Five Years in New Zealand | Page 2

instance by the encroachment of
European settlers on the lands originally granted exclusively to the
Aborigines. Since the settlement of this trouble, peace and prosperity
have reigned, and the Maoris have become an important item in the
community, many of them holding positions of trust and office under
the Colonial Government.
The Province of Canterbury, forming the central portion of the middle

island, was founded about 1845 by the Irishmen Godley, Harman, and
others; and the English Church, under Bishop Harpur, was established
at Christchurch, the capital of the Province.
Otago, in the south, was founded by the Scotch, and the free church
established at Dunedin. The Province of Nelson formed the upper or
northern portion of the Island.
It is to these three Provinces that the scenes of the following pages
refer.
* * * * *
It has been said that the true and unvarnished history of any person's
life, no matter how commonplace, would be interesting. It was not
because I thought that a history of any part of my life would prove
interesting to others, that I first decided to write the following story of
the experiences of a young emigrant to New Zealand between the ages
of 16 and 21. I wrote it many years ago, when all was fresh in my
memory; then I laid it by. Now when I have retired, after a life's service
passed in foreign lands, it has been a pleasure to me to recall and live
over again in memory the scenes of my earliest life.
It may, however, be possible that the account of the adventures,
successes, and failures of a lad, thrown on his own resources at so early
an age, may prove of some value to others starting under similar
circumstances in life's race; and if it in any way shows that the
Colonies are a good field for a young man who wishes to adopt the life
that may be open to him there, and who is determined to work steadily,
keeping always his good name and honour as guiding lights to hold fast
to and steer by, the story may not be quite useless.
The Colonies are as good to-day as forty years ago, better I should say,
for they offer more varied openings now than they did then.
The great colonial dependencies of Great Britain were founded and
worked into power by the emigrants who overflowed thence from the
Motherland. These, for the most part, took with them little or nothing

beyond their pluck, energy, strong hearts, and trust in God, and still
they go and will go. It is a duty they owe to the mother-country as well
as to themselves, and the great Colonies of Canada, Australia, and New
Zealand are calling for more and more of the right sort of workers to
join in and take their share in building up great nations, and extending
the glory and civilising influence of Great Britain over all the world.
I would say to all young men in this country who have no sufficient call
or opening at home, especially to those who have not succeeded in
obtaining professional positions, and who wait on, hoping for
something to turn up, go out while there is yet time, to the great
countries waiting to welcome you to a man's work and a man's place in
the world, and don't rest content with an idle, useless, and dependent
position where you have no place or occupation. Do your plain duty
honestly and fearlessly. Treat the world well and it will treat you well.
I do not, of course, give this advice to all. There are men who will not
succeed in the Colonies any better than here. Some will fail anywhere. I
mean the idle and lazy, the untrustworthy, the drunkard, and the
incapable; these classes go to the bad quickest in the Colonies. There is
no place or shelter for them there, where only honest workers are
wanted or tolerated.
For the man who is prepared to put his hand to anything he finds to do,
and can be trusted, there is always employment and promotion waiting;
but for him who is too proud or too lazy to work, or who prefers to
fritter his time in dissipation and amusement, there is nothing but
failure and ruin ahead.
My advice does not apply either to those who have good prospects,
professional or otherwise, in this country, and whose duties call them to
remain, but to the thousands of the middle and lower classes who are
not so circumstanced, and it must be remembered that the men who are
specially and constantly needed in the Colonies are those of the
labouring and farming classes, or who may intend to adopt that life and
are fitted for it