"There you have the Maori war boiled down. It cost the Government a vast amount of money, caused the shedding of a great deal of blood, led to bitter quarrels between the civil and military authorities, and very often was a matter of much perplexity to the Home Government of Great Britain; and practically it all came from the determination of two races of people, one native and the other foreign, to possess the rich soil of New Zealand."
IN NAPIER FOR HIS HEALTH.
From Tauranga our friends went by steamer to Napier, touching on the way at two or three ports of secondary importance. Napier is the chief town in the provincial district of Hawke's Bay, and is prettily situated in a position that in some of its features reminded Fred and Frank of Naples. The harbor is fairly good, but not as deep nor as well sheltered as that of Auckland. Important works are in progress for improving the harbor, and one of the leading citizens with whom our friends conversed assured them that before their words were in print Napier would be ready to accommodate the largest steamers in any of the regular lines between New Zealand and Europe.
Fred learned on inquiry that Napier was the outlet of a large area of grazing country, its exports consisting mainly of wool, frozen and canned meats, hides, and other products of regions whose chief industries were the raising of cattle and sheep. His informant told him that since the railway had reached the forest region they had done a fine business in lumber, and expected the lumber-trade to increase year by year. He further said that while Napier was an excellent place for a man in good health it was attractive to invalids, owing to the mildness of its climate. "It is," said he, "the resort of consumptive and asthmatic patients from various parts of New Zealand, and in time we expect to have them come here from Australia and India. A sanatorium has been established here in charge of our local medical men, and we also," he added, "have a fine cemetery, where anybody who fails to be cured can be sure of a comfortable and quiet place." After this, what more could a town claim in its behalf?
Hotels, churches, public buildings, and all the paraphernalia of a perfect and prosperous town were visible to the eyes of the strangers as they rode or walked through the streets. Manufactories of various kinds were busy, there was a goodly number of ships in port, and altogether Napier had an attractive appearance. That it was in the region of the Maoris was evident by the numbers of the natives on the streets, though they did not seem to be busily employed. While looking at a group of them engaged in rubbing noses with friends they had just met—this is the Maori form of salutation—Frank asked a gentleman to whom he had been introduced if the Maoris around Napier were as industrious as those of Auckland and its neighborhood.
"They are not," said the gentleman; "at least, such is my impression. The Maoris here were friendly during the war times, and consequently were allowed to retain their lands, those of the hostile tribes having been confiscated. There are about four thousand Maoris in the Hawke's Bay district, and they own large tracts of fertile lands. Some of them have farms which they cultivate, but the greater part of them prefer to lease their lands to European settlers and live in laziness on the rentals they receive. They are as a rule improvident, and show little desire to improve their condition, though the Government maintains native schools among them at its own expense.
"This district," he continued, "is much more pastoral than agricultural, and we think it is the best part of New Zealand for sheep and cattle. I wish you could be here at the time of our annual fair, so that you could see for yourself what we produce. The show of sheep is excellent, and the merinos, Lincolns, and Cotswolds exhibited cannot be excelled anywhere in the whole colony. Our horses are certainly good, and at the last show there was not an inferior animal in the cattle-pens. One class of eight heifers was so good that the judges commended all that did not take prizes. Then we had ploughs, horse-rakes, grain-sowers, wagons, pleasure carriages, and other things, all made in our own factories, together with jewellery and silver and gold work from New Zealand metals, various manufactured articles, such as farina, starch, glucose, and other products from the growth of our fields.