The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-04-17 00:00:00

Ttir STOMPAIDGE OPSETIVPII

CrOBE ON NEW ZEALAND.

A T.eeture on the above 13rithrh coloirr, was de-
livered en Tuesday evening last, an the Corn
Exchange: by Sir James Fergussoo, Bert., late
Governer 'of the :Colony. The ketnre was given
under the auspices of the. Church of England
ASECCitliioll. The chair walittiken by the Rev. D.
liobertron, vicar of the Lye (President of the
Association), who is brother-in-law to Sir James;
Fergussou. There was a numerous and highly
respec I able audience present.
The chairman opened the proceedings by intro-
ducing the lecturer to the audience. He said Sir
James Fergussen had been six years abroad, dur-
ing the first four years of which he was Governor
of South Australia, and for two years Governor
of New Zealand, and being at the head of affairs
had been able to compare the positions and pros-
pects of both those colonies. The work of con-
necting Australia with New Zealand by telegraph
was completed during his term of office, and he -
had passed all over the island and made himself
acquainted with the condition of the people there
and the state of the colony. Sir James began life
as a soldier and waswith the Guardsin the Crimea
and was wounded in India. He had always been
most cordially attached to the Established Church
and one of his motives in coming there was not
only to confer a boon upon himself (the speaker),
but more especially to do the Church Association
of this town a service. Without any further
remark, he .would introduce to them Sir James
Fergusson.
The lecturer said after the kind introduction
which had been given him by his brothei-in-law,
he trusted that to,a certain extent himself and his
auditors were placed en rapport with each other,
and, therefore, he was not so utterly unknown to
them as otherwise he should have been. He was
not a professional lecturer, and he would, there-
fore, in a simple and plain manner give them
his experiences of New Zealand. Public attention
had been drawn towards this great colony of late
years. What first induced him to give a lecture
on this subject was that he had been asked to do
so in his own native town of Ayr, and the one he
had given there led to his delivering the present
one. The great colony of New Zealand was situ-
ated as nearly as possible at the antipodes of our
native shores. In extent the islands forming the
colony were nearly equal to the British Isles.
The southern islands were equal to England and
Wales, and the northern to England without
Wales. The physical features of New Zealand
were very remarkable. It was near no continent. ,
The mountains were gigantic, and quite out of all
proportion to the size of the country. The
scenery was magnificent, and its soil extremely
fertile and admirably adapted for the productions
of which our people stand most in need. The
great range of mountains commonly called the
southern Alps ran from one end to the other of
the two islands. The most lofty mountain had
an altitude of between 40,000 and 50,000 feet, and
there were glaciers on them all the year round.
which seen from the sea, when illuminated with
the rays of the sun, presented an indescribably
lovely appearance. The shores of the northern
coast of the middle island were sandy, and the
south western portion was one of the most remark-
able configurations in the world. The adores rose
precipitously out of the sea intercepted by fjords,
like those in Norway. The ships pass through
immense gates of rock into still waters, with im-
mense precipitous rocks rising on each side, and
frequently the water was so deep that anchorage
for ships could only be obtained in some projec-
tions of the surrounding rocks, and frequently
they had to be fastened to trees. One of the
sounds called "Dusky Inlet," was well described
by Captain Cook, who had been there about 100
years ago, and they, (the lecturer and a party
who were with him), were able to trace from his
accurate charts the exact spot where he had re-
paired his ship, and on examining them they
found one of the trees to be exactly 100 years old
and they saw the gap in the primeval forest which
he cut down for the purpose of taking his solar
observations. Of course it was easy to pass
through these channels in safety at the present
day, with the charts which they now have, but
they could not help
_being struck with the courage
of the British navigator who first went through
with such imperfect information. It was curious
that as Otago was a settlement of the Scotch,
Canterbury was appropriated by the English, and•
both places being eminently suited to the char-
acteristics of the respective nationalities, as Otago
was mountainous and rugged, whilst Canterbury
was more fiat and fertile. He then gave several
interesting particulars respecting the establish-
ment of New Zealand as a British colony, and
next referred to the native races which had for.
merly inhabited it. He said no one could become
acquainted with the native races without feeling
considerable regard for them. The records which
they had kept he believed to be authentic, and ac-
cording to these they migrated from some of the
Pacific islands about 500 years ago. There had
always been among them a class better educated
than the rest, and the men of this class were in
the habit of reciting the traditions of their tribes
so that their history might never be lost. There
were no animals indigenous to the country.
The largest thing that inhabited it being the
gigantic native ostrich, the moa the bones of
which were commonly found. at the present day;
andthe only quadrupeds found there were rats,
watch the Maories say they brought with them.
Some of them said that cannibalism arose from
the want of animal food, but he believed it grew
out of fury engendered by their habits of war.
They had now laid aside, not only the practice,
but the habit of mind which led to it; and the
old natives who had been guilty of it, regarded it
with horror. In speaking of the recent settlement
of the country—the first governor was appointed
in 1849—Sir James said he wondered at the
indifference with which the people of England,
viewed the question of colonisation. 311-any-re-
garded it as an absoltte evil, as a burden to the
country, and pot a few stltermoulooked upon the'
addition Of colonies to 't4 DtitiPli 'Empire with
relnctatice, perhaps from a sense of the responsi-
bility they involved. Their recent addition of
Fiji was only forced upon them by the absolute
duty and necessity which seemed to rest upon them
to protect the people of Fiji from the irregular
settlements which had been going on; and in the
same way the British Government was forced to
assume the government of New Zealand. He
trusted those who had a hand in it did not regret
the step—they had no reason to do so; and he be-
lieved they added to the British Empire one of the
brightest jewels of the Crown, which might at
sonic time become a valuable ally to England, and
which certainly at that moment was a happy
home for many of their people. With regard to
the land question, the English had never had
any land from the Maories except by purchase;
but as to many of the earlier sales of land, the
natives did not seem to comprehend they were
pelting with their laud for ever, and to this day
some of them believed a kind of jubilee year would
come when their ancient possessions would be res-
tored to them. The Government would not allow
them to part with all their land, and one-tenth of
their territory had been reserved to each tribe, to
afford them a means of lirehhood. Though many
people depreciated the standing of the Maories as
Christiai s, he must say from what he hadobserved,
that in their profession and practice of Christianity
they would bear comparison with many English
people. Notwithstanding the efforts of the Go-
vernment to induce them to lead healthier lives,
the nations were fast dying out. They drank a
great deal, and poisonous and adulterated spirits
were sold to them by unprincipled Europeans;
but so far as he could make out, he did not think
the drink hurt them so much as smoking, in which
old and moung indulged to the greatest excess.
The Government were doing a great deal to edu-
cate the Maories, and in visiting their schools
he was surprised at their intelligence and quick-
ness. -It was but thirty-five years since the Eng-
lish Government took to New Zealand, and already
the European population amounted to over 300,000.
There were 2.50,000 acres under cereal crops, and
2,000,000 acres under European grass, and the
colony possessed ten million sheep, half a million
of horned cattle and more than 30,000 horses—an
astonishing quraitity of stock to he accumulated
in so comparatively few years. The colony had
been a large borrower in the English money mar-
ket, and when he came home, a few months ago,
he found doubts existed of the policy of the New
Zealand Government in borrowing so largely. The
public debt amounted to eighteen millions, and
some people said this was an enormous amount
for a colony of 300,000 persons to owe. Thu real
way to measure the magnitude of the debt was to
look at the productiveness of the country, and
when they found that without direct taxation the
revenue naturally increased in greater ratio than
the interest of the debt, they might judge its
pressure was not heavily felt. The taxes were
entirely on articles of luxury or secondary neces-
sity, and the debt in great part was applied in the
development of the colony, in constructing main
roads, railways, and public works. Since 1770
nearly 1,200 miles of main roads had been con-
structing by the General Government, 5,000 milps
of inferior roads; and there were 1,020 miles of
railway in construction, or sanctioned. He believed
the money spent was being handsonaly returned.
No eountry in the world offered so favourable a
field for colonisation, and he said this after having
visited many English colonies. The climate was
especially favourable to Englishmen. After giving
deteils as to wages and other matters, Sir James
said he firmly believed the colony was fitted to be
piheptotefortable ad-heppy. home- of millions of
their mos, and those who had already settled there

were taking up a position which would do honour
to the British Empire and redound to their own
credit.-1 hearty vote of thanks was given to Sir.
James Ferguson, on the motion of the Rev. H.
Sherrard, seconded by Mr. W. Roberts; and
thanks were also voted to the chairman.