Chapter VII
NEW ZEALAND
ONE'S first impressions of New Zealand, or Maori-land, are distinctly favourable. Seen from the coast, it is a more pleasant land than Australia; though, even after passing through Australia, the traveller from the old country, still measuring all things in his heart by our ancient and time-stained buildings, and by the bright verdure of our country districts, will find something strange, almost menacing, as of a transitory civilisation still struggling with unconquered nature, in the numerous wooden buildings and the darker green of the Bush. But, after all. New Zealand being subject to occasional shocks of earthquake, wooden buildings are perhaps safer than those of brick and stone. Besides which, quarries are few and far between. Enfin, it is not the fashion yet to build great houses before the land is tamed. It is much the same with the landowners as with the miners of the country, one of whom lately voiced his contempt for a Russian gold dredger he had seen, fitted with carpeted saloons, cosy cabins, and the electric light. "In this country," he said, "we spend our surpluses, not on carpets, but in the construction of more dredges." It is the true spirit of the Anglo-Saxon: especially when (as in the Australasian colonies) he is not possessed of much capital. However, most of the principal places of business and warehouses in the chief towns are now being erected
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