The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-10-14 00:00:00

NEW ZEALAND

The establishment of the new line of packets between Liver-
pool and New Zealand has naturally causer; n'ten-
tion to be directed towards this colony. interPst ha.e bean
..„ .

rival of lito-I;i:;ence, confirmed

f gold in soloe po.

very valuable lodes of copper in other parts
A large number of communications have
reached us, requesting us to give the writers some information
respecting the present position and prospects of New Zealand.
We have already passed in review each of the settlements on
the Australian continent, and proposed to ourselves to adopt a
similar course respecting New Zealand; and this will, we
believe, be the most convenient mode of replying to the nume.
rous queries which have been put to us respecting this most
valuable colony. It was in the year 1839 that the three
islands, forming together:what is called New Zealand, were first
declared to be subject to the crown of Great Britain ; but for
some years prior to this, a number of British subjects had set-
tled upon the land, many of whom had acquired possession of
large tracts of land from the natives for a merely nominal con-
sideration, hundreds of acres being obtained from the chiefs in
exchange for a blanket, a hatchet, a gun, or some eeegaw of
Brumagem ware. Shortly after the proclamation declaring the
colony subject to the British Crown, many of those so called
purchases were declared invalid, and no title to the land, is ❑ow
held as valid unless derived from or confirmed by her Majesty.
In 1837 the New Zealand Company was formed, with the
avowed object of putting an end to the disputes which were
constantly going on between quasi purchasers of land and the
chiefs, who, soon becoming aware of the extent of the frauds
which had been practised upon them, repudiated their contracts,
and not unfrequently put an end to the bargain by the same
hatchets and muskets which had been palmed off upon them in
exchange for their land. The carrying out of the theories and
views of the company was attended with considerable difficul-
ties, and after much opposition, both at home and in the
colony, the company was dissolved in 1851, its liabilities being
made a charge upon the revenue of the colony, in accordance
with certain arrangements made between the parties. The
New Zealand Company has, however, during the fourteen
years of its existence, been instrumental in the establishment
of colonies or settlements at Wellington, Nelson, New Ply-
mouth, and Otago. The remaining two settlements are
Auckland and Canterbury.
The whole of the colony, three islands, which lie between 48
deg. and 34 deg. south latitude, and 166 deg. and 179 deg.
east longitude, are almost exactly the antipodes of this country.
The northern island is called New Ulster, and upon it are
situated the settlements of Auckland, Wellington, and New
Plymouth—Auckland being on the north point of the island,
New Plymouth on the west, and Wellington on the south.
The middle island is called New Munster, arid upon it are
situated the settlements of Nelson, Canterbury, and Otago;
Nelson is on the north of the island, Canterbury on the east,
and Otago near the south-east extremity. The two islands are
separated from each other by Cook's Straits, and Wellington
and Nelson possess most excellent harbours in these straits.
The third is known as New Leinster, or Stewart's Island ; but
it is rugged, inclement, possessed of no good harbour, and is
rarely visited, except by the whalers and South Sea fishers.
The middle island is the largest of the three ; it contains about
46,126,000 acres, the north island about 31,174,000 acres, and
Stewart's, or the southern, is estimated at one millio❑ of acres,
making a total area of 78,300,480 acres, exceeding that of
Great Britain by about twenty millions of acres. Of the
whole area, a moderate computation assigns two-thirds of the
land as adapted to pastoral and agricultural pursuits.
In the north island the first settlement which demands
notice is that of Auckland. The town stands in an isthmus,
jetting out into a very commodious estuary,—that of the Waite-
mata. The rivers Taranaki and Wairaa are navigable for
barges and canoes from the town to some twelve or fifteen
miles in the interior, while lying to the eastward of Auckland
is a fertile plain sixty miles in length, watered by the Thames
and Watoa, which run parallel to each other through the princi-
pal districts, and bear the produce of the country—timber,
manganese, pigs, Indian corn, potatoes, flax, copper ore, and
limestone—to the markets and port of Auckland. On these
and other streams kiding to Auckland,• the natives brought
down last year to Auckland about ono hundred and fifty tons
of potatoes, and large quantities of other produce of their land.
In 1851, the good• people of Auckland first witnessed the
departure of vessels laden with the corn produce of the island,
and was seriously alarmed at the prospects of famine which
appeared to be before them. The direful prognostics of those
who were opposed to the commencement of the trade have not,
however, yet been realised, although the exports have increased
from £53,000 in 1852, to £145,000 in 1853, and to nearly
double that amount in the last year. On the let of January,
1855, Auckland possessed a mercantile marine of its own of
very nearly 10,000 tons, i❑ addition to the large quantities of
canoes employed in her inland navigation. Auckland is a
colony but just fifteen years old, and during this period it has
made as great progress as did Hobart Town during the first
quarter of a century of its existence. The revenue of the
settlement is about £lOO,OOO a year, of which sum £4,000
was received in 1854 from the sale of Crown lands, and the
European population is nearly 12,000. The climate of
Auckland is very good, the air soft and genial, and warmer
than in the settlements further to the south.
New Plymouth, or Taranaki, is not unfrequently called " the
Garden ef New Zealand." The first body of English settlers,
which landed here in 1840, left England through the exertions
of the " Plymouth Company of New Zealand," hence its
name—New Plymouth. The settlement is on the west coast
of the island, about 120 miles south of Auckland. It has no
harbour like that of the northern settlement, but the land is
fertile to an extraordinary degree. Of this settlement Sir
George Grey, the late Governor of New Zealand, wrote—" I
have never in any part of the world seen such extensive tracts
of fertile and unoccupied land as at Taranaki. The country
around is undulating, broken, and interspersed with hills,
which vary in size from half an acre to two or three acres,
densely wooded, and generally containing a small but unfailing
spring of fresh water. The English population of the district,
in number about 2,000, is fast incrsasing, and there is probably
no little community in the world where the prosperity and
well-being of the people is of a more real and substantial
character." The complaints frequently made respecting the
hostile feelings which the natives entertain towards the settlers
have been greatly exaggerated. The disturbances which con-
stantly take place are almost invariably confined to disputes
among the natives themselves, and the settlers have experienced
but little annoyance from the natives. The great want of the
settlement, like most other of our colonies, is labour, and
active agencies have been set on foot in New Plymouth to
obtain an increased supply of immigrants.
Wellington is a settlement of the same age as New Ply-
mouth, and it now contains a population of about 10,000.
In a carefully compiled work by Mr. Filton, called " New
Zealand : its Present Condition, Prospects, and Resources,"
the following passage occurs relative to the Wellington settle-
ment :—" Wellington possesses one great advantage over Auck-
land in being easily accessible from other portions of the colony.
It holds, as a trading port, a very prominent if not actually the
leading mercantile position. It also has annexed to it very
considerable tracts of pasturage running up into the country
northward and eastward of the harbour, and by means of these
contributes largely to the exports of New Zealand Wool.
This is a branch of produce in which Auckland, owing to its
deficiency in pasturage suitable for large flocks of sheep or of
cattle, has hitherto contributed very little to the European
markets. The pastoral capabilities of Wellington have of late
been very considerably increased by the purchase of the
Ahuriri district, on the eastern coast of the North Island, and
also of some other less extensive territories. This increased
accommodation for their growing flocks will be of great benefit
to the stockowners of Wellington, who had for some time past
felt the want of add;tional pastures; during which time the
native population have steadily refused to permit any purchase
or occupation of their territories beyond the boundaries
originally made over to the English Government."
One of the 'great drawbacks to the settlement has been the
occasional occurence of earthquakes. They do not appear,
however, to be of a very severe character, and the settlers
having probably become used to these visitations, regard them
as but slight inconveniences. In each of these settlements of
the Northern Island there is an abundant fieid for the employ.
ment of labour and the investment of capital, while .he Middle
Island, with its settlements of Nelson, Canterbury, and Otago,
holds out equal inducements to the labourer and the small
capitalist. We must reserve our notice of these settlements,
however, for another occasion. —Australian New Zealand
Gazette.

of the prov

MINOR MISERIES.—Amongst the multitude of minor
miseries there are few that so painfully annoy as the injuries
inflicted on the feet by tight or ill-fitting boots and shoes,
and not unfrequently by the neglect of the toe nails or of
incipient corns and bunions. The attention of residents or
visitors suffering from these causes is directed to the
announcement of Mr. Simms in our advertising columns.
He is the author of a practical exposition g.n the feet, and
his testimonials from the nobility, also Physician to Her
Majesty, medical and other gentlemen, and residents in this
neighbourhood, speak for themselves. Consulting Rooms,
36 Slater-street.—Adv