The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1892.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIII, Issue 33, 9 February 1892, Page 4

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1892.

For taa causa that lads assistance, For ttw iTions that needs rcsii3»-inoo, For tiio futuro in the distance, And the coed tiit we can do.

The Nelson people have just ended their Jubilee celebration in first-rate style. Apparently there has been no hitch in the proceedings and every' thing has run as merrily as a mar riage bell. The Hon. Mr Seddon, Archbishop Redwood, and Sir William Fox have expatiated upon the hardships endured by the pioneer settlers, and contrasted the state of, things in the old days with the enjoyments modern Nelsonians are revelling in. The most striking incidents in the history of the province have been unearthed, and a goodly number of pioneer settlers who fifty years ago chose " Sleepy Hollow " as the scene of life's labours have gathered together and feasted their dim eyes on the evidences of progress that meet them on every hand. The settlers seem pleased with themselves, proud of their province and confident that its future success is assured.

The history of the Nelson settlers has not been varied by such a series of striking experiences as mark the record of the pioneers in the Taranaki Province. It is almost impossible to think of pioneer life in the latter district without dwelling upon the native war and the disastrous consequences to the early settlers. But the history of the Nelson pioneers is of a much more pleasing although less exciting nature. They commenced the work of colonisation under much more favourable auspices: A magnificent country, with its rich soil skirted by vast Alpine mountains, seemed to promise to the thrifty settlers the delights of a veritable Garden of Eden.

The Wairau massacre was the first tragedy that threw a dark shade over the hitherto smiling prospects, and gave the settlers their first real insight into the Maori character. When the chiefs from whom Colonel Wakefield had bought the Wairau Valley denied the sale and burnt the survey huts, his brother, Captain Wakefield, took out a warrant for robbery and arson, and at the head of fifty men marched to arrest them. The military skill of the great chiefs Te Rauparaha and Rangihaeta had been underrated, and the Europeans, unaccustomed to righting, fell an easy prey to the native warriors. Nine who surrendered were put to death in cold blood in revenge for the death of RaDgihaeta's wife, who had been killed

by accident in the skirmish. Great as was the excitement at the time, the Wairau massacre, which onte threatened to involve the colony in a general war, is now only remembered as one of those thrilling incidents of the pasl connected with pioneer life in the Ndson Province.

The progress of the Nelson district, if it has not been so rapid as that of Canterbury and Otago, has been steady and continuous. The city itself, with its numerous churches, educational establishments and public institutions, is a delightful sanatorium for the traveller. Its suburbs are rich with hop-gardens, vineyards and orchards 9 and the delightful climate makes Ncl* son a favourite resort of invalids. It* progress may be seen by the fact that in 1843 the population of Nelson and Marlborough was 2,942 souls, but by the census of 1891, Nelson, including the south-west goldfields, alone had 34,778. In 1843 the imports of Nelson and Marlborough were and the exports Nelson alone now imports and exports In 1843 Nelson and Marlborough had 560 head of cattle and 1,030 sheep. Nelson now possesses 81,000 cattle and 900,000 sheep. At the same time there are something like 100,000 acres under crop in the pro* vincial district.

The adventurous spirits among the Nelson pioneer settlers soon longed to spread out throughout the length and breadth of the land. They could not bear being shut in by the vast Alpine chain from the rest of the world. Some explored the Wairau Valley, others went down into the Amuri country, while others again continued their explorations as far as the Grey River, the provincial boundary. The inhabitants were few, and the country was taken up in vast sheep runs. This policy, however calculated to enrich the few, could not but be a hindrance to extensive settlement, and until many of those vast estates are subdivided the rural population in the Nelson district must continue small, and the affairs of the provincial district be virtually rrianaged by a few runholders.

But while the wealth of the district is no doubt capable of being much enhanced by a judicious use of the lands, the value of the mineral deposits has of late years claimed attention. At one time the Nelson goldfields attracted the attention of the colony. The crimes of the Burgess gang formed a thrilling chapter in the incidents of New Zealand goldfield life. But it is not to gold deposits that the thoughts of speculators in that province have been turned of late years. They have been surpassed in importance by the rich coal discoveries at the Grey and Westport, and the incalculable wealth thus disclosed, and the importance of which is every day becoming more apparent, will no doubt form the sheet anchor of Nelson's future prosperity.

Sir William Fox and his colleagues who spoke at the banquet, and who have been identified with the fortunes of Nelson from the time when the first few settlers landed on the shores of Blind Bay, are *.o be congratulated on their share in the success achieved; and in their turn, notwithstanding the comparatively slow growth of Nelsonian prosperity, compared with some other parts of the colony, they may congratulate each other on what has been already accomplished, and on the prospects of future substantial progress in the agricultural, sheep-farming, and mining prospects of the Nelson Provincial District.