NEW ZEALAND A FINE FIELD FOR SETTLERS.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume XIII, Issue 545, 23 January 1868, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND A FINE FIELD FOR SETTLERS.

(From the Money Market Review, Oct. 26. We are very glad to observe that, notwithstanding the check given to enterprise by the crushing effects of the late panic, the energies of the nation are being extensively directed into new fields, where they will be less encumbered by oppressive traditions, and less weighted in running the race of competition which has become the normal condition of existence in all countries. Among these new fields it is satisfactory to see that our great dependency, New Zealand, is at once the most conspicuous and the most promising. It occupies a front rank amongst the undeveloped countries that are inviting the labour and the capital of the older parts of the world. Bich in pastoral, mineral, and agricultural resources, blessed with amazing fertility, and the finest climate in the world, and holding a geographical position analagous to our own in physical and political advantages, it is the very place of all others where industry promises the best reward. Before, however, we refer to the specific advantages presented by New Zealand as a home for settlers, we must say a word upon quite a different topic. New Zealand is becoming the goal of the tourist class. A trip to New Zealand for health and recreation is, it is true, not quite so common as a trip to Switzerland ; but we can forecast the time when it will attract a very large number of tourists. Russia, America, the edges of the frozen oceans, the furthermost parts of India, and the innermost recesses of Central Asia, with the swelteling shores of Africa, have all been “ done/ 5 We are as familiar with the experiences of the tourists who have visited these regions as we are with those who “ do” Switzerland once a year ; and we do not scoff when we say they have become rather worked out. But New Zealand is fresh; it is ever new ; it is new in its geology, its geography, its climate, its fauna, its flora. The physical configuration of the country is calculated to inspire a sense of wonder and admiration even to the jaded perceptions of those who have been everywhere else ; while its political, moral, and religious progress will satisfy rigid inquirers as to the stability of its social condition. It is, therefore, not surprising to hear that the number of temporary visitors to New Zealand is increasing year by year, attracted thither in the cause of science, of relaxation, and of health; and that all who have made the tour concur in a uniform praise of it. We must add that the creation of a tourist class is mainly due to the facilities offered by the Panama, New Zealand, and Australian Royal Mail Company —a company which is not surpassed by any we know for efficiency, punctuality, aud those indispensable access series upon which the comfort and enjoyment of the tourist almost exclusively depend. We may, therefore, fairly recommend New Zealand to tourists, especially to those who may desire to elude the severity of an English winter. A traveller leaving now, or a few weeks hence, will arrive in New Zealand during the warmth and splendour of a summer genial in every sense, and enjoy an atmosphere the most elastic in the world, by which the nerves will be braced and the spirits raised with a natural exhilaration.

But New Zealand is not only a fit field for visitors attracted there by temporary objects. It is also an excellent field, perhaps the best in the world, for permanent settlers ; and it is some compensation for the troubles and anxieties which England haspassed through during the last eighteen or twenty months, in its industrial, commercial, and financial organisations to find that New Zealand is already reaping some, and will reap more, of the iavc uioMiavciuciib jiauGui) enterprise and capital. Much of what we have found to be superfluous in these elements for our present use is being drafted off; and New Zealand is taking a part. But though New Zealand is cordially receiving all we send her in this way, she can take a great deal more, and our countrymen may now reach their new home with as much ease, making allowance for distance, as they can the United States.. You may reach New Zealand in less than fifty days by the route of the Panama New Zealand and Australian Mail 1 Company.

Have tbs British public svsr given ™ due consideration to the very remarlcatle area and superficies of New Zea- ; J[ land ? Have they realised the that it is nearly as large as Great • Britain and Ireland ? H ave they con* ceived the fact that it is 1000 miles in length, with 3000 miles of coast, 200; miles in average breadth, and that its area is 80.000.000 of acres of the finest land in the world ? New Zealand COl’ld n. nonnlfition nf of least five-and-twenty millions upon i*s own pastoral and agricultural At present it has a population of less than a quarter of a million ! For a hundred years to come, and for an in definite period beyond that, it under these circumstances, present a 1 great field for the employment of industry and capital. But to ensure the greatest success, the field should be occupied early. Those who eater it now in the vigour of manhood, and are content to wait for the inevit- JJ able reward of their labour and enterprise, will be the founders of families J not inferior in wealth and consideration to the best in our land. We commend these things to those who are struggling with disappointments here. If unable to contend against fortune in an ungrateful field, let them, without bating one jot of heart or hope, try another ; and a balance of advantages will, both immediately and in the long run, be found on the side of New Zealand.

la speaking of the means of access to this thriving dependency we have referred to the Panama, New Zealand, and Australian Eoyal Mail Company, to which the public are under infinite obligations, inasmuch as it has given us a new route to New Zealand, while it has opened the western coasts of that colony to intercourse, not only along the eastern side of the two American continents, but with the busier and important communities of Canada and the United States. In short, it has opened fully one-half the world to New Zealand and Australia, and immensely facilitated rapidity and safety of communication with the other half. Services su«h as these deserve recognition, and are justly appreciated in Australia and New Zealand. Those who may be contemplating a change of home with a certainty of improving their condition and prospects, cannot fail to perceive that the prime element in any new life of activity and enterprise is quickness of intercommunication. This is now within immediate command, and we expect great fruit from it in due time. The fruit will not be—nor in the nature of things can it be—wholly gained by New Zealand; some of it must come here, for it is the essential quality of commerce, which thrives by celerity of interchange, to enrich all the parties to it.