NEW COUNTRIES AND OLD IDEAS: OUR FARMERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 832, 8 November 1867, Page 2

NEW COUNTRIES AND OLD IDEAS : OUR FARMERS.

(Prom the Daily Times, Nov. 6.)

I£kgi.ish communities are apt to overdo theories, or rather tobeweddedtothem so firmly as not to recognise how frequently •* circumstances alter cases." Grant that it is not well for a Government to enter Sata industrial pursuits in competition with private enterprise, and that free trade is the lifo of British commerce, it does not follow that a limited amount of ■assistance may not foster enterprise, and tbat much that may apply to an. old ■country may not apply to a new one. Where there is an abundance both of "capital and of population, there is certain "to be an adequate amount of private investigation into the resources of a country. But where either capital or population, or "both, are scarce, there is, in the very nature of things, a tendency to cling to the pursuits readiest at hand, without any great consideration as to whether better might Mot be found. There is thus, in a young ■country, a great deal of imitation, and "rery little originality. This is specially the case with British communities. It "ia hard to persuade an Englishman that English customs are not suitable "the wide world over. Set him down at the tropics, and he is not certain that lie ought not to have a fire at Christmas ; and at any rate, he does not see why, hecause the climate is hotter, he should be forced to change all his habits. Put "him into a new country, and his object is to make it precisely a, second Great Britain. He is at a loss to comprehend that there may be special features requirang- special treatment. Amongst other confirmed notions, he carries with him a dread of government interfering with private industry. He would rather remain poor by working on after his own fashion, than become rich by admitting that his own fashion may not be the ■wisest. The French have a different way, the people look to the authorities for information, and for material assistance, and the authorities liberally respond. No ent&rprise is too magnificent for them, if they see a profit in is the end to arise from it. If Australia had belonged to the French, the people would not have done so much, but the Government would liave done a great deal more ; and between the two, there would have been larger results ; for at any rate, no pains would have t»een lost in ascertaining what were the specialties of the country, and of giving to them the necessary assistance. About the last thing the Australasians have "thought of doing has been to carefully in"restigate their best resources, and to conaider how they W9re to be best developed. What little they have ascertained, chance has mostly discovered to them, and they have gone on working out the results in a " happy go lucky" sort of style.

We have the same kind of thinsj to observe in Otago. The agricultural interest ia admittedly suffering severely. But why does it suffer ? Because it finds that it cannot profitably confine its operations to growing wheat and oat 3. But it seeks its remedy, not in searching for other and more profitable products, but in determining to enter into a cajtly competition with adverse circumstances. Because, for local consumption, ifc cannot grow wheat profitably, it will attempt to grow wh«at for a people at the •other end of the world — a people inhabiting a country naturally itself a large -srhe?.t producer, and surrounded by other wheat-producing countries where, and from whence, labor and freight are cheap. It ia quite possible, of course, that an occasional -shipment of wheat to Great Britain may, under peculiar circumstances of the market, be profitable ; and it is well to know that when wheat is superabundant in New Zealand, loss may be saved "by shipping it to Great Britain. But the chance which a distant market presents in case of need, should not be confounded with the inducements of a ready and constantly awaiting market. If wheat be hu(h at Home, and the passage be luckily managed so that thq grain escapes injtiry, the shipper

has a good prospect of relieving himself from what would otherwise be a loss. But this^ is not sufficient to warrant it being said that there are inducements to the agriculturUtg of Otago to specially grow wheat for the sake of shipment to Great Britain,

We do not pretend, of course, to express a skilled opinion as to what is or what is not most favorable to the agricultural enterprise of the Province, and we venture to think that no one as yet i3,in a position to do so. The results as yet seem to indicate that the best has not by chance been hit on, for of real careful investigation there has been nothing worthy of mention: During the last few months our columns have been inundated with articles and letters about the acclimatisation of fish and animals, about the merits of different species from which to breed, and about the enterprise which grudged no expense for likely sires, and to secure likely progeny. But we have had no letter nor articles about an acclimatisation and an enterprise of vast importance. Can nothing be introduced wliich may open a new future to the agriculturists? Silent, but swift, revolutions have been effected in other countries, by the introduction of plants not indigenous to the soil. Whether, upon something of the same principle, that a man is not a prophet amongst his own people, cr on some occult principle, best known to Nature, it is strange that the largest cultivation of the chief vegetable productions is not upon the soil which originally i claimed them as native. Many instructive histories might be told of the pro- ' gresß of the cultivation of different pro- J ductions, and of how, from small beginnings, vast results have flowed. It was from j a small beginning, for instance, that sugar j was commenced to be made from Beet root. But Beet-sugar is now coming into use all over the world, and the cultivation of the Beet in temperate climates is trampling out the production of the sugar cane in the tropics. In 1829, France produced 80,000 pounds of Beet-sugar; in j 1858, the supply was increased to j 492,260 tons, made in 600 manufac- ! Tories; and now it is stated the production i 3 at the rate of 20,000,000 tons yearly. There is much more to be said t about Beet, and nrach more to be said concerning other productions. We may even ask, is the most made of what the Province already possesses I ■ Splendid barley is grown in Otago, but the malt used for brewing is all imported. Nevertheless, it is allowed that the climate is perfectly suited for malting. We have had a great deal lately about the comparative merits of French ar»d German rams ; we should be glad to open our columns to the consideration of whether there is not some better prospect for the agriculturists than growing wheat for exportation to England. Is there nothing that can be grown which, besides opening a large field to the agricultural interest, may call up, side by iide with it, a manufacturing interest 1 Here would be a great result, and he who can show how it can be worked out, will earn well of his fellow-colonists.

How School Examinations arb Conducted in Scotland. — In one of the schools of which the Presbytery reports that "the religious instruction is duly attended to," the following specimen of " Bible Knowledge" is quoted :—": — " Question — Mention any miracle that Christ performed 1 No answer. Master — Come now, some miracle ? 'He turned water into wi — .' Children — 'Wine.' Master — Quite right ; 'He turned water into wine.' Question — Where did he perform this miracle ? — No answer. Master for Children — Where did he perform this miracle ? *In Cana of Gal — .' Children — ' Galilee.' Master — Quite right ; 'In Cana of Galilee.' Question — On what occasion was this miracle performed ? — No answer. Master — On what occasion ? you know this; 'At a mar — mar — .' Children — 'At a marriage.' Master— Quite right ; 'At a marriage.' As the examination proceeded in this way, the children answering not one word, only the last syllable, we came to the names of some of the disciples. Question — Can you tell what Peter did to Christ shortly before his crucifixion? — As usual, no answer. Master — Come now, you know what Peter did? 'Peter betray — betray — .' Children — ' Betrayed him. ' Master — Yes, quite right; 'Peter betrayed him.' It was suggested that it was not Peter who betrayed Christ, and we asked who did ; but this time both master and children were dumb. Presently the master said that the class was engaged on the Old Testament, and that they knew it better than the New.

The Amazon. — The opening of tho Amazon River to foreign navigation has been followed by a decree of the State of Bolivia, whereby the Madeira, one of the tributaries of the great river, is to be opened to foreign trade. The Madeira, with its branch, tha Rio Grande, had a length of from 1500 to 2000 miles, and nearly 1000 of which it ia navigable.