New Zealand might be described as a land of surprises done up in very small parcels. It has many minerals, but these, owing to past upheavals, are seldom in payable quantities. Distributed over the country in pockets, they affect the soil which, in turn, has a bearing upon plant and bird life. Due to this and climatic conditions a botanist will find different plants as he passes from Norfolk Island towards the Antarctic. Some of them occur in one small area and nowhere else.