13 



wonderful harbour of that town. The lecturer 

 said the people were wonderfully receptive of the 

 mission, crowds of ;i,000 persons attending the 

 services every night at the Town Hall, 

 whilst some seven hundred men attended the 

 luncheon hour services. Leaving Wellington, 

 Canon Stuart briefly described his journey vi" the 

 port of Lyttleton down the South Island, and 

 then through a tunnel to what he designated as 

 the wonderful Canterbury plains. These plains, 

 which had a width of about forty miles and were 

 about 2U0 miles in length, were, he said, the most 

 fertile plains m New Zealand, and it was from 

 there that they got their Canterbury lamb which 

 was so much advertised (laughter). The city of 

 Christchurch, situated on these Canterbury plains, 

 was certainly one of the most accurately designed 

 cities he had ever been in. In the centre was the 

 Cathedral, from which stretched out in every 

 direction long streets, at each corner of the city 

 was a church, and all round was a beautiful park 

 for the recreation uf the citizens. After alluding 

 to his visit to the townof Dunedin, which, he said, 

 was largely Presbyterian, the lecturer referred to 

 an enjoyable journey from Dunedin to Kingston, 

 thence by steamer up Lake Wakatipu to Queens- 

 town, and finallv coaching from Glenorchy to the 

 hotel of Paradise amongst the mountains. He 

 stated that though this hotel was eight miles 

 from Glenorchy and over twenty miles frem 

 Queenstown the hotel people telephoned to 

 Qneenstown "Important party arrived, send up 

 the best of everything which you have got," and 

 they did. His party wer3 given menus daj' by day 

 which would have done credit to a first class hotel 

 in London. A climb up the mountains — as they 

 were the first party to make the trip that summer 

 they had to force their way through the bushes — 

 was most interestingly described, and the lecturer 

 said "When we got to the top we were rewarded 

 by the most magnificent views'' — snow capped 

 peaks above,and the magnificent lakesdown below. 

 In concluding, Canon Stuart spoke more particu- 

 larly in regard to the general life of the New Zealand 

 people. He remarked that the train service was 

 good though the progress was slow. The rate of 

 travelling was seldom more than twenty miles an 

 hour, as some of the gradients were very steep. 

 The journey from Wellington to Auckland— a 

 distance of 42(5 miles— occupied eighteen hours ; 

 they had to rise to a height of about two thousand 

 feet two or three times during the journey. Most 

 of the houses were built of wood and corrugated 

 iron, and he mentioned that he was impressed by 



the fact that there was none of that poverty and' 

 destitution which one saw sometimes in this 

 country. In regard to the industries he said it 

 seemed wonderful that whereas seventy years ago 

 there was not a four-footed creature in New 

 Zealand larger than a rat, to-day the fields were 

 covered with thousands and thousands of sheep 

 and horses and cattle. It was marvellous when 

 it was remembered that all that ground had been 

 reclaimed from the virgin bush. People bad asked 

 him if he would advise young fellows to go to 

 New Zealand. He said if a man has some ^200 or 

 <£:iOO behind him, let him go by all means. If he 

 secured some virgin bush land, in three years he 

 could clear it and would be able to have his sheep 

 on it — but, he added warningly, he must live in 

 the meantime. For the cultivated lands, he said, 

 a high price had to be paid. The lecturer, in 

 concluding, referred to the kauri (timber), flax, 

 and other industries, and the basket-making 

 industries of the Maoris, and he warmly testified 

 to the kindly way in which he and his party had 

 been received by the New Zealand people. 



Dr. Graham Wills proposed a hearty vote of 

 thanks to Canon Stuart, and paid a tribute to the 

 educational value of the lecture which he had 

 delivered. He remarked that the mission with 

 which Canon Stuart was associated had done good 

 in a double way — not only in the higher and more 

 sacred sense, but in the social sense of uniting 

 and strengthening the link between the Mother 

 Country and her Colonies. 



Canon Stuart, in acknowledging, said New 

 Zealand would always have a very warm place in 

 his heart, and he must say that he found the 

 people most loyal to the old country. They 

 thought that we were very much behind them in 

 many things, and he was inclined to agree with 

 them. They were very far in advance of us in 

 their dealing with criminals, and he was very 

 interested to see the way in which they were 

 grappling with some of the problems which were 

 troubling us here at home. The great difficulty 

 in New Zealand was the labour question, because 

 labour was top dog. On the other hand, the people 

 were well honsed, well clothed, and well fed, and 

 one saw nothing of the squalor and the poverty 

 which was to be seen here in England. The 

 women, however, had a very hard time, owing to 

 the circumstance that it was almost impossible to 

 get domestic servants. 



The limelight apparatus was very ably manipu- 

 lated by Mr. A. Lander. 



