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final work on New Zealand when reproving the colony’s overwhelming nationalism and self-
promotion, but he also argues that this apparent ignorance of everything foreign manifests itself in
anti-German sentiment (although none of his contemporaries who visited New Zealand mention
this, and he also does not refer to this fact until 1900). Sunday observances, which are common to
all British colonies but especially so in New Zealand, again prove a nuisance. But whereas
Hübner only saw abundant affluence, Lendenfeld also saw rising state debt, about which the
public did not seem greatly concerned. More positively, he also noted the egalitarian position of
workers and their influence in New Zealand’s political landscape which was by far superior to
that in Germany. Social Darwinism again impacts on his views of the Maori, albeit with only
limited philosophical content and no real personal observations. This time, however, the Maori
lack the same level of German qualities of uprightness and courage that the likes of Hochstetter
and Reuleaux perceived, yet he accepts that the morality of European actions in the New Zealand
Wars has been surpassed by natural laws.
In sum, the above literature provided the German-speaking reader to varying degrees with
not only a renewal of earlier stereotypes and images, but also a heightened emphasis on critiquing
the inherited and inborn characteristics of British society present in the colony. At the same time
as interest in England began to diminish in the estimation of German historians and social
scientists, these visitors were sometimes able to exhibit an alternate perspective on the British and
early colonial mentalities by viewing certain values and behaviour, for example, which might be
seen in ‘Mother England’ as true and good British values or at least acceptable in British colonies,
in an unfavourable light or else finding fault in the inflexible Anglocentric society, with some
comments even appearing anti-British or in agreement with the minority views of the British.
Thus, even when the ‘Long Depression’ began to have an effect on New Zealand life, these
German-speaking visitors were not always directly influenced by any deplorable conditions,
except when they were witnessed first hand or relayed through reliable sources, as positive
encounters still had the ability to supersede any untoward situations so long as expectations were
well and truly met. When it came to the customary sympathising or siding with Maori, however,
often a stronger belief in Social Darwinism went hand in hand with those who had less contact
with Maori and were not trying to give a full account of the New Zealand Wars. These explorers
and travellers did not, for example, have the benefit of close personal contact with Maori like
early explorers, especially in a Maori-dominant society, and those they did observe were
predominantly from urban and tourist areas rather than ones living in close Maori communities.
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