Page:Every Woman's Encyclopedia Volume 1.djvu/633

 6o7 WOMAN'S WORK Prospect Offered to Women Emigrants— Social Life in New Zealand— What Markets are already Overstocked— A Demand for the Intelligent and Willing Domestic Worker ^F all the British overseas dominions, New ^^ Zealand, the farthest from the heart of the Empire, is probably the one in which a woman emigrating from England would find herself most at home, where she would find least in climate, social conditions, and character of the people to remind her that she was twelve thousand miles away from the land of her birth. A great deal has been written about New Zealand's scenery, and the attractions it offers to travellers in the variety and the glorious beauty of its lakes and mountains, its rugged fiords, its rivers flowing among bush-clad hills, and its thermal wonderland, beautiful and mysterious. These are the guide-book attractions of the country, but they are not to be considered by the in- tending settler any more than the lakes of Westmorland, the Trossachs, or the beauties of the Southern English coast are to be seriously considered by the man coming from the colonies to live and make his fortune in England. They afford opportunities for many a delightful holiday, but that is all, though this also must be said, that most of the inhabitants of New Zealand live in or near to fine scenery, for most of the chief towns are beautifully situated by the sea with a background of hills or mountains, and even where inland towns are built on the flat the clear atmosphere affords a fine view of distant heights. The question of climate affects the emi- grant a great deal more, and it is in her climate that New Zealand boasts her greatest charm. The islands extend from north to south over a distance almost as great as that between London and Madrid, so that there is considerable variation in the temperature ; but there are no great extremes of heat and cold and mild, warm days are common alike in summer and winter. The rainfall is heavy, but the sun shines for more than half its time, the climate is invigorating, and, as has been said, the air is singularly clear, giving one an outlook over such a wide stretch of country as it is difficult even to imagine in this hazier atmosphere. And the social conditions are like the climate, without any great extremes of poverty and wealth, but with a general mild, sunny prosperity that shows itself in the appearance of the people, who spend much on dress, and a great deal on amusements, and in each large town support shops which would be no Heathcote Valley. Between Christchurch and Lyttelton, N.Z. A characteristic glimpse of one of the longer established villages planted with British and Australian trees .,,. j^ .^. „ Photo, New Zealand Govt. Tourist Dept.