THE MARVELS OF NEW ZEALAND.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 1520, 19 February 1886, Page 3

THE MARVELS OF NEW ZEALAND.

The raournfulest of trees, the eu calyptus, is not indigenous to New Z -aland, although it has been of late years planted for ornamental and sanitaT purposes. Thus, the New 2 -aland bush presents a totally different aspect to that of the red, blue and wliite <?um tree bush of Australia. The New Z aland " scrub " or jungle, has lit'le in common with that of the Australian Colonit s. But New Zealand abounds in splendid timber, useful not only for bu Iding purposes, but for decorative furniture woods —a circum -lance of which I wa« made pleasantly i\v tre recentlv on the occasion of n visit to the exhibition n>>w being held nt Wellington. Conspicuous amoiiL' the native trees are the well-know'i Kauri pine, which furnish the equally renowned Kauri gum, Vasts depo-lts of which last named subst.<nco have been fnU'id many gene'alions alter the trees wMch had sh»-d gum had di-appea'ei Likewise is New Z 'aland a perfect fern paradise. The fern tn-e grows in amazing variety and in endless profus* ion i and a kind fiiend at Auckland 1 itely made a present to the companion of inv wanderings of a sumptuous hoftun siren* -a stately album bound in kauri-wood enshrining over % hundred varieties of f,<rns. Altogether there aw about one hundred and twenty indii enous forest trees in New Z 'aland, toi ether with an abundance of wild flax, fo/foand raupo largely u«edin the manufacture of rope. All the fruits and vegetables found in temperate climates abound here, even as far down south as Wellington—remember this is Topsyturvydom—oranges, lemons, melons, citrons, figs and loquati are cultivated. Let not the merest school boy be kept unaware of the fact that New Zealand, unlike Australia, if not the country of the Kangaroo,

There are no marsupials here. There sre no snakes. There was a native doe, hut he has disappeared. There was a native rat and a few varieties df lizards. It was perhaps, because the islands were so destitute of edible animals that the Maoris of old were so addicted to cannibalism. The gigantic, wingless bird of the ostrich tribe called the moa has been extinct these many generations past; but I have seen him und«r the kiidly and sapient auspices <>f Dr Julius von Haast in the splendid museum at Christchurch. How the spas around New Zealand teem with fish and the coverts swarm with game, [ shall soon have an opportunity of describing. I may just hint en passant that the sparrows and blackbirds, : mported for sentimental reasons from home, have proved a disastrous nuisance in New Zealand as they have done in Australia. The imported starling is not quite so unmitigated ajpest Finally, let the merest schoolboy at home lay to heart the facts that, according to the latest stock returns, th*»re were in New Zealand more than ihirteen millions of sheep and some seven hundred thousand horned cattle ; that there are over a thousand miles of railwnv open, and that the total capital vrilu« of properties in the colonies exceeds £ 102,000,000. And especially never the school boy, nor for the matter of that the adult observer Inse sight of this verity, that New Z -nland is over twelve hundred miles distant f r ntn Australia ; that it takes five days—five-sixthsof the voyage from Liverpool to New York—to steam from Svdney to Auckland ; that the interests nf Near Zealand and Australia are widely dissimilar, and that the firstnamed country seems to be working out a destinv isolated, grandiose and unique. " Tout.es choses meuvent vers leur Jin? quoth Francois Rabelais. New Zealand, perhaps, may be moving toward an end with which the acquisition of Fiji, Somoa and Tongoa may have something to do.— George Augusts Sa la in London Telegraph.