NEW ZEALAND TO TEXAS:

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 318, 3 January 1874, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND TO TEXAS:

The writer of the following letter was for a j> er i°d °f about eleven years connected with the survey staff employed in this province, and, therefore, may be considered somewhat of an authority. He left the neighbourhood of Dalhousie, where he possessed a small farm, about eighteen months ago, for the United States, his destination being originally Oregon ; but beinp; dissat.i«fi cd.with the prospect, he proceeded to Texas, ■where friend 3 resided :—: — "Fort Worth, Tarrant County, " Texas, July 13th 1873. " Dear , I will answer your queries faithfully to the best of my knowledge. Texas is a very good country for a poor man. You can support yourself with less energy than any part of the globe. The staple productions of the country — as I suppose you already know — are Indian corn and cotton. The soil, generally speaking, is better thai ever was seen in New Zealaud. It varies k depth from two to 35 feet ; all you have tc do is, just plough a little deeper, and you have virgin soil. The field we are living ii: has been cultivation for 20 3 r ears, and shows no signs of exhaustion. Nine months of the year, you can do hard labouring work, and the other three you must hunt the shade, tc keep yourself cool. If you work during this hot time, lay in a stock of tonics for youi chills and fever. Married men can get 16C acres, and single men 80 acres of land, anywhere lie can find it in the State. Where this good land is to be found, there will you also timl the Indian. These Indians, however are being fast cleared out, and when once the great railroad known by the name of the "Texas and Pacific" is through, — adieu, Mr Indian, from these parts. I intend going west in a few months to take up a grant oi IGO acres of land. 1 shall also have a good show for surveying sections, as I have got an instrument, &c, of ray own. You can buy land from the State of Texas for one dollar an acre ; and sometimes you can buy upland certificates from 25 cents an acre. Texas is a fine country, with a few tremendous faults. It is far too dry a country. Water is purchased here as our provisions in Otago, and rain seldom falls. The rainfall in Texas is a good many inches, but it has this fault about it, it falls "all of a heap." When the spring rains set in, look out ; It falls in hogsheads at a time ; small dry; creeks come clown in such a manner that you'd think the Molyneus was not such a large river after all. If this country had the rain dispersed over it like New Zealand it would be the greatest country on the face of the earth. Ague is rare in the North and Noith-western Texas, although I have had the ague off and on for two moujhs. J and the youngsters have not had' oiie ds.js ill health yet, I may say, since they left New Zealand. "Now, X be wise, and stay where you are, or at T all events, do not come tc Texas, or you'll rue it. It is far too dry a country for any one from New Zealand. If 1 could raise the money, I would take the first steamer for Otago again. I would not stay a day in any part of the United States that 1 have seen, if I only could get out of it. Now, for instance, beef here is 5 cents a pound, and mutton 10 cents, ' because sheep are more scarce and hardy to raise than cattle. 150 miles west from here where my brothers-in-law are, it is a much better country for stock and sheep ; I believe the grass continues all the year round there ; that is were the immense herds of bullocks are raised. One year lately, 1,000,000 head of cattle passed here to supply New York and all the r,ig towns in beef- Wages here are from 1 dollar to I £ dollars a day, with board (which is mighty poor chuck, hog and corn bread ) On the railroad you get from 2 to 24 dollars and find yourself ; 10 hours a a day here ; with farmers from 15 to 16 hours a day for one dollar^ Flour here in Tarrant Oouuty^S dollars per 95~~1bs ;ijrown Sugar, 71bs for a dollar ; good tea, 2 dollars ;<, " post and rail " do (like Clydevale), from 75 cents to a dollar per lb ; whisky is mighty cheap ; so is corn meal ; so is hog meat ; and as for beef it is thrown away, from 2 cents a pound and so on. Coffee ais dear ; butter is cheap in the season, 15 cents per pound ; eggs, 15 cents per dozen ; potatoes from 1 to 2 dollars per bushel, etc. Everything balanced, you can nearly save as much as in New Zealand and only that I have a fairish chance in Texas of making money, as soon as ever 1 could raise the wind, I would sail for Otago, with all its rain and rheumatics, and genera] ruination In Texas, when once you get a home of your own, you can lead an easy life, and still live well. But we are far too near the Mexican Gulf for a Britisher; I am at this moment almost naked, with the thermometer something lik* 100 degrees in .the shade. If we manage to make ali tie money we will come over to Otigo again in a few years. A man can do nothing here without irrigation, except raise cattle, grow maize, cotton, some onts, wheat and barley. The potatoes are rubbish compared to New Zealand, and many of tho fruits and vegetables of N.Z. will not grow here without watevinp by way of irrigation, which is beyond the comp.vs of a poor maxi. lam gardening on shares with my brother-in-law, an'l we have manage 1 to keep ourselves ouji q| debt, that is all ; but lam versed in^y|p.^ of the coun'ry now, and know ho^^|Q shape :n future. . . . This is nnl. jugh a favorable country for sheep as Otago,' "because thfl winters here — notwithstandiugj|ba summers being s> hot — are rather sever.&X^The grasa does not continue all the year rQgarl ; so you would have to .provide 'fodde^Srhich you know is not easy to do." ' . "^S*^"