COLONIAL SKETCHES.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 190, 15 August 1867, Page 3

COLONIAL SKETCHES.

The following jottings embody some ideas on colonial life, which may not be found uninteresting to the those who care to peruse them. In all pictures which have hitherto been painted of the colony of New Zealand, the Maori aud his belongings have generally occupied the most conspicuous position, or the whole arrangement has resolved itself into a description of either Auckland or Wellington, Now, though it may not be denied that the Maori is an interesting individual, especially to those who live at a distance from him, and that he possesses many of the characteristics with which Cowper invests the "noble savage," still he ranks small in importance when we consider the Anglo-New Zealander. And it is the latter class of which we desire to present a few representations. The Saxon element in New Zealand presents, in broad terms, the energy, industry, aud enterprise to be found in England ; but when examined more carefully, we find distinct tints of life, which cannot be assimilated to those of any other people. The climate of a country, doubtless, iu time moulds the character of the people, and to the changefulness of the Eugiish sky, the Englishman owes that energy and power of endurance which he can call to his aid, whether toiling in the Torrid Zone or in the depths of a Polar winter. To the cheerless, dark winter nights we owe the kindly associations of the fireside and tbe word "home." No people who live under a sky as clear and genial as that enjoyed jby tbe lazzaroui of Naples, tbe African, or Hindoo, possess that word ".home." The earth of those climes yields almost spontaneously the requirements of main, who, adapting himself to the circumstances of the case, basks indolently in the sunshine. New Zealand, though it may register little in excess of heat, and an average less amount of cold than Great Britain, possesses a climate almost similar in its influences, and it may therefore be fairly trusted to produce, in the future a race of people as industrious, as enterprising, aud as much imbued with respect for virtue and patriotism as that which at present inhabits the British Isles. Our colony has not however had sufficient time in which to influence its inhabitants. It is but a comparatively short time since those old whalers of whiskey -drinking notoriety began to establish stations bn the coast, 1 and to carry home news of the beautiful I islands of the Southern Seas. But short I as that time. has been, how well and how | wisely has it been employed. From a land I of mist and obscurity has grown into ex- | istence one of the most promising and most 1 powerful of the Australasian colonies, and 1 where solitude reigned and never a human i. foot bad trodden, we find transformed in

little more than a quarter of a century into thriving towns and beautifully cultivated fields. The waters which rarely bore other than the Maori canoe have now become the highway for a large and wealthy argosy. And ft is in reply to the inquiry — By whom has this long work been accomplished? that we adopt the pleasing task of drawing a few pictures of New Zealanders as they are, and to aid us in our task it may be necessary for us to abstract a few pages from our colonial history, which, though short, is by, no means scant or uneventful. (To be continued.)