LIBRARY DISPLAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26709, 2 March 1948, Page 4

LIBRARY DISPLAY

LAST-CENTURY MANUALS ADVICE ON SETTLING IN NEW ZEALAND WARNINGS AND SUGGESTIONS Present-day publicity about New Zealand, Government-sponsored and freely illustrated, is far removed from the information service provided by experts and would-be experts during the earliest days of colonisation. A display now featured at the Public Library provides a fascinating insight into the opinions and schemes of men who wrote emigrant manuals with the object of encouraging British people to come to New Zealand, or of informing them about conditions in the colony. The earliest included in the display was issued by the New Zealand Association in 1837. In these days of shortages and soaring prices, the price list for an emigrant outfit published in 1839 may well arouse the envy of those who are ruefully surveying frayed shirtcuffs and worn sheets and calculating replacement costs. A pair of blankets cost 12s and a pair of sheets 5s 6d. Fustian jackets were 5s 6d each, trousers 4s 3d a pair, shirts 2s each, and towels 7d each. Hob-nailed boots would leave the purchaser 12s 6d change from his proffered £l, and Scottish caps cost only lid each. Paragon Wanted An 1848 manual apparently required the prospective settler to be a paragon of all virtues, a scholar of some repute, a carpenter, engineer and cook, and an expert in self-defence. It sug-

gested that he should, before sailing, acquire a knowledge of French, German. Spanish, mathematics, Surveying, engineering, architecture, veterinary surgery, axemanship, drawing, painting, the art of defence, including fencing and the use of the broadsword, curing meat, rowing, shooting, wrestling, riding, driving and political economy. The languages were presumably included because of the numbers of foreign whalers and sealeis operating in New Zealand waters at the time.

If material were available, there would possibly be many people glad to build a house on the lines suggested in yet another 1848 manual. It was estimated that the cost would be in the vicinity of £5 or £° the emigrant helped himself. Money, including the amount to take and the amount of return which could be expected for an outlay ot capital loomed large in the calculation of all the pamphlet writers. In 1853 the proposing colonial was warned to live frugally at first, bearing in mind the calculation that rummy invested in sheep .or cattle would double itself every third year. Those who had insufficient capital for their needs were as unfortunate as those who had an excess were lucky, according to statistics in an 1857 manual. It was stated that money laid out in either island was worth from 12 per cent, to 25 per cent. It has been suggested recently that aircraft carriers should be used for the transport of emigrants from Great Britain. That this type of suggestion is by no means novel is proved by a pamphlet written in 1870 in which the British Government was urged to use the navy to transport emigrants “in these piping days of peace.” Prevalent Vices The pitfalls of colonial life were not overlooked, as various writers urged would-be settlers to avoid the slovenliness in dress common in New Zealand, the prevalent vices of gambling and swearing and, above all, of “ shouting.” A footnote explained that this last-named evil was a “foolish drinking custom. Half a dozen friends enter an hotel and one after another calls for a drink all round and pays for it —the hotelkeeper usually participating in the debauch.” “A view of the colleges for the Happy Colony to be established in New Zealand by the workmen of Great Britain ” is the caption on a plan drawn by an architect with dreams of Utopia. It shows the colleges set in the centre of a 50-acre circle, and surrounded by baths, conservatories, gardens and cultural institutions. Beyond this central group he visualised an industrial area, with residential settlements on the outskirts.

Much of the proffered advice must have proved worthless and many of the schemes came to naught, but the manuals themselves are a clear indication of the amount of public interest in the new colony and the eagerness of those in a position to do so to assist wherever nossible.