"NEW ZEALAND AS IT IS."

Evening Star, Issue 3158, 3 April 1873, Page 3

"NEW ZEALAND AS IT IS."

This is the title of the last of Mr Anthony Trollope’s letters on the Australasian Colonies, which the novelist sends to the London Telegraph. He says : “ One of the consequences of the unfortunate wars in Now Zealand has been the growth of some ill-feeling in the Colony against the governing powers at Home. This feeling, however, seems to be gradually abating. The agricultural and commercial prosperity of the Southern Island, and, indeed, of New Zealand altogether—that prosperity which has given the Colony its character—has been achieved in the Provinces of Otago and Canterbury, where no Maories have disturbed the operations of the white settlers; where the lands have all fallen into the hands of the white man ; where wheat has grown luxuriantly, and the indigenous grasses of the country have been fit for sheep, Otago, the southernmost Province, is the earlier in date; yet, though the senior of Canterbury, is only twenty-three old. It was originally founded as a Scotch settlement intended for Presbyterians. The Scotch element still prevails very strongly in Otago, and it is to be traced in the general prosperity of its settlers, and the excellency of its capital, Dunedin; hut the special or severe Presbyterian element is not continued in any very marked manner. As in Otago, it had been the intention of the founders to establish a Presbyterian settlement, so at Canterbury the first comers had resolved to plant a Colony devoted to the Church of England. With reference to the choice of the North or South Island for intending emigrants to New Zealand, I think the man with capital should go to Canterbury or Otago, thoq)oor man to Auckland or Wellington. It may be remarked of New Zealand generally that the prevalence of artificial grasses, and the consequent division of the land into

comparatively small fields, gives to much of the Colony an appearance far more English than anything that can be found in Australia. The Province contains nearly seventeen millions of acres, nn l of these above eleven millions arc still possessed by the natives. The Europeans hold less than three millions. The remainder consist of waste lands, st'll in the hands of the Government. I found, almost by common consent, that it hardly pays a farmer to grow wheat for the market—the difficulty of carriage and the high price of labor being the stumbling blocks. Great efforts, however, are being made to overcome the latter hindrance by tire construction of railways and roads. The natural baths and warm rivers of New Zealand belong almost exclusively to the Province of Auckland. Mr Trollope says : —I travelled through tho whole district, bathed in numerous natural warm baths, and just escaped being boiled alive in numberless hot ■springs. Before many years have passed roads will he made, coaches and boats will ran, hotels will have been built, and these wonderful lakes will be the thronged resort of tourists. Koto Mahaua is certainly a place of exquisite charms. All round the shores are hot jets of scalding water, scalding steam—and, worse still—scalding mud. As you ’walk among them and hear stories of Maori girls and Maori old men who have been boiled alive, it is impossible to avoid tho reflection that such a fate is open to yourself, I am told that on occasions some of these geysers rise to great altitudes, and I heard of one estimated at 300 feet when in full force. The jets were not doing their best when I visited them; I doubt whether I saw any water thrown 30 feet high.”