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 NEW ZEALAND

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NEW ZEALAND

ment in excise conditions throughout the State, as well. as incitlcntally in an enormous increase in the revenue of the State from this source. It h;u< caused the al- niosl complete disappearance of unlicenccd liijuor- selling, and has improved general order and decency in tlie business of Irtillicking in liquor, especially in the congested i)arts of the cities. The principle of high licence is carefully followed. I'he fee for a saloon liceni-e, for example in the Borough of Manhattan, is Sr2(K) per annum, the charge decreasing, according to the circumstances, to •S1.')0 per annum in the rural dis- tricts. The State is divided into excise districts which are in charge of deputy commissioners suiiervised by the staff of the commissioner of excise at Albany. Al- though it is an unusual jirovision which thus central- izes the power over the licjuor traffic at Albany, and it Bcems to violate the principle of home rule adopted by all the public parties, the experiment is on the whole regarded with satisfaction. It should be noted that this law liiis created a very great abuse because of its provision attaching the right to sell liquor on Sunday to the keejiing of hotels. There have thus sprung into existence the "Raines Law Hotels", which, satisfying the very inadequate provisions of the statute, obtain hotel licences without any legitimate business reason, and primarily for the purpose of selling liquor on Sun- day. They are generally conducted as to their hotel accommodations in such a way a.s to be a menace to public order and decency in the poorer residential dis- tricts of the large cities of the State. They often defy police control, and their legal status makes their regu- lation or supervision most difficult. Earnest efforts have been made for many years to remedy the evil, but have met w-ith but partial success. Ample provi- sion is also made for local option as to prohibitive liquor licences in all localities of the State excepting the larger cities. It has worked well in practice.

Clergymen. — Priests and ministers of the Gospel are exempted from service on juries and from service in the militia of the State. A clergyman's real and per- sonal property to the extent of S1500 is exempt from taxation, if he is regularly engaged in performing his duty, is permanently disabled by impaired health, or is over seventy-five years old. The dwelling-houses and lots of religious coqjorations, actually used by the officiating clergymen thereof, are also exempt to the extent of $2000. Any clergjTnan is empowered at his pleasure to visit all county jails, workhouses, and St ate prisons when he is in charge of a congregation in the town where they are located.

liolidai/s. — The legal holidays of the State are New Year's Day, Lincoln's Birthday (12 February), Wash- ington's Birthday (22 February), Memorial Day (30 May), Independence Day (4 July), Labour Day (first Monday of September), Columbus Day (12 October), and ChrLstmas Day. If any of these days fall on Sun- day, the day following is a public holiday. The statute also provides that the day of the general election, and each day appointed by the President of the United States or by the Governor of the State as a day of "general thanksgiving, general fasting and prayer, or other general religious observances ", shall be holidays. Each Saturday, which is not a holiday, is a half-holi- day. There is of course no religious significance in the creation of any of these holidays, as far as the State is concerned. Good Friday, by general custom, is observed as a holiday throughout the State, al- though it is not designated as a legal holiday. The rules of the local school boards throughout the State also provide Uberty to both Christian and Jewish scholars to take time from the school attendance for religious observances on their respective holy- days.

Lamb, Hist, of City of New York (New York. 1877); Baylet, Hist, of Calk. Church on Island of N. Y. (New York, 1869); U. S. Catholic Ilii^torical Society, Records and Studies (New York), es- pecially for Oct., 1900, and Nov.. 1907; United Stales Census 1900: New York Stale Census J90S; Lincoln, Conslilulionat Hist, of

N. Y. (Rochester, 1906) ; Alexander. Political Hist, of the State of N. Y. (New York, 1900) ; Wilson. Memorial Hist, of City of N. Y., Slalesman's Year Book- for lillfl (New York, \9W);Report of N. Y. Chamber of Conmurn- (New York, I'.llll); U. S. Census Bulletin, Hclllliou.': Bodies UIIU; (VV;,.Hiii.iKt.,Tl. VMV.W; O'Cali.ahhan. Imws ami Ordinances nf New i\\H,rrla,„l . C.h.nial Laws of N. Y. (Al- bany); Durum, III.-: rrliiliiiii to Colonial Hist. (Albany, lSS.'i-87); P'OWLER. lull. •.luiii. Ill !,i Bradford's Imws (New York, 1894); Sampson. Calli,.h.' l.ii„.-.li,iii in America (New York. 1813); De- bates of the i'niiMitiitiunal Convention of 1821; Birdseye, Cdm- Mixtj and Gilbert. Consolidated Laws of N. Y. (New York, lau'.l); Ecclesiastieal Records of N. Y. (1901-5); Revised Slatutes: Reports of Revisers; Smith. N. Y. City in 1789 (New York, 1889); Rtimrl III l'i,mmi.<sioner of Excise (Albany. 1910); Shea. Hist, of Call' I ' . ' ' '/.. ('. S. (New York. 1886); Clarke. Lives of the Dri. /■ .'f Ike Cath. Church in the V. S. (New York.

1S7J I ■,. . . II ;/ /. iifthe City of N. Y. (New York. 1880) ; Bccleai- a,^^.ll' /I'.i",/ -I ,V. Y. (official) (Albany. 1901); DeCourcy- Shea, I'aiie.i III IHsl. of Cath. Church in U. S. (New York, 18,57); Farley. Hisl. of SI. Patrick's Cathedral (New York. 1908) ; Zwier- LEiN. Religion in New Netherland (Rochester. 1910).

Edward J. McGuire.

New Zealand, formerly described as a colony, has, since September, 1907, by royal proclamation, been granted the style and design.ation of "Dominion", the territory remaining, of course, as before under British sovereignty. It consists of three main islands (North Island, South Island, sometimes also called Middle Island, and Stewart Island) and several groups of smaller islands lying at some distance from the principal group. The smaller groups included within the dominion are the Chatham, Auckland, Campbell, Antipodes, Bounty, Kermadec, and Cook Islands, along with half a dozen atolls situated outside the Cook Group. The total area of the dominion — 104,751 square miles — is about one-seventh less than the area of Great Britain and Ireland. The quantity and quality of the grazing land .available has made New Zealand a great wool, meat, and dairy-produce country. Its agricultural capabilities are very con- siderable; its forests yield excellent timber; and its mineral resources, though as yet but little developed and not very varied in character, form one of the covmtry's most valuable assets. Volcanoes, one of which, Ngauruhoe, the highest cone of Mount Ton- gariro, was in active eruption in 1909, and a volcanic belt mark the centre of the North Lsland. In the North Island also is the wonderland of the boiling geysers — said by geologists to be the oldest in the world, with the exception of those in Wyoming and Idaho — and the famous "Hot Lakes" and pools, which possess great curative virtue for all rheumatic and skin diseases. An Alpine chain, studded with snow-clad peaks and mantled with glaciers of greater magnitude than any in the Alps of Europe, descends along the west coast of the South Island. In the South Island also are the famous Otago lakes (Wan- aka, Wakatipu, Te Anau, and Manapouri) of which the late Anthony Trollope wrote, " I do not know that lake scenery could be finer". The south-west coast of the island is pierced by a series of sounds or fiords, riv;illing in their exquisite beauty the Norwegian and Alask;ui fiords; in the neighbourhood is a water- fall (the Sutherland Falls) over 1900 feet in height. Judged by mortality statistics the clim.ate of New Zealand is one of the best and healthiest in the world. The tot.al population of the dominion on 31 December, 190S, was 1,020,713. This included the Maori popu- lation of 47,731, and the jjoijulation of Cook and other Pacific islands, aggregating 12,340.

I. Civil History. — Tasman discovered the islands in 1642 and called them "Nova Zeelanda", but Cap- tain Cook, who surveyed the coasts in 1769 and fol- lowing years, first made them known. The colony was planted in 1840 by a company, formed in England and known first as the New Zealand Company, after- wards as the New Zealand Land Company, which with auxiliary associations founded successively the settlements of Wellington, Nelson, Taranaki, Otago, and Canterbury. New Zealand was then constituted a dependency of the Colony of New South Wales