isfied enough to find there is a niche even for her in our
Canaan.

The great question that of late years has been continually asked of old
colonials in England is, what are the prospects afforded by New Zealand
to men of the middle classes? The answer is usually unfavourable,
simply because many colonials cannot disassociate the idea of a
gentleman adventurer from that of a scapegrace or ne'er-do-well.
Secondly, they look at the questioner's present condition; and never
take into consideration the power he may have of adapting himself to
totally different circumstances. I think this view admits of
considerable enlargement, and my experience has led me to believe that
many a man, who struggles through life in the old country in some
exacting and ill-paid sedentary occupation, might have been benefited by
emigration. The colonies have been inundated with ruined spendthrifts,
gamblers, drunkards, idle good-for-nothings, who have been induced to
emigrate in the belief that that alone was a panacea for their moral
diseases. Very very few of them have reformed or done any good, so that
colonists are naturally prejudiced against their class, and look upon
gentleman-new-chums with great suspicion. Again, some go out who are too
delicate or sensitive to stand the roughnesses they are bound to
undergo, and these break down in their apprenticeship the first year or
two, and, if they can, go home again to speak evil of the colony ever
afterwards.

One thing is certain, the educated man has the advantage over the
uneducated, and his abler mind will sooner or later be of use to him,
although his physique may be weaker than the other's. The
gently-nurtured individual finds the preliminary trials of colonial life
very hard indeed--he is heavily handicapped at the start--but there is
no reason why he may not do well after a time. Gentlemen-immigrants
usually think they may find work of a congenial sort, such as clerking,
assisting in a store, or some occupation of the kind in the city. That
is a mistake; while yet they are new-chums there is but one thing for
them to do--to go away into the bush and labour with their hands. Of
new-chums, only artisans are absorbed into the city population as a
rule; all others have to look to manual labour of some kind, and
generally up-country, for a means of subsistence. All the clerks,
counter-jumpers, secretaries, and so on, are either old colonials, or
colonists' sons. Very rare is it for a gent