Page:Report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords, appointed to inquire into the present state of the Islands of New Zealand.pdf/9

J. L. Nicholas, Esq.

Did the Soil appear productive, so far as you had an Opportunity of seeing?

Very productive.

Is it a heavy Soil; or what should you describe it, with reference to any English Soil?

It of course varies, but I should say, generally speaking, it was a rich loamy Soil. One great Proof of the great Fertility of the Soil is the Magnificence of its Forest Trees, many of which grow to an enormous Size, and afford very valuable Timber.

What Description of Trees principally?

Principally of the Pine Species. There is a great Variety of Timber in the Country fit for all Purposes; as for Ship-building, domestic, and other Purposes. The Forests of New Zealand afford perhaps the finest Spars for Masts and Yards in the World, and which are extremely valuable. In India, the Wood being there very heavy, they cannot get any Description of Wood to make good Spars, and those taken from New Zealand find there a ready Sale.

Had there been at that period much Intercourse with Vessels?

No great deal at that Time, and what there had had been rather to the Annoyance of the Natives, for they had been ill used in many Instances by the Captains of Trading Vessels which went down there.

There was no Establishment of Europeans there at that Time?

There was not a single European in the Island except Two, and those were Two runaway Convicts whom we found there, and who were very glad to surrender themselves to us immediately after our Arrival. They had secreted themselves on board a Whaler, and escaped to New Zealand under the Idea, I suppose, that they should live there in Ease and Independence; but they soon discovered their Mistake, for the Crew of the Vessel having told the New Zealanders that they were Thieves, and had escaped from Sydney, the Natives treated them with the utmost Contempt, and told them that unless they worked they should not eat, and to prevent their being starved they were obliged to labour. When they came on board they were in a most miserable Plight, almost naked and half starved.

Did it appear that they had treated them with personal Cruelty?

No; they said the Women treated them very harshly, but one of the Chiefs, who had taken them under his Protection, treated them kindly, and took them to his cultivated Lands, and said to them, “If you will work I will feed you.”, The Case is very much altered now, a great Number of runaway Convicts having settled in many Parts of the Northern Island, and also Adventurers from New South Wales of the most abandoned Description.

Have you been there yourself since 1815?

No, I have not.

When you say they are settled there, do you mean that they have obtained Possession of Tracts of Land?

I understand they have, to a very considerable Extent.

By Purchase or by Force?

By Purchase.

You speak on that Subject only from what you have heard?

Just so.

Had you an Opportunity of judging whether the Island was thinly or thickly peopled at that Time?

I should say it was very thinly peopled, considering the Extent of the Island. The Villages we came to were small and contained but a scanty Population. It is impossible to give any correct Account of what the Population might be. I think Foster, who accompanied Captain Cook, supposed the Population of the Northern Island to be 100,000; in the Book I wrote when I came back I put it down at 150,000; it is of course all Guess-work, but the Population is well ascertained to be very inadequate to the immense Extent of the Country.