NEW ZEALAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 66, 21 August 1852, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND.

We copy the following extracts from the " New Zealander," being Governor Hobson's description of the Harbours of New Zealand, and his remarks upon the climate, &c, but moi'e particularly on that of the northern settlement :— •

HARBOURS OF NEW ZEALAND.

Their are numerous fair harbours in New Zealand.— many districts abounding in rich and fertile land — and not a few where facilities of internal water-communication are considerable. But the difficulty has been to find these natural advantages in combination. Referring to the districts already settled, the Bay of Islands, as a haibour, is second to none ; but the country in the immediate neighbourhood is hilly and broken, with but a limited extent of open country available for agricultural purposes. Taranaki has a large extent of excellent land, well watered and beautifully wooded, hut it has no harbour, and abuts upon an open roadstead. "Wellington has a spacious harbour, surrounded by beautiful scenery— but owing to the broken and billy character of the surrounding country, there ia but little available land within a radius of seven or eight miles of the town. The harbour of Nelson is of but second-rate character ; and there, also, the available land about the Settlement is of limited extent ; and, in order to obtain their suburban and country land, the settlers have been compelled to resort to various and distant localities : and both at Wellington and Nelson the facilities of internal watercommunication are inconsiderable. At Canterbury, the harbour is rot of first-rate character ; but the district possesses a vast extent of open available fertile land— covered throughout its whole extent with fine natural grass. But, although at no great distance from the port, these open plains are separated from it by a lofty ridge, which renders the inland communication somewhat difficult and laborious. The Otago district comprises a large extent of fine

open grassy .country, hut its harbour, although sufficiently good for the purposes of the Settlement, is not by any means of first-rate character. But Auckland, iii addition to its excellent harbour — with a second port within six miles on the opposite coast, and the extensive natural facilities of internal communication, which has already been described — has its town, suburban, and country lands in one compact area, and in unbroken continuity. CLIMATE, SEASON FOR FRUITS AND FLOWERS, TEMPERATURE OF THE VARIOUS MONTHS. Compared with an English summer, that of Auckland is but little warmer, though much longer. But the nights in New Zealand are always cool and refreshing, and rest is never lost from the warmth and closeness of the night. It is also much warmer here both in the spring and autumn ; and the winter weather of England, from the middle of November to the middle of March, with its parching easterly winds, cold, fog, and snow, altogether unknown. Snow, indeed, is never seen here ; ice, very thin and very rarely ; and hail is neither common nor destructive. The winter, however, is very wet, but not colder than an English April or October. There is a greater prevalence of high winds, too, than is personally agreeable : but with less wind the climate would not be more healthy. There is most wind in the spring and autumn ; rather less in the summer ; and least of all in winter.

Compared with the climate of Wellington, that of Auckland is a few degrees warmer both in summer and winter : the air here, too, being somewhat more soft and genial. Auckland has less wind than Wellington — but more rain. A better climate than that of either Auckland or Wellington is to be found in the Bay of Plenty, and along the East Coast of the broadest part of the Northern Island where the weather is steadier and more settled, with much less wind and rain.

The Seasons are the reverse of those in England. Spring commences in September ; Summer in December ; Autumn in April ; and Winter iv the middle of June.

In the Summer, during settled weather, n calm commonly prevails until about ten or eleven o'clock in the morning ; the heat is then moderated by a brisk sea breeze from the north, which dies away at sunset.

Fruits, flowers, and vegetables, all thrive w r ell ; but owing perhaps to their more rapid growth, or, it may be that the same amount of care and attention has not yet been paid to the choice of stocks, and to their cultivation and management as in England, the flowers are rather less highly scented, and the fruits and vegetables less highly flavoured than at home. Cultivated flowers blow quickly; their colour is fine, and no word but profusion can describe their quantitj\ Figs, peaches, grapes, and melons, ripen in the open air. Gooseberries and currants succeed better in the south, the climate being colder. Strawberries are in season in November, December, and January ; cherries and gooseberies in January ; apples, pears, plums, peaches, and nectarines in February ; and melons, figs, and grapes, in March and April. The Geranium, Arum, Fuscia, Balsam, Myrtle, Coronella, Hydrangia, Heliotrope, and Gladiola, and Cape Bulbs of every kind, enjoy a vigorous existence in the open air, and roses blow without ceasing.

In the winter, long-continued heavy rain is frequent, and the wet appears even mere excessive than it is, because the paths and bye-roads as yet continue in their natural state, having their clayey surface unformed, unpaved, and undrained. In the intervals between the heavy winter rains, the weather is bright, clear, and bracing, — the growth of grass is scarcely ever checked by the winter cold. — and the Geranium, Stock and Wall Flower, Scarlet Verbana and Daisey, Indian^May, and other flowers, may be seen to blow throughout the coldest season ; and the face of the cultivated country, with its ever' springing pastures, and its ever-green trees, looks as bright and cheerful between the rains—on a sunuy winter's day — as on an English summer landscape. More rain falls in Auckland than in England, taking an average of the whole country. But there aie more fine dry days in Auckland than in the Northern and Western districts of England. Fogs are rarely seen here ; thunder storms are less common and less violent than in England, and lightning, though common, is generally harmless.

The days are an hour shorter in the summer and an hour longer in the winter than in England. Of.twilight there is little or none.

The prevailing winds are the S.W., and the N.E., the latter being always the warmer of the two, but it commonly freshens into a gale. By observers of weather, it is thought that the N.E. gales occur more frequently within a day or two after the full and change of the moon than at any other time. These gales, after blowing for about forty-eight hours, cease suddenly when the wind chops round to the S.W.,

and the weather becomes clear and bright. With the wind at S.W. or S., the weather is commonly steady — settled fine, or settled wet. With the wind at W. or N.W., it is almost al. ways showery, squally, and unsettled. Westerly winds fall in the evening. Occasionally the wind blows from the S.S.E. With the wind in that quarter, the weather is commonly cold, chilly, and wet. A shift of wind usually follows the course of the' sun : when the wind shifts in an opposite direction, settled weather is not expected.

In all seasons, the beauty of the day is in the early morning. At that time, generally, a solemn stillness holds, and a perfect calm prevails : not a sound is heard — not a breath is stirring, as the fays of the rising sun are gently stealing o'er a world at rest. Every object breathes repose; and the peaceful landscape, softly sleeping, suffused with golden light suggests an image of the world before its fall.