RURAL NEW ZEALAND.

Auckland Star, Volume XXV, Issue 169, 17 July 1894, Page 3

RURAL NEW ZEALAND.

By John Houghton, Barrister and Solicitor of tho Supremo ' Court of New Zealand and Abborney and Councillor-ab-Law of the Supreme Courb of California, U.S.A. [Printed and Published by Henry Brebb, Auckland.] Mr Houghton is convinced of bhe nabural wealth of tha colony where he haa lived so many years. After reading his booklet, it appears to us that his conviction is nob founded on a superficial knowledge of the resources of -New Zealand ; and we should be surprised if he was nob the means of convincing others. His publication is more especially addressed to the small and largo capitalists of the United Kingdom—two classes of colonists which New Zealand should in every way strive to abbracb—and the object of the book is bo demonstrate to these men the enormous field the colony offers for the re-, munerative investment of tbeir money in rural pursuits. Such an object is not altogether new. In bhe mulbitude of books published on New Zealand, the advantages of the colony for men with largo and men with small sums of money at their disposal have boen seb forth. Bub, seeing the rate of progress that prevails in a young country, especially in connection with the settlement of the land, there is generally room for a handy and concise up-to-date publication like the one before us. On thab ground alone, " Rural New Zealand " would find purchasers. Bub bhe bookleb has moro to commend ib bhan ibs newness or handinsss. Ib differ., from the usual handbook in being profusely illustrated wibh picbip.es thab, oven without the explanatory letterpress which accompanies b'j.m, would convey to Englishmen a clearer idea of what farming in New Zealand is t-hau they are likely to gain from most sources. The facb of bhe writer having been in America is also an advanbage bo his readers, for he is able bo presenb them with a comparison between farming in the States and farming in New Zealand. That comparison, we remark with pleasure, ia even more in favour of the colony than we had imagined it could be. In sheep and cattle raising, grain-growing, and dairying the Britain of tho South has a record thab mosb countries would envy. The depressed British agriculturalist looking ab bhe picbures of bhose sleek milkers bhab from year's end bo year's ond need no shelber from the biting blasts; those verdant valleys where neither sleet nor snow aro known; and bhose comforbable sunny homesteads, might well sigh to exchange his heavily • rented farm for a freehold in bhe South Pacific where inclement seasons do not make the farmer's profession bhe mosb uncertain of all. Mr Houghton's carefully collected figures and dotails aro the very things that a practical farmer wants. Vague picturesque generalities may charm the British business man who has visions of an idyllic life, something after the style led by the youths and maidens of the golden age. Bub those who have had to do with the realities of farming can dispense wibh these. They wanb bo know the price of beeves, how much butter a cow will yield, and how much money ib will fetch ; where the best land is to be found, how much ib will Co3b, whab bhe expensos of pubting ib in grass are, and how many sheep or cattle it will carry when it is in grass; they want to know these and a thousand other things. In .*' Rural New Zealand " they can slake their Ithirsb for informabion, for the author has endeavoured to give a true picture of farming in all parts of the colony. > Mr Houghbon touches on the towns of Now Zealand, bub he does nob linger bhere. Like Ceies "ho loves the breath of kine," and hastens into the fields as soon as he can. There let us leave him expatiating on the dewy pastures, th. fertile cornfields, and the heavy-fleeced or tender-jointed sheep, ancl the"fat cattle on the thousand hills of New Zealand.