HOME GOSSIP ABOUT NEW ZEALAND.

Patea Mail, 31 August 1880, Page 3

HOME GOSSIP ABOUT NEW ZEALAND.

Anglo New Zealander writes from London : —“ So far we are having a dismal summer. The weather is not so bad as last year, certainly, but that is about the best thing that can be said for it. Grass and corn are growing, and English fields look well. If wo get a line autumn the British agriculturist will probably growl less than he has growled the last year or two. It does not appear, however, that the financial position of the English farmer gets any better. His losses of hay in the summer of 187‘J, and of corn in the autumn, were followed by terrible losses of sheep in the winter. Cling to the English clods as he may, he must emigrate, and year by year this conviction becomes deeper and more general. But where shall he go? Twelve months ago New Zealand was all tiie rage. Everything was ripe for a general exodus to our colony. Ibis singularly unfortunate that just at this juncture the financial cloud should have passed over New Zealand. Disappointment was, of course, inevitable, and the wails of the disappointed are finding their way into the provincial papers in this country'. Some of these, with the editorial comments thereon, arc so extravagant as to be positively' rcdiculous. One Lincolnshire paper last week informed its readers that “ thousands wore landing upon the shores of New Zealand every treek ■ that multitudes were without food and shelter ; that heavy taxation, dear food, and a glutted labour market were driving thousands to misery and crime.” Sir Julius Vogel has written a temperate and timely' denial. We colonials are all looked upon as liars. The complaint of an emigrant who has been in (ho country a fortnight without finding work is printed and read, and his ridiculous denunciations of a country he has not had time to know are believed) while universal discredit attaches to the disclaimer of a colonist who knows. Messrs Grant and Foster arc back in England, and have sent to the printer a report of New Zeeland which, I am told, will be highly' favourable to the colony, and which will probably have a largo circulation among the most desirable classes. They', by the way, are coming in for their share of abuse here. Several letters have already' appeared in English newspapers warning farmers against them, and intimating that they have fallen into the hands of the New Zealand Government, and have caught the lying spirit which is supposed to inhabit all who have been in the colony more than a month. Vesey Stewart is busy' organising a parly to settle his Tc Puki Block at Tauranga, and a second pamphlet from the pen of thcßcv. J.Berry is to be seen on the English bookstalls. This pamphlet is entitled “Farming in North New Zealand,” and is devoted mainly' to a description of Auckland and the Waikato. Its main purpose appears to be to promote the organised migration of farmers with capital to certain Waikato estates, which are already improved. One Mr Low' is also in London attempting something similar forNclson. A pamphlet from the pen of Mr F. W. Isitl is also in the press, so that those in England who want the truth upon New Zealand matters ought to be able to got it from all these independent witnesses. The most popular colony just now' with the British farmer is Canada, the Canadians having sent an influential representative to London to push their interests.