PREFACE. The author of this volume having enjoyed a favour able opportunity of acquiring useful and interesting intelligence respecting the colonies of Australasia, during his journeys and voyages in the Southern hemisphere, ventures to submit to the notice of the public a descriptive narrative of his experiences in that important quarter of the world. His chief object in this publication is to describe New Zealand, but he deems it essential to this purpose to give a com parative account of the neighbouring colonies visited by him, during the last three years. Strongly impressed with a conviction that coloni zation is the natural remedy for that wide-spreading national distress which arises from great excess of labour over the means of employment, the author deems the present time very opportune for bringing these subjects before the public. The climate of Australasia, and the range of its productive capabili ties, as well as the high commercial importance which its colonies have acquired, even in their infancy, stamp this region as superior, in present and prospective