A LITE IN THE BUSH.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVI, Issue 1584, 21 May 1861, Page 4

A LITE IN THE BUSH.

There is very considerable misapprehension in the general mind as to what " A Life in the Bush " means and who are suitable parties for it. It is very generally looked upon as a lifo of toil, hardship, and privation, and doubtless in many cases it is so ; but it is by no means necessarily so in all cases. Call it simply a country life and perhaps it might be better understood. To tho man with very small means and little but his own labour to depend upon for present existence, it is, there can be no doubt; for a time at all events, a life of toil and hardship. But to the man with capital a life in the bush may be as happy and comfortable a state of existence, and as free from hardships and embarassments as any man could wish for. I cannot conceive a more delightful life for a man with, say three thousand pounds, than a bush or country life iv New Zealand. To a man so situated I should say put out -£2000 of your capital at interest to give

you a permanent income of £250 to

£300 per annum. Select a good bush farm of 100 acres in a nice district; do not be over particular whether it cost you 20a., 305., or 405., per acre. It is frequently worth while paying the higher price for land in a good locality which your grand object is to convert into a happy home. Clear a sufficient quantity for a good homestead, surrounded by a

few grass paddocks, and this with all the requisite fencing, a comfortable cottage, the necessary stock may certainly be obtained for your,other thousand pounds. Thus you would be in possession of as beautiful a place as many an old park in England. Tour cattle, horses, sheep, pigs and poultry, your productive garden and orchard, aud with a certain income from the interest of your capital upon which you could live not only with ease and comfort, but with considerable luxury, and without reckoning any profit from your farm, and this with the capital I have named might be obtainable within three years of your setting your foot in the Colony. Of course with a lesser capital say £1000, the same thing might be done in a lesser degree. What is there, even of luxuries, that the most fastidious could not obtain, if he possessed the means. The ordinary expenses of a bush lifo are so moderate that much is left to

obtain comforts which many persons sappose not obtainable in the bush. Be it ■ remembered that £200 in the bush I would be fully equal to £600 in or near Auckland. The various socialities of life ' are kept up, and perhaps with greater sincerity and oertainly less nonsensical etiquette than near town. Newspapers and letters now reach you 40 or 50 miles up the country twice a week. The various periodicals aud publications of

the day monthly from England, the store room well stocked with various commodities for creature comfort, and thus all that a rational man could wish for even in (tn old and fully civilised country. But ihe grand secret is, secure by investment a permanent and safe incomo. If you are a practical farmer, grazier, or possessed of a thorough knowledge of agricultural pursuits, perhaps your capital might be more profitably invested than by merely putting it out at interest. But I am now writing for those whom I suppose

to possess no such knowledge, and who would prefer a life free from the struggle and anxiety attendant upon scrapiug up an income. Thus a man with £3000 may live in the midst of his own property, and possess all the enjoyments and comforts of a oountry gentleman in England worth £20,000. " A Bush Life" is therefore not necessarily a life of toil, hardship and privation.

Old Practical