[48] These grants, however, are only made to the person who actually defrays the expenses of the passage: thus they are not made to children, but to their parents; not to the servant, but to the master, who has paid the passage of the former.
[49] Besides the Kauri pine, there is abundance of Rimu or red pine, the Kahi-Katea or white pine, the Tanakaha or pitch pine, the Matan or black pine, as also the Puriri or New Zealand oak, all trees of great utility.
[50] At the period of the Novara's visit to Auckland the proportion of the various nationalities and religions were as follows:
| Nations. | |
| Irish | 11,881 |
| Scotch | 11,881 |
| English | 35,644 |
| Germans and other nations | 594 |
| ——— | |
| 60,000 | |
| Religions. | |
| Catholics | 7,500 |
| Presbyterians | 7,500 |
| Wesleyans and Dissenters | 15,000 |
| Episcopalians | 30,000 |
| ——— | |
| 60,000 |
[51] The Government also publishes at its own expense a Maori paper weekly, Te Karere Maori, the Maori Messenger, the subscription to which is 5s. 6d. per annum, and is intended to keep the coloured population informed of the most important political and social events, as also to tend to their civilization. We subjoin the contents of a single number now lying before us. "The laws of England.—Remarks upon ship-owners.—Official notices.—Letter from the chiefs of Chatham Island.—Farming, commercial, and maritime news.—Price current.—Speech of some brown chiefs at a meeting at Mongonui.—Letter from Bay of Islands.—Deaths.—The Auckland infirmary.—Government orders, &c." Colonel Brown deserves special praise and acknowledgment for the publication of the laws of England in Maori, accompanied with the original text, although the fruits of this arduous but important labour may only gradually become apparent.
[52] It is especially worthy of remark, that wherever the Anglo-Saxon race colonize, the newspaper and the post-office follow the footsteps of the first settlers. After these come the church and the school-house. Newspaper perusal and dispatch of letters are among the first necessities of life to the Englishman. In the whole of New Zealand there were, in 1858, 64,357 copies of the various journals struck off, and 482,856 letters received and dispatched. The province of Auckland alone figures for 239,367 papers and 133,121 letters.
[53] See Appendix III.
[54] See Appendix IV.
[55] These two Maories, who at first were very much depressed, soon got reconciled to their new sphere, and by their excellent conduct and obliging disposition, presently became great favourites among the crew. Only during our rough passage round the Horn, the tremendous storms and the unaccustomed severity of the cold caused them great uneasiness; they thought, as they themselves said, that "they must have died then;" and great were their longings for their native country. When at last they arrived safely and in excellent health at Trieste, they travelled to Vienna in company with one of the members of the Expedition, where, through the kindness of Privy Councillor von Auer, they entered into the Imperial-Royal Printing House, and were also instructed in the most important and interesting particulars of European civilization. Mr. Zimmerl, a member of that Institution, who had made the Maori idiom a special study, taught them English and German, as well as the manipulation of types and lithography, besides copper-plate engraving and drawing from nature. So intelligent and anxious for improvement did they prove themselves to be, that the Imperial Government were requested by the Directors of the State Printing Office to present the two Maories on their return to their native country with the necessary implements to enable them to avail themselves at home of the knowledge they acquired under such creditable circumstances. During their nine months' stay in Vienna, they were made acquainted with all the "lions" of the metropolis, and all the manners and customs of European civilized life. Of all the numerous sights that must have astonished their unaccustomed senses, there was none that seemed to have made a more powerful impression than the Railway, "the most splendid evidence of the powers of the foreigners, compared with which all others are unimportant, and which they earnestly trust will soon be introduced into New Zealand." The culmination of their visit to Vienna consisted in a visit they paid to their Majesties in the Imperial Palace, by whom they were received with the most gracious consideration, and orders issued that they should receive a handsome present, and have their return to their native country defrayed at the Government cost. On 26th May, 1860, the two New Zealanders quitted Vienna, and travelled through Germany to London, where they stayed several weeks, were presented to the Queen, and embarked at Southampton for Auckland direct. They arrived in safety at home, and have since then repeatedly written to their friends and associates in Vienna. The style of these epistles is in the highly figurative style peculiar to New Zealand. They abound in repetitions, and are not very inventive in rounding their sentences or giving their impressions, though they occasionally surprise the reader by the tenderness and poetic fervour of their thoughts. Thus, for example, Toe-toe writes once from Vienna to one of the Expedition resident at Trieste: "Thou art at Trieste, on the sea-shore! We climbed the Leopold Berg,—thence to descry the clouds which floated over Styria. Trieste we could not see, for our eyes were veiled by the tears which flowed from them!" The news we have received of Toe-toe since have been rather distressing. He issues from the press, presented to him at Vienna, stirring publications, comparing the Maories to Pharaoh (?) and exciting them to declare their independence!
[56] Commanded by Captain Wilkes, recently so notorious by his conduct with reference to the English mail steamer Trent, in Nov. 1861.