Agriculture in New Zealand.

The following letter, from an English county paper, will be interesting to our readers:—

Sir,—In prefacing this letter to the farmers and others in your part of the country it would be as well if I were to inform them that I was born in Shropshire, and resided for seventeen years in Cheshire and Denbighshire; and, as a great many of your readers are aware, I took the first prize in 1872 for the best cultivated farm in the Denbighshire and Flintshire Agricultural Society, and also first prize in 1876 in the Royal Manchester, Liverpool, and North Lancashire Agricultural Society for the best cultivated farm. Having so introduced myself, a few lines may interest some of my old friends and neighbours relative to this fine and rapidly-rising Colony of New Zealand, and to the chances here of getting on in the world by "all good men and true," as compared with the hand-to-mouth existence of very many holders of land in Old England. New Zealand comprises three Islands, the North, South, and Middle Islands. My remarks will be more particularly applicable to the North Island, where the major part of unoccupied or waste land is. In the Middle Island nearly all the waste land is occupied, not because it is finer land or a more congenial climate—far from it, but from one reason only; and that reason has been the unsettled state of the natives (Maoris). In the last eight or ten years the Colonial Government have had tremendous difficulties to overcome in quelling disturbances in the past, but, thanks to the firm attitude the Government of the day have taken in regard to the administration of native affairs, the Maoris at the present time are, one and all most willingly showing their allegiance to the Crown. There is an idea abroad at home, and one which I know is very prevalent, that New page 56 Zealand is infested with these Maoris. Nothing could be more absurd. The census taken last year shows a Maori population of some 40,000, male and female, scattered over the whole area of the North Island, and who, as I stated before, are on the most friendly terms with the white population. The white population of New Zealand number some 420,000, male and female, and there is abundance of room for twenty times that number. Of the 420,000 European population about 160,000 occupy the North Island. Since the introduction of Europeans and their customs it is a noted fact that the Maoris, whose phizique and intellectual power I believe far exceed that of any other savage race in the whole universe, have been rapidly dying out. The Maoris are represented in the Parliament of New Zealand by members of their own race, elected by themselves. It will be easily understood bow it is that the vast tracts of splendid country in the North Island have been locked up for so long a period: the natives would not sell their land, and hence the non-settlement of it up to the present time; but the power of the natives now is absolutely gone, never more to return. Since I have been in New Zealand, I have had the honour of an introduction to the Hon. the Attorney-General and Minister of Emigration (Robert Stout, Esq.), and also to J. McKerrow, Esq., Assistant Surveyor-General. From these gentlemen I find that the deferred payment system in this Island would be one of very great benefit to farmers in North "Wales, Cheshire, and Salop; that is, if they wished to better their position. Splendid blocks of land recently purchased from the natives by the Government of New Zealand are open for occupation in farms of from 50 to 320 acres, and many more will soon be open. Any adult person, male or female, above eighteen years of age, can take up an allotment. The conditions are personal residence on your land after the first six months for a period of six years, with certain improvement clauses, as to building a house and cultivating one-fifth of the land within that time; the rent, which is really so many instalments of the price of the land, is 6s. a year per acre, or, in other words, a total of £3 per acre, with ten years to pay it. At the expiration often years you then obtain your own freehold, with title direct from the Government; or, if you choose to pay the balance at the end of six years' residence, the page 57 Crown grant is issued then. Regarding the house, it may be mentioned that houses are almost entirely of timber in this country, and are run up in a few weeks at most. They are very comfortable and neat, and a weather-boarded house of five rooms, with brick chimneys, costs about £200, and is much more comfortable than brick and stone. As for outhouses they are not wanted so much in this country as in the Old Country, as cattle, horses, and sheep remain out on grass all the year round. Fencing, which usually consists of posts with top rail, wire and ditch, costs from 20s. to 25s. per chain of sixty-six feet, and the half of this, where the fence is a common boundary, is paid by the adjoining settler. There are no tithes or taxes such as are common in England. The only direct charge is for road rates, which by law cannot exceed 1s. in the pound on the annual value. These are levied by the local Road Boards, and the rates are subsidised by Government for the maintenance of the district roads. The Road Boards are elective, and so the settlers have complete control both of rates and their expenditure. The land is of the finest quality, and is suitable cither for grass or tillage, being two or three feet deep of rich loam, and never having had a plough in it. Not like the Old Country, you will not need to expend a penny in manuring the land out here for many years, it being so very rich and deep. Stock of all descriptions are much less in price here than in England, so that the capital required for working a farm is much less. You can do what you like with game on your land. Game indigenous to this country is plentiful, comprising the wild pigeon (a beautiful bird), the kaka (excellent eating), the woodhen, the wild turkey, the paradise duck (a largo and beautiful bird), teal duck, grey duck, blue mountain duck, and bittern, and there are also pheasants in abundance, hares, rabbits, &c. With regard to crops, I have made very searching inquiries, and I find a fair average to be: Wheat 30, oats 45, barley 35, and Indian corn 60 bushels to the statute acre; potatoes 10 to 20, swedes 40, and mangel wurzel 40 to 50 tons to the statute acre. With regard to the climate of the Island, nowhere could it be more salubrious. Grapes, quinces, nectarines, peaches, &c., grow luxuriantly in the open air. There is nearly always a temperate breeze blowing over the Island, making it one of the most healthy places in the world. Snow is page 58 not seen from one end of the year to another, albeit that you may see it occasionally on the mountain tops, but never on the undulating land.

In a year or two a perfect network of railways will traverse the length and breadth of the Island, which will convey the farmers' produce to the nearest port at a very moderate cost; and seaports are numerous on the east and west coast of the Island. The cost of living for a farmer's family, while he is getting his house ready, would be very trifling, and there is plenty of accommodation in Auckland and other towns—towns having a population of 5,000 to 30,000 people. The voyage is a mere eighty or ninety days pleasure trip; and I doubt not but arrangements might be easily made for a vessel to be ready at Liverpool to bring you out, supposing a sufficient number would join to come out together; and I can only say to you that you will never regret your journey, for in ten years time your farms, which you will have paid £3 an acre for, will be your own, and will be worth at least £12 to £15 an acre, besides you would get a good living off them during that period; and all improvements you make on your farm you and your family will reap the benefit of. A word to the agricultural labourers with families, and to single men and women: A married man with a family on a station (or what you would call an out-farm) has a cottage or lodgings and £80 a-year, and as much really good food as he can consume, fresh butchers' meat three times a day if you choose; single men receive 20s. to 25s. per week and board and lodging, and single girls as servants 12s. to 25s. per week, cooks 30s.; bricklayers and carpenters, for whom there is great demand, 14s. to 15s. per day; pick-and-shovel men 8s. to 10s. per day of eight hours. I intend to have a farm on one of the many blocks of fine land shortly to be in the market; and I say to you all, come and join me on the same block, and lose no time, for I am just as sure as the night follows the day that you will be ever grateful for coming out I could go on eulogizing the great and many benefits which this country offers to men of small capital, but it would be superfluous.

Pauperism is a thing that is not known here, every one seeming to me to be in a prosperous condition. All sorts of provisions are cheap, and of the best quality. The 4lb. loaf is 6d.; tea, 2s. to 2s. 6d. per lb.; sugar, 4d. to 6d.; potatoes, page 59 5s. to 6s. per cwt.; beef, 4d. to 5d.; mutton, 3d. per lb., so that you see that a great many of the above-named articles are much cheaper than in the Old Country. Clothing and boots are about the same. A very noticeable and happy feature in the social state of the country is the well-to-do appearance which is conspicuous on the very faces of the people, with plenty of work, good wages, and good food. The temptation to crime and burglary, so unfortunately prevalant in the old crowded countries of Europe, are a-wanting here, and it is a fact, which cannot be gainsayed, that life and property are much more secure here, owing to the total absence of a criminal class. And I must not conclude this letter without mentioning that the great boon of free education is open to all. The child of the merchant, the farmer, and the labouring man all sit at the same desks, taught by the same masters, and are in every respect treated alike, Government paying all salaries and providing school buildings. And there are higher schools and colleges where the main part of the expenses are paid by Government, the fees being so much less than are common in England for such high-class education. I shall be glad to answer any letters, and should any of you be in London you will be very courteously received by Sir Julius Vogel, K.C.M.G., Agent-General for New Zealand, 7, Westminster Chambers.