Australia, New Zealand and some islands of the South seas

by Frank G. Carpenter

This is all wrong. New Zealand is twelve hundred miles from Australia. It is a separate dominion of the British Empire, and entirely independent of the Commonwealth. The voyage from Sydney to Wellington takes four days, or almost the time of the fastest crossing of the Atlantic from New York. The two countries are as unlike in climate as South Carolina and Norway. The northern tip of Australia is nearer the Equator than Florida, while the southernmost island of New Zealand is in the relative position of Portland, Oregon.

New Zealand is a land of lofty mountains, geysers, volcanoes, rivers, fiords, and glaciers. Australia has no geysers, glaciers, or volcanoes; her mountains are not high, she has but few rivers, and the heart of the country is a vast desert. New Zealand has seventeen ports with harbours deep enough to accommodate ocean-going vessels; Australia’s seven largest ports have comparatively shallow harbours, which have required much dredging. Australia has more than three hundred and ninety species of lizards and a hundred different kinds of snakes, most of them poisonous. New Zealand has no snakes of any kind. The aborigines of Australia are among the most primitive peoples of the world, but the Maoris, the natives of New Zealand, are able to take a part in the government of their country.

New Zealand is one of the most remarkable botanical regions of the world and nowhere are there more beautiful forests. The giant fern is so common that it is the emblem of the country.

The southwest coast of the South Island rivals both Norway and Switzerland in its scenic beauty. There the glaciers have made fourteen great sounds, walled with steep cliffs and lofty mountain peaks.

Yet there are also many points of likeness between these two South Sea members of the British Empire, especially in their forms of government. Each country has a Governor-General appointed by the British Crown and each has a Parliament of two houses. In both the executive power is in the hands of a ministry, that is, the leaders of the majority parties in the Parliaments. Each maintains a separate tariff against Great Britain and neither tolerates the least interference of the Crown in its domestic affairs, though both are consulted by Great Britain on matters affecting the British Empire. Furthermore, both Australia and New Zealand are the scenes of all sorts of experiments in government ownership and control and each is noted for its liberal labour laws. The New Zealand government owns the railroads, the telegraphs, and the telephones; it competes with private companies in the insurance business, owns and operates the coal mines on the public lands, and undertakes all water-power developments.

To most of us New Zealand is an empty land in a far-distant part of the globe. I find it filled with a busy people and moving rapidly along on the lightning express of civilization. Neither is it so far away, after all. It is now only eighteen days from San Francisco, only about thirty-five days from London, and good steamship lines connect it with all parts of the globe. From the New Zealand ports there are regular sailings to London by way of the Cape of Good Hope, by the Suez Canal, or the Panama Canal. Still another route to Europe is across the Pacific from Auckland to Vancouver, a voyage of more than six thousand miles; thence by rail to Montreal, Quebec, or New York, and then across the Atlantic. Scores of steamers go from port to port along the wild New Zealand coast, and one can leave here almost any week for the Tongas, the Fijis, and other islands of the South Seas.

The Dominion of New Zealand is made up of three islands. As they lie on the map they form a great boot turned upside down with its toe toward Australia and with the ankle broken by Cook Strait. The foot is the North Island, on which are situated Auckland and Wellington, the two biggest cities. The South Island, which contains the highest mountains and some of the best agricultural areas, forms the leg, and Stewart Island, the little patch of land at the bottom, makes the loop at the end of the boot strap.

The total length of the boot is one thousand miles, or more than the distance from New York to Chicago. At its broadest part it is about as wide as from New York to Boston. The North Island is nearly as big as Pennsylvania, and the South Island is larger than Illinois. Stewart Island is about half the size of Rhode Island. It is mountainous, and although it supports a few sheep, it is chiefly a summer resort. The combined area of these three islands and some smaller ones adjoining is a little more than that of Colorado. In 1901 New Zealand annexed the Cook Islands, and under a mandate from the League of Nations it now administers former German Samoa.