New Zealand

“ The magnificent climate of New Zealand, and the attractive character of the country, together with the qualities I have just mentioned possessed by its inhabitants, make life in this Colony something more than a mere existence, a dreary round of unremunerative toil, or a painful struggle with misfortune or ill-health, which it so often becomes in lands less gifted and less free. The two main ingredients in the composition of English society are lacking in New Zealand—rank and pauperism are conspicuous by their absence. ”

“ New Zealand patriotism is not likely to forget the rock from which it is hewn. The Queen's portrait hangs in every sort of house, the shepherd's hut, miner's shanty, and in the nursery. Should ever the time come when even New Zealand might aid the Mother Country, in case of war, I feel certain she will be in the front to the best of her ability. ”

“ To the lover of beautiful Nature the work of our race in New Zealand seems more akin to that of the Seljuk Turks in Asia Minor, when they swept away population, buildings and agriculture, and Byzantine city and rural life together, in order to turn whole provinces into pasture for their sheep. Not that my countrymen are more blind to beauty than other colonists from Europe. ”

“ New Zealand has long been singled out as a striking example of the Utopian tendencies of this age. Its initiativeness, its independence and progressiveness have marked it conspicuously, and the world echoes and reechoes with its well-earned encomiums. Although New Zealand has abundant opportunity to become more democratic still, it has set an example for legislation in favor of the people that might well be imitated by earth's greatest nations. ”

“ The story of New Zealand's progress since 1814 has been one of splendid emulation tempered by vicissitude. There have been dark days, days of doubt, of devastation by war, but never a period when our people lost heart or renounced their national faith. ”

“ The free Zealander is a joyous, good-humoured looking man, full of laughter and vivacity, and is chattering incessantly; but the slaves have invariably a squalid, dejected look; they are never seen to smile, and appear literally half starved. The beauties characteristic of a New Zealander are his teeth and hair; the latter, in particular, is his pride and study; but the slaves have their heads half shorn. ”

“ I have heard that the chiefs and people of New Zealand have proved the faithful friends of those who have come among them to do them good, and I therefore trust myself to their protection and friendship with confidence. All good Englishmen are desirous that the New Zealanders should be a rich and happy people, and it is my wish when I shall have erected my house that all the chiefs will come and visit me and be my friends. We will then consult together by what means they can make their country a flourishing country, and their people a rich and wise people like the people of Great Britain. ”

“ The tribes of New Zealand are so entirely distinct, so utterly destitute of nationality, as to have no name for the whole country which they inhabit. A national name was invented for this occasion—the words Na Terrene which express the native pronunciation of the English words "New Zealand." The only parties besides to the so-called Declaration of Independence were the chiefs of a few tribes then inhabiting a small part of one of the Islands. ”

“ Not inhabited, probably, till within late centuries of the history of man, and then but thinly populated, and only along the coasts and along the banks of navigable rivers, New Zealand has fully preserved within its interior the originality and peculiarity of its remarkable animal and vegetable kingdoms up to our present time. No monuments of any kind, no tombs of kings, no ruins of cities, no time-honoured fragments of shattered palace domes and temples, are there to tell of the deeds of ages or nations past and gone. ”

“ Many parochial and conceited New Zealanders there are, but I cannot candidly say that the average New Zealander is more parochial or conceited than are millions of people in the United States or in Europe. On subjects affecting his native heath the New Zealander undoubtedly is sensitive, but what nationalities are not so?
On the other hand, prolonged prosperity apparently has created in the New Zealander some indifference to criticism which, if heeded, might have beneficial results. It is possible that, for the development of character, New Zealand has had too much prosperity. ”

“ New Zealand is so bountifully endowed with that merciful gift of heaven—water—that she has an undeniable superiority over us in this drought-infested colony of New South Wales; but this is only another argument to strengthen my contention that we do not utilize our gifts to the full as we might. ”

“ Every man looks on his own country as God's own country if it be a free land, but the New Zealander has more reason than most. It is a lovely place, and contains within its moderate limits the agricultural plains of England, the lakes and hills of Scotland, the glaciers of Switzerland, and the fiords of Norway, with a fine hearty [222] people, who do not treat the British newcomer with ignorant contempt or hostility. There are so many interests and so many openings that it is hard to think that a man will not find a career in New Zealand. ”

“ In Europe, the continent is richer than the islands; at the antipodes, the islands are richer than the continent. New Zealand, the last colony of England, promises to be one of the noblest of the British possessions. It may either be regarded as one island, fifteen hundred miles long, or as three, divided by boisterous channels, and lashed everywhere by a roaring ocean. It has remarkable advantages for colonisation—a fertile soil, boundless forests, beds of minerals, and picturesque beauty. ”

“ The scenery of New Zealand, in contrast to that of Australia, is nearly everywhere beautiful—as nature made it—though the modern settlers have robbed the island of much of its loveliness by cutting down the forests recklessly, destroying the ferns, and shooting the song birds. ”

“ I was confidently assured in Australia that I might see New Zealand thoroughly in the course of a two months' trip, and when I set out to visit it, it was my purpose not to extend my stay greatly beyond that limit. In effect, I found a year all too litde for my purpose. The physical aspects of the country alone are so extraordinary and delightful that a lover of nature finds it hard to withdraw himself from the influence of their charm. New Zealanders delight to speak of their country as the Wonderland of the South. They are justified, and more than justified. ”

“ What is the Proportion of Population of Foreigners, Europeans, and Subjects of England in New Zealand?
I do not know; we hardly knew how to distinguish. Are there Frenchmen and Americans?
There are very few Frenchmen; there are some few North Americans, but we do not distinguish between the North Americans and the English; there are very few Frenchmen; there is a French Doctor in the Bay of Islands. Have they no Settlement of their own, apart from the English?
I am not aware of any. The Natives make no Distinction between them? ”

“ No Chinese, however, can enter New Zealand lawfully without the payment of a five-hundred-dollar head tax.
As I have said, New Zealand is a land of amazing variety, but its diversity is not confined to its physical gifts. It applies as well to its industrial and political activities. Industrially New Zealand is a beehive in which drones are relatively scarce. For those of its inhabitants who choose to work there is little excuse for idleness. ”

“ What events may await this fair portion of the globe, whether England will regard with a sisterly eye so beautiful an Island, placed like herself in a commanding position, well harboured, well wooded, and fertile in resources; whether this country will stretch forth a friendly and vigorous arm, so that New Zealand may with her native population adorn the page of future history as an industrious, well-ordered, and Christian nation, it is not for the committee of the Church Missionary Society to anticipate—but this consolation they do possess. ”

“ The air is filled with rumours of the impending formation of a colony by France; and, indeed, a French ship presently flies in the wake of the Tory and the Druid, bound, they say, for Akaroa in the Middle Island, where many thousands of goodly acres are already in one Frenchman's hands. New Zealand herself, precious object of the desire of so many, sits upon her sea-girt throne and lifts anxious eyes to the scales of Fate, watching the quivering balance. One arm must soon descend, weighted with her destiny. ”

“ The country as far as Timaru was very flat, bounded by the Southern Alps far away on the right and by the sea on the left of the line. Such splendid fields of grain there were, hedged with gorse or hawthorn, mile after mile of them, with plantations of pinus insignis like dark green islands in a sea of verdure, and surrounding some of the houses near the railway were sycamores, limes, poplars, elms, and oaks. And numerous rivers, numberless streams,—no wonder that the isles of New Zealand are emerald with such abundance of water everywhere and such a temperate climate. ”

“ The people of New Zealand are determined that the prestige of the British Empire, to which they belong, shall be maintained at all hazards. Though New Zealand is Radical and Democratic, even termed by some Socialistic, there is in the present emergency an amount of imperial patriotism in the country not to be surpassed elsewhere in Her Majesty's dominions. ”

“ New Zealand is a land in every way desirable. Save for a trick Nature has of tumbling into convulsions now and then, it is hard to see how any land could have been created more beautiful, more comfortable, more blessed. ”

“ We have not been insensible to the importance of New Zealand to the interests of Great Britain in Australia, nor unaware of the great natural resources by which that country is distinguished, or that its geographical position must in seasons, either of peace or war, enable it in the hands of civilised men to exercise a paramount influence in that quarter of the globe. There is probably no part of the earth in which colonisation could be effected with a greater or surer prospect of national advantage. ”

“ The New Zealanders always travel on foot, one after the other, or in Indian file. Their pathways are not more than a foot wide, which to a European is most painful; but as the natives invariably walk with the feet turned in, or pigeon-toed, they feel no inconvenience from the narrowness. When a traveller is once on the path, it is impossible for him to go astray. ”

“ All the guide-books that we consulted spoke equally rapturously of the climate of New Zealand, and so, with visions of eternal blue, cloudless skies, and long sunny days, we added to our stock of dainty muslins and shady hats, gave away any winter clothes we had from last spring, and kept only one warm tailor-made each in case of occasional cold days on the voyage out. ”

“ The tattooing of their lips, and the quantity of oil and red earth with which they anoint their persons and hair, would not be agreeable to the taste of a refined European; but I can conceive to a New Zealand lover, their well-formed figure, the interesting cast of their countenance, and the sweet tone of their voice, must render them extremely desirable companions, to soothe his cares, and strew his path through life with flowers: for savage life has its cares and perplexities as well as that of the polished native of the most enlightened country. ”

“ If I go to New Zealand I put off English Clothes, because they will be soon worn out, and I cannot get others; but if I am with English People I wear English Clothes. Do you think the other New Zealand People would do so too?
I think so; that they would like them. Do you think if a Captain told a New Zealander he would give him Powder or Blankets to bring back a runaway Sailor he would do it?
If a Man were to run away, if a Captain came and offered Powder, or Musket, or a Blanket, the Chief would go and bring the Man back again for it. Are there not a great many Whites where you live? ”

“ I had not rambled far before I witnessed a scene which forcibly reminded me of the savage country in which I then was, and the great alteration of character and customs a few days' sail will make. The sight to me so appalling was that of the remains of a human body which had been roasted, and a number of hogs and dogs were snarling and feasting upon it! I was more shocked than surprised, for I had been informed of the character of the New Zealanders long before my arrival amongst them ”

“ Yonder, a mile or two to starboard, and seeming within a stone's throw, is the land we have come so far to seek. A wall of rock, the northern cliff of New Zealand rises abrupt and imposing from the sea, broken here and there into groups of pillared, pinnacled islets, nobly irregular in outline, piled and scarred, indented and projected, uplifted and magnificent. ”

“ Where are we to look for such men in the youthful colony of New Zealand?
That this colony will grow rapidly in wealth and strength, and will eventually become a great nation, I do most firmly believe—it possesses all the elements for such a destiny. That the New Zealand Institute, with its incorporated societies, may keep pace, and in future ages become to New Zealand what the Royal Society is to England and the French Academy is to France, is the very utmost that we can ever hope for ”