The Blackpool Herald. — 1883-12-28 (Blackpool, Lancashire, England)

NEW ZEALAND: INTERESTING LETTER FROM A FORMER RESIDENT OF THE FYLDE. A letter has recently been received from Mr. Joshua Wardley (formerly of Lytham, and at one time of Fleetwood), of Christchurch, New Zealand, by some of his friends, of which the following is an extract : " We are not favourably impressed with the idea of this part of New Zealand being healthy ; fevers of every kind, rheumatism, sore eyes, bronchitis, asthma, neuralgia, diphtheria, heart disease, cancer, and diarrhcea, seem to be common everywhere, out of which the doctors reap a very large harvest every year, their charges being very high, and their skill in many cases being very low. The past winter, which set in in March, and continues to the present, with now and then a few hours' scorching sur shine, has been very trying to everyone, and I am thankful that amid it all my own health and that of my dear wife have been tolerably good. Business here generally is very bad, and every class, including the farmers, seems to be suffering. Last harvest (gathered in February and March) was a very abundant one, but the weather broke before the threshing commenced, and :in thousands of instances the wheat rotted in the stacks, owing to the rain, and the ownets were ruined. The building trade here and elsewhere is at a standstill, and in Christchurch alone, neariy 200 joiners, &c., are, and for a long time have been, out of employment ; as many more belonging to other trades and professions, including lawyers and bankers' clerks, are breaking stones here in Christchurch in order to obtain a bare subsistence. Fully one•third of the 'shops and houses are unoccupied, while of the remainder only a part are really paying their way. Add to this the fact that some of the necessaries of life are quite double the price they were three years ago, while wages are very much lower, and then you can realise that the outlook of the residents of the colony is but a very poor one. The extensive shipments of frozen mutton to LEngland has caused 'butchers to double its price recently; and because of this I am just considering the propriety of con. verting a part of my garden into poultry-pens, as they cost little to keep, and will save the butchers' bill. lam in hopes that more genial weather coming soon may improve matters, but if I knew any. one desirous of coming out here at present, I should certainly advise them not to do so until some signs of returning prosperity set in. Ships now arriving bring large numbers of nominated immigrants ; a few go to their friends, but a great number pass a miserable time out of employment, and suicide arising from grief and disappointment is much more isommon here than in England. Scarcely a day passes but some " unknown " is picked up in the bush, or out of the rivers or harbours, their penniless pockets clearly showing that life with them has ended with sheer despair. You will scarcely thank me for sending you so doleful an epistle, delivered as it will be at such a festive time • but I think it is well that friends at home should understand the real condition of things here, in order that others who contemplate emigration may pause ere they take a step which may be fraught not only with disappointment but also with disaster. It would be difficult to assign all the causes which have tended to bring about the present state of depression and suffering. No doubt one of the principal has been the acquisition of large tracts of land by unscrupulous men, who, having bought it for an old song, have disposed of it at a high price to some new-comer on the "deferred pay" system. He finds it hard to keep up his payments with the most abundant harvest; but when, after a year's toil, the increasing storms of rain rot his stacks, he finds nothing but rain at the end of all his efforts to make and keep a home fo himself and family. Another cause of loss is found in the existence of some of the great mercantile trading companies, who grow rich upon the public ruin. They hold enormous acres of land, which they stock with cattle, impliments, &c., and then sell them on terms to a new-comer—a small sum down, the rest at intervals spread over a number of years. They take a mortgage on his crops, flocks, &c., and the first difficulty that arises the mortgages (a company) take possession, the estate is sold, the mortgages (who are really the representatives of a Colonial bank) buy the estate, and the next greenhorn who turns up buys the estate, settles on the terms of his predecessor, only to be evicted by seizure in due time. Ido not say this sort of proceeding is by any means a part of the business programme of these companies ; but it is a very I common occurrence. Only last autumn one of these companies held so many mortgages on growing crops in this colony, that they pay over £l,OOO premium on the fire insurance alone, covering risks ' up to the time of shipment or sale only."  E P PS' S