"In the province of Otago there are rich reefs, and in some places gold has been found at elevations of six and seven thousand feet above the sea. The highest mine in New Zealand is on the summit of Advance Peak, near Lake Wakatipu, in South Island.
"The mines have been beneficial to the country in two ways: first by the yield of gold, and secondly by attracting attention and emigration to New Zealand. Like the colonies of Australia, New Zealand offers inducements to emigrants, and is very desirous of promoting emigration from the overcrowded countries of the Old World. An agent-general is maintained in London, and a vast amount of printed matter setting forth the advantages of the colony to actual settlers is issued annually from his office. Emigrants with families are carried to New Zealand at a reduced rate of fare, and at one time they were transported almost free of charge, so anxious was the Colonial Government to increase its population. The colony now has nearly if not quite six hundred thousand inhabitants, which is certainly a good showing when we remember that the settlement had its beginning in 1840, when its first governor came out from England."
A MINER'S CAMP IN THE MOUNTAINS.
Our friends remained at Grahamstown over Sunday, and observed a state of affairs which was an improvement over that of American mining towns in general on the first day of the week. All work was suspended, and the whole population turned out in its best clothes. There are churches of nearly every denomination at Grahamstown, and all were well filled with worshipers; one of the churches has a stained-glass window which cost some fifteen hundred dollars—certainly an unusual sight for a mining town.
VISITING A MINE.
Monday was spent among the hills and in the mines of the Thames, and the youths retired to bed that night thoroughly wearied with the exertions of the day. On Tuesday the party returned to Auckland, and immediately arranged for a visit to the Hot Lake district. The trip was planned as follows: Their heavy baggage was sent by steamer to Tauranga, which is on the east coast, and the nearest port to the district they were to visit. Then, with only their hand-bags and some rough garments and necessities for mountain travel, the trio proceeded by rail, coach, and horseback to their destination. By this plan they were enabled to see the country and avoid travelling the same route twice over. The route for the ease-loving tourist is from Tauranga by coach to the Hot Lakes, a distance of about fifty miles, and back again over the same route. It is proper to say that travellers who come as far as New Zealand for the sake of sight-seeing are greatly disinclined to repetition, and nearly all visitors go by one route and return over another. The Government has established a sanatorium and laid out a town in the centre of the Hot Lake district. It is building a railway from Oxford to this town, and the promise is confidently made that by the end of 1888 travellers may go by train from Auckland direct to the Hot Lakes without the fatigue of a coach-ride over the present rough road.