NEW ZEALAND. THE LAND OF HEALTH, WEALTH AND PROSPERITY. ITS PRESENT POSITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS. By Captain Ashby.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 391, 7 August 1889, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND. THE LAND OF HEALTH, WEALTH AND PROSPERITY. ITS PRESENT POSITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS. By Captain Ashby.

We have received early proof sheets of the interesting little book written by Captain Ashby, descriptive of his recent tour of the Australasian colonies. The work is dedicated to " my loving wife and daughter, Harrietle and Juanita Ashby." In his preface the author remarks : " Since ' takiner the bull by the horns ' is a thoroughly English method of procedure, it will not astonish my readers when I tell them that, having heard the colony of New Zealand was overburdened with debt, and as a natural consequence — depression, I started on a voyage, nob only of discovery, bub comparison, first traversing our sistor possession — Australia. "Fresh from the experincesof an exhaustive tour of inspection, not only of all the most important centres of the colony, but in some cases a considerable distance up country. 1 feel it is due to those inteiested (as so many arc) in the Queen of the Southern Hemisphere, that my experiences should take the form they do, so that the truth may thus be ascertained from one who, a perfectly independent and unpaid witness, has just returned from that country." After giving a graphic description of New Zealand, and bearing eloquent testimony to its great natural beauty, the author proceeds :—": — " Since my first visit, in 1847, in the Duke of Bedford, to Adelaide, 1 have coasted and travelled upcountry to a considerable extent, not only in New Zealand itself, but, as I have said, in the sist6r-colonies ; till, in 1873, I retired from the mercantile! service, and established myself as a shipping and insurance agent in ' the great city.' Thus it was that in 1883 I revisited the colonies in furtherance of those interests in which I had now become so concerned, and I was glad to find, as the result of careful investigation, that not only were our colonial dependencies in a prosperous condition, but that New Zealand was wall to the fore as a great commercial outlet) from the mother-country. It was therefore inexplicable to me, as one who had ndted its rapid development, to .have heard from time to time of its decadence ; indeed, to have such practical proof of it as was supplied by the stubborn fact that passenger business and freightage had fallen off ab the same rate here in which it had increased in Australia, Queensland, etc. " Without fear of being accused of putting the cart before the horse, I will ab once say that the old adage, ' It's not the world that is wicked, but the people who are in it,' may be said equally to apply to the cplony of which I write. It is nob New Zealand which has been at fault, but her people. The blood of youth which, in yeai's gone by, fired those who made the colony, .what it has been, has naturally cooled to some , extent, with advancing years ; its' buoyancy and ardour having given place' to that desire to rest on the laurels they have won ; which in these days of social progress, at onee — if nob eclipsed by the new blood — begins to stagnate. - '

" To begin with, the colonist who would thrive in -New -Zealand must not be the utterly poverty -stricken emigrant who fancies by/ s some exceptional fluke of fortune'We may become a millionaire. He must, on the" contrary, from the very nature ot things, be able to feel his way for some time afte'r^his arrival ; and should be most careful as to fche outlay,, of the small capital at his command. For instance, the general impre'ss,ipn on the part of many colonists is, thao one of the first considerations should be'tojpbtain an extensive and expensive outfit' of wearing apparel, &c, before leaving England ;' thus often diminishing their capital unnecessarily to a considerable exten b. "Now, since it is the result of my experience in all our colonies, that clothing: of a. far more suitable kind may be obtained at a much cheaper rate in the colonial towns than in England, it is manifest that to be overburdened at starting, as far as one's wardrobe is concerned, is impolitic to a degree. Again, one of the greatest mistakes it is possible for the colonist to make, and which he is most prone to — is, that of remaining too long m big cities to ' look about him,' before eroing up-country. That money takes unto itself wings under such circumstances, goes for said ; besides which, the longer the allurements—whatever they be — of the town attVact, the less fitted is the individual for that life upcountry which leads in the end to competence or wealth. Therefore, I would say, if you have capital, however small, bank it; and taking with you a few pounds to supply your immediate needs, allow it to fructify during your absence ; which it will do, interest being much higher than at home, to a much greater extent than you would be inclined to suppose. Thus, having only the small impedimenta necessary for up-country life, and not too large a supply of hard cash in your pocket, should you pass through the port at which you have arrived, to find youroelf in the open ; hoping, like Mr Micawber, for something to turn up ; ready to do it when it does, whatever it may be ; and ever anxious to turn it to account that it may be a stepping if one to that good fortune you have come to seek. " As iar as actual living is concerned, it is cheaper than it is in England ; meat and all other necessaries being exceedingly plentiful. True, in the larger towns hou&erent is higher ; bub then the emigrant should avoid such places till he has made his ' pile,' or till such time as some exceptional chance presents itself of his turning ttfat rent to good account in connection with some commercial speculation or other carried on there. In the suburbs, however, there are always reasonable, and sometimes, delightful little places to be had ; where the garden produce may, if not looked on as an economy as a matter of consumption in your own household, be disposed of in such a way as to make your actual rent most reasonable. "So much for the climate of a country which, for some unaccountable reason, was ieported to be, commercially, in a most depressed condition, and unsuitable, on this .account, for colonisation. Indeed, of the •effect of this reporo I had myself most convincing evidence in the fact that the shipping firms with which I did business had, lor some two years prior to 1888, experienced a startling falling-off 4n passenger ,and goods traffic, with, as I have hinted at, .a proportionate increase as far as settlements in, and supplies to Austialia were .concerned. ' Give a dog a bad name,' veil be said to apply to a country.

"Tome the colony, wa? an old hunting ground. In 1860, I visited Kaipara and \ the North generally ; finding it to be.a prevalent idea that it was a part of New Zealand better adapted to the felling of timber than the settlement of husbandmen, that it was outside the range of any ordinary emigrant, save, indeed, he be a born backwoods man. "In 18S8, lagain visited the samespot, and was thunderstruck to see what grand strides 'it had made in those intervening years. Those early settlers must indeed 'havD had rough times who have developed this fertile country to so great an extent. A tita'in now runs from Auckland to Helensville ; this Maori express taking two' hours and twenty minutes co accomplish thethirty-seven miles which lie between them. Then, too, the ( Kaipara Steamship Company have two .steamers constantly running ; thus enabling settlers to get a ready market for their goods. "Indeed, seeing: what steam has already done towards lessening distance with its iron arms, I am perfectly convinced, if the New Zealand Government would only extend communication by land and sea in every direction, that this would be one. of the most popular settlements in the world — especially to the north of Auckland. " When there, I visited Papavoa, Matakohe, Pahi, and Maungaturoto, which are peopled by just such settlers as know how to make the most of good materials. For, from Captain Colbeck's station to Waipu, a distance of about twenty-five miles, I never lost sight for one moment of charming homesteads and picturesque forms, which gave an air of peace and plenty to one's surroundings whichever way one looked. "An admirable grazing country this, too, and although dry in summer, is happy in the quality of its grass, which is fresh and verdant under all ciicumstcinces ; j and moreover, the ground being much broken, it is peculiarly adapted to the rearing: of sheep and cattle ; in short, the neighbourhood of Kaipara appeared to me to be one in which depression had been unknown — a perfect paradise for those who wanted to add, in a delightful climate, to the few hundreds they possessed. " I must not fail here to note that I am deeply indebted to Captain Colbeck and his two sons, at whose station of about 20,000 acres I stayed, for having so hospitably entertained me, and afforded me an insight into the doings, of the settlers in this fertile part of the country. "I can only say I found the country in an infinitely more prosperous condition than I could have supposed it to in. "be from the exaggerated reports which, having j reached me in England, had occasioned this visit. "True, the country has gone through a period of some slight financial depression ; a complaint to which young countries are subject, just as much a matter of course as young children are subject bo the several complaints of early infancy : just too, as the measles and whooping cough are better out than in, assisting indirectly to clear the constitution of the little sufferer; so has this financial depression played its part in teaching the people of New Zealand that not only ' what can't be cured must be endured,' but that it may even become a source of profit in the long run, as an index pointing to thrift and selt-dependence. " Nor does one look only to the cities for signs of the development ot a great colony, but rather to the people who, building them, become the motive power as it were, which sets that inert colonial machinery in motion — who are, in short, its thew and sinew — the active elements perpetually occupied in developing those great centres to which I have briefly made reference. " Picture to yourselves vast tracks of forest land and tangled under-wood which have been the growth of centuries, succumbing to the axe of the settler, till trim homesteads take the place of woodland oaks, and farm servants till the ground and reap the well- won harvest.

" Geographically speaking, there can be very libtle'doubt that, before long, Auckland will be one of the greatest mercantile ports in the Southern Hemisphere ; owing not only to its close connection with otherislands of the Pacific, but to those -natural, harbours which at once constitute, it asdesigned by nature for the part it will play. •• Mr Henry Brett, of the Auckland Star* has in that paper and in his Almanac for the current year wisely said that the city ' stands peerless amongst the cities of the Southern Hemisphere.' Though she has been compared both to Corinth and Naples, and may resemble them in one sense, yet for the importance of her position she is, with reference to the land she represents, facile jorinrep*. •'It appears most lovely, as indeed, many places do from the sea, but, on landing, its commercial importance is felt, as it were, at a glance, as you look round about you at that splendid harbour and its surrounding buildings, which do so much credit to the Harbour Board ; while I verily believe the Graving Dock, 525 teet longby 90 feet wide, with a depth of 34 feet, is at least one of the finest south of the equator. Here, at least, in spite of the much-talked-of depression, their income has for some considerable time much exceeded their expenditure ; and after achieving so much, to still have a balance in hand is saying something indeed. " Nor is Auckland a place alone where he who seeks his fortune may find it wise to make head - quarters. People with moderate incomes, and those in delicate health, will find Auckland a delightful halting-place. The climate is most temperate°and exceedingly healthy, fruits and flowers of every description are to be found there in abundance, and since house-rent, above all other advantages, is most reasonable here, it may easily be seen that it presents an opportunity which no other part of the world could probably so fully offer, of enjoying to the full all the advantages of a natural sanatorium at the most reasonable rate imaginable. "Then, again, the whole province teems with wealth of a mineral and vegetable i kind : coal is to be found here, as in many other parts of New Zealand, in great abundance -, while the traffic in kauri gum and in lumber are industries in themselves of vast magnitude, which give perpetual employment to an enormous number of people. Thus it will be seen that the natural resources of the country are practically without Jimib ; and that all that is necessary to their development is, that more people should go out, and, as a natural consequence, more money should be circulated by and amongst the 132,709 people who at the present moment go to make up the population of this place. It requires, in fact, to be known to be appreciated ; and once appreciated, ifc will very soon hold up its head as proudly and as independently as any city in the civilised world, "Besides all this, too, there is a most distinct temptation here offered to the farmer to emigrate, which he will find exemplified chiefly by those settlers who have already done so, "and whose cattle and sheep farms have proved in every case financial successes. Wheat and grain grow in great luxuriance here ; so what more can be put forward aa a goal to those who havesuffered, as so many have,, from depression in the farming interests, of late years', in the old country V The land round GJisborne is wondertuily productive for farmingpur-

poses. There is an irony, too, in the fact that a locality so prolific should be situated in Poverty Bay. •'The river, from a navigable point of view, is not what it might be. Ifcis shallow even to dryness at low tide, and if tho expenditure of nearly a quarter of a million on' a breakwater, etc., for a place which though important in its small way is yet es&ohtially small, having only a population of some' 3,500 souls all told, has been wise, remains • to be seen. " There is never any knowing what may happen, however, in the colonies. The people to whom Gisborne is indebted for its , existence 'are happy, industrious, and enterprising. There are many good s|iops for those who have money to spend,' which has been made i at the. wool-growing or other kindred pursuits, for which, the neighbourhood is famous. "Perhaps Napier is one of the most flourishing ports in the colony. It has many handsome buildings, dominated by a really splendid, cathedral. Tlie s,trqets and shops are excellently b'uilo and kept ; the whole aspect, in fact, of the place being suggestive fi^om first to last, of thrift. The river here is small and the tide lapid, but I have not the least doubt that a few thousands judiciously spent would fit it admirably tor vessels of light draught. " Here, too, as at Gisborno, they aie constructing a huge breakwater, which I may say, if it withstand the storms which sometimes rage in this locality, will have been a good work indeed. 11 When in January last I arrived at Napier, I noted no less than six sailing ships and two steamers loading and discharging ; hence, it is evident ot what value as a station this place is likely' to bocome, and of how great importance it is that its harbour works be improved as rapidly as possible. The cattle and sheep runs are of vast extent, and frozen meats in exceedingly large quantities arc periodically shipped to tho Home market?. Wool, too, being (naturally) one of the staple commodities, forms a considerable item in connection with shipment." " Auckland Star," August 1.