Mr. William Howitt, of all travellers, is perhaps the very best person that could have been encouraged to give a history of those vast colonies, which in little more than a quarter of a century have vied with the mother country in progress and prosperity. For some time a resident in one or more of the three great dependencies whose growth he describes, he is perhaps better adapted than even many a permanent settler to solve the question so often asked, “How is it that these enormous districts became annexed to England?” His object in going thither was not to trade, not to seek for gold at the “diggings,” not to dispossess a single Maori of his vast pasturage, and grow his own wool, tallow, and mutton thereon, to the ruin of the original native holder. He crossed the broad seas, not as a cosmopolitan, but as a keen observer, a patient investigator, and an honest student, bent rather upon gathering information that might do more good to others, in a pecuniary point of view, than to himself, since the remuneration for his literary work could never bring to him the return, which the facts he had collected may be the means of recommending to others. The subject he undertook to deal with is large; but he has had the power to grasp it; and the simple-minded manner in which he relates the trials of the first adventurers, the difficulties they had to surmount, and the results which have followed upon their enterprise, adds a charm to the book, which will ensure its popularity. To those desirous of trying their fortune at the antipodes this will be a book indeed of very considerable usefulness; not because it abounds with advice to such individuals, or tells them what to do, and what to avoid, but because it is suggestive of a host of things that will enable a prudent man to judge rightly, and act accordingly. Whilst however, the value of Mr. William Howitt’s experience will do good service in this particular, it is also calculated to assist the merchant and manufacturer at home, to tell them many truths it were well for them to know. EXAMINER, APRIL 15, 1865.