THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
NOTES AND GLEANINGS
NOTES AND GLEANINGS
BEING
LEAVES FROM THE DIARY OF A VOYAGE
TO AND FROM AUSTRALIA AND
NEW ZEALAND, IN 1893
BY
JAMES T. GOUDIE, J.P., F.S.A. SCOT.
" Nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice." Othello
PRINTED BY R. & R. CLARK, EDINBURGH,
FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY
1894
DU
1
6
PREFACE
IN preparing for printing these extracts from my
Diary, I have selected only what I think may
be of interest to my personal friends, for whom
this little volume is intended. The names of
many of our friends with whom we spent pleasant
days and evenings have been omitted, because,
although we shall always remember them with
the kindliest feelings, their names could not be
of interest to most of our friends at home.
I have noted only the subjects and objects
which interested us from day to day, and some
leading particulars regarding the Colonies in
which we spent a delightful holiday. For statis-
tical information and details as to government,
trade, and social economics in the different Colonies,
I have drawn largely upon The Victorian Year
Book, compiled by H. H. Hayter, Esq.,
Government Statist of Victoria ; Estimates of
Revenue and Expenditure of the Colony of Victoria,
1893; The Wealth and Progress of New South
Wales, 1892, compiled by T. A. Coghlan, Esq.,
Government Statist of New South Wales ;
3079193
vi Notes and Gleanings
Estimates of the Ways and Means of the Govern-
ment of New South Wales for the Year 1893 ;
The Tasmanian Official Record, compiled by
the Government Statist, Mr. Johnston ; The
Government Statistics of New Zealand, 1892,
and other publications kindly supplied to me
by the Agents-general for the various Colonies,
and by some colonial friends.
Though under temporary depression at the
time of my visit, there is no doubt that a great
future is before these Colonies. Whether as
independent states, or as continuing to form part
of Greater Britain, they cannot fail to occupy
an important position ; and their fortunes can-
not be matter of indifference to citizens of the
old country, especially to those connected with
colonial trade. If any of my friends who may
peruse the following pages should be induced to
visit those distant regions, whether for business or
pleasure, or, as in my own case, for both combined,
they may be assured of a cordial reception, and
of a lifelong gratification as the result.
J. T. G.
OAKLEIGH PARK,
POLLOKSHIELDS, GLASGOW,
May 1894.
CONTENTS
PAGE
I
CHAPTER II
PORT SAID TO MELBOURNE .... 22
CHAPTER III
MELBOURNE ...... 40
CHAPTER IV
TASMANIA . . . . . . . 48
CHAPTER V
NEW ZEALAND ...... 52
CHAPTER VI
SYDNEY ....... 104
CHAPTER VII
QUEENSLAND ...... 108
viii Notes and Gleanings
PAGE
CHAPTER VIII
NEW SOUTH WALES . "S
CHAPTER IX
VICTORIA . . 132
CHAPTER X
SOUTH AUSTRALIA . J 4 X
CHAPTER XI
AUSTRALIAN BANKING AND FINANCE . . H5
CHAPTER XII
HOMEWARD . . .160
NOTES AND GLEANINGS
CHAPTER I
LONDON TO EGYPT
A LONG business connection with the Australasian
Colonies had often made me wish to visit those
interesting parts of the world ; but the constant
attention required by a wide-spread business at
home and abroad is not easily set aside ; and I
had to defer my visit until I felt sure that every
one of my principal assistants could manage the
departments under their charge to my satisfaction
and advantage, and until my eldest son should be
of age, and able to act for me in private matters
of business.
Having made all necessary arrangements, I
left home on the 3<Dth January 1893 by Mid-
land Railway for London, where I had some
business matters to arrange, and friends to see
before leaving. My wife and two of my daughters,
B
2 Notes and Gleanings
who were to accompany me, followed on the 2nd
February.
At Liverpool Street Station, from which we
left for the Royal Albert Docks, we were met by
several of our esteemed colonial friends resident in
London, among these being Mr. Ewen, Mr. and
Mrs. Nichol, and Mr. Webster, and from them
received the first indication of the intensely friendly
reception we afterwards met with everywhere
throughout the Colonies.
We sailed in the Oceana, one of the largest
and newest of the P. & O. Company's fleet of
magnificent steamers, of 6362 tons, and 7500
horse-power, and with a crew of 298 all told.
Over three hundred passengers embarked at
the docks, and the scene was one of the most
interesting I ever witnessed.
Some were starting on a voyage for the benefit
of their health, and were parting from their loved
ones with many misgivings. Sons were leaving
their parents for distant and, in some cases, un-
healthy climates. Brothers and sisters who had
been spending a short time at home, after long
absence, were again parting, perhaps for ever.
Military officers who had been home on sick leave
from India were again leaving their families and
friends to face the same trying circumstances
which had nearly proved fatal to them before.
Several young professional men were sailing for
Australia and New Zealand to found homes and
reputations for themselves, and college friends
were wishing them a hearty " God-speed." Young
ladies and gentlemen who had been in England at
schools and colleges were in buoyant spirits at
the prospect of returning to their homes and
friends. And many, like ourselves, who were
embarking on a voyage for pleasure, were in high
spirits, anticipating pleasures from scenes and
scenery new and interesting to us, although not
without some feelings of apprehension regarding
the perils of the sea and the approach of mal-de-
mer.
At 12 o'clock prompt the ship's bell was
rung, and " Ail-ashore " sounded along the decks.
Final leave-takings ended, the gangways were
withdrawn, mooring ropes thrown off, the powerful
engines set the screw in motion, and the great
ship moved off on another of her prosperous
voyages. We soon found order and discipline
reigned on board. The luggage which had
been brought with the passengers, and had been
put in heaps on the deck, was soon all arranged
in the berths by the active stewards, with the
accuracy of letter-sorters.
Two unusual incidents happened to us at the
beginning of the voyage. First, the machinery for
moving the dock gates had got out of order, and
we did not get out of the docks till two hours
4 Notes and Gleanings
after our time ; and then, owing to the delay, we
grounded on a mudbank in the river, and did not
get off till 10.30 P.M. The night was fine, and
with a light breeze of south-east wind, we sailed
along the Essex coast as smoothly as if we had
been in a canal.
Saturday the 4th February, our first day at
sea, was one of those charming early spring days
so common in the south of England.
The wind was very light, the sea smooth, and
our good ship travelled along at nearly sixteen
knots per hour. The sky was almost cloudless
overhead, sea-birds hovered around us, the Channel
was dotted over with the white sails of vessels,
large and small. The shores of our dear island
home were on our right, the coast of France on
our left, and the pleasures of motion, which a good
sailor like myself feels, formed a charming prelude
to a voyage which I shall ever remember with the
greatest pleasure.
At 4.30 in the afternoon places at the
tables for the remainder of the voyage were
arranged, the knowing ones securing that part of
the saloon where the motion of the ship is least
felt. In no case did we hear of any who were
placed at the same table becoming disagreeable
to each other, but in many cases friendships
were formed there which will be lasting and
pleasant.
London to Egypt 5
At 7 or 7.30 A.M., as desired, tea or coffee is
handed into passengers' berths ; at 8.30 the awak-
ening bugle is sounded, and at 9.30 breakfast
is served ; luncheon is at I P.M., tea at 4, and dinner
at 6.30 P.M. Hot or cold baths can be had at
any hour from 6 A.M. to 6 P.M.
Before 7 P.M. we had passed the Isle of Wight,
and were heading for Ushant, on the French coast,
and some of us were beginning to feel the effects
of the open sea. Some of the lady passengers did
not feel inclined to take their places at the dinner
table, but my wife and girls enjoyed their second
dinner as much as they had enjoyed their first,
when we were lying at anchor in the Thames.
Every part of the steamer was brilliantly
lighted with electric light. It was interesting to
watch how the passengers began to gather into
small groups, in the music saloon, on the deck, in
the smoking-room, and elsewhere, and how the
natural reserve of people thrown together on board
ship gave way to the desire to be agreeable.
Preliminary talks on the prospects of the voyage,
and other matters common to all, served to intro-
duce people to each other, and enabled them to form
opinions as to how far they would be agreeable
companions. Life on board a large passenger
steamer is very much like life in a large Con-
tinental hotel, where most of the people one
meets have travelled a good deal, and know much
6 Notes and Gleanings
of men and countries. Lights are extinguished
in the saloons and berths at 1 1 P.M., but all the
passages are well lighted during the whole night.
The morning of Sunday the 5th February was
fine, with the wind from the south-east ; and by
noon our run for the twenty-four hours was 367
miles. The rule regarding divine service on board
the P. & O. Company's steamers is, that the Church
of England service is read in the first saloon at
10.45 A.M., and a Presbyterian service is held in
the second saloon at 8 P.M., both classes of
passengers joining in the services. We had six
parsons on board, all missionaries I understood,
and bent on doing good to the heathen ; but I was
surprised to hear how general was the opinion of
people long resident in India and China, that more
good might be done at home by the men and
money devoted to missionary enterprises abroad,
and that missionary work, in China particularly,
had, up till now, been only a small success.
The wind in the afternoon changed to south-
west, and by 8 P.M. we had quite a gale ; and most
of the ladies and many of the gentlemen had come
to the conclusion that their own cabins were the
most comfortable part of the ship on a Sunday
evening, and they had therefore retired to their
seclusion. But if one happened to be passing,
painfully audible sounds indicated that they were
not quite happy even there.
London to Egypt 7
By Monday morning the wind had gone down,
and although there was a heavy swell in the Bay
of Biscay, most of the passengers were able to be
on deck.
A meeting of gentlemen was held in the fore-
noon to form an entertainments committee, and a
list of subscriptions was taken up for prizes to be
afterwards competed for.
The games consisted of chess, draughts, whist,
backgammon, quoits, egg and spoon, and potato
and bucket races, tug-of-war, chalking the pig's
eye, cock-fighting, etc. etc., several of which were
very amusing. My girls won several prizes, and
I won the draughts match.
Nearly all the ladies were able to be at dinner ;
and in the evening the first concert was given in
the second saloon, to which the first saloon
passengers were invited. The entertainment was
very enjoyable, particularly the recitations given
by Captain Speedie, who was appointed, by the
British (Government, guardian to the son of King
Theodore of Abyssinia after the Abyssinian war.
Early on Tuesday morning we had crossed the
Bay and passed Cape St. Vincent. By 10.30 A.M.
we were off Trafalgar Bay, of glorious memory,
and about the same time we caught a glimpse
(our first) of Africa, having sighted Cape Martel
on the coast of Tangiers. About I P.M. we
passed the old fortified town of Teneriffa, once a
8 Notes and Gleanings
Moorish stronghold, on the coast of Spain, and
even now a place of importance as a fortified
town. At 3 P.M. we had done 1299 miles of our
journey, and anchored in the Bay of Gibraltar.
The Rock, as it is usually called, is a hill of
limestone, rising to an altitude of 1437 feet at the
highest point. Its length is about three miles,
and its breadth three-quarters of a mile. The
side facing the Mediterranean and the end towards
the sandy isthmus which connects it with Spain,
are both very precipitous, and along the end to-
ward the Straits, and the side facing the Bay,
there is a fringe of somewhat level ground, on
which the town is built. The whole frontage
along the shore is lined with batteries, in tiers, one
above the other, mounting guns of all sizes from
one hundred tons downwards ; and in the face of
the hill above the town are many openings through
which immense guns project. The perpendicular
rock towards Spain has tier over tier of gun ports,
and even on the Mediterranean side, 'which is
quite inaccessible, guns are largely in evidence.
The plan of the great chambers hewn out of the
rock and other particulars of the fortifications are
said to be known only to the authorities on the
Rock. The number of guns in the fortifications is
over a thousand. The civil population at present
is about 9000, and the military population
averages about 4000. The population is a very
London to Egypt 9
mixed one, composed of British, Spanish, Moorish,
and Portuguese residents. Each foreign element
has its own quarters and bazaar or shops. There
is only one street in the town, narrow lanes cross-
ing at right angles. The harbour is a fine bay,
six by four miles. We went ashore and drove
through the town to the frontier of Spain. There
is a neutral zone of half a mile between the sentry
posts, which is used as a recreation ground. We
also drove to Europa Point, where the lighthouse
and infantry barracks are, and from which we had
a fine view across the Straits, which are about
eleven miles wide to the African shore, and across
the Bay to the shores of Spain. Gibraltar and
the rocky promontory on the African coast
opposite, called Cape Ceuta, were in ancient times
called the Pillars of Hercules.
Gibraltar has been a fortress from remote an-
tiquity. It was a stronghold of the Tyrians or
Carthaginians, and was seized by the Moors on
their first incursion into Spain. It was strongly
fortified by Charles V. It was taken possession
of by the British in 1704, in whose possession it
has remained ever since. It is now one of the
most important fortifications which guard our way
to India by the Suez Canal, and an evidence
of the power which Britain has acquired and
wields on the globe. It was dark when we left
Gibraltar, about 7 P.M. Tuesday had been a
io Notes and Gleanings
charming day with a bright sun and a tempera-
ture of 61.
On the morning of the 8th we were within
sight of the coast of Algiers. The sky was
cloudless, and the temperature 63 at 9 A.M. ; the
lovely blue of the Mediterranean Sea was most
striking when the rays of the morning sun
touched it in an oblique direction. Ladies were
now walking the deck in summer dresses, and
gentlemen in flannel suits and straw hats. Many
sailing vessels were within sight, and the dark
outlines of the African mountains between us and
the cloudless horizon looked soft and peaceful.
The afternoon was equally fine, and the first series
of games was played. In the evening we had a
most enjoyable concert.
Thursday the 9th was cold and cloudy, and at
9 A.M. the temperature was only 57, we being
within the influence of the snow-capped mountains
of Algeria, which we could see at a great dis-
tance. We did not expect to see snow-covered
mountains in Africa, that continent being gener-
ally associated in our minds with excessive heat.
Inexperienced travellers were, at 10.30 A.M.,
much alarmed by the furious ringing of the bells,
and the rushing of the crew to the boats, untying
their ropes, and preparing to lower them ; but we
were reassured when we were told it was only
drill. There are printed rules regarding emer-
London to Egypt 1 1
gencies hung up in the main saloon stair, and
every officer has his appointed place, and every
one of the crew knows which boat to lower and
man thus avoiding confusion in case of an acci-
dent. But I would not put much trust in the
Lascar sailors in a case of real danger. They
were nearly all small men, of low physique,
and few of them could speak English. They
were under petty officers of their own class,
called Sarangs, and did the cleaning of brass, and
painted wood well, but as seamen no.
There were 171 of these men in a crew of
298. They are paid twenty rupees per month.
After a fine run of 372 miles for the day we
passed the lights of Tunis about 9 P.M.
When I came on deck at 8.45 A.M. on the
loth, we were abreast of the small island of Gozo,
called Gaulos by the Romans. It is a very inter-
esting place, having many Roman monuments,
including the walls of the Giant's Tower ; and
there is a British fort on it called the Fort of
Rabetto.
Malta is 984 miles from Gibraltar, and we did
the distance in two days eighteen hours. The
principal town in Malta is Valetta, the harbour
of which is our chief naval station in the
Mediterranean, and it is so fortified that it is con-
sidered impregnable.
Inside the principal entrance the harbour is
1 2 Notes and Gleanings
divided into two bays, called the Grand Harbour
and the Quarantine Harbour, and the entrances of
these again are strongly fortified. Between these
bays, on a tongue of the land, is built the town of
Valetta, which is about two miles long and two-
thirds of a mile broad, and the ground rises so
abruptly from the water that many of the streets
are practically flights of stairs. The landward
end of the town is protected by several lines of
walls and batteries.
Malta is enormously interesting, historically.
It is thought by some to have been the " Hyperion"
of Homer, but there is little doubt it was colonised
by the Phoenicians 1500 years before the Chris-
tian era. The Greeks took possession of it about
700 years B.C., and they in turn were driven out
by the Carthaginians about 200 years later. The
Romans were in possession of it 200 years after-
wards, and they valued it highly as a commercial
centre, and for its fine linen and cotton fabrics,
manufactured then, as now, by the Maltese. In
the fifth century it was held by the Vandals and
the Goths respectively. For three centuries later
it formed part of the Byzantine Empire. In 870
A.D. the Arabs took possession of it, and it re-
mained under their control for 200 years, when
Count Roger of Sicily drove the Arabs out, and
established a popular council for the government
of the island. It was under the sovereignty of
London to Egypt 13
several states, but had the same form of local
government till 1530, when it was taken pos-
session of by the Emperor Charles V., and by
him granted in perpetual sovereignty to the
Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, whom the
Turks had recently driven from Rhodes. The
Knights at once began to fortify Valetta, and by
1565 their fortifications were strong enough to
repel the Turks, who then, and in 1571, attempted
to take possession of the island.
The Knights were masters of the island till
1798, when the first Napoleon got possession of it
by treachery. But a few months later the Maltese
rose against the French, and with the assistance
of the British drove them out ; and by the Treaty
of Vienna in 1801 it was recognised as a British
possession. We found the public buildings very
interesting, most of them having been built by the
Knights. The building formerly the Palace of
the Grand Master is now the residence of the
Governor of the island. It is an unpretentious
building outside, but internally is a superb edifice.
The armoury is a hall 253 feet long by 38 broad,
and it contains a wonderful collection of arms and
weapons, some of a date previous to the removal
of the Knights from Rhodes to Malta. The
Council Hall is hung with magnificent tapestries
representing the four great continents of the
world, and the roof is adorned with fine frescoes.
14 Notes and Gleanings
The country palace of the Grand Master is now
the country residence of the Governor. It has
beautiful gardens, and the orange and lemon trees
were loaded with fruit when we visited them.
The Church of Saint John, built by the
Knights in 1578, is a magnificent building inside.
It has a beautiful arched roof, decorated with
panels in relief, and the floor is covered with
coats of arms of the Knights. The chapels
round the church are in the usual style, and have
rich lamps and furniture. Another interesting
church is that of Saint Paul, built in the shape of
a Maltese cross. Internally it is very plain,
the only object of interest in it being a statue of
the saint in a Roman dress and glazed felt hat,
such as was worn by sailors in the navy twenty-
five years ago. The barracks, hospitals, and other
military buildings, are nearly all structures of last
century. The island, mostly composed of lime-
stone rocks, is flat, the highest point being only
590 feet, and the landscape very uninteresting.
Originally, there was so little soil on the island
that large quantities were brought from Sicily ;
but where there is sufficient soil it is very pro-
ductive, the vegetable products being much the
same as in Italy, with the addition of the sugar-
cane.
We dined ashore while our vessel was taking
in coals, and in the evening went to the Govern-
London to Egypt 15
ment Theatre. By the special request of our
captain, an opera was performed, for the enjoy-
ment of the Oceanrfs passengers. The singing
was good ; the acting indifferent.
We left Valetta at midnight, and met a good
strong breeze outside the harbour, but the sea
was comparatively smooth. The next stage of
our journey was to Brindisi, a distance of 360
miles, and the morning of the iith found us
sailing along the coast of Sicily, the largest island
in the Mediterranean. Its population is over two
and a half millions. The landscape near the
coast presents a beautiful combination of hill and
valley, while in the distance towers Mount Etna,
10,840 feet above the sea. Near the top it was
covered with snow, and the only indication we
could see of its character was a column of steam
rising from the crater. According to Sir Charles
Lyell, the geology of the island is most remark-
able. It has emerged from the Mediterranean
since that sea was peopled with all the existing
species of shells and zoophytes, and the beds of
the marine strata are a marked feature in the
formation of the island.
The soil of Sicily is very fertile. Livy spoke
of it as the granary of the Romans. Its vine-
yards cover nearly 500,000, and its olive
gardens nearly 150,000, acres. It also produces
flax, hemp, and cotton ; and its shores are the
1 6 Notes and Gleanings
happy hunting-ground of the coral fishers. In
prehistoric times it was inhabited by a people who
were called Siculi, but the actual history of the
island only begins with the establishment of
Greek and Phoenician colonies in the eighth
century B.C., from which time until it became a
Roman province in the year 210 B.C. the names
of many heroes of ancient renown, among them
Hippocrates, Dionysius, and Pyrrhus, were associ-
ated with it ; and Verres, said to be " damned to
everlasting fame," in the orations of Cicero, was
Governor of it in 70-73 B.C. In the fifth century
it was taken possession of by the Vandals, passing
afterwards into the hands of the Ostrogoths, who
retained it till the year 535 A.D., when it was
annexed to the Byzantine Empire. It was
invaded by the Saracens in 827 A.D., and after
passing through various political vicissitudes, it
was under Norman rule from 1072 to 1 194, from
which to 1258 its political history is the same as
that of Naples. It was more or less under the
government of the representatives of the royal
families of Spain and Austria, with the exception
of a short period, from 1806 to 1815, when
Joseph Bonaparte and Joachim Murat ruled it as
kings, down to I 860, when it was annexed to the
Kingdom of Italy under Victor Emmanuel. The
mountains in the interior were covered with snow,
and the temperature on board our steamer was
London to Egypt 1 7
only 5 i at mid-day. We arrived at Brindisi at
8.30 A.M. on Sunday the I2th. Although the
harbour has been deepened and a fine quay con-
structed for the accommodation of the large mail-
steamers, the town itself is only of third rate
importance as even Italian towns of the present
day go, and is as dirty as such towns usually are.
It has a decayed appearance, and there seemed
to be very little local traffic. Originally a
Tarentine colony, called Brundisium, it was taken
possession of by the Romans 245 B.C. It was
at one time the chief station of the Roman fleet,
and the termination of the 1 great Appian Way,
or southern road from Rome. It was also the
chief point of departure for Greece and the East.
From it the Crusaders embarked ; and it was here
that Virgil died in the year 1 9 B.C. In the days
of Horace it took as long to travel from Rome to
Brindisi as it does from London to Brindisi now.
There are few objects of interest in the town.
The cathedral in which Frederick II. married
Yolanda, in 1225, is still in existence, but in a
dilapidated condition. There is a marble column
fifty feet high, near the harbour, by some said to
mark the termination of the Appian Way, and by
others to have been part of a pagan temple. A
castle, commenced by Frederick II. and finished
by Charles V., is still partially occupied ; and
there are the remains of the wall of the old
C
1 8 Notes and Gleanings
town, which was destroyed by an earthquake in
1456.
We spent all Sunday at Brindisi waiting the
mails ; and the weather was lovely. A very
good band played on the quay until they had
exhausted the contributions of the passengers, and
then they played Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay and retired.
Having got 730 sacks of mails on board, we left
Brindisi at 3.30 A.M. on Monday the isth for
Port Said, a distance of 930 miles. Next after-
noon we passed the Ionian Islands, but so far off
that we could not see them to the advantage
which we did on our way home, and I will there-
fore leave the description of them to that part of
our voyage.
Tuesday morning was fine, and about 9 A.M.
we were in full view of the mountains of Crete,
which rise to a height of 7674 feet. They were
covered with snow, and look beautiful in the early
morning light. The population of Crete now is
said to be only one-tenth of what it was under
the Romans. Its prosperity steadily declined
under the Venetians, the Egyptians, and the Turks.
Along its shores Paul sailed on his way to Rome.
The weather continued lovely, and under its
influence every one seemed to be enjoying the
voyage, and a general feeling of harmony ap-
peared to have established itself among the pas-
sengers, all doing their best to be agreeable to
London to Egypt 19
their neighbours. The popular officers of the
ship also contributed much to the enjoyment of
the voyage, leading or joining in most of the
games.
We had our first dance that evening. The
deck in front of the music saloon was covered
with an awning, the sides of the space curtained
round with white canvas, and the whole pro-
fusely decorated with flags, stands of arms, and
coloured lamps. The temperature at 7 P.M. was
60 on deck ; the ship's band played lively airs,
the place was brilliantly lighted with electric light,
a refreshment buffet and lounging chairs were
conveniently placed for the revival of tired dancers,
and even dimly-lighted places were to be found
for those inclined to a little flirtation ; and that
failing of human nature is never absent from such
gatherings, even on board ship. The whole
arrangements gave satisfaction, and a most en-
joyable evening was brought to a close at 1 1 P.M.,
making every one feel that life on the ocean wave
can be made thoroughly enjoyable in spite of
some drawbacks.
The forenoon of the 1 3th was calm, the sea
smooth, and the blue waters of the Mediterranean
canopied over by a cloudless sky, and dotted over
with the white sails of vessels of all sizes. Two
or three whales were sporting round us ; the long
trail of white foam from 'our propeller lay like a
2O Notes and Gleanings
stream of silver lace on the azure surface of
the waveless sea ; and the exhilarating feeling
caused by our surroundings and the motion of
the ship sent a thrill of pleasure through every
one never to be forgotten. In the afternoon
we sighted Cape Damietta at the mouth of
the Nile. The sea being smooth, we could dis-
tinguish the water discharged from the river,
by its colour, for twenty miles off the shore. At
4.30 we reached Port Said, at the entrance to the
Suez Canal. It is a town of 17,000 inhabitants,
built on the sand dug out of the canal ; its streets
are unpaved and dirty, and the houses are built
of wood, and look like enormous packing-cases, ex-
cept a few public buildings with a little pretence to
architectural effect, but they are more picturesque
than beautiful. The inhabitants are mostly of the
lowest type of humanity, and are composed of
Egyptians, Negroes, Arabs, and Europeans of the
worst class. Here we had our first experience of
Eastern life. As soon as we landed we were
surrounded by half -clothed Arabs, offering for
sale all sorts of rubbishy curios of Japanese and
Cingalese manufacture, Moorish embroideries,
cigars and cigarettes, etc., and men offering donkeys
for a ride into the country or through the town ;
and the noise made by these men, and the way
in which they pushed their wares and their donkeys
on our attention, was almost unbearable. There
London to Egypt 2 1
is a mosque of moderate size in the town which
we went to see. Large straw shoes are put over
people's boots before they are allowed to enter
the building, and these being all engaged before
my turn came, an official put a piece of matting on
one of my feet, and a dirty handkerchief on the
other, to keep the floor from being contaminated
by Christian touch. The interior of the building
possessed no feature of interest. There were a
few poor people saying their prayers, and as many
priests waiting to receive their offerings, but no
form of worship such as we practise is ever held
in mosques.
Port Said, named after Said Pasha, the Viceroy
who granted the concession for, and took an
active interest in making the Suez Canal, is said to
be the largest coaling station in the world, over a
million tons of coal being supplied to steamers
annually. Coals were carried on board our
steamer by Arabs in fig-leaf costume, and a man
with a whip in his hand kept the carriers up to
time in good Egyptian fashion. All the officials
are Egyptians. A fresh -water canal from the
Nile had to be made to supply the labourers with
water while the Suez Canal works were in progress,
and Port Said is well supplied with water from it.
Having completed our coaling, and fixed our
electric apparatus to light us through the canal,
we left for Suez at 7 P.M.
CHAPTER II
PORT SAID TO MELBOURNE
THE Suez Canal is cut through a desert of sand,
and not a scrap of vegetation is to be seen along
its whole course, except at points where the fresh-
water canal which supplies the stations with water
comes near it. It is 112 yards wide at the
surface of the water, 26 yards wide at the bottom,
and 30 feet deep. The height of the banks
varies from 30 to 85 feet, and where the banks
are highest the width of the cutting at the top is
173 yards. About half through the canal is a
series of lakes, called Timsah, Menzaleh, and Abu
Ballah, or the Bitter Lakes, and these are believed
to have formed part of the Red Sea when the
Israelites went out of Egypt, and their passage
across is supposed to have been near what is now
called Lake Timsah, which is twenty miles from
the Red Sea. The great road from Egypt to the
east crosses the canal, a short distance from
Timsah, and we saw a large caravan of pilgrims
on their way to Mecca resting on a sandy plain
Port Said to Melbourne 23
near the ferry. The water of the Red Sea is six
and a half feet higher than that of the Mediter-
ranean, but owing to the length of the canal there
is practically no current in it, the movement of
the water not being noticeable beyond the lakes.
The length of the canal is 87 French miles. We
took twenty-two hours to pass through it. Except
when passing through the lakes, the speed of
steamers must not exceed five miles per hour.
The canal enters the Red Sea several miles below
the town of Suez, and we only remained an hour
at Port Suez to take some mails and a few
passengers on board. Shortly after starting again
we passed " Moses' Well," marked by a clump of
palm-trees on a sandy plain, near the sea-shore.
From London to Suez is 3657 miles.
Friday the I7th, our first day in the Red Sea,
was delightful. A fine breeze of north-east wind
kept the temperature down to 78. In the evening
we had our first fancy dress ball. Many of our
passengers had brought fancy dresses with them,
and others had bought outfits at Port Said, while
officers and others holding official appointments
dressed in uniform, giving the company a pic-
turesque appearance. The ball-r00;;z was arranged
as before, and the dance was as successful as our
first one.
On Saturday the iSth we had a light breeze
of south-east wind, the temperature at 9 A.M. 82.
24 Notes and Gleanings
The water of the Red Sea at this part is of the
same deep blue as that of the Mediterranean. Off
Jedda we passed a sailing ship conveying pilgrims
to Mecca. There was a good deal of interest
taken in our daily runs, and what are called
" Calcutta sweepstakes " were indulged in daily,
the arrangements being that one of the officers
gave the approximate length of our run for the
day, and then an auctioneer was appointed to sell
numbers from I o above to I o below the expected
run, the purchaser of the winning number getting
all the money given for the other numbers, which
sometimes amounted to over twenty pounds.
On Sunday the I9th we had a strong breeze
of wind and a choppy sea. In the forenoon we
passed a group of islands called the Twelve
Apostles, and in the afternoon an island called
Zuco, famous for antelopes, and as a rendezvous
for dealers in slaves some years ago.
We arrived at Aden, 1308 miles from Suez, at
7.30 A.M. on the 2oth. It has a striking resem-
blance to Gibraltar, and is one of the strongest
and most important military and naval stations
on our way to India. Like Gibraltar, Aden is a
rocky peninsula, projecting about five miles from
the coast of Arabia, and connected to it by a low
isthmus about three-quarters of a mile wide. It
is of volcanic origin, and the town stands on an
old crater : the rocks round it are bleak, bare, and
Port Said to Melbourne 2 5
barren, and rise to a height of 1776 feet above
the sea. Previous to the discovery of the passage
to India by the Cape, it was a place of military
importance and great trade, and in the seventeenth
century it had a population of twenty-five thousand,
but in 1839, when it was taken possession of by
the East India Company, the population had
dwindled down to seven hundred. It has now
risen to thirty thousand. The great tanks, sup-
posed to have been constructed in the sixth or
seventh century, are the only objects of interest
worth seeing in the peninsula.
As soon as our anchor was down, large
numbers of Arab men and boys crowded on
board, selling antelopes' horns, tiger skins, ostrich
feathers, etc., asking 2Os. and taking 55. for an
article. Their only covering was a piece of
cloth round the loins. Men and boys, in canoes
hollowed out of trunks of trees, swarmed round
our ship, and dived for coins thrown overboard
by the passengers, which they invariably caught
before they sank out of reach. The scene was
altogether indescribable. Aden is very hot, but
not unhealthy. We took on board a number
of passengers from Bombay, who were con-
sidered stiff and formal. The temperature when
we left at 2.30 P.M. was 87. From Aden to
Colombo is 2093 miles.
Tuesday the 2ist, we were sailing down the
26 Notes and Gleanings
Gulf of Aden ; and passed Cape Guardafui at
4 P.M., the weather being fine, and the tempera-
ture at 6 P.M. 82.
There was another dance in the evening.
About 1 1 P.M. we saw the Southern Cross for
the first time. It is a very ordinary constellation,
nothing like the pictures of it in astronomical
books, and requires a good deal of imagination to
form it into a cross. More interesting was the
appearance of the new moon, which lay horizontal
like the letter w. On Wednesday the 22nd we
had a fine breeze and a temperature of 82. The
Australia, one of the P. and O. Company's
steamers, passed us on her homeward voyage.
We had another concert in the evening, but it
was a formal affair.
The 23rd was another charming day, and
games for prizes were played ; my daughter
Grace won the buckets game, and I won the
draughts match. Before leaving home I ex-
pected to read a great deal during the voyage,
but time was passing so pleasantly that reading
seemed a toil, and during the three weeks I had
been at sea I had not read one book through.
Friday the 24th was another charming day,
the temperature 83 at noon. In the evening
the stewards gave a negro entertainment, which
was very good, and much enjoyed.
Sunday the 26th, at 7.30 A.M., we arrived at
Port Said to Melbourne 27
Colombo, the chief town in Ceylon. We landed
at 9 A.M., and here, to us, a new world opened,
although an old world as it existed thousands of
years ago. The race of people we had not seen
before, and their modes of life were new to us.
Their dresses, houses, and all their surroundings
were of a kind we had not even thought of; and
no one can convey by pen a correct idea of the
peculiar beauty of the landscape.
The greater part of the Cingalese are de-
scendants of colonists from the valley of the
Ganges, who settled in the island 500 years
B.C. They are very effeminate in appearance,
both men and women having delicate features
and slender forms.
The dress of the poorer class of men consists
of a waist-cloth, called a camboy, only, and their
hair is combed back from their foreheads and
twisted in a knot at the back of their heads, and
fastened with combs. The women of the same
class wear a short skirt, and a loose jacket of
white or printed cotton, and adorn themselves
with jewellery. Their hair is worn in the same
way as the men's. They carry water in brown
clay pots on their heads, as in the days of the
Pharaohs ; and the men carry their burdens sus-
pended from yokes on their shoulders. Their
houses are built of mud, and roofed with palm
leaves, and their food consists of rice and fruit
28 Notes and Gleanings
chiefly. The better class, males and females,
dress in skirts and jackets of white linen, and
wear white caps, making it very difficult for
strangers to detect the males from the females.
The children up to about seven years of age do
not wear any clothing.
Buddhism is the religion of the large majority
of the natives. No worship is offered to Budda
as a deity. He is regarded as a type of earthly
goodness and wisdom only, deserving of imitation.
We engaged a carriage for the day, the charge
being six rupees, and having driven for an hour
through the town to see the most interesting
parts of it, we drove seven miles into the country
to a place called Mount Lavinia, where there is a
very nice hotel on the sea -shore. We had a
splendidly-cooked and well-served luncheon there
for two rupees each. The road was through an
avenue of palms, the palmyra and areca being
next in number to the cocoa-nut palm, and the
bread-fruit and banana trees were also abundant.
Many trees and flowering shrubs, of which we
did not know the names, filled the spaces be-
tween the palms, while crotons and similar plants,
which require careful treatment in hothouses at
home, grew by the roadside like brackens. Most
of the vegetation was new to us, and the
marvellous beauty of the avenue through which
we drove into the country I cannot possibly
Port Said to Melbourne 29
describe. The cocoa-nut palm rises to a height
of over 100 feet, and there are no leaves on it
except near the top, and few of them have more
than eighteen or twenty leaves altogether ; each
leaf is about fifteen feet long, and curves down-
ward, and every tree produces about one hundred
nuts annually. Another tree, which we saw here
for the first time, and afterwards in Australia,
interested us very much. It is called the papaw
tree, is a native of South America, and has the
singular property of turning newly-killed poultry
or beef tender in a few hours when hung among
its leaves.
From the verandah of the hotel we saw the
fishermen, in their peculiar boats called cata-
marans, hauling their nets ; and on the rocks, up
to their waists in the surf, were numerous native
men and boys fishing with rods and lines, the
bait being a piece of bright metal, very like the
spoon-bait sometimes used to catch sea-trout at
home.
On our way back to Colombo we drove
through one of the cinnamon gardens, which per-
fume " the spicy breezes " that " blow soft o'er
Ceylon's isle," and found it not over well culti-
vated. The areca or betel -nut is largely culti-
vated and used in Ceylon. It is a species of
pepper plant, the leaves of which are prepared in
a peculiar way, and chewed as tobacco is chewed
30 Notes and Gleanings
by some people ; it is a strong narcotic, causing
giddiness in persons not accustomed to it. It
makes the teeth and lips red, and people using
it appear to be spitting blood. We were quite
satisfied to see it grow without testing its qualities.
Pine -apples were growing in the same gardens,
and could be bought for twopence each. Be-
side these gardens is a museum, containing an
interesting collection of native birds, which are
very beautiful, and animals and minerals, chiefly
the productions of the island. All the way from
Mount Lavinia the roads were lined with native
houses and shops, most of them being sheds
formed of upright sticks hung round with cocoa-
nut mats, and roofed with strips of bark or leaves.
The sides next to the road were open, but
nothing whatever in the shape of furniture, ex-
cept a board for sitting on, could be seen in any
of them. The natives nearly all sleep outside.
We entered the town by that part of it called
the fort, in which are the Government and military
offices, and the residences of most of the British
inhabitants, civil and military. The houses are
mostly built of stone, and are of European style
of architecture, having broad verandahs and
overhanging roofs to prevent the rain gaining
admission by the windows, which are not filled
with glass, but only screened with Venetian blinds.
The best shops, European and native, are in this
Port Said to Melbourne 3 1
quarter. Colombo is the place to which our
soldiers are sent from India to recruit their health,
and the barrack accommodation is large. There
are also numerous batteries along the shore where
artillerymen are quartered. There is a fine
supply of water in the town, brought from a
range of hills, about thirty miles distant, by the
Government. The day had been hot, the
temperature in the shade 85, and even amid all
the beauties of tropical vegetation and absolutely
new surroundings we felt tired, and were pleased
to get on board our ship in time for dinner at
6.30. At 10 P.M. we left for Australia.
Next day, the 2/th, was fine, the temperature
82. Shoals of flying-fish rose from the water like
flocks of birds, and after flying a few hundred
yards, plunged again into the calm blue sea.
Neither vessel nor cloud was to be seen ; the
ocean around us seemed a perfect circle, and the
sky a perfect dome, and our great ship seemed
little more than a fly on a circular mirror under
a glass shade. But evening brought us back to
the realities of life. The amusements committee
had arranged to have tableaux vivants, the scenes
to be from the life of Mary Queen of Scots ; but
when the distinguished naval officer, who had the
arranging of the characters, asked some of the
ladies to act the part of waiting- maids, none
could be found to represent a part so mean, all
32 Notes and Gleanings
wanted to be queens, and the attempt to get up
the entertainment ended in a tableau not requiring
a rehearsal. After dark we had a magnificent
display of tropical lightning. We crossed the
line at 6.30 A.M. on the 28th. One or two ladies
who came on deck shortly after were anxious to
see " the line," and they were gratified by looking
through a telescope, across the object glass of
which a waggish officer had tied a hair, but they
were a good deal annoyed when they found they
had only seen a hair line ! Amusements of all
sorts were actively engaged in during the day,
although the temperature was 84 in the shade.
The ist of March was finer than the ist of July
usually is at home. At noon we were in 7 40'
south latitude, and the sun was nearly overhead,
the temperature 85 in the shade, and 115 in the
sun. In the afternoon we had some showers,
the first rain we had had since we left home.
We had a full moon at night, decidedly larger
and brighter than ever seen at home. At 6 A.M.
on the 2nd we crossed the sun's meridian, and in
the afternoon we met the south-east trade winds,
which lowered the temperature about 5, but the
weather continued fine.
Our daily run was about 370 miles.
On the evening of the 3rd we had another
fancy dress ball, and those best able to judge
pronounced the dresses a perfect success, and
Port Said to Melbourne 3 3
agreed that all the ladies displayed excellent
taste in dressing to suit their figures and style ;
and many of the gentlemen were highly com-
plimented on their " get - up." Several of the
ladies had their hair powdered, and wore black
patches, and much might be said in favour of
the ladies of past generations who adopted this
mode of increasing their charms. Perhaps the
sense of novelty was strong, but it seemed to
add a charm to many pretty faces. The dresses
were so varied, that I do not think the most
expert writer for a ladies' journal could have
described them ; but the effect was most pleasing,
and the whole affair a great success.
The morning of the 4th brought a fresh
breeze, a falling barometer, and a lower tempera-
ture ; at noon it was 74 in the shade, the
wind increased, and at dinner time there were
several vacant chairs. Later in the evening it fell
away again. The second saloon passengers had
a very fine show of tableaux vivants that evening,
to which the first saloon passengers were invited.
Sunday the 5th was inspection day again,
when we had another opportunity of seeing our
crew mustered. The chief engineer and his men
were drawn up in line on the port side, aft, and
the sailing crew, petty officers, and stewards, were
drawn up on the starboard side, while the officers
of the ship, the doctor, and purser stood at the
D
34 Notes and Gleanings
stern wheel between the groups. The black men
were dressed in white garments of night-shirt
shape, with sashes round their waists, and most of
them wore embroidered caps. Some of them
wore fancy vests, and others coloured sashes,
giving them quite a gay appearance, and all the
officers and white men were dressed in their best
uniforms. The captain, doctor, and purser then
walked down the lines, the men saluting. The
ceremony being over, every one hurried off to his
duty. The captain and the purser inspect the
berths daily, to see that they are kept in proper
order ; and any passengers having anything to
complain of must then state their cause of
complaint. All the clergymen having left at
Colombo, the captain read the service in a very
impressive style, and the purser, who had not
much of the parson in his nature, read the lessons.
In the evening a highly - esteemed Melbourne
merchant (Mr. D. Love), gave a very pathetic and
touching address in the second saloon, which was
filled with both classes of passengers.
Monday the 6th was much colder, the tem-
perature having fallen to 65. A strong breeze
was blowing, and many ladies were unable to be
present at either luncheon or dinner.
The yth brought a heavy cross sea, which
indicated that we were nearing land ; and alba-
trosses began to hover around us. They are the
Port Said to Melbourne 35
largest of web-footed birds, and are of the gull or
petrel family. The plumage on the under side of
the body and wings is nearly white, and on the
upper side of the wings, back, and neck, a dusky
brown colour ; the spread of the wings is some-
times twelve feet, and the weight of the bird
twenty pounds. We were about 100 miles from
land when we first saw them. In the afternoon
the wind increased to a gale. At 5.30 we sighted
Cape Lewen on the west coast of Australia, and
were very pleased to see land again, although our
time at sea had passed pleasantly. As dark-
ness came on the weather became very wet and
foggy, and as there are ridges of rocks running
far out from the shore, our ship was hauled off a
point or two from the usual course, for safety.
The night was very stormy, the lightning most
brilliant, and the thunder terrific ; but we were all
pleased to see a thunder-storm in that latitude.
The morning of the 8th was hazy after the
storm, but we came in sight of land again at 8
o'clock, and at I o'clock entered King George's
Sound, having accomplished 10,488 miles of our
journey. What is called the Sound is a fine bay,
and the town of Albany, the second city in the
colony of Western Australia, is built on the rising
ground surrounding it. The population of Albany
is under 7000, but it has a thriving appearance,
and was interesting to us as the first Australian
36 Notes and Gleanings
town we had seen. The houses are nearly all
built of wood, but are clean and substantial in
appearance. Scottish names predominated on
sign-boards over all places of business. There
we saw some native Australians. Their skin is
darker than that of the Negro race, and they
looked like living skeletons. Their limbs are
almost straight from above the knees to the
ankles, and their arms are the same thickness
from the shoulder to the hand ; their eyes have
less expression than those of monkeys, and their
faces are only a little more human like. One of
the men we saw was dressed in a suit of moleskin ;
the other man and the two women and four
children were clothed in skins, their legs and
arms being bare.
We left Albany for Adelaide, a distance of
1007 miles, at 4.30 P.M. The evening was very
pleasant as we steamed round the bold headland,
and entered the great Australian Bight.
During the night the wind freshened into a
stiff breeze, and in the morning many of our
passengers felt more inclined to bed than break-
fast when, at 8.30, the bugler wakened the drowsy
ones, and annoyed the delicate ones, by playing
in the liveliest manner, " Life on the Ocean Wave."
By mid-day the breeze had died away, and the
temperature had risen to 72.
Friday the loth was clear and fine. The
Port Said to Melbourne 37
stewards gave a theatrical and musical entertain-
ment in the first saloon in the evening, which was
very much enjoyed. Early in the morning of the
nth we passed Kangaroo Island with its abrupt
rocky shores, and steered up the Gulf of St.
Vincent for Adelaide in one of the finest fore-
noons we had had since leaving home. The
town of Adelaide is eight miles from the sea, and
the river on which Port Adelaide is situated is too
shallow for the large mail steamers to navigate ;
consequently all the large steamers anchor in
Largo Bay, from which there is a railway to the
town.
As we were to be only a few hours in the bay,
and intended to visit Adelaide on our way home,
we did not go ashore, but we received some letters
from friends in Melbourne welcoming us to
Australia, and advising us to go to Menzies's
Family Hotel when we arrived in Melbourne. Mr.,
Mrs., and Miss Harvey, the only other passengers
from Glasgow, left us here, as they were going to
travel north to Sydney by rail, and sail from there
to Singapore, Japan, and Vancouver, on their way
round the world.
The mails for Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane
are usually landed at Adelaide, but the working-
men of South Australia will not do any work on
Sundays ; and as it takes twenty-four hours to go
from Adelaide to Melbourne, no trains leave on
38 Notes and Gleanings
Saturday or Sunday for Melbourne, or vice versa,
and it being Saturday when we arrived, the mails
would, if sent ashore, have been kept at Adelaide
till Monday at 6.30 P.M. By taking them for-
ward in the steamer they were delivered a day
sooner.
We left for Melbourne at 7.30 P.M.
Sunday the I2th was again a beautiful day,
and we were sailing along the low sandy coast of
South Australia till I o'clock, when we passed
Discovery Bay, and reached the equally low and
uninteresting coast of Victoria. Near Cape
Nelson we saw an extensive bush fire, many of
which we met with afterwards in New Zealand
and elsewhere.
Although the passage had been pleasant, yet
most of our passengers, who were nearing their
homes, were anxious to get on terra firma again,
and we also were anxious to get ashore to explore
the wonders of the new world. We passed Cape
Otway about 6 P.M. on the I2th, and Port Philip
Heads at I A.M. on Monday the 1 3th ; arriving
off Williamstown, the port for Melbourne, at 5 A.M.,
where we anchored to await the arrival of the
port officers. The distance from Adelaide to
Melbourne is 485 miles. At 6.30 A.M. the health
officers came on board, and it was amusing to see,
first the officers and crew, then the second saloon,
and then the first saloon passengers, mustered on
Port Said to Melbourne 39
deck, and counted off like bales of goods. Being
all well, we were passed by the doctors, and then
taken in hand by the custom house officers, who
had to examine our luggage for articles subject to
duty. This being almost a matter of form, we
were soon allowed to land.
CHAPTER III
MELBOURNE
WILLIAMSTOWN, where the large mail steamers
lie, is about five miles from Melbourne, to which
we took train, and soon afterwards found our-
selves in the city, of which its inhabitants are
immensely, and I think rightly, proud. We
put up at Menzies's Hotel, as advised by our
friends, and found it a well-kept, comfortable
house.
We had heard much about colonial 1 hospitality,
but we were hardly prepared for the extremely
kind reception accorded to us. The colonial
papers publish lists of all passengers arriving by
the mail steamers, and of strangers arriving in
every town by railway, daily, a fact which we did
not know, but which accounted for some of our
friends calling so soon after our arrival, the first
being Sir Frederick and Lady Sargood and two
of their daughters.
My first impression of Melbourne was that it
was one of the finest cities I had seen ; and I have
Melbourne 4 1
seen most of the large towns in Britain, France,
Italy, Belgium, and other countries ; but I found,
on closer inspection, that the principal streets are
not completed as they will be, there being at
present six- or seven-story blocks adjoining two-
and three-story blocks, which leaves large spaces
of rough wall exposed at the ends of the higher
buildings, and gives an unfinished appearance to
most of the principal thoroughfares. But there
are many splendid specimens of architecture
among the public and private buildings some
equal to any of their class in Europe. The Bank
offices are exceptionally fine buildings, those in
Collins Street being much superior to those in
Lombard Street, London, where millions of pounds
are turned over daily. The public buildings, such
as the Houses of Parliament, the Free Public Lib-
rary and Art Gallery, which has cost .184,604,
and is not yet finished, the Post Office, and the
City Hall, are all handsome structures. The
warehouses are the best lighted and best arranged
buildings for their purpose I have ever seen ;
and I do not know a street anywhere where so
many fine warehouses are so close together as in
Flinders Lane. The streets of Melbourne are all
laid off at right angles, as the streets are in the
newer parts of Glasgow, but there is a wide and
a narrow one alternately. The wide one is called,
say Flinders Street, and the narrow one Flinders
42 Notes and Gleanings
Lane, or Collins Street, and Little Collins Street,
and so on.
The tramway system in the city is much
superior to anything of the kind in this country ;
the trams are all cable lines, and travel nine miles
per hour. The fare is threepence for any distance.
The river Yarra has been deepened, but not
sufficiently to admit the larger class of steamers
to come up to the city. It is the filthiest piece of
water I ever had the misfortune to be afloat on.
The Liffey at the lower part of Dublin is sweet
compared to the Yarra, and the Liffey is the
dirtiest and worst smelling river in the United
Kingdom.
The municipal arrangements of Melbourne are
interesting. There are around the city proper
fifteen independent boroughs, or Shires, as they
are called, each dealing with its own local affairs,
but sending representatives to a Metropolitan Board
of Works, which deals with matters common to
all, such as water, sewage, etc. The educational
and charitable institutions of Melbourne are equal
to those of any city at home, and the places of
instruction and interest, such as the Botanical and
Zoological Gardens, are a long way ahead of those
of any city at home, except London. The sewage
arrangements of the town are wretched, and
typhoid fever is common. There is no under-
ground drainage as yet, owing to the larger part
Melbourne 43
of the city being only a few inches above high-
water level; but a new system is being gone
on with, and the sewage is to be carried several
miles into the country, and pumped up on sewage
farms.
The gloom of the commercial crisis was be-
ginning to be felt when we arrived. The Federal
Bank had suspended payments a little more than
a month before, and grave doubts were being
expressed as to the stability of the Commercial
Bank, which stopped payment three weeks
later (April 4th). Reaction, after the excitement
of the L land boom, seemed to be depressing every
one. Prices of land and buildings had collapsed,
and with them had gone large fortunes, honestly
and industriously acquired, as well as nominal
fortunes, represented by bills of various lengths of
currency. Great mansion houses of the boomers,
which had cost fifty thousand pounds or more,
could be had for a hundred pounds or so per
annum, and the name of the fashionable suburb
in which these were situated had been changed
in a jocular way from Toorak to Broken Hill.
The public revenue, notwithstanding increased
duties, was shrinking month by month, and
commercial business was diminishing to even a
greater extent. But while all outside was in
such a depressed condition, in the homes of our
friends we found all as cheerful and pleasant as
44 Notes and Gleanings
possible. On the evening of our arrival several
friends called and spent some time with us ; and
on Tuesday morning I received intimation that I
had been admitted, on the nomination of Sir F. T.
Sargood, an honorary member of the Australian
Club for a month, of which I took advantage.
By the rules of the Club, only members can lunch
or dine in it, and no member can introduce a
stranger until he has been made an honorary
member ; and I found the same rules in force in
the best clubs in Sydney and Brisbane ; but in
New Zealand the rules are very much the same as
in clubs at home. We spent Tuesday in seeing
the city, and lunched and dined with some of our
fellow-passengers, with whom we had been on very
friendly terms during the voyage.
On Wednesday, after I had called on several
of my business friends, we went to lunch with Sir
Frederick and Lady Sargood at their residence,
Rippon Lea, Elsternwick. The company we
met were such as we should have expected to
meet at their home ; and this being the first
colonial mansion we had visited, we were much
interested in the house and its surroundings.
Without the permission of our host and hostess
I do not venture to trespass upon the privacy
of their charming home. I cannot, however,
help referring to the grounds, extending to about
sixty acres, which were to me an interesting
Melbourne 45
study, containing, as they did, specimens of trees
and plants from all parts of the southern hemi-
sphere, and not a few from northern latitudes.
Water plants luxuriated in artificial ponds, and
flowers in abundance enlivened every nook and
corner. Two windmills, or wheels, were pumping
up water from deep wells into cisterns, from which
it was being distributed by fixed pipes in showers
all over the garden, and the beautiful green
lawn of buffalo grass in front of the mansion,
which, with its surroundings of palm houses, fern
houses, vineries, and conservatories, formed a
picture of an ideal home not easily excelled in
any part of the world. The ball-room, a hand-
some structure detached from the main building,
but having a covered way to it, is capable of
seating about three hundred persons. The stage
at one end had folding doors separating it from
a house full of palms and ferns, which form a
charming background when the room is used for
private theatricals. From a tall tower, built of
wood, in the garden we had a fine view of the
surrounding country. Having spent a delight-
ful afternoon in most agreeable company, we
returned to the city to meet Mr. Butler, Mr.
P. P. Fraser, and some other friends whom we had
asked to dine with us at our hotel in the evening.
The 1 6th was very hot. In the forenoon
we visited the Botanic Gardens, and spent the
46 Notes and Gleanings
afternoon with Mr. and Mrs. Duncan Love at
their beautiful residence at Toorak. In the
evening we dined with other friends.
On Friday forenoon several old friends we
had known at home called, and spent some time
with us. In the afternoon we visited the Parlia-
ment House, Free Library, Art Gallery, and City
Hall with some friends, and were courteously
shown through them all. This was the hottest
day we had had; the temperature was 130 in
the sun, and felt very oppressive to us northeners.
In the evening we dined with the Honourable
Robert and Mrs. Reid at their handsome residence,
a few miles from Melbourne. Mr. Reid left
Scotland when very young, and is now one of the
most extensive merchants in the Australian
Colonies, a man of whom his native country may
be proud, and who is as much esteemed for his
private worth as for his eminent business abilities.
He is Minister of Defence in the present Govern-
ment of Victoria, and has since been sent to
London on an important mission from the Colony.
In his residence we found another house typical
of wealthy colonial life. As at Elsternwick, the
handsome ball-room formed a feature in the
architecture and arrangements of the house ; and
in the extensive and well-kept gardens we found a
refreshing oasis in the midst of fields of dried-up
grass and almost leafless trees. Mr. Reid's family
Melbourne 47
we found accomplished musicians, and we enjoyed
a most pleasant evening in his hospitable home.
The weather continuing hot, we decided to go
to New Zealand, and spend some time again in
Melbourne on our return journey ; and we left
for Dunedin via Tasmania, on Saturday the i8th
March, in the Tarawera, one of the Union
Steamship Company's largest boats, a well-
appointed vessel, of 1269 tons register, com-
manded by Captain Sinclair, a native of Orkney,
whose amusing stories formed a most enjoyable
part of each meal hour.
CHAPTER IV
TASMANIA
SUNDAY the igth was another fine day. By
8 P.M. we sighted Tasmania, and during the
night sailed along its well-lighted coast towards
Hobart, its principal town. About 8 A.M. on
Monday we passed Cape Casma, a promontory
formed of the most wonderful basaltic columns
I have ever seen, compared to which Staffa
is quite insignificant. The basaltic formation
extended for fourteen miles along the shore,
and was of great height. The scenery, as we
proceeded up Storm Bay, was very fine ; low
hills rose on either side, their slopes variegated
by the alternate green of wood and pasture ;
and as we neared the mouth of the river Der-
went, on which Hobart is situated, patches of
well -cultivated ground added variety to the land-
scape, and made it a picture of almost unequalled
beauty.
The town of Hobart, the capital of Tasmania,
is twelve miles up the river, and is beautifully
Tasmania 49
situated, Mount Wellington, rising 4166 feet behind
it, forming a fine back-ground ; and well-wooded
hills, rising from both sides of the river, shelter the
orchards and fruit gardens along its banks. Owing,
however, to its defective system of drainage, the
town is not healthy, typhoid fever being common
when the rain comes after the hot season.
We found all the cabs in Hobart were drawn by
two horses, and were told that none of the residents
would be seen driving in a one-horse conveyance.
We engaged one of these at five shillings per hour,
and drove out to see the Government House*, which
had just been vacated by Sir Robert Hamilton, a
native of Shetland, whose term of office had expired.
It is built on a bend of the river and surrounded by
native trees, all of which are evergreens, and the
leaves of which hang over the water like a fringe,
the effect being most charming. We next went
to the Botanic Gardens, which were only in course
of formation, and then went some miles into the
country for a drive. There we found convicts,
guarded by armed warders, making roads, a more
sensible arrangement than keeping them picking
oakum, as at home. There are few public
buildings of any consequence in Hobart, except
the Post Office and the executive offices cf the
Government. The Parliament House is an in-
significant structure near the harbour, and some
distance from the other Government buildings.
E
50 Notes and Gleanings
A large number of people from Melbourne
and Sydney spend the hot season in Tasmania,
where the mean summer heat is only 63. In
winter the mean temperature is 42, very like the
south parts of England. It has a good rainfall,
and the vegetation is luxuriant. The island was
discovered by Tasman, a Dutch navigator, in 1 642,
and was named by him Van Dieman's Land, after
the Governor of the Dutch East India Islands.
The first British settlement was formed in
1803, an d convicts were sent there soon after.
The nme was changed to Tasmania in 1852,
when the transportation of convicts to the island
ceased. In 1855 it was granted local representa-
tive government ; and, like the other Australian
Colonies, has its two houses of Parliament, called
the House of Assembly and the Legislative
Council. The population on 3ist December
1891 was 152,619. Of these 55.78 per cent
were native born, 21.50 had been born in England
and Wales, 7.70 per cent in Ireland, and in
Scotland 4.96 per cent. The aborigines of the
island have all died out. In 1835 there were
203 of them left, and they were driven into
Flinders Island by the white settlers. The native
animals are the same as those of Australia.
We left Hobart for Dunedin about 10 P.M.
The berths in the Tarawera were small, and
all were full. Most of the passengers were sick
Tasmania 5 1
all the way, and the accommodation on deck
was very limited. The sea was rough and the
temperature low ; and to add to the general
discomfort, the cooking and the food were bad.
For three days there were no ladies except my
two daughters at table. Some good stories of
colonial life were told by Captain Sinclair, one
of which, at least, I think worth recording. About
seventeen years ago, the widow of a hotel-keeper
in Melbourne was on her way to New Zealand to
visit some friends, when she met on board the
steamer a commercial traveller matrimonially
inclined, and the two were engaged to be
married ; but neither the course of true love nor the
sea ran smoothly. With a roll of the ship the
" commercial " fell down the stair, and broke two
of his ribs, and having thus become damaged,
the widow withdrew her plighted troth, and
engaged herself to the captain, to whom she
was married at once by a clergyman on board.
But their married life was short ; the captain
died of heart disease next day, and his wife landed
a widow for the second time. She is now the
wife of a steward, in one of the New Zealand
Shipping Company's steamers ; and the damaged
" commercial " still survives his disappointment.
This story was vouched for by a well-known
Dunedin business man, a fellow - passenger of
ours.
CHAPTER V
NEW ZEALAND
WE arrived at Campbelltown, or Bluff Harbour,
as it is more generally called, early on Friday the
24th March. The town or village is all built of
wood, has a good harbour, commodious quays,
and a large export trade in frozen meat. It is
the nearest port to Invercargill, and the shipping
port for the southland district of the Middle
Island. The names over the shops were nearly
all Scottish. The day was fine, and we spent it
on shore while our steamer was discharging
cargo. The landscape was very home -like.
Gorse and wild brambles grew luxuriantly along
the sides of the roads, the same breeds of cattle
were feeding on the fields, the grass was of such
a green colour as we had not seen since leaving
home, and even the sea- weeds by the shore were
of much the same forms as at home. But even
here a walk of two miles brought us into contact
with something new ; in a finely-wooded valley
not far away we had our first sight of the grand
New Zealand 53
tree ferns of New Zealand. They looked very
much like cocoa-nut palms, having a straight
bare stem rising up twenty or thirty feet, and an
umbrella-like top of drooping leaves. The white
tents of a number of men employed in cutting
timber gave a picturesque effect to the scene.
Having enjoyed a day on shore after our rough
sea-passage of 1429 miles from Melbourne, we
left in the evening for Port Chalmers, and arrived
there at 6.30 A.M. next morning. It is a lovely
bay. The hills round it rise rapidly from the
water, and are well wooded to their tops. It was
here the two ships carrying the first Scottish
emigrants to New Zealand landed their brave
passengers, among the untrodden ferns, on the
i 5th of March and I 2th of April 1848. They
were the outcome of the religious movement
which had led to the establishment of the Free
Church of Scotland, and, although not persecuted
as the Pilgrim Fathers were, they wished to be
free to exercise their theological opinions, while
they were, I have no doubt, anxious to benefit
their families and themselves by settling in a new
country where land in abundance could be had
for almost nothing. There were 326 of them
altogether, and they, unfortunately, landed at the
beginning of a most inclement season. For
nearly two months they had incessant rain, and,
strange to say, they had come without tents, and
54 Notes and Gleanings
the women and children had to remain on board
the ships while the men did their best to prepare
shelters for those dependent on them. A most
chilling reception certainly, which only brave
hearts could have faced successfully.
Around the beautiful little harbour now rise
church steeples and substantial houses, evidently
the homes of people to whom the cares of priva-
tion are unknown, while crowds of vessels arrive
and depart, bringing the rewards, and leaving with
the results, of peaceful industries. We had to
wait two hours for the tide to rise before we
could get up from Port Chalmers to Dunedin,
which is situated at the head of a shallow bay,
called Otago harbour, through which a channel
has been deepened, at a cost of eight hundred
thousand pounds.
Dunedin is the Gaelic word for Edinburgh ;
and the name was suggested to the first settlers
by the late William Chambers of " Journal " fame.
We arrived there at 10.30 A.M. on Saturday the
25th, and put up at Wain's Hotel, a very comfort-
able house.
The town of Dunedin is built on a series of
ridges running up from the harbour, and the view
from the hill above the town is simply charming.
The population, including the suburbs, is about
46,000. It has many handsome public and
private buildings, including the University, the
New Zealand 55
City Hall, the High School, and the offices of the
Bank of New Zealand, of the Union Steamship
Company, and others. The warehouses of Messrs.
Sargood, Son, and Ewen, Butterworth Brothers,
Ross and Glendinning, Hallenstein Brothers, and
others, are all handsome buildings. Princes Street,
the principal throughfare of the town, is a hand-
some street. A statue of Burns adorns an open
space in front of the Town Hall ; and a handsome
monument in memory of the Rev. Dr. Burns,
who accompanied the first settlers, and was first
minister of the Presbyterian Church, and of
Captain Cargill, who was the leader of the same
party, has been erected in a place called the
Square, in the centre of the town. In Princes
Street are the chief retail warehouses, of which
Messrs. Brown, Ewing and Co.'s, A. and T. Inglis',
and Herbert Haynes and Co.'s, are the largest.
While only a small town, Dunedin has the style
of a capital city. The day after our arrival being
Sunday we felt very much at home : all places
of business were closed, and there was an appear-
ance of Sunday rest such as we had not seen
since leaving home. We went to a Congregational
church in the forenoon, and to the first Presby-
terian church in the evening, both of which had
large congregations.
For many years after the settlement of Dun-
edin ecclesiastical authority was supreme, and the
56 Notes and Gleanings
Bible their chief law book ; but the Bible is not
allowed to be read in any of the schools now, and
the Secularist, the progenitor of the state Socialist,
is largely in evidence in public affairs.
The 2 /th I devoted to visiting business friends,
and in the evening I renewed the acquaintance of
some old friends I had not seen for nearly thirty
years, among them Sir Robert Stout, a man who
has made a deep impression on the history of his
adopted country, and who is at present the most
notable of New Zealand politicians. Sir Robert
went to Dunedin as a teacher, but studied law
afterwards, and is now the leading barrister in the
city. He has been Attorney-General, Solicitor-
General, and Prime Minister of the Colony. Mr.
William Bolt, another old acquaintance, who has
been recently appointed an " honourable " member
of the upper house of the Legislature, for his
political services and ability, called to see us, as
did also Mr. William Sinclair of the Colonial
Bank, and Mr. Robert Sinclair of the Lands
Registry Office, sons of an esteemed friend
lately deceased, Mr. Robert Sinclair, merchant,
Lerwick.
On Tuesday, after I had attended to some busi-
ness matters, we had a drive along the hill above
the town, and on to the marine suburb called St.
Clair, on the sandy beach of which it is said
Captain Cook first landed. In the afternoon we
New Zealand 57
were visited at our hotel by some old people who
were members of my father-in-law's church for
many years before they settled in New Zealand,
and who were glad to see my wife for her father's
sake, and myself as the present proprietor of the
district in which they were born. In the evening
we dined with Sir Robert Stout and his amiable
lady, where we met a truly Scottish gathering of
most pleasant and home-like people.
Thursday forenoon I spent attending to busi-
ness, and in the afternoon went with Mr. Glen-
dinning, of Ross and Glendinning, to their woollen
factory at Roslyn, where ladies' dress goods,
hosiery, tweeds, and blankets are manufactured
on a large scale. It is the only place where I
ever saw so many classes of goods put through
from the fleece to the finished articles ; and I do
not think there is probably another such factory
in existence. There are several other woollen
factories in New Zealand.
The evening was again spent with friends.
Some amusing incidents are related in connection
with the early settlement of Dunedin. The first
judge was a Mr. Sydney Stephen, who got the
appointment through the influence of his brother,
the Chief Justice of New South Wales, and a
salary of 800 a year when the population
scarcely numbered 800. For two years there
was not a case to be tried by the judge. At last
58 Notes and Gleanings
a case appeared on the list, but in it the judge
was the delinquent, and had to appear as de-
fendant a case of assault. A full bench of
magistrates sat to try the judge, and although he
pled guilty to the charge, they dismissed the case !
When the judge had so little to do, it will be
understood the gaol accommodation needed was
not large. The prison was called " Mr. Monson's
Establishment," and was a rickety wooden shanty,
erected for the confinement of a few male and
female topers, with occasionally some runaway
sailors, who seem to have formed quite a family
party. They were let out by day to work, and
in the evening had to present themselves at Mr.
Monson's family worship. On Saturday evenings
they were sent into town with baskets for next
week's provisions, and were told that if they did
not return in time they would be shut out ; and
a story is told of one vixen who proved so bad
that Mr. Monson would not keep her in the
prison.
The Scottish element is no doubt very strong
in Otago, and, being the pioneers, they are in
possession of the largest portion of the land ; but
it is a mistake to consider New Zealand an
especially Scottish Colony. When the census
was taken in 1891 the number who returned
themselves as belonging to the Church of England
was 253,331, while Presbyterians and other dis-
New Zealand 59
senters numbered only 226,971, and Roman
Catholics 87,272.
The number of people born in the Colony was
367,000; born in England, 117,000; in Wales,
2214; in Scotland, 57,916; and in Ireland,
47,634.
Nearly all the places of business in New
Zealand are closed from the evening of Thursday
preceding Good Friday till the following Tuesday.
We had arranged to leave on the morning of
Friday the 3ist of March for the Lake District,
and we started for Lake Wakatipu at 8.10 A.M.
The distance to the lower end of the lake is only
175 miles, but the train travelled so slowly that
we did not arrive there till 7.30 P.M.
This line of railway passes through the best
cultivated part of the Colony. About ten miles
from Dunedin we passed through the Taieri
Plain, one of the most fertile districts. Shortly
afterwards we crossed the river Balclutha, which
drains the central lake district, and is said to
discharge sixteen times the quantity of water
discharged by the river Thames. The Toko-
mariro district near the river is an excellent
district for wheat growing. At a town called
Gore, ninety miles from Dunedin, -we changed to
a private railway company's line, and for nearly
seventy miles travelled through the Waimea
Plains, a fine grazing country, almost dead level.
60 Notes and Gleanings
Half the so-called stations on this line are only
box-like places, having neither station-master nor
porter. The guards sell tickets and collect them
as they go along. Nearly all the railways in
New Zealand are Government property, and ten
millions sterling were borrowed for their construc-
tion. Only between Dunedin and Invercargill,
and Dunedin and Christchurch, do trains run
daily each way, the rule being on alternate days,
that is, from Dunedin, say to Kingstown on
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and from
Kingstown to Dunedin on the other three days
of the week. The average speed of fast trains is
twelve miles per hour. When we arrived at
Kingstown a small steamer was waiting to take
us to Queenstown, about half-way up Lake
Wakatipu. The scenery in this part of New
Zealand is almost unequalled in any part of the
world for grandeur and beauty. A range of
mountains called the New Zealand Alps, of which
Mount Cook, rising 13,200 feet, is the highest,
runs north and south, near the west coast of the
Middle Island, and they look grander than the
Alps in Europe, owing to their rising more
abruptly from the plains. Wakatipu is fifty-eight
miles long, and from two to three miles wide, and
is surrounded by lofty mountains rising almost
perpendicularly from its margin. The day had
been fine, and when we went on board the
New Zealand 6 1
steamer a full moon was shining nearly overhead,
in a cloudless sky.
The rugged peaks of the mountains threw
their dark shadows on the water, lit by the
silvery rays of the moon. Not a sound was
heard around us, not a bird could be seen, and
even the voices of our fellow -passengers were
hushed to a whisper, awed by the majesty of
nature around.
We had reached the lake through a gorge
between two mountains, and as we steamed up
we had Mount Dick, 6020 feet, on our left, and
on our right Bayonet Peak, 6417 feet, and before
us lay the three black rugged peaks called the
Remarkables, rising to a height of 7688 feet, and
so steep that their tops are said to be little more
than three miles from the lake, between two
perpendiculars. They are mountains of lava,
and their rugged sides seem to defy nature to
clothe them with even the scantiest covering of
vegetation. In form they are very like the
Coolins in Skye, an extinct crater forming a
lake near their base, exactly as Loch Coruisk
does in the Coolins. We took three hours to
steam to Queenstown, and seemed to be sailing
on a silver mirror round which the dark shadows
of the mountains formed a frame of ebony. We
rounded a point in this vast hollow, and came
within sight of the lights of the Alpine - like
62 Notes and Gleanings
village of Queenstown, nestling under the shadow
of lofty Ben Lomond (5747 feet high), and soon
were landed on its tiny pier, and comfortably
housed in Echard's Hotel. Saturday the 1st of
April was a lovely day, and we left the hotel at
9. 1 5 A.M. for the head of the lake, a distance
of thirty-five miles. From Queenstown to the
head of the lake the mountains on both sides
are covered with vegetation.
We steamed along the northern shore, and
the birches and brackens, growing in the hollows
of the mountains, gave a picturesque and home-
like appearance to the Ben Lomond of the
Antipodes. This mountain was named Ben
Lomond in 1860 by Duncan M'Ausland, a
Scottish shepherd in the employment of Mr.
Rees, the first settler in the district. Continuing
our voyage, we rounded White's Point, and
opened up the magnificent panorama of the
upper arm of the lake, the mountain scenery
of which is grand in the extreme, and reminded
me of the view of the Alps from the hill above
Turin. On our left rose the range of mountains
called the Humboldts, 8 1 oo feet high, with
Mount Alfred farther in front ; and in front, to
our right, towered Mount Earnslaw, 9200 feet,
covered with perpetual snow, its giant glacier, said
to be the largest in the world, sparkling in the
morning sun. It was a scene never to be forgotten.
New Zealand 63
Our first landing-place was Kinloch, a town-
ship of small dimensions, beautifully situated at
the foot of Mount Bonpland, which rises nearly
8000 feet above it. We spent about three-
quarters of an hour there, and then crossed to
Glenorchy, another village, on a grassy flat
backed by the Richardson Mountains. We in-
tended to go to a place called Paradise Flat,
and have a nearer view of Mount Earnslaw,
and see the famous Rees Gorge, but time would
not permit, and we returned by the same steamer
to Queenstown. The sail down the lake was
delightful, as the evening shades settled down
on the hills in colours which we had never seen
before, but which are beautifully described by
a native poet, Thomas Bracken, who says
When all the changeful colours of the eve,
Pink, violet, purple fade away,
With crimson, gold, and amber, but to leave
The scene enwrapped in folds of sombre grey.
It was in the neighbourhood of Queenstown
that great quantities of gold were found in
1862, which caused so much excitement all
over the world, and drew to New Zealand
adventurous spirits from all parts of the Empire,
and elsewhere. I had an interesting conversa-
tion with George Archer, who was the second
settler in the district, and one of the first pros-
pectors ; and his reminiscences of early life and
64 Notes and Gleanings
adventure were most interesting. Mr. Rees,
the first settler, is still living in the dis-
trict, but he has, unfortunately, lost most of
his means by the ravages of rabbits and
other causes. The 2nd of April was another
lovely day ; the temperature in the shade was
52; and being anxious to see the locale of
the celebrated gold diggings, we drove round
by Franktown and Arrowtown, two of the
celebrated spots, and home by the Shotover
Gorge, but we found neither the diggings nor
the landscape interesting. Digging, or rather
gold finding, in this district, is now almost con-
fined to dredging up the sand from the bed
of the Shotover river, and washing the gold out
of it. A few alluvial diggings were being
wrought in the neighbourhood, but not to
any great extent. There are 600 people in
Queenstown ; and it is a favourite resort of
tourists from all parts of the colonies.
We left for Dunedin at 6. 1 5 A.M. on Mon-
day the 3rd of April, and saw those marvel-
lous shades of light, caused by the rising sun,
which I believe is not seen anywhere but in
this district of New Zealand. We had seen the
sun rising over the cloudless hills along the shores
of the Mediterranean, above the mountains of
Asia, over the sandy plains near the Red Sea,
from the golden fringed horizon of the Indian
New Zealand 65
Ocean, and above the mountains of Ceylon ;
but all blended together could not equal the
marvellous beauties of light and shade, of subdued
rainbow tints, that mingled with the azure blue
of the sky overhead, as, on that absolutely calm
morning on Lake Wakatipu, the sun rose behind
the mountain ranges and drove away the last
streaks of dawn from its surface. I cannot satis-
factorily describe the scene, but shall never forget
it. We landed at Kingstown at 8.15 A.M., and
again took twelve hours to travel the hundred
and seventy-five miles to Dunedin.
It was Easter Monday, and the train was
crowded with people returning home from their
holidays ; but all were sober and most agreeable.
On Tuesday, the 4th, I called on some of
my business friends to say " good-bye " ; and in
the evening a large number of friends called on
us to say " farewell," from whom we parted with
feelings of the warmest gratitude for the great
kindness we had received during our stay in
Dunedin, and our regrets that our time there
had been so short.
We left Dunedin for Christchurch by rail at
1 1 A.M. on the 5th, many of our kind friends
meeting us at the station to see us off. We
travelled along the coast nearly all the way to
Oamaru, the bays and headlands being very
much like those on the east coast of Scotland.
F
66 Notes and Gleanings
Oamaru is a town of 6000 inhabitants, and
the second largest in the district of Otago.
It has a fine harbour protected by a concrete
breakwater, large refrigerating works, a flour
mill, and a woollen factory. It is 78 miles from
Dunedin, and 152 from Christchurch.
Fifty-two miles nearer Christchurch is Timaru,
a town with a population of 4000. It is
the seaport for the southern division of Canter-
bury, and the centre of a rich agricultural district.
From this to Christchurch the country is very
level and uninteresting. We reached our journey's
end at 9 P.M., and put up at Coker's Hotel, which
we found a clean, well-kept house. Christchurch
is called the Cathedral City of New Zealand.
It was founded by the High Church party of
the Church of England at the time of the Oxford
Tractarian Movement in 1849-1850. That party
incorporated a company, called the Canterbury
Association, and the first ship sent out by them
arrived at Port Cooper on the i6th December
1850. It is the most English-like in architecture
of any of the cities of New Zealand, but, being
built on level ground, the buildings are not
well seen from any place, except the tower of
the Cathedral, and not advantageously even
there. It has a College, Museum, and Botanic
Gardens, but no public buildings of any import-
ance. The new warehouse of Messrs. Sargood,
New Zealand 67
Son, and Ewen is, next to the Cathedral, the
most prominent building in the town.
The river Avon flows through it, and its low,
grassy banks are overhung by tall willow-trees,
the first of which is said to have been taken from
Napoleon's grave at St. Helena. We had a very
pleasant outing on the river with our friend Mr.
Ballantyne, and saw the first house built in the
town, a small dwelling of two rooms. A peculi-
arity of the district is, that an unlimited supply
of water is got by boring down a few feet, and
by boring down about 100 feet water at a
temperature near freezing-point is had' in abund-
ance. The town needs no pipe supply of water,
an ample supply being got from wells. The
drainage of the town is very indifferent owing to
the ground being so flat. Most of the leading
business men are Scotsmen. Of the wholesale
warehousemen, Mr. Ewen, of Sargood, Son, and
Ewen, is a Kincardineshire man ; Mr. Ross, of
Ross and Glendinning, a Morayshire man ; Mr.
Beath, of G. L. Beath and Company, a Stirling-
shire man ; and Mr. Ballantyne, of Ballantyne and
Company, is a Selkirkshire man. But Messrs.
Strange and Coverdale, the partners of the largest
retail house, William Strange and Company, are
both Englishmen.
We had fine weather while in Christchurch,
and enjoyed our short stay very much. We left
68 Notes and Gleanings
for Wellington via Lyttleton which may be
called the port or harbour of Christchurch on
the evening of Saturday the 8th April. The
distance by rail to Lyttleton is seven miles, and
the line passes through a tunnel one and three-
quarter miles long (the longest in the Colony),
emerging on the shore of a beautiful little bay,
surrounded by a semicircle of hills. The popula-
tion of Lyttleton is about 4000. Nearly
all the town is built of wood, and shows well
what the early town settlements were like before
rebuilding became the order of the day. It has
a commodious harbour, and wharves capable of
berthing fifty ships at a time, and a good graving
dock. We sailed for Wellington at I o P.M. in an
old Clyde steamer called the Penguin.
The coast along which we passed during the
forenoon of the pth was very like the coast of
Sicily, with fine pasture land near the shore, and
snow-clad mountains in the background. About
mid-day we crossed Cook Strait, and at 1.15 P.M.
landed in Wellington, the capital city of New
Zealand, the seat of Government and of the vice-
regal court. The population of Wellington is
about 33,000. The town is built along the shore
of a fine bay, called Port Nicholson, and
is backed by high hills, rising very abruptly from
the water, giving the town a very picturesque
appearance from the sea.
New Zealand 69
The earth excavated for building stances has
been used to reclaim the foreshore, along which
extensive quay accommodation has been built, with
a depth of twenty-two feet of water at low tide.
Nearly all the houses are of wood, as are also the
houses of parliament, the vice-regal lodge, and the
executive offices of the Government, which last are
said to be the largest wooden structures in the
world, and are a handsome block of buildings from
an architectural point of view. The reason why
so many buildings are of wood is the frequency of
earthquakes. The drainage of the town is bad,
and a new system is being adopted, which it is
hoped will improve the public health. There
are a number of handsome mercantile buildings in
Wellington, and the names of the warehousemen
most prominent in Christchurch and Dunedin again
crop up, with two or three more added. To Sar-
good, Son, and Ewen ; Ross and Glendinning ; and
Butterworth Bros., are added A. Clark and Sons,
W.and A. Macarthur; and Steen, Macky, Logan and
Caldwell. The largest retail establishment is that of
Messrs. Kirkcaldie and Staines. Here as elsewhere
we met with the utmost hospitality. A few hours
after we landed we were asked to supper with Mr.
and Mrs. Nuttall, and from their hospitable home,
perched high up the hillside, we had a fine view of
the town stretching along the shores of the bay.
We met several old acquaintances in Wellington,
7O Notes and Gleanings
one of whom, Mr. Fleming Laurenson, I had not
seen for thirty years, and many pleasant recollec-
tions of olden times turned up during our short
interview. I had only three or four business
calls to make in Wellington, and there being few
places of interest in the neighbourhood, we de-
cided to leave for Auckland via New Plymouth,
on Tuesday morning at 6.30. As Monday night
was the only one remaining to be spent in
Wellington, we had, instead of accepting our
friends' invitations, asked them to dine with us,
and we spent a very pleasant evening together.
The trains on the line from Wellington to New
Plymouth run only on two days of the week, so
that if we did not leave on Tuesday, we could not
get away till Friday, and our time would not
permit our staying so long. The distance between
these towns is two hundred and fifty-one miles,
which we took fifteen and a half hours to travel.
The line belongs partly to the Government, and partly
to the Manawatu Railway Company. Breakfast
was nicely served in a dining-car attached to the
train, and the whole journey was a most interesting
one. The scenery for the first thirty miles or
more was varied and grand, and our interest was
increased when we came to a district which was
being, in colonial phraseology, " cleared of the
bush," i.e. forests of magnificent trees, tree ferns,
and the undergrowth of creeping and other plants.
New Zealand 71
The process is a rough and ready one. The trees
are first stripped of a portion of their bark all
round, which kills them, and then at the end of the
dry season the whole district to be cleared is set
on fire. We passed near to square miles of burning
forest, where the unconsumed trunks of giant trees
stood like obelisks marking the spots where men
were making a wreck of nature, and raising new
homes for themselves. As soon as the burning
process is completed, grass seed is sown among
the ashes, and in six months sheep will be pas-
turing on what, twelve months before, was im-
penetrable forest. Beside the blackened trunks of
the trees we saw the white cotton tents or bark-
covered huts of the new proprietors, and where the
pasture had become green we saw the wooden
houses, raised by the strong, healthy settlers, and
round them were playing, as free as the lambs,
rosy-faced, healthy children whose posterity will,
no doubt, be looked upon by future generations
of Socialists as descendants of " a bloated landed
aristocracy."
It takes many years to clear land for agricul-
tural purposes. The remains of the trees have all
to be cut down, and the roots dug up and burned.
The expense of doing this is about three pounds
per acre.
We dined at a station called Aramoho, a few
miles from the town of Wanganui, which was
72 Notes and Gleanings
almost the centre of the Maori war which lasted
from 1864 to 1870. The railway line runs for
some distance along the river Wanganui, which is
navigable for vessels of light draught for over a
hundred miles. The line passes near the two
active burning mountains, Ruaphea and Tongariro,
6458 and 8878 feet high respectively, and also
Mount Egmont, 8260 feet high, but it was dark
when we were in their neighbourhood, and we did
not see them.
It was 10 P.M. when we arrived at New Ply-
mouth, the chief town in the district of Taranaki.
It has a population of 3350. We left there by
steamer at 10.30 P.M. for Onehunga, a town on a
fine bay called Manukau harbour, which bay cuts
into the land from the west side of the island,
leaving a narrow neck of land only eight miles
broad between it and Auckland harbour. It is
entered by a narrow channel between a great
sandbank and a rocky shore, and is navigable for
small vessels only. It was on the sandbank out-
side this harbour that H.M.S. OrpJteus was lost
when conveying troops to the island to operate
against the Maoris in 1 869. Onehunga was a
military station at one time where a body of
pensioners were located to protect Auckland
against surprise attacks by the Maoris. We
arrived there at 12.30 P.M. on the I2th April,
and took the train to Auckland. We had en-
New Zealand 73
gaged rooms at the Grand Hotel, a building
beautifully situated on the top of a hill, and over-
looking the town and harbour. The harbour of
Auckland is a charming bay, dotted over with
islands, and the town is beautifully situated on
the rising ground along its shores, while Mount
Eden forms a fine background to the picture.
Auckland was the capital of New Zealand pre-
vious to the union of the provinces in 1876,
when the seat of Government was transferred to
Wellington, but the Governor's residence is still
kept as such, and the Governors even now spend
a part of every year in Auckland. The popula-
tion of Auckland, including the suburbs, is about
52,000, and it has already become the residence
of many people who have retired from the more
active duties of life. The town has a good supply
of water and good drainage. It is the port in
New Zealand where the mail steamers between
Sydney and San Francisco call. It has many
good public and private buildings. Its principal
thoroughfare is called " Queen Street," and in it
are many good shops and commercial buildings.
We spent the afternoon of the day of our arrival
in visiting the Botanic Gardens and other places
of interest in the town, and in calling on friends,
my first call being at the warehouse of Messrs.
Archibald Clark and Sons, to which my letters
were to be addressed. This firm being my
74 Notes and Gleanings
oldest customers in Auckland, I was very
pleased to meet the resident partners. Theirs
is the oldest established warehouse and manufac-
turing business in Auckland. The founder of the
business, the late Mr. Archibald Clark, was a
native of Perthshire, and both he and his sons,
who now carry on the business, have done a great
deal to make Auckland what it is, while fully
sharing in its growing prosperity. The largest
warehouse in the town is that of Messrs. W. and
A. Macarthur, while those of Messrs. A. Clark and
Sons ; Sargood, Son, and Ewen ; and Macky,
Logan, and Co. follow, and are fine buildings, well
lighted and arranged for the dispatch of business.
Thursday, the I3th, was a lovely day, and
while my wife and daughters were spending the
forenoon in visiting friends a little way out of
town, I employed my time in looking after
business. On the nomination of Mr. Archibald
Clark I had been made an honorary member of
the Northern Club, and had the pleasure of lunch-
ing there with him, and of meeting some old
London acquaintances at the same time. In
the evening we went to the chrysanthemum
show, which was a fair display, but not nearly
equal to such shows at home.
On Friday the I4th April, at 9.45 A.M., we left
for the hot lake district, that wonderland of the
world. For a few miles after leaving Auckland
New Zealand 75
the scenery was interesting, and the land well
cultivated. The white painted houses dotted over
the landscape gave it a picturesque appearance
and an air of cheerful comfort ; but on the whole
the run to Oxford, the termination of our railway
journey, was not particularly enjoyable.
The low- lying country seemed good pasture
land, but the higher parts are still covered with
the tie-tree and brackens. All the railway time-
tables in New Zealand and Australia give the
height above sea-level of all stations, and we
found the highest point during our day's travel
was only 270 feet.
We stopped at a station called Mercer for
luncheon, and here we found ourselves in the
land of the Maori (the name Maori means simply
natives in their language).
Groups of women in dresses of showy prints,
smoking pipes, and laughing and behaving very
much like a lot of factory girls out for meal time,
were hanging about the station. They were all
tattooed on the upper lip, and had a tattooed
mark like an imperial on the lower. The
colour of the marking was a deep blue, and gave
them a half fierce, half comical appearance. We
saw one or two tattooed old men, but none of the
young men tattoo now. They looked a lazy,
slouching lot. Mercer is on the Waikato river.
The next place of any interest on this line
76 Notes and Gleanings
of railway is Huntly, where there are several coal
mines. Here we saw an old chief, one of those
who fought against us in the last Maori war.
His face was entirely covered with tattoo marks
in well-defined geometrical lines, and he wore a
suit of black broadcloth, a wide-awake hat, and
Wellington boots, but his name I was unable to
learn.
The distance from Auckland to the station
called Oxford, where we had to spend the night,
is 134 miles, and the time we took to travel it
was eight and a half hours. We found the
wooden hotel clean and comfortable, and Mr. and
Mrs. Rose the best of hosts and hostesses.
There was to be a race meeting in the district
next day, and a great many of the betting
fraternity (" damned spiders," the landlord called
them) were in and about the house, but he kept
them in good order, and his house quiet on
the whole. The hotel being full, my wife and
girls had a double-bedded room, and I a small
room to myself in the quarter where the " spiders "
were housed. After we had all retired, I overheard
one of these gentlemen tell his friend how he had
cleared out the pockets of some one in another
hotel a few nights before. The modus operandi, as
he described it, was as follows : " I put a news-
paper under the door, and then with a piece of wire
turned the key, which had been left in the lock,
New Zealand 77
so that I could push it in out of the keyhole. I
then drew out the paper with the key on it,
opened the door from the outside, cleaned the
fellow's pockets of fifteen shiners, locked the door
again, and pushed the key inside below it." I
did not leave the key in the lock of my bedroom
door again while I was in New Zealand.
Horse-racing is a very favourite sport all over
the Colonies, and the older colonials say the
betting connected with it is a curse to the
younger generation.
On Saturday the I5th we left Oxford at 7.15
A.M. by coach for Ohinemuti. The coach was
the first of its class we had seen. It was a large
vehicle like a landau, hung on straps of leather
instead of springs, and the jolting as we drove
along the rough roads was anything but pleasant ;
but so lovely was the morning, so bracing the air,
so charming the shades of light as the sun rose
behind the hills, and so varied the landscape, that
we forgot all about the jolting and swinging
motions of our conveyance as it rolled up and
down hills, over bridges, and through deep cut-
tings, in the clayey bottoms of which the wheels
sank nearly to the bosses. We enjoyed our drive
that morning as we had seldom enjoyed a drive
before. After two hours' driving the character of
the road and scenery changed. The road became
more level, and led along a hillside at the bottom
78 Notes and Gleanings
of which, lost to view among giant trees, tree
ferns, and other vegetation, was the bed of the
Waiho river. The gorge through which the river
flowed was said to be 850 feet deep, but so filled
was it with the overhanging branches of trees
growing up its steep sides that it only looked like
a mossy dell of no considerable depth, carpeted
with greens of many shades and patterns. For
the next few miles the road passed along the
ridge of a narrow neck of land with deep gorges
on both sides, and then on to more level but still
rising ground, where we changed horses, and
entered on twelve miles of the most romantic
road to be found even in New Zealand. It had
been cut through a dense forest, the clearing away
of the fallen timber having been done by burning
as usual.
Tall giants of the forest, stripped of their leaves
and blackened by the flames, stood all along the
roadside, as if to guard the new way of civilisation ;
and a few yards farther back the tall pittosperum
and totoraJi lifted their towering forms high into
the sunlight, the intervening spaces being filled
with the graceful tree fern and the mop -like
cabbage tree. A parasite tree called the rata
which in its earlier stages attaches itself like ivy
to a strong neighbour, kills the tree supporting it
when it has gained sufficient strength to support
itself, and takes its place grows abundantly in
New Zealand 79
this district, and we were much interested to see
it in its various stages of development ; and behind
the trees, on both sides of the road, hills covered
with brackens, etc., rose against the sky-line, and
seemed to form a base of support for the arch of
ethereal blue overhead. Before coming to the
end of this magnificent avenue we had risen to an
altitude of a thousand feet, and although mid-day,
the air was perceptibly colder than it was in the
morning. The road now began to descend, and
within a mile or two we cleared the bush, and got
our first glimpse of the far-famed hot lake district.
From a distance it has nothing striking about its
appearance. A lake of moderate size called
Rotorua, with a small island in the centre, its
shores low, and covered with tie -tree and other
dwarf shrubs, small puffs of steam rising all along
its margin, a few Maori " whares " by the road-
side, and the village of Ohinemuti on a small pro-
montory jutting into the lake, gave us rather an
unflattering opinion of the wonderland of which we
had heard so much, and had come so far to see.
But we found it on closer acquaintance to be one of
the most wonderful districts imaginable. A drive
of about five miles down to and along the side of
the lake brought us to Macrae's Palace Hotel,
Ohinemuti, the proprietor of which, an Inverness-
shire man, received us kindly, and conducted us
to the rooms allotted to us, which opened on the
8o Notes and Gleanings
front balcony of the house and commanded an
extensive view of the surrounding country. After
luncheon we strolled out to investigate the
wonders of which we had heard so much. I had
read short descriptions of the district by Miss
Gordon Gumming, Mr. Sala, and Mr. Froude, and
I was disappointed not to be able to find the
hole of which Mr. Froude spoke, where the chief
boiled the ambassador sent to him, and where he
was afterwards boiled by the ambassador's
master ; nor the bath in which the Maoris swim
with their umbrellas up to keep off the rain ;
neither could I find the wondrous marble stair-
ways and perfect marble baths referred to ; but of
other wonders of nature there were enough to
interest any one.
A few yards from our hotel was a small lake,
about three-quarters by half a mile, which was
simply a boiling caldron. A cloud of steam hung
over it, and the heat of a stream running out of it
was said to be over 200. By putting down a
stick about two feet, a jet of hot vapour could be
brought up through the ground, and by putting
it down other two feet, hot water would follow its
withdrawal. So thin was the crust of the earth
over the boiling water below, that it was dangerous
to venture near this lake without a guide. The
village of Ohinemuti is built on a hillock, near the
shore of Lake Rotorua, and the " whares " of the
New Zealand 81
Maoris are built on the low ground, close by the
lake. The district belongs to and is the head-
quarters of the Arawa tribe. Their houses are
of the most miserable type of human dwellings,
being built of mud and covered with bark, boards,
or old sacks laid over sticks, the floors of bare
earth, and each of one apartment only. A large
number of hot springs bubble up close by the
Maori dwellings, and they have lined a space
round the opening of one of these with boards,
and made it the chief cooking pot of the village.
When they want to cook eggs or potatoes, they
put them in a net and suspend them in the hot
water, and their fish, beef, and bacon are cooked
in the same way. We saw them bringing tea-
kettles filled with cold water, and placing them
in the hot springs to boil. A most extraordinary
thing is that hot and cold springs are found
within a few yards of each other. The tempera-
ture of Lake Rotorua is about 130. A few
miles from Ohinemuti is a place called Whakare-
warewa, and there the hot springs take the form
of geysers, spouting their steaming fluid up to a
height of from thirty to sixty feet. The water is
heavily charged with sulphur and silica, the
deposits of which have formed small pink and
white terraces. But what surprised us most at
this place was the terrible rumbling and thudding
noises beneath our feet, as if a battle-ground of
G
82 Notes and Gleanings
demons was situated below. When the great
geyser had sent up its spout of boiling water
for a few moments, the noises below ceased,
as if they had exhausted themselves, the spouting
up ceased also for a time, and then the same
great struggle took place again, till relieved by
another upheaval of the boiling liquid. Within
a few yards of this great geyser opening, hot
springs and cold springs were pouring their
waters into the almost boiling river below ; and
within another short distance, great openings were
pouring out streams of boiling mud. The sounds
and sights made us stand aghast ; but close by,
in pools of tepid water, Maori youths and children
were enjoying their baths amid the terrible turmoil
of nature ; and old women were sitting outside
their houses on flat stones warmed by the genial
heat from the ground, smoking their pipes, and I
presume discussing their local gossip. The smell
of sulphur and other chemical substances thrown
off by these springs was very disagreeable, and we
were glad to get away from their neighbourhood ;
but we had not yet seen the most appalling of
these wonders of nature.
Next day we drove twelve miles to a place
called Tikiteri, a valley about two miles by one,
in which are centred all the peculiarities of the
hot lake district. The bottom of the valley is
over 1000 feet above sea-level, and it is sur-
New Zealand 83
rounded by high hills. The first thing which
arrested our attention when we entered the valley
was a great opening in the side of the hill facing
us, from which immense volumes of steaming hot
water were being thrown, as if some gigantic
pump were at work below the ground ; and
as the water fell back into the steaming orifice,
it sounded as if it would suck into the
regions below anything coming near it. Near
the centre of the valley the scene around was
simply indescribable. Sulphur fumes hung over
the place like a fog, and the hissing noise made
by jets of steam, the gurgling noises made by
dozens of openings vomiting out boiling mud,
streams of sulphurous liquid, of water permeated
with alum and silicate, and of oily and unknown
compounds, gave us the impression of all the
infernal elements let loose ; and we did not feel
at all comfortable when taken in hand by the
guide, Pat Macoran, an Irishman, married to a
hunch-backed Maori woman, the proprietrix of
the district, and by him led over very crusty
bridges formed of sulphur and pumice from the
regions below. These bridges or footpaths were
merely hardened crusts on the surface of the
boiling sulphur pools beneath them. We followed
Pat singly, and at some distance from each other,
so as not to overweight these unsubstantial
structures. On one side of the track, as we
84 Notes and Gleanings
crossed this valley of desolation, was a small lake
of clear boiling water, and on the other a lake of
some compound from which rose sulphur-laden
steam, which made the air almost unbreathable
unless when the breeze swept the fumes away.
Farther on, springs of cool mineral waters bubbled
up as peacefully as if miles away from the turmoil
around them, and were flowing through pools,
called baths, much frequented by people suffering
from diseases of the skin and rheumatism. A
bridge of almost pure sulphur spanned a space
between two boiling pools, one of black mud,
the other of a substance called " oil," from both of
which odours of the most disagreeable character
arose. This bridge, of almost golden colour, was
called " Hell's gate," and as I stood behind the
guide, watching the boiling compounds, two lines
of Dante's came forcibly to my mind, viz.
So not by force of fire, but art divine,
Boiled here a glutinous thick mass,
and I almost expected to see the heads of the
rebellious appear above the surface.
Our exit from the valley was by a footpath
formed of hardened mud, and we felt as if we
were escaping from Purgatory.
The Maori mode of cooking at Tikiteri was
different to that at Ohinemuti. At Tikiteri a hole
was bored a foot or two into the ground, up
through which steam rushed, and the natives had
New Zealand 8 5
a square frame of wood, with a lid on it, placed
over the opening, and a few bracken leaves laid
in the bottom of the frame to place their food on,
which was then stewed by the steam from below.
A stream of hot water flows from this valley into
Lake Rotorua. There are no trees of any great
size in this district, but it is covered with the
bush called tie -tree, which in the spring flowers
abundantly, giving the district the appearance of
a vast flower garden. On our way back we
passed a place called Sulphur Point, a field of
solid sulphur several acres in extent, with a
depth of several yards. A small factory was at
work preparing flour sulphur for the Auckland
market ; and when, within a year or thereby, the
railway is completed to Ohinemuti, there should
be a considerable trade done in that article.
The Government have built a sanatorium, for
the treatment of various diseases, beside some of
the most noted springs ; and so famous have
the cures become, that people suffering from
sciatica, gout, etc., visit the sanatorium from all
parts of Australia, and even India. The Maoris
of Ohinemuti have a building, called by them
their " public hall," in which they receive and
entertain distinguished strangers from other tribes.
The front of it is covered with figures of the most
grotesque description, the faces having shells
inserted for eyes, ears, and mouths.
86 Notes and Gleanings
The natives seemed to have selected the
hottest spots for their " whares," and to be entirely
indifferent to the fact that only a few feet of
uncertain crust existed between them and the
steaming hot regions below. The population of
Ohinemuti is about 300, mostly Maoris.
I expected to be able to procure many
curiosities of native manufacture, but I found
the only genuine articles to be had were a few
stone axes and some baskets, of which I bought
specimens. We left Ohinemuti at mid-day for
Oxford, by the same coach which took us there,
and arrived at the latter place at 6.30 P.M. on the
1 7th. The hotel was again full, but the races
were over, and the " spiders " gone.
We left Oxford at 6.30 A.M., and arrived at
Auckland at 2.30 P.M. on the 1 8th. The after-
noon was wet, and we spent it indoors writing
letters for home.
Wednesday the igth was fine. I spent the
forenoon making business calls; and at 12.30
P.M. we went with some friends to Devonport, on
the north side of the harbour, and lunched with
Professor Brown, of University College, at his
beautiful English-like residence, and had a most
enjoyable drive with him round Lake Takapuna
in the afternoon.
We had to leave our kind host at 5.30 P.M. for
Auckland, to fulfil an evening engagement with
New Zealand 87
other friends, having added another most enjoy-
able afternoon to our stay in New Zealand.
Thursday forenoon was spent in making calls.
I lunched again at the Northern Club with Mr.
M'Millan (of W. and A. Macarthur), and at two
o'clock Mr. Finlayson (of Sargood, Son, and
Ewen) called at the hotel for us, and drove us
out to his house for afternoon tea, and thence to
the residence of an old Glasgow friend, Mr.
George M'Farlane, now of Inversloy, Onehunga,
where we dined and spent the evening.
I had paid my last business visits in the fore-
noon, and the impressions I had formed of the
business men of New Zealand were, that they
combined order with activity, and possessed the
energy of youth with the experience of their
fathers ; and I found all of them, native and
imported, had a very high opinion of their country.
Some had come to the Colony in search of
health, and having renewed their youth, seemed
determined to make their renovated lives a success.
In business they are keen, while courteous and
straightforward.
Friday, the 2 I st, was to be our last day in New
Zealand. We had booked our passages to Sydney
in the San Francisco mail steamer, and made
arrangements to spend the afternoon with friends ;
but the steamer arrived about six hours before her
usual time, and we had to go on board at 2 P.M.
88 Notes and Gleanings
We rose early in the morning and had a drive
to the top of Mount Eden, from which we had a
charming view of the surrounding country. The
district round Auckland is entirely volcanic in its
origin, and it is said that thirty extinct craters
can be seen from the top of Mount Eden, which
is itself one. After a delightful drive we
returned to our hotel, and having sent our
luggage on board the steamer, called on several
friends to say good-bye. Our tour in New Zea-
land had been a most interesting and enjoyable
one. We had had perfect health and most de-
lightful weather. We had met many old friends
and made many new ones. We had seen the
process of converting impenetrable forests into
smiling fields, and the march of progress in social
life from bark-covered huts to large universities.
We had seen what we considered a model country
in its climate, laws, and social arrangements, and
we had found contentment and plenty everywhere.
I had known many of its pioneer business men at
home, and had had much pleasure in meeting
many whose names were familiar in my every-
day business life. My strong sympathy with the
spirit of enterprise which makes men and women
colonists, and admiration for the mental and
physical vigour which enables them to face all the
difficulties connected with life in a new country,
and carve out for themselves fortunes under new
New Zealand 89
conditions and amid new associations, had been
much gratified by what I had seen. We had
learned something of the history, native population,
and natural resources of the country. Its magni-
ficent mountain scenery, lovely lakes, charming
landscapes, and wonderful objects of nature had
made a lasting impression on our minds ; and the
kindness and hospitality we had met with had
made us feel under obligations we can never
repay to our kind friends ; and it was with no
ordinary feelings of regret that we stood on the
deck of the steamer as the shades of evening
closed around us and hid from our view,
most probably for ever, the shores of the land in
which we had spent such a delightful holiday.
We found the steamer Alameda, on which we
embarked for Sydney, an excellent vessel of high
speed and good passenger accommodation, and
Captain Morse and his officers all we could wish
as seamen and gentlemen.
While the name of New Zealand was a familiar
household word, I found, when I intended to go
there, that I could get very little information, be-
yond ordinary commercial knowledge, regarding
it, and I have therefore thought that the following
notes, taken mostly from official documents, may
be in part new and of some interest to my friends
for whom this little volume is intended.
The first authentic account of the discovery of
QO Notes and Gleanings
New Zealand is given by Abel Jansen Tasman,
who sailed from Batavia in August 1642. After
having visited Mauritius and discovered Tasmania,
called by him Van Dieman's Land in honour of
the governor of the Dutch possessions in the East
Indies, he sailed in an easterly direction, and on
the 1 3th of December in that year sighted the
west coast of the middle island.
It has, however, been assumed that the land
described by Juan Fernandez, who sailed from
the west coast of South America in 1576, was
New Zealand.
William Bleau, of Amsterdam, who died in
1638, published a famous atlas in which it
appears as Zealandia Nova. There is no record
of any visit to New Zealand from Tasman's
departure to that of Captain Cook in 1769.
In 1793 it was visited by Lieutenant Hanson
on behalf of the New South Wales Government,
and continuous intercourse was kept up between
it and New South Wales, to which, in 1840, it
was formally annexed and put under its laws ;
but in 1841 it was proclaimed a separate Colony,
with Captain Hobson as Governor.
The first attempt at its colonisation was made
in 1 8 2 5 by a company formed in London ; but
the attempt was a failure, owing to the savage
character of the natives.
In the meantime a number of white men from
New Zealand 9 1
whaling ships, which were in the habit of refitting
in the Bay of Islands, married native women and
settled in different parts of the country. In 1838
a new company, called the New Zealand Colonisa-
tion Company, was founded to establish settle-
ments on systematical principles, and Colonel W.
Wakefield was despatched by that Company in
1839 to purchase land from the natives. He
arrived in Cook's Strait in August of the
same year, and selected the shore of Port Nichol-
son as the site of the first settlement ; and on the
22nd of June 1840 the first body of emigrants
arrived and founded the town of Wellington.
About the same time a treaty was entered into
between Captain Hobson and the natives, by
which the latter ceded to the Queen the sove-
reignty over the islands, while they retained all
territorial rights. The text of the treaty was
briefly as follows : " The Maori chiefs to cede to
the Queen for ever the right of government over
the whole country. Second, the Queen to con-
firm to the Maoris their full rights over all their
properties, but they cede to the Queen the right
to purchase such land as they are willing to sell
at a price agreed upon between them and an
officer of her Majesty. Third, in consideration
of the above, the Queen to protect all her Maori
subjects and grant them the same rights and
privileges as if they were Englishmen."
92 Notes and Gleanings
The settlements at Nelson and New Plymouth
were founded in 1841. The Imperial Govern-
ment granted representative institutions to the
Colony in 1852, and provided for the constitution
of a General Assembly for the whole Colony, con-
sisting of a Legislative Council, the members of
which were to be nominated by the Governor, and
an elective House of Representatives. The first
session of the General Assembly was opened on
the 2 /th day of May, but the executive were
not responsible to Parliament. The first Ministry
under a system of responsible government were
appointed in 1856. The area of the Colony is
about one-seventh less than that of Great Britain
and Ireland together.
It may not be out of place to refer here to the
native population. The traditions of the Maoris
themselves prove that they were not originally
natives of New Zealand, though where they came
from is not known ; but it is most likely that
they came from one of the Navigator Islands
during the fifteenth century. According to their
traditions they were under the command of a chief
called Ngahue, and numbered, when they arrived
in New Zealand, four or five hundred.
When Captain Cook visited the islands in
1769 he estimated the population at 90,000.
In 1891 they numbered 41,993. From 1886,
when they were first numbered, to 1891 they
New Zealand 93
had rather increased in number. There is a low
birth-rate among them, owing, it is said, to the
widespread immorality among the younger females
before marriage, and a high death-rate owing to
the want of ordinary care and cleanliness. As
yet they have only partially adopted the costume
and habits of civilised life. It is no uncommon
thing for ten or a dozen of them to sleep in one
whare or hovel, with every opening closed, and
then get up and go outside on a cold morning
with only a rug around them, and sit smoking
their pipes for hours, thus causing diseases of
the respiratory organs, from which they suffer
much. They were cannibals when first known
to Europeans, and remained so until recently.
They are a large-boned, well-developed race ;
but their bodies are longer and their limbs shorter
in proportion than those of Europeans, which
gives them a dragging gait. But they are said
to be agile and to bear fatigue well. Their skin
is a sienna brown colour. The women are not so
good looking as the men, which may be accounted
for by their doing all the work, which makes them
look old and haggard-like even when young.
They have never possessed any skill in manu-
facturing fabrics, the only cloth they ever made
being a kind of matting from native flax. They
never were workers in metals. Their war imple-
ments were spears pointed with bones, and clubs
94 Notes and Gleanings
of wood or stone. Their stone axes are made of
a hard greenstone, and well shaped. With the
exception of one tribe they are all nominally
Christians now, and like other Christians, are
divided into several sects, those of the Church of
England and the Roman Catholics being the
largest. Their primitive religion is somewhat
difficult to define. They believed in a future
state, but not in an Omnipotent Being. Their
world to come was a kind of Valhalla. They
believed strongly in sorcery and witchcraft. The
chiefs and priests divided the spiritual authority
between them ; but the priests were the scholars
of the tribes, and performed special functions. To
them was entrusted the peculiar business of tatoo-
ing, and they had the power of casting the spell
of Tapu, which made anything sacred over which
it was cast, from a chief down to a canoe, or a
field of potatoes. The first missionary who settled
among them was the Rev. Mr. Marsden, an
Episcopalian ; and he was labouring very success-
fully when the Wesleyans began a mission ; and a
few years later the Roman Catholics also ; and the
Maoris came to the conclusion that if the learned
white men could not agree among themselves
which was the right and the best way to go to
heaven, how could they be expected to know
which to choose, and their conversion to Christi-
anity was thereby much retarded. Their intellects
New Zealand 95
are fairly quick, though not deep. Their native
system of government was very interesting.
They were divided into eighteen nations, the
nations were divided into tribes, and the tribes
into lodges. The principal chief governed like
a modern king, but in important matters he could
not act without the assent of the whole body of
the people, obtained through the chiefs of nations
and tribes. Now they are represented by two
members in the Upper, and four in the Lower
House of the New Zealand Parliament ; and these
are said to be able to hold their own in debate
with their white compeers, and to take an intelli-
gent interest in the proceedings of both Houses,
particularly in matters affecting their race and
interests. Many of them have large incomes
from lands leased to the Government and private
individuals. No white man can now acquire land
from the Maoris without the sanction of the
Government Land Court. Their lands are held in
common by the individuals forming the different
tribes, and no sale can be made without the
consent of all concerned. There was a Land
Court sitting at Ohinemuti when we were there,
and a Maori barrister, who was acting as agent
for the natives, was living in the same hotel. He
was a quiet, agreeable man, and quite au fait in
the forms of civilised life. Their hostility to
Europeans may be regarded as a thing of the
96 Notes and Gleanings
past, although sorne of the tribes have not fully
emerged from the state of isolation in which they
had hedged themselves. They were a brave and
warlike race. There was a peculiar code of
honour among the tribes, that when they in-
tended to attack each other, they sent word that
they intended to do so ; and when at war with
the whites in 1867, they twice allowed our men
to get supplies when they could have prevented
them, remarking, " White men can't fight without
grub ! " They own more than ten million acres
of land, of which in 1891 they had under crops
75,883 acres ; and they owned 262,763 sheep
and 42,912 cattle, besides horses, pigs, etc. The
Maori population in 1891 was over 47,000, and
there were seventy-four schools for their children,
which cost the Colony 17,566, the attendance
being 3778. At the same time there were 251
white men married to native women, but only
91 of their children attended Maori schools, the
others going with the children of the Europeans.
I have already given the nationality and
religious denominations of the white population
of New Zealand, but a few other facts regarding
them may be interesting. They are divided into
336,174 males and 290,484 females. There
are 105 males for every hundred females of
marriageable age. In the census returns for 1891
there is a table of those called " bread-winners."
New Zealand 97
Of these 15,821 were professional, 24,928
domestic, 43,196 commercial, 70,521 industrial,
90,546 agricultural, and 7751 indefinite, and their
dependents, non - workers, numbered 373,895.
The death-rate in the Colony in 1892 was 10.06
per thousand, while in England it was 17.9, in
Scotland 18.0, and in Ireland 17.5. The deaths
numbered 5994, of which 524 were caused by
phthisis, and of these deaths 209 were of natives.
Typhoid fever and diphtheria caused 175 deaths,
chiefly due to want of proper sanitary arrange-
ments in the larger towns. There were 450
deaths from accidents. There were 2238 lunatics,
1346 men and 892 women, in the Colony in
1891. In the same year there were convicted
before the criminal courts 8n English, 633 Irish,
309 Scottish, and 316 native-born individuals.
The divorces were 7.85 for every thousand
marriages, as against 1.88 in Britain. About
3| per cent of the population are employed in
manufacturing, against 24! per cent in Britain.
Flax mills employ over 3000 people, and the
estimated annual value of their productions is
234,266. Woollen mills employ 1175, and their
output is valued at 279,175. Sawmills employ
3266, and send out material of the annual value
of 832,959. For the population the printing
industry is a very large one, employing 2569
people, and producing an output of the value of
H
98 Notes and Gleanings
354,559. Clothing and hat factories employ
3345 individuals, and turn out goods to the value
of 5 9 1, 943 per annum ; and most other indus-
tries are represented on the list of their home
productions, showing that those who have taken
possession of the Colony have brought with them
as good a knowledge of other useful arts as of
agriculture.
Wages vary in different parts of the Colony,
but the following, which I have extracted from the
returns made to the Government in 1891, may be
taken as a fair average :
Farm labourers I2s. to 153. per week with board.
Ploughmen 155. to 2os.
Female domestics 8s. to I2s. ,, .,
Female cooks 125. to 205. ,, ,,
while shop assistants receive only 45. to 8s. per
day, and have to pay 153. to 2OS. per week for
board.
Stock keepers and shepherds are paid 30 to
60 per annum with board ; masons, 8s. to los.
per day ; carpenters, 6s. to 8s. ; plasterers, 75. to
8s. ; bricklayers, /s. to 8s. ; smiths, 8s. to 95. ;
plumbers, 93. to iis. ; painters, 8s.; and labourers,
53. to 8s.
A house of two rooms costs about 1 2s., and of
three rooms 143. per week.
The average price of beef is 5d. ; mutton, 4d. ;
lamb, 5d. ; pork, 4d. ; and salt butter, 8|d. per Ib.
New Zealand 99
A 4-lb. loaf costs yd. ; eggs, I s. per dozen ; sugar,
3d. per Ib. ; milk, 3d. per quart ; cheese, 4|d. per
Ib. ; tea, 2s. 6d., and coffee, is. 8d. per Ib. ;
whisky is sold for 43. 6d. per bottle, and beer,
is. 2d. per quart, or 6d. per glass. The quantity
of tea consumed is about 1 1 8 ounces per head of
the population, as against 90 ounces per head in
Britain, but the consumpt of spirits is about
1 1 per cent less ; of wine only about one-half,
and of beer only one-third, the quantity per head
consumed at home.
By the Land Act of 1892, lands yet in
possession of the Government are sold on the
following terms : first, for cash ; second, occupation
with right of purchase ; third, lease in perpetuity.
The price for first class rural land is 2os. to 253.
per acre, and for second class los. to 155. per
acre. Lands of special value are sold by auction.
A cash purchaser is given a certificate of
occupation, authorising him to hold and occupy
the land, but before a Crown charter is issued to
him, he must expend, on substantial improvements
of a permanent character, a sum equal to 2Os. on
first, and los. per acre on second class land, but
he is allowed seven years in which to do this.
For occupation with a right of purchase, an occupa-
tion license is issued for a term of twenty-five
years, subject to an annual payment equal to five
per cent on the cash price of the land, payable
ioo Notes and Gleanings
half yearly. After two years the holder has the
option of purchasing the freehold of the land for
cash or of exchanging the license for a lease in
perpetuity, or he may continue to the end of his
term of license. The lease called " in perpetuity "
is for 999 years, and the rent 4 per cent on the
cash value at the time of purchase. There are
various provisions in regard to residence and
improvements, for which I must refer my readers
to the Act, or to Mr. Vincent Fyke's able treatise
on it.
The cost of clearing bush land is about 303.
per acre for grazing purposes, but for farming
it may cost as much as 6os. per acre, and the
capital required to work a farm is from 403. to
6os. per acre. Most of the Crown lands not yet
taken up are not easy of access, but the country
is being opened up by roads. Land already under
cultivation costs from 3 to >io per acre. Men
with a small capital, going to New Zealand,
should always work for wages for a year or two,
till they learn how farming or business is done,
and come to understand how best to invest their
money. For farmers with 500 to 1000 of
capital the North Island is best. Farming is
now very remunerative to men who know it well.
The greatest extent of land that can be applied
for by any one applicant is 640 acres of first class,
or 2000 acres of second class land.
New Zealand 101
The public debt of the Colony, at the end of
1892, amounted to 38,713,068 ; but it must be
remembered that it has been mostly invested in
remunerative undertakings, and not spent for war
purposes, as most of the public debts in Europe
have been. Of the money borrowed by the
Government, 14,104,093 has been invested in
railways, 606,648 in telegraphs, 4,478,481
in roads, bridges, and harbours, 1,780,785
in public buildings ; and for water supplies and
other public works the Government have spent
6,007,775. Previous to 1870 a debt of
9,724,723 had been incurred, but no official
statement is given as to how that money was
expended. The debts of local bodies amount to
6,668,889, and the mortgages on property
publicly recorded to ^ 3 0,5 02, 2 3 I, and other private
indebtedness has been estimated at 17,000,000,
whereas lands, public and private, and other
property of all classes are valued at 218,033,963.
But this value is purely hypothetical, and varies
according to the basis on which it is calculated.
The railways paid 2.95 per cent on their cost in
1890-91, the last year for which I have been able
to obtain returns.
The total imports for 1892 were 6,943,056,
of which 4,767,369 came direct from the United
Kingdom, 1,071,563 from Australia, largely by
trans-shipment, 120,723 came from continental
IO2 Notes and Gleanings
Europe, and ,381,651 from America. The duty
collected on the imports amounted to .1,654,064.
The value of imports into Auckland was
1,124,308; Wellington, 1,124,795 ; Lyttleton
(for Christchurch), 7 8 8,2 2 3 ; Dunedin, I , 1 09, 165;
and Napier 221,499. The total exports were
9,490,420, of which there went direct to the
United Kingdom 7,483,618, to Australia
1,338,167, America 524,196, and to con-
tinental Europe 9701. The shipments from
Auckland were 1,642,686 ; from Wellington,
1,527,186; from Lyttleton, 1,206,080 ; from
Dunedin, 1,618,567; and from Napier,
1,152,01 1.
Of the exports, wool was the most valuable,
realising 4,3 1 3,307 ; frozen meat, of the value of
1,194,724, being next. Under the heading of
animal products the value amounted to 6,27 1,280,
and under the heading of agricultural products
the amount was 1,035,637, and of minerals
1,044,945. The value of timber was ; 100,000,
and of Kauri gum 517,678. This latter article
is formed of the turpentine that had exuded from
Kauri trees, when there were forests of them where
they have now ceased to exist. It is found a
little under the surface of the ground, and is used
for making fine varnishes. It is worth at present
8 to 10 sterling per cwt.
The value of the gold produced in New
New Zealand \ 03
Zealand, up to 1892, was .48,387,861, but how
much British gold had been sunk in worthless
mines is not tabulated. When gold mines have
been wrought out, and are what is called " Dead-
heads," their past output is carefully stated in
glowingly-worded prospectuses, and they are sold
in London for more gold than they have ever
produced.
There were no fourfooted animals in New
Zealand when Captain Cook visited it in 1769,
except a few dogs and rats. In 1891 there were
17,865,423 sheep, 788,919 cattle, 2 1 1 ,040 horses,
and 222,553 pigs. Deer were introduced into
the Middle Island by John A. Ewen, Esq., of
Sargood, Son, and Ewen, and there are now herds of
them in the forests, and some splendid specimen
heads were sent home to Mr. Ewen a few months
ago. Mr. Ewen took an active part in introducing
trout, which are now abundant in several of the
rivers, and grow to an enormous size. He has
also succeeded in introducing lobsters into New
Zealand waters, which are likely to thrive and
multiply, as all creatures sent from home have
done, man not excepted.
CHAPTER VI
SYDNEY
OUR voyage from Auckland to Sydney was a
very pleasant one. There were only about thirty
passengers in the Alameda, but they were a very
agreeable company. We arrived at the entrance
to Port Jackson, which is less than a mile wide,
and lies between two high headlands, at 9 A.M.
on the 25th of April, and an hour later landed at
Woolloomoolloo wharf, and drove to the Australia
Hotel, where we had engaged rooms. This hotel
we considered the best we had seen south of the
line. It is a handsome building, said to have
cost ^240,000, and is well conducted in every way.
Sydney Harbour we found to be a very charming
bay, more like an inland lake than an arm of the
sea ; but, as a sheet of water, it is not equal to
Loch Lomond. There are many small islands in
it covered with luxuriant vegetation, among which
are built handsome villas ; and along its beautiful
shores are many fine residences, all white painted
and surrounded by lovely gardens. The city of
Sydney 1 05
Sydney is very home-like in its architecture, but
more continental in its style than any of the
other Australian towns. The streets are narrower
and shorter than those of Melbourne ; but Pitt
Street, George Street, and York Street, are all very
handsome thoroughfares.
The offices of the Lands Department, the Post
Office, and the City Hall (in which is the largest
organ in the world, said to have cost ; 15,000),
are all splendid specimens of modern architecture,
as are also many bank and commercial buildings.
The Botanic Gardens, both as regards situation
and the collection of plants, trees, etc., are un-
equalled by any in the Australian Colonies ; and
as a piece of landscape gardening, I have not seen
anything to surpass them except at Monte Carlo.
Sydney has also a good collection of pictures for
a modern city, and an interesting museum. The
tramways are dirty road trains, consisting of large
railway carriages, drawn by small locomotives.
The fares are about i|d. per mile. The harbour
of Sydney is strongly fortified, and guarded by a
regular militia. The best view of the harbour is
from near the lighthouse on the south head ; and
the drive to it is a very fine one.
We had several trips on the harbour steamers,
to the north shore, to Paramatta, and elsewhere,
all of which were very enjoyable. Botany Bay is
eight miles from Sydney by steam tram. We
io6 Notes and Gleanings
did not find anything in that district to interest
us. The population of Sydney and suburbs in
1891 was 443,492, and the rental 6,013,697,
and of Melbourne, 490,896, and 6,815,315
respectively ; while the rental of Glasgow and
suburbs, with nearly the population of both, was
under 5,000,000, showing how much more costly
houses and shops are in Australia than at home.
The city of Sydney has a municipal debt of
3,306,649 for water-supply, 1,447,287 for
sewage, 598,508 for public parks, and 710,000
for other purposes. Wages are about the same
as are paid in New Zealand, and the working
day is eight hours.
There was an air of slowness about the whole
business of the city which I did not find in any
other of the Australian towns ; but whether this
is habitual, or was caused by the depression in
connection with the bank failures, I am unable to
say. The warehouses, with the exception of that
of W. Gardner and Co., are not so large as those
in Melbourne, but they are equally well arranged
and lighted ; and those of Henry Bull and Co.,
Robert Reid and Co., and W. and A. Macarthur, are
handsome buildings ; and in the extensive ware-
house of Anthony Hordern and Sons is done the
largest retail trade of any firm in the southern
hemisphere. Other fine retail warehouses are
those of Farmer and Co., E. Way and Co., and
Sydney 107
David Jones and Co. We spent from Tuesday
forenoon to Saturday afternoon in Sydney, and
then I left for Brisbane by steamer, leaving
my wife and daughters to spend a few days with
friends.
CHAPTER VII
QUEENSLAND
THE distance between Sydney and Brisbane by
sea is 500 miles. The sail along the coast was
very uninteresting, the shores being low and
sandy, and only near the mouths of the principal
rivers was there any appearance of cultivation.
. The range of mountains which run north and
south near the coast is not of any great height,
all being below the snow line, and consequently
the rivers are small, but the Richmond is navigable
for small craft for sixty miles, the Clarence for
sixty-two miles, and the Maclay and Hawkesbury
for shorter distances. When we arrived at the
mouth of the river Brisbane, we found that the
floods of February had so silted up the channel
that we had to go sixteen miles up to the town of
Brisbane in a barge. The river, at the part
where the town is built, is shaped almost like an
S, and the highest point of the ground on which
the town stands is only fifty feet above high-
water mark. The whole of the rain which caused
Queensland 109
the disastrous flood fell within twenty miles of
the town, and the fall was thirty-nine inches in
twenty-four hours. The great damage done by
the flood was not apparent to a stranger, when I
was there, except in the ruin of bridges, and of
some unoccupied houses, but the damage was said
to be over two millions sterling to private property.
The Gresham Hotel, in which I stayed, was flooded
to within a few inches of the first floor, and the
residents were supplied with food from boats at the
first floor windows. The warehouses of Messrs.
D. L. Brown and Co., and Scott, Dawson, and
Stewart, were flooded to the first floors, and
these firms had a large amount of damage done
to their stocks. I saw a photo showing Messrs.
Brown's people in a steam-launch opposite their
first floor windows. These floods occur periodi-
cally, but no special provision for such contingen-
cies seems to be made in any of the buildings.
The day I arrived in Brisbane was a holiday in
celebration of the passing of the Act establishing
" an eight hours' day," and there were processions
of all the different trades, followed by races and
other amusements, filling up the day.
This was the only opportunity I had in the
Colonies of seeing large bodies of working men
together, and the physique of the Brisbane men
was certainly far above the average in such
gatherings at home. In the afternoon I went to
no Notes and Gleanings
the races ; and while sobriety and order prevailed,
it was a saddening sight to see women, with
children in their arms, staking their half-crowns and
their half-sovereigns on their favourite horses, and
as excited over the events as if fortunes were at
stake. All classes of people were represented on
the course, and money was changing hands freely.
So popular are horse-races in the Colonies that
book-makers are regarded as men of considerable
social standing.
The town of Brisbane is one of the most
modern capitals, and the Government offices are
only in course of construction. They will be
handsome, but not extravagant buildings when
finished. There are several handsome commercial
buildings in the town, the finest being that of D.
L. Brown and Co., which is also the largest dry-
goods warehouse in the Colonies.
The two largest retail establishments are
those of Grimes and Petty, and Finney, Isles,
and Co.
I spent the evening with some friends, and
next forenoon called on my customers, most of
whom I had not seen before. It is very pleasant
to meet business men who have all their time
occupied with local affairs, but who have many
pleasant associations with, and recollections of
the homes of their early days, which they like to
call to memory, with even a stranger who has
Queensland 1 1 1
some knowledge of the places of their nativity
and the old folks at home.
Queensland has 2406 miles of railway, con-
structed at a cost of 16,143,174, and at the
head of this great department, as chief Govern-
ment Commissioner, is Mr. John Matheson,
lately superintendent of the Glasgow and South-
western Railway line, an old friend, with whom I
spent most of an afternoon, pleased to find him in
excellent health and his usual good spirits. The
railway system in Queensland is rapidly develop-
ing its mineral and natural resources, and the
future prospects of that Colony are second to
none on the Australian Continent. The popula-
tion of the Colony, which in 1860 was only
28,056, is now nearly 400,000, and the exports
in 1891 amounted to 7,415,431, the imports
being 4,941,765. The value of wool exported
in that year was 3,453,548; of frozen meat,
240,000 ; of sugar, 630,000 ; and of gold,
1,951,563. Gold is found in nearly every
district of Queensland, the production to the end
of 1891 being 28,052,199.
In i 891, the value of silver raised was 2 1,879 I
of tin, i 16,387 ; of coal, 128,198 ; of bismuth,
11,070; opals, 1 0,000 ; and antimony, 3625.
The pastoral industry of the Colony is a very
large one.
At the end of 1891 the area of pastoral
1 1 2 Notes and Gleanings
holdings was 438,165 square miles, and the
annual value 3 10,812. The number of sheep
was 20,289,633 ; of cattle, 6,192,759; of horses,
399,364; and of pigs, 122,672. At the beginning
of 1892 there were sixty-eight sugar mills pro-
ducing 51,219 tons of sugar per annum; and
connected with them were nine rum distilleries,
yielding 192,051 gallons of spirits yearly.
The production of wine in 1891 was 168,526
gallons.
The number of oranges grown in the Colony
in 1892 was 1,090,804 dozen; of bananas,
11,644,769 dozen; and of pine-apples, 543,415
dozen.
Wheat, maize, barley, potatoes, and tobacco
grow abundantly. In 1891 the Colony exported
682,252 pounds of arrowroot.
The revenue for the year ending 3Oth June
1892 was 3,473,716, and the expenditure
3,625,280. Education costs the Colony over
200,000 per annum, and is secular and free.
The death-rate in 1892 was 13 per thousand per
annum. A general election was going on when
I was in Brisbane, and feeling between the trade
unions and all other sections of the community
ran very high, and, while kept under police control,
seemed more intensely bitter than anything I have
ever seen at home. If the man who said " the
classes were against the masses" in this country,
Queensland 113
could have seen the effect of the animosity between
the two sections of the people in Brisbane he must
have wished that sentence had never been uttered.
The recent strikes had crippled trade in the
Colony, and the bank failures had added to the
general depression, causing a great deal of want
of employment and distress. The Government
had been asked by the unemployed to start relief
works and state-aided village settlements, but
they were averse to both on principle. They had,
however, opened labour bureaux, and kept them-
selves in communication with all parts of the
country, and assisted men to reach places where
work was to be had. The inquiry that was made
into the circumstances of all applicants for relief
disclosed a great deal of imposture, many appli-
cants having considerable property. Many men
in the large towns had, on pretence of going to
the country to secure work, abandoned their wives
and families, and these had to be provided for by
the Government or private charity. But I am
glad to know that since I was there trade has
improved, and employment become more abun-
dant. Wishing to see the country inland, I
decided to go back to Sydney by rail, and left
Brisbane at 6.20 P.M. on Wednesday, 3rd May.
The distance between these towns is 739 miles by
railway, and the time occupied was twenty-nine
hours. The landscape is not particularly inter-
I
1 1 4 Notes and Gleanings
esting, being mostly flat and occupied for pastoral
purposes, and there was a want of the picturesque
appearance of cultivated fields and forests adjoin-
ing. I had to change carriages at the frontier of
New South Wales, and pass my luggage through
a formal examination by the revenue officials.
The carriages of both railways are good. On my
return to Sydney I found two more banks had
closed their doors, and business practically at a
standstill. The questions most anxiously discussed
seemed to be how the deposits from home could
be retained, while local deposits could be freed ;
and how the banks could be changed into limited
companies to save the shareholders from heavy
losses. I could discover no feeling of sympathy
for depositors at home who had their savings
locked up in the banks, and who would suffer
many hardships through being unable to get the
use of their capital when they required it.
CHAPTER VIII
NEW SOUTH WALES
WE had arranged to visit the famous Blue
Mountains near Sydney, and started for them on
Saturday the 6th May. The first part of the
journey as far as Paramatta is flat and uninterest-
ing, but after two hours travelling we came to the
first or little zigzag steep, and began the ascent of
the mountains. The height of each station above
the sea-level was painted on the name-boards, and
at Springfield, forty-eight miles from Sydney, we
found we had risen 1216 feet. At Lawson, ten
miles farther, we had risen to 2399 feet ; and at
Wentworth, four miles more, we had climbed to
2856 feet above the sea-level ; and at Katoomba,
the highest point on the railway and sixty-two
miles from Sydney, the line is 3349 feet above the
sea. We stopped at Katoomba, and put up at the
Carrington Hotel, a large and comfortable house,
much frequented by people from Sydney and
Melbourne in the hot season. The breezes on
the mountain tops are cool even in the hottest
1 1 6 Notes and Gleanings
weather, and the night air is very invigorating.
The nights were frosty when we were there, but
the days were delightfully warm and exhilarating.
The scenery in the neighbourhood of Katoomba
is unique in its way. The highest parts of the
Blue Mountains are not ridges and peaks like
those of most other mountains, but flat table-
lands which present one strange peculiarity, that
of portions of them having sunk many hundreds
of feet, forming valleys as far as the eye can
reach, the sides of which are walled in by sand-
stone cliffs of height so enormous as to be without
parallel elsewhere in the world. The bottoms of
these valleys are covered with dense vegetation,
and from the cliffs above look like floors covered
with rich carpets of harmonious colours, while
through channels down the rocky sides of these
valleys pour small cascades, leaping from point to
point until lost to view among the lovely vegeta-
tion below, to form small rivulets under ever-
verdant arches of graceful tree ferns and giant
eucalypti. The Commissioners of Lands have
formed footpaths to the bottoms of most of these
valleys, and we descended 1700 feet to the
bottom of one of them to see the marvellous
beauty of the scenery, and were well rewarded
for our trouble. Steps have been cut out of the
sandstone, or where a little soil rests on some
ledge, the steps are formed of branches of trees,
New South Wales 1 1 7
and over all hangs a lovely roof of green leaves
through which peeps of sunshine penetrate now
and again ; while on every fallen tree-trunk and
mass of rock, mosses, green and gray of all shades,
adorn and enliven the solitude of nature. We
lingered in this valley of delight until the rays of
the sun were becoming nearly horizontal above
our heads, and then we found the ascent more
difficult than the descent had been ; and we had
only time to escape from the shadows of the
great rocks before the shades of night gathered
around us. The valley of the Grose is the most
wonderful of them all ; it is a great chasm, the
perpendicular walls of which are over 1500 feet
high, and the depth to the bottom 2000 feet. It
looks as if the centre of the earth had collapsed,
and drawn with it a huge forest into perpetual
repose beyond the disturbing foot of man. A
waterfall, called Go vet's Leap, falls in broken cas-
cades down the almost perpendicular side of the
valley, a distance of 2000 feet. The first fall of
the water is 520 feet, and from that point to the
bottom of the valley it rolls down like fleeces of
carded wool. The points from which the best
views of the valley can be had are carefully
fenced round for the safety of visitors. Previous
to 1813 this range of mountains was considered
impassable, but in May of that year three ex-
plorers named Blaxland, Lawson, and Wentworth,
1 1 8 Notes and Gleanings
penetrated a little beyond Katoomba after twenty
days' hard work, and a tree, called the Explorer's
Tree, is still carefully preserved by a wall and rail,
on which they cut their initials, and under which
they are said to have rested for a night. Next
year they penetrated to the Bathurst Plains be-
yond the Blue Mountains ; and shortly afterwards
convicts were set to make the road over the
mountains. Having spent four delightful days
in this neighbourhood we returned to Sydney to
prepare for our homeward journey.
Colonials of many years' experience say that
society in Sydney is more continental in its habits
and ideas than English. There are horse-races in
Sydney every week-day throughout the year, and
when the days are short, races are run by electric
light. Betting is said to be the besetting sin of
young colonials. Old-world affairs and history do
not seem to interest the young people of any part
of Australia, but cricket matches do. The laws
of heredity are clearly observable in the character-
istics of the descendants of some of the earlier
settlers in Sydney, the " larrikin " of the present
day being a direct continuation of a class deported
to the Colony long ago.
On Sunday the I2th of May we went to
service in the Cathedral. The most remarkable
feature of the inside of that church is, that a
space of about four feet all round the walls is
New South Wales 1 1 9
being covered with memorial tablets made of
glazed tiles, on which the virtues of deceased
individuals are set forth in the best post obit
style, at a charge of from twenty to fifty pounds
per slab two feet square, according to the position
which it occupies. That is surely an easier way
of raising money than even by bazaars ; and then
if people have few virtues of their own, they can
point with pride to those of their ancestors, en-
shrined within the sacred walls of the temple,
some of whom, according to the tile slabs, pos-
sessed sufficient to have saved the city of Sodom.
In the afternoon we went to Bondi to see the
Centennial Park and have tea with friends. This
park cost ^198,277, and was of course paid for
out of a loan.
The history of a country always interests me
as much as do its present inhabitants, as by
knowing their past history I can understand
something of their present characteristics. " Happy
is the country that has no history," said a wise
man ; but that could not be said appropriately of
New South Wales, because it has had a very
interesting history for at least a hundred years.
It is considered possible that Australia was known
to the Chinese early in the sixteenth century, but
the first authentic account of it is by Don Pedro
de Quiros, a Spanish navigator who sailed from
Lima in Peru in 1606 for the purpose of discover-
1 20 Notes and Gleanings
ing a southern continent, in the existence of
which he had a confident belief. It was visited
by Dutch explorers in 1622, and by Dampier, an
Englishman, in 1699; but it was in 1770 that
Captain Cook, after his discovery of New Zealand,
anchored in Botany Bay, and from that time its
history begins.
The graphic account of his voyage published
by Captain Cook, and his favourable reports
regarding Australia and New Zealand, intensely
interested the people of Britain, and as they had
just lost their American Colonies, a new field for
enterprise seemed opened to them. At the same
time the home Government were feeling a difficulty
in disposing of their criminal population ; and early
in 1787 Viscount Sydney, Secretary of State for
the Colonies, determined to plant a colony in New
South Wales. In May 1787 a fleet, consisting of
six transports, small vessels of about 350 tons each,
on board of which were packed no fewer than 5 64
men and 192 women sentenced to transportation,
a small frigate of twenty guns, an armed tender,
and three store-ships, was despatched to Botany
Bay to found a colony, and arrived there early in
January 1788. But Captain Philip, who com-
manded the expedition, found that harbour too
exposed and shallow, and he moved his fleet into
the bay now called Sydney Harbour, where the
convicts were landed and the town of Sydney
New South Wales 1 2 1
founded. From that time till transportation was
abolished in 1840, 83,290 convicts were sent to
Sydney. In 1831 the population was 51,000,
mostly composed of people who had been trans-
ported there and their offspring ; but in that year
a system of assisted emigration was initiated, and
the first two companies to arrive under that
system were fifty young women from an orphan
school in Cork, and fifty-nine mechanics from
Scotland, whom the Rev. Dr. Lang introduced to
aid him in building the Australian college.
Three years after transportation had been
abolished a commercial crisis occurred, owing to
the inflow of Government money having ceased.
The Bank of Australia suspended payments, and
its assets were disposed of by a lottery to save its
shareholders from ruin. Now the Australian
banks save their shareholders by converting them-
selves into limited liability companies.
The discovery of gold in 1851 was a
most important event in the annals of the
country.
Wages were low and work scarce at the time,
and there was a general rush to the gold fields.
Farms and stations were left without hands, and
ordinary occupations were neglected. It was
soon known over the world that great finds of
gold were being made, and enterprising spirits
from all quarters rushed to share in the anticipated
122 Notes and Gleanings
prosperity. From that time the Colony has ad-
vanced by leaps and bounds.
In 1850, 976 vessels of a tonnage of 234,215
entered the ports of New South Wales, and 1014
vessels of 263,849 tons sailed from there. In
1891, 3021 vessels of 2,821,898 tons entered,
and 3100 vessels of 2,872,338 tons left ports in
the Colony.
Up till 1 88 1 the trade of the Colony was
practically in British hands, but since then I find
the foreign tonnage has increased from 172,855
tons to 791,629 tons in 1891, but still the ton-
nage under the British flag is 86 per cent of the
whole.
The value of the imports in 1850 was
2,078,338, and of the exports 2,399,580.
In 1891 they had risen to 25,388,397 and
25,944,020 respectively. But gold sent from
other Colonies to be minted was dealt with as
imports and exports, and the enormous sums of
money borrowed in London and elsewhere were
dealt with as imports also.
Of the imports into New South Wales in 1891,
10,588,230 came direct from the United King-
dom, i i, 12 7, 178 came from the other Australian
Colonies, 766,947 from other British possessions,
and 2,909,042 from foreign countries. Of the
exports from the Colony, 8,855,465 went direct
to the United Kingdom, 11,603,170 to the
New South Wales 123
other Australian Colonies, .607,970 to other
British possessions, and 4,877,414 to foreign
countries. The classification of the imports was
as follows :
Food and Beverages .... 3,658,780
Wines and Liquors . . . . . 991,163
Live Stock ...... 1,336,771
Wool and other Animal Products . . 2,850,163
Clothing and Textile Fabrics . . . 5,740,362
Minerals and Metals . . . . 2,283,858
Coals and Coke ..... 442,944
Specie and Precious Metals . . . 2,503,222
Articles of Education and Art . . . 1,259,975
Manufactured Articles not elsewhere included 3,979,359
Unclassified Articles .... 336,600
In 1891 the exports were nearly ^4,000,000
over those of 1 890, owing partly to the great
strikes which in 1890 kept exports back. The
exports were classed as follows :
Animal and vegetable products, including
wool . .... 12,126,357
Gold, Silver, and other Precious Metals . 4,923,381
Live Stock ...... 1,478,803
Coal and Coke ..... 1,313,861
Other Minerals ..... 605,501
Wines ....... 21,077
Clothing, etc. ...... 12,671
Other Unclassified Articles . . . 125,367
The imports from the United States amounted
to about 2,500,000, but the States took only
124 Notes and Gleanings
583,723 in the produce of the Colony, and were
paid the difference in gold coin and bars ; and, as
a contrast, Belgium took goods of the value of
-1,039,723, chiefly wool, while the Colony took
only 188,277 from that country, principally in
the form of iron-wire bars and plates.
From Germany the imports were 773,016,
and the exports to that country 437,522.
To France was sent 480,599, mostly wool,
and from France 120,321 was bought. All the
exports have fallen enormously since these tables
were compiled, but the data are so far unavailable.
The amount of duty paid on imported spirits
in 1891 was 869,513 ; on tobacco, 409,069;
and on tea at 3d. per lb., 120,326. The total
customs revenue for the year was 2,539,480.
The disposal of Crown lands previous to 183 i
rested solely with the Governor, and large areas
were granted to naval and military officers and
men and free settlers; but in 1831 a system of
selling the lands by auction was introduced, and
in 1884 and 1889 new Acts for the disposal and
occupation of land were passed on very much the
same lines as those obtaining in New Zealand.
The value of the land sold between 1862
and 1891 was 45,837,717, the acreage being
35,270,331, and the average price 26s. per acre.
The acreage under cultivation is 840,896, or only
2 per cent of the land disposed of.
New South Wales 125
Success in agricultural operations in New
South Wales is altogether independent of the fit-
ness of the soil for cultivation. So far experience
has shown that an irregular rainfall and the want
of uniformity in the seasons, which are the chief
characteristics of the climate, are the greatest
drawbacks to the advance of agriculture. Only
0.4 per cent of the total area of the Colony is
devoted to the growth of agricultural produce ;
and, including that under artificial grasses for
dairy farming, only 0.6 per cent, or i.o acre per
head of the population, is under cultivation in any
form. Taken as a whole, the yield of crops in
New South Wales is equal to that of any of the
other Colonies in Australia ; but communication
with the seaboard is more expensive and difficult,
and stock rearing is therefore far more remunera-
tive. The average production of wheat was, in
i 888-90, 4.8 bushels per acre. The average from
1862 to 1892 was 13.1 bushels per acre. The
yield varies from 18.2 along the north coast to
9.8 in the western district. The estimated value
of agricultural produce for the years 1891-92 was
3,584,490, of which
Wheat represented ... .
Maize ....... 667,532
Sugar . . 138,493
Oranges ...... 86,812
Grapes and Wine . . . . . 211,610
126 Notes and Gleanings
Comparing the whole Australasian Colonies, the
average yield of wheat per acre for the last twenty
years is as follows : New Zealand, 25.59 bushels ;
Tasmania, 18.13; New South Wales, 13.74;
Queensland, 12.20; Western Australia, 11.81;
Victoria, 11.07 '> ar >d South Australia, 7.46.
The number of sheep in New South Wales in
1891 was 61,831,416, and the value of wool
exported 11,036,018, but that was largely in
excess of any other year. In 1890 the value was
8,991,396.
A comparatively small export trade is done by
New South Wales in frozen meat, cheese, and
butter.
The population of the Colony in 1891 was
1,165,300, and of these 502,983 were adherents
of the Church of England, 286,917 of the Church
of Rome, 109,383 were Presbyterians, 110,110
Wesleyans, and 37,220 Congregationalists and
Baptists. The remainder belonged to six other
creeds. Education is almost free, and the estimate
for that department, which is presided over by a
Minister of State, in 1893 was 919,541. A
fee of 3d. per week is charged each scholar, and
in 1892 that yielded an income to the depart-
ment of 75,913. Children attending school
travel free by railway.
The number of arrests for crimes was 44,854.
The divorces were 3 1.6 for every 100,000 married
New South Wales 127
couples, and in Victoria 23.8, while in Great Britain
the number was only 8.6 ; but in the United States
of America there were 200 per 100,000. There
were in the Colony i oo males for every 8 5 females,
the excess of males being between twenty and fifty
years of age. Excluding the aborigines, 725,015
of the population were born in the Colony, 266,101
in the United Kingdom, of whom 149,232 were
in England, 4997 in Wales, 75,051 in Ireland,
and 36,821 in Scotland. The Germans num-
bered 9563, the French 2030, and the Scandina-
vians 3397. The death-rate averaged for the last
twenty years 16.35 P er thousand per annum. In
Queensland it was 17.04, in Victoria 15.56, in
Western Australia 16.59, m South Australia
13.62 ; but in the city of Sydney it was 22.17.
In 1891 the death-rate in England was 19.5, in
Scotland 19.7, and in Ireland 18.2 per thousand.
The illegitimate births were, in Sydney, 18.5
per cent, and in the country districts 3.80 per
cent.
The duty on imported spirits, wines, and beer
in 1892 amounted to 970,000, and on home-
made beer, whisky, etc., to >\ 58,000. No duty is
paid on home-grown wines. The consumption of
proof gallons of spirits was 2.83 gallons per head
of the population, while in Victoria it was 3.93,
and in New Zealand 1.74 gallons per head.
The bankruptcies in 1891 numbered 1238,
128 Notes and Gleanings
with liabilities amounting to .989,778, and nom-
inal assets of 454,2 11. In 1892 the failures
were 1243, with liabilities 1,203,685 and assets
540,726.
There are 2185 miles of railway in the Colony,
which have cost 33,312,608, an average of
12,974 per mile, as against 43,955 per mile
in the United Kingdom, where land has to be
paid for at extravagant rates.
The net earnings are said to be 3.581 per
cent on the cost, but as nearly all renewals of lines
and plant have been paid for out of loans, and
little allowance seems to be made for depreciation,
it is difficult to say what the net earnings really
are. For instance, 1,000,000 of the 1889 loan
was spent in the " reconstruction and improvement
of rolling stock and permanent way," and of the
1892 loan 200,000 was spent "on rolling stock,
and towards fitting continuous brakes to goods
carriages." (See page 63 of Loans Expenditure ;
issued to Parliament of 1893).
According to the Statement of the Particulars
of the Public Debt of the Colony on ^\st Decem-
ber 1892, issued to members of Parliament with
the estimates, the amount of loans issued to that
date was 62,573,703, which had realised the
net sum of 60,395,869 ; and in his Budget
speech on the I9th October 1893, Sir George
Dibbs stated that the revenue for the year then
New South Wales 129
ended was ,980,000 less than that of the previous
year, leaving a floating debt of .1,500,000.
In the Estimates of Expenditure for 1893
the sum of 1,862,630 is put down for " Interest
on debentures and funded stock, 70,000
for railway loan of 1867, 82,116 for interest
on treasury bills for deficiencies previous to
1886, and 141,875 for interest on treasury bills
under Act 55 Victoria," a total of 2,156,621 for
interest on public loans ; and Mr. Coghlan, the
Government Statist, estimates that, apart from the
public borrowings, the sum due to " private credi-
tors and absentees" amounts to 57,256,000, on
which the interest is estimated to be 3,450,000.
The interest payable to persons resident outside
the Colony is estimated at 5,326,800. The
public revenue for 1891 was 10,036,185, but
for 1893 it was only 9,494,000. The ex-
penditure in 1891 was 10,586,000, in 1893,
9,727,000. The estimates for 1894 are, income
9,971,000, and expenditure 9,854,000, and
the sources of income are stated to be from rail-
ways, telegraphs, post office, etc., 4,590,000; taxa-
tion, 2,965,000 ; lands to be sold, 2,106,000 ;
stamps, etc., 260,000.
The sales of land in 1891 were 1,163,338,
and in 1892 1,099,536, but I have not been
able to procure the returns for 1893. As the
sales of land become small, taxation must in-
K
1 30 Notes and Gleanings
crease enormously to meet the expenditure, and
at the same time the security to lenders must
decline proportionally. Deficiencies in the yearly
budgets are being met by further borrowings.
Large sums of borrowed money have been spent
in renewing and repairing property which had
been paid for by borrowed money before. The
following items will show what I mean. Out of
the 1 860 loan, 5000 was spent " for repairing the
Circular Quay at Sydney," and 1300 was spent
on it again in 1861. In 1870, 5000 was spent
for " repairing the breakwater at Newcastle," and
35,000 on " Relaying railway line, Sydney to
Paramatta ; " and dredgers for rivers and harbours
are renewed from loans frequently.
In 1883 the Circular Quay was again requiring
repaving, and 18,500 was paid for that purpose
out of that year's loan, and an additional sum of
9000 was paid in 1886 for the same purpose.
For wood-paving Elizabeth and George Streets in
1892, 22,000 was paid out of that year's loan ;
and from 1883 to 1893, 60,500 was paid out of
loans for dredgers for Sydney Harbour alone.
Out of the loan of 1890, over 250,000 was
spent on " Making storm water channels " along
several roads, an asset certainly not easily realis-
able, and in the same year 5000 was spent in
building a " Morgue " in Sydney, and 6000 for
draining Rockwood Necropolis ; so that, while the
New South Wales 1 3 1
Sydney people live they are surrounded by the
productions of borrowed money, and when they
are dead they rest in ground drained by borrowed
money.
The new Post Office in Sydney cost 562,021,
and after it was built, the street in front of it was
considered too narrow, and the whole opposite
side, which was composed of valuable warehouses,
was bought and pulled down to show off the
handsome new building to advantage. I could
not ascertain how much the transaction cost, but
in the assets of the Colony there is a credit entry
for 528,970 : I : 4 to be realised for the ground
in New Post Office Street, or something, I believe,
like 150 per square yard.
CHAPTER IX
VICTORIA
WE left Sydney for Melbourne on I5th May
in the P. and O. Company's steamer Ballarat,
commanded by Captain Angus, an excellent type
of a gentleman and seaman.
Tuesday, the i6th, we sailed along the unin-
teresting coast of Australia, and on Wednesday,
the 1 7th, we again arrived in Melbourne, and put
up at Menzies's Hotel while the Ballarat was
taking in cargo. We spent the evening at Mr.
Duncan Love's. Thursday, the 1 8th, I was
occupied in business calls, and my wife and
daughters spent the day with Lady Sargood.
The last two banks to fail had closed their doors
on the i 5th, and the faces of business men had
become so long that it was said the barbers were
charging a penny extra for shaving them !
Rumours of commercial disasters were very pre-
valent, and it had become ascertained facts that
many well-known business men who were wealthy
a year or two ago had lost all their fortunes, and
Victoria 133
others had suffered heavy losses through the fail-
ure of concerns in which they were shareholders.
Still life in the homes of most people went on
as usual. In the evening we dined with Mr. and
Mrs. Beath, at their residence in St. Kilda, and
spent a very pleasant time with them and their
family. Mr. Beath is another Scotsman who has
had a very successful career in Melbourne, and
who is held in high esteem for his business abilities
and private worth.
Friday, the ipth, was a beautiful day, and we
made several calls on friends early in the forenoon.
My wife and daughters lunched with Mr. and Mrs.
Robertson, while I went to the Australian Club
with Mr. Paterson and Mr. Bruce, on whose nom-
ination I had again been made an honorary mem-
ber for another month. In the evening we dined
with Mr. and Mrs. Barlow, and added another
very delightful one to our many evenings spent in
the company of friends in Melbourne.
Like all other large cities, Melbourne has its
fashionable promenade, which is called " The
Block," a part of Collins Street between Elizabeth
and Queen Streets ; and there from one to three
o'clock daily the youth and beauty of Melbourne
are to be seen, and for types of physical excel-
lence they could take their place on equal terms
with the same class in any city in Europe, while
their manner and style possess a delightful free-
134 Notes and Gleanings
dom and freshness not to be met with in Pall
Mall, the Bois-de-Boulogne, the Corso, or Princes
Street.
On Saturday forenoon several friends called at
our hotel to say farewell, and others met us at the
railway station to see us off, while two or three
accompanied us to the steamer, to all of whom
we felt much indebted for their extreme kindness.
We left Williamstown Wharf at I o'clock for
Adelaide, the next stage of our homeward journey.
The first permanent settlement in Victoria was
founded at Portland Bay by Mr. Edward Henty
from Tasmania, who landed there on the I pth No-
vember 1834. Others followed, but the absence of
good land in the vicinity of the port caused it to
be considered an unsuitable site for a town, and
the capital was eventually founded at the northern
end of Port Philip Bay in May 1835, by two
parties, one led by John Batman and the other by
John Fawkner. These were soon followed by
other parties from the same island and from
Sydney. In October 1836 Captain Lonsdale
was sent from Sydney to act as Resident Magis-
trate of the Port Philip district. In 1837 Sir
Richard Bourke arrived from Sydney, and gave
the name of Melbourne to the first town of the
new settlement, and in 1842 it was incorporated
as a town by an Act of the Legislature of New
South Wales (13 Victoria, No. 40).
Victoria 135
In 1857 Port Philip district was separated
from New South Wales and erected into an inde-
pendent Colony under the name of " Victoria."
In July and August of the same year gold was
discovered in Ballarat and other districts. A
constitution giving responsible government to the
Colony was proclaimed on the 23rd November
1855. The population was then 364,000. The
area of the Colony of Victoria is 87,884 square
miles, while that of New South Wales is 309,175,
of Queensland 668,224, of Western Australia
975,920, of South Australia 903,425, of Tas-
mania 26,375, an d of New Zealand 104,235.
Added together, the area of the Australasian
Colonies is only 68o,764 square miles less
than that of the Continent of Europe ; and,
excluding the territory of Alaska, they are larger
than the United States of America by 47,647
square miles. The population of Victoria in
April 1891 consisted of 598,414 males and
541,991 females. The Chinese numbered 9377,
and the aborigines 565 as against 780 in 1881.
Of the population, 713,585 were born in the
Colony, 157,813 in England, 5094 in Wales,
50,667 in Scotland, and 85,307 in Ireland.
The Church of England had 401,604 adherents,
and the Presbyterian Church of Victoria 163,149 ;
the Methodist Church I 50,000, and the Independ-
ents and Baptists numbered 49,993. There
136 Notes and Gleanings
were 240,310 Roman Catholics, 6459 Jews, and
6746 Buddhists.. Of the smaller denominations
there was one " converted Jew," but to what he
had been converted is not stated. Other fifty
denominations had only one adherent each. The
Gaelic Church had one representative, and the
Puritan Church one. There was one Nazarene,
one Morisonian, one Glassite, one Fakir, and one
" Servant of God." One who believed in Moses and
his laws, and one in the Church of the Future.
Only one believed in Universal Brotherhood, and
another in Conditional Immortality. One re-
turned himself as Orthodox, and only two ladies
and two gentlemen considered themselves Moral-
ists. In the whole population there were only
two Infidels and four Sceptics ; but, stranger still,
only three whose religion was " . s. d"
Education in the Colony is compulsory, un-
denominational, and free; but the cost to the
State in 1891-92 was 808, 171.
The urban population at the end of 1892
was estimated to be 686,026, and the rural
471,652. Of the whole population 43.05 per
cent resided in Melbourne. There were at the
same time 23,526 men employed in gold mines.
In Melbourne and suburbs the death-rate in
1892 was 20.65 per thousand. Of the deaths
in the Colony in the same year phthisis caused
1483, pneumonia 1126, heart disease 1093,
Victoria 137
bronchitis 982, cancer 699, typhoid fever 356,
and diphtheria 326. The mean temperature of
Melbourne in 1891 was 57.6, but it varied from
33.9 to 103.0 in the shade. The average rain-
fall is about 26 inches. In Sydney the rainfall
is much higher, sometimes, as in 1891, being over
50 inches. The average rainfall in London is
24 inches, in Dublin 30 inches, in Liverpool 37,
and in Glasgow 43 inches per annum.
The average production per acre of wheat,
oats, and barley, in the Australian Colonies for
the last twenty-five years is considerably under
that of the United Kingdom ; in the Colonies it was
wheat 9.3, oats 25.6, and barley 18.6, against
wheat 31. 3, oats 38.8, and barley 34.1, in Britain.
Victoria exported 6,853,195 bushels of wheat in.
1891, while New South Wales imported 2,853,195
bushels. The sum of ;68 2,501 of the money
borrowed by the Colony of Victoria for irrigation
purposes had been spent at the end of 1892, but
none of the works were finished. The acreage
which can draw supplies from these works when
finished is 1,818,304.
The number of sheep in Victoria at the end
of 1892 was 12,692,843, of horses 436,459, of
cattle 1,782,978. In the United Kingdom at
the same time there were 33,642,808 sheep,
2,067,549 horses, and 11,519,417 cattle.
The weight of the wool produced in Victoria
138 Notes and Gleanings
in 1891 was 76,503,635 Ibs., and the value
An idea may be formed of the enormous in-
debtedness of the Colony, by noting that for the
eleven years ending with 1890 the imports averaged
19,455,019, and the exports only 14,491,137.
In 1891 the imports were 21,711,608, and the
exports 16,006,743. In that year New Zealand
was the only Australasian Colony from which the
exports exceeded the imports, and these were
7,33M96 against 6,986,348.
The value of gold raised in Victoria in 1891
was 2,305,600, but the value per miner was
only 97 : o : 6, showing that the present pro-
duction of gold does not pay the cost of raising
it. For alluvial diggers the production was
only 69 : 19 : 5 ; but for quartz miners, where
machinery is largely employed, the value of the
gold raised was 119:9:8 per man employed.
The Colony gets the value of the labour in the
mines, and the shareholders in mining companies
at home pay the cost. The companies showing
a profit in 1891 paid dividends amounting to
515,947, but no estimate of the capital invested
in mining companies is available. The machinery
in use, however, was valued at 1,848,218. The
agricultural produce of the Colony in 1891 was
valued at 7,770,658, and the animal production
at 10,237,952.
Victoria 139
The revenue of Victoria for 1891 was
.8,843,588, and the expenditure 9,128,699;
but for the last two years the revenue has been
very much less, and large sums have been
borrowed to meet the deficiencies. The import
duties on certain manufactured goods are so high
as to prohibit their importation, and the Colony
will require to reduce these duties very much to
enable them to raise a revenue to meet their
requirements.
The public debt of Victoria at the end of
1891 was 43,610,265, of which 2,603,800
had been borrowed at 5 per cent, 5,000,000 at
4! per cent, 26,006,445 at 4 per cent, and
10,000,000 at 3 1 per cent, and of the total
interest of 1,745,449, 1,563,783 was payable
in London, at an additional expense of 1.67 per
cent on the interest. Of the 3,000,000 applied
for in the London money market in 1891 only
2,000,000 were taken up. The public debt
of the Colony now is nearly 50,000,000, of
which 1,391,565 has been borrowed in the
Colony. In 1891 the loss on the railways was
291,273, and on the post and telegraph depart-
ment 109,009. The net revenue of the railways
in 1891 was equal to 2.64 per cent, but the
alterations on plant, renewals of lines, etc., was
paid out of loans. Of the net proceeds of the
loans up to the end of 1890, 34,460,233 had
1 40 Notes and Gleanings
been spent on railways, 3,011,325 on water-
supply for Melbourne, 4,181,636 on water-
supply for country towns, 579,544 on Parlia-
ment Houses and Law Courts, 162,280 on
public offices, 98,299 on defences, 1,177,495
on State school buildings, 121,445 on a bridge
across the Yarra, 341,819 on the Alfred graving
dock, and 259,091 on harbour works.
The private and municipal debts of the Colony
must be twice as much as the public debt.
Residence in the Colony for one year entitles
every male subject of full age to be registered as
a voter. The Colony has two Legislative Cham-
bers. For the membership of the Lower House,
full age and two years' residence in the Colony is
required ; and for members of the Upper House,
a free income of not less than 100 from free-
hold property. The latter are elected by persons
paying not less than twenty-five pounds of rent
per annum, or possessed of property worth not
less than ten pounds of yearly rent.
The Lower House consists of ninety - five
members, and the Upper House of forty-eight
members, and there are ten responsible ministers.
Members of the Upper House of the Legislature
are not paid for their services, but members of
the Lower House receive 300 each per annum.
CHAPTER X
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
WE arrived at Largo Bay at 1 1 A.M. on
Monday the 22nd May, and went to Adelaide, the
capital of South Australia, by the 12.30 P.M.
train. Adelaide is finely situated on level ground
surrounded by hills. Its streets are wide, well
paved, and well kept. Round the city proper is a
belt of unoccupied land about a mile wide, called
the Domain, a public park in fact, and outside
that space are the suburbs of the city, beautifully
situated on ground rising towards the hills.
Adelaide has fine botanical and zoological gardens,
a technical college, and some other good public
buildings, including the Houses of Parliament.
The population of the Colony of South Australia
in 1891 was 320,723, of whom 164,993 were
males and 155,730 females, and of the city of
Adelaide 1 33,252, equal to 41.59 of the entire
population of the Colony. The Colony extends
from the extreme south to the extreme north of
the Australian Continent, and so far at some
142 Notes and Gleanings
points has its eastern and western boundaries
defined by degrees of longitude only. Like
the other Australian Colonies, it has borrowed
freely, and at the end of 1891 had a public
debt of 21,133,300, of which 11,398,839
had been spent on railways. The revenue in
that year was ,2,829,453, and the expenditure
2,768,353. The value of the imports was
9,956,542, and of the exports 10,512,049.
Of the Crown lands 12,802,180 acres have been
disposed of. In the same year the acreage
under tillage was 2,533,291, and the amount of
wheat raised 6,436,488 bushels. The wine crop
produced 801,835 gallons. One of the best
authorities on Australian wines, Mr. Burgoyne,
informed me that owing to the vines not being
the best suited to the soil, and to the want of
care in classing the grapes before pressing them,
the value of the wine is very small compared to
what it might and ought to be ; and the same
remarks apply to the 1,554,130 gallons produced
in Victoria, 913,107 in New South Wales, 168,526
in Queensland, and 168,526 in Western Australia.
The value of gold produced in South Australia
in 1891 was 125,529, and the total previous
production 1,174,296. There are 7,646,239
sheep, 188,587 horses, and 399,077 cattle in the
Colony. The value of wool exported in 1891
was 2,166,125. The South Australian Govern-
South Australia 143
ment does not publish statistics as do those of
most of the other Colonies.
The weather was fine the two days we were
off Adelaide ; the sky was cloudless, and the
temperature 73 in the shade. I would prefer
Adelaide as a place of residence to any of the
other large Australian towns.
On the morning of 24th May, when we were
preparing to leave for Albany, one of the first
saloon passengers, a gentleman over 80 years of
age, died suddenly, and his body was sent ashore
before we left. He had been in Tasmania over
sixty years, and was going home to see a sister
in London.
We had rather a rough passage across " The
Bight," the weather being showery and dull, with
a strong breeze of wind and a temperature of
only 54.
We arrived at Albany, the second town in
Western Australia, at 8.30 P.M. on Saturday the
27th, where a number of passengers landed on
their way to the new diggings near there. We
left again for Colombo at I o P.M., feeling sorry
our tour in Australia, where we had received
much kind attention, was ended, but with pleasant
remembrances of happy days and pleasant evenings
spent in the society of friends we shall never
forget.
The people and the country were both different
144 Notes and Gleanings
i
to those of New Zealand. The large towns in
Australia give the people there more of a city
style, but it is not of the old world style. There
is an air of youthfulness about the towns, about
the people, about their ideas, and even about their
modes of expression. Little of the serious side
of life seems to trouble them, and their philosophy
has more of the " eat, drink, and be merry style "
than ours has. They have borrowed and spent
money with the recklessness and energy of youth,
and have been more anxious to enjoy the fruits
of industry than to be cultivators of the tree ; and
that spirit may readily be seen in the amount of
money borrowed for places of recreation, such as
public parks, botanical and zoological gardens,
and picture galleries, etc., which are more prized
as pleasure resorts than for their educational
value. To pay for these luxuries out of their
incomes, as we do at home, never occurs to the
Australians oh no, they will rather borrow the
savings of people in the old country and lay it
out for their own enjoyment.
CHAPTER XI
AUSTRALIAN BANKING AND FINANCE
THE way in which most of the Australian banks
have set up receiving boxes, called " deposit
agencies," all over Britain, and after having
secured all the deposits they could possibly get
possession of by offering high interest and the
security of unlimited companies, their suspension
of payments, and proceedings to limit the lia-
bility of their shareholders to their creditors are
so well known as not to require special notice ;
but it shows how ready they are to borrow and
how uncertain their payments may be.
Early in the banking crisis, a leading colonial
financier pointed out in one of their papers that
the system of banking at home could not be
carried out in the Colonies, as bills and convertible
securities could not be had there for the amount
of money in their hands seeking investment, and
that the Australian banks must, for their future
welfare, secure as debentures at long or intermin-
able dates a large proportion of the money
L
146 Notes and Gleanings
hitherto received on deposits for from one to three
years ; and his compeers have not been slow to
act on his opinions and advice. That even under
their present arrangements they will all be able
to continue their business is not considered
probable by those best able to judge ; and, that
there are some wonderful revelations in connection
with Australian banking in store there is little
doubt. The affairs of none of the suspended banks
have been investigated except in a perfunctory
manner, although all have been reconstructed.
Such a process could not have been gone
through in Britain. The depositors in Britain
were little considered in the rearrangements ;
and the Parliament of Victoria had very shortly
before the banking collapse passed an Act, of
which the following is a copy, and which is
worthy of careful consideration by those taking
an interest in Australian affairs, as it regulated
the proceedings in the reconstruction of all the
banks having their head offices in Melbourne :
"No. 1269
" AN ACT TO AMEND THE COMPANIES
ACT 1890
" \st December, 1892.
" Be it enacted by the Queen's Most Excellent
Australian Banking and Finance 147
Majesty by and with the advice and consent of
the Legislative Council and the Legislative
Assembly of Victoria in this present Parliament
assembled and by the authority of the same as
follows (that is to say) :
"1. (i) This Act may be cited as the Com-
panies Act Amendment Act 1892, and this Act
and the Companies Act 1890 may be cited
together as the Companies Acts.
(2) This Act shall be construed as one with
the Companies Act 1890.
" 2. The Act mentioned in the Schedule to
this Act is hereby repealed.
" 3. Where any compromise or arrangement
shall be proposed between a company which is, at
the time of the passing of this Act or afterwards
in the course of being wound up, either voluntarily
or by or under the supervision of the Court under
the Companies Acts and the creditors of such
company or any class of such creditors, it shall be
lawful for the Court in addition to any other of
its powers on the application in a summary way
of any creditor or the liquidator, to order that a
meeting of such creditors or class of creditors
shall be summoned in such manner as the Court
shall direct, and if a majority in number repre-
senting three-fourths in value of such creditors or
class of creditors present either in person or by
proxy or attorney at such meeting shall agree to
148 Notes and Gleanings
any arrangement or compromise such arrange-
ment or compromise shall if sanctioned by an
order of the Court be binding on all such
creditors or class of creditors as the case may be
and also on the liquidator and contributories of
the said company.
" 4. Where no order has been made or resolu-
tion passed for the winding up of a company and
any compromise or arrangement shall be proposed
between such company and the creditors of such
company or any class of such creditors it shall
be lawful for the Court in addition to any other
of its powers, on the application in a summary
way of the company or of any creditor of the
company, to restrain further proceedings in any
action suit petition or proceeding against the
company upon such terms as the Court shall
think fit, and also to order that a meeting of such
creditors or class of creditors shall be summoned
in such manner and at such time as the Court
shall direct, and if a majority in number repre-
senting three-fourths in value of such creditors or
class of creditors present, either in person or by
proxy or attorney at such meeting shall agree to
any arrangement or compromise, such arrange-
ment or compromise shall, if sanctioned by an
order of the Court, be binding upon the company
and its shareholders, and upon all such creditors
or class of creditors as the case may be.
Australian Banking and Finance 149
" 5. The Court, on the application of the
company or of any creditor or person interested
in the company, before sanctioning any arrange-
ment or compromise under this Act may order
such meetings to be summoned and inquiries to
be made as it shall think fit, and may alter or
vary such arrangement or compromise and impose
such conditions in the carrying out thereof as it
shall think just.
" 6. Every person who is a shareholder at the
date of the holding of such meeting shall in the
event of the said person transferring his shares in
the company during the term of any arrangement
entered into at a meeting summoned as in the
preceding sections mentioned be liable until the
end of one year after the expiration of the term
of such arrangement or until the end of three
years from the date of such meeting whichever
shall first happen to contribute to the assets of
the company for the purpose of paying the
creditors or class of creditors bound by the
resolutions passed at the meeting an amount not
exceeding the amount which he would have been
liable to contribute if the company had commenced
to be wound up on the day prior to the holding
of such meeting in the event of the existing holder
of the transferred shares being unable to satisfy
the contributions required to be made for such
purpose.
1 50 Notes and Gleanings
" 7. The word ' company ' in this part of this
Act shall mean and include a building society
under the Building Societies Act 1890.
" 8. Every building society under the Building
Societies Act 1890 shall for the purpose of being
voluntarily wound up be deemed a company duly
incorporated under Part I. of the Companies
Act 1890.
" 9. Any company limited by shares may so
far modify the conditions contained in its
memorandum of association if authorised so to
do by special resolution as to reduce its capital
by cancelling any shares which have not been
taken or agreed to be taken by any person or
which have been forfeited."
It may interest some of my friends to know
particulars of the settlements made by the banks
which suspended payments, and a few other items
regarding these institutions.
At the end of May 1892 the paid-up capital of
the whole of the Australian banks was 1 6,7 5 4,99 1 ,
and their reserve funds were said to be 9, 1 5 9,5 9 1 ,
but that item has been written off by all the sus-
pended banks. The deposits were at the same
time stated to be 112,863,807, of which
43,342,373 was due to British depositors
according to Mr. Hayter, and the assets were
returned as follows, viz.
Australian Banking and Finance 1 5 1
Coin and bullion . . . .19,652,206
Landed property . . . 5,598,766
Notes and bills of other banks 548,920
Balances due by other banks 3>967,95i
regarding the last of which Mr. Hayter remarks
at page 508 of the Statistics of Victoria^ and Mr.
Coghlan at page 700 of the Statistics of New
South Wales, that that sum included balances due
by the branches of two Sydney banks to their
own head offices after they had taken credit for
the assets of the same branches. All other debts
due to the banks were valued at ,142,941,265.
The notes in circulation amounted to
^5,510,891, and these are a first charge on the
capital and assets of the banks. In New South
Wales banks may issue notes to the extent of
their paid-up capital and the coin in their pos-
session. The average rate of the dividend paid
by these banks in 1891 was 1 1 : 10:2 per
cent on their paid-up capital.
In 1891 the average charges for discounting
bills were for 3 months 7 per cent, 4 months 8
per cent, and 6 months' currency 9 per cent per
annum, while in England the average rate was
^3 : 9 : 6 per cent.
The average rate paid for deposits by the
colonial banks was 5 per cent, while in London it
was i : 6 : 8 per cent.
The banks which suspended payment have
152 Notes and Gleanings
been reconstructed on the following terms, viz.
The Commercial Bank of Australia, with its head
office in Melbourne, suspended payment on 4th
April and resumed business on the 7th day of May
1893. The old bank had a capital of .3,000,000,
in shares of 10 each; the new bank has a nominal
capital of 6,000,000, also in shares of 10 each,
on which 4 is credited as paid, and the remainder
of the 10 is to be paid up in quarterly instal-
ments of five shillings per share extending over six
years. Depositors have received fully paid pre-
ference shares for one-third of their deposits, and
deposit receipts maturing five years afterwards for
the other two-thirds. The British deposits were
5,683,938.
The English, Scottish, and Australian Char-
tered Bank, 38 Lombard Street, London, sus-
pended 1 2th April and resumed 9th August 1893.
The old bank had a capital of 900,000, the new
bank has an authorised capital of 1,575,000.
The British deposits were 1,000,649, and the
depositors have had to take 4 per cent debenture
stock for one-fourth, 4 per cent terminable de-
posits for one-fourth, and 4^ per cent inscribed
stock for the other half.
The London Chartered Bank, 2 Old Broad
Street, suspended on 25th April and resumed
business on loth August 1893. The British
deposits were 3,500,000, and the depositors
Australian Banking and Finance 153
have had the option of taking preference shares
or deposit receipts bearing interest at 4^ per cent,
payable in two yearly instalments beginning in July
1898. The nominal capital has been raised from
one to four millions.
The Australian Joint Stock Bank, Sydney,
suspended 2ist April and resumed ipth June
1893. The British deposits were 3,868,881,
and are to be repaid in ten equal instalments,
beginning in June 1897, and half-yearly there-
after, with interest at 4-^ per cent per annum.
The National Bank of Australasia, Melbourne,
suspended 3Oth April and resumed payments
23rd June 1893. The British deposits were
1,804,865, and the depositors have received
deposit receipts for two-thirds of their claims,
bearing interest at 4^ per cent, payable in equal
amounts, five, six, and seven years from June
last, and fully paid preference shares for the
balance of their claims.
The Bank of Victoria, Melbourne, suspended
on 9th May and resumed payments on 1 2th June
1893. British deposits 1,100,000, are to be
paid, one-fifth in preference shares, and four-fifths
in deposit receipts, payable at different periods
from two to twelve years hence, and bearing in-
terest at 4| per cent.
The Queensland National Bank, Brisbane,
suspended I5th May and resumed 2nd August
154 Notes and Gleanings
1893. To British depositors were due 4,56 1,247,
and they are to be paid by twelve deposit receipts,
each for one-twelfth of the sum due, the first to
be payable in June 1899, and yearly thereafter,
bearing interest at 4^ per cent per annum.
The Bank of North Queensland, Townsville,
stopped payments on the I5th of May and re-
sumed at the end of July 1893. The deposits
due in London were only 150,000, and de-
positors are to be paid by deposit receipts
bearing interest at 4^ per cent per annum, the
first for one-fourth payable in July 1897, and the
remaining ones yearly thereafter.
The Commercial Bank of Sydney had only
242,924 of British deposits when it suspended
payment on the i 5th of May, and these are to be
repaid by four deposit receipts bearing interest at
4| per cent, the first payable in June 1898, and
yearly thereafter.
When the City of Melbourne Bank stopped
payment on the I5th of May 1893, it owed to
British depositors 3,261,634. It resumed busi-
ness on 1 6th June, and the depositors are to be
paid four-fifths of their claims by deposit receipts
at five, six, seven, and eight years, and bearing
interest at 4^ per cent, and the remaining fifth
in fully paid preference shares.
The Royal Bank of Queensland, which closed
its doors on the same day, opened again on the
A ustralian Banking and Finance 155
7th August, the creditors having agreed to accept
payment in four deposit receipts bearing interest
at 4| per cent, and payable five, six, seven, and
eight years from ist July 1893. The amount
due to British depositors was only .300,000.
The money poured into the coffers of the
banks had been largely in excess of the ordinary
commercial requirements of the Colonies, and
therefore stimulated building and other unre-
munerative enterprises, causing them to invest
their funds in a way which must ultimately lead
to serious complications.
The apparent prosperity of the Australian
Colonies for the last ten years was only an in-
dication of the reckless way in which money
borrowed by the Governments, the banks, building
societies, and other institutions was being spent ;
and little actual accumulation of capital has taken
place, except that imported by immigrants, taking
the Colonies as a whole. Their national, municipal,
and individual indebtedness has now brought
about a financial collapse, and what they have to
show for the capital expended is largely assets
of doubtful value. The Governments have been
the greatest sinners as regards borrowings. Large
sums have been spent in public parks, botanical
and zoological gardens, city halls, government
offices and post offices, all of which are largely in
excess of the requirements of their respective
156 Notes and Gleanings
communities, and the interest on the cost of
which will be a serious item in their future
budgets.
It is not by borrowing money and building
therewith fine cities that a new colony can be
made permanently prosperous, but by extracting
wealth from the land in the forms of mineral,
pastoral, and agricultural produce. The true
prosperity of all colonies must arise from the
land, as the labour employed in its cultivation
and improvement affords the greatest and most
valuable product to society, and not only pays
its own wages, but the rent of the land on which
it is employed, and interest on the capital which
employs it.
The earlier settlers in colonies usually get
possession of more land than they and their
families can cultivate, and having got possession
of it at a nominal value, they can afford to give as
wages a larger proportion of its produce than can
be given where land is dear. High wages are
therefore paid to agricultural labourers, enabling
them to save money and become landowners
themselves, and in their turn to employ more
labourers ; and such prosperity encourages mar-
riages, the children of which grow up well fed and
trained agriculturists to carry on the prosperity of
the land ; and agricultural prosperity and mining
industries always call into existence aggregations
Australian Banking and Finance 157
of manufacturing and artisan labourers to form
towns, and to supply the agricultural and rural
communities with their requirements at lower
rates than these can be imported for, owing to
the heavy carriages and long distances from
which they have to come. At the same time,
these town communities afford a ready market for
the rude produce of the country in their neighbour-
hood, and by giving a higher price for it than
could be got by exporting it, they thereby increase
the wealth of the rural labourers. But when that
class of population has grown in excess of the
requirements of the rural population it becomes a
parasite and impoverishes the population it lives
upon, and can only be kept alive by the im-
position of protective tariffs which prevent the
agricultural colonists from getting the advantage
of cheap labour and capital elsewhere, and causing
a loss to them of the difference between the cost
of what they could import the goods for and what
they pay extra to protected labour.
The old theory that to buy things produced at
home was a national benefit, and to introduce
foreign commodities a national loss, has long since
been given up, as it is quite clear that the impor-
tation of foreign goods in the common course of
traffic never takes place except when it is,
economically speaking, a national good, by causing
the same amount of commodities to be obtained
158 Notes and Gleanings
at a smaller cost of labour and capital to the
country.
While the land is so cheap, labour will always
be so dear that the colonist can import from the
mother country the more refined manufactures
cheaper than they can make them for themselves,
and the mercantile class, who are always ready to
dispose of the produce of the Colonies to the best
advantage in all parts of the world, are the proper
parties to administer to the opulence of the pro-
ducers of the goods exported.
The question of the relative proportion of
urban to rural population required for the pros-
perity of a new colony depends on so many
circumstances and conditions that no rule can be
laid down ; but it is clear that the present propor-
tion of town to country population cannot be
maintained in the Australian Colonies even by the
aid of extreme protection.
At present Melbourne alone contains 43.05
per cent of the whole population of Victoria,
Sydney 34.22 of the population of New South
Wales, Adelaide 41.59 of the population of South
Australia, and Brisbane 23.79 P er cent f tne
population of Queensland, besides other consider-
able towns in each of these Colonies. A large
proportion of the inhabitants of the whole of them
have for the last ten years lived on the moneys
borrowed by their respective Governments for
Australian Banking and Finance 159
public works ; and when their populations decrease,
as they are bound to do now that all the great
public works are completed, and borrowings of
moneys for such purposes having ceased, a heavy
load of taxation will have to be borne by the
rural population which will check their progress in
wealth. At present only about 40 per cent of
the revenues of the Colonies is raised by taxation,
the revenue from land sold being the largest item ;
but when the land is disposed of, taxes must
increase enormously, as has already been noticed.
Colonial Federation has been looked on by
some Australian public men as likely to be
advantageous to the Colonies generally ; but I
found all the business men to whom I spoke of
the matter opposed to that arrangement, except
those of Victoria. Each Colony is jealous of the
other getting any advantage ; and Sydney people
would not hear of Melbourne being made the
capital of a Federation, neither would Melbourne
tolerate Sydney as their superior.
The great stretch of territory covered by the
Australian Colonies alone would make it very
inconvenient to have a central authority ; and to
include New Zealand and Tasmania would make
the scheme unworkable.
CHAPTER XII
HOMEWARD
THE weather was fine all the week after we
left Albany for Colombo, and the daily routine
undisturbed by anything of note. Our daily runs
were from 320 to 330 miles, according as the
wind and the tide favoured us.
The afternoon of Sunday the 4th June was
squally, and about midnight we enterejd the line
of the south-west monsoons, temperature 80,
and weather wet. We crossed the equator at
4.30 P.M. on Monday 6th June.
We arrived at Colombo at 4.30 P.M. on Wed-
nesday the /th, and spent the night ashore with
Mr. and Mrs. Walker, of Icicle Hall, their beautiful
residence a few miles outside the town, and situated
between the cinnamon gardens and the sea-shore.
Thursday, the 8th, we spent visiting places of
interest near the town of Colombo and making
purchases. We lunched with friends in the Grand
Oriental Hotel.
We went on board at 4.30 P.M., and at 6 P.M.
Homeward 1 6 1
sailed for Aden, very pleased to be again home-
ward bound.
From the time we left Colombo till we reached
the island of Socotra we had a gale of wind and a
temperature ranging from 80 to 90 in the shade,
with a moist atmosphere which made everything
feel damp and disagreeable, while the high
temperature had a very exhausting effect.
We reached Aden at 10 P.M. on Friday the
1 6th June, and left again at 9 A.M. on Saturday
the i /th. The night was very hot, and we lay
on deck under awnings. The temperature at
noon on the i/th was 85, but a gentle breeze of
north wind tempered it, and made the weather
delightful. At 4.30 P.M. we passed the island of
Perim lying in the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb. It
lies five miles from the Arabian and nine miles
from the African coast. The water is very deep
on both sides of the island. We passed through
the channel on the Arabian side. Perim rises
245 feet above the sea, and is bare and
destitute of fresh water. It is a mile and a
half long, and has a harbour capable of accommo-
dating 40 men-of-war within 100 yards of the
shore. It was taken possession of by the British
in 1/99, DUt was abandoned in 1801. It was
again reoccupied in 1857 with the view of pro-
tecting our way to India after the opening of the
Suez Canal.
M
1 62 Notes and Gleanings
Sunday and Monday were fine days, with a
temperature of 80, a dry atmosphere, and a
northerly breeze.
Tuesday was a charming day, temperature 8 I
and no wind, and we were sailing close to the
Arabian coast, which is low and sandy ; and along
the shore the sea was of a dark blue colour as if
saturated with indigo, but what produced the
effect I could not discover. We passed the rocks
called the Brothers at 5.30 P.M.
About 8 A.M. on Wednesday we passed a
valley at the far end of which we would have seen
Mount Sinai had the weather been clear, but the
morning was hazy.
We arrived at Port Suez at I P.M., and after
fixing an extra rudder, entered the canal at 2 P.M.
We saw the place where Arabi Pasha's men cut
the fresh- water canal to stop the supply of water
to the English troops who had landed at Suez for
the last Egyptian war ; but Admiral Hewit filled
the dry dock with water from that canal, and
secured a supply till the Egyptians were driven
off and the canal repaired. We grounded in
the Suez Canal at 9.30 P.M., and it took half an
hour to get afloat again.
We arrived at Port Said at 6 A.M. on the 22nd.
After taking on board some coals we left again at
8 A,M.for Brindisi. The temperature had now fallen
to 72, and the sea was as smooth as a mill-pond.
Homeward 163
Friday the 23rd was another charming day,
with a smooth sea, a fine gentle breeze, tempera-
ture 74, and a cloudless sky, and we sailed along
the historical island of Crete all day, and felt
much interested in seeing the island which, accord-
ing to the Greek historians and poets, was
governed by its own kings as early as 1300 B.C.
It was conquered by the Romans under Metellus,
and on the division of the Empire it fell to the
share of the Eastern monarchs. In 823 A.D. it was
conquered by the Saracens. It was under the rule
of the Venetians from 1 204 to 1625 A.D., when the
Turks besieged it, and after a war lasting twenty-
four years, captured it, and it now belongs to
Turkey. The island attained its greatest pros-
perity under the Romans.
We sighted the coast of Morea early in the
morning of Saturday the 24th, 'and at 7.30 A.M.
passed the bay where the battle of Navarino was
fought in 1827. At 8.30 we passed the island
of Strivali, which has a lighthouse and a large
Greek convent. The day was one of the finest we
had had on our voyage homewards, and we sailed
among the classic isles of Greece all day. At 2
P.M. we passed near to the town of Zante, which
was nearly destroyed by an earthquake six months
before, and saw the houses being rebuilt. The
population of the town is about 5000, and it is
built along the top of a small bay, and up the
164 Notes and Gleanings
slope of a hill on which is a strong fortification.
The island of Zante is about 24 miles long by 12
broad.
Both the ordinary and a species of dwarf vine,
on which currants grow, are largely cultivated on
the beautiful sloping ground along its shores.
Continuing our voyage, we sailed between
Cephalonia and Ithaca, the former of which is the
largest of the seven Ionian Islands, being about 30
miles long by 9 broad, and the latter 1 5 miles
long and 4 broad. The chief products of these
islands are wines, currants, and olive oil, which
are exported in large quantities:
Ithaca was celebrated among the ancients as
the principality and home of Ulysses, and on the
hill of Actos tradition points out the ruins of his
castle. The channel between these islands is very
like Loch Long. We next passed the island of
Santa Maura, and saw the white cliff, 200 feet high,
from which Sappho, the poetess, leaped on finding
her love for Phaon unrequited.
The Ionian Islands were formed into a
Republic in 1815 under the protection of Britain,
and they continued under that form of govern-
ment till 1864, when they were ceded to Greece,
and now form part of that kingdom.
We arrived at Brindisi at 6.30 A.M. on Sunday
the 27th. On entering the harbour an Italian
steamer called Milo ran right across our bows,
Homeward 165
and we struck her near the foremast, smashing
one of her boats and doing other damage.
Our captain was said to be at fault, as it is a
rule of the harbour authorities that no steamer is
to follow another inside the harbour entrance at a
less distance than ten minutes slow steaming.
Having landed our mails, and some passengers
going home overland, we left at 1 1 A.M. for Malta.
At 3 P.M. we passed Otranto, a fortified town on
the strait connecting the Adriatic and Mediter-
ranean. It has a curious old castle and a
cathedral built partly in the sea. Next fore-
noon we passed the Gulf of Catina, and about
i o'clock the town of Syracuse, once one of the
most flourishing cities of antiquity, but now
reduced to a small town of dirty streets. It is
still strongly fortified, and has a fine cathedral,
formerly a temple of Minerva, and some other
good public buildings. At 3.30 P.M. we arrived
at Valetta, and at 10.15 P - M - left f r Gibraltar,
after having spent some hours ashore. Here we
received particulars of the loss of the warship
Victoria. Some years ago many English mer-
cantile houses had branches in Malta, but they
have all withdrawn now, and the trade is entirely
in the hands of the natives.
On Tuesday the 27th, at 9 A.M., we passed the
island of Pantellaria, which used to be a noted
resort of Barbary corsairs, and which is now
1 66 Notes and Gleanings
occupied as a convict establishment by the Italian
Government At I P.M. we passed Cape Bon
near the Bay of Tunis, and at 2 P.M. Zembra.
At 5.30 we were off Bizerta, a sea-port
of Tunis, which has been acquired by the French,
and is now being strongly fortified by them. It
is the most northerly sea-port in Africa, lying
in 37 \f N. Behind the town is a lagoon about
15x9 miles, and having a depth of 40 to 50
fathoms, and the French are deepening the
channel between this lagoon and the bay, and
making it one of the finest naval stations in the
world. The ground behind the lagoon rises
rapidly to a height of several thousand feet.
At 7.30 P.M. we passed the Fratelli Rocks.
The coast along which we sailed all day was hilly
and well cultivated.
Wednesday, the 28th, we were too far off the
coast to see any towns or places of interest, but
the weather was beautiful.
At 11.30 A.M. on Thursday, the 29th, we
sighted the coast of Spain, and as we neared it,
found it to be high and broken into valleys
running from the shore to high ridges of hills
inland.
The valleys were well cultivated, and, judging
by the number of peasants' houses within sight,
appeared to be fertile. At 1.45 P.M. we passed
Cape Gata, near the Bay of Almeria. The after-
Homeward 167
noon became hazy, and we could only see the
high mountains some distance inland.
We arrived at Gibraltar at 4.30 A.M. on Friday
the 3Oth June, but did not go ashore. The
widows of several officers of the Victoria embarked
for London with us, and we left for Plymouth
at 8 A.M. A Manchester manufacturer, who came
on board at Malta, died at 2.30 P.M., and was
buried in Trafalgar Bay at 8 P.M. The burial
service was read by Captain Angus in a very
impressive manner.
Saturday, ist July, was fine, and we were within
sight of the coast of Portugal most of the
day. We passed Lisbon about 1 1 A.M. In the
afternoon vessels of all sizes, from fishing boats to
ocean liners, were within sight, and we began to
feel we were again drawing near to the centre of
the activity of the world, our own island home.
Sunday, the 2nd July, was our seventh Sunday
at sea from the time we left Sydney, and we felt
much pleased it was to be the last of our present
voyage. The Bay of Biscay had been like a mill-
pond when we passed through it. OfT Cape
Finisterre we had some showers, the first we had
had since we sailed clear of the monsoons.
We crossed the Channel on Monday the 3rd,
and passed the Eddystone lighthouse at 3.30 P.M.,
entering Plymouth harbour at 4.30 P.M., where I
landed, and went to London by the night mail to
1 68 Notes and Gleanings
attend to business, while my wife and daughters
continued their journey by the Ballarat, and
arrived off Greenwich at 6.30 P.M. next day.
We had very few first class passengers on the
homeward voyage, the number never exceeding
thirty, and only eight or ten besides ourselves did
the whole voyage from Australia to England. No
entertainments committee was formed, and no
series of amusements was carried through as in
the Oceana. But all the passengers were very
agreeable, and time passed pleasantly enough.
The officers were very nice men, and did their
best to make all on board as happy as possible.
Wednesday, the 4th, we spent in London with
some of our good colonial friends again ; and after
driving through the principal streets to see the
preparations and decorations for the marriage
of the Duke of York and the Princess May next
day, we left by the night train for home, where
we arrived safely next morning, to the intense
pleasure of the other members of our family,
who had missed us much during our long absence.
And so ended the most delightful tour we had
ever had, or are likely to have again.
Printed by R. & R. CLARK, Edinburgh
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY
Los Angeles
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