14^ Voyage of the Novara. 



Of the superficial area of New Zealand, which, if we in- 

 clude Stewart's and Chatham Islands, may be estimated at 

 75,000,000 acres, one-third consists of forest and bush capable 

 of being reclaimed for agricultural purposes, one-third of 

 meadow, grass-pasture, and valley, well adapted for cultiva- 

 tion, and the remaining one-third of barren rock, or sandy 

 desert, besides lakes and rivers. 



The amount of land, in various holdings, reclaimed and 

 made fruitful throughout New Zealand for the year 1857 was 

 190,000 acres, of which 121,648 were arable land, sown with 

 esculents (chiefly wheat, oats, potatoes, and gTass for fodder) 

 and fruit. Of late years the annual increase of land reclaimed 

 has been 40 per cent. It is calculated that each new arrival 

 from Europe is equivalent to the cultivation of four acres of 

 land, and the breeding of 30 cattle. The cost of clearing 

 amounts in New Zealand to from £2 to £5 per acre. 



Hence it is that the Colonial Government are straining 

 every nerve, by holding out certain material advantages and 

 inducements, to attract land-purchasers and handicrafts-men 

 to a country, which, inhabited at present by not more than 

 130,000 human beings, is quite capable of supporting 

 30,000,000. The ''Auckland Waste Land Act," besides 

 giving every necessary information as to the unreclaimed dis- 



Of 1000 soldiers there were 



