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.
"We had a charming ride," said Frank, "over the railway to Oxford, where we took the coach in the direction of the famous region of New Zealand geysers. Much of the country through which the railway passes resembles England both in scenery and products; English fruit-trees grow well here, and English grasses seem adapted to the soil. American pines have been introduced and are doing well; they make a pleasing contrast to the New Zealand wattle-tree and cabbage-palm and the ferns which abound everywhere. The country is thinly settled, but will undoubtedly support a large population in course of time. Villages with European houses alternate with Maori encampments, the latter abounding with lazy aboriginals.
"One of the advantages claimed for New Zealand is its similarity to England in climate and products, with the great point in its favor that while the climate has all the mildness of that of England it lacks its severity. The average temperature of London is said to be seven degrees colder than that of North Island, and four degrees colder than the temperature of South Island.
"They tell us that snow seldom lies on the ground at the sea-level on North Island, and not very often on South Island; but the summit of Ruapehu, the highest mountain in North Island, and also the tops of the peaks of the great mountain chains in South Island, are perpetually covered with snow. The snow line is about seven thousand five hundred feet high.
"The sun was shining brightly and there was a genial warmth to the air when we left Auckland, but within an hour we were in a terrific rain that beat heavily against the windows of the railway-carriage and pattered like hail on the roof. 'This is our one drawback,' said a gentleman who accompanied us, when the rain began to fall. 'The changes of weather and temperature in New Zealand are very sudden. The alternations from heat to cold, from sunshine to storm, from calms to gales, are so frequent and marked as to defy calculation and prevent our saying with truthfulness that there is any uniformly wet or dry season throughout the year.'
"Then he went on to say that compared with Great Britain the climate seemed to be far superior when the death-rate was considered. It was less than eleven in one thousand annually, and lower than in any of the colonies of Australia. He claimed that the salubrity of the cli-
