Poverty Bay Standard. Published Every Wednesday & Saturday SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 1881. A Tour through New Zealand—No 1.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume IX, Issue 927, 19 March 1881, Page 3

Poverty Bay Standard.

Published Every Wednesday & Saturday SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 1881. A Tour through New Zealand—No 1.

H We shall tell to no man Justice or Right; “ We tfaall deng to no man Justice or Right; •• We shall defer to no man Justice or Right."

The Melbourne Leader has addressed itself to the subject of reporting on the resources and progress of Austra* lia and New Zealand ; for which purpose a special reporter has been accredited to visit the principal places, and, having “ done ” South Australia and New South Wales, he continues his appointed task in a series of communicated articles to the Leader which we shall transfer to our own columns, in the belief that they will be read with great and increasing interest ; and, not only that, but we venture to say no bona fide New Zealand Colonist will read them without a glow of satisfaction.

With regard to our own Colony he says : —I have hitherto entered upon notour with so much pleasure and with such high anticipations. The wheat fields of South Australia, and the novel system of harvesting by means of the stripping machine, , a system which has since become general in Northern Victoria, were highly interesting, and the information concerning them has certainly been of incalculable value. The orchards and hop gardens of New Norfolk, and other parts of Tasmania well repaid a visit, and there was much of interest and value to be met with in New South Wales, with its vast pastoral areas, its maize and lucerne farms, its orange groves, and its famous Hereford and Devon cattle. But all I had heard of the rich soil, fine climate, high yields, abundant water, and grand, scenery of New Zealand, made me look forward with unusual pleasure to my visit to the “ Britain of the South.

At about 2 o’clock on the 19th Jan. the Union Company’s fine steamship Te Anau, of over 1652 tons register, moved off from the Queen’s Wharf, and going down the Yarra, stirred the mud at the bottom of the river in such a manner that the usual holding of noses took place, and made one wish that Fawkner and Batman had camped somewhere else. The New Zealand passengers aboard who had been surprised at the importance of Melbourne seemed to get some comfort from the last impressions of the Colony, which they received through their olfactory nerves, and from railing upon the Yan Yean water and the mosquitoes., “ We have pure air in New Zealand,” “We can get a drink of good water at home,” “We have had enough of Melbourne mosquitoes.” These were among the remarks most common at the outset of the voyage, and a patriotic Victorian could not help concluding that in everything except the three matters referred to, the Colony had agreeably surprised the visitors. In regard to mosquitoes it will surprise Melbourne residents to learn that these insects are troublesome to visitors, for residents are scarcely conscious of their existence. There are mosquitoes, however, it appears, for some of the visitors were rather badly marked, and one lady stated, as a proof of their plentifulness, that they had. stung a gentleman friend of hers who was so ugly that she thought they would have been frightened to touch him. Sea sickness was the next subject that began to receive attention. Those of the passengers who were good sailors comforted the others with such expressions as, “ Wait till we get into the rip,” ‘ ‘ It w °n’t be so crowded on deck, to-morrow,” “ There won’t be many at breakfast in the morning, and so on. The usual cures .for sea sickness were slso freely given, J such as, a jsnnk salt water/ . “Try fat pork and treacle,” and the undoubtedly certain one. of “ staying, on

Dinner, seryed bofore we gotto the Heads, ,and there seemed to be a general belief in the of takipg .a . gQQd ; meal. It t was very roughin the during the whole voyage op the openocean there was,, a pretty, heavy sea, but thanks to the bilge keels-of the Te Anau ,the prophets; of. evil werejdisappojnted. There were only a few—chieflyladies— down the, fir st day, and. they soon recovered sufficiently to.enjoy, the voyage, which they,,would havedone very, much had, not the weather, with.the exception of one day, continued gloomy or rainy. In order tQ prevent rolling or to render the rolling motion sufficiently slow, to be easily endurable, the Te Anau, and also I believe the Rotomahana and other , of the company’s large ships, have a flat bottom and two bilge keels, and from the kindly manner in which our boat treated us I am inclined to think this improvement is a good step towards a prevention, if not a cure, for sea sickness. All went well after the first day, until we encountered some nasty side seas off the west coast of New Zealand, which made some of the weaker passengers feel uncomfortable. A gook many retired to their berths for a few hours until this roughness was over, one young man (who, by the way, was not a Milesian) remarking that “ he could stand it better lying down. ” The ship was crowded with passengers.. In addition to its being the summer season, when the leisured classes in Australia escape the hottest part of the,year by doing the New Zealand tour, large numbers of people were returning from the International Exhibition, while there was also a contingent of European passengers from the Chimborazo, As there were over 150 saloon passengers the ship was a little too thickly populated to be as comfortable as usual. Not quite half of the company could dine at a time, and as sea sickness did not do its duty there were two relays to be served at each meal, as well as a few odd ones over. This had the advantage of preventing weariness during the voyage, for the interest in the meals was kept up briskly from morning till bed time. Whenever a table cloth appeared the tables were surrounded by the knowing ones, who were determined to be first and content to wait patiently their time. In due course the gong would sound as a matter of form, and after a short time a loud clashing noise made by the removing of dish-covers would indicate to those on deck that the attack had commenced. After the first lot were served the tables were again laid, and the second batch were duly attended to with gong, clang of dish-covers, and the rest. All were thus attended to, and those who came second could not complain of lack of food or ceremony. A little variety was infused in the ordinary routine at one meal by an old gentleman who took out his double set of false teeth and polished them with his napkin. It was pretty much in keeping, however, with the spirit of the time, for every one meant business as well as he. It was, I must confess, a rather humiliating spectacle to see 160 intellectual beings so thoroughly engrossed with attention to the mere animal occupation of eating. The number of ladies, too, who joined in this carnival was enough to spoil the effect of a lot of poetry. It must have been the recollection of such a sea voyage that caused the unlettered lay preacher when reading the words “and they did eat ” to put a strong emphasis on the did.

Early in the afternoon of the 20th we sighted the Tasmanian coast, and sailed for the remainder of the day in view of its high cliffs and mountain ranges, entering the harbor of Hobart, as Hobart Town is now called, next forenoon. The high precipitous columns of rock at Cape Rule and Point Pillar are interesting and striking features, and on steaming up the harbor the scenery, is beautiful. From the coast to Hobart the Derwent River is an arm of the sea forming a bay over five miles in yvidth, sheltered by lofty pjcturewp?. bills. The scene is charming, ana the bold form of Mount Wellington, rising from near the

water’s edge.to a height of 4,100 feet, adds a touphofgrandeur to themorth--ern.. portion, of the- bay. . The head ,of Mount Wellington ia almost bare, but; its sides are covered with a thick forest, giving it some resemblance to the Black,Spur above Fernshaw., The pity of Hobart, occupying a snug, position upon an undulating site between the,bay and the.foot,, of the mountain, . makes a favorable impression when viewed from the, harbor, and upon : going ashore and employing the three hours allowed us in inspecting the numerous well built public and private buildings the good impression is not removed, Owing to the principal buildings being of sandstone the effect is more cheerful than when bluestone is generally used, and the slightly undulating character of the site gives a pleasing variety to the streets. Business people are hopeful that the day of prosperity and progress is dawning for Tasmania. The causes which brought about its long period of stagnation are being removed, mining prospects are improving, and enterprise is beginning to revive. At present, however, the city has the appearance of having reached its limits a long time ago,-if not of having seen better days. The prices paid by the passengers for the little purchases they made on shore, and the fares of the cabmen, were high, and as the fares differed a good deal in the experience of different parties it may be concluded that there is no regular scale, but that each Jehu makes as much as he can. There are two kinds of hackney conveyances, viz., carriages and cabs. The carriages are four-wheeled vehicles built on the lines of a fashionable family conveyance, but strength has evidently been a more important consideration than beauty, while the cabs are low, tilted carts, painted yellow and green, and bearing a general resemblance to an ice-cream barrow. A number of men on the wharf had large brass shields strapped to their arms, giving the impression that they were prisoners, but on reading the inscriptions it was found that they were licensed porters. We took on board a quantity of fresh fruit and jam for New Zealand ports, a trade which a few weeks later in the season is very extensive, and steamed down the harbor early in the afternoon, getting again a fine view of the city and the beautiful surroundings of the bay. We were just able to get a glimpse of Government House, situated on the Derwent, near its entrance into the harbor. The house is probably larger than it looks, owing to its good proportions, and is a handsome homelike building, possessing none of the resemblance to a public institution which is so striking a feature of the vice-regal residence on the banks of the Yarra.

Getting again out to sea the ship and the passengers were the only objects of interest. Amongst the passengers were a general, who, after long service in India, was going out, with his family, to prolong his life in the bracing air of New Zealand ; two professors of New Zealand colleges, six clergymen, two representatives of American makers of reaping and binding machines, and various others. The Americans, whose acquaintance I had previously made at the Exhibition, were excellent travelling companions, affording a good deal of amusement, and some original views upon Colonial affairs. The selfishness of Colonial travellers was commented upon as being an unfavoroble contrast with American politeness. Our drinking customs, too, seemed to. have astonished the A.merican visitors- 1 , and as showing the difference of America in this respect, one of my friends stated that in travelling in the way of ■ business in the States he would never think of asking one of the agents of the firm to have a drink, “ except he got some provocation.” He would be afraid of giving offence. Workmen in the Colonies were stated not to work so hard or so efficiently as in' the States, and American contractors were obliged to “ figure ” for more men to a given amount of work here than in their own country. Such were the opinion of my Yankee friends, and the farmers

did not. escape comment. Some, of the farming was so bad that “if a man were to farm like that at home, he’d be asked to crawl into a hole and draw the’hole in after him.” On the fourth day I made the acquaintance of Mr. .Herring, a Yorkshire farmer, who was on his way to New Zealand to inspect the country on behalf of the tenant farmers of his native county. This gentleman was commissioned to do for the Yorkshire farmers what Messrs. Grant and Foster did about a year ago for the farmers of Lincolnshire. Mr. Herring and the farmers whom he represents have found it impossible to farm profitably in England. The drawbacks of climate frequently carry great loss of harvest, and the high rate of rents makes it impossible to compete with American and Australian farmers. At one time a bad harvest was compensated for by high prices, but now foreign grain pours into the market, keeping the prices too low to be remunerative, and not only has grain growing been thus interfered with, but meat and all kinds of agricultural products are being supplied from abroad. The result is that farmers have been losing capital for some time, and as Mr. Herring and his friends see no way of improvement at home, they wish to emigrate before all their capital is gone. So disheartened are the Yorkshire farmers with cultivation that in emigrating they do not wish to be confined to growing crops. Their idea is to combine grazing with agriculture, and they would like to put* chase farms suitable for cultivation of from 300 to 600 acres, with a larger extent of grazing land attached. I cannot say yet how far the Yorkshire farmers will be suited in New Zealand but my impression is that, like Victoria, the Colony would have been in a much better position to attract emigrants had not such extensive areas been previously alienated in large blocks. Mr. Herring will probably visit Victoria, and there is no doubt that should the Colony suit his ideas the capital at the disposal of the farmers whom he represents would enable them to purchase what land they require at moderate rates. It was on our programme to visit Milford Sound on the west coast to enable the passengers to view the scenery, but on Monday afternoon when we reached the coast the weather was so wet and cloudy that it would have been useless to loiter. The bold bluffs at the entrance of the harbor rising sheer from the water’s edge to a height of 5500 feet, the grand mountain ranges and the famous water-falls 500 feet high were all wrapped in clouds, and we were obliged to steam past, leaving the Sound unvisited. It cleared up in the afternoon, however, and we sailed into George Sound, amid seenery of the most grand and magnificent character. I must take another opportunity of giving an account of George Sound and its scenery. At noon on the 25th we entered the Bluff Harbor at the south of the South Island, and at one o’clock the mails and some of the passengers were taken on by rail to Invercargill, the chief town of the province of Southland, seventeen miles distant. We were six days on the voyage, steaming 1,200 miles, and averaging about 12 knots an hour. The Bluff Harbor is sufficiently deep for large vessels, and is well protected by a range of high, barren-looking hills. Campbelltown, at the port, is a small town containing two or three hotels, stores, and public offices, and somewhat resembling Port Albert in Gippsland. Although a large quantity of produce is shipped here, neither the town nor the aspect of the country can be taken as indicating the richness and importance of New Zealand. One of the rich districts of Southland will be dealt with in the next paper.