Page:Letters from New Zealand (Harper).djvu/95

Rh arriving from Australia and California in great numbers, and here in Canterbury there is no small exodus of all sorts and conditions of men to the Southern gold fields. It means for Canterbury some slackness of prosperity for a time, followed by purchase of land, and settlement. Certainly, the powerful attraction of gold, which brings people from all parts of the world, in God's Providence, seems to induce the development of country which otherwise would remain for many a long decade a mere sheep-walk.

There is, naturally, some little jealousy here at the good fortune which has fallen to the lot of our Southern neighbours in this respect, and I am tempted to give an amusing instance of it. A night or so ago I was in an accommodation house, in the one living-room, and heard the following argument, after supper: "Why isn't gold discovered in Canterbury," said an Irishman, "as well as in Otago? Haven't we got a Government Geologist? Sure, an' I don't see the use of havin' Dr. Haast if he can't find gold here." I tried to explain that Dr. Haast had reported that the geology of Canterbury, so far as he knew it, shewed no symptoms of any gold deposit. But he stuck to his point, and added: "Thin, why does he get such a good salary?" This gold mania is a veritable fever, and is increased by the news that in Otago gold is literally being got in handfuls, in very shallow ground. But it costs its full value, for there has been much privation and hardship on the goldfields during the late severe winter.

May 2nd, 1864.

A postscript to my letter: I am glad to say that I was thoroughly successful in that work of