COLONIAL SKETCHES.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 191, 16 August 1867, Page 2

COLONIAL SKETCHES.

THE EMIGRANT. The main stimulant to emigration ia the desire to improve our condition of life. Many there are who eliug rouud the old nooks of home aud are conteut to work for a mere subsistence. They labor in the same paths in which their forefathers have wrought, satisfied to view the workhouse at the goal of life. To venture beyond the shadows of the old familiar trees, seems to be to encounter privation; to emigrate into another country appears to them liko passing into the other world. They are content to staive, and bring up their families in penury so long as the bells of the village church sound in their ears. Here and there among them however arises one who hears of far off lands where there is wealth for those who toil. He thinks over this news while holding the plough, determines to throw off the bonds of association with fatherHe has the energy to cast aside the scenes of his boyhood, and to determine that if iortune will not come to him, he will pursue it to the utmost corners of the earth, and wrest the spoil from the niggard hand. The energy and enterprise which he thus displays, are the qualities which eminently aid colonisation. They teach the valuable lesson of self-dependence and give furtituie to meet all trials, and an active spirit to endure them. Having balanced the relative merits of the several colonies and determined which offers the greatest advantages, the emigrant wends his way to the seaport. The buying of the penetralia for the voyage and the taking up the berth on board the vessel serve by their novelty to divert the mind, and so soothe the pain of parting. Shortly the vessel moves out into the stream and prepares for departure. Around the emigrant stand some dear friends who wish to delay as long: as possible the time of separation. Perhaps some fond mother; advanced in age, bids farewell to her boy whom fate ordains she may never see more; but, like the Spartan mother of old, she parts with him in order that he may win fortune in other lauds. Few there are who have left home without having found it hard to sunder clustering friendships, and tears have dimmed the sight of the many as they stood upon ihe deck and saw the laud fade from their view. The life on board the ship during the long voyage aptly fits him for what he has to encounter. New circumstauces have to be adopted and a new discipline submitted to. No better training could have been devised for the future colonist than the roughing received during the passage out. He has to asssociate with strangers and perhaps to.maintain hi 6 rights against some overreaching messmates. Ingenuity has to render things more comfortable. Arrived at his destination the first care is directed towards those big chests stowed away in the hold and marked "Not wanted during the voyage;" these acquired he parts from the ship and messmates with feelings akin to regret. He will never forget either the one or the other; but will often mention how so-and-so came out in the same ship along with him aud what a good passage they had. Shortly, the new arrival finds himself standing on the wharf with his boxes at his side, and then perhaps for the first time a feeling of loneliness is experienced. Two of them however join issue and repair to some empty tenement, which they adorn with what little comforts they possess, and then stroll forth to see the town. Could we but retain the ideas which first

present themselves to the mind on first j entering a colonial town and engrave them in all their freshness, a picture would be obtained which at all times would be most pleasing. The town is generally of a straggling nature, and seems to have been formed on no recognised plan. Chance and the necessity of the moment have ruled the arrangement of its streets. The road appears to have been made to the houses, instead of the latter arranging themselves in definite lines. "Generally, however, contiguous to the wharf or landing place, there is a principal thoroughfare adorned by shops and buildings of considerable pretentious. Outside this the dwellings separate into clumps, often comparatively far apart, and the irregularities of the ground in New Zealand lead to the establishment of them in almost impossible localities. Away upon the hill- tops are houses whose inhabitant?, if at all nervous, can only regain the lower ground by the aid of their hands and knees. Anyone who has had the temerity to explore the fastne c ses of Dunediu or Lyttelton will admit this assertion. These streets are crowded however with a population, part of which appears decidedly active, and the remainder decidedly inactive. Euergetic townspeople move here there intent upon business, while miners, in the many-colored shirts, trousers, and low boots, lounge upon the footpaths intent upon spending what they have won from the treasures of earth, or upon storing up health to meet future hardships. The stores upon Vither side of the way attract the attention of the new comer and excite his surprise at the multitude of their wares. The display of goods are not so carefully classed and arranged as they are in English towns. The cumulative principle seems alone to be recognised, and determines the storekeeper to meet all requirements. Drapery, ironmongery, earthware, groceries, shoes, drugs, and many other requisites are to be found behind the same eounfer. The signs painted over the doorways have a very demonstrative character, and not unfrequently adopt some definite title. Hotels, and public-' ouses are innumerable, and should our emigrant venture to ask that interesting young lady at the bar for a mutchkin or a gill of whiskey, he will find she knows more about stone-fences, shandy-gaff, and nobblers than about the good old Scotch measures. Altered circumstances and apparently new appetites have created almost another language which is not a little bewildering to the new arrival. He fiods that the necessaries of life are so expensive in New Zealand, that they soon cousume his "nest egg," and warn him not to stand idling by the stream; but to plunge into the current flowing past. A few days are sufficient to wear out the novelty of the situation, and he merges into the colonial working man.