NOTES ON THE STATE OF NEW ZEALAND.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 531, 17 July 1869, Page 3

NOTES ON THE STATE OF NEW ZEALAND.

The following notes are contributed to the West Coast Times by a gentleman who has lately visited most of the principal towns in New Zealand : The present depressed state of the West Coast Goldfields having determined me to try fresh fields and pastures new, I left Westport with a roving commission. My first visit was to Wanganui, where I was struck with the stagnant appearance of things generally. I looked forward to bustle and confusion consequent on the war; but labor was scarce, and in every branch of business complaints reached me of the badness of the times. The unsettled state of the outlying districts, and the general feeling of insecurity, in a great measure was the cause of this, and hopes for the better were only expected to be realised by the thorough subjugation of the Maoris. Taranaki was my next port, and here a similar state of things presented itself. The Armed Constabulary mustered strong at the White Cliffs, near the scene of the late massacre, and a good deal of fighting was expected at the commencement of spring. In the meantime, the troops are idle, and drunkenness is chronic. Auckland, as may be expected, was mora lively, and the miners at the Thames in many instances were reaping the reward of their labor, and waiting, by striking good patches of Btone. Many were, however, hanging on, looking forward to something turning up, and the proportion of lucky ones was very small, out of tho thousands who had rushed thither. A good deal of building is going on in Auckland, and the new theatre, nearly completed, bids fair to be the finest in New Zealand. Employment was, however, scarce, and the street corners were pretty well filled by men waiting for a job. Having failed to see anything payable in Auckland, I started for Wellington, the Empire City, and certainly a more stagnant place it would be impossible to conceive. Trade seemed at a standstiD, notwithstanding the improvement visible in the business buildings of the city. Sheep are at a very low value, and one slightly scabby mob of 1900 in the Wairarapa, sold by order of the mortgagee, went for 4d a head, the lucky purchaser being Mr J. Martin, of the Circular Saw Steam Navigation Company. Sheep boiling is becoming a feature in this district, and thousands are being converted into tallow. The city has no gasworks, and, being badly lit, presents a most wretched appearance by night. Nelson is in much the same state, employment for labor being less than the demand, so that here many idle men may be seen, and general dulness [prevails. Christchurch is no exception to the general depression, and in spite of the numbers of unemployed, there is a great outcry for emigration, which is, in the eyes of the capitalists, to prove the salvation of the country. I was agreeably surprised, on landing in Dunedin, to find, notwithstanding the dulness of the times, an improvement on other portions of the Colony. The town presented a more lively appearance, and the various buildings in course of erection, if taken as a criterion of the state of the town, must not only be a source of pleasure to the visitor, but also to the residents in this the only place I I would dignify by the name of a city in | New Zealand.