NEW PLYMOUTH.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume II, 8 April 1843, Page 227

NEW PLYMOUTH.

[We are very happy, at any time, to receive and publish information relating to the progress and condition of our fellowcountrymen at New Plymouth ; and hope that the following communication will not be the last we shall receive from the same hand. We trust our merchants will not forget the hint which our correspondent has given them, and that the example set by Messrs. Fell and Co. will not want followers at fitting time. — Ed.] To the Editor of the Nelson Examiner. Sir — I observe a notice of New Plymouth, in your journal of the 4th instant, and the expression of a wish for more information respecting the state and prospects of this settlement ; I have therefore thrown together a few facts, which are at your service, if you think them worth printing. During the last ten months, since the arrival of the Company's present Agent, there have been forty-two arrivals of vessels of various sizes, chiefly, however, small craft. All these have been discharged of cargo and passengers without accident or damage of any kind. During some lieavy gales, large vessels have held safely to the moorings, and smaller ones have generally gone to sea ; but the latter class may now find a safe harbour in the Waitera, the entrance to which has been deepened and widened by a recent flood. Bad weather never comes on suddenly in the Taranaki Roadstead, and sufficient time is always given to get vessels away from the coast. These facts, which are now well known to the Port Nicholson merchants, ought to be published also at Nelson ; with which port, I am inclined to think, we are likely to have more intercourse than with Wellington. It is plain that a trip to Nelson must be more easily and" safely accomplished than a passage down the Straits. But, of course, this advantage will not be worth much to Nelson, unless the supply of things useful and desirable is as good there, and the prices as low, as at Port Nicholson. The Company's wages to labouring immigrants will be lowered, after the 1 5th of April, to sixteen shillings a-week, without rations ; but, to prevent some of the hardships attendant on this reduction, the resident Agent has been instructed by Colonel Wakefield ta allow the labourers who have arrived in the last four immigrant ships gratis occupation of town sections (onequarter of an acre each) for two years, with liberty to purchase them at the end of that term for £5 each section. About fifty persons will avail themselves of this permission ; although, I am happy to say, the farmjng settlers are prepared to employ most of them at 3s. 6d. a-day. It is supposed that landowners may cultivate their property with profit on this rate of wages-. Of course, the town sections disposed of in the manner mentioned, are not among the most valuable of the 750 reserved by the Company for sale in the settlement. Preparations are in progress for large crops of barley next year. The lighter lands are very well suited for both barley and oats, and the prospect of a considerable demand for malt, to be used in the Wellington brewery, with the certainty of a large increase of live stock, will,' l think, tend to reduce the cultivation of wheat in favour of oats and barley and Indian corn. There is abundance of excellent timber land, within half an hour's walk from the beach, which may hereafter be cleared and put into wheat. The crop of potatoes in European gardens is so ample that the natives find no sale for their stock ; and, as this source of moneymaking will be soon entirely dried up, it is possible they may turn their attention to flax-cleaning, which at present they rather dislike. The European children can earn more money by bringing in wood, doing odd jobs, and working with their fathers, than by cleaning flax ; so there is little or nothing to say just now about the preparation of the " staple" of New Zealand in this district, formerly noted for producing the most and the best of it. I have seen maps of Nelson, and of the accommodation sections. Your settlement has a rather straggling look, on paper at least, when compared with the compact district of Thranaki. But, if the land is good, and its situation convenient, the want of beauty and regularity in a map is 1 of no consequence, save to those who aim at gulling distant and ignorant speculators. In the meanwhile, you have the incalculable advantage of a safe and sufficient haven. Wishing you all the success you can desire or deserve, I remain, sir, Your obedient servant, A Resident of Taranaki. New Plymouth, Taranaki, March 31.