NELSON AND WELLINGTON.

Colonist, Volume V, Issue 509, 9 September 1862, Page 1

NELSON AND WELLINGTON.

A snug semi-rural, semi-city, semi-land semi-water situation is Nelson, perhaps a little too much of the amphibious. Approaching by a spacious bay, the scenery is highly picturesque. Lofty mountains in its background, rising pile behind pile and peak beyond peak, give a majesty to the whole view, and near, in the foreground, Nelson College, with surrounding comfortable looking residences, attract admiring attention. Nearer, the Episcopal church and steeple perched on a lovely knoll, look down in modest pre-eminence on the level tenements beneath. At foot of a sheltering hill is the wharf, but the harbor is locked in by a long boulder bank of several miles in length; and so appositely does this natural barrier appear to the wondering stranger, that he is almost tempted to exclaim, surely art has wrought this astonishing miracle of an embankment, not nature. At the west only of this remarkable shelter vessels get into harbor, and large ships must await the tides, which run into the basin and through the wharfage with great strength and rapidity.

In our humble opinion Nelson must yield the palm to Wellington as a healthy situation. Notwithstanding so much is said about windy Wellington, yet the breeze of Wellington is preferable to the damp of Nelson. It must be admitted, however, that Nelson residents have done more towards adorning their domiciles than their compeers. The weeping and shady willow grows in especial favor and abundance. Gardens and fruit trees of various kinds, and vineries, serve for the triple purposes of utility, of ornament, and of shelter. Nelsou and suburbs hold the most charming situations of any in all the Australias. The inhabitants will yield to none in general intelligence, and some excel in particular science. The appearance of Nelson and scenery as a whole is far superior to Dunedin, so much bepraised by rhapsodists who mayhap had never previously seen hills 1000 feet high, or sheets of water larger than artificial millponds. Nelson jetty permits ships of 1100 tons to lie alongside close in shore; and although a mile from the city, a good road and railway afford easy communication, and no confusion like as at disorderly Dunedin.

Nelson, notwithstanding its waterlandish position, contains many tasteful buildings, but liko every erection in these colonies, timber, timber, everlasting—no, noperishable timber is the chief substance for the construction, This choice is more remarkable, inasmuch as stone often, bricks always, can be had for the quarrying or making. A wooden house loses half its value in ten years, is of no value in twenty. The terror about shaking earthquakes and all that kind of half-imaginary fears seem to overtoop all considerations of solidity, permanency, or of self-interest itself. Never mind, that is the residents' business. The public offices, the club-house, Scottish church, girls and boys schools, and many goodly stores adorn Nelson. Nothing can surpass the beauty of that little knoll on which is erected the Episcopalian church ; it puts one in mind of the monkish rule in olden times, when churches, monasteries,, abbeys, &c. were always ensconced in the most choice or fertile situations. Again, the College stands in a position little if nothing inferior to that of tho church, is a neat structure, and the cheapness at which education can be obtained in that institution, when compared with Sydney or Melbourne, reflects the highest praise on founders and governors, who know not those three high and mighty potentates, generally written or printed in capitals, being usually considered capital comparisons, namely, L.S.D. The influence of money, like magnetism, pervades all human space. « Why call the miser miserable V Yet Plutus or cash apparently favors some folks, repels and abhors others. Getting money is an art, and by many is magnified to a science. But the keeping of it indicates a greater capability. These three magiciaus have wrought many good works in Nelson. The flourishing condition of the religious denominations, and their admirable scheme of education, warrant this assertion. No human laws are perfect. As for the greater part of modern lawmaking, if any mortal comparison beyond the worst can be imagined, then please apply it. The Nelson education scheme is, however, an exception to the general rule. Every householder not absolute indigent, pays yearly one pound, and also five shillings annually for each child between the ages of four and fourteen, or thereby. No other fees are payable. Oh, brave Nelsonians ! In Nelson College the charges are £8 a year education for out scholars, and board, washing, and all!

The interests of Nelson and Wellington appear so similar and dovetailed into one another, that the prosperity of one is closely assimilated with the prosperity of the other. Within twelve hours full steaming, no real benefits can accrue to the one place which will not be shared bountifully by the other. This position of local affairs seems to be tacitly understood, and fewer petty jealousies accordingly exist between the two than are evinced by bursts of ribald cant not unfrequently read and heard of from various less friendly cities, towns, and papers. Clear as the sun at high twelve, brothers in the light, when not a cloud hovers above the horizon.

Ten thousand pounds worth of chromo recently exported, and a considerable quantity yet on hand; the gold diggings prospering in spite of red-tapism of provincial neglect; and coal—coal, the black diamonds of the earth, the indispensable element of industry, the potent generator of force—coal so likely to turn out of good quality and abundant; —here, then, are found the materials requisite to create true wealth, and many others will follow in course. Oh, rare Nelson \—Gommunicated to Wellington Spectator.

Land, labor, and capital aye the three indispensable elements to success. You might give to" a thousand individuals each a farm of a hundred acres, and supposing them acquainted with agriculture, unless they possessed capital or obtained credit they would starve before they could supply themselves with produce, the fruit of their own exertions. It is the fashion to denounce the frugal and accumulating capitalists; to growl at * old hunks,' who denies himself to increase his store. But he is a much better member of society than the man who spends all he earns, or consumes by anticipation and gets into debt.

Without capital to sustain the poor man while at labor, there would be neither work nor wages for him. Co-operation can do much, but capital is necessary, and it is perfectly practicable for a sort of land, building, and improvement society, by the system of five pound shares, to provide the means necessary to settle industrious families, and if the balance in the bank would not be large, there would be a home redeemed from the wilderness, comfort and abundance.

This presupposes the individuals to be industrious, sober, and saving, and each making the subsistence of his family his first consideration. Almost everything wanted should be raised on the farm, and the surplus sold to meet the repayments spread over a term of ten years. A patch of wheat to be ground into flour, turnips and hay for winter use of cattle, an orchard and kitchen garden, scores of pigs, hundreds of fowls, two or three cows, and a pen of sheep would, in a comparatively short time, be attainable. Eggs, fowls, butter, and bacon are always saleable, and .to persons living on these farms the money price is of secondary importance. If the society purchased a block of land on the liberal terms offered by the government, it could be cut up into sections and sold at cost price. The advantage of proximity of settlement would thus be secured, which involves a gradual rise in the price of property so situated. The method proposed is to make loans on security of the land purchased from the society, to be re-paid, principal and interest, by periodical instalments, the borrower^ securing his life as a collateral security, it is also contemplated to advance money for the purchase of live stock, seed, agricultural implements, and other temporary purposes. We are fully aware that such associations require to be established on sound principles and carefully conducted. There have been failures, as in the scheme of TFergus O'Connor, but the successes have been far more numerous. The British Land Company, the National Freehold .Society, and many others in England, have beta remarkably prosperous, and with the experience gained in the colony from the working of the Building Societies, there- need not be much risk.

Towards the conclusion" of his lecture, Mr. West says:—

CI would emphatically observe with respect to the possession of land without capital that the larger the quantity under conditions of cultivation the more certain the ruin. In fact, land without capital is a millstone about the neck. We had extraordinary instances of this in the old times. The government gave grants of land with the promise of additional grants as the reward of cultivation. Multitudes borrowed money upon their first grants that they might be in a condition to claim the second. Land banks were established, which offered them this assistance at a high rate of interest. The issue was, that many of them lost both their original giants and the extension which had been added; and in one instance, at least, a bank supposed to have been very wealthy, and in which many persons had lodged their fortunes, was broken by the utter failure which overtook these enterprising but mistaken men. It will be so again if an effort be made by any man to advance rashly beyond his capital and means of cultivation.

4 The question remains—shall the opening of the crown lands really benefit the humbler classes ? Will those endowed with wealth come forth to aid them? Will the people who require that help recognise tho economical laws upon which alone it can be granted ? Will they, in asking the aid of their fellow-men, honorably fulfil the necessary conditions? If this be the feeling and the determination—whether the end pan be accomplished by the formal association of a public company, or under individual auspices—there will be many a smiling homestead on the vales and plains of this colony before another ten years shall have passed away.' — Launceston Examiner.