with in these seas, so much so, that New Zealand has been for many years accounted one of the best stations for procuring those prodigious animals. Should the government at home not deem it expedient to allow the colonists to avail themselves of this lucrative traffic, but confine it exclusively to the vessels fitted out from England, still it would be of advantage to the settlement, as those vessels

would put in upon their coasts for provisions, in preference to Port Jackson, where, from the heavy charges of the port-duties, and the almost general want of principle among the trading part of the inhabitants, the expenses to which commanders of ships are necessarily liable, become a serious drawback upon the profits of the voyage. The ursine seal, or sea-bear, and the sea lion, are found in congregated herds to the southward: and on Campbell and Macquarie Islands, which are situated at no great distance from the southern part of New Zealand, the valuable furs of these animals are found in great plenty, and are now made by the colonists of New South Wales a most profitable article of commerce either in England or in China, to which latter country they are frequently exported. The settlers at New Zealand, from the contiguity of their situation, could possess themselves of a great share of this trade, and consequently participate in the profits which are already derived from it.

That singular species of the flax-plant, which I have already described as peculiar to this country, is, from the strength and firmness of its fibre, the great abundance that each plant produces, the little trouble required in preparing it, and the facility with which it may be cultivated, another very considerable source of which the colonist might avail himself. From this plant, which I do not hesitate to pronounce the most valuable of its kind of any ever yet known, he would not only be enabled to supply himself with an excellent material for the fabrication of linen, canvass, and cordage, for every purpose, but would, when a regular intercourse was established with the mother-country, find it a most advantageous article of export, as the sale of it in England would be always certain and profitable.

When in the course of time the settlers would be enabled, from the augmented strength of their numbers, to search for new sources of wealth in the bowels of the earth, it is very probable that the long chain of hills which I have before adverted to as likely to contain metallic ores, may yield treasures far beyond what the most sanguine hopes of the miner could venture to anticipate. But without at all considering these treasures, which are only contingent, New Zealand possesses so many obvious resources which are defined and certain, as would render it one of the fittest places in the world for an industrious and enterprising colony.

It may be urged, perhaps, as an objection against forming any considerable settlement in this country, that the natives, being a brave and warlike race, would look with jealousy on the colonists, as threatening at some future period to destroy their liberty and independence, and would therefore take every opportunity to harass them in the progress of their acquisitions, by continued acts of hostility and depredation; but from what I have seen of the disposition of the New Zealanders, I do not believe that there would be any cause for apprehension in this respect. The security of the colony would entirely depend upon the settlers themselves;

for, by conducting themselves towards these people in a kind and conciliatory manner, they might easily secure their attachment and prevent their suspicions; but if, by adopting a contrary demeanour, they should have the imprudence to provoke their resentment, the very worst consequences might be expected to ensue.

As landed property is accurately defined in New Zealand, their being among the chiefs a mutual recognition of their respective territories, and an understanding that no encroachment is to be made on any without the general consent, it would be necessary to enter into a regular agreement with one of the Arekees for a certain portion of land; which, in the absence of a legal obligation, should be secured to the colonists by the superstition of the taboo, and the limits properly ascertained. In this purchase there would be no difficulty, as they might get a very extensive tract of ground ceded to them for a small number of axes and implements of agriculture, their natural wants rendering these articles much more precious in the estimation of the New Zealanders than specie is with us as a circulating medium. Their next measure should be to gain the confidence and friendship of the Arekee from whom the purchase was made, and also to enter into alliances with the chiefs in the vicinity of the settlement, who would feel a degree of pride in being admitted to a close intercourse with Europeans, and would readily co-operate with them in repelling any remote tribes, who might come for the purpose of rapacious aggression.

These chieftains might readily be prevailed upon to assist them with their people in the cultivation of their lands; and, for this purpose, houses should be built for them, rations regularly served out to them, and they should be treated with respect, and upon an equality with the white inhabitants; care being taken at the same time that the labour required from them should not be exacted with severity, as their present desultory mode of living could not be expected to be changed at once into a constant and regular habit of application.

The limits of this work will not allow me to go into a more enlarged detail, on a subject which I would again hope may attract the attention of the government, at a time when so many valuable members of society are pining all over the nation in extreme indigence. By the colonizing of New Zealand, the cause of humanity would be served in a two-fold manner; provision would be made for a distressed class of enlightened mortals, and the civilization of a fine race, who are now sunk in utter ignorance, would by such an event be rapidly accelerated.

No. II.

NEW ZEALAND LAND COMPANY.

Capital, £250,000 in 25,000 Shares of £100 each; with power to extend the same, if necessary.

Deposit, £10 per Share.

Governor. – The EARL OF DURHAM.

Deputy-Governor – JOSEPH SOMES, Esq.

DIRECTORS.

Lord Petre.
Hon. Francis Baring, M.P.
John Ellerker Boulcott, Esq.
John William Buckle, Esq.
Russell Ellice, Esq.
James Brodie Gordon, Esq.
Thomas Allers Hankey, Esq.
William Hutt, Esq., M.P.
Stewart Marjoribanks, Esq.
John Pirie, Esq., Alderman.
Sir George Sinclair, Bart., M.P.
John Abel Smith, Esq., M.P.
William Thompson, Esq., Alder-man, M.P.
Sir Henry Webb, Bart.
Thomas Weeding, Esq.
Arthur Willis, Esq.
George Frederick Young, Esq.

Bankers – Messrs. Smith, Payne, and Smiths; and Messrs. Wright & Co.

Standing Counsel. – John Buckle, Esq.

Solicitors. – Messrs. Few, Hamilton, and Few.

Secretary. – John Ward, Esq.

OFFICE, NO. 1, ADAM STREET, ADELPHI.

THIS Company has been formed for the purpose of employing capital in the purchase and re-sale of lands in New Zealand, and the promotion of emigration to that country.

A description of these Islands as a field for British colonization, has been rendered unnecessary by the labours of the New Zealand Association of 1837, who collected and disseminated very ample information on the subject, (see page 3.) The sole aim of that Society was to induce the legislature to apply to New Zealand the peculiar system of Colonization which has proved so eminently successful in South Australia, and to make provision for guarding the native inhabitants from the evils to which they have hitherto been exposed by their intercourse with Europeans of every class. Her Majesty's Government, however, objected to all legislation for these ends, except on one condition, to which the Society could not assent. The proposed condition was, that the Society, which had excluded from its objects all speculation for private gain, should become a joint-stock company and engage in undertakings with a view to profit. This condition was declined, as being at variance

with the declared character of that Society; and the result has been the formation of the present Company, in a form consistent with the condition thus required by Her Majesty's Government.

The purchase and improvement of waste lands in New Zealand has been already carried on to a great extent, and with much advantage by missionaries and others, who have settled in the country, as well as by persons residing in the adjacent Australian Colonies; and such an operation upon an enlarged scale is the proposed object of the New Zealand Land Company.

The attention and business of the Company will be confined to the purchase of tracts of land, – the promotion of emigration to those tracts directly from the United Kingdom, – the laying out of settlements and towns in the most favourable situations, – and the gradual re-sale of such lands according to the value bestowed upon them by emigration and settlement. It is also proposed that, to facilitate the transmission of capital between England and New Zealand, the Company shall act as agents, for that purpose only.

Such an undertaking affords peculiar advantages to the employers of a large combined capital, and is further suitable to a Company, inasmuch as it can neither impede individual enterprise, nor is liable to the competition of individuals, and is capable of being managed at little expense for agency, and upon a system of fixed routine.

Very extensive tracts of most fertile land in situations highly favourable both for agricultural and commercial settlements, have been already purchased and secured for the purposes of this Company: and an expedition has also been fitted out and despatched for surveying the coast of New Zealand, making purchases of lands in the most eligible spots, and preparing for the arrival of a large body of settlers, whom it is proposed to establish on the Company's lands during the present year.

These important purchases, and the fitting out of the preliminary expedition, (including the purchase and equipment of a fine vessel of 400 tons,) have been effected, at a considerable outlay, by parties, to whom a certain number of paid-up shares, to be determined by arbitration, are consequently to be assigned for a transfer of their interests.

Upon the remaining shares, a call of 10l. per share, (in addition to the deposit,) will be made at the discretion of the Directors, with not less than one month's notice; and all further calls will be made at intervals of not less than three months between each call, and of which one month's notice will be given; and no call, at any one time, will exceed £10 per share.

The Directors are to have the entire management and control of the funds, formation, proceedings, and affairs of the Company, and are empowered to enter into any arrangements whatever, which they may consider conducive to the interests of this undertaking, to prepare a Deed of Settlement for the management of the Company, and to take any steps that may be thought proper

relative to an Act of Parliament or a charter in aid of their plans, application for which will be made with the least possible delay, – and generally to adopt such measures and proceedings with reference to the grants, and disposal of shares, or otherwise, as they shall consider expedient.

The Shares in the first instance will be issued in scrip receipts, upon which will be indorsed the principal laws and regulations by which the Company is to be governed until a Deed of Settlement shall have been entered into, or an Act of Parliament have been obtained.

Further information on every point connected with the Company may be obtained from the Secretary, at the Office, where applications for shares may be made until the day of appropriation, of which public notice will be given.

London, June 10, 1839.

No. III.

NEW ZEALAND LAND COMPANY.

OFFICE, No. 1, Adam Street, Adelphi.

TERMS OF PURCHASE FOR LANDS IN THE COMPANY'S FIRST AND PRINCIPAL SETTLEMENT.

THE Company have already acquired very extensive tracts of land in the North Island of New Zealand, and have despatched an expedition for the purpose of purchasing other lands, and of selecting the most eligible district for the first and principal Settlement.

The object of the Company in making this selection, will be so to determine the place of their first Settlement, as to insure its becoming the commercial Capital of New Zealand, and, therefore, the situation where Land will soonest acquire the highest value by means of colonization.

Within this district, the site of the Company's chief town will be carefully selected; after which, out of the whole territory there acquired, a further selection will be made of the most valuable portion as respects fertility, river frontage, and vicinity to the town. The site of the town will consist of 1100 acres, exclusive of portions marked out for general use, such as quays, streets, squares, and public gardens. The selected Country lands will comprise 110,000 acres. The situation of the whole quantity of acres constituting the first Settlement, will, accordingly, be determined by a double selection; – first, of the best position with reference to all the rest of New Zealand, and secondly, of the most valuable portion of the land acquired by the Company in that position, including the site of the first Town. The lands of this first and principal Settlement, therefore, if both selections are properly made, will be more valuable, and will sooner possess the highest value, than any other like extent of land in the Islands.

These doubly-selected lands will be divided into 1100 sections, each section comprising one town-acre, and 100 country-acres. 110 sections will be reserved by the Company, who intend to distribute the same as private property amongst the chief families of the tribe, from which the lands shall have been originally purchased. The remainder, being 990 sections, of 101 acres each, are now offered for sale in sections, at the price of £101 for each section, or £1 per acre.

The purchase-money must be paid in full at the Office of the Company in London, on a day of which public notice will be given.

In return for the purchase money, the Company will deliver to the purchaser of each section, an Order on their officers in the settlement, which will entitle the holder thereof, or his agent, to select one town-acre, and a country section of 100 acres, according to a priority of choice, to be determined by lot, subject to the provisions hereinafter mentioned.

The lots for priority of choice will be drawn at the Company's Office in London, in the presence of the Directors, on a day of which public notice will be given.

An officer of the Company will draw in the same manner for the 110 sections reserved and intended for the Native Chiefs; and the choice of these reserved sections will be made by an officer of the Company in the Settlement, according to the priority so determined.

The choice of sections, of which the priority has been so determined by lot in England, will take place in the settlement as soon, after the arrival of the first body of colonists, as the requisite surveys and plans shall have been completed, and will be made under such regulations as an officer of the Company in the Settlement, authorised in that behalf, may prescribe. Neglect, or refusal, to comply with such regulations will occasion a forfeiture of the choice; and vest the right of selection in such officer as to the sections in regard to which the choice shall have been forfeited.

The land-orders will be transferable at the pleasure of the holders; and a registry will be kept at the Company's Offices in London, and in the settlement, as well of original land-orders, as of all transfers thereof.

Of the £99,990 to be paid to the Company by purchasers, 25 per cent only, or £24,997 10s. will be reserved to meet the expenses of the Company. The remainder, being 75 per cent, or £74,992 10s., will be laid out by the Company for the exclusive benefit of the purchasers, in giving value to the land sold by defraying the cost of emigration to this FIRST and PRINCIPAL SETTLEMENT.

Purchasers of land-orders intending to emigrate with the first Colony, (which it is proposed shall depart by the middle of August next,) will be entitled to claim from the Company, out of the £74,992 10s. set apart for emigration, an expenditure for their own passage and that of their families and servants, equal to 75

per cent, of their purchase-money, according to regulations framed by the Company with a view to confining the free passage to actual Colonists. But unless this claim be made in London by written application to the Secretary, delivered at the Office of the Company, on or before a day of which public notice will be given, it will be considered as waived.

The remainder of the £74,992 10s. set apart for emigration, will be laid out by the Company in providing a free passage for young persons of the labouring class, and as far as possible of the two sexes in equal proportions.

Labourers selected by purchasers for a free passage must be subject to approval by the Company, as respects age, sex, and good character.

In the selection of other labouring emigrants, the Company will give a preference to applicants who shall be under engagement to work for capitalists intending to emigrate.

A scale of the rates at which cabin and steerage passages will be provided by the Company in proportion to the purchase money of land-orders, will be exhibited at the Company's Office.

The land-orders are to be received as sufficient conveyances, and conclusive evidence of the Company's title; and a certificate of an officer of the Company in the settlement authorized in that behalf, mentioning the section fallen or assigned to the lot of any land-order, is to be accepted as sufficient evidence thereof, and as an actual delivery of the possession of the section mentioned in such certificate; and the Company are not to be considered as guaranteeing the title, except as against their own acts, and the acts of those deriving title under, or in trust for them.

Written applications for land-orders, will be received and registered by the Secretary of the Company, in the presence of the aplicant, or his agent, if required, until Saturday, the 22d of June instant inclusive, when, or sooner, if more than the whole quantity of land should have been applied for, the Orders will be awarded strictly according to priority in the registry of applications. A deposit of £10 on account of each land-order must be paid to the Company's Bankers or Country-Agents on the day of application, and will be returned in case, by reason of the above rule of priority, the Directors should be unable to award the Order.

Maps and descriptions of the Islands of New Zealand, and of the Lands already acquired by the Company, forms of land-orders, and other information, will be furnished on application to the Secretary at the Office. By Order of the Directors,

JOHN WARD, Secretary.
New Zealand Land Company's Office,)
June 1st, 1839.

No. IV.

NEW ZEALAND LAND COMPANY.

Governor – EARL OF DURHAM.
Deputy-Governor – JOSEPH SOMES, Esq.

Committee for the West of Scotland.

The Honourable Henry Dunlop, of Craigton, Lord Provost of the City of Glasgow.
James Lumsden, Esq., of Yoker.
Laurence Hill, Esq., of Barlanark.
Andrew Tennant, Esq., Merchant, Glasgow.
Alexander Johnstone, Esq., of Shieldhall.

Bankers – The Clydesdale Bank – Secretary – John Crawford. Capital, £250,000 – in 2500 Shares of £100 each.

THIS Company has been formed for the purpose of acquiring and re-selling land in New Zealand, with a view to the Colonization of that country, and the promotion of Emigration, by expending 75 per cent, of the price in providing a Free Passage to young persons of the labouring classes of both sexes.

The first or principal Settlement is to consist of 110,000 acres of Country Land, and 1,100 acres of Town Land, divided into Sections of 101 acres each. The price is fixed at £l per acre. Since the publication on the 8th instant of the terms and regulations of the Company for the sale of Land, not fewer than 700 Sections have been sold, so that immediate application to secure Town and Country Sections is necessary.

The first colony, consisting of about 1000 individuals, has been formed in London, and will embark from the Thames in August; and it is expected the first Scotch Colony will be enabled to sail from the Clyde in September next. Purchasers of Land intending to settle in New Zealand, and joining this Colony, will be entitled to a Free Cabin Passage. Labourers will be taken out Free, and every encouragement given to industrious and experienced persons.

Copies of the Prospectus of the Company, and of the Regulations for the Sale of Land, and all other information, may be had on applying at the Office.

By order of the Committee,

JOHN CRAWFORD, Secy.
New Zealand Land Company's Office,
24, Queen Street,
Glasgow, 26th June, 1839.

No. V.

A recent writer (Mr. Matthew,) lays great stress on the propitious effects which the delicious climate of New Zealand may be expected to have on the females of the Caucasian British race. "The rose tinge of the cheek," he observes, "is a direct consequence of moist air, of a fresh stimulating coolness. The British fair may rely that England's rose will not fail to blossom in New Zealand, in all its native richness – giving the unmatched tinge of flower, beauty, and freshness. The danger is, that it may throw even that of the mother country into shade; although its sister, the vegetable rose, has never been seen indigenous in the southern hemisphere, while it surrounds the globe in the northern with a flowery chaplet. In other respects, from its soft moist climate, New Zealand, like Sicily, may be expected to be especially propitious to women. The prospects now before them must cause the bright blood to mantle on the cheek of the British fair."

ERRATUM.

In line 25, page 6, instead of 11,100, read 111,100.

J. Neilson, Printer.

[Cover is blank]

[Cover is blank]

3 From the Narrative of a Voyage to New Zealand, performed in the years 1814 and 1815, in company with the Rev. Samuel Marsden, Principal Chaplain of New South Wales. By John Liddiard Nicholas, Esq. 1817.

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