English and Foreign.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 420, 12 November 1856, Page 3

English and Foreign.

NEW ZEALAND

(From tho Austniliun and New Zouland Gazette.) r About three years since, Mr. Godley addressed ' 5 a large meeting- of his countrymen in the new I settlement of Canterbury, and in tho course of | his remarks made an observation, tho truth of |'which, as an abstract proposition, is undoubted; I —it was, "No man in this world can go through faivy enterprise that has greatness in it without f being often and sorely disappointed, because northing great is ever done without enthusiasm, | and enthusiasts are always over sanguine." If !, ever there were a case in which exceptions existed to a- general rule, it is most certainly in I that of the settlement of New Zealand. We do y not, of course, mean to contend that every Operson that left this country in order to become |ja settler in these distant'possessions of the |j British Crown, with imagination heated by visions of boundless wealth, has witnessed the I'full realisation of his Alnascar-liko dreams. '\ Those, too,_ who have left our shores under the „",; absurd notion that they would, in the genial p climate of our antipodes, be in future absolved I jfrom the necessity of exertion and the exercise :of ordinary prudence—that by some incomprehensible mode, and by means unknown to other fciyilised nations, they would be able to revel in ? all the opulaneous plenty of an exuberant soil, < and to enjoy the comforts and luxuries of life ; without any of the drawbacks of responsibility '„, or labour, have no doubt already learned by exSperience how unfounded and unreasonable were f their hopes and anticipations. But we think |; we are fully justified in concluding from our T latest advices from New Zealand, that no disapB pOintment has fallen to the lot of those bands of i- emigrants, who, a few short years since, landed C ,in New Zealand, manfully resolved to do battle | with1 the difficulties of an incipient civilization, jr—to reclaim from nature some portion of that f *vast and fertile territory over which for ages she "7 had held undisputed sway, and to establish 3commonwealths which should possess in them'*selves those elements of stability and commer*Vcial prosperity which are the glory of their jiative land. ; The progress of emigration to x New Zealand has no doubt been arrested to a considerable extent by the discovery of the gold fields of ■ .Victoria, and the desire which has so generally |; prevailed of sharing in the wealth which the J regions offered to the emigrant. '/This however, has been an evil not without f countervailing advantages, for while the comparatively crowded populations of Australia were £. intent on the gold finding, they had neglected ' -to a great extent the production of articles "* more indispensable to human existence than /' even untold treasures of the precious metals. -J While the anxious digger was toiling at JBendigo, \or washing the golden earths of the Ovens, -4 he was compelled to part with a very large por«]tio?.\, -' and in some cases the whole of his hard to obtain the provisions necessary to S-'j.his existence; and for his daily bread he was Ujndebtedin a great degree to the steady indusf, try and persevering energy of the New %Zealand settlers. Nature had not bestowed *%pon New Zealand the rich mineral deposits of but the teeming fertility of its soil Ipenabled its cultivators to obtain by the sale of tats produce, and to secure to themselves indif rectly much of that treasure which others had ■^procured' with infinite labour from New South . 'tWales and Victoria, The settlements of Auckland, Wellington, Nelson, New Plymouth, , ■ )tago, and Canterbury, all received in " - greater or less proportion, their share of the fold of Australia; and aided by its benign ttfluence, the various settlements have rapidly . dvanced in their career of prosperity. Where n tut a few years back the country was inhabited ;£ inly by tattooed cannibals and warlike natives, i( here now exists a population of Europeans ' Amounting to more than thirty thousand perexporting agricultural and native produce ybf the value of nearly half a million yearly, and §■ :ißnjoying a customs revenue, derived from thfc t" articles imported, of a sum little short of |. £100,000. \'i Each of the Provincial Governments has for |"#omo time past boon actuated, and is still by, a desire to promote efficient and public works in the colony. Not a session of any of tho Provincial Councils closes . S^ithout a long list being submitted to it of fcstimutes of public works, and the liberality

with which the sums are voted is only equalled by the prudence and foresight with which the works irj planned and accomplished. A commercial marine is gradually forming by the colonists, and already the coasting trade of Auckland employs 180 vessels; with an aggregate tonnage of 3,500 tons.'Constituted as New Zealand is of three islands lying In close contiguity to each other—viz., North Island, Middle Island, and South Island—it possesses many of the'advantages peculiar to this country,and so well adapted to the growth of a navy ; and we confidently anticipate the time when the naval power of New Zealand will become among the isles of our antipodes, what the British navy is among the mother nations. The energy with which the colonists have set themselves to work to carry out the important question of steam communication with Australia, and thence with this country, contrasts most favourably with the dilatory manner in which the question has been treated by the Home Government. At Otago, a steam vessel, of 350 tons and 90 horse-pow*er, had been for some time past engaged by the colony, and his Excellency the Governor had recommended—and the proposition was most favourably received—that three such vessels should be obtained for the purpose of conveying the mails at the expense of £36,000 per annum. The services to be performed by this steam fleet were thus stated; —" Eight times in the year one vessel must go from Nelson to Wellington, Canterbury, Otago, and.Melbourne, returning to Nelson, and on alternate voyages departing from and returning to Otago. One vessel would keep up an easy monthly communication between the Manakau and all the southern settlements, including Otago. One vessel to take the place of either of the others would increase the above communication, be ready to carry assistance to any part of the colony requiring it, communicate occasionally with other parts, and cost but little when unemployed." This scheme is a comprehensive one for so small a colony, and proves in a striking manner the interest which is attached to an early settlement of this most important question of an inter-colonial postal communication, as well as the establishment of an efficient mail sendee between the mother country and her colonies.

The arrangements which are being made in New Zealand with respect to the sale and purchase of land are most liberal in their character, and the regulations have been drawn up with a view to the means and conveniences of the settlers. In none of our colonies will it be possible to obtain land upon more easy or advantageous terms than in the various settlements of New Zealand ; and the regulations which have been proposed on the subject, and which were given in the last and preceding numbers of the Gazette, are well worthy of the attention and imitation of the Governors and Legislative Councils of other dependencies of the British CroAvn. What we should most earnestly wish to see accomplished is something like uniformity in the Land Regulations of the different settlements. Although differing in some of the details, the principle upon which they are framed is the same in all; and persons desirous of obtaining a knowledge of the Land Regulations of New Zealand, will find ample information on the subject in the latter numbers of our Gazette.