All being in readiness, a number of very perfect maps were thrown on the canvas, showing the plains, valleys, mountains, lakes, and rivers of Zelania, with the nature of the production of each island; and a careful and detailed description as to location and resources was given by the orator.

Then, calling the attention of his audience, Oseba notified the people that he was now reaching the closing chapter of his report, or in our refined phrase he was on “the home stretch.” He said:—

“Now, my children, at this stage of our inquiry, I desire to remind you again how closely man is allied to Nature; how he is adjusted to all the environing conditions; how the fresh breezes of a temperate zone give him a fair skin; how a varied and pleasing aspect gives him a cheerful temperament; how the mountains suggest to him freedom, and the seas adventure; how climate depresses or exhilarates; how pastoral pursuits awaken the romantic in his nature; agriculture, patience and sturdy industry; and the search for precious metals, a careless independence and intelligence.

“Then, for this last, let the Titans wrest from Nature all that conspired to make the Phoenician, the Greek, the Norse, and the Briton, and mould them artistically into the most pleasing form, and lo! Zelania would appear in her pristine glory to—fashion a man.”

Here he briefly described the workings of the government of Zelania, how it had adopted the parliamentary system of Britain, and that, while it acknowledged a proud allegiance to the British crown, it was probably the most unmitigated democracy the world had ever beheld.

“As a member of a compact,” Oseba said, “Zelania owes but a loose allegiance to the Motherland, for she is at liberty to part the cable at any time and float away with the parental blessings. But, as a fact, she is held by a sentiment stronger than bands of steel; and by the voluntary sacrifice of many of her noblest sons on distant fields, she has proven, not only her loyalty to the Crown, but her love for the Empire and her devotion to British aspiration. Theirs is not merely the loyalty of the subject—’tis the tender regard of children for the generous kindred of homeland.

“Now, my children,” continued the orator, “I am going to show you another series of views, some the works of man, and some the works of Nature, that have influenced my actions. Glance through the album I have given you, and you will see the style of men, who, on the lines so strongly suggested by the inviting environment, have fashioned the social creeds of the country.

“It is a grand thing to behold men strong enough and brave enough to lead the people up, not to where they may ‘see the promised land,’ but to secure for them and their children a nobler heritage than Joshua ever saw or Moses ever dreamed of.”

The orator claimed that though the mightiest imagination could not reach a comprehension of these enchanting scenes, he felt that the views presented would justify his claim that of all lands Zelania was the most wonderful on the globe.

And now he proceeded to call attention to the human side—how the denizens of this most favored country were using their peerless opportunities, and this was even more wonderful, for Nature followed rules and precedents, while these people broke them.

“A man may famish,” said Oseba, “surrounded by the most dazzling splendor; he may starve, amid the most wild, weird and stupendous beauty; but when erratic Nature has strewn in the same garden that which most elevates the soul and administers most to the nourishment of the body, man should tender the tribute of his admiration and gratitude, and—‘go to work.’”

In Zelania, as I interpret the orator’s meaning, the gods have conspired to do all this, and to make the lot of man a happy one. But in a life so frail and so full of wants, the practical side deserves consideration, for while the Deity may furnish the paddock, he will not throw blood oranges on fern trees, or grow “A No. 1” cauliflower on ground not subdued by the spade or the plough.

After having made so fine an exhibition of the choice spots of Zelania, Oseba commented upon the peculiar notions of the Outeroos regarding their visits to other lands. He said by the Outeroos’ measure, he himself had been the world’s greatest “discoverer,” for he had found and charted the whole outer surface. He had “discovered” China, Japan, Russia, and other countries; he had discovered Africa, America, Australia, and finally the “Paradise of Oliffa”—Zelania.

Many people on Oliffa did not care to be “discovered”—in fact, would rather not have been, and, among these, were not improbably, those fading Maoris of Zelania. The “discoverer” had been the bane of many a people—remember the color-line!

Oseba told his people that “Zelania was once discovered by Tasman in 1642, and that it was not discovered again for more than a hundred years, when Cook found it in 1769. Later, to the temporary joy and final regret of the Maoris, the French also ‘discovered’ the country, and soon some gentlemen from Sydney called, and in 1814 the ‘parsons’ found it, since which time the collections have been regular. I,” said he, “am Zelania’s last ‘discoverer,’ and my report shall be a modest one.

“In 1840 the Union Jack was permanently nailed up in queenly Auckland, Zelania being made a province of New South Wales, and the next year the country was erected into a colony, with a good billet for the favorite of a British Premier.

“In 1865 the capital was removed to Wellington, a very breezy city, with fine ‘sloping’ hills at no great distance from the water-front.

“As in other British colonies, government here meant liberty, and, as in all habitable countries liberty means progress, Zelania has had a full measure of prosperity, practically from the beginning.

“If,” proceeded Oseba, “the Outeroos ever evolve a generation of thinking men, the mystery of mysteries to them will be how a people as educated and business-like as the generation, who discovered and developed steam and electricity, and the modern commercial systems could be stupid enough to give away or sell to a few of the people the land upon—and from—which all the people must necessarily live. Further, it will be interesting to inquire by what course of reasoning the temporary custodians of the public domain arrived at a conclusion that they could rightfully alienate it, ignoring the will and the right of all who might come by the next train.

“As broad, as almost limitless, as is the meaning of supreme authority among the Outeroos, by no compromise with expediency, by no stretch of the imagination, can any human power consign the future generation to a madhouse, or to homelessness, or to a condition of serfdom under the heirs of the more fortunate few; but to grant the lands to a small number of persons is to pawn the cage in which the animals are eternally locked.

“Unfortunately, before the ‘rulers’ of Zelania had been broadened by the pure air of this wonderland, they had parcelled out much of the better lands to a comparatively few persons. But the grapes fed by the early rulers to the parents of the colonials, set the teeth of the children on edge.

“The area of Zelania is 104,000 square miles, as against 124,000 for the United Kingdom; and the population is 800,000, as against 40,000,000 for the United Kingdom.

“But, behold the growing wisdom of the generations! In the United Kingdom, by inheritance, by the crimes of authority, a few hundred families, or less than one out of every 2,000 of the population, ‘own’ nearly one-half of the whole country; while in this new world, the smaller follies of earlier rulers are already being corrected, and the lands are being rescued from baronial control and held for ‘the people,’ regardless of the time of the arrival of their train.

“As the Outeroos are mostly land animals, my children, and as we have learned how important the land is to human happiness, I will give you briefly this phase of the social situation of Zelania as being developed by its present leaders.”

Then he reminded his audience that Zelania embraced 104,000 square miles or about 66,000,000 acres of land.

Mr. Oseba claimed that the British Isles, with 79,000,000 acres, with a considerable area of waste, support nearly 40,000,000 people; Italy with about 70,000,000 acres, with much waste, supports 30,000,000 people; Prussia, with about 90,000,000 acres, large areas of waste, supports 31,000,000 people; France, with about 125,000,000 acres, with extensive mountain regions, supports nearly 40,000,000 people; and that Belgium and Holland, with about 18,000,000 acres, and much waste, support over 10,000,000 people.

He argued that if the estimates were approximately correct, this most favored of all lands on the surface of Oliffa would support, on a like plane of living of the Italians, 22,000,000 of people; on a like plane of the French, 12,000,000 people; and on a like plane of the British Isles, at least 10,000,000 of people.

But he explained that with a like population of these countries a like plane of living would be inevitable; so, for the happiness of Zelania, he thought, it was fortunate that many splendid obstacles stood in the way of a rapid increase in population. The cry for population was the most delusive mockery that ever lured a people to the verge of misery.

Here I quote the intrepid discoverer:—

“B-i-g does not spell ‘great.’ China has what most of the new countries of Oliffa are screaming for—‘population.’ Yet China is not considered ‘great.’ India, even with British rule, as a people or a race is not ‘great.’ The true greatness of a nation consists in the greatness of the individual units composing the nation, and not in their numbers. America is great as a nation, but the real average ‘greatness’ of the individual American has been declining for many years. Better travel comfortably with a select party than rush to ruin in a crowded train.

“There is no relation between size and value. Even the most ambitious Outeroo would hardly claim Lambert, who weighed forty stone, to have been ‘greater’ than little Pope, who looked like an interrogation point and weighed but eight. So, as there is no virtue in avoirdupois, there is no ‘greatness’ in mere numbers. Better flirt with one healthy girl, than take a dozen sour old maids to the pantomime.”

Mr. Oseba might have mentioned, had he known the facts, that Phoenicia, that gave to the world the ship and the alphabet, and anticipated modern commercial methods, occupied but a small strip of country—mostly sterile—from eight to twenty-five miles wide, and less than a hundred and eighty miles long; that Attica, at the feet of whose philosophers we still sit, from whose artists we still copy, and to whose orators we still listen, embraced but seven hundred square miles; and that the population of Sparta, while in her glory, probably never exceeded ten thousand souls.

“No, my children,” said Oseba, “b-i-g, does not spell ‘great,’ and any Zelanian who is caught howling for ‘population’ should be compelled to ‘shout’ for the whole crowd until he goes ‘broke,’ and has to hunt a billet to enable him to buy a beer and a bun. The desirable cannot be bribed—others should not be wanted.”

Here, Leo Bergin, with a deep love for Zelania, “pimples out into poetry”—“on his own,” as follows:—

ZELANIA’S GREETING.

Well, that is as refreshing as it is novel. Mr. Oseba and Leo are both right, and I say, “Well done!” for a popular gentleman of old said: “He that provideth not for his own household has denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel,” and if this was Paul, he was not far “beside” himself on this occasion.

It is very pleasing mental recreation to talk about the “brotherhood of man” and the equal rights of “all the children of God” to play anywhere on the surface of His “footstool,” but Nature suggests that “every living creature” shall hold down its claim or it will be crowded out, and this same cruel, relentless, unsympathising “Nature”—that always “barracks” for her longest-clawed children—helps to shovel the weak into the compost heap.

With the achievements of modern times, with industrial progress, specialised effort and rapid transit, the many-hued people of the earth may enjoy the fruits of all lands without practising at the same bar or sitting at the same table.

That “God made all men equal” is pretty—it is very pretty; but it lacks the merit of scientific truth, and while it may be desirable—profitable—to deal with the outside “barbarian,” and to aid, educate, and elevate him, none but a fool or a fanatic would bring a hoard of park loafers into his dining-room and seat them at his table, to the exclusion of his own children—or his wife’s relations.

We may do justice by a “brother” man without boarding him or converting him into a brother-in-law.

Mr. Oseba said:—

“Zelania’s needed population will arrive in due season, for, besides her own resistless attractions, Oliffa must be more densely covered; but in ‘filling up the country’ from abroad, the heads should be weighed and not counted. Zelania may select her own coming population, for whether for health, for profit, for pleasure, for curiosity, or to study lessons of the highest social and political wisdom, she is curiosity’s magnetic pole, and with prudent management on the part of her ‘rulers’ she will soon become the happy loitering place for the leisure-loving, wealthy, and well-to-do of all lands. Then, thousands of those who ‘call’ will be so charmed with her faultless climate, her romantic scenery, her hospitable people, and her splendid opportunities for domestic happiness and private gain, that they will cast their lots in this ever-enchanting land.

“Nature points to Zelania and says to all her children:—

“‘Come and see what I did when I had my hand in.’ Then, my children, let me anticipate, for I desire that you may now have a glimpse of the goal to which I am leading you.

“Well, I may tell you these British people to whom I have briefly referred, composed almost exclusively in this case of English, Irish and Scotch, being far removed from central authority, so strongly tempted by new opportunities, and so resistlessly influenced by new and pressing demands, have amazed the world by the boldness of their political conceptions and by their marvellous achievements in social experiments.”

From Mr. Oseba’s oration one would conclude that never did a colony of loyal people more readily depart from traditional usages, never did a community enter into the possession of a new country who so readily adjusted themselves by their customs, their laws, and their rules of action to the requirements of a novel environment as did the settlers of this peerless land.

He claimed that, in little more than half a century, before they were three-quarters of a million souls, by their achievements in social evolution the Zelanians had excited the interest and won the admiration of the civilised world.

“Selfishness,” he argued, “is the mainspring of human action, and the actuating motive of every human being is to secure the greatest possible happiness with the least possible expenditure of physical toil.

“Though the social instincts of man help to tame him, all social and political systems in the world are based upon very human traits. The savage, for his own happiness, by force appropriates whatever he wants or can get. The half-civilised man cunningly appropriates the land, that its fruit may ripen in his granary, that himself and family may be happy, while the really civilised man would divide the opportunities among all, and his happiness is found in the general joy. The Zelanians are being civilised by evolution and parliamentary enactments.

“And they allotted the land as each had need.”

Oseba reaffirmed his conclusions that no people ever took possession of a new country who shaped the land laws with a due regard to those who came later—with rights just as holy—save the Zelanians. In this they were more nearly complying with the rational demands of justice than any other people.

“I will give you,” said he, “a glimpse of the policy now in vogue, and how it seems to satisfy the hopes of its sponsors, for this will deeply interest you.”

The orator here began a review of the land system of Zelania, and, with a view to brevity, the notes will be “boiled down” to the lowest possible comprehensive space.

As the country was originally divided into some nine provinces with as many governing bodies, each vested with authority to deal with and dispose of the public domain, there naturally arose a system that resulted in great inequality, as well as in great confusion. Then as all the provinces were in need of roads, bridges, schools, and other public improvements, they vied with each other in offering inducements for immigration or new population, and with a hand exceedingly lavish, the lands were alienated—often in large tracts.

When the Colonial Parliament took over the public property—by an abolition of provincial authority—the land question at once assumed a new importance. This came about at the most intense stage of the modern transitionary period. “Industrial progress” had ushered in the most resistless spirit of commercial expansion in all countries. Then population became a “necessity” and railway construction became almost a mania everywhere.

The contagion struck Zelania. Public improvements were an absolute necessity, and the lands were the chief assets and “capital.” For a time the lands were recklessly sold, but the mania for internal improvements became so unconquerable that foreign capital was called, and by a resort to the seemingly most reckless borrowing policy ever indulged in by a sane people, the lands were partially saved for a better future.

I quote:—

“Of the 66,000,000 acres there are said to be 35,500,000 ‘occupied,’ and of this, 16,000,000 acres are ‘freehold,’ 11,000,000 are held under various crown leases, while the rest is leased from private owners, or from the natives—who own, as a people, several million acres. As the Maoris are usually tired, these lands are mostly leased to the ‘superior race,’ who do the work.

“The number of holdings is 115,713, with an improved value of £120,981,599. This is good. It shows an unparalleled proportion of land-holders, but it is not enough, and the ‘Government’ is making strenuous efforts to increase proportionately the population of rural districts, and of ‘land holders,’ if not of land ‘owners.’

“Under an old system, the lands were so recklessly disposed of that even yet fully one-fourth of those ‘occupied’ are ‘owned’ by comparatively few people; but the Government has applied a strong ‘persuader’—graduated land tax—and the great inequality will gradually disappear. The issue now is, ‘custom versus justice,’ and with the face turned to the new, the old loses its potency. The burden should be more on the land and less on the laundry.

“The laws and rules applied to the land of Zelania of late years, not only take into consideration the desires and requirements of would-be occupiers, but also the class of the land—the holdings for the better to be smaller in area than those for the poorer tracts. Of good or first-class land, under certain tenures, 640 acres only may be taken or held, and of second-class, 2,000 acres.

“There are several tenures under which ‘crown lands’ in Zelania may be acquired—one by purchase for cash; one with lease and right to purchase, rent to be 5 per cent. on unimproved value; and one, an eternal lease (999 years) with a rent of 4 per cent. during this period on original capital value—unimproved. Compulsory residence of the holder is enjoined during the currency of the lease in leasehold tenures.

“Under the Ægis of the law, if wise and just, people are encouraged and assisted by the Government in forming small agricultural communities of not less than twelve heads of families—for the Outeroos have families—and this group may have set apart for them a suitable block of land upon which to settle. This secures educational advantages, for in every community the Government not only establishes schools, but compels parents to send their children for instruction.

“But when conscience was thoroughly aroused, it became evident to the most casual observer, that the great estates not only stood in the way of social progress, but that holding vast areas out of cultivation was a menace to the future liberties of the people. And further, that though there were considerable Crown lands suitable for occupation, the conditions for ‘closer settlement’ on them were not over favorable; and, further still, that every successful effort to settle these lands not only vastly increased the value of the great estates, but increased the temptation of the large owner to further extend his domain.

“Under the earlier rÉgime the follies of the old rapidly spread over the new world, and by 1890 most of the better lands in Zelania were parcelled out in lordly estates and owned by a few persons.

“Almost before the people were aware of the tendencies of the times, a gigantic land monopoly threatened to overshadow the country. But being 14,000 miles from central authority, the affections of the people for hoary customs had weakened, and vested rights in ancient wrongs soon began to find earnest protestation.

“The rights of imminent domain were understood, the people had no notion of erecting a landed aristocracy, and a few bold souls, who, by the force of inherent genius had arisen from the industrial ranks, conceived the idea of writing another chapter in the history of human progress.

A Maori Beauty.