Supposed JVe?o Species of Silk- Worm. 153 



really well written and digested, — sucli, for instance, as " T/ie 

 Southern OrosSy" '' The New Zealander,^ &c., — not only dis- 

 cuss the most important political events, but also endeavour 

 to enlarge the views of their readers upon all questions of 

 l^olitical economy and commercial and industrial progress.* 



A few months before our arrival a paragraph appeared in 

 several English and German journals, one of which acci- 

 dentally fell into our hands at Shanghai, to the effect that 

 ^' in April, 1858, considerable excitement had been created 

 in England by intelligence of a peculiar species of silk- 

 worm having been discovered growing wild in New Zealand 

 in immense quantities." The London correspondent added 

 that the worm inhabits a cocoon which is of a dull brown 

 externally, under which however is a particularly fine 

 quality of silk, with which some Glasgow houses had made 



and is intended to keep the coloured population informed of the most important 

 political and social events, as also to tend to their civilization. We subjoin the con- 

 tents of a single number now lying before us. " The laws of England. — Remarks 

 upon ship-owners. — Official notices. — Letter from the chiefs of Chatham Island. — 

 Farming, commercial, and maritime news. — Price current. — Speech of some brown 

 chiefs at a meeting at Mongonui. — Letter from Bay of Islands. — Deaths. — The Auck- 

 land infirmaiy. — Government orders, &c." Colonel Brown deserves special praise and 

 acknowledgment for the publication of the laws of England in Maori, accompanied 

 with the original text, although the fruits of this arduous but important labour may 

 only gradually become apparent. 



* It is especially worthy of remark, that wherever the Anglo-Saxon race colonize, 

 the newspaper and the post-office follow the footsteps of the first settlers. After 

 these come the church and the school-house. Newspaper perusal and dispatch of 

 letters are among the first necessities of life to the Englishman. In the whole of 

 New Zealand there were, in 1858, 64,357 copies of the various journals struck off, 

 and 482,856 letters received and dispatched. The province of Auckland alone 

 figures for 239,367 papers and 133,121 letters. 



