EXTRACT FROM A LETTER, DATED MOLLINEUX, NEW ZEALAND, March 1850.

Otago Witness, Issue 16, 6 September 1851, Page 4

EXTRACT FROM A LETTER, DATED MOLLINEUX, NEW ZEALAND, March 1850.

I wrote you a few lines in January, informing ! you of our safe arrival in this far-off land, after i a passage of 104 days, having sailed on the 12th September 1849, and landed at Port Chalmers on Christmas-day. Since that period I have been knocking about all. over the country, and have examined the whole of the Company's block from end to end, — a feat not hitherto accomplished by any of the settlers who have come here, or, I believe; I may say," by any of the Company's agents themselves. The truth was, that on arriving at Dunedin, I could get so little information either from the employers or through any other source, regarding the interior of the country, that I at once determined to start, and examine everything with mine own eyes, and then judge as to the best spot on which, to pitch my tent. Before, however, giving any narration of my journey into the interior I must give you some little account of the country around Dunedin, in the neighbourhood of which lie the suburban sections*, say within ten or twelve miles of the chalked-pff land for .the town. Port Chalmers, the only present seaport of the settlement, is most beautifully situate in a small bay, and, in my opinion, ought to have been the site of the town. It is distant from Dunedin about nine miles, the country being all forest, or what is here called " bush." The sail up the arm of the sea, here called a river, is certainly very beautiful, until you come within sight of Dunedin, when one of the coldest, bleakest, and most wretched-looking countries opens out upon you that you could well behold. The site of Dunedin itself is actually pitched upon a mass of hills, having such deep gullies between them, that nothing save an earthquake coming to level them could ever make it suitable for the site of a town ; early jobbing or ignorance and mismanagement, gained the day, and the poor settlers are now reaping the consequences. " The theory of concentration and contiguity," so urgently upheld by the leaders in this settlement, by inducing the early comers to take up their abode near the toM'n, has proved, and will continue to prove, eminently ruinous to the colony, so long as such fatal counsel is allowed to bear paramount sway. To give you some idea how the scheme works, I shall take, for instance, the position of any or all of the settlers now carrying on their operations near the town. The generality of the most respectable emigrants who come out are supposed to bring with them from £150 to £250 in cash. Of this sum £100 go to pay the heavy expenses of living in the town with their families until they can get a house upon their suburban section ; next comes the expense of transport of their goods and chattels over a country where roads were promised, but where none exist; erecting their house where all the timber has to be brought from a distance, and with a multitude of other outlays, all of which, when subtracted from his reduced capital, must evidently leave hint but a very small sum to commence his cultivation of the poorest land on the whole block. "Where, now, are his means for purchase of a few cows to breed stock from, the principal return you can expect to get for your money«in this country.% But let us take the more fortunate instances, where the settlers have, perhaps, either had a lai'ger capital, or, having managed more economically, have succeeded in buying a few head of cattle. The result has been, that some half-a-dozen of these individuals have, by overstocking the suburban districts with their cattle, been compelled, with their diminished means, to move inland, in order that their beasts should not starve in winter. How different would have been the position of all these settlers had they, on first landing, been recommended to proceed at once to their rural sections, instead of frittering away their means and time in attempts so evidently to prove abortive ! The consequence of all this has been that the Otago settlement may thus far be said to have proved a complete failure ; and, excepting our acquaintance A , I hardly think that there is another man in the colony who has done any good. I do not by all this mean to say anything against the country, climate, or soil; for nature,* of a truth, has done everything for us in these respects, and all would have done well, had the selfishness of man not stepped between to mar the fair prospect. Seeing all these blunders before me, and willing to profit by the dearlybought experience of others, I determined at, once to avoid the rock they split upon, arid-re-move far from the danger, while yet I had the means. It was for this reason,, that with a Maorie for my guide, my compass in pocket, provisions and blankets on my back, I started for the interior, and although I went through some hard fagging, and rough work, I believe I shall have no reason eventually to regret the step I took. On starting from Dunedin, I struck at once across the range of hills which

hem in that part of the coast, and got down upon the Taieri plain, and - thence steered my course for the Tokomairiro plain, and crossing another range of hills covered with the most beautiful pasturage for sheep I ever beheld, we came down upon the Mollineux district, which is by far the finest country in the block, and the country to which future emigrants must come, unless they wish to starve on the barren hills and swamps which surround Dunedin. The Taieri plain, and Tokomairiro also, no doubt contain much good pasturage on the ranges surrounding them, but the plains themselves are too wet for any immediate use, and could only be brought into cultivation, after an expense far beyond the means of a young colony. The Molineux district, if you look on the map, is bounded on the north by the Matau river, and on the south by a high range of hills which are supposed to run as far as the west coast; between these two boundaries it is generally admitted by those who have seen it, lies the really fine country of the block, and which I should say could not^be-swpassed in any country, either for agricultural or pastoral purposes. In fact, if hereafter it be found that something can be done to improve or do away with the bar at the mouth of the Mollineux river, I have not a doubt that the district will yet knock the Dunedin district on the head. All we want down here are roads, and emigrants to stock the country, and then we are sure to go a-head. If a man can begin with 400 or 500 sheep, his fortune is made in five or six years as certainly as the ground exists on which he stands. For the cultivation of grain for sale the country is not yet sufficiently advanced, and while without roads, it can only answer as far as he requires for his own consumption. The soil throughout the whole, of this part of New Zealand, except on the banks of the rivers, is I generally of one character. On the surface of the woodlands;-thea-e is generally from three to seven inches of line vegetable mouldgwith a subsoil of light sandy clay. On the grasslands there are but a very few inches^ of vegetable mould, but the clay is stronger, and, where brought under cultivation, would, after a time, become very fine "land for wheat and other kinds of grain. On the banks of the Mollineux, there is as rich land as is perhaps to be found in the universe ; in some places you have a foot of rich vegetable mould, with a subsoil of alluvial deposit of a couple of feet, and before coming to the clay a stratum of gravel, which, allowing the moisture to filter through, keeps the land dry, and causing a vegetation surpassing belief. Inclosed I send you a drawing of the river taken from the map which you have at hpme, and as I have marked off the section I have chosen on the banks of ,the Matau river, you will know exactly where I am located. It contains about thirty acres of beautiful timber, and about twenty of clear land, and all of the finest quality. To reach the station, I was obliged to charter a schooner, and hard work we have had to land our goods on the beach, after which we had to get them taken over the bar into the river, and landed again on the beach inside. At present I am engaged in taking them up the river in our own boat, a distance of about twenty miles, to my station. I have left F. and ~W. in a house on the beach, waiting the arrival of the schooner, which stood off to the southward on account of its coming on to blow fresh, while she was lying in the bay, and as the wind has not yet enabled her to return, it may be some time before we shall have all our troops stowed away at my place. I have already made three trips up the river, taking about a ton at a time ; so that allowing me three days for each trip, I have plenty of boat work before ere I can begin making even a temporary house for the winter. Sandy and other two men I have got to man th*» v . and, as I have explored the river ' v ".an steer her safely through all difficui.^'B. The expense of this is considerable, but once done it is over for ever. I calculate that the bringing of our things from Dunedin will cost from £60 to £70 ; but on the other hand it is a consolation to think that, had we been detained at Dunedin for a few months, all this and more would have been spent,, and to no purpose. Of course my first object, after getting everything up, will be to i erect a temporary bark hut for the winter ; see to clear and get ready as much land as I shall I require for autumn sowing, and then trust to ' Providence for the rest. As I have no conve.nience in the shape- of a table for writing 0n,. 1 cannot undertake to write^p others at home, so you must tell them that wily shall hear from me when I get room to move, my present desk ; being a board laid across a bag of flour, with ■ the ground for a chair. My next letter, I hope, ! will give you some account of my property, : which, so far, -pleases me beyond anything I have yet seen. A small steamer on the river, and the bar improved at the entrance, would be the making of this place, but we must yet wait some time for this grand step in advance. In

the crude state of things at present, we shall have some difficulty in getting our letters from Dunedin, but one or two settlers coining here would enable us to establish a bagman) -to take and fetch our letters. The distance.from home is the onlg drawback this country, but if the steamers are got up between New Holland and India, .we shall not be much worse off than people living far up the country in India. My health is firstrate, indeed better than it has been for years, notwithstanding that I am bushing it six nights out of seven. The climate is not nearly so hot as represented, but from what I have seen, superior by far to our own at home. ~ __** The Quickest Voyage Across the Atlantic—The last trip of the Royal Mail steam ship " Asia " was the quickest-oriWßever made between New York and Liverpool. Her run of last summer to the Mersey, on which occasion she steamed past the Rock Lighthouse at midnight on the Saturday, had previously stood unrivalled, being one hour and twenty minutes less than the finest passage of the United States mail-steamer the "Atlantic;" but the "Asia" has now beaten even herself, fully justifying her claim to be the fleetest existing ocean steam ship. Prom New York on the 18th ult. she cleared precisely at mid-day, but- shortly afterwards stoj>ped her engines to repair damage received by her wheels on a collision with the wharf. Fifty-"fi ve minutes were thus lost ; and she finally started on her voyage shortly before '2 P.M. During her subsequent passage she experienced variable weather, with frequent' strong breezes from the westward, and on Friday, at 10 p.m., made Cape Clear, having steamed from land to land in little mof c than nine days. Holyhead was passed, unobserved by the marine telegraph, at 4 P.M., on Saturday last, and at half-past nine her guns saluted the town, exciting general surprise and universal gratification as regards the celerity of her passage. On two days she steamed a distance seldom equalled hitherto in the annals of ocean steaming ; running on the 25th, 26th, and 27th ultimo, respectively 328, 331, and 300 miles. Her passage reckoned to mean time, and deducting 44 minutes loss of New York, repairing floats, may be reckoned as 10 days 4 hours and 5 minutes ; or 2 hours and 55 minutes less than the fastest summer passage ; 4 hours and 15 minutes less than the United States mail steamers' fastest passage eastward ; and about 5 hours and 20 minutes less than the remarkable summer run of the " Pacific " out to New York. According to the " New York Home Journal," a school-fellow of Jenny Lind, a Swede, who is now a humble cabinet-maker at Brooklyn, claimed acquaintance with the fair songstress on her visit to New York. She recognised him ; twice went and visited his wife and family; on the second visit the man was not at home, but the accomplished visitor gave to the wife a note for him : he opened it on his return ; it contained a sweetly worded request that he would allow her to give to his children a memento of their father's school-friendship with Jenny Lind. The "memento" was a cheque for ten thousand dollars. The suspension-bridge between the Pimlico shore and the Battersea Park shore of the Thames has been commenced. The first piles were driven in January last.