Evening star., 1901-02-09

tent. The Tasman glacier is eighteen miles
long, 200 feet thick and, on the average
more than a mile wide. 1t covers an area
OF 1900 acres. The Murchison glacier and
the Cooley glacier are each ten miles In
length, and each has an area of more than
5000 acres.
In the summer these New Zealand mount
ans are full of travellers and explorers.
The tourist agents of Europe send parties
to New Zealand, and the people of Australia
come to this Switzerland of the South seas
just as we go to the Switzerland of Eu-
rope. The government itself is the chief
excursion agent. 1t prints illustrated guide
books and sells them at cost. You can get
a guide to almost any part Of New Zealand
for sixpence The government is making
roads and bridges through the most pic
turesque parts of the island and parliament
recently voted s250,000 for this purpose
alone 1t is now opening up the western
coast of the Middle Island, region which
has sounds and fiords like those of Norway
Long waterways walled by giant mountains,
clothed with foliage to the snow line ex-
tend into the land and you sail under wa
terfalls. glaciers and snow fields amid some
OF the grandest of scenery.
An Evergreen Land.
] have spoken of New Zealand as an
evergreen land. 1t is so. 1t has the same
green you see in England and Ireland. The
fences about the houses are often hedges
cut in curious shapes and of a Vanished
green. The leaves are on most of the
trees all the year round There are many
varieties of green plants, such as the holly.
There are scrub palms, and the New Zea-
land palm lily is to be seen everywhere.
This is tree which reaches a height of
twenty feet. Ii goes straight up without a
branch to the top. where it blossoms out
In green tassels like a palm. The people
call it the cabbage tree
And then the ferns New Zealand has
enough to establish ferneries for all crea-.
tion. You find places where there are acres
of them, miles of them. Some of the deep
glens and gorges are walled with them.
They are of all kinds, some great trees and
others as fine as maiden's hair. There Is
one fern which is used by the natives cor
bedding, and another which is half fern,
half vine. 1t climbs the loftiest tree, coilIng
it's wire-like stems about the branches The
stems are tough enough for ropes. They
maintain their coil after being pulled off
and It is said that some of the people have
used them for making spring mattresses.
Think Of sleeping on fern beds, upon fern
springs, and you have one Of the possibili-
ties of New Zealand!
1 don't want to discuss industrial New
Zealand III this letter. 1t is enough to say
that both islands have much good land 1
saw a piece of the Canterbury plains which
a good authority told me produced ninety
bushels Of wheat to the acre, and l have
travelled through sections where thirty,
forty and fifty bushels are not uncommon
Some of the land produces hundred BUSH
els of oats to the acre and much of 1T tur-
IL. /
sown with English grasses, and 1t is, on the
whole, as near a garden as any temperate
country south of the equator. 1t is land
Of coal mines and gold mines, as we'll as of
factories and shops which are more or less
successful.
Who the New Zealanders' Are.
would say. however, that the country IL
pretty well filled up and there are few op-
portunities for outsiders These people be-
lieve in New Zealand for the New Zealand
ers Away down in their souls 1 doubt
whether they care for immigration and of
recent years the government has not been
putting a premium upon it. It is especially
anxious to keep out the Chinese and It
now charges every Chinese immigrant an
admission tax of $500. The result is the
Chinese do not come and there are now
only about 5000 Of them In the colony.
The population all told is little less than
800 900, Of whom only 10000 are Maoris or
aborigines; the remainder are nearly all
British-born subjects, about half Of them
having been born in New Zealand and the
rest in England. Scotland and Ire
land. The country. in fact, is q little
England. The houses are much like En-
glish cottages. the business places are like
English shops and the money is pounds.
shillings and pence. You frequently hear
the cockney accent Of London, and the Ian
guage everywhere Is English.
The people are, I think, far more pro-
gressve and less provincial than the in
habitants Of Great Britain. They are
more like the Americans than the English.
and they might. In fact, be called the Yam
KEGS Of the southern Pacific.
The Capital Of New Zealand.
Wellington. for instance. is more like an
American town than an English one. Al
ready q city Of $4,000 people, It is growing
like green bay tree. It lies In nest ID
tho hills. with Its business streets running
round the harbor. some Of them built upon
land reclaimed from the sea. It's chief
buildings are Of wood, and It has the dis
tinction OF having one government building
which ID said ID - the largest wooden,