WELLINGTON.

Otago Witness, Issue 60, 10 July 1852, Page 4

WELLINGTON.

s (from the Wellington. Independent.) <

We publish to-day the article from the " Despatch," to which allusion was made in our last. It will be seen that the Editor thinks that the impolicy of the, Colonial .Office, and the high price of Crown Lands, prevent emigration to this Colony ; while the free institutions, not less than the cheap land system, make the United States preferable to Australia and New Zealand as a home for the British emigrant. There is no doubt much truth in the opinion that the mal-practices of the Colonial Office have operated in preventing emigration to this Colony. The existence of a despotic. form of government in New Zealand, and the comparatively high taxation imposed on the settlers by the Principal Agent of the Colonial Office, by and with the advice and consent of his subordinates, have had considerable influence, combined with the high price land system, and vexed land question, iv preventing emigration to this Colony. The absence of a spirit of enterprise, and our consequent slow progress, ■when compared with that of the United States, we are inclined to think is owing -almost exclusively to the absence of Representative Institutions. To feel oneself, as an American does, a component part of the governing body, of the National Sovereignty, is productive of a self-respecting, self-depending, vigorous, and an energetic disposition, which, as it possesses the individual, must become characteristic of the nation. The life, strength, activity, and spirit infused into a man by being called upon to take an active part in all public affairs, and of being consulted on all great occasions, enter into all his transactions and relations, stamp his being with some importance and value, his opinions and acts with some weight and consideration, and directly tend in the mass to create the national character of the Americans, and the prosperity of America.

Longinus has said "liberty produces fine sentiments in men of genius: it invigorates their hopes, excites an honourable emulation, and inspires an ambition and thirst of excelling ; while in free states there are prizes to be gained which are worth disputing, by which means the natural faculties of the orator are sharpened and polished by continual practice, and the liberty of their thoughts shine conspicuously forth in the liberty of their debates." What Longinus says here of the effects of liberty on the natural faculties of the orator, could be said with equal pertinence and truth of the effects of freedom on the whole of the faculties of man.

The deadening influence of the Colonial Office despotism, when compared with the effects of self-government, was witnessed by us years ago on the Canada side of the river Niagara, in comparison with the opposite shore, which was remarked by Earl Durham shortly after, and also by Mrs. Jameson.. At the mouth of Lake Erie stood, on the Canada side, a miserable dirty village, depending on the contraband trade for its support, and dignified if we remember aright, by the name of Waterloo. On the opposite banks stood the city of Buffalo, with its well arranged streets, its museum, its docks and canal, its corporation, its 20,000 inhabitants, and its daily and weekly newspapers. Both enjoyed equal natural advantages — both were inhabited by the Anglo-Saxon race — both were settled about the same period ; but one •was under the American, the other under the Colonial government. The one was governed and taxed by irresponsible gentlemen sitting in Downing-street, or by their aristocratic nominees, agents, and tools ; the other by themselves, or the Representatives of their choice,

But though America is prosperous and powerful, its land abundant, fertile, and cheap, and its government based on the Representative principle, it is still, we contend, unsuited for a true Briton's residence, To him it is a foreign state ; and the difference between MY country and your country is felt and understood by every one who has settled in a foreign land. Patriotism, the love of country, like the love of property, is an instinct of man ; and though it may be cultured, tamed, or confined, it can never be eradicated from the human breast. Be the Englishman ever so rabid a Republican in his native land, he is only to reside a short time ' in America before he exclaims with an uncontrollable emotion—" England, with all thy faults I love the still !" This" sentiment, or passion, which possesses' the' British emigrant ,in the United States, is painful to him, because mingled with ,a sense of loss, a feeling of despondency. In proportion to its strength is the degree of apathy, distaste, or disgust he feels in 'all that national pride, vanity, prosperity, and power, which swells" the heart and loosens the 'tongue of the native born' citizen. But the British settler in a British colony' is a' Briton still. The spirit of patriotism possesses all his actions,' mingles with all his associations, and 'gives a beauty aMlnspiration toiisliearth and heart. He only -requires for his Tidbptecl coun-

try the institutions and privileges of his fathers to niake him equally as prosperous, as happy, and as free.

But there are other reasons why America is ndt a suitable residence for an Englishman. The great heat of its summers, the length and severity of its winters, and the general insalubrity of its climate* are ' Well known ; while the absence of these disadvantages in New Zealand makes this country as a home for an Englishman so preferable of the two. An infatuated Yorkshireman, writing from Illinois to his brother, after speaking of the superabundance of life which prevails in that state, observes, " but if you come here you must make Up your mind occasionally, and for a month or two together, to be laid up with the fever and ague, and to have for a certainty several years knocked off the lease of your life." Abundance he could promise him there, but health and longevity were altogether out of the question.

" How different in this respect is New Zealand ! The mildness and healthiness of its climate from the time of Cook to the present time have been extolled ; and we are fortunate in being able to prove, from data furnished by Dr. Thomson of the 58th Regiment, that the present opinion as to the salubrity of this colony, when compared with any other, is no more than correct. In treating of the advantages of New Zealand as a field for British emigration over that of the United States, we think the question of health is of sufficient importance to justify us in placing before our readers the valuable opinions of Dr. Thomson on the subject.

At the request of Sir George Grey, he -wrote a paper on the climate of New Zealand, from observations drawn from the troops serving in the country, which has been recently published in England : —

" The conclusions arrived at cannot fail," he thinks, "of proving very satisfactory to those who have already fixed their residence here, but the results may also induce others to select New Zealand as their adopted country, when they find, in addition to a fertile soil, that the island is as healthy as Madeira ; and that the climate is found occasionally to check, and without doubt to diminish, the frequency of pectoral consumption — a malady so prevalent and fatal among all classes of persons in Great Britain."

He says the mean temperature of the north island of New Zealand is higher, and the range of the thermometer less, than in England ; and in these respects it would appear, from a table which he subjoins, that the northern part of this island very much resembles the vaunted Madeira. — " The pressure of the air in New Zealand is very similar to what has been observed in London, and is not so great as what occurs at Madeira. The quantity of rain which falls at Auckland and Wellington is apparently very similar ; but during the two years observed, the number of rainy days were more numerous at Auckland than Wellington. The temperature is lower than that of corresponding latitudes in the northern, although not to the extent laid down by Baron Humboldt."

The number of deaths which occurred in the regiments stationed in New Zealand for the year ending March 1850, was 13, or 8j per 1000. The average mortality from disease for that and the preceding year was 8| per 1000 ; while among the soldiers stationed in Great Britain the mean annual mortality from disease is 14 per 1000 ; so that residence in New Zealand saves the lives of five men annually out of every 1000. So far this relates to deaths ; let us see how the case stands as regards the sickness of the troops in Great Britain and New Zealand. Only half the number of persons are attacked with sickness in this, when compared with the parent country. The number of men attacked with fever per 1000 in New Zealand is 13, in Great Britain it is 75. Though the whole of the north island enjoy a remarkable exemption from febrile diseases, Dr. Thomson says : —

" There are fewer attacks of fever at Wellington than Auckland ; a result to be attributed to some local peculiarities, and to the town of Wellington being less crpwded and better drained than Auckland.

" At Auckland, during the autumnal months, when the heat rises frequently nearly to 70 Fahrenheit, people occasionally suffer from bilious fevers of a few days duration, which, are often caused by using a diet too heating for the season.

" From the moisture of the climate it might be supposed that New Zealand was- a country which produced ague, but this is not, the case ; the disease is almost unknown among the natives living in the low, broad, and fertile banks of the Waikato and Waipo rivers. I have often asked Europeans, who have resided for a long time in different parts of the island, if they ever had ague or intermittent fever, and the answer has always been in the negative."

- - Scarlet feVer is ,the only eruptive fever which ; has made' its -appearance ■in this- -colony-; -and

small-pox and measles are still unknown. The number of soldiers affected with consumptive cotaplaints in New Zealand is found to be onethird less than what occurs among the same class of persons living in Great Britain. The mortality produced by diseases of the, lungs in 1850 was 2j men per 1000, while in Great Britain the annual mortality from this disease is nearly 8 per 1000. • Dr. Thomson publishes a table to shew that the number of men per 1000 annually attacked with this disease in Canada and the United Kingdom is 148, Australia 133, and in New Zealand 60. He then proceeds —

" At Malta 18 soldiers per 1000 died every year from all diseases : 129 men are admitted with pectoral complaints out of the same number of men, and 6 died. From what I have learned by the perusal of the reports of the different medical officers, and from what I have observed during nearly three years residence in New Zealand, and from the rarity of pectoral disease among the sons of the missionaries who have been born and brought up in New Zealand, I am quite convinced the low mortality among the troops does not arise from accident, but is a true indication that the European population living in the north island of New Zealand enjoy a remarkable exemption from disease of the lungs, a result which can be attributed to no other cause but the climate, an opinion which is also held by Surgeon Prendergast of the 65th Regiment."

As regards Rheumatic Affections being frequent in this colony, Dr. Thomson says, that the results of two years are opposed to this opinion ; though he is inclined to think that slight rheumatic pains are common. Diseases of the eyes are more frequent, but abcesses and ulcers less frequent than in England.

From a Report drawn up by the Committee of the Statistical Society of London in 1840, we learn from indisputable facts that the Cape of Good Hope was altogether the most healthy country then occupied by British troops ; but Dr. Thomson shows that febrile diseases are six times as frequent and six times as fatal at the Cape of Good Hope as at New Zealand. As regards diseases of the liver, or stomach, there is no country can be found, says our authority, where these affections are less frequent than in this colony. Out of 1000 men 7 are attacked with liver complaints in New Zealand, 15 in Australia, 21 in Malta, and 22 at the Cape of Good Hope. And he proves beyond all question that this island is a better convalescent station thon the Australian continent, the Mediterranean, or Great Britain.

Surely after these facts become widely known in England, and Representative Institutions, and Steam Communication established, — combined with the many advantages which the cheap land or farm system would hold out and confer, — we shall hear no more of Englishmen preferring the United States, Canada, Australia, or any other emigration field, to New Zealand.