A NORTHFLEET MAN’S OPINION OF NEW ZEALAND.

Globe, Volume III, Issue 246, 24 March 1875, Page 3

A NORTHFLEET MAN’S OPINION OF NEW ZEALAND.

The following letter, which is extracted from the Gravesend Reporter, is a specimen of how the colony of New Zealand is abused by some men, who do not find a fortune ready made for them on their arrival. The numerous incorrect statements made in the letter could be easily refuted, but our readers can, of course, do that themselves without our going to the trouble of printing a long answer to the epistle given below:— Dear Friends, —My experience in the colony is not much yet, as when I first came I took a situation in the country; it was a very good home for a start; I stopped there two months; I am living in the town now; everything here is very dear except meat, you can get a good leg of mutton for 2s 6d, and it will cost you 3s 6d for a dish to put it in. House rent is very dear, a four-roomed cottage cost 18s per week, and a very hard job to get one at that price. Timber is very dear, and it’s bad stuff to work; most all the timber used here is kauri and black pine. Nearly all wooden buildings; stone or brick are few and far between. Christchurch is a very large town, the town proper is one mile square, the streets are two chain wide, so are all the principal roads; it is one of the dirtiest places you could possibly conceive; it is more like marsh land than anything else; there’s any amount of water, it is always running each side of the roads; most every house has an artesian well which is always running, and there is no drainage as there is only eleven feet fall from the town to i he sea at low water. Talk about chelp land—you must not come here for it, you can get it up the country cheap enough, but you must keep it a long while before it will keep you. The cheapest land I can find here is £250 per acre, that is three miles from town, no regular road to it till you make it yourself. I should not advise any one to come out just yet. It has been very prosperous, but they have brought so many out now that it will be a long while before it is the same again ; there are hundreds walking about here doing nothing, and any amount of good laborers working for front Is to 6s per day, and every prospect of them being lower, as they were Ss and 9s

when I came. I am at work as joiner; we get 10s per day, that is one shilling less than when I first came, the jobs don’t last long. I’ve been on three houses in three weeks, and shall finish on this one this week. What they say and write about this country is all bosh, they tell a man at home to come, particular if he has got a family, but they must not believe it as they have got no work or any where to put them, they have been obliged to turn the goods station into barracks for them, and then they charge them 6s per week for being there. There is only one stove among hundreds, and they have to take their turn in getting their food cooked ; they have got long benches and forms to eat it from, and they are miserable enough as it is very wet and cold. The sun is hot enough in the day, but you want three coats on at night. It’s a fearful place for rheumatics; the doctors here are always very busy, so you see it’s not so healthy as represented. If all’s well I shall give it a good trial before I come back, as they reckon people don’t like the place till they have been here two or three years. It’s the general belief here that they are overloading the country with people on purpose to lower the wages ; there is not much hard cash here ; it’s nearly all paper money, one pound notes and cheques and a great deal of credit. What’s wanted here are people with money to start works, as there are not many large monied men here; a great part of the best property here belongs to the speculators in the old country. I daresay they have nearly got the harvest in at home; there are no farmers here, they are all cockatoos ; there’s no food, it’s all tucker; no masters and servants, they are all boss and man. Everything here is very dear, vegetables are a fearful price; there are no good gardens here ; everything is done in a very rough manner; if you are doing anything properly they will tell you to let it “rip.” I got the loan of a Gravesend paper from a Greenhithe man, the name of George Howe, a shoemaker; he is living in the town. When you write you tell all news. I’ve sent you a paper by this mail; I got it for the last but was too late. Give my respects to all enquiring friends, and accept our kind regards yourselves. Hoping you are quite well,

From yours truly, G-. L. MANSER. They don’t use many measures here ; you ask for a drink and pay 6d ; the ale has got a nasty twang with it. The spirits are very good, the cheapest are 6s per bottle.