The cost of living is also dealt with. "Almost everything necessary to comfort and convenience may now be procured in Auckland. Although cheaper than Wellington, Auckland is by no means a cheap place of residence; certainly not more so than an English town of the same size. House rent and servants' wages are at least double what they are in England; but there are no taxes, rates or dues of any kind. Clothing of all kinds is also, of course, dearer in New Zealand than in England. Wine, spirits and groceries are, for the most part, cheaper. Bread and butcher meat are about the same. The fish caught near Auckland, although of but moderate quality, is plentiful and cheap. Vegetables are also abundant; during the summer of 1852 there were brought into market by the natives, in canoes alone, upwards of 1100 kits of onions (about twenty tons), upwards of 4000 kits of potatoes (more than one hundred tons), besides corn, cabbages and kumeras. Peaches grown by the natives and sufficiently good for culinary purposes are very abundant and cheap; during the present summer upwards of 1200 kits were brought into Auckland by canoes alone. Those who cultivate a garden are well supplied with peaches, strawberries, apples, figs, and melons; while plums, pears, gooseberries and cherries are by no means uncommon, although less abundant than the former." The economic conditions existing in Auckland at the beginning of the 'fifties is stated and reflected in a most succinct form in a [23]Memorial sent to the Governor (Sir George Grey) by members of the Provincial Council of Auckland, setting forth the reasons why they consider it a matter of justice to Auckland that meetings of the General Legislature of New Zealand should for the present be held here. The memorandum is couched in the following terms:-- "That of the population of these islands, native and European, estimated to amount to 130,000, about 80,000, or three-fifths of the whole, reside within the limits of the newly-constituted Province of Auckland; and that of the European population of the Colony upwards of one-third of the whole number are settled within a radius of ten miles of the City of Auckland. "That since the foundation of the Colony, nearly the whole of the proceeds of the land sales paid into the Colonial Treasury have arisen from the sale of lands within the Province of Auckland, the proceeds of land sales in other provinces having been paid to absentee companies, and expended by them independently of any control or audit on the part of the Colony. "That during the last twelve months upwards of £19,000 have been realised by the sale of Crown lands in Auckland and its neighbourhood alone.