the idea of connecting both harbours by means of a canal. While 
the Waitemata River forms the most central harbour of the num- 
erous harbours on the Eastcoast , the Manukau Basin is on the West- 
coast the only harbour, which is accessible to larger vessels. 1 
No second point upon the North Island possesses such an extra- 
ordinary facility for inland communication in all directions by means 
of the harbours, estuaries and rivers, all of which may be navi- 
gated to near their sources, either by boats or canoes, and be- 
tween most of which very short portages intervene. In a northerly 
direction the Waitemata Creek extends to within a few miles from 
the Kaipara Harbour. Upon the branches of this extensive estuary 
and upon the Wairoa River, navigable to a large extent of its 
course, the water-route leads through regions abounding in timber- 
wood, and through the most luxuriant Kauri forests far to the 
North. In a south-easterly direction , there is a passage between 
the islands of the Hauraki Gulf to the mouths of the rivers Piako 
and Waiho (the New Zealand Thames), and upon the latter river 
far into the interior of the country. In a southerly direction, there 
lies between the end of Waiuku Creek, a side-branch of the 
Manukau Harbour, and the Awaroa Creek a portage of only 
1 '/a miles; this creek flows into the Waikato, the principal river of 
the North Island, navigable for 100 miles up and leading through 
the most fertile and smiling tracts of land into the very heart of 
the country. 
Such are the natural advantages of the spot, which in 1840 
was fixed upon by Captain Hobson as the site for the seat of the 
Government of New Zealand, and as the proper spot for a large 
and prosperous agricultural and commercial settlement. Experience 
appears to have justified the wisdom of this choice. The city of 
1 The passage into the harbour in front of which extensive sandbanks are 
spread out, is not practicable during bad weather. The dangers, however, have 
been considerably reduced by accurate surveys, which have proved the existence of 
a middle channel and a southern channel; likewise by the pilot station erected at 
the entrance. Nevertheless within the last years the harbour has been used only by 
the mail-steamers and by small coasting vessels. 
