ULTIMA THULE;

New Zealander, Volume 10, Issue 886, 11 October 1854, Page 3

ULTIMA THULE;

OR THOUGHTS SUGGESTED ISY X RESIDENCE IX StW ZEALAND. UV T. CIIOI.MONDEI.EY. Nine tenths of the emigrating population fixing their attention upon Australia, New Zealand is comparatively neglected. Mr. Cholmondeley calls attention to that growing colony, which he considers to be the best of any for the man of capital or skill; for the [farmer, or "for agriculture, if a man understands agriculture,—though the warm winters arc a drawback, the land not getting into goodfosorf, owing to the absence of hard frost. But our author impresses upon his readers as a general rule applicable to almost every Englishman, the vast superiority of the. country, which so many are without due reflection leaving, over any other country, whether in the Old or New World. It may be the pressure of adverse, circumstances; it may be, in some instances, merely some temporary pique or dissatisfaction, which causes a citizen in emigrating from this country, to depreciate its extraordinary advantages, and to extol the country to which his thoughts are directed. Yet it will be found that even such a one, before many months have passed over his head in a new country, will recur with regret tmd passionate affection to the glorious land of his birth. He can then the better appreciate its blessings when he begins to feel their absence. This country lias for more than a thousand years been working its way to its present position, "and that for that decade of centuries the progress of its destiny has been confided by Providence to a succession of the greatest of men. What individual labour has it not cost—what thought, what care, to tame and s..upc the Uritish islands into a civilized commonwealth, the greatest boast of which is that there is equal law for all its inhabitants? Let us add the gradual effect of iostitutioi s, the magnificence of which is tho wonder of the world. It is, therefore, necessary as a tirst step, before presuming to offer either ii formation or advice to one who leaves such a country, to warn him plainly that he will never look upon its like again. Thus prepared, the emigrant will meet his difficulties in better spirit than he otherwise would, and have less trouble and vexation in overcoming them. There is a good deal of matter in this volume the result of actual observation,

with same pictures drawn direct from life. Ftf land, and clearing it, is one. Clearing the Fern Land. " Where the fern grows luxuriantly, it is a toler* ably sure indication of a good soil beneath. I have seen it ten or twelve feet in height, and of such a tangled and nat-cd growth as to be perfectly impc* netrable. On a fine summer night the effect of a fire raging over such a country is extremely fine. It completely d< strays the upper growth of the fern, burning it down to the very ground, which it leaves covered with a thick crust of ashes. It does not, I owevcr, in ill 3 smallest degree further the removal o. tiic uiKhr.'round growth or roo, for the fern springs stroi g;r than ever after a lire. 'I he strongest ploughs, the stoutest teams of horses or oxen, may he fairly tired out and beaten in the futile attempt to cut through or rather to tear up the bed of fernroot"beneath the ground. These roots sometimes run to a depth of two feet It requires repeated ploughings to break up the surface. If this is continually done, the under roots at length die away. The upper roots are collected into heaps and burned, for the purpose of enriching the ground, which is often very much exhausted by the fern, which it had had to support in such immense quantities. Fern land is, in the opinion of good judges, most decidedly inferior to forest or bush land. The crop which ft yields to the husbandman is smaller, and it requires a renewal and refreshment sooner. In some places, where it appears impossible to force the plough through the fern-root, grass seeds are sown, a»d the growth of grass and fern is again and again burnt off as often as possible. Under this process, it is observed that the fern gradually dies away, and the grass takes its place." Classes of Society in a Colony.

u The prospect of sheep-farming in New Zealand tends to introduce a superior class of colonists; and who arc they likely to lie, and whence do these valuable men proceed? The highest and lowest classes of Knglisli society are generally to be f.jund together, both in England and in the Colonies. Ihe middle class are the real exclusives; their reason probably being a feeling that they are worth more than the others—that they have more to lose by failure, and move to gain by success. They aie brought up to businesslike habits, and are very knowing in money matters. Such are the people who have made England so rich and comfortable a country as she isFarmers, tradesmen, and small country and town gentry—they are great middlemen, advancers, traffickers, managers ; they virtually govern, often without ostensibly directing; they work hard, but not a* the servants of others. It is strange, indeed, to speak of the two great extremes of English society, the upper and lower, as being so intimately allied tog ther; but this at least is true, that our aristocracy and peasantry are much more closely bound together by common tastes. In general and by continued intercourse, than either can ever be vi.h the great middle class, which overrides them both, and which adopts and assimilates into itself all the successful thrift of the nation. It is principally from this class that men proceed in a condition to take up and stock waste lands adapted for pasture. In the hands of these the available wealth of the country is to be looked f >t. Possessions and property are elsewhere, but hardly and seldom ready unencumbered wealth. Gentlemen colonists are almost universally poor, sometimes even discreditable, luckless, generally of a certain pretension, and an assuming manner, which sec ins to throw out a challenge to the far more acuto, persevering and wealthy man of business; as much as to say—'You are very substantial, and I am almost ragged, (a half-paid official perhaps), and yet, mark yor, there is not a soul does not recognize in me something you have not, and never can have, which pleases them, &c* The gentleman generally g.ies out to a colony for something good—a Government situation in short. The man of business is certainly desirons to get everything and anything he can : but there is much to which he is too sensible t > aspire."