NEW ZEALAND.

Auckland Star, Volume XX, Issue 181, 1 August 1889, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND.

■ffHE LAND OF HEALTH, WEALTH f AND PROSPERITY.

ITS PRESENT POSITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS.

Br Captain- Ashby.

We have received early proof sheets of'the interesting little book written by Captain Ashby, descriptive of his recent tour of tho Australasian colonies. The work is dedicated to "my loving wife and daughter, Harriette and Juanita Ashby."

In his preface the author remarks: «« Since ' taking the bull by fche horns' is a thoroughly English method of procedure, Ifc will not astonish my readers when I *eIJ them that, having heard the colony of NewZealand was overburdened with debt, ana as a natural consequence—depressionstarted on a voyage, nob only of discovery, tub comparison, first traversing our sister possession—Australia. , "Fresh from the experincesof anexhaustivetour of inspection, not onlyo* all bho most important centres of the colony, but in some cases a considerable distance up country. I feel it is due bo those interested (as so many are) in bhe Que. net the Southern Hemisphere, that n_y experiences «hould take the form they .do, so that the truth may thus be ascertained from ono who, a perfectly independent and unpaid witness, has jusb returned from thab counr After giving a graphic description of - New Zealand, and bearing eloquent testimony to its Sreafc natural beauty, the author proceeds :—" Since my first visib, in 1847 in the Duke of Bedford, to Adelaide, I haVe coasted and travelled upcountry to a. considerable extent, not only in New Zealand itself, but, as I have said, in the sister-colonies; till, in 1873, Iretired from the mercantile service, and established myself as a shipping and insurance agent in 'the great city.' Thus ib ■was that in 1883 I revisited the colonies in furtherance of those interests in which I had now become so concerned, and I was glad to find, as the result of" careful investigation, that not only were our colonial dependencies in a prosperous condition, but that New Zealand was well to the fore as a great commercial outlet from the mother-country. Ifc was therefore inexplicable to mo, as one who had noted its rapid development, to have heard from time to time of its decadence ; indeed, to have such practical proof of it as was supplied by the stubborn facb fchafc passenger business and freighfcage had fallen off at the same i*abe here in which ib had increased in Australia, Queensland, ebc.

" Without fear of being accused of putting the cart before the horse, I will at once say that the old adage, ' It's not tbe world that is wicked, bub bhe people who are in it,'may be said equally fco apply fco the colony of which I write. It is not Now Zealand which has been at fault, bufc her people. The blood of youth which, in yeare gone by, fired those who made the colony what it has been, has naturally cooled to some extent with advancingyears ; ifc3 buoyancy and ardour having given place to that desire to resb on the laurels they have won ; which in these days of social progress, afc once—if nofc eclipsed by the new blood—begins to stagnate.

" To begin with, the colonist who would thrive in New Zealand must not be the utterly poverty - stricken emigrant who fancies by some exceptional fluke of fortune he may become a millionaire. He must, on the contrary, from the very nature ot things, be able to "feel his way for some time after his arrival; and should be most careful as to the outlay of the small capital at his command. For instance, the general impression on bhe parb of many colonists is, that) one of the firsb considerations should be to obtain an extensive and expensive outfit of wearing apparel, c_c., before leaving England ; thus often diminishing their capital unnecessarily to a considerable extent.'

"Now, since ib is the resulb of my experience in all our colonies, bhab clobhing of a far more suitable kind may be obtained at a much cheaper rabe in bhe colonial towns than in England, it is manifest that to be overburdened at starting, as far as one's wardrobe is concerned, is impolitic to a degree. Again, one of the greatest mistakes it is possible for the colonist to make, and which he is mosb prone to—is, that of remaining too long in big cities to ' look about him,' before eoing up-country. Thab money takes unto itself wings under such circumstances, goes for said; besides which, the longer the allurements—whatever they be—of the town attract, tho less fitted is the individual for that life upcountry which leads in the end to competence or wealth. Therefore, I would say, if yon have capital, however small, bank it; and taking wifch you a few pounds to supply your immediate needs, allow it to fructify during your absence; which it will do, interest being ■ much higher than at home, to a much greater extent than you would be inclined to suppose. Thus, having only the small impedimenta necessary for up-country life, and nob boo large a supply of hard cash in your pocket, should you pass through the port ab which you have arrived, bo find yourself in bhe open ; hoping, like Mr Micawber, for something to turn up ; ready to do it when ib does, whatever it may be; and ev6r anxious to turn ib to account thab it may be a stepping stone to thab good fortune you have come bo seek.

"As far as actual living is concerned, ib is cheaper than ib is in England j ineab and all other necessaries being exceedingly plentiful. True, in bhe larger towns houserent is higher; bub then the emigrant should avoid such places till he has made his 'pile,' or till such time as some exceptional chance presents itself of his turning that rent to good accounb in connection with some commercial speculation or obher carried on there. In the suburbs, however, thpre are always reasonable, and sometimes, delightful little places to be had; where the garden produce may, if not looked on as an economy as a matter of consumption in your own household, be disposed of in such a way as to make your actual rent mosb reasonable.

"So much for bhe climate of a country which, for some unaccountable reason, was reported to be, commercially, in a most depressed condition, and unsuitable, on this accounb, for colonisation. Indeed, of the effect of this report I had myself mosb convincing evidence in the fact thab the shipping firms with which I did business had, for some two years prior to 1888, experienced a startling falling-off in passenger and goods traffic, with, as I have hinted at, a proportionate increase as far as settlements in, and supplies lo Australia were concerned. 'Give a dog a bad name,' may well be said to apply tb a country.

" To me the colony wa? an old hunting ground. In 1860, I visited Kaipara and the North generally ; finding it to be a prevalent idea that ib was a parb of New Zealand bebter adapted bo bhe felling of timber than the settlement of husbandmen, that ib was outside, the range of any ordinary emigrant, save, indeed, he be a born backwoods man. "Inlßßß,lagain visited the samespo., and was thunderstruck to see what grand strides itTiad made in those intervening years.

Those early settlers must indeed^avo had Sg SS who havegOopod tWs fertile ■?*»-. + n an treat an extent. A train now Z CA&rto Helensville; this Maori express taking™ hours and twenty minutes coaccompj' 3" thetlurty-seven miles which lie between bhem. Then, too, the Kaipara Steamship Company have two steamers constancy running ;.fchus enabling settlers to gel a ready market for their goods. . "Indeed, seeing what steam has already done tow«r.{. 8 lessening distance wibh it's iron arms, I am perfectly convinced, if the New Zealand Government would only extend communication by land and sea in every direction, that this would be one of the JDOsfc popular settlements in tho world —especially to the north' of Auckland.

I ." When thero, I visited Paparoa, Mataifcohe, Pahi, and Maungafcurofco, which are [peopled by just such settlers as know how to make the most of good materials. For, from Captain Col beck's station to Waipu, a distance of about twenty-five miles, I never lost sighb for one momenb of charming homesteads and picturesque farms, which gave an air of peace and plenty to one's surroundings whichever way one looked.

"An admirable grazing country this, too, and although dry in summer, is happy in the quality of its grass, which is fresh and verdant under all circumstances ; and moreover, the ground being much broken, ifc is peculiarly adapted fco the rearing of sheep and cattle ; in short, bhe neighbourhood of Kaipara appeared to me to be one in which depression had been unknown—a perfect paradise for those who wanted to add, in a delightful climate, to the few hundreds they possessed.

" I must nob fail here to note that I am deeply indebted to Captain Colbeck and his two sons, afc whose station of aboub 20,000 acres I stayed, for having so hospitably entertained me, and afforded me an insight into the doings of the settlers in this fertile part of the country. "I can only say I found the country in an infinitely more prosperous condition than I could have supposed ib to be in, from the exaggerated reports which, having reached me in England, had occasioned bhis visit. "True, the country has gone through a period of some slight financial depression ; a complaint to which young countries are subject, jusfc as much a matter of course as young children are subject bo the several complaints of early infancy: jusb too, as the measles and whooping cough are better out than in, assisting indirectly fco clear the constifcutiou of the little sufferer; so has this financial depression played its parb in teaching the people of New Zealand that not only ' whab can'b be cured must be endured,' but that ifc may even become a source of profit in the long run, as an index pointing fco thrift and self-dependence. " Nor does one look only to the cities for signs of fche development of a great colony, bub rather to the people who, building them, become fcho motive power as ib were, which sets that inert colonial machinery in motion—who are, in short, its thew and -.new—the active elements perpetually occupied in developing those great centres to which I have briefly made reference.

" Picture to yourselves- vast tracks of forest land and tangled under-wood which have been the growth of centuries, succumbing to fche axe of the settler, till trim homesteads take the place of woodland oaks, aud farm servants till the ground and reap the well-won harvest.

" Geographically speaking, there can be very little doubt that, before long, Auckland will be one of the gieatest mercantile ports in the Southern Hemisphere ; owing nob only to its close connection with other islands of the Paciiic, but to those natural harbours which ab once consbitute ib as designed by nature for tho part ib will play. "Mr Henry Brett, of tho Auckland Star, has'in thab paper and inhis Almanac for the current year wisely said bhab bho ciby ' sbands peerless amongst the cities of tho Soubhern Hemisphere.' Though she has been compared bobh to Corinth and Naples, and may resemble them in one sense, yeb for the importance of her position she is, with reference to the land she represents, facile princeps. "Ib appears most lovely, as indeed, many places do from bhe sea, bub, on landing, ibs commercial importance is felt, as ib were at a fiance, as you look round aboub you at than splendid harbour and its surrounding buildings, which do so much credit to the Harbour Board; while I verily believe bhe Graving Dock, 525 ieet long'by 90 feet wide, with a depth of 34 feet", is ab least one of the finest south of the equator. Hero, ab least, in spite of bhe much-talked-of depression, their income has for some considerable bime much exceeded bheir expenditure ; and after achieving so much, to still have a balance in hand is saying something indeed. "Nor is Auckland a place alone where he who seeks his fortune may find ib wise to make head - quarters. People with moderate incomes, and those in delicate health, will find Auckland a delightful halting-place. The clim_.be is mosb temperate^and exceedingly healthy, fruits and flowers of every description are to be found there in abundance, and since house-rent, above all obher advantages, is mosb reasonable here, ib may easily be seen thab it presents an opportunity which no other parb of the world could probably so fully ofi'er, of enjoying to the full all tho advantages of a natural sanatorium at bhe most reasonable rate imaginable. " Then, again, the whole province teems with wealth of a mineral and vegetable kind : coal is to be found here, as in many other parts of New Zealand, in great abundance*; while the traffic in kauri gum and in lumber are industries in themselves of vast magnitude, which give perpetual employment bo an enormous number of people. Thus it will be seen that the nabural resources of the country are practically without limit ; and thab all that is necessary to bheir development is, bhab more people should go oub, and, as a natural consequence, more money should be circulated by and amongst the 132,709 people who at bhe presenb momenb go bo make up the populabion of bhi3 place. Ib requires, in fact, to be known to be appreciated ; and once appreciated, it will very soon hold up ibs head as proudly and as independenbly as any city in the civilised world. " Besides all this, too, there is a mosb distinct temptation here offered to the farmer to emigrate, which he will find exemplified chiefly by those settlers who have already done so, "and whose cattle and sheep farms have proved in every case financial successes. Wheat and grain grow in great luxuriance here ; so what more can be put forward as a goal to those who have suffered, as so many have, from depression in the farming interests, of late years, in the old country ? The land round Gisborne is wonderfully productive for farming purposes. There is an irony, too, in bhe facb that a locality so prolific should be situabed in Poverty Bay. . "The river, from a navigable point ol view, is not whab ib might be. It ib shallow even to dryness at low tide, and if the expenditure of nearly a quarter of a million on a breakwater, etc., for a place which though important in its small way is yeb essentially small, having only a population of some 3,500 souls all told, has been wise, remains to be seen.

" There is never any knowing, whab may happen, however, in the colonies. The people to whom Gisborne is indebted for its existence are happy, industrious, and enterprising. There are many good shops for those who have money to spend, which has been made ab the wool-growing or other kindred pursuits, for which the neighbourhood is famous.

"Perhaps Napier is one of the mogt flourishing ports in the colony, Ib has many handsome buildings, dominated by a really splendid cathedral. The streets and

shops are excellently, built and kepb \ the whole aspeob, in fact, of the place being suggestive from first to lasfc^ of fchriffc. Tho river here is small and the tide rapid, bob I have nob the least doubt thab a few thousands judiciously spent would fib it admirably for vessels of light draught. " Here, too, as at Gisborne, fchey are constructing a huge breakwater, which I may say, if ib withstand the storms which sometimes rage in this locality, will have been a good work indeed. " When in January last I arrived at Napier, I noted no less than six sailing ships and two steamers loading and dis-^ charging; hence, ifc is evident of what value as a station this place is likely fco become, and of how great importance ifc is that its harbour works be improved as rapidly as possible. The cattle and sheep runs are of vast extent, and frozen meats in exceedingly large quantities are periodically shipped to the Home markets. Wool, too, being (naturally) one of the staple commodities, forms a considerable item in connection wifch shipment."