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New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4159, 20 July 1874, Page 2

It is not necessary that we should notice at length the reports that are printed in the Handbook of the various Provinces. These so much resemble each other, that even if the expected immigrants should be philosophers, they would be puzzled. Every descriptive writer was convinced that his respective Province contained respective charms that should prove invincible. Nor do we see in this matter for regret. 'The people amongst whom the Handbook is intended to circulate will observe that a variety of authors, selected on account of their fitness for the work, have been unanimous in their testimony that, any .portion of New Zealand is a very desirable place for emigrants to arrive at! There are general attractions set forth, and also special ones. It is a matter of fact, that in no Handbook to a Colony in Australia has so much that is alluring been set forward. But to proceed. Canterbury is the next on our list; and all that has been said of Otago, could be reiterated with equal truth about this Province. The account of the early settlement of so flourishing a portion of the Colony will be perused with interest in England ; but here it will be sound, not as a twice-told tale, but as one that has been frequently repeated. Pastorally, agriculturally, and mineralogically, the Province has all the elements of greatness within itself. It exports annually a very large amount of wool, there is every facility for farm laborers to become farmers, and if it is not as rich,in timber as other Provinces, it has an abundance of coal that can be sold at the pit mouth for about 12s. per ton. This is of a good quality, and is very fairly adapted for heating purposes, although it is not the best in the market). It has been tested, with favorable results, for steam generating, blacksmiths’ purposes, and gas making. In juxtaposition to it is iron ore of a rich quality, fire clay, quartz sands admirably adapted for glass making, building stones and other treasures of the quarry. Mr. W. Maskell, who prepared the paper, thinks that beet root sugar should bo produced, and also woollen factories established. Yery probably, he is in ignorance of certain facts concerning these industries that are likely to retard their development. The farmers who supply the Continental beet sugar factories with the root at 20s. per ton, take back the pulp for cattle feeding at about Bs. per ton. Here, where beef is not a' 'quarter the price it is there, farmers could not buy the pulp at the price mentioned. Tweed factories are successful because in them refuse wool is used, and the work is done by machinery for the most part. In woollen factories, whore hand-labor must bo largely used, the cost of this acts as a deterrent. The discretion of saying that farmers and others suffer from the high price of labor in the Province is doubtful. Emigrants do not require to bo told that they are wanted to bring down the value of the labor which is their only capital. But parents at Homo, who are accustomed to pay premiums with their children for apprenticeship, will learn with surprise that here the system is vice

versa —that a boy apprenticed to the drapery trade receives 10s. per week the first year, 20s. ditto the second, and from 30s. to 40s. the third. Persons desirous of emigrating will see that Canterbury is an elysium compared with the country their lot has been cast in. The same may bo said of Westland, with the high rate of wages obtaining there, and with the enormous facilities it offers for gold mining, either by individuals working on their own account, or forming themselves into companies. This Province has, also, extensive supples of coal. Marlborough is eminently pastoral and - agricultural, and has a climate that is simply magnificent. Gold is obtained in it, land acquired easily, and it presents great allurements to emigrants. Of Nelson the same may be said, with the addition that it is held to be the garden of the Colony ; its coal is superior in quality to that of New South Wales, and the sportsman may turn out of its capital town and fill his game-bag with pheasants before he has his breakfast. And in all Provinces money invested in land is certain to be recuperative. Land must be worth much more than it is now, but a few years hence.

The Province of Wellington is next described in the Handbook. In alluding to it the writer has been somewhat more diffuse than will seem necessary. The description of the port and City contains much information that may be perused with interest, but when the writer, Sir. H. Anderson, takes his readers out into the country he tells of a number of settlements and towns, and of many blocks of land with Native names to them, the accounts of which very closely resemble each other. Indeed this remark applies to the whole book. There is immense similarity in the reports furnished, and this almost necessarily becomes monotonous reading. Nearly every Province has vast forests of valuable timber, grows phormium in abundance naturally, is blest with fertile soil, great capacities for sheep farming, and offers large facilities for settlers to take up small farms. Also, everywhere roads and railways are being constructed. But if the names in several of the papers were altered, the account of each would do for the other. Coal and gold are usually to be obtained, and there are abundant openings for factories. We need not do more than just allude to Mr. Halcombe’s paper on the Feilding settlement, as particulars respecting this have been so recently published; but it will be read with interest in England. The intending emigrant will rise from the perusal of the paper on the Province of Wellington with the conviction that New Zealand is a very much governed country. Mr. Carllle gives interesting intelligence of the early settlement of Hawke’s Bay, wherein the first traffic with the Natives was for “stinking fish,” purposely to open up trade. We read that the Province is now famous for the wool it produces ; and the Natives are said to be the principal growers of wheat, whilst with their indifferent style of cultivation, “The average yield per acre is scarcely second to that in any Province in the Colony.” There is, as usual, abundance of valuable timber, and laborers are wanted. Of Taranaki Mr. Whitcombe says, that in proportion to its area it contains a greater extent of land suitable for cultivation than any other Province in the Colony ; whilst its bracing yet genial atmosphere, and the noted salubrity of its climate, evidenced by the troops of rosy children, point it out as one of the most eligible settlements the intending emigrant could select for his future home.” In it delicious fruit grows in abundance ; and it has extensive deposits of the famous Taranaki iron sand ; also seams of clay from which excellent bricks are made. Tobacco, fruits, hops, &c., are all to be produced in great perfection in the Province, and also other valued articles of commerce. It offers, says the writer of the paper, “the greatest advantages to the petty capitalists, or small farmer immigrants, of all the Provinces.” But he, with many other writers, warns the emigrants to bring with them as little luggage as possible. The last paper on the list is that by the Rev. R. Kidd and Mr. T. Leys describing the Province of Auckland. About this we have boon given to understand that the Auckland members are somewhat sore ; but their only ground for this that we are able to see is in the fact that the paper is last. In Auckland, we are told, rain fell on 186 days in the year 1872, and on 180 days at Mongonui, 180 miles north. After some allusions to the beautiful and healthy climate, we find the chief causes of deaths amongst adults are stated to be phthisis—known commonly as consumption —heart disease, and apoplexy. After this we are scarcely prepared for the information that the northern portions of the Province 1 ‘ are recommended by medical men for persons suffering from diseases of the lungs. ” Both may be correct, but they are a little contradictory. However, a sanitary table published, seems to demonstrate that the Province is eminently free from fever of a malevolent type. The most interesting statistic concerning the valuable timber trade of the Colony comes from Auckland. On an average the kauri pine trees cut into 6000 to 7000 feet of timber, worth from 9s. Cd. to 11s. Od. per 100 feet. One in particular is instanced which was 40 feet high, 37 feet in circumference, and yielded when “ sawn 22,000 feet of rich mottled kauri, which was sold for £SOO, leaving, after deducting £2OO for expenses connected with cutting the tree and getting it to market, a clear profit of £300.” This wood is valuable for shipbuilding, in which Auckland shines, its vessels being classed in the Gorman Lloyds. In mineral resources the Province is rich. About 100,000 tons of coal have been taken out of the Kanaka mine, the seam averaging 12J feet in thickness. It is expected that there will be, at some time, a great iron trade done in the Province ; and there are valuable deposits of clay, cement, and petroleum. The gold yield is about 10,000ozs. of gold per month ; and one mine alone yielded ten tons of metal in a year. Also about 4000 tons of kauri gum, worth about £33 per ton at Auckland, aro exported annually. Auckland rope is celebrated for its tenacity and strength, and it has been favorably tested by several naval powers. Fruit and many semi-tropical products can be grown in abundance; and there is abundance of good land available for settlement. The scale of wages given does not contrast favorably with those furnished from other Provinces, but the rates that rule aro sufficiently attractive to induce emigrants to make their way to Aucldand. The Handbook will be, wo are certain, scanned with interest by many intending emigrants, and it also contains much calculated to instruct numbers of persons who have already settled in the Colony.