. The boy travellers in Australasia : adventures of two youths in a journey to the Sandwich, Marquesas, Society, Samoan and Feejee islands, and through the colonies of New Zealand, New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania, and South Australia. all to twenty miles; all the others are the prop-erty of the Government, and are operated on its account. The profitof operating the railways is about two per cent, of their cost; but thelines are greatly benefiting the country in aiding its development, andwill doubtless pay much better before many years. There, Im afraid Ive given you a large do
. The boy travellers in Australasia : adventures of two youths in a journey to the Sandwich, Marquesas, Society, Samoan and Feejee islands, and through the colonies of New Zealand, New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania, and South Australia. all to twenty miles; all the others are the prop-erty of the Government, and are operated on its account. The profitof operating the railways is about two per cent, of their cost; but thelines are greatly benefiting the country in aiding its development, andwill doubtless pay much better before many years. There, Im afraid Ive given you a large dose of figures; but if youdont like them you can skip. They were interesting to Fred and my-self, and therefore I thought others might like to see them. Popula-tion, railways, education, and public debt are interesting studies whenthey concern a country which has been colonized only since ISttO, and isliterally on the other side of the world from England and the UnitedStates. While Frank was occupied with the foregoing story Fred was mak-ing further investigations about Wellington. One of his first querieswas about the use of wood in the construction of so many of the publicbuildings, and nearly all the private residences. AN OFFICIAL 256 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN AUSTRALASIA. He learned, in response to his interrogatories, that Wellington hassuffered at different dates from earthquakes ; and at one time they wereso severe and so numerous that it was thought it would be necessary toabandon the site altogether. Buildings of wood endure earthquakesmuch better than do those of stone or brick; and then, too, wood is acheaper material. All through New Zealand the proportion of woodenbuildings to stone, concrete, or brick is very large, and it is larger inWellington than in any other city. Many of the buildings stand on ground reclaimed from the sea, andthe -work of reclamation is still going on. High hills come down closeto the original shore, and while they are good enough as
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Keywords: ., bookcentury180, booksubjectsailors, booksubjectvoyagesandtravels
