ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6807, 21 March 1890, Page 2

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

[From Our London Correspondent.] London, Jan. 31. NEW ZKALAND. The long-promised work on " New Zealand for the Emigrant, Invalid, and Tourist," by Dr Murray Moore, erstwhile of Auckland, but now practising in Liverpool, was published on Tuesday last, by Messrs Sainpaon, Low and Go., and must be pronounced a creditable piece of bookmaking. Dr Moore has shown himself both modeat and sensible. His own views form only a portion of the volume. Ib is in the main made up of judicious extracts from Parliamentary Blue Books, the Government Handbook to the Colony, Consul Griffin's reports and works on the Natives and history of New Zealand by Buller and others. Dr Moore says he originally meant to call his book" Nine Tearß in New Zealand." This, or rather " Nine Tears in Auckland," would have been the better title, as we really learn very little from it about other New Zealand cities. Our author commences with an explanatory preface, in which he piously acknowledges with gratitude the renovation of hislown and Mrs Moore's health, and attributes it (under Providence) to the wonderful climate of Auckland. Chapter I. tells us how to get to New Zealand, and contains useful excerpts from the Government Handbook. Chapter 11. discusses the climate ; and Chapter 111. the natives of New Zealand. Auckland iB described in Chapter IV. j and the mineral springs in Chapter V. Then come descriptions (from various sources) of the Hot Lakes, the volcanic eruption of Tarawera and the Southern Alps, the book winding up with chapters on " Public Works and Institutions," " Productions and Industries," " Social Life in New Zealand," and, finally, " Professional Experiences." SOCIAL LIFS. It is not till we reach the chapter on " Social Life " that we seem to get at Dr Moore's own views. Then, indeed, he does become instructive. "In Mew Zealand," writes the Doctor, "the man who is adaptable to new conditions, and of a sympathetic nature, and who is not too old to learn, will find social life (as I found it) very enjoyable, whether in town or in the country. The reception given to such a one, whether man or woman, combines both English kindness, Australian heartiness, and the readiness to make a new neighbour feel 'at home' thafc is characteristic of the great Republic. Without disparagement to the United States, where Hived for nearly three years among many kind friends, nor to the dear Old Country, from which my heart has never been severed, I can truly say that my wife and I have formed the most genuine, helpful, and, we trust, lifelong friendships in the Colony of New Zealand. We felt, indeed, on quitting its shores for the Old Country that we were leaving home for a cold and strange foreign land. NEW ZEALAND ECCENTRICS. It is only (continues Dr Moore) when one settles down in the Colony for some years that one gets into touch with the residents, and enters fully into the thoughts, ways, and actions of Colonial life. What a chapter I could write on the eccentrics I have met in New Zealand ! What undeveloped geniuses, what utter bores, what strange and queer men and women, still (so far as I know) outside the Whau — or, as it is now politely named, Avondale — Asylum! Perhaps some day I may give my reminiscences, but meantime, forbear. In the course of nine years' residence I have witnessed six change9 of Government, four changes of Native Lands Court policy, wholesale dismissal of Government officers, the Civil Service remodelled, and many unaccountable removals of head officials. In commercial life I have seen the Bank of New Zealand in great trouble, two suicides through losses in land, a tradesman become bankrupt three times, several merchants high in Bociety move down from their grand mansions into cottages, and, finally, some of them leave the Colony at the expense of their friends. I have seen fashionable ladies left destitute widows, and doctors, apparently doing a large busineßß, die leaving their families nearly paupers. " Grass widows " and " grass widowers" abound in New Zealand, and deserted wives have a hard struggle. On the other hand, I have Been a shabbily dressed mechanic, who could not write his own name, bequeath a large fortune to the mo3t noble ends — the relief of the poor and aged. Viewing society as a whole in any of the larger cities of New Zealand, I regard its elements as almost as mixed and shifting a3 those of a western city in America. If an "old identity," a selfmade man, is genuine, honest, and kindhearted, one soon learns to overlook breaches of pronunciation, of dress, and of manners. The newcomer, whether old, young, or middle-aged, should always make the acquaintanceship, and, if possible, the friendship, of some of these Colonists. One thing is much to be admired in these rough diamonds, namely tlieir clesire to give their children the highest education attainable in the Colony, and even, in many cases, send their boys to an English University for a degree, and their girls to London for the season. Nothing could show more plainly than this custom of sending their children Home to finish their education the parents' regard for the best interests of their family, and their deep appreciation of the value of that higher education which had been denied to them by the circumBtance3 o£ their early life. PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCES. Dr Moore's chapter on professional experiences contains the following interesting paragraph. I wonder if any of your readers will be able to " locate " (as the Yankee says) the handsome young doctor who visits England every two or three years in quest of fresh experiences : — " The doctors I knew, who succeeded most rapidly in building up large practices, were young men of pleasing manners, fluent talk, and social accomplishments, who married soon after their arrival into some well-known, perhaps wealthy, local family, and became thoroughly identified with the place. They became almost at once Colonials in freedom of manner and unconventionality of dress. * * * One of the best openings I have seen in good city practices is when a Colonial practitioner is desirous of taking a six or twelve months' holiday in England. Then some new arrival takeß his entire practice as locuni tenens, with permission to remain in the same locality on the return of the owner ; and the loss of patients, if any, is chiefly on the latter's side. Colonial patients like their favourite doctors to visit the Old Country every few years and acquire the newest ideas and inventions."