New South Wales, from whence they can be got under 30s. per ton, landed in Port Cooper, than to clear bush land, for we are sure that for the expense he must incur in merely chopping and burning-off the timber of one acre of bush land, he can supply himself with at least a twelvemonth's supply of coals; and if the cost of stumping the land and rendering it fit for the plough were to be added, he would be able to get two years' supply of coals for what it would cost him to clear a single acre.
Having visited all the New Zealand Company's settlements, made repeated visits to the Wairarapa; traversed the country from Port Nicholson to Taranaki, and the whole of the east coast of this island; and after considerable experience in England as farmers, and for the last nine years in New Zealand, we can with some confidence congratulate you on being able to secure this district as the site for the Canterbury settlement; for, excepting the Taranaki district, which is without a harbour, inundated with natives, and already occupied by the New Plymouth settlement, we do not believe a suitable site could ever have been secured elsewhere in the Company's territory; and we are certain that no site equal to this is now open for selection. Besides the 1,000,000 acres required for the New Settlement here, there are at least 3,000,000 acres surrounding it, the greater proportion of which, we believe, is good agricultural land; and all of this large tract is peculiarly adapted for the depasturing of stock. We mean the country from the Kai Koras to Moeraki, at both of which places vessels can anchor with tolerable safety.—We are, &c.,
W. & J. Deans.
Captain Thomas, Agent and Chief Surveyor
to the Canterbury Settlement.
Extracts from a Letter from the Chief Surveying Officer of H. M. Ship "Acheron."
H. M. S. V. "Acheron," Wellington, Port Nicholson,
New Zealand, May 8th 1849.
My dear Mr. Hutt,—We are only within the last week returned from our surveying cruise on the eastern coast of the Middle Island; I gladly avail myself of an opportunity (by way of Sidney) to communicate some account of that locality which may prove of interest to you. I feel much obliged, my dear sir, for your kind remembrance of me, and beg that at all times you will command my services; since seeing the scene of Mr. Thomas's labours, (full accounts of which have doubtless ere this reached you,) I feel the more pleasure in entering into your views, because much prejudice that I had preconceived of New Zealand has been removed; and further, that our knowledge has been obtained without either the assistance or information imparted from your advanced party, Mr. Thomas having quitted Port Cooper before our arrival there, and his being now absent at Auckland, settling I hear the diplomatic part of the business.
It is somewhat extraordinary that so little should be generally known of the east coast of the Middle Island, and I think you are fortunate in obtaining the services of Mr. Thomas, who appears to have acted with great discrimination and judgment in his choice of a site, opposed as it has been to various reports, and in the face of some strongly expressed opinions, as I hear. From what we have seen, we are all highly delighted with Banks's Peninsula and the adjoining country, not only for itself, but for the extraordinary climate it enjoys.
To return to the country. Our labours in the Acheron extended from Cape Campbell southward to Otago; much of the examination was necessarily of a cursory nature, but we thoroughly examined the whole of Banks's Peninsula, and made detailed surveys of its numerous harbours and smaller anchorages, with their approaches. Captain Stokes and a party made a long excursion to the northward of Port Cooper over the plain, avoiding the tracts of Mr. Thomas's party, and extending their researches some thirty-five miles beyond their northern limit. Of the Canterbury plains (I follow the temporarily adopted names of Mr. Thomas), our explorers spoke in the warmest terms, and they were much gratified to find that beyond a limiting range of mountains (Mt. Grey) to the north, a
