try is destitute pf snakes, and possesses no insect so noxious as the English wasp. The pig, introduced by Cook, runs wild, and the red and fallow deer, the pheasant, partridge, quail, etc., and the commoner domestic animals introduced by colonists, thrive well. In March, 1874, there were in the colony 99,859 horses, 491,917 cattle, 11,704,853 sheep, 123,921 pigs, and 1,058,198 beads of poultry, besides nudes, asses, and goats. Coal in in abundance, and of good quality, as well as iron, gold, silver, tin, copper, etc, are distributed over the colony. For statistics of the quantity of gold exported, see article OTAGO. Valuable timber is in great abundance. In 1877, the revenue (of which the sources are principally customs' receipts, and sale of crown lands, amounted to £3,790, 545; the debt of the general government to S:.20,691,111. In 1875, the debt was under £14,000,000. The exports, consisting principally of wool, corn, gum, preserved meat, and gold, amounted, in 1877, to £6,329,251; the wool of that year being valued at 3,112,469. The total exports of gold from 1857 to 1375 were 7,955,295 oz., in value .-E30.994.786. The imports, consisting of British manufactures, etc., amounted to £6,973,418 in 1877. At the end of 1877 there were 720 in. of railways in operation, and 427 in course of formation; there were also 7,200 m. of telegraphic wires erected, with 142 stations. The revenue of the post-office in 1876 was £129,203.
The colony was divided into the following nine provinces: Auckland, Taranaki, Wellington, liawke's Bay, Nelson, Marlborough, Canterbury, Otago, and The provinces were abolished by the colonial parliament in 1875, and a system of coun ties substituted. The government is administered by a governor appointed by the crown, and a ministry, a legislative council nominated by the crown, and a house of representa tives elected by the people. National sehools—maintained by a capitation tax of 10s. per child, and not more than £2 per family—various colleges, and a university in Otago, are the principal educational institutions. A very large proportion of the p:pulation of European descent can read and write, more particular in Otago. The prim ,,,,tlehurches are the Church of England, predominating in Canterbury; the Presbyteriantainrch, which predominates in Otago and Southland; the Wesleyan; and the Roman Catholic. In 1875 the immigrants into New Zealand amounted to 31,737 persons; the emigrants from it, to 6,467; leaving a balance of 26,270 in favor of immigration. The population in 1858 was 59,328; in 1971, 256,260; and in 1876, 399,075. The New Zealanders, or Maoris (q.v.), estimated, in 1867, at 38,510, and iu 1875, at 45,470, are mostly located in North island. The military and civil forces of New Zealand are the volunteers, numbering 6080 of all ranks, and the armed constabulary, consisting of 728 men, of whom 84 are mounted.
The hospitals and charitable institutions are numerous.
New Zealand was discovered by Tasman in 1642, and was repeatedly visited by capt. Cook, who surveyed the coast in 1770. After the settlement of Port Jackson, in New South Wales, the English and American whaling ships had recourse to the coast of New Zealand for provisions and shelter. New Zealand flax came also to be an article of traffic, and individual Englishmen began to settle on the coasts, and intermarry with the natives, and acquire right of their wives or of purchase. Missionary enterprise began in 1814, favored by various chiefs, and the missionaries not only labored to con vert the natives, but introduced improved culture among them, and tried to protect them from the injustice, fraud, and oppression of the Europeans that had acquired settle ments. A British resident or consul was appointed in 1833, but without authority. To put an end to the state of anarchy induced by a disultory colonization, and the purchase of lands for a few hatchets or muskets, a lieutenant-governor was appointed in 1840, and a treaty concluded with the native chiefs, whereby the sovereignty of the islands was ceded to Britain, while the chiefs were guaranteed the full possession of their lands, forests, etc., so long as they desired to retain them: the right of pre-emption, however, was reserved for the crown, if they wished to alienate any portion. Thus New Zealand became a regular colony. the seat of Government of which was fixed on the bay Waite mate, and called Auckland. The previous year an association, called the New Zealand company, had made a pretended purchase of tracts amounting to a third of the whole island, and for a dozen years most of the colonization of New Zealand was conducted under its auspices. The conduct of the company is considered to have been on the whole prejudicial to the prosperity of the colony; and after a long conflict with the gov ernment, they resigned, in 1852, all their claims—which the government had never con firmed—on condition of receiving £268,000 as compensation for their outlay. The unscrupulous way in which the company and others often took possesion of lands brought on, between 1843 and 1847. a series of bloody conflicts with the warlike natives, whose hostility, after having subsided for some time, in 1861 again broke out in a series of intermittent struggles. These until, on the withdrawal of the imperial troops, the colonists, from their knowledge of bush life and intensified earnestness, cinn pletely subdued the refractory natives, who arc now turning their attention to agricul ture and trade. In 1852 constitutional government was established, and in 1865 the seat of government was transferred from Auckland to Wellington, the present capital.