AN ENGLISH LITERATEUR'S TRIP THROUGH NEW ZEALAND.
"Mil Pllll,. Rom.wsox, the well-known war nud literateur, is at p> , .■ ■'■iit, in iking a trip through this colony. 11,• !i:is i-w.h ntly formed ii guod opinion of tho s.'iilhern portion of New Zealand,
■is t lui following well-written article, takiu ff'"'' Ibu Lyttelton Times, will s ' n ,, lv ; —W'.iii: a land of plenty ! And yet tiny 'ell ill'; tnvi.ller in Ati-tralia that Ne'v Z !,, Jind ha-i " gone bust "; and in Kiiuliind eiipitiil and enterprise shake their heir's like, doctors over a serious ca.-e, whenever Now Zealand is mention' 'I ! Who i- 1 rest o >.-ib!o fo: this prevailing depreciation of the resources and future (if ')\\< r.n'.nti.,- ? And how has it come about, that i.-l ilids sn abundantly watered, ft, wealthy !•■. minerals, so sjilemlidiy productive, and, above all, so admirably adapted fo everything Knalish, Scotch, Irish or Welsh—rose, thistle, shamrock or leek--to everything , British that is imported, from a Highlander to a bumblw bee, can be bo persist'ntiy and universally dUiTcditrd, and spoken of ns "played out?" I am not joking when I say I expected to find positive distress in New Zealand, and the result that I have found ii, by contrast, almost too absurd for words. Now Zealand is the Thosally of tho Antipodes, the Campania, the Lomoardv, tho anything that expresses an overflowing , fecundity and exceptional natural gifts. In one sense, perhaps, tin; prevalent contempt of the colony will udvnnt'ii:* tho inhabitants inasmuch as there has been no rush to share in 'lie prosperity which seems to be immediately at hand, and there will be therefore all the fewer to divide the resultant profits. But in every other way tho reputation of New Zealand by jealous competitors, and, above all, by the melancholy solf-deprc-vi-atiun of many Now Ze.ilanders,u not only very great iu tho present, but cannot help being- long-lasting, for the capitalists (a very timid class), who have, been made to believe onoo lhat tho country is " on the verge of bankruptcy," will go ou for a long , tirno expecting to hear that i't has toppled over tho edjre.
And so past Palrnerston, tin; same undulating land, ruled out by well-grown hedges into parallelograms, the furmuias of cultivation, and beyond the same snowy ranges holding up on their white peaks the perpetual promise of abundant water. And the sea still on the right, levels of green shallows, stained with broad patches of brown kelp. Yonder is the Shag Rock, and close down by the water's edge is a coal mine, and of good coal too. Here, right under the train, on the sea-beach; is a man sifting the sand— for gold. Extraordinary country ! On the verge of bankruptcy too ! Then the land breaks out into hummocks and low rounded hillocks, treeless except where bush remains in the kloofs or gullies, or where a patch of fir and gum makes tho homestead. The gorse here makes splendid hedges, and in the bare landscape, the wonde'fill excellence of the country roads can ?■ sily be seen. I'ublic money I am tol 1 has been " wasted " on these rural highways. But I do not think it has, anil of this I am quite sine, that the sons and grandsons of the present generation will not think so either. On the contrary, the day will come when the men who are now complaining that the colony has gone ahead too fast, and who speak of their Public Works as " ridiculous and a hundred years ahead of the time," will be gratefully spoken of as " far-seeing old boys, who knew what they were about " when they levelled out such substantial roads and put such good work into the permanent way of the railway. It is an old story, that of the man who objected to doing anything " for posterity," because, he said, "posterity had done nothing for him." But, after all, is not the whole wisdom of civilisation concentrated on the effort to do the best "for posterity?" Iu what country, not inhabited by savages, is the present as important as the future ; New Zealand may have borrowed and spent money extravagantly, but posterity is written in round hand, in capitals, in italics nil over the eonntry, and those who now grumble may live to confess yet that efter all the money was not "wasted." The harbours may to-day have no commerce, the railways no intelligible destination, tho high roads no tralh'e, hut a score of years heuoo these very harbours will have attracted commerce, and the railways have made the markets that will keep irnj roads busy with traffic. The burden, no doubt, falls heavily to-day, but the foundation of national prosperity has been well and truly laid, and the reward will come. So, past Ilillgrove, with sunny green jfriiss lands, sloping down to n sunny blue sen, na beautiful as Italy, as English as Ufracombe; past Hampdcn, a charming , handed, .scattered ,'ibout in a eonfufjim of little hills, and mimic dales, the homes perched on tho eminences <ir nestling , below in firs and willows, h delightful nub-Alpine glimpse, out into a reach of fertile bottom lands, on tho one K Me cattle and hor.-es ;is they feed overlooking, tho Pacific, on the other sheep dotted over tho whole country, almost back to *,!ie snow. Then Die hills close in, nnd \.'.; como upon a patch of native land, tussock-grass with clumps of cabbage trees, u fino trout stream through it running- down over its pebbly bed to the sea, and then fertility ayain, mid tho splendid levels of Maheno and Totara, What land ! what stock! Tho fiit, liuye-fritned, straightbacked cattle literally wade in sweet grass; and the horses, are "pictures,''' both in and condition. \VIn j at arid potatoes, in larger lield.i than we sec them nt Home, liil up the intervals between the pastures where the Polled Angus and the l)i!von live in plenteous ease. Here, too, we com ,, upon the whito Oamuru stone, whioi, they say, cuts in the quarry like cheese, and yet hardens by exposure into the finest building stone. It lies close upon the line, and crops up here and there in terrace-like formation, as if Nature wore in kindly uoiwpirai;y with man to save him trouble. The stone bridges have a comfortable, substantial look, and the sheds and houses all of white stone, ;ue pleasant, and satisfying to look at the. view. On the left there is line after line of hills—the. first vivid green with yoiinu crops, the next russet brown in naked ; beyond these, other. , ! blue with distance, and again beyond, ami above, the .snmv glittering in the sunlight Turn in your scat, and look to the right — broad meadows of grass and clover, and lo ! the blue sea with its white-sailed ships ! Where under the British flag will you beat it ? Little houses are dotted about in the verdant landscape, the many hedges and clumps of foliage giving a cosy Englisli look to the country. There i.s a strange relief after Australia. How clean and },'Ood the farreing is here ; no wasto lands, no slovenliness. Even the trimness of the hedges, the sound fences mid gates, tho admirable order of tho roads, tell of a country that is doing well. And so to Oamarti, past rich growths of English trees, a park I take if, well planted with willows, oaks and pines, into the white stone town. How well it looks, this. Oamaru that jealous neighbours pretend to make fun of. IJiit the pretence is a failure, for Oamaru knows what it is about, and knows, too, that its very appearance is a credit to the colony, with broad streets, handsomely flunked with Holid orderly stone buildings, its substantial stone warehouses and stores.. Then; is nothing , flimsy or superficial. Tho town is all sterling, and behind and around it is such country us guarantees prosperitylet the rates be what they may. Timaru men, I find, do not pay thc-so compliments to 0 wnaru, but so much the better. If it. werj not for rivalry (hero would be no progress. Look buck at tho town as tho train passes out through levels of exquisite pasturage, knee deep, and clovored—Alderney ki'iio and ponies are hero in addition to tho othn , >tock -iini grand paddocks sheltered with double and triple rows of anm trees, and see Oamaru lying on tho hill s!o;ks and spreading out over tho frrei'M .'loirs between the hill and the sea. Js it not a perfect site for ilio ceL'.iiMl town of an .■α-neultural and pa.ii.or.il dictriot, with its i'ar-spiead-
injr verdure of .•„!■: s»s and coin, bivW-n .■lily liy ph ihinx mii. , : column or pi:n- :<"■■'■ •:il'i> mid I"-' l>'t w:iydo.;. jie.ful ;:-.:i> rlinvtrc hiqn nco for ;i trlv.s-i of (Joloi.ia! (•per ? I" i- very to >d, 1 grmi, '■•ut i> is not nil English six;» ;i<'" :■ -l.!s S f 0 -it. L-'t. us ho oiiiii-lciit, iv. i. in tin' price of f-.i-pr.
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Waikato Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 2572, 5 January 1889, Page 2 (Supplement)
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1,488AN ENGLISH LITERATEUR'S TRIP THROUGH NEW ZEALAND. Waikato Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 2572, 5 January 1889, Page 2 (Supplement)
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