CHAPTER XXI.
Summary—Importance of the colonies sometimes overlooked at home—Their commercial importance—Fields for capital—Mineral wealth—Farm products—New industries—Field for farmers—Liberal land regulations—Openings for artisans—For labourers—Free institutions—A land of promise for willing workers—Inducements for seekers after health and lovers of the picturesque—The clouds clearing—Returning prosperity—The peace and unity of the Empire.
Brief as had been our sojourn among "our New Zealand cousins," and rapid as had been our journeying through the islands, it will be evident, I think, from what I have recorded in the foregoing chapters, that enormous progress has been made during the last twenty years in all that tends to build up sound national life. The history of New Zealand in its connection with the mother country is, in fact, the history of all the Australian colonies. Too often has their importance been but grudgingly recognized, where it has not in some instances been overlooked altogether by the leaders of thought and political life at home. Of late years, thanks to such true Britons as Professor Seeley and others, ample amends have been made for this whilom neglect. The tendency now is all the other way. With the multiplication and development of im-
