CHAP. I.] GENERAL REMARKS. 5 



nuous, was much dispersed and subdivided : they 

 found also that in many places a large proportion 

 of the land was entirely useless ; that where they 

 looked for extensive pasture-grounds, the food for 

 cattle and sheep was very scanty ; that instead of 

 natural grasses, high fern, shrubs, or a thick forest 

 covered the ground ; and that in the latter case the 

 thick and interwoven roots formed a very formidable 

 barrier to successful agriculture in the easy and 

 quickly remunerating manner they expected. 



Most of these emigrants did not intend to make 

 the new colony their second home, but expected, 

 with the help of the labour which was provided for 

 them in return for their purchases of land, or by 

 the cheap, and, as they hoped, almost gratuitous 

 labour of the natives, to produce, in the shortest 

 possible time, those articles of produce which the 

 country was said to offer available for export, or to 

 see their flocks increasing without exertion on their 

 own part ; and, having thus made a rapid fortune, 

 to return to their native country. Many came for 

 the purpose of speculating in land, especially in 

 town allotments, which has become such a favourite 

 system of deception and ruin in the Australian 

 colonies, and will retard their progress for many 

 years to come, notwithstanding the halo of wealth 

 produced by it, the distant reflection and splendour 

 of which are continuing to attract thousands of 

 emigrants from the shores of the United Kingdom. 



As articles of export in New Zealand, from which 

 such quick proceeds were expected, timber, flax, and 



