“The Press” In 1864

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30619, 9 December 1964, Page 20

“The Press” In 1864

A LIVELY PICTURE OF CANTERBURY (From the Southern Cross, Nov. 28) We extract the following from the Nottingham Daily Guardian, of September 17, which gives a lively picture of Canterbury. We wonder whether the talented editor of the Press recognises its faithfulness. The writer appears to have been well known and respected in Nottingham. It would be a charity for an Auckland man to send and redeem poor Boot and his family from the lifelong misery he anticipates:— Christchurch, New Zealand, June 12, 1864. I suppose you want to know how we are getting on, and what I am doing. To tell you is a great task, for I can assure you it is a most awful country. Trade never was so bad, nor was there ever a greater panic in England than there is here at the present time. I may say that this has been so ever since I landed. Would to God that I had never heard the name of New Zealand. It is a most miserable place, with nothing to cheer the eye or heart From my landing in the colony to my last writing you I have had about half work, at 7s. per day: the last two months 1 have had no work, though I have searched the town over and over again, and cannot find work, there being hundreds like myself, out of work. I have been obliged to get a basket and go around hawking, which is most repugnant to my feelings: but

every day gets worse with me. I did middling at first. The second day I went out I earned 12s with pills, which made £1 Is—a good day. I have been making pills, and selling them at a penny a piece; but the last few weeks I have done nothing, scarcely earning a living. Things are most awfully dear. Bread is Is 4d. the 41b loaf, or what ought to be 41b; the loaves here, I think are made by guess. We cannot get any of them weighed; they run about 31b lOoz. and we have weighed them 31b 20z., being 14oz too light We eat two of these things a day, so you may soon reckon what our bread bill is a week—only 18s. Bd. Potatoes are l}d per lb. and rising; flour. 5d per lb; butter, 2s per lb; eggs, 4d. each—we have never had since we have been here, and I expect never shall have. Meat is from lOd. to Is per lb., and they will not cut less than about lOlbs. The only meat we can get are shins and necks of mutton; shins we get at 2s. 6d. and necks of mutton at 7d. per lb. You have to take the quarter of a sheep except the shoulder. They cut the sheep into eight parts; the heads they give to the dogs, they do not pay to skin. Mutton is very thin; there is no fat, and very little lean. Cheese, Is 9d per lb; bacon the same. Coals 5s per cwt, and the most awful rubbish that was ever burned; wood, £2 10s per load How a man with a family is to live here I leave you to guess.