The Poverty Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. Thursday, September 18, 1879.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 893, 18 September 1879, Page 2

The Poverty Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. Thursday, September 18, 1879.

We hear nothing of the performances of Mr. George McCu.llogh Reed, since he arrived m the Home country as Emigration Agent for New Zealand. He' was to have gone through the agricultural districts of the North of Ireland, where he was to lecture and make such an impression that ere long we were to have shiploads of practical; farmers, bringing with them sufficient capital to buy up, or lease and work many thousands of acres m the North Island districts. Bat we have no word from him. No one knows where he is, or what he is doing, or whether he is not doing anything, which, however, is most likely to be the case. Not so with the Rev. J,oseph Berry, Wesleyan Minister, and one of our most recentlyappointed emigration agents. Mr. Berry was a resident m New Zealand for some eleven or twleve years, and should be intimately acquainted with the great requirements of the country, having been a dweller m many of its more important . centres. Among other places Mr. Berry lived m Auckland for five years, where he was greatly esteemed and respected, not only by the members of his own persuasion, but by all to whom he was- known. He lived for some time m the Hawke's Bay district, and for two years m Canterbury. Of the North Island Mr. Berry ought to speak as one -having authority for doing so. He. has written four articles which have appeared m the Christian World, and which have received considerable attention. The author states his reasons for writing. He says thousands are seeking recent and reliable information about the Colony, and so he addresses himself to those who are looking towards New Zealand for a home. The shape of the country is touched upon first. This of course affects the climate ; it being worthy of* notice that no point of land is more than seventy-five miles from the sea. The average rainfall is less than m. Devonshire ; — more than m London. The country abounds m rivers, brooks, and springs of water. The i climate leaves nothing to be desired. The antipodes of New Zealand ranges from Land's End m Cornwall to, the South of Italy. Other conditions being . equal, the North Island would . resemble Italy m climate ; the South Island would be somewhat warmer than Cornwall The coldest pai*t of New Zealand, we are told, is four degrees warmer than London ; and yet London has July days as not as the hottest days m New Zealand. Its winter is called the charm of the Colony. During his residence here, Mr. Berry states he never^ saw ice which would bear a child ; nor snow three inches deep, except on the mountains. Deep snow and thick ice, he says, may be found m the extreme South, but not often, and no settler need go there. That farming-stock live and prosper m the open air all the year round is made much of. Ne.w Zealand has no rainy season. Rain being m most

pai*ts the chief characteristic of winter, an impression prevails at Home that it rains nmch and often. T&ij! is contradicted. Winter days ai^det3crib~e»as generally clear and bright and just cold enough to be , bracing. Fogs are unknown. The air is so clear as to deceive the eye as to distance. In the North Island dowers bloom all the year round. Bonquets, surpassing those from a green-house m England, may be gathered m the gardens m winter. All English fruits flourish m the Colony, and many- rare and choice fruits are found m great pr&fusion. Now all this may be true enough of Auckland, Poverty Bay, Napier, and other northern settlements, but it should have been explained that such remarks do not apply to the whole of the Colony. Trollope is cited as an authority to our climate, as well as.. Bishop Selwyn. The Rev. J. Buller is referred to also, who, m stating his experience of forty years' residence, says " Droughts are unknown ; floods are rare and local." Mr. Berry, whilst taking exception to the expression about droughts, fully endorses that about floods. We only hope they may for the future be as rare as the rev. gentlemen thinks them. We are told that New Zealand is probably the healthiest country m the world. Its death-rate is remarkably small, compared with that other countries, and some figures are quoted from " Thomson's New Zealand " m proof of this. Thousands of people now m the Colony living and enjoying life would have been m their graves long ago had they remained m Great JBritian. People are warned against expecting miracles m .this direction ; and the sending out of almost hopeless invalids is deprecated. Mr. Berry inveighs against the dread of "loss of comforts," which some people fancy is incident to becoming colonists. He holds up the superior climatic advantages, the increase of income, the iinpossiblity of finding remunerative employment for families as they grow up, and numerous other advantages to be gained by coming out." All this is very nice and pleasant- to read, but Mr. Berry omits to state that New Zealand is tfli heaviest taxed country m the world ; that we have for years been depending upon borrowed money for. the prosecution of public works, and that when the borrowing ceases which soon it must, there will be thousands of men out of employment, as there are many hundreds just now • and that for the present we do not want any more immigrants ; but then Mr. Berry must do something for his six hundred a year, and he has done by only giving one coloring to New Zealaud and that so favorable as to lead strangers to the belief that it has no two sides.

Thb District Court opened this morning at half -past 10 o'clock, .District Judge Kenny presiding* The Court was constituted some six months back, but today is the first one m which any Disu ict Court business has been g<iie into When His Honor took his aeat ou the Bench, Mr. Cuff, as the senior mem bur present, presumed the respects uf the members of the Bar, aim t. usu-d thai His Honor would tind the bar willing at all times to work with him m the due futheranue of justice. He «as sure his brothers of the Bar felt tuar tli«y would have no difficulty iv bringing any business before the Court whicii was presided over by so able a Judge. His Honor replied by acknowledging the compliment which had been paiu him, aud for which he desired the gentlemen present to accept his warmest thanks. He had always been treated with thu greatest consideration by gentlemen of the Bar, and he felt well asßured that the most cordial relations would continue to exist between them. The Court having been duly opened, and an apology from certain members of the Bar, for not appealing m barristers' costume, having been accepted, the jury roll was called over, and after a little stiff working of the new machinery of the Court, a jury was empmnelled. There was only one defended case, that of Tucker i>emis the Trustees of Capt. Read's Estate, which was by mutual arrangement allowed to stand over until to-morrow. The only charge on the criminal side was Ratolipfe (Trustee m Bankruptcy) versus Peter Sorry, for fraudulently concealing property contrary to the " Fradnlent Bankruptcy Act, 1878," to which the defendant having surrendered to his bail, pleaded "not guilty."