EARLY EMIGRANT LIFE IN NEW ZEALAND.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4194, 29 August 1874, Page 3

EARLY EMIGRANT LIFE IN NEW ZEALAND.

- The Otago Daily Times has the following review of a pamphlet published by Mr. James Adam, under the title of “ Twenty-five Years of Emigrant Life in the South of New Zealand” : It is now about seven .months since Mr. James Adam left Otago as Emigration Agent in Britain for tills Province. . We have not been informed whether the Provincial authorities have yet received any report from Mr. Adam respecting the progress made by him in inducing suitable persona to think - favorably of emigrating to Otago; but we may rest assured he has not remained idle during the few months ho has been in Britain. As one proof of his industry, we have received by the Suez mail a copy of a pamphlet, or rather book, on Otago, published by Mr. Adam since his arrival in the Home country —thus anticipating, in so far as this Province is concerned, the Premier’s long promised Colonial Hand Book. The work is entitled to rank much higher than a more compilation, and differs considerably from the hand-books usually got up by emigration agencies. Its title is “Twenty-five Years of Emigrant Life in the South of New Zealand.” It is of octavo size, and contains 112 pages. The book is neatly got up, and is illustrated by maps of New Zealand and Otago, and by views of the following places :—Holmes’s Station and the Waimea Plain, Upper Mataura Plains and River, Farm of Smith Brothers, Clutha ; and Farm of Strain and Sons, Tokomairiro. Mr. Adam has succeeded iu presenting to the British public a somewhat original, and an exceedingly interesting, instructive, and —we venture to say—truthful volume, in which personal experience, sketches of Colonial life and character, and valuable historical and statistical information are skilfully blended. A residence of nearly twenty years iu Otago and an extensive acquaintance vyith all parts of the Province enable us to vouch for the general truthfulness of Mr. Adam’s statements, and to recognise with ease almost every person whose Colonial career he has described. Mr. Adam, in a short preface, states that ho had been led to prepare lus book with a view to enable him the more fully and easily to answer the many strange questions put to him respecting this Colony, such as, “ Why did you emigrate to New Zealand!” “Is not the

voyage dreadfully monotonous ?” “ How did you get on when you landed ?” “Is the climate good ?” &c. The work embraces, every subject of importance respecting which intending emigrants are likely to desire information, and the chapters—twenty-nine in number—are connected by a very interesting and well ■written account of the author’s personal experience as a colonist, and of what he has seen occurring around him in Otago during the last quarter of a century. Although the initial letter only .of the name is usually given, the numerous colonists whose successful careers Mr. Adam has sketched, will be easily identified by many of the Otago readers of the book. The writer has treated this rather difficult and delicate part of his task with considerable tact and skill, and no one is likely to resent the personal references made throughout the book in illustration of the several subjects under treatment.

Although Mr. Adam’s work is intended for Home readers, it cannot but prove of interest to many already settled in Otago. The reminiscences of the early days of the settlement, with which the book abounds, are especially interesting. It is extremely difficult to identify the Dunedin of 1874 with the Dunedin of the olden times. No one but a very old identity could believe that the site of the Empire Hotel, in High Street, could have been the place referred to in the following account of Primitive House Building:—

Two days after the selection of town land, I applied for the lease of a quarter acre. I was too poor to purchase, and Captain Cargill gave me a temporary lease of a section at £4 per annum. As my family were anxious to leave the ship, I engaged two Natives to help me to build a house at 3s. a day, and sent them at once to the swamp for a boat-load of grass to thatch the roof and side. On my leasehold there was a clump of maple trees, but before cutting them down I stretched a line through them for the ground plan of the house ; trees which coincided with this line I left standing, merely cutting off the tops, and those which were out of the line were cut down and put in the line by digging holes. By this novel plan the walls were made strong and substantial, in one day. The Natives then put small wands or wattles across the uprights, about twelve inches apart, fastening them firmly with straps of flax, and over all faced the long grass to the wattles, did the same over the roof, and at the end of four days my house was habitable. I have owned good houses since, but never have I been able to evoke the pleasure and happiness felt on the night my cosy hut was finished. I could not refrain from going out after dark to contemplate its proportions, architecture, and site. There was a difference of two feet in the breadth of the gables, but as no one could see the four corners of the house at once, it was never known to anyone but myself. Next day I went down to the ship to bring up my family. I fear my ■wife must have felt some self-gratula-tion, because she was going direct to her own villa , . . instead of a crowded and uncomfortable barracks. My cottage stood where the Empire, Hotel now stands, with its busy throng of passengers and coaches, but none of my family could see it for trees. The entrance was through a leafy archway from Princes Street, and at the first sight of the rustic cottage, a cry of joy burst from my little girl in my arms and from the rest of my family. Here was a sweet reward for all my labor and toil, for Fwas anxious that their first impressions should be favorable. Tea, the never failing beverage in the bush, was proposed. A fire - was kindled outside, and the kettle hung upon a triangle of poles, while the frying-pan was doing duty lower down. This was the finest repast I ever had. I have often been at public and private dinners, and seen the tables' groaning under the weight of the feast, but these surroundings were wanting. The cottage, apparently in the centre of an impenetrable bush, the shades of evening closing over us, the gipsy encampment round the fire, the happy countenances of, loved ones, the light and shade turned a plain cup of tea into a delightful pic-nic not easily effaced from the memory. Indeed, the romance of emigrant life, in its first stages, was to me so enviable, that if need be I would not hesitate for a moment to pass through all the phases of pioneer life again, which, in my case, was full of hard work, pleasure, profit, and healthful exercise. The rapidity with which I had built my house, its inexpensive materials, and the simplicity of the architecture, procured for me an order for De La Condamine to build him a store, with, dwelling-house attached. This recognition of my abilities led to commissions of a higher order, till I was superseded by Clark and Game, both as architect and builder; but the author has never been superseded in the cheapness of his designs and contracts. The contract for the Condamine store was £5 10s., plans and specifications gratis, and the job paid me well. Four shillings a day was tradesmen’s wages then—not 14s. as now—and I saved money easily. ■