NEW ZEALAND SHORT-TAILED BAT

(Mystacina tuberculata), small bat that is the sole species in the family Mystacinidae. It is about 6.5 cm (2.5 inches) long and has a short 1.8-centimetre (0.7-inch) tail. Its fur is grayish brown and thicker than the fur of other bats. Close to the body the wing membranes are leathery, and the wings can be furled tightly within them. M. tuberculata, the most terrestrial bat, is very agile when on the ground. In its forest habitat it may roost in hollow trees, caves, or crevices, and it sometimes digs tunnels in rotten wood. The diet of this species includes fruit, nectar, pollen, and insects. The young are born with their eyes open. The economy New Zealand has a small, developing economy with a relatively low standard of living compared with those of countries with similar economies, such as Australia and Canada. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries New Zealand's standard of living was one of the highest in the world, but since World War II the rate of growth has been one of the slowest among the developed countries. The main causes of this retardation have been the slow growth of the economy of the United Kingdom (which formerly was the main destination of New Zealand's exports) and the high tariffs imposed by the major industrial nations against the country's agricultural products (e.g., butter and meat). New Zealand's economic history in the second half of the 20th century has consisted largely of the attempt to evade these protectionist constraints by diversifying its farm economy and by expanding its manufacturing base. This has been achieved partly by large-scale government intervention and partly by the natural working of market forces. Resources Most minerals, metallic and nonmetallic, occur in New Zealand, but few are found in sufficient quantities for commercial exploitation. The exceptions are gold, which in the early years of organized settlement was a major export; coal, which is still mined to a considerable extent; iron sands, which are exploited both for export and for domestic use; and, most recently, natural gas. In addition to mining, construction materials, with which the country is well endowed, are quarried. Apart from gold's brief heyday, biological resources have always been more significant than minerals. Domestic animals introduced from Europe have thrived in New Zealand. Forestry has always been important, but the emphasis has swung from felling the original forest for timber to afforestation with pine trees for both timber and pulp. The country has exploited its great hydroelectric potential to such an extent that hydroelectricity supplies a major percentage of the country's power. A notable feature of the New Zealand electricity grid is the direct-current cable linking the two main islands, enabling the South's surplus hydroelectric power to be used by the North's concentration of industry and people. Since the early 1970s geothermal and coal- and gas-fired stations have also been constructed. In addition, partnerships between government and private interests have undertaken the development of natural-gas reserves and the construction of the world's first plant producing gasoline from natural gas. The Land Relief Although New Zealand is small, its geological history is as complex as that of a continent. Land has existed in the vicinity of New Zealand for most of the last 500,000,000 years. The earliest known rocks originated as sedimentary deposits of Late Precambrian (older than 570,000,000 years) or Early Cambrian age; their source area was probably the continental forelands of Australia and Antarctica, then part of a nearby single supercontinent. Continental drift (the movement of large plates of the Earth's crust) created a distinct island arc and oceanic trench structure by Carboniferous time (315,000,000 to 280,000,000 years ago), when deposition began in the synclines (trenches) of the sedimentary rocks that today make up some three-fourths of New Zealand. This environment lasted about 250,000,000 years and is typified by both synclinal oceanic sedimentary rocks and by terrestrial volcanic rocks. This period was terminated in the west at the beginning of the Cretaceous (about 135,000,000 years ago) by the Rangitata Orogeny (mountain-building episode), although synclinal deposition continued in the east. These mountains were slowly worn down by erosion, and the sea transgressed, eventually covering almost all of the land. At the end of Oligocene time (about 26,000,000 years ago) the Kaikoura Orogeny began, raising land above the sea again, including the Southern Alps of the South Island. Many of the great earth movements associated with this final orogeny took place (and take place today) along faults, which divide the landscape into great blocks, chief of which is the Alpine Fault of the South Island. The erosion and continued movement of these faulted blocks, together with the continuing volcanism of the North Island, define to a large extent the landscape of the country. Both the North and South islands are roughly bisected, by mountains in the South and by ranges of hills in the North. Swift, snow-fed rivers drain from the hills, although only in the east of the South Island have extensive alluvial plains been built up. The alluvial Canterbury Plains contrast sharply with the precipitous slopes and narrow coastal strip of the Westland region on the west coast of the South Island. The Southern Alps are a 300-mile-long chain of fold mountains containing New Zealand's highest mountainMount Cook (in Maori, Aoraki, also spelled Aorangi) at 12,316 feet (3,754 metres)and 15 other peaks that rise above 10,000 feet, as well as an extensive glacier system with associated lakes. There are more than 360 glaciers in the Southern Alps. The Tasman Glacier, the largest in New Zealand, with a length of 18 miles and a width of more than one-half mile, flows down the eastern slopes of Mt. Cook. Other important glaciers on the eastern slopes of the Southern Alps are the Murchison, Mueller, and Godley; Fox and Franz Josef are the largest on the western slopes. The North Island has seven small glaciers on the slopes of Mt. Ruapehu. In the north of the South Island, the Alps break up into steep upswelling ridges. On their western face there are mineral deposits, and to the east they continue into two parallel ranges, terminating in a series of sounds. To the south, the Alps break up into rugged, dissected country of difficult access and magnificent scenery, particularly toward the western tip of the island (called Fiordland). On its eastern boundary this wilderness borders a high central plateau called Central Otago, which has an almost continental climate. The North Island is much less precipitous than the South and has a more benign climate and greater economic potential. In the centre of the island the Volcanic Plateau rises abruptly from the southern shores of New Zealand's largest natural lake, Taupo, itself an ancient volcanic crater. To the east ranges form a backdrop to rolling country in which pockets of great fertility are associated with the river systems. To the south more ranges run to the sea. On the western and eastern slopes of these ranges the land is generally poor, although the western downland region is fertile until it fades into a coastal plain dominated by sand dunes. To the west of the Volcanic Plateau fairly mountainous country merges into the undulating farmlands of the Taranaki region, where the mild climate favours dairy farming even on the slopes of Mt. Egmont, an isolated, extinct volcano. The northern shores of Lake Taupo bound a large area of high economic activity, including forestry. Even further north there are river terraces sufficiently fertile for widespread dairy and mixed farming. The hub of this area is Auckland, which is situated astride an isthmus with a deep harbour on the east and a shallow harbour to the west. The region north of Auckland, called Northland, becomes gradually subtropical in character, marked generally by numerous deep-encroaching inlets of the sea bordered by mangrove swamps. The people Ethnic structure New Zealand was one of the last sizable land areas suitable for habitation to be populated by human beings. It was first settled by Polynesians who came from somewhere in eastern Polynesia, possibly from what is now French Polynesia. They remained isolated in New Zealand until the arrival of European explorers, the first of whom was the Dutchman Abel Janszoon Tasman (1642). During that time they grew in numbers to between 100,000 and 200,000, living almost exclusively on North Island. They had no name for themselves but eventually adopted the name Maori (meaning normal) to distinguish themselves from the Europeans, who, after the voyages of the Englishman Capt. James Cook (176977), began to come with greater frequency. The Europeans brought with them an array of diseases to which the Maori had no resistance, and this precipitated a rapid decline in the Maori population. Their reduction in numbers was exacerbated by widespread intertribal warfare (once the Maori had acquired firearms) and by warfare with Europeans. By 1896 there were only about 42,000 Maori left. Early in the 20th century, however, their numbers began to increase as they acquired resistance to such diseases as measles and influenza and as their birth rate subsequently recovered. Europeans had begun to settle in New Zealand in the 1820s; they arrived in increasing numbers after the country was annexed by Great Britain in 1840. By the late 1850s settlers outnumbered Maori, and in 1900 there were some 772,000 Europeans, most of whom by then were New Zealand-born. Although the overwhelming majority of immigrants were of British extraction, other Europeans came as well, notably from Scandinavia, Germany, Greece, Italy, and the Balkans. Groups of central Europeans came between World Wars I and II, and a large body of Dutch immigrants arrived after World War II. Asians coming to New Zealand have included Chinese and Indians and more recently a growing community of Pacific Islanders from Samoa (formerly Western Samoa), the Cook Islands, Niue, and Tokelau. Contemporary New Zealand thus has a great majority of people of European origin, a significant minority of Maori, and smaller numbers of Pacific Islanders, Chinese, and Indians. This diverse society has produced some racial tensions, but they have been minor compared with those in other parts of the world. Although the Maori have legal equality with those of European descent (called pakeha by the Maori), many feel unable to take their full place in a European-type society without compromising their traditional values. Language and religion New Zealand is predominantly an English-speaking country. Virtually all Maori speak English, and about one-third of them also speak Maori. The Maori language is taught at a number of schools. The only other non-English language spoken by any significant number of people is Samoan. New Zealand is nominally Christian, some three-fifths of the population adhering to the Anglican, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, and Methodist denominations. Minor Protestant sects, the Eastern Orthodox churches, Jewish congregations, and Maori adaptations of Christianity (the Ratana and Ringatu churches) account for nearly all of the rest, although a significant proportion of the population does not claim any religious affiliation. There is no established (official) religion, but Anglican cathedrals are generally used for state occasions.