ADVANTAGES OF WELLINGTON AS THE CAPITAL.--ITS INDUSTRIES AND
PROSPERITY.--A CITY OF EARTHQUAKES.--ITS PUBLIC BUILDINGS.--THE COLONIAL
GOVERNMENT.--HOW THE COLONY IS RULED.--THE COLONIAL PARLIAMENT.--MAORIS
AS OFFICE-HOLDERS.--A WALK IN THE BOTANICAL GARDENS.--DIVISION OF THE
ISLANDS INTO COUNTIES AND DISTRICTS.--NO CONNECTION BETWEEN CHURCH AND
STATE.--RELATIVE STRENGTH OF RELIGIOUS BODIES.--EDUCATIONAL
FACILITIES.--THE COLONIAL DEBT: ITS ENORMOUS FIGURES.--OVERLAND TO NEW
PLYMOUTH.--ALONG THE SEA-SHORE.--MAKING IRON FROM SEA-SAND.--RIDING
THROUGH THE BUSH.--NELSON AND PICTON.--THE WAIRAU MASSACRE.--TO PORT
LYTTELTON AND CHRISTCHURCH.--AN ENGLISH MODEL COLONY.--THE CANTERBURY
DISTRICT.--THE "SERVANT-GIRL" QUESTION.
[Illustration: ON THE COAST NEAR WELLINGTON.]
"You have only to look at the map to understand why the capital was
removed from Auckland to Wellington," said Doctor Bronson to Frank and
Fred as they were journeying towards the latter city. "Its position is a
central one, while Auckland is far to the north. There may have been
other reasons for the change, but the geographical one is certainly
apparent to everybody."
"Yes," answered Frank, as he studied the map, "and see what a fine
harbor it has in addition to its position. Here it is at the head of a
bay which ought to be a shelter from all the storms that blow."
[Illustration: JUST DOWN FROM THE INTERIOR.]
"It is the safest and most commodious harbor in New Zealand," remarked a
gentleman who had joined them in conversation, while the train was
rolling through the forest and undulating land that lies to the north of
the city. "The bay is six miles long by the same in width. It was
originally named Port Nicholson, and is still called so on many of the
maps. The first settlement of the New Zealand Company was made here in
1839, a year before Captain Hobson started the government at Auckland.
You are probably aware that the Government was not friendly to the New
Zealand Company and its enterprises at that time, and consequently
Captain Hobson, the first governor, went elsewhere to establish his
authority and found his capital city.
"Commercially, Wellington has a good future before it, and already it is
in a condition of prosperity. It has a population of thirty thousand and
more, the country behind it is excellent for farming and grazing, and
our position on Cook Strait, which separates North and South Islands, is
the very best we could have. You will see for yourselves that we have a
good many industries, and nearly all of them are profitable ones."
In answer to a question by one of the youths, the gentleman enumerated
tanneries, candle and soap factories, founderies, boot factories, coach
and carriage shops, breweries, planing and other mills; in fact, all the
establishments that might properly belong to a growing city. "Besides
these," said he, "we have meat-preserving works, and steamers leave
regularly, carrying our frozen and canned meats for consumption in the
Old World. We have several clubs, half a dozen banks, wharves and dry
docks for shipping, three daily papers, and several weeklies and
monthlies; and as for public institutions, in the way of hospitals,
asylums, and the like, you cannot name one that we are without."
[Illustration: MOUNTAIN AND LAKE IN NEW ZEALAND.]
In their walks and rides about Wellington our friends verified the
correctness of the foregoing statement in all its essential features.
They saw the factories, founderies, shops, and other industrial
establishments the gentleman had mentioned; they called at one of the
banks to obtain money on their letters of credit; they visited one of
the newspaper offices, and saw the press turning out the huge sheets
which are the glory of Wellington and the admiration of all New
Zealand--except where personal or local preferences are otherwise--and
the Doctor was made at home at half the clubs before he had been six
hours in the place.
"It is an enterprising city," wrote Frank in his journal, after their
first round of sight-seeing was ended. "It has a hospital with more than
a hundred beds, a lunatic asylum, and a prison, and according to what we
hear, all these institutions are well patronized. But what most
surprises us are the public buildings, which ought to be sufficient for
the wants of the city for many years to come. The Government Building is
an immense structure in the Italian style; it covers an area of two
acres, and is said to be the largest wooden edifice in the world. Then
there are Government House, where the colonial governor lives and
exercises the duties of ruler of New Zealand; the Houses of Legislature,
which are lighted by electric light, the Provincial Buildings, the
Supreme Court Buildings, and the offices of the city and of the
provincial district. The telegraph and postal departments are in the
largest brick building in the colony; and as for churches, they are, as
the auctioneers say in their advertisements, 'too numerous to mention.'
"We have the choice of twenty or more hotels, and if we should want to
go to the theatre we have three to choose from, though the number is
just now reduced to two, as one is closed for repairs. They showed us
the College, which has about one hundred and fifty students, who come
mostly from Wellington and its vicinity, though there are
representatives of every district in the colony. The streets are well
paved and lighted with gas; they have street railways by which you can
go quickly to all the principal suburbs; and if you prefer to ride by
yourself, there are as many cabs as you could wish for.
"We have visited the colonial museum, where we saw much to interest us,
particularly in regard to the Maoris. There is a fine collection of
Maori weapons and articles of manufacture, and one might almost make up
a history of this interesting people by studying the Maori department of
the museum. Of course they have a skeleton of the gigantic Dinornis, or
Moa, which we have already described; and there is a beautiful display
of the birds of New Zealand, which has been arranged by a skilled
ornithologist.
[Illustration: JUST ARRIVED FROM ENGLAND.]
"From the museum we went to the Botanical Gardens, which cover an area
of perhaps a hundred acres and are finely laid out. They are a favorite
resort of the public, and here in the early evening we had an
opportunity to see of what a curious mixture the population of a New
Zealand city is made up. There were men and women from all parts of the
United Kingdom; Yorkshiremen jostled against Londoners, a Dubliner
against a representative of Glasgow, and a Welshman against one who
first saw the light at Dover or Brighton. English, Scotch, Irish,
Catholic, Protestant, Gentile, and Israelite all met harmoniously, and
if they brought to this country any of their old quarrels of race or
religion they forgot them all, at least while in the Gardens.
[Illustration: A PROMENADER.]
"But if the assemblage at the Botanical Gardens was interesting, so was
the collection of trees and ferns. The Botanical Gardens are rich in
these things, and will be richer as the years go on. Not far from the
Gardens is a specimen of the New Zealand forest; we saw it at various
points along the railway, but did not try to walk through it, as we did
here. Unless a path is previously cut it is absolutely impervious, so
closely woven are the vines that interlace between the trees and climb
to their very tops.
"It is this impenetrability of the forest that gave the Maoris such an
advantage during the war, as it was impossible for the English troops to
follow them half a dozen yards into the 'bush.' When Wellington was
first settled, and down to a few years ago, the hills around the town
were covered with this kind of forest. Most of it has been cut down now,
partly for the sake of the wood, and more particularly for the purpose
of clearing the ground and making it available for agriculture or
building.
"As we are in the capital of New Zealand, this is a good place to study
the government of the colony.
"Well, then, New Zealand is an English colony, with a governor appointed
by the Queen, and acting in accordance with the principles of
responsible government. Legislative power is vested in the Governor and
two chambers. One of these chambers is called the Legislative Council,
and consists of fifty-four members nominated by the Governor for life;
the other is called the House of Representatives, elected by the people
for three years, and consisting at present of ninety-four members.
"Down to 1876 each of the nine provinces of the colony had an elective
superintendent and a provincial council; in that year the provincial
form of government was abolished, and the colony was divided into
counties and road-board districts, and the local administration is now
managed by the county councils and municipalities. The colonial
legislature meets once a year, and has power generally to make laws for
the government of New Zealand. The acts of the legislature may be
disallowed by the Queen, and in some cases they require her assent, but
the royal prerogative is very rarely exercised.
[Illustration: HOME OF A PROSPEROUS RESIDENT.]
"Voters must be twenty-one years of age, either born or naturalized
British subjects, and must have resided one year in the colony and six
months in the electoral district. Every male Maori of the same age whose
name is on a rate-payer's roll, or who has a freehold estate of the
value of twenty-five pounds, may also be enrolled as a voter. There are
four Maori members of the House of Representatives, elected under a
special law by the Maoris alone. Legislation concerning the sale and
disposal of the public lands and the occupation of the gold-fields is
exclusively vested in the colonial parliament. In general it may be said
that the parliament and the county and local boards have the management
of public affairs, just as the parliament of England and the local
authorities there conduct the affairs of the nation at home.
"There is no connection between Church and State, otherwise than in all
ministers being registered once a year, in order that they may legally
perform the marriage ceremony. At the last reports there were 638
registered ministers, belonging to the following denominations: Church
of England, 235; Presbyterian Church of New Zealand, 81; Roman Catholic,
86; Presbyterian Church of Otago and Southland, 57; Methodists, 95;
Congregational Independent, 19; Baptist, 17; and ten other bodies with
from one to seventeen ministers each. The Episcopalians of various kinds
have over 200,000 adherents; the Presbyterians, 113,000; the Methodists,
50,000; and Catholics, 70,000.
[Illustration: SEWING-CLASS IN AN INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL.]
"The whole country is divided into school districts for educational
purposes; the education is secular and free, the common branches being
taught on the same basis as in the schools of most of the United States.
There are high-schools and academies in the cities and larger towns;
there are colleges and universities in the principal cities, and there
is the University of New Zealand, which is an examining body only, and
has the power to confer the same degrees as the Universities of Oxford
and Cambridge. All things considered, the educational system of the
colony seems to be an excellent one, and the people deserve credit for
the attention they have given to it.
"We were invited to visit some of the schools in Auckland, and also in
Napier and Wellington, and while travelling through the country we have
had glimpses of some of the smaller schools. It was very much like
visiting similar establishments in New England or New York, the branches
of study as well as the form of instruction being practically the same.
They tell us there are more than eleven hundred schools of all kinds in
the colony, and nearly one hundred thousand scholars attending them.
Seventy-three per cent. of the male, and sixty-eight per cent. of the
female, population can read and write, and about five per cent. can read
only. In the coming generation the proportion will be much greater.
"In another respect New Zealand resembles England in having an enormous
public debt in proportion to her population. According to the published
figures the debt amounts to £35,000,000, or $175,000,000, which is very
nearly $350 for each inhabitant of the colony. The interest charge on
this debt is about $13 annually for each inhabitant, so that the tax for
this purpose alone is by no means light. And yet the colony seems quite
unconcerned about it, and the authorities generally seem to think that
there will be no trouble whatever in paying the interest promptly, and
also in wiping out the principal in course of time. A sinking fund has
been established for the reduction of the debt, and at the last report
it exceeded $15,000,000.
"The money has been expended in various public works, especially in the
construction of railways, of which there are nearly two thousand miles
in both islands, South Island having the greater number. There are a few
private lines, principally for the use of coal-mining companies, and not
amounting in all to twenty miles; all the others are the property of the
Government, and are operated on its account. The profit of operating the
railways is about two per cent. of their cost; but the lines are greatly
benefiting the country in aiding its development, and will doubtless pay
much better before many years.
"There, I'm afraid I've given you a large dose of figures; but if you
don't like them you can skip. They were interesting to Fred and myself,
and therefore I thought others might like to see them. Population,
railways, education, and public debt are interesting studies when they
concern a country which has been colonized only since 1840, and is
literally on the other side of the world from England and the United
States."
While Frank was occupied with the foregoing story Fred was making
further investigations about Wellington. One of his first queries was
about the use of wood in the construction of so many of the public
buildings, and nearly all the private residences.
[Illustration: RESIDENCE OF THE GOVERNOR, WELLINGTON.]
He learned, in response to his interrogatories, that Wellington has
suffered at different dates from earthquakes; and at one time they were
so severe and so numerous that it was thought it would be necessary to
abandon the site altogether. Buildings of wood endure earthquakes much
better than do those of stone or brick; and then, too, wood is a cheaper
material. All through New Zealand the proportion of wooden buildings to
stone, concrete, or brick is very large, and it is larger in Wellington
than in any other city.
Many of the buildings stand on ground reclaimed from the sea, and the
work of reclamation is still going on. High hills come down close to the
original shore, and while they are good enough as the sites of
residences, they are unsuited to the requirements of commerce, which
prefers level ground. Wellington is the centre of a considerable
steamship business; the lines from Sydney and Melbourne centre there; it
is the port of the lines running between England and the colony, and all
the coasting lines include it in their itinerary.
A pressing invitation was given to our friends to visit New Plymouth,
the principal town of the provincial district of Taranaki north of the
provincial district of Wellington. They at first declined, but
afterwards accepted when they found that their time and engagements
would permit their doing so. The journey was by coach seventy miles to
Foxton, and thence by rail one hundred and ninety miles to New Plymouth.
A railway is in course of construction between Wellington and Foxton,
and is completed for a short distance from Wellington. The coach-ride
was more interesting than coach-rides usually are, and is thus described
by Fred:
"The weather was delightful, and we had seats on the outside of the
coach, so that our view of the scenery was unobstructed. For the first
few miles the road follows the shore of the bay; then it turns into a
pretty valley, which was once heavily wooded but is now cleared, and no
doubt deprived of much of its former beauty. We crossed the ridge which
separates the harbor of Wellington from the ocean on the west coast, and
after winding among a series of hills found ourselves rolling along
close to the shore of the ever restless Pacific.--[N.B. No joke is
intended in the juxtaposition of the last three words of the foregoing
sentence.]
[Illustration: DOWN THE SLOPE.]
"The villages we saw had native and foreign names strangely mingled. One
village was Johnsonville, and the next was Porirua; one was Horokiwi,
and another close to it was Smithtown, or something of the sort. We
wound through the Horokiwi valley, ascending steadily, and suddenly
reached the summit of a hill, which gave us a magnificent view. To the
north was a great plain, which seemed almost as limitless as the ocean
that filled the western horizon, and lay far below us at the base of an
almost precipitous hill. Rising out of the sea was the island of Kapiti,
its summit nearly two thousand feet high, and forming a striking feature
in the picture before us.
"The driver called attention to something that resembled a white cloud
on the horizon to the north-west, and told us it was Mount Egmont,
nearly a hundred and fifty miles distant, and which we should see very
closely as we approached New Plymouth. We used our eyes every minute of
the time the horses were taking breath, and then started down a steep
hill-side to the sea again.
"As soon as we reached the sea we turned along the beach, and followed
it for forty miles till we drew up in Foxton. In a year or two the
railway from Wellington will be completed to Palmerston, where it will
connect with the Foxton-New Plymouth line; when this happens it is
probable that the old stage-road will be abandoned, and travellers
deprived of a very interesting ride.
"Foxton is a flourishing little place, with perhaps a thousand
inhabitants, on the bank of the Manawatu River, four miles from its
mouth. We saw numerous fields of flax in the vicinity, and were told
that flax was an important article of export. We had little time to look
around, as our coach connected with the train, and in less than half an
hour we were rolling up the valley of the Manawatu, which the railway
follows for some distance.
"Ten miles out of Foxton we entered the forest, or 'bush,' as they call
it here, though much of it has been cleared away. Lumber is an important
product; we saw a goodly number of saw-mills at work, and met
freight-trains laden with lumber on its way to the seaport. The
gentleman who accompanied us pointed out some villages which he said
were settled by Scandinavians, who had proved themselves the very best
of colonists.
[Illustration: LOGGING IN "THE BUSH."]
"From bush to open country and from open country to bush our train went
on, stopping occasionally at stations with little villages grouped
around them, but very often with no other buildings visible than those
belonging to the railway. Our host explained to us that the railway was
built to develop the country, and for the greater part of the route it
was in advance of civilization and settlement. 'I think,' said he, 'you
have built a great many miles of railway in the United States in the
same way, and in doing so your stations have been practically in the
wilderness until settlements sprang up around them. Railways in New
Zealand have done a great deal for the development of the country, and
will do a great deal more as time goes on. They give the settlers the
communication they want with the markets, and without such communication
they cannot get along.'
[Illustration: SETTLERS' CABINS IN THE OPEN COUNTRY.]
"The passengers that boarded or left the train at the stations were
principally settlers on the agricultural lands, laborers on farms or in
saw-mills, wood-choppers going to their work or leaving it for a visit
to one of the towns, merchants and travelling agents of various kinds,
and occasional natives. The Maoris have not been slow to perceive the
advantages of the railway; at first they were disinclined to travel by
it, through fear of evil consequences; but their prejudice is steadily
diminishing.
"Doctor Bronson says prejudice against railways is not confined to
savages, as he has known fairly intelligent men in New England and other
parts of the United States resolutely refuse to trust themselves inside
a railway-carriage under any circumstances. Our host tells us that the
Maoris were once under the impression that the Englishmen had a demon of
some kind chained in the locomotive and compelled to move it by turning
a crank. Their more intelligent men have learned the power of steam and
explained it as far as possible to the rest, so that the demon theory
exists no longer.
[Illustration: MOUNT EGMONT AND RANGES.]
"We left behind us the provincial district of Wellington, and entered
that of Taranaki. The district takes its name from the Taranaki
mountain, which has been called Egmont by the English, and is so known
on the maps. Mount Egmont is a cone eight thousand three hundred feet
high, and volcanic. We wanted to ascend it, but had not the time to do
so, and consoled ourselves with the reflection that we were saved from a
great deal of fatiguing work. It is no easy matter to ascend this
mountain; those who have undertaken it have never shown any anxiety to
repeat the journey. The mountain lies close to the sea, as you will
observe by a glance at the map, and serves as a magnificent landmark for
sailors approaching this part of the coast.
"New Plymouth has a population of some four thousand or more, and is the
port of a section of country which is said to be very fertile, as it can
grow nearly every English fruit and cereal. It was settled in 1841, but
suffered much during the Maori wars, as most of the natives in the
district of Taranaki were hostile. They showed us several factories,
saw-mills, and a large flouring-mill, and they called our attention to
an establishment for making iron from the sands of the sea-shore.
"All along this coast of North Island there is a large quantity of iron
in the sand, sometimes as high as seventy per cent. The people call it
steel, but it is really iron; it is in fine particles, just like the
iron-sands of the southern shore of Long Island, near New York. They
said the iron-works at New Plymouth had never been prosperous, as they
could not get the proper flux for the metal; if they could only do this
their success would be enormous. Doctor Bronson told them that exactly
the same thing had been tried near New York for utilizing the black sand
of Long Island, and thus far it had been a failure. The large proportion
of iron in the sand is noticeable, not only to the eye but to the
sense of touch; as you pick up a handful its unusual weight at once
calls attention to it.
"We visited a farm near New Plymouth, where we spent a night and a day
listening to stories of the troublous times of the Maori war, riding or
walking through finely tilled fields, and looking at herds of cattle and
flocks of sheep which were well calculated to excite the admiration of
all who are interested in grazing or agricultural pursuits.
"One gentleman whom we met was an old settler who had fought the Maoris,
and had twice seen his farm devastated and his fields ploughed up to
destroy the growing crops. On the road near his farm a party of
Europeans was waylaid and murdered one day by the Maoris, and it was
only an accident which prevented his being one of the party. As long as
the troubles with the Maoris continued the district of Taranaki was in a
precarious state, as the lands could not be occupied; but with the
establishment of peace there was every reason to believe their
settlement would be a matter of steady progress.
"We returned to New Plymouth in time to take the semi-weekly coasting
steamer for Wellington, where we stopped a few hours and then continued
across Cook Strait to Nelson and Picton, taking steamer at the latter
place for Port Lyttelton, on the east coast. The route is an interesting
one, as the steamer is for most of the time close to the coast, which is
bold and rugged and contains many little bays that remind us of the
fiords of Norway or the inlets on the coast of Newfoundland or New
Brunswick.
"Nelson is on a landlocked bay which is rather difficult of entrance,
but forms a perfect anchorage for a ship that once gets inside. Picton
has a situation very much like that of Nelson, and each is the centre of
a farming and sheep-raising region. They had a great deal of trouble
with the Maoris in the war times, and one of the sights of Picton is a
hill a few miles from the town, which was the scene of the so-called
Wairau massacre. Thirteen settlers were killed there in a fight with the
natives, and after the affair was over nine other settlers who had been
taken prisoners were murdered in cold blood."
At Port Lyttelton our friends left the steamer and proceeded to
Christchurch, which is reached by a railway eight miles long, and
largely tunnelled through the hills, one tunnel being nearly two miles
in length. Before the days of the railway the means of communication was
along a wagon-road which was known as the Zigzag, and occasionally at
present the road is patronized by those who dislike railway travel or
seek the picturesque. Lyttelton has a good harbor, which is principally
due to the expenditure of a large amount of money for the construction
of a breakwater and other purposes, and the place is picturesquely
situated at the head of a bay.
[Illustration: HOME SCENE AT CHRISTCHURCH.]
Christchurch owes its existence to a movement in England, near the end
of the first half of the century, for establishing a thoroughly English
colony in New Zealand. Its projectors proposed to retain everything that
was best in English life, government, habits, manners, and above all the
Church of England. The direction of the colony was to lie in the hands
of the Canterbury Association at home, rather than in the control of the
Government, though there was no intention of taking a position hostile
to it.
One of the founders of the Canterbury colony had been instrumental in
establishing a Scotch colony in another part of New Zealand, and being
Scotch, it was naturally Presbyterian. There is a story about him that
he once projected an Anglo-Hebrew colony, where the Hebrews should
govern themselves according to their own laws, and have no Christians
living among them. He proposed this to a wealthy Israelite, and hoped
the scheme would be received favorably. The gentleman listened patiently
to his proposition, and then said, "I do not see how my people can
thrive in such a community; most of them live by trade, and will want to
be where there's somebody to trade with." The plan of the new colony was
rejected at once.
[Illustration: HARVEST-TIME IN CANTERBURY.]
The British Government gave the Canterbury scheme all the privileges it
desired, except that of perfect self-government, which, of course, could
not be permitted. Canterbury was established as a province of New
Zealand, with Christchurch as its capital, and altogether it has been
prosperous. Christchurch is quite English in appearance and
surroundings, and boasts a cathedral (which is not yet finished); and it
has a fine array of public buildings, several churches of the Church of
England, and others of the Baptist, Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist,
and other faiths. The design of the founders of the Canterbury colony
has not been strictly carried out, but on the whole has been quite
successful. There is an excellent museum, which is especially rich in
New Zealand matters; and there are parks, gardens, cricket-grounds, and
other places of amusement and exercise. With its suburbs it has a
population of nearly thirty thousand, and therefore is entitled to
dignified respect as a city.
"It would not have been difficult for us to imagine ourselves in
England," said Frank in his journal, after describing their arrival at
Christchurch. "Here are English shade-trees along the streets, and in
the gardens and parks; the houses are English in their mode of
construction and furnishing, and the little river that runs through the
town is called the Avon. There are tramways, or horse railways, along
the broad and well-made streets, the lawns are velvety with English
grasses, and along the banks of the winding river the weeping-willow
droops almost to the surface of the water.
"We have been riding in all directions and in the suburbs, and
everywhere we have seen signs of prosperity and comfort. As we went out
on the principal road we were very soon in the midst of some fine farms,
and were not at all surprised to learn that the country around
Christchurch is very fertile and well adapted to farming. The fields
have English grasses, and are surrounded by English hedges; and many of
the farms looked for all the world as though they had been picked up in
England and dropped down here. The city has its watering-place at
Sumner, nine miles away, and there the inhabitants go to get rid of the
summer's heat as New Yorkers go to Coney Island or Long Branch.
"A gentleman to whom we had letters of introduction invited us to dine
at his house the day we arrived, but an hour before the time for us to
start he came to the hotel and evidently had something serious on his
mind. After a few preliminary words he came straight to the point, and
said he was obliged to ask us to consider the engagement 'off' for the
present.
"'The fact is,' said he, 'my wife's cook has just left to get married,
and our other girl left last week, and we've not been able to fill her
place. There's nobody in the house to cook the dinner; my wife can take
care of the household, but we would hardly like to try to entertain
visitors under such circumstances.'
"Of course we excused him, and tried to make his mortification as slight
as possible. The incident led to a conversation about the 'servant
question,' which has troublesome features in many other countries as
well as in New Zealand.
[Illustration: MAID-SERVANT OFF DUTY.]
"The gentleman who wanted to be our host, but just then couldn't, told
us that there was a great scarcity of house-servants in the colony, and
he thought Christchurch was a little worse off than any other city,
though he was not at all sure about it. Very often it is impossible to
get maid-servants at any price, and those that can be obtained demand
high wages, and are independent to a degree that would not be tolerated
in England. A discharge has no terrors for a cook or house-maid who
knows that a dozen places are open to her; and when she consents to take
a place she can be sure of four dollars a week and her board, with at
least two evenings out in a week, and sometimes three. Many of the
well-to-do colonists had tried the experiment of importing maid-servants
from England, but found the speculation a bad one, as the girls
generally left service in a few months to get married. Their passage had
been paid to New Zealand, and with matrimony in view, they laughed at
any idea of working out the time for which they had agreed.
"He further told us that in many houses the mistress was obliged to do
all her own work with the aid of her daughters, if she had any; and
this, too, where they were perfectly willing and able to hire servants.
"Doctor Bronson told him the story of the man in San Francisco who was
trying to hire a maid-servant that declined the situation on account of
his three children. 'I will not go into a family where there is more
than one child,' was her ultimatum. Whereupon the gentleman said, 'We
can easily fix that, I think.'
"'How so?' she asked.
"'I'll speak to my wife about it, and rather than lose the chance of
engaging you, I've no doubt she would be willing to drown two of them.'
"Our New Zealand friend laughed heartily over the story, and before he
left us he had evidently forgotten his annoyance at the circumstance
that brought him to the hotel. He added that the story would not be
inappropriate to Christchurch, but he feared all his neighbors would not
appreciate the joke.
"All along this part of the coast water is obtained by artesian wells at
about eighty feet from the surface. Christchurch has hundreds of such
wells, and the supply of water never fails; they reminded us of the
wells in the sands of Long Island, and along the Atlantic coast of the
United States all the way to Florida."
[Illustration: GARDENING IN THE PARK.]