THE PRESENT ASPECT OF NEW PLYMOUTH.

Taranaki Herald, Volume VII, Issue 316, 21 August 1858, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE PRESENT ASPECT OF NEW PLYMOUTH.

The morning after we left Wellington we were off Taranaki, in the loadstead of which settlement we anchored for thirty hours. Of course I went on shore and saw all that could be seen in the lime ; but as " hand-books " are plentiful, I will not indulge in details of geography or statistics in emulation of such works. Suffice it that I rode tlnough " Bell Block," absorbing the view of the countiy, which eminence afforded, and I unhesitatingly pronounce it a lovely place. It is leally painful to be reminded that all the natural advantages which .New Plymouth possesses are counterbalanced by the presence of an overwhelming n.itive population. The little town is full of soldieis, ; not a building is hi piogress ; not a sign of animated business is visible. The settlement possesses the dimentjons of about two English parishes, and throughout its small extent is cultivated into gieen and smiling farms ; but outside the boundary a wide-spreading district of equal capability still fiowns in its native uselessness, for the Maori refus.es to sell. Doubtless the time will come, when English power and perseverance will have lemovcd or improved the human obstacle, that colonisation will be umestricted, and then the country under the shadow of Mount Egmont will be a perfect garden. — Mr Crosbie Ward (in Lyttelton Times, July 17.)