THE COLONIST.

Colonist, Issue 50, 13 April 1858, Page 2

THE COLONIST.

NELSON, TUESDAY, APRIL 13, 1858,

~" As truth is truth, •, ; , " '■ . ■ And,"told by halves, may, from a simple thing By misconstruction to a monster grow, I'll tell the whole truth." :: :

Sheridan Knowles,

Is New Zealand a good place for British emigrants of all classes ? Let us briefly consider this interesting question, with a view to impart some useful information to the friends and kindred who may often send kind remembrances and affectionate greetings from the'white cliffs of dear. Old Albion. Our short answer may first be written in general terms, and then amplified in a few interesting details. Well then, the principal fact that most readily offers an illustration, and a suitable; reply to the question is, that old and young, male and female, gentleman and laborer in this country, whether English or Scotch, Welch or Irish, are most generally" prospering. '

If but few acquire large fortunes, yet nearly all are realising comfort, and very many independence. Some tradespeople have met with reverses, and a few may have tasted the bitters of improvidence, and the stings of the fire-waters; but the main bulk of her Majkstv's lieges, and no inconsiderable number of Germans, are steadily arid continually bettering their condition. The general health of all the settlements, of children or old people, mothers or daughters, fathers or sons, is uncommonly good.. After the formations of the colony, several persons were subject frequently to rheumatism and toothache, but superior clothing, good dwellings, and family comforts having become general, have ameliorated these afflictions* and made them of far rarer occurrence.

If. we cannot boast of the rich alluvial soils of America, if our lands are uneven, and hot remarkable for fruitfulness at first, .still, by careful cultivation, they annually improve. Our clays, with moderate draining and frequent turnings by the spade or plough, under a genial sun and seasonable frosts, become cheeringly prolific. Fern lands, or flax swamps, especially heavily timbered levels, are capable of unlimited produce under a good system of liming,—a species of management which will be more in practice as coal and stone shall be more abundant and less costly. Perhaps, ■ultimately, as we have no exhausting heats or winds," and as we abound in timely rains, this country will prove to be one of the most satisfactory kind when tried throughout a series of years. Had we the treatment of farms more in keeping with the constituents of the ground, and the improvements of the times, we doubt not but that our samples of wheat and potatoes, already excellent; would •speedily challenge competition. The equable warmth of the climate is only surpassed by the vivifying elasticity of the clear air. In the Nelson province particularly, the rains, even in winter, are remarkably regular, without being either excessive or protracted. We have but few really disagreeable days. Fogs are very rare, and thunder scarcely ever violent, or the electric action dangerous. . Indeed, after a residence here of nearly fourteen years, we are at a loss to say which season of the year is most pleasant. The regularity and temperate influence of the weather are generally such as to allow of the mysteries of cheese and butter-making, the curing of excellent pork,' and even bacon "it* self, no less than the brewing of ale and beer, where proper houses are prepared, at every period oftheyeai1. ..,.., \ ~■■■■■ •■<■■ , For superior wool, mutton, and beef; we believe this country to be second to none. Farm poultry, including ducks, geese, turkeys, and the common cocks and hens, thrive well and obtain the best prices. All sorts of fruits—apples, pears, plums, peaches, grapes, strawberries, raspberries, melons, with onions and sundry other bulbous plants, &c, repay most fully the care bestowed upon them; and for quality and preservation they leave nothing to be desired. Singing birds are rare; but some of the feathered tenants,;of our. woods and forests are beautiful. The wild pigeons are large, numerous, and delightful eating. Most of our birds are choice for the table, the tui, paroquet, parrot, (nestor australis) quail, fern-hen (apterix), paradise goose, and! ducks, grey, blue, and brown being of this description. , ;_,'. , Our bays and seas abound with fish of many kinds, several of which are capital. The whales, i and other large gentry of that sort, give many a chase to American boats and English also. They who shoot and hunt for sport or domestic supply may be fully accommodated. As our roads are now very good, especially bur chief trunk lines, and schools and colleges are rapidly rising into consideration, we think respectable parties from Europe will be glad, when they. more accurately know the advantages of New Zealand, to visit its shores. Our recreations are progressing apace. Our literary institutions are beginning to raise their forms into notice. Our social condition may not be the most elevated, but it is certainly of a truly healthy order. Religion, morality, and the amenities of life are equally: cherished, and promise us a desirable future. In all this we paint nothing ; we only state facts.

Omnibuses on our smoothest public ways, and steamers on our seas, are now in daily and regular action. By such means suburban and remote districts are more closely united, and comfortable trips are performed, at little cost of either money or time. The various Provincial Councils^ as well as the General Assembly, are almost equally on the alert to promote the general welfare. Customs and taxes we have,—they are to some good degree the evidences of our civilisation; but all sections of our settlements can control them greatly. Besides, we have sufficient reasons for believing, that they will be less and less in proportion as population increases, the machinery of Government gets into working trim, and public;opinion, through the press and popular institutions, exert their corrective forces. ;

Without the breadth of territory boasted by such vast regions as Australia and America, the boundless scenes of Anglo-Saxon adventure and speculation, where migratoiy hosts incessantly roam', in Indian or Tartar faishion, in search of plunder or novelty, we have enough of virgin wilds' to seduce curiosity to attempt discovery,and to charm' covetous or romantic inquiry. Every place is! secure, and* every fresh spot discloses attractive features. Expectation is daily tempted in quest of gold, lead, platina, copper, and" coal, with numerous other metals that have, already shewn signs of sufficient reward to vigilant; seekers.

Slight earthquakes—^tne merest terrestrial tremors to any but ; the feeble Victims of a nervous self-indulgence—little jars ;and shakes, infinitely less apparent than the

steadiest railway motion, may now and then —-occasionally in a round of years—just rouse observation. But we have no Lisbon horrors, ; no Neapolitan calamities, no West Indian devastations, no South American ''treniblors!", Our worst movement is infinitely less dreadful than ah ordinary English wind sweeping a city, and not more alarming than the vibrations of a loaded;dray, passing quietly on a neighbouring-road. Any person here would only be a laughing-stock were he to talk, with a friday face, about such trifles. The children here- I—bless1—bless them for it—-are only amused by such things, when they happen, once or so in their childhood, to find that their dear mothers have found out something of the kind —in their imaginations. It is true, rickety chimneys,— dislocated by rotten mud, instead of mortar, and their own leaning weight,—and some miserable walls too, have been shoved down, "'but, mostly, they have been such structures as have been much less systematic than other fabrics which earthquakes have often shoved up. We have seen wretched buildings.parting with their foundations, of their own accord as it were, whilst full milkbowls, close by, have not perceptibly stirred thei r cream. In saying this, we presume we shall offend some blessed readers who had far. rather peruse newsy terrors, tales of mountain cities, rocks and forests knocking one another down, than any tame story, however true, about earthquakes so weak and contemptible as to be unable to. bring forth or bury the., vilest-.mouse. .Assuredly our commotions in or upon jthe solid crust of the earth are probably far less than similar ones in and around the home of John Bull ;—and we beg leave to assure that naturally valiant, but. sometimes credulous relation, that when ever it shall please him, for pleasure or profit, to pay his relatives in these parts a visit, he will be laughably surprised in finding, that our most terrible shakes are more like his disturbed dreams, after an agreeable dinner, than anything else; and that, whenever we treated them as such—faint dreams mentioned by him, in public confidence, and transmitted to us by Mr. " Times" his story teller— they, the real shakes have trembled past us, as slightly disturbing visions; but, by the time they have reached him, amidst his island meals and comforts, soft beds and bright warming pans, they ■have become as dreadful as if all the fiends had been let loose at the outside of his rich damask curtains and glorious castle walls. Beloved, jolly, good-natured, lion-hearted Uncle John, don't believe a tithe of the hob-goblin tales your maiden sisters and tender aunts contrive to read to you in order to keep you in their power, and fast to. their apron strings : come over, dear Sir, and see for yourself. By all means come, and be sure to bring your respectable purse—we have lots of gold! Never mind the earthquakes—only think, of the gold; and be sure to bring the Leviathan to take it away!

In a word, and to speak gravely once more, persons with limited means* or fortunes, and all who are industriously disposed, may here succeed, as hundreds and thousands have done already, to an extent highly gratifying. Labor is well re" warded; and land can be had from five shillings or ten shillings per acre up wards, ae'ebrding/to its market value. Any adventurous Briton, who may feel desirous of either improving his property, his health, or his family, may easily risk himself in making one of the safest and most agreeable voyages imaginable, and for ever be thankful for visiting'quiet, rising,and thriving.Nelson.

Russia.—The Czars, have" long -15eeri"celebrated for their despotic waywardness, not less than their irresponsible authority. English and. French papers have had quite a treasure of vituperation in the condition of All the Russias and. their imperial masters. The autocrats, their domination,' and the abject prostration of their dominions, have ever been a living antithesis, spreading out its dimensions over thousands of leagues, to invite the fancy of everyone who would illustrate "our glorious constitution," by contrasting it with the serfs of a Nicholas, or an Alexander. We fear this rich store of popular eloquence is now almost exhausted. The Emperor, like his father, nearly the only emancipator amongst sovereigns, has made arrangements for the emancipation of the peasants in a vast part of Russia. When we consider what extensive lords of vassals his. richer nobles and proprietors are, and what the natural hostility which they offer to liberation must necessarily be, we cannot but regard the imperial liberality, as a gigantic effort in the cause of humanity. The public press, as is often the case, is greatly mistaken as to the present attempt at manumission being the first on the part of the Emperors. It may be so, perhaps, as it respects a large country, but numerous villages, and, if we recollect exactly, at least ten millions of serfs, at different periods, have through the army emerged into comparative liberty, Indeed,, in Russia, they are deemed free '; although, of course, still inferior in their lot to the poor in several other places. But it must not be .disguised that, of all nations, the British have the most reason to fear from this amelioration in the state of the peasantry of Lithuania. The mistress of India may now be on the alert. So long as the Czars increase their armies from the districts of freedom, and make soldiership and improved citizenship synonymous, they can better match our forces man for man. Liberty is an excellent feeder of brawny nature. The breath of a freeman is more expansive and ennobling for war than. auy liohors without its generous self-reliance can ever, possibly become. Feeling more and more the value of home and country, the grey coats will be increasingly formidable as warriors. Fresh domestic endearments, higher civil privileges, ai*l consequent improved fare and energy will supply the British soldier with a foe more worthy of him. We are told that an army of such will most likely confront our forces ere long in China. From German sources we learn that the steamers on the Aral Sea are not idle. It is said they are busy in transporting troops towards the Chinese frontier. English papers are silent oh the subject, but, on account of affronts offered to Russia on the part of the Celestials, it is stated, on no unlikely authority, as is generally supposed on the European Continent, that when the Lion of the Isles shall be in Canton, the Great Bear of the Polar: Snows will be growling within the great wallyif not in the streets of Pekin itself.

Mr. John Bone, farmer, near Dunning, got into"-.pecuniary, difficulties some eighteen years age, and emigrated to Australia. Mr. Boue succeded in the land of his adoption ; and some short time ago he returned to Dunning, called on his creditors, aud paid them the last firthing, wifciueighteen years' interest We are informed that'he also paid some* debts that were owing by his relatives.— Perth Constitutional: