Otago

“ We are in another climate. The mildness of the air is charming after the cold of Otago and the ranges. A lovely place this Hokitika. The long stretch of surf-bound shore, crested billows everywhere save the entrance to the harbour in the Hokitika River, the town backed by the primeval forest, not like the Australian bush, but varying in colour and shade; far beyond is the range of the Alps towering to the skies, culminating in the monarch of New Zealand, Mount Cook. ”

“ Here was the original Scottish settlement in 1848, and the natural outlet of the rich gold and pastoral district behind. The city lies at the head of a long inlet, Otago Harbour, which 23 is formed by a narrow peninsula connected only by a small neck with the mainland. The peninsula and the surrounding hills together make a kind of funnel through which sweep the winds from the north-east or south-west. It is always cool and breezy here, a fit place for a strong, healthy, and energetic race; but people coming from the warmer regions of the North Island do not always appreciate the change. ”

“ Lakes and Sounds of the Lone Southwest—The Rabbit Curse—Enchanting Manapouri and Te Anau—The Finest Walk in the World—Milford Sound—New Zealand's Lucerne.
In the southwestern part of the South Island, over the tussocky hills and plains of Otago and Southland, is New Zealand's grandest lake region; its magnificent sounds that rival the fiords of Norway; river canyons with cloud-swept rims; and sea-cliffs rising thousands of feet above the tides. ”

“ Otago (153) , the southernmost province in the South Island, New Zealand, somewhat less in size than Scotland, is mountainous and inaccessible in the W., but in the E. consists of good arable plains, where British crops and fruits grow well; the climate is temperate; timber abounds; there are gold, coal, iron, and copper mines, manufactures of woollen goods, iron, and soap, and exports wool, gold, cereals, and hides; founded in 1848 by the Otago Association of the Free Church of Scotland, but immigration became general on the discovery of gold in 1861 ”

“ It does one's heart good, after the slovenly farming and tree-stumps of some parts of Australia, to see the clean fields here. The ploughmen of this part of Otago are famous, and the mathematical exactitude of the long, clean furrows would rejoice the heart of a true farmer anywhere. The train is full of volunteers going up to Dunedin for the review and sham-fight on the Queen's Birthday, and the run from Milton Junction is past Lake Waihoa, Mossgiel, &c., a part of the country which I have already described. ”

“ The most striking provincial rise has been that of Otago, which has increased its population from 1776 to 28,983; and although prosperity arising from the discovery of gold is not necessarily lasting, there is no doubt the province will reap an abundant harvest during the rush, and that it will be the fault of the colonists themselves if they allow a reaction to take them by surprise. ”

“ As we surmounted the next ridge above a sunny pool with shingly bottom, the streams were still all running west, but beyond the ridge, lo! they ran east, down to a wide valley where Ted told us the Fish river ran. The beech forest had finally conquered, and the hills rolled away, evenly furred with dark, monotonous green. A stake by the track marked the junction of Westland with Otago. ”

“ The province of Otago was settled by Scotch Presbyterians, and they are numerous in that part of the islands. The Roman Catholics have bishops at Auckland, Dunedin, and Wellington, with a large number of adherents among the colonists and some also among the natives. The Maoris, the primitive inhabitants of New Zealand, are a tribe of the Polynesian branch of the Malayo-Polynesian family. The average height of the men is 5 ft. ”

“ In the south-west corner, instead of rivers, we find a whole group of fiords, deep inlets running up between mountain walls and leading nowhere. Here [87] is some of the most beautiful but least known country in New Zealand; there are no railways and practically no settlement, as we shall find on our visit. In short, the island looks to the Pacific and turns its back on the Tasman Sea. On the east side there is more room. The province of Otago is hilly, but further north is the great expanse of the Canterbury Plains. ”

“ The rooms and lobbies are replete with every modern device for luxury and adornment. Gildings glisten from floor to ceiling. In the centre is a dome of stained glass, more in keeping with a summer palace on the Bosphorus or Guadalquiver than within the precincts of a lawyer's sanctum. If the magnificence of the offices be at all a fair index to the scale of fees, no wonder Otago litigants are impoverished and complaints of dull times are rife. ”

“ Otago was founded in 1869 by an order of the provincial council, with the power of conferring degrees in arts, medicine and law, and received as an endowment 100,000 acres of pastoral land. It was opened in 1871 with a staff of three professors, all in the faculty of arts. In 1872 the provincial council further subsidized it by a grant of a second 100,000 acres of land, and the university was thereby enabled to establish a lectureship in law, and to lay the foundations of a medical school. ”

“ From these points of colonisation the restless spirit of the invaders was ever carrying them further southward and eastward in search of excitement and adventure. No systematic occupation of the land appears to have been attempted southward of Hokitika; but stray bands of marauders were frequently setting off on predatory expeditions into the pathless mountain-waste of western Otago, which then sheltered the shadowy remnant of the Ngati-Mamoe race. ”

“ There is little of interest to detain us at the Bluff, so we continue on by steamer to Dunedin, the metropolis of Otago district, and indeed, the principal city of New Zealand, if we make the number and wealth of its population the criterion of comparison. The cities of both Australia and New Zealand, but especially those of the latter country, have a habit of locating themselves among and upon a collection of hills, up the sides of which the houses creep in a very picturesque manner. ”

“ If the botanist has time and can devote a day to it, he will be well repaid by a trip to Outram, from which a good walk and climb of 3000 feet will land him on the top of Maungatua. This remarkable hill is the most interesting ground in the east of Otago. ”

“ We live and learn. Literature, commerce, and sport, here go hand in hand.
At Puketeraki there is a small native settlement of about fifty adults, and here we pass the first native bush we have seen to-day. This is one of the very few remaining native settlements in Otago. There are only now some six or eight families. "How are the mighty fallen!" No more war dances and freebooting forays, ending with a cannibal feast nowadays. The men farm a little now, and subsist on the keep of a few sheep. ”

“ Exports are wool, preserved meat and timber. The district of Southland was surveyed in 1841, but was reported unfavourable, and settlement was delayed till 1857. Southland was a separate province between 1860 and 1870, but, failing financially as such, rejoined the parent province of Otago. ”

“ In 1849 an association had been formed at Glasgow in connection with the Free Church of Scotland, to send Scottish families out to New Zealand. Not knowing anything of the country, the new association asked the help of the New Zealand Company, which was readily given, as the new settlers proposed to buy land from the company. In 1844 an exploring party was [Pg 228] sent out, and, after some inquiry, chose a place on the east coast of the South Island, called Otago. ”

“ Since that time Bishop Patteson has taken the “oversight” of all these islands to the northward of New Zealand, and is succeeding admirably.
On our return to the ship off Kororarika, we found everything ready for a start, but before shifting the scene to the New Hebrides, we must say a word or two about New Zealand in general, every port of which we have visited, except Otago. To our readers one and all we say, “If you hear anything said against any of the various settlements in this most magnificent country, don’t believe a word of it.” There is no climate in the world like it ”

“ He was licensed in due course, and was ordained minister of Clyde and Alexandra. He took no notice of the ways of the diggers, but set himself to preach the Gospel, with the result that to a large extent the Sunday trading vanished like the mist of the morning. Mr Ross did noble work in connection with the Church of Otago at Clyde and outfield, at Riverton and outfield, and at Anderson's Bay. He has found time to write the "Chronicles of the Otago Church and Settlement," "Education and Educationists in Otago," and a very able book on the "Early Colonisation of Victoria." ”

“ Much of the gold in New Zealand is alluvial, and dredging for it in the river-bed is one of the most common and profitable methods of mining. This part of Otago owes its population and prosperity almost entirely to its gold and the sheep which are scattered everywhere over its rolling downs; in the west, as we have already seen, it is occupied by mountain, fiord, and forest, and is scarcely inhabited.
Dunedin, the Edinburgh of New Zealand, is the most important commercial city in the South Island. ”

“ It was only an exploring expedition—an expedition for the exploration of probably the most interesting and romantic portion of the whole Colony of New Zealand—and by no means the least considerable, though previously the least considered, part of the Otago Provincial Estate. It cannot receive special record as the first voyage of exploration to the West Coast; but there must be a mistake somewhere, if it does not prove to be not only not the last expedition of the kind, but the precursor of many more. ”

“ OTAGO BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION.
HE old familiar averment, "The poor ye have always with you," has formed the basis of many appeals on behalf of the poor and needy, and the stern fact of which it takes cognizance—a fact that has asserted itself in every community throughout the civilized world—has led to the formation of those charitable institutions whose name is legion. In the very early days of the Province of Otago poverty in the strict acceptation of the term was unknown. The first immigrants were by no means in affluent circumstances ”

“ Outsiders in the New Zealand Trade.
Though the New Zealand trade was held pretty tightly in the hands of Shaw, Savill, the Albion Shipping Company and the New Zealand Shipping Company, many a distinguished ship paid an occasional visit to Maoriland, notably the beautiful tea clipper Sir Lancelot in 1879; the majestic Blackwall frigate The Tweed in 1874, when she went out to Otago in 78 days; The Tweed’s great rival Thomas Stephens, which took passengers to Otago in 1879 ”

“ We now heard that there were other great men of the island whom we had not as yet seen. Otago and Toobou, in particular, mentioned a person named Mareewagee, who, they said, was of the first consequence in the place, and held in great veneration, nay, if Omai did not misunderstand them, superior even to Poulaho, to whom he was related; but being old, lived in retirement, and therefore would not visit us. Some of the natives even hinted that he was too great a man to confer that honour upon us. ”

“ It is beyond question true, as set forth in the address, that 'the citizens of Dunedin and the settlers throughout Otago generally share' the feeling of satisfaction at his safe return, and join in 'hoping that he may be spared in health and strength,' and remain among us active in good works for many years to come. ”

“ On the return journey along the main road into town, many varied and enchanting views of water, land, and city will be obtained. The harbour, the hills, and the town show a different phase of beauty at almost every bend of the very winding road which had to be followed in order to secure an easy grade. The ardent wish of every traveller is to renew the visit to the Peninsula as frequently as opportunity will permit.
VII.—THE TAIERI WILDS.
A trip up the Otago Central Line is one which the visitor should not omit. ”

“ The West Coast connection has always been an important and valuable one for Dunedin. The mining communities on the West Coast prefer to get their supplies from Otago; but they dearly like also to "spoil the Egyptians," in the shape of Dunedin men, whenever they get a chance. ”

“ In its extreme state, which is best seen in the sounds of the south-west coast of Otago, in Stewart Island, and in the Auckland Islands, it forms a tree sometimes 30 ft. in height, with leaves often a foot in length; but in open mountain districts in the South Island it is rarely more than a few feet high, with much shorter and narrower leaves. ”

“ Anomalous as the statement sounds, grim want, in the true meaning of the word, did not appear in Otago until the discovery of the goldfields. By that discovery in 1861 life in the province, and especially in its capital city, Dunedin, was entirely changed. Ship-loads of immigrants of all sorts arrived in rapid succession from the Home Country and from the Australasian colonies. Within the space of one year the population of the province leapt from 12,000 to 30,000 ”

“ The Otago Museum, exhibiting the principal types of the animal kingdom, is essentially a zoological museum, and as such, and for neat and scientific arrangement, it probably takes the premier position in New Zealand. ”

“ We rose before daybreak, and ere the sun had well appeared had eaten our primitive breakfast and were in the saddle for the march. On the evening of the third day we reached the Waitaki river, which separates Canterbury from Otago, and is the largest in the South Island. The Waitaki was never fordable at this point, and passengers were ferried across in a small boat behind which the horses were swum. ”