Judging from the accounts I heard on my return to Invercargill, the weather on the main land must have been less fine than that I had experienced; nor do I imagine that a larger quantity of rain falls there than on the main. That detaining rain is frequent is not surprising, seeing that the high range of hills running down the centre of the Island naturally attracts and holds the already-vapour floating about, which are in some measure again discharged before being dissipated on the rising of the sun; but it is generally only an early shower, light and not lasting, which more assists than retards vegetation. I have no doubt that as the forests get cleared away in the progress of settlement, the climate will improve in this particular. From my experience, I would imagine the thermometer rises higher in the bays and bights on the Island than at Invercargill.

The Bays on the east coast are sheltered from the westerly gales by the high ranges already alluded to. The slopes of the hills have, as a rule, a north-easterly aspect, and the rays of the sun being concentrated by the contracted space into which they are poured the heat obtained is greater than on more open places I noticed how well sheltered the land in these bays is, when it was blowing half a gale outside.

G E N E R A L.

On the whole, I cannot but conclude that Stewart Island will prove, and that shortly, a very valuable and important portion of the Province. There are many industries which, dormant at present, will, when quickened into life, prove remunerative. Irrespective of any mineral wealth which may exist, of which I can only form a conjectural opinion from the singular appearance of the different strata of rocks on the south and west coasts of the Island, I am of opinion that it will be well adapted for the small class of settlers—say 50-acre men. From the peculiar configuration of the land, a large extent of it is rendered available by its frontage to the water. Its being covered with timber and scrub cannot form a very serious impediment to its settlement, inasmuch as in many parts of the North Island, heavily timbered land, meets with ready sale, though in the interior; while the densely-wooded shores of Blueskin, Port Chalmers, and the harbor up to Dunedin, in the Province of Otago, were bought and cleared long before the fictitious stimulus to the price of land consequent on the discovery of gold.

One of the most serious difficulties a young settler has to contend with in a new and sparsely populated country, is the carriage of his provisions from the town to his land, pending his being able to raise sufficient produce to support himself and family off the ground he has purchased. He must either buy a team of his own or pay the heavy rates for carriage consequent on bad roads. These expenses, to a man of small means, are very heavy, and not infrequently so crushing as to seriously retard his advancement. The means which would have enabled him to cultivate and improve his land with rapidity, are dissipated in the expenses of carrying his food. On Stewart Island, much of this will be obviated. His fishing line and gun will supply him with one of the necessaries of life; and, if he has a whaleboat, he can obtain the rest at no expense, so far as carriage is concerned, from the main land or, if he has none, at a trifling cost, both in money and time, in comparison with land carriage. He will thus be in a better position to devote his energies and means to the clearing and cultivation of his land than his compeer, settling fifteen miles inland from Invercargill. I believe the sale of the timber would more than pay for the clearing in most of the bays. The admirable water communication would enable the logs to be floated or shipped to where a saw-mill might be established, and if it will pay to saw timber anywhere, it will at Stewart Island. At Port Pegasus, the splendid spars, and the knees, ribs, &c., of the rata, will always command a good price for shipment to the Mauritius—a trade with which is already established in Dunedin: vessels from the former place would only too gladly load with such on their return. Thus the cost of clearing the land will be less than on the main, while produce once obtained, the facilities for exporting it are greater. The local consumption of agricultural produce in all young settlements is not great, and the demand being satisfied, the majority of the population easily occupied in producing the same staple. To pay the agriculturist he must export, and on the main he is met with the usual difficulty—defective internal communication. The settler at Stewart Island will be in a very advantageous position in this respect: he has Nature’s highways—the sea. He can boat his produce across to the Bluff, and ship it on board a steamer for Australia or the West Coast; or sell it to a merchant, delivering it as above. He will thus be enabled to sell it at a moderate price, and will consequently find a ready market.

Shipbuilding is an industry which could be conducted with great success on the Island, some of the bays in which are peculiarly adapted for the purpose. The numerous sheltered coves in Paterson Inlet and Port Pegasus furnish a hundred dock-yards from which vessels of size could easily be launched, while the raw material abounds, and is of the best quality. I saw a vessel of 160 tons being built, every rib of which was formed out of the natural curve of the rata tree, the strongest and toughest wood for the purpose. I was also given to understand that there were one or two natural dry docks.

T H E D I S T A N C E S

Of the various ports from each other, I have taken from the “New Zealand Pilot.” I found the Admiralty survey wonderfully correct, so much so that the enlarged charts of the various bays...