REVIEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 878, 26 September 1868, Page 9

REVIEWS.

The Province of Otago, in New Zealand: its Progress, Present Condition, Resources, and Prospects. Published by authority of the Provincial Government. Bvo, pp 70, with map of Otago. Dunedin, IS6B.

The author of this treatise has condensed a large amount of information with respect to Otago in a very readable manner. Old residents in the Province will find a good deal in it of which they are probably not aware at the present time, -while the foreign reader — for whose use it ia intended — will not be discouraged from its perusal by a barren array of facts and figures. Indeed, if the author has committed a fault, it consists in the common fault of the artist who is engaged to paint a portrait. The face and figure are not wanting in accuracy ; any one may recognise the likeness ; but those who know the original best may be inclined to think that the complexion is a little too fresh and the hair a little too curly. In the present case, it would not perhaps be easy for any author, writing under authority, to avoid a mistake of this kind. Putting aside the object of the work itself, the interest •which its author would naturally take in bis task would lead him to write enthusiastically. The impression left upon the mind of the reader is that Otago must be about the finest country in the world, and its inhabitants the happiest and most contented. The climate is of all climates the most healthy — the soil is tropically fertile — the scenery enchanting — the productions varied — the resources unlimited. "We can almost fancy ourselves reading an account of Borne tropical island, where the European trader is troubled neither by cannibal natives nor by yellow fever, and where the rarest productions of nature flourish in profusion. "Peaches and ' apricotß thrive, even in Dunedin and near the coast, in well-sheltered gardens ; and in the -wanner interior districts the finest possible fruit of these descriptions — rich, juicy, and luscious— is grown in the open air, often so loading young trees of four or five years' growth, as to lay the branches prostrate on the earth. Even the grape grows freely in the open air in some parts of Otago The oak, the elm, the plane-tree or sycamore, the ash, the -walnut, the elder, and all the other forest trees and shrubs of the mother country, flourish side by side with the quick-growing acacias and gum-trees of Australia, and the graceful pines and wide-spreading beeches and the beautiful shrubs of New Zealand. So, too, with flowering plants. The rose and the laburnum intermingle their blossoms with those of the clianthus and the mimosa ; the English primrose and the Scottish blue bell nestle amidst lovely New Zealand feme; the modest gowan mingles with sweet-scented native heather; honeysuckles twine around cottage-porches in company with the native clematis and the thick-spreading native convolvulus ; and fragrant violets bloom beneath, the shade of picturesque palm-trees. So genial is the climate that the primrose and the violets flower twice a year in Otago." We have no doubt whatever that, as the author remarks in his preface, every one of these statements is supported by official and documentary evidence, and verified by personal observation and enquiry. The only difficulty we have is this : The object of the work being to promote immigration to Otago, how far will it assist the intending emigrant to decide upon Otago in preference to any other Province 1 The author seems to us to have overlooked this fundamental consideration. If Otago were a country in itself, no objection of the kind could be raised. But Otago is only one of nine or ten Provinces, each of which is prepared to make very similar statements with regard to its climate, soil, productions, and prosperity. TheTe would have been little difficulty in showing that Ota<?o has decidedly higher claims to the consideration of the intending emigrant than any other Province of New Zealand. The statistics of the various Provinces would demonstrate that fact in a moment, The great commercial superiority of Otago in particular, should not have been overlooked, and on that ground alone a conclusive argument might have been addressed to the reader. But we have no desire to find fault with the author of a very creditable production, who writes well and at the same time displays no little amount of industry in the ungrateful task of compilation.

Chips from a Rough Log kept on hoard the good drip Parisian. By Hamilton D. Gundry. Bvo, pp 146. London, 1868 This is the title of a neat little volume published for the author by-Hotten of Piccadilly, the printing smd "binding of which do credit to that well-known establishment. Mr Gundry, who iB now an pta#Q sßtttar, Housed, his Jejsure ]}°W

fat sea by keeping a diary; and as he voyaged over a very greatdistance — having sailed from. London to Otago, thence to San Francisc© and Puget Sound, and* back again to Otago — the diary possesses more interest than ia usually the case with such compilations. All' of us who have been to sea in clipper ships will recognise familiar pictures in Mr (Sundry's chatty descriptions of ocean life. The trip from London to Otajo was a pleasant one ; the passengers were determined to enjoy themselves ; every practicable species of amusement was got up among them ; and in all, we imagine, Mr Gundry took a leading part. The voyage was without any remarkable incident. On reaching Otago, in January 1866, the auihor says :—: —

I found Dunedin much improved since my last visit in '54. _ Since then, gold was discovered in the neighbourhood ; the consequence was an enormous rush to this place from other parts of New Zealand and Aubtralia. Large hotels and shops were built, the streets were paved, and Dunedin was, as if by magic, Buddenly converted into a firstclass colonial city. Then came a reaction ; the yield of gold was not found as plentiful as was anticipated, emigration took the place of immigration, and the buildings, which would not disgrace Melbourne itself, remain as votive offerings to Plutus.

After a hurried visit to San Francisco, Puget Sound, and Vancouver's Island, we find ourselves at sea again, on the way back to Otago. The Parisian sprung a leak in the early part of the voyage, and the captain made for Otaheite to repair. The harbour of Papeete having been found with some difficulty, steps were then taken to stop the leak. This was done, not by docking the ship, but by means of native divers. The description of this scene is interesting :—: —

Early this moraing, four experienced divers were sent down to discover the leak. 1 had heard much of the natives of the Polynesian Islands, as being strong and graceful swimmers, but I was hardly prepared for the wonderful exhibition of skill which 1 witnessed this morning. After takicg a long inspiration of air, by a dextrous movement of the hands and feet, they sink a short distance, then gracefully turn themselves so as to go down head foremost, and the water being very clear, we could plainly see them swimming along the side of the ship feeling for the leak. By one o'clock the faulty spot was discovered, and the divers, taking down some pieces of wood, thrust them into the hole. On the following morning, under the directions of a European, they proceeded to caulk and nail a sheet of copper over the defective places. The ciulking was effected with cotton, tightly driven into the seams with a hammer ; over this was nailed a sheet of copper, backed with felt. The divers descended with hammer and nails in turn, each generally managing to drive in two. Then other smaller places were also found, and these were treated in the same manner. When they had finished their job. the white man went down to examine it ; he reported it as being well done, which our subsequent experience verified. This method cost the captain less than dry docking or beaching, as he only paid the divers two dollars a day, and twenty dollars premium for discovering the leak."

The reader can hardly close this little book without a strong impression that it 3 author would make a pleasant fellowpassenger on a long voyage. We have liveliness and good humour in # every page ; our ears are filled with comic choruses and negro melodies ; we wake in the morning without headaches, and linger over the usual "nip" before we ro'ire to our berths. Voyages of this description musfc be pleasant to look back upon.

A Letter to His Honour W. Bolleston, Esq., Superintendent of Canterbury, on Popular Education. ~by Charles Fraser, M.A., F.G.S., Minister of St Andrew's Church, Christchurch. Bvo. pp 11 Christchurch, 1668.

Mr F&ASEB puts forth his ideas on the subjecc of Education at an opportune moment. As regards the course of instruction to be adopted, he begins by saying that the foundation of a thorough educational system should be laid in the shape of elementary schools in every district ; that upon this basis, as it were, should be erected what are termed High or Grammar Schools in every town of importance ; and that thus the way shoald be prepared for the establishment of a University. Professional instruction — educational, artistic, military, legal, medical, and theological— should also be provided by the State, when the requirements of the population demand it. A military and naval school might be formed by the joint action of the Australasian Colonies, and such a department ' ought by no means to be overlooked in any comprehensive scheme of education for the colony.' The training of ministers of religion may be left to the several religious bodies, while the training of legal and medical men should be placed in the hands of Professors of the University. Among the various subjects which should be taught at school, Mr ]Frsßey rank* Jfytijral giptory^CM Hu>'

tory, ancient' and tnoderi*~ "Natural Philosophy and Physics — Language — Political Economy — and Logic. He also recommends military drill, which ' ought to be made imperative in every boys' school receiving Government aid'; while calisthenic exercise should be insisted on in every girla' school. In technical education, ' the agricultural would be the first to deserve a special place.'

The maintenance of Schools should be provided for in the first place, by extensive endowments in the shape of land ; and in the second, by a general rate for education. Such ? rate, if equally distributed and economically applied, would be burdensome to none : while parents with large families and Blender means would find ifc less expensive to educate all their children under such a system than it is now to educate one. At the present time, parents sending two, three, or more children to school are virtually taxed in proportion to the size of their families. A general rate would be levied according to the means of the ratepayer, while school-fees, if charged at all, would be comparatively trifling. 'But it would be better to make the schools entirely free, and to pay the teachers in proportion to the number and proficiency of their scholars.' Mr Fraser confesses to a weakness in favour of compulsory education. He considers it an unanswerable argument that 'by no means short of compulsion will education become so generally diffused as the public welfare demands.' He recommends, as a check to the avarice of parents, that no wages should be recoverable at law on account of the services of children under fourteen years of age, who are unable to read and write.

Mr Fraser is strongly opposed to the denominational system. He thinks that the Bchools should be entirely separated I from the churches ; that religious teachi ing should be wholly omitted from ordinary schools, leaving the historical lessons of the Bible — c if it be necessary to make the Bible a schoolbook ' — to be taught precisely as the histories of England, Scotland, or France are taught. Religious teaching should be conducted by ministers of religion, apart from the secular schoolmaster. Such a system does not ignore the claims of religion, or the importance of religious education ; on the contrary, it tends to magnify both. The Church should devote itself to its special work, and refrain from interfering with the work of the educationist. In support of this theorem, Mr Fraser quotes one of Coleridge's happy sayings about the three silent revolutions in modern times — the first, wli6n the professions fell off from the Church ; the second, when Literature fell off from the professions ; the third, when the Press fell off from Literature. Each of these powers, remarks Mr Fraser, became more powerful by the surrender it made; and when a fourth suchrevolution comes to pass — that is, when the schools fall away from the Church — the latter will exert a wider and higher influence than it does at present. Mr Fraaer conoludea his very sensible and interesting pamphlet by saying : ' The establishment of a general rate for the maintenance of a compulsory system of comprehensive but purely secular instruction, would go far to solve all the difficulties — financial, Bocial, and religious — which have hitherto surrounded and embarrassed the subject of, popular education. 5 j