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* * * * *
PROSPECTUS, &c.
The object of the SCOTS NEW ZEALAND LAND COMPANY, is to lay out
the Capital of the Shareholders to the greatest advantage, in
transporting them, their families, and friends, to New Zealand, and
in purchasing Land and other Property, and to obtain Protection and
other Social Advantages.
* * * * *
At a Meeting of intending Shareholders, held at Perth, on the 24th of
August 1839, PATRICK MATTHEW in the Chair, the following Prospectus
of the SCOTS NEW ZEALAND LAND COMPANY, moved by William Gorrie, and
seconded by William Taylor, was unanimously agreed to, and ordered
to be published, the principal portion of the same having previously
been examined and approved of by intending Shareholders in various
parts of Scotland.
REASONS FOR EMIGRATING.
_1st_, Because a new country, free of debt and ancient encumbrances,
with a plentiful supply of virgin soil at a low price, under all
the advantages of modern science and art, affords a superior field
for human industry, higher wages for labour, and greater returns
upon capital, and also more healthful occupation, than an old
densely-peopled country, where all the land is already appropriated,
cultivated, and high-priced,--where capital is rendered comparatively
unproductive, science in a great degree unavailing, and industry is
crushed to the earth by a load of public debt, and where a great
portion of the population follow unwholesome occupations, shut up from
the fresh air of heaven.
_2d_, Because, in a new country, free of slavery, almost every man is a
holder of property,--deriving an income at the same time from property
and from labour, a state of things propitious to liberty, and where a
family of children is of the utmost value in assisting their parents
(the happiest condition of human existence, alike favourable to the
development of mind and body, and increase of population); whereas in
an old country, at least in Britain, the many are entirely dependent
for support upon labour-hire alone, and a family in too many cases the
entailment of misery and starvation.
_3d_, Because, in the case of small capitalists, or middle-class men
of circumscribed income having families, to remain in this country, is
merely to sacrifice their children to their own selfish love of present
ease, and cowardly _vis inertiæ_,--it being the lot of the greater
portion of their children here to sink prematurely under the wasting
confinement and miserable prospects of the counting-house clerk and
shopman, and the small portion of them who may survive, and struggle
up to a condition to support a family, are for the most part become
diseased or aged,--finely illustrating the working of the destructive
and preventive Malthusian checks, the admiration of certain political
economists.[1]
_4th_, Because, in the present peculiar condition of Britain, great
capitalists are enabled to undersell small capitalists, rendering it a
matter of necessity for small capitalists to emigrate, or to sink to
the condition of hired labourers.
REASONS FOR PREFERRING NEW ZEALAND TO EVERY OTHER EMIGRATION FIELD, AND
FOR FORMING A SCOTS NEW ZEALAND COMPANY.
The climate of New Zealand is more temperate than that of any other
country, and pre-eminently healthy. The soil is rich, and the supply
of rain being regular, capable of producing all the grain and fruits
of Europe in great perfection,--potatoes two crops in the year, good
pasture at all seasons, and wool much superior to that of Australia.
New Zealand is, besides, most advantageously situated for obtaining a
market by disposing of its produce to the numerous South Sea whaling
vessels which frequent its shores, and in supplying the wants of
Australia at all times, but especially during the terrible visitations
of drought and injuries by blight, to which that great island is so
liable,--natural disadvantages which will limit Australia, at least for
a long period, to a grazing country, rendering it more profitable to
import agricultural produce from New Zealand than raise it at home.
Nothing is so important to the success of a new colony as a temperate
climate. In New Zealand, the thermometer (Fahrenheit), during the day
in winter, is seldom known to fall below 40°, and any slight frost
which may occur during the night disappears when the sun has arisen.
The summer heat generally ranges from 60° to 75°, very rarely reaching
80° in the parts of the northern island nearest the equator,--neither
the cold of winter, nor heat and drought of summer, causing any serious
check to the pasture fields, which continue in a growing state all the
season round, rendering a hoarded winter supply and housing for bestial
unnecessary. This is of the utmost consequence to the husbandman, as a
vast deal of labour is required, in nearly every country suited to the
British race, to construct houses to contain the stock, and to lay up
provender for their sustenance during the inclement winter, and is more
especially advantageous in the case of new colonies, where the industry
of the husbandman is directed chiefly to the rearing of stock. In New
Zealand, the labour of the emigrant will be doubly productive to what
it is in almost every other emigration field suited to the British race.
The Islands of New Zealand are estimated to be nearly of the extent
of Great Britain and Ireland,--about seventy millions of acres. They
contain numerous friths and rivers, some of which are navigable to a
considerable distance inland,--the Waikato Rivers for about 200 miles,
with a great extent of country along the banks, of exceedingly fertile
soil. The whole native population of these extensive regions does not
equal that of Edinburgh. The natives have exhibited much barbarity
and ferocity against their enemies, or those they considered to be
such; but where Europeans have appeared, not in the character of an
enemy, they have been tolerated to live amongst them, and even treated
with kindness. The Missionaries, with their families, now about 100
individuals, have resided amongst them without personal injury for
more than twenty years, and about two-thirds of the Northern Island
is said to be under their influence. During the last fourteen years,
with a very considerable number of sailors, lumberers, and traders,
roaming over these Islands, and mixing with the natives, not one well
attested case of murder has been laid to the charge of the natives,
evincing a degree of forbearance and respect on their part, which
perhaps would not have been equalled in any country of Europe. The
extreme healthiness of the Missionaries and their families, considering
that they have been the first Colonists in a very remote wilderness,
almost destitute of the comforts of civilized life, and their success
in agriculture and grazing, several of them possessing fine productive
grain farms, and thousands of cattle, is conclusive in regard to the
salubrity and steady fertility of New Zealand,--perhaps no first colony
in any other country has ever been so successful and healthy. We
extract the following account of New Zealand from “Emigration Fields,”
a work recently published by Adam Black, Edinburgh.
“Estimating the advantages of position, extent, climate, fertility,
adaptation for trade,--all the causes which have tended to render
Britain the emporium of the world, we can observe only one other spot
on the earth equally, if not more favoured by nature, and that is New
Zealand. Serrated with harbours securely insulated, having a climate
temperated by surrounding ocean, of such extent and fertility as to
support a population sufficiently numerous to defend its shores against
any possible invading force, it, like Great Britain, also possesses
a large neighbouring continent (Australia), from which it will draw
resources, and to which it bears the relation of a rich homestead, with
a vast extent of outfield pasturage. In these advantages it equals
Britain, while it is superior to Britain in having the weather-gage
of an immense commercial field,--the innumerable rich islands of the
Pacific,--the gold and silver producing countries of Western America
(by far the richest in the precious metals of any of the world),--the
vast accumulations of man in Japan and China--all these lie within a
few weeks’ sail.
“The south temperate zone, from the excess of ocean, has a much more
equable temperature throughout the year than the north. New Zealand,
considering its territorial extent, participates in this oceanic
equality in an extraordinary degree, by reason of its insularity and
oblong narrow figure, stretching across the course of the prevalent
winds from lat. 34° to 48° south,--the most enviable of latitudes. On
this account, it enjoys a finer, more temperate climate than any other
region of the world; and, in consequence, the trees, from the principle
of adaptation, are only biennially deciduous, and present, as well as
the herbage, a never-failing verdure. The great mountain-chain, or
back-bone ridge of New Zealand, which extends through nearly fourteen
degrees of latitude, attracting and condensing the high-towering clouds
and vapour of the Southern Ocean, affords a constant source of showers
and irrigation and freshness to the lower country; and this regular
supply of moisture, under the most balmy atmosphere, and the generative
influence of a sun brilliant as that of Italy, produces an exuberance
of vegetation surpassing that of any other temperate country,--the
richness and magnificence of the forest scenery being only equalled
by that of the islands of the eastern tropical Archipelago;[2] and
the mountains themselves, the sublime southern Alps, more elevated
than the highest of the Alps of Switzerland, upheaved, from the depths
of the great south sea, in some places to more than three miles
of altitude, and, from their volcanic character, of the boldest,
most abrupt outline, are perhaps unequalled in all the world. The
character of surrounding objects must exert a powerful influence upon
the genius of a people. These stupendous mountains, with innumerable
rills pouring down their verdant slopes,--their great valleys occupied
by the most beautiful rivers,--their feet washed by the ceaseless
south-sea swell,--their flanks clothed with the grandest of primeval
forests,--their bosoms veiled in cloud,--and their rocky and icy scalps
piercing the clear azure heaven,--must go to stamp, as far as earthly
things can have impression, a poetical character upon the genius of
the Austral British. The small portion of New Zealand already under
cultivation, yields, in luxuriant abundance and perfection, all the
valuable fruits and grain of Europe; and, unlike Canada (where the
husbandman has to endure life-consuming toil in the very hot enervating
summer, to lay up provender for the subsistence of all his bestial
during the long and rigorous winter), stock of all descriptions fatten
in this favoured region, at all seasons, upon the spontaneous produce
of the wilderness.[3] The climate is also the most favourable to the
development of the human species,[4] producing a race of natives of
surpassing strength and energy. From the mountainous interior, the
country is, in a wonderful degree, permeated by never-failing streams
and rivers of the purest water, affording innumerable falls, suited
to machinery, adjacent to the finest harbours. The forests abound
in timber of gigantic size, peculiarly adapted for naval purposes
and for house-building, and, from its mild workable quality, much
more economically convertible and serviceable than the timber of any
other country in the southern hemisphere; most of which, from extreme
hardness, is almost unmanageable.[5] Millions of acres, it is said,
are covered with the famed New Zealand flax (the great value of which
is now coming to be appreciated, and which, in case of necessity, will
render Britain independent of the Russian supply of hemp and flax); and
around the shores are the most valuable fisheries, from the mackerel to
the whale; in the pursuit of which latter, many of our vessels resort,
though at the other extremity of the earth. Combining all these natural
internal advantages with the most favoured position for trade, New
Zealand must ultimately reign the Maritime Queen of the South-eastern
hemisphere.
“Estimating these surpassing natural advantages in their peculiar
adaptation to the energetic maritime British race, it is somewhat
remarkable that no regular attempt has been made by Britain to colonize
New Zealand. This must have arisen from the numbers and barbarous
character of the native population; a population so small, however,
reduced as it now is, as to be quite out of all proportion to the
extent of territory, and which exists only around some of the sheltered
bays of the coast, and in a few of the rich valleys of the interior.
According to Mr Yate, and the other missionaries who have had the
best means of estimating their numbers, the whole amount may be about
110,000. Another writer states: ‘The inhabitants, in fact, have not,
in any sense of the word, taken possession of the country which they
call their own. It is still the undivided domain of nature, and they
are merely a handful of stragglers who wander about the outskirts.’
Thus, densely populated Britain, with the means of effectual relief, is
allowed to remain writhing under the preventive and destructive checks,
while a region, the finest in the world,--a region which, beyond all
others, can lay claim to the name of PARADISE, is lying an untenanted
wilderness.”[6]
Already British emigrants of steady character are beginning to flock
to this fine country. The New Zealand Land Company, a company of land
speculators in London, have made and are making purchases of lands in
New Zealand, at almost nominal price, from the natives, or from others
who say they have purchased from the natives, and they have sold in
this country to intending emigrants upwards of 100,000 ac. at L.1 per
acre,--land which neither the Land Company itself nor these intending
emigrants have ever seen, nor do the latter even know in what part of
the islands their lots may be situated, neither have they received any
guarantee from that Company that they will receive them at all;[7] and
several thousands of these emigrants, with their working people, are
now departing from our shores.
The Scots New Zealand Land Company is not a land speculating company,
consisting of great capitalists residing in this country and
trafficking in New Zealand with intent to profit. It is a company of
industrious men, chiefly working small capitalists, who are to go
out to New Zealand to make their own market, and, after seeing the
article, to purchase a territory either at first hand from the natives,
or from any other individual or company, wherever they can obtain
lands best and cheapest, and to occupy these as soon as bought, thus
leaving no room for mistake as to tenures, multiplicity of claimants,
or doubtful claims. They, with their families, will themselves
cultivate the lands they purchase, as is done in the non-slave portion
of the United States, where the principles of colonization, from
greater experience, are better understood than in Britain, and where
the practice is successful beyond all parallel, the only instance of
successful colonization on an extensive scale without slavery,--indeed,
the only manner in which colonization can now succeed without slavery,
notwithstanding of the “sufficient price,” (merely a new Corn Law!) or
any other servant-producing scheme it is possible to devise.
The Scots New Zealand Land Company of emigrants will manage their own
affairs,--their own property, while existing as a company, and their
political and social matters till the British crown shall interfere
to supply a government. They will form their own regulations in
New Zealand, suited to local circumstances, with the full power of
modifying or changing these _immediately_, as events may require. They
will not be subservient to the rule and dictation of a company of land
speculators, or committee ambitious of governing power, residing at
the other side of the globe, who may have interests and principles,
or prejudices, distinct from or opposed to those of the colonists,
and who, even with the best intentions of acting for the good of the
colonists, must, from ignorance of facts, at least only receiving their
knowledge of these through a colouring or distorting medium, combined
with the long period of time that must elapse before the Home Committee
can be made acquainted with the necessity of any change of regulations
and orders for the change arrive out,--be full as likely to direct
wrong as aright.
The evil effects of a managing Committee, at the other side of
the Globe, ignorant of facts and of a governor without sufficient
discretionary power, has been exemplified in the colony of South
Australia (founded in 1836), where, in consequence, the first
emigrants were delayed a season after going out (consuming much of
their means), waiting till their lots were surveyed and prepared
for being occupied,--the working surveyors having deserted, from
insufficient pay, and a quarrel having arisen betwixt the Governor
and Colonel Light, and other officials, respecting the site of
the capital. The unfavourable condition of the colony, as late as
February 1839 (corresponding to August in Britain),--only one grain
field (it is said) existing,--the sheep, which had been imported at
very high prices, perishing from the drought, and of little value,
and the portion of the emigrants, destitute of capital, shipped
off in such numbers, to act as servants, in a state approaching to
insubordination,--is attributable, at least partly, to the same source,
the ignorance and prejudices, or rather the erroneous Theories, of a
Home Committee. The people which the Home Committee have so unwisely
sent out, and encouraged to go out,--poor improvident men, without
habits of forethought, economy, or steadiness of character,--and
capitalists themselves, not inured to work, and expecting to benefit
by the abundance of hired labour, but most of whom, in effect, have
become mere gambling land-jobbers--are not the classes suited for
colonists. Colonization can only proceed successfully, under the
three following systems:--_1st_, Compulsory labour or slavery. _2d_,
Working small capitalists, working families. _3d_, Co-operative working
societies, possessing capital. The plain fact is, that the Swan River
and South Australia colonization has been sacrificed, and the New
Zealand London colonization is about to be sacrificed, to a scheme of
master and servants, under circumstances where master and servants, at
least to any considerable extent, is impracticable. In a new colony,
at least under the present diffusion of knowledge amongst British
men, _it is imperative that the majority of the colonists be working
capitalists_. This is absolutely necessary to solder a new society
together. Their fine spun plausible theories, totally unsupported by
facts, or rather totally in opposition to facts, about “_the sufficient
price_,”--_fixing the price of fresh land so high as to keep it above
the reach of the poorer class--thus forcing the working men, carried
out, to work as servants_--desirable theories, which have imposed upon
the understanding of many, and amongst others, upon that of the late
Colonial Secretary Lord Glenelg--are mere moonshine.[8]
Independent of mutual protection, conveniency of transport, and other
social advantages, a principal object of the Scots New Zealand Land
Company, is, that the shareholders may purchase from the sellers of
land in New Zealand, in a body, and not raise the price greatly by the
demand which individual competition would create. The following scheme
of the Company has been drawn up, as much as possible suited for the
advantage of small working capitalists, on whose efficient support the
success of the colony will depend.