The Standard AND PEOPLES ADVOCATE. (PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY.) WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 1875.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume III, Issue 271, 12 May 1875, Page 2

The Standard AND PEOPLES ADVOCATE. (PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY.)

WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 1875.

“ We shall sell to no man justice or right: We shall deny to no man justice or right: We shall defer to no man justice or right.”

If Poverty Bay be not, as some assert, the last created spot on earth, it is, in a great measure, amongst the most forsaken and least thought of in the colony. At last we have received an editorial copy of “ The Official Handbook of “ Zealand, a collection of papers by “ experienced colonists on the colony “ as a whole, and on the several pro- “ viuces, edited by Julius Vogel, “ C.M.G ”•—such is the superscription —and we have to express our acknowledgments to the Government for the courtesy, who, as a matter of course, are desirous of knowing what the press of the colony has to say on the merits of a work which has cost so much pu ilic money in its production. For ou • part, we have “no hesitation in saying, even in opposition to some of the Colonial Thunderers, that the work fully justifies the expense incurred ; and, we belieVe that such a book will furnish the mind of many an anxious enquirer at Home, and in other places outside this colony, with that particular kind of information, which, as an intending settler, he may be desirous of acquiring. It contains 272 pages of closely printed matter, ranging in subjects and chronology fn m the discovery of New Zealand in 1642, to the latest quotations in Farm Stock in 1874. There are full, and, we believe, impartial historical descriptions, and statistical data of the provinces, beginning with Otago, to each of which, photographs of the principal views are attached. There are also 25 wood engravings, delineating the chief buildings, and other points of attraction in the colony ; and two maps, one of the North, and one of the South Island. The work is issued gratis, and should be in every Library, A work so comprehensive, and detailed; and extending over a period of tiro hundred and thirty-three years, necessarily deals with such aninfi iiity of

subjects—interesting in their discursiveness—that it is impossible to do more than pass a general opinion on its utility. The book must either be read as a whole, or dissected for criticism in such a way as would entail a labor almost equal to a recompilation of it. Therefore, we propose, in addition to expressing a general appreciation of the book, to give such extracts as will best an idea of its worth and usefulness.

Speaking locally, we could have wished that a larger space had been allotted to Poverty Bay. All that we find, excepting an accidental allusion to the Oil Springs, is summed up as follow at page 249 :—

Poverty Bay, like the Waikato, is associated in the minds of persons’not possessing local knowledge, with the idea of Native disturbance ; yet so rapid has been the advance of settlement in this district, that there are now 500 houses, 300 miles of fencing, 280,000 acres occupied by Europeans as sheep runs, 10,000 acres occupied for grazing and tillage, and 15,000 sheep. The Government owns a large quantity of land in that district available for settlement. The number of sheep is, evidently, one of the misprints with which the book abounds, as in May 1874, the number of sheep in the district of Poverty Bay was 182,229. We do not reflect on the Editor for this injustice. The local authorities were the subordinate agents employed to detail the particulars of their respective provinces ; and it would have been but courteous and fair to the settlers, had the Auckland Provincial Government invited the co-operation of some one on the spot capable of giving the district at Home the justice and prominence it deserves. Poverty Bay, of all the districts in the Colony, has a history of which there is every reason to be proud, a short narrative of which, preceding its final peaceful settlement, and a full account of its progress, during the last four or five years —of which the above quotation gives no adequate idea—would have been read with much interest, as well as have tended to allay a good deal more of the “ idea of Native disturbance,” that the curt, incorrect, figures we have quoted. From a business point of view we cannot see that any advantage accrues to the Colony by taking the MSB all the way to Lincoln’s Inn Fields to get them printed; there is nothing in the book that is not turned out in the Colony, daily, in an infinitely superior style of workmanship ; and we have no doubt we shall find that the folly of so doing is equally as great as sending to London Wall for telegram forms. The Photographic views, are, in most instances, badly selected. The nomenclature is so imperfect as to render many places unrecognizable, whilst other errors of mis-spelling, misplacing, and authographieal blundering, do not exactly endorse the “ Editor’s acknowledg- “ merits for the assistance he has “ received, in revising the papers,-from “Mr. E. Fox,” unless Mr. Vogel thought that that interesting young scribe would feel flattered to have his name handed down to posterity in the memoirs of a great country, by one of its greatest men.

We regret that we are compelled to reduce our quotation, in this issue, to the following:—

Those who incline to make New Zealand their home should not form extravagant anticipations of it. It is not paved with gold, nor is wealth to be gained without industry. Our countrymen of the United Kingdom may form an idea of it if they suppose it to be a very thinly-peopled country, with numerous points in common with the Islands of Great Britain, but possessing, on the whole, a much better climate, free from pauperism, more free from prejudices of class, and, therefore, opening to the industry and ability of those who have not the adventitious aid of family connections to help them, a better road to advancement; a country in which there is a great variety of natural resources, and which, therefore, appeals to persons of much variety of taste ; a country which may boast of some of the most magnificent scenery in the world; a country in which the natural wonders of many parts of the globe are congregated. Norway, for example, would not be ashamed of the fiords of the West Coast of the Middle Island : the glaciers there would also respectably contrast with glaciers elsewhere. The hot springs of the Lake district are more marvellous than the geysers of Iceland. It is a country with an immense extent of seaboard compared with its area, with splendid harbors, many, if not extensive, rivers, fine agricultural land, magnificent forests, and lastly, one which, besides possessing in abundance the key to manufacturing wealth—coal—has alluvial and quartz gold deposits, in working which, those whose tastes incline them to mining may always find a livelihood, with the possibility of attaining large wealth by a lucky discovery. Though sparingly populated, it is not denied the benefits which science has opened .to modern civilisation. The telegraph penetrates its length and breadth, and railways are being constructed throughout it. In cdurse of time, it must carry a population of millions, and every acre of available land must become valuable. Yet with the knowledge that this must be, 1 heye is so little capital, not required for industrial uses, that millions of acres of land are open to purchase at prices which, a generation hence, will probably represent their yearly rent. There are not many instances of vast accumulations of wealth in individual hands. It would be as difficult to find a millionnaire in New Zealand, as it would be in England to find a laborer enjoying anything approaching the advantages enjoyed by the New Zealand laborer. Monej is more widely distributed. The small tradesman, the mechanic, or laborer, in short, any one who is fitted to make New Zealand his home, and who is not incapacitated by ill health, may, with ordinary frugality and industry, and without denying himself a fair share of worldly enjoyment, save money, and become, if his ambition point in that direction, a proprietor of acres.