Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/80

Rh of the prepared fibre, valued at 27,783, were exported, besides a considerable quantity of manufactured rope. Those great necessities of commerce, roads and railways, are being constructed in various directions. A line is in course of formation from Auckland up the valley of the Waikato, as far as Newcastle, at the confluence of the Waipa, and a survey has been made for about 20 miles further. A road runs from Bowen, on the Bay of Plenty, across the country, through the wonderful lake district, with its boiling fountains, steam geysers, and mud-baths, round by the east coast of Taupo Lake, and over the highlands to Napier, in Hawke s Bay province. The history of Auckland was for long the history of New Zealand, and will be fully treated under that heading. (See NEW ZEALAND.) For a descriptive account of a large part of the province, the reader is referred to Dr Hochstetter s valuable works, especially to his New Zealand, 1863. A very graphic sketch of some of the natural curiosities is furnished by Anthony Trollope in his Australia and New Zealand, vol. ii.

, the capital of the above province, is finely situated on an isthmus in the N.W. peninsula, on the S. shore of the Waitemata harbour, which is formed by an inlet of the Hauraki Gulf. Lat. 36 51 S., long. 174 50 . On the other side of the isthmus lies the harbour and town of Manukau, which serves as a supplementary port to the city. Auckland was founded in 1840 by Governor Hobson, and became a burgh in 1851. It was till 18G5 the seat of the Government, which is now situated at Welling ton. The city has a fine appearance, especially from the harbour, and is surrounded by a number of flourishing suburban villages, with several of which it is connected by railway. Among the public buildings in the city and neigh bourhood may be mentioned the governor s house, the cathedral, St John s Episcopal college, about 4 miles distant, the Auckland college and grammar school, the Episcopal grammar school, in the suburb of Parnell, the provincial hospital, the provincial lunatic asylum, and the orphanage at Parnell. A wharf, 1690 feet in length, has been built opposite the centre of the city, and affords excellent accommodation for the gradually increasing traffic of the harbour. In 1872, 170 non-colonial vessels, with a tonnage of 54,257 tons, entered the port, besides a large number of coasting ships. There are registered at Auck land 1 67 sailing vessels and 20 steamships, most of them of provincial build. The population, which was 7989 in 1862, had increased by 1871 to 12,937 (with the suburbs to 18,000), and is now estimated at about 21,000.

 AUCKLAND ISLANDS, a group discovered in 1806 by Captain Briscoe, of the English whaler &quot; Ocean,&quot; about 180 miles S. of New Zealand, in lat. 50 24, long. 166 7 E. The islands, of volcanic origin, are very fertile, and are covered with forest. They were granted to the Messrs Enderby by the British Government as a whaling station, but the establishment was abandoned in 1852. (See Kay- nal s Auckland Islands, 1874.)

 AUCKLAND, WILLIAM EDEN, BARON, an eminent diplomatist and politician, third son of Sir Robert Eden, Bart., of West Auckland, was born in 1744. He was edu cated at Eton and Oxford, and adopted the profession of the law. At the age of twenty-seven he resigned his practice at the bar, and engaged in political life as under-secretary to Lord Suffolk. By the favour of the duke of Marlborough, he obtained a seat for Woodstock, and soon gave proof of his ability in the House. He attached himself to Lord North s party, and after serving under Lord Carlisle on the unsuc cessful commission to the colonists in America, acted as secretary to that nobleman, when he held the post of viceroy in Ireland. During this time he had obtained the offices of director and auditor of Greenwich Hospital, which probably yielded him an income sufficient for carrying on his political career. In 1783 he took a leading part in negotiating the remarkable coalition between North and Fox, and was rewarded by being made vice-treasurer of Ireland. In 1784 he opposed Pitt s proposal for commercial reciprocity with Ireland, but in so doing contrived to separate himself to some extent from his own party, and shortly after accepted from Pitt the office of plenipotentiary at Paris. Here he successfully negotiated the important commercial treaty with France; and after his appointment as ambassador to Spain, he rendered valuable service in settling the dispute between the British and French Governments with regard to the affairs of Holland. In 1789 he was made an Irish peer, with the title of Baron Auckland, and in 1793 he was raised to the British peerage as Baron Auckland, of West Auckland, Durham. For three years, 1798-1801, he held office as postmaster-general. He died suddenly in 1814. In 1776 he married the sister of the first earl of Minto, by whom he had a large family. Besides numerous pamphlets on political mat ters of the day, Lord Auckland wrote a treatise on the Principle* of the Penal Law, 1771. His political con duct has been frequently censured; he was a skilful diplomatist, and as a statesman was specially remarkable for his clear grasp of economic principles. His Journal and Correspondence, 4 vols. 1860-1862, published by his son, the bishop of Bath and Wells, throws considerable light on the political history of his time.

 AUCKLAND, GEORGE EDEN, EARL OF, Governor- General of India, born 20th August 1784, was the second son of the subject of the preceding notice. He completed his education at Oxford, and was admitted to the bar in 1809. His elder brother was drowned in the Thames in the following year; and in 1814, on the death of his father, he took his seat in the House of Lords as Baron Auckland. He supported the Reform party steadily by his vote, and in 1830 was made president of the Board of Trade and master of the Mint. In 1834 he held office for a few months as first lord of the Admiralty, and in 1835 he was appointed Governor-General of India. He proved himself to be a painstaking and laborious legislator, and devoted himself specially to the improvement of native schools, and the expansion of the commercial industry of the nation committed to his care. These useful labours were inter rupted in 1838 by the hostile movements of the Persians, which excited the fears not only of the Anglo-Indian Government but of the home authorities. Lord Auckland resolved to enter upon a war in Afghanistan, and on the 1st October 1838, published at Simla his famous manifesto. The early operations were crowned with success, and the Governor-General received the title of Earl of Auckland. But reverses followed quickly, and in the ensuing cam paigns the British troops suffered the most severe disasters. Lord Auckland had the double mortification of seeing his policy a complete failure, and of being superseded before his errors could be rectified. In the autumn of 1841 he was succeeded in office by Lord Ellenborough, and returned to England in the following year. In 1846 he was made first lord of the Admiralty, which office he held until his death, 1st January 1849. He died unmarried, and the earldom became extinct.

 AUCTION, a mode of selling property by offering it to the highest bidder in a public competition. By 8 Vict. c. 15, the uniform duty of 10 per annum is imposed on every licence to carry on the business of auctioneer, but duties on sales by auction are abolished. It is the duty of an auctioneer to sell for the best price he can obtain, and his authority cannot be delegated to another unless by special permission of his employer. The auctioneer s name must be exhibited on some conspicuous place during the 