. The geography of New Zealand. Historical, physical, political, and commercial . Avas destined to attain a larger sizeand far more importance, rather in consequence ofits position with reference to surrounding coasts,than as a village supported by the agriculturalindustry of the Hutt valley. Nelson was chosen for a settlement purely becauseof its geographical position. It was the only safeport that could be found in the western portion ofCook Strait, and it lay close to the fertile level landof the Waimea plain. Dunedin and Otago were selected, in 1848, by anagent who passed by the Canterbury
. The geography of New Zealand. Historical, physical, political, and commercial . Avas destined to attain a larger sizeand far more importance, rather in consequence ofits position with reference to surrounding coasts,than as a village supported by the agriculturalindustry of the Hutt valley. Nelson was chosen for a settlement purely becauseof its geographical position. It was the only safeport that could be found in the western portion ofCook Strait, and it lay close to the fertile level landof the Waimea plain. Dunedin and Otago were selected, in 1848, by anagent who passed by the Canterbury Plains beforethey had been settled, because he thought it wouldbe impossible to reduce the low-lying, swampy landof the plains to a fit condition for agriculture. Itis hard to see what advantages Dunedin possessedfor settlers that were not j)Ossessed in far greatermeasure by Lyttelton. The surrounding hills,though certainly less lofty around Dunedin, werethickly covered with almost impenetrable forestnearly to the waters edge, and the plains beyond 40 GEOGRAPHY OF NEW ZEALAND. THE PROVINCES 41 them in the Taieri valley were more deeply coveredwith water than were the Canterbury , perseverance, and resource were de-manded of the old Otago settlers in no ordinarydegree. The Canterbury settlement was also formedbecause of the geographical advantages possessedby the site. The harbour at Lyttelton and the richflat open plain beyond the Port Hills were sufficientto attract the pilgrims. This, the last of the specialcolonisation schemes, was effected in 1850. These two southern settlements, like those atWellington, Nelson, and New Plymouth, had beenorganised by the New Zealand Company, but morecomplete arrangements had been made for thereception of the settlers and for their occupationof the land than had been the case in connectionwith the earlier ventures. Each colonising expedi-tion consisted of representatives of all grades ofsociety, so that there should be no hi
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Keywords: ., bookauthorgregoryj, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookyear1905
