page v

Preface.

In writing the story of Waitaruna, it has been the aim and endeavour of the author to present to the reader some true pictures of life in the southern portion of the colony of New Zealand, as it was a short time ago, and to some extent still is; but already the rapid advance which the country has made within the past few years has wrought many changes. Although the pictures are drawn from life, they are not pre-Raphaelite in detail; for the depicting of the ordinary humdrum routine of station life, or work on the diggings, would have proved neither an agreeable task to the writer, nor interesting to many readers. Yet sufficient glimpses of such details have been given to enable the reader to complete the pictures which have been strung together, as it were, by a story, not very interesting in itself, perhaps, to the ordinary run of novel readers, but one which it is hoped will help to a better knowledge of life in the page vicolony. Some may be inclined to think that the careers of Percy Brown and Arthur Leslie are exaggerated, but unfortunately there are too many such cases. Young men who are inclined to be fast and reckless, here tend downwards with great rapidity. If a young man has misbehaved himself at home, it is a great fallacy to suppose, that the best thing to be done for him is to send him to the colonies, where he will get "a fresh start in a new country," for in the majority of cases, the fresh start made is on a downward course; and as for the new countries, they do not want such colonists.

If the simple story of Waitaruna ends in removing, however slightly, the great ignorance which prevails among many of the people of Britain, regarding these fair Southern Islands, fondly and proudly called "The Britain of the South," the writer will feel amply rewarded for his labours; but those who desire information regarding the wealth and progress of this magnificent colony, must avail themselves of other sources of information.