Show written for this paper TRAVELS LETTER NO friday october nth 1895 after attending to some necessary business in conecpion with the transportation of elders I 1 commenced my bit hi orical labors in auckland new zealand pertaining to the australasian mission assisted by elder jonn john johnson who is the secretary of the mission he commenced to act in that capacity a few months ago when elder ben goddard the former secretary returned home from a long iong and faithful mission saturday october lath I 1 continued my labors of the day previous and was introduced to elder charles hardy president of the scattered fragments of what was once the auckland branch brother hardy embraced the gospel Go in 1854 in australia Atiat ralia and together with other saints sailed from the province of victoria april 1855 on the brig garguena Tar guena bound for america but the ship sprang a leak and only brought her passengers to honolulu hawaii where she was declared unfit for further sea service and the emigrants hid had to pursue their way from there to america as best they could brother hardy who fas was then an unmarried man succeeded in in reaching san bernardino Bernar Berna raino california where he lived for several years but instead of going to utah when the san bernardino saints migrated thither brother hardy went to england where he took to himself a wife and in due course of time wended bended his way to new zealand where he has raised quite a family after the elapse of many years he be saw a latter day saint meeting advertised verti sed in an auckland paper which caused the old spirit of mormonism to come upon him anew and he made himself known to the elders and was in due course of time baptized by elder john P ot of salt lake city since then ethen he be has remained a faithful member of the church and has often the mission in a material way bein being blessed with some of this worlds goods thursday october irth having occasion to seek retirement while consulting about matters of importance elder william gardner and myself started out on an early morning walk in the course of which we ascended the famous mount eden an extinct volcano situated about three miles inland from the business part of auckland the mount or hill is about feet high and the view from its summit is most extensive and magnificent ent all around is seen the craters of extinct volcanoes a careful count footing up the remarkable total ot of 63 with in a radius ol of five miles showing what a warm corner of the earth this must have been at some prehistoric pre historic date auckland with its beautiful suburbs and splendid harbor lie hei spread out at ones feet and beyond the Wai takeru ranges on one side and the caroman dels on the other while the extinct volcano cano Rangi toto with its cone dominates the landscape land sape straight ahead mount eden is also interesting in other points the crater remains a perfect inverted cone forming a vast alphi theatre which is sometimes som soni times used for mass meetings befi of the populace in older maori ar i days the hill was a pa or stronghold and the terraced fortifications are plainly visible on its sides auckland containing a population of about including suburbs is situated on the shores of Wah Wait emata harbor a beautiful stretch of water branching from the haurani gulf the ground upon which the city is built is rolling and some of the hills are quite steep but as the streets instead of cros crossin bing each other at right angles have been laid out so as to conform to the hill slopes the streets are quite nicely graded auckland is the chief port for the trade with the south pacific islands the city was founded by governor william hobson in 1843 and it remained the capital of new zealand till 1864 when the seat of government was removed to wellington since october 1854 auckland has been known to latter day saint history on that day eiders augustus farnham and william cook landed in auckland from australia as messengers of truth and salvation to 10 the people of new zealand which at that time contained a population of only about whites auckland only had two or three thousand people in 1854 the elders on arriving found all the houses of accommodation in the city full in consequence of an influx of emigrants consequently they had to hire dished apartments to live in after first visiting the respective ministers or preachers of different denominations they gave notice by advertisement of a series of meetings which they intended to hold at the venetian cottage formerly the residence ot of general pitt their meetings were well attended and there was considerable inquiry on the part of the people many of whom purchased books treating upon the principles of the gospel after holding sev eral meet meetings inKs the two elders proceeded to One hunga a small town situated on the manukau manutau harbor on the west coast seven miles from auckland intending 0 o hold meetings there but the early departure of the steamer on which they were to sail for wellington prevented them from preaching there the first branch of the church in new zealand was raised up by william cook after the return to australia of augustus farnham early in 1855 at karori kafori near wellington I 1 have been unable to learn of any other organization of the church in new zealand till 1867 when elder carl C asmussen asmuss en who had re bently embraced the falness of the gospel in england baptized six persons at near christ church on the south island and ordained william burnett an elder but no branch was organized gani zed though meetings were held every sunday lor for some time and others in 1870 1870 robert beauchamp revived the work near wellington and in april 1870 a branch consisting ot of eighteen members is reported to exist at barbri karori near wellington where the former branch of 1855 had been raised up by elder cook on janu january ary ath 1871 a conference was held at karori kafori at which thirty one adult members of the church in new zealand was i represented including four elders in the latter part of december 1871 elder henry dryden and brother jos bett with their respective fam famil en souls altogether sailed frodi zealand per steamer nevada ae tie company which seems to be tx latter day saints to emigrate dil di utah from new zealand arrived i ia lake city february loth i december irth 1875 elders ft fresi hurst charles hurst john T R RC william mclachlan landed at au as missionaries irom from utah ulah the of the four elders and that of thomas steed who was sent over australia about the same time r termed the commencement of p pe missionary work in new Z though I 1 believe even after t tl field was without representation zion once for a year or more though elders landed at and their departure from auckland so not missionary work was d that city till after the arrival of I 1 john P sorensen of salt lake on december irth 1879 he e menaced to preach in auckland at odd fellows hall january irth and baptized his first converts binl W city february 1880 1880 A noal num others followed and on june 60 he organized a branch of the chui auckland with elder wm john donald the first man baptize baptie r president for many years the land branch was strong an and though contentions occasion occasionally 11 among some of the members t due course of time the cream at branch emigrated to zion others other s tati zed and there are at present at few scattered members of the or orga tion lion left among those are sister ding and family with whom we he little meeting on sunday evening her ber irth it the branch is not ret in the rhe near future it will not be the I 1 of elders eiders johnson and browning are laboring with a zeal which ponente say is worthy of aa a better dav to establish the cause ol of zion in ia i beautiful lul city of auckland and vich vical monday october irth in pertal the records of the australasian m date I 1 found that no accounts of the la lat of the early missionaries have been pi served at least they are not at cyb headquarters of the mission at the ctet P ent time the record which is kii know as the mission history has been vau Ws kept since that date nearly two hui dred missionaries from zion have rand ed on the shores of new zealand silt steely 1 I 1881 of whom upwards of sixty im pleading the cause of truth here at elwe ht present time the bigger half among tim the k maori people the australasian mission amb emb e new zealand australia and easm ta the new zealand part of the mi mission i divided into fifteen districts of wb whig twelve are maori and three euro europe districts though some european 1 work is also carried on in so of the maori districts the names dameg W 5 the districts commencing with the nor end of the north island and finis finishing bia with the south end of south island a as follows bay of islands whangarei auckland waikato Wai kato Hau rakie raide taura ga poverty bay or turan gagui mabia hawkes bay t Waira rapa wairau kairau canterbury and am the first twelve embrace th north and the three last the island the auckland canterbury md asa 1 are the three european districts ag g to the statistical report of er r 1894 the australasian mis elusive of elders irom from zion td id elders priests CS S deacons and 1938 lay rs ft thus making 2465 the total of and members adding eight years of age in the farn famines hies its ts the grand total of souls foots 1398 souls only tio no of these are aralia and tasmania the rest are new zealand districts je colony of new zealand which is tish possessor pos consists of three islands lands with several smaller groups islands da lying at some distance from principal group the main islands ta as the north the south the I 1 6 and stewart islands have a line e miles in in length namely i islands IS 2200 south islands 2000 stewart wart islands miles new ad is a mountainous country but many large plains in the north t which is highly volcanic is it famous thermal springs district south island is remarkable for its mountains with their magnificent ars 3 and fur the deep sounds or i on the me western coast new zea is firstly pastoral and secondly an cultural country sown glasses are aa almost everywhere the extent of 0 I 1 laid down being upwards ot of ades acres according 0 to o government re Is in the island a large area vered td with native grasses and the extent of good grazing land has ithe colony a giedt wool and meat icing ong country the number of in we the colony in 1894 was 1 7 i gand the value of the wool exports ater that year was about twenty five i Bulion dollars rs the frozen meat ex 4 1 1 mostly mutt mutton for 1894 was lied at about the north ads with its adjacently islets has an 1 a tS regate area of 44 square milt s 1 afe south island wun wim adjacent islets islet S square miles and stewart siewart island offs square miles the area of new zealand is about one sixth less than the tea of great britain and ireland the island alone being a little larger wm vian the combined areas of england and abd wales the north island extends over a little more than seven degrees of Uti latitude tude a distance in a direct line from with to south of geographical or statute miles but as the northern portion of the island trends to the west ward wad the distance in a straight line from the north cape to cape the extreme northerly and southerly points of the island is about statute miles the extreme ek length ot of atie ane south island it about statute miles the south istead is along almost its entire length by a range of mountains kadin as the southern alps some of reach a height of from io 10 V e to feet mount cook the ap highest peak rising to feet for ba my and aad grandeur ot of scenery the athern alps of new zealand are said to compare 0 ap are favorably with the alps of er land and even to surpass them in at of variety so far fair only a few of the loftier new zealand peaks have been scaled and many of of the peaks god and most of the glaciers are as yet unnamed named situated in latitude from 34 VU 47 17 south new zealand en climete varying from one similar to that of italy in the north to that ot of Xa gabd on the south I 1 british sovereignty was proclaimed ak over new zealand in january 1840 and it became a dependency of new south wales australia until may 3rd ard 1841 when it was made a separate colony the government of the colony was first vested in the governor who was cespon responsible only to the crown but in 1852 an act granting representative institutions to the colony was passed by the imperial legislature and a general assembly consi consisting Aing of a legislative council appointed by the governor and an elective house of representatives was provided the first session of the general assembly was opened may 1854 the governor is appointed by the queen his saler is a year which amount is paid by the colony the members of the house ot of representatives senta tives are elected for three years four of the members are representatives of maori constituencies the estimated population of new zealand on december aist 1894 was exclusive of maoris laoris who according to census of 1891 numbered at that time according to the census of 1891 the religious complexion of new zealand was as follows of the ahe inhabitants were members of we me church of england presby te rians catholics method ests baptists congregational independents 5 lutherans Luth erans 3 pagans etc 1463 hebrews uni ta rians society of friends members and last and smallest of all latter day saints commonly known as mor mons this dont include the maori population of whom nearly one tenth are members of the true church of christ of the maoris laoris given in the census returns ol of 1891 females were maori wives living with european husbands it also included 1466 half castes living as mao is in addition to the classed as maoris laoris there were 1122 1 halt castes living as europeans of the maori population 1883 only lived on the south island and on stewart island thus showing that the bulk of the native population is on the north island of the white population enumerated in 1891 were born british subjects i and of foreign birth among whom were 1603 north americans from the united states germans 2053 danes 1414 swedes i 1 nor we gians french etc there were also chinese in the colony the number of bachelors in the colony aged 20 20 and upwards was and of spinsters spin agea 15 and upwards 67 00 0 lt it may be interesting to the ladies of utah and the readers of the news generally to know it if they are nut not posted already that the women of new zealand enjoy the elective franchise the elec act 1892 extended to women of both races whites and laoris maoris the right to register as electors and to vote at the elections for members of the house of representatives the qualifications for registration is the same saine lor for both sexes women however are not qualified to be elected as members of the house of representatives for Fur european representation every adult person it if resident one year in the colony and three months in one electoral district can be registered as an elector freehold property of the value of 25 held lor for six months proceeding prece eding the day of registration also entitles a man or woman to register it not already registered under the residential qualification maoris laoris possessing 25 freeholds free holds under crown title can also register but if eifreg reg on a european roll cannot vote for representative of their own race face for maori representation every adult maori resident in in any of the four maori electoral districts can vote registration is is not required in in native districts the proportion of representation to population is is not required in in native districts the proportion ot of representation to population at the general election for the house of representatives in in november 1893 was one european member to every 9 inhabitants and |