f wool a
year, and seventy vessels reached its seaport. For a place in its third
year such progress was wonderful.

#3. New Zealand Prosperous.#--The natives being at peace, and the price of
land being reduced, settlers streamed steadily into New Zealand. In 1853
there were 31,000 white people in the colony, and they had bought from
the natives 24,000,000 acres of land. They had a million of sheep, and
their exports were over L300,000 in value. The Government was quite
solvent again, having a revenue of L140,000 a year. A very large number
of farms were by this time in full work, those in the North Island being
chiefly used for crops, those in the South Island chiefly for sheep. But
the New Zealand Company had disappeared. In 1850 it was a quarter of a
million pounds in debt, and it was wound up, leaving its shareholders
with heavy losses.

An important event in the history of New Zealand occurred on 30th June,
1852, when the English Parliament gave the colony power to make its own
laws and manage its own affairs, practically without interference from
London. A bill was passed providing that there should be six provinces,
each with its own provincial council, consisting of not less than nine
persons to be chosen to manage local affairs. There was also to be the
General Assembly, consisting of a legislative council, appointed by the
Governor, and a House of Representatives consisting of forty members to
be chosen by the colonists. The Governor, who was now Sir George Grey,
did much to bring these new arrangements into force and to adapt them to
the needs of the settlers. Having ruled well for eight years and brought
the colony into a prosperous condition, and being required to set in
order the affairs of Cape Colony, he left New Zealand on the last day of
1853, much regretted by the Maoris and also by the majority of the
colonists.

[Illustration: THE MAORI KING.]

Colonel Wynyard acted as Governor for the time being, and summoned the
first Parliament of New Zealand to meet in May, 1854. He had much
difficulty in getting the system of Cabinets of responsible Ministers to
work smoothly. The colonists from different provinces had interests
which lay in opposite directions, and political matters did not move
easily. He was glad when the new Governor, Colonel Gore Browne, arrived
in September, 1855. At that time New Zealand had 45,000 white settlers
in it, and the discovery next year of rich goldfields in Otago attract