New Zealand Farming was more

Adventurous than in England

THE early settlers of New Zealand were all keenly concerned with the ownership of land. They came out to the young colony with the idea of farming, even if they intended to direct the work of others rather than to work on their farms themselves. The advertisements of the New Zea­land Company, the principal agency in bringing out the first immigrants, all painted a glowing picture of the fertility of the soil and the tem­perate excellence of the climate of New Zealand.

Many settlers, particularly before they arrived in the country, imagined New Zealand as another England—a land of lush meadows, trim hedge rows, rolling downs, and deep, quiet rivers. The reality may have been a shock to many of these men. The ancient forest, stretching deep and mysterious from the stormy shores to the summits of all but the highest mountains, the swift dangerous rivers and the fact that there was only a limited amount of perfectly flat land in thin strips of coastal plain or alluvial flats must have seemed terrible obstacles. Yet their vision of untamed agricultural countryside remained to hearten them in all the difficulties of pioneering.

The best tribute to their hard work is modern New Zealand, which, though it has many wild corners, is one of the world's most successful farming countries.

These early farmers were hard headed, practical men. Also they must have had a strong love of adventure. They were almost all men of capital who could have made a good living at home. Though they all hoped to grow richer, the desire to make money was not their strongest motive for coming so fat to a little known and possibly dangerous country. They had a love of land for it's own sake, and the more fortunate enjoyed the satisfaction of being monarchs of all they surveyed, of seeing from their doors square miles of country which they could call their own.