LETTER No. III.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume II, Issue 91, 20 February 1863, Page 2

LETTER No. 111.

To the Editor of the Hawke's Bay Times. 28th day of the 20,000,000 th Moon. From the Moon. Dear Friend, — You see by the date of my letter that I have returned to my delightful home, after having performed my tour throughout the entire empire of China, and through all the kingdoms of Europe, in all of which places I found existing an astonishing amount of information as regards your charming little island ; but I was more particularly struck with the just and correct views which were taken of the state of New Zealand generally, and of Hawke’s Bay in particular, by the English people, the last people in the world who one would suppose to know anything about the matter. Sitting

as I do now upon one of those elevated spots in my dominions which I have heard some of your philosophers affirm to be nothing else than a deep unfathomable chasm, I am enabled, in cool of a summer’s evening, with the sun at his meridian height, to recall many little incidents which occurred in the course of my extensive rambles. But I shall confine myself to those particulars which relate to your own locality, as being most likely to afford you information and pleasure. My friend Palmerston having, as I said in a former letter, resigned, the Minister was more at leisure to converse with me than he would have been but for that event, and we therefore enjoyed many pleasant hours passed in agreeable chat to our mutual instruction. Palmerston asked me on one occasion, as he sipped his half-and-half, whether it was true that the landed aristocracy of Hawke’s Bay had volunteered to lend his successor Bright a couple of millions for the purpose of inducing the Natives of that part to establish a Peace Society, having its head-quarters at a place which I told him I thought you called Waipukerau, or some such very singular name. I said that I believed that statement to be perfectly correct, for those gentlemen were eminent for their love of peace and quietness, in proof of which I assured him that it was the most difficult thing in the world to get them to pull together upon any occasion whatever; and that as for cash, they were so abundantly supplied with that sinew of peace that they had frequently lent immense sums to his Honor the Superintendent to assist him in carrying on that magnificent undertaking which has been long in contemplation, viz., the running of a pierhead or breakwater from Capo Kidnappers in the South to Table Cape in the North, and the filling of this piece reclaimed from the sea. It was proposed to accomplish this very desirable object by removing a mass of hills which now intervene between the port of Napier and the equally important port of Wairoa, some 60 miles further North. By this simple plan, the now most difficult and dangerous road would be rendered perfectly safe, a vast amount of territory would be added to its already incredible extent, and the people of Wairoa, thirsting to open up an overland communication with their brethren of Napier, would at once be able to rush into the outstretched arms of that remarkable people, and finally cement their warm attachment by a general jollification. I believe this scheme owes its origin to the circumstance of the Great Eastern, upon her last visit to Napier having, in consequence of the extreme lowness of the tide, consequent upon my absence in China at the time, just shaved her stern-post as she was gracefully swinging round to her anchors while lying in the Bay. The merchants are in ecstacies at the rapid progress which this useful work is making, and are prepared, immediately upon its completion to raise the price of everything which they sell, and lower the price everything they buy, at least fifty per cent. I was extremely glad thus to be able to afford that most estimable of men, Palmerston, such accurate information upon the subject of the condition and prospects of Hawke’s Bay, in which place he takes a lively interest, as it is his intention, I believe, to rent a considerable tract of country for sheep-farming purposes from Mr. Pienata at an early date. I was still more gratified at the satisfaction he expressed upon my telling him that the merchants of Napier were all princes, and rolled in wealth and luxury, in proof of which I assured him that what could be purchased for a halfpenny anywhere else, could only be procured of these great men for twopence. Thus it became evident at a glance to him that the whole community of Hawke’s Bay must of necessity be very great, notwithstanding that New Zealand io governed by King Pototoe, for that people who could afford to give twopence for what was only worth a halfpenny must of course be on the highest pinnacle of prosperity and enjoyment. I can hardly find words sufficiently expressive to describe to you the delight with which my friend the great statesman received the intelligence of the enlightened and highly advanced state of the government of your Province, when I told him that that Government was composed, and would be always composed, of men of the most highminded principle, alike as remarkable for their enlarged views of things as for their liberality and single-mindedness ; in proof of which I pointed out that it was the custom of these great men to consign every person who disagreed with them to the Devil, to punish with the utmost severity all those individuals who had the audacity to question any of their proceedings. Thus my friend Palmerston became aware that there existed in Hawke’s Bay a state of things the like of

which, judging from his own experience of statesmanship, was never before of in a free country, hut which he nevertheless highly appreciated. Yours, &c.. The Man in the Moon.