NEW ZEALAND AND ITS RESOURCES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 2778, 3 May 1890, Page 6 (Supplement)

NEW ZEALAND AND ITS RESOURCES.

To ensure progressive prosperity to New Zealand, is a problem of such intricacy to some minds, that it is often cast aside as one entertaining too many difficulties practically insurmountable. There are those who thiuk that the past "luck "of the colony will inevitably stick to her ; that when matters become very bad something will assuredly turn up to lift her out of her difficulties, while others are under a conviction that the tide has turned and that it is only a question of time for us to begin to reap the fruits, the result of nur extended export trade, that a land tax, nationalisation of the land, and other panaceas too numerous to mention, would oreate comparative ease and prosperity to all; either of which, however, they may be worthy of the future consideration of the colony aro to a wide extent astray, for the present stagnation may be clearly accounted for by the inadequate production of staples for export commensurato with its capability, or consistent with the high character of its climate and soil, and though we possess these high capabilities of production, enhanced by our splendid soil and climatio, the producers of the real natural wealth are labouring under restrictions which prohibit the adoption of that systematic culture of the soil which alone will create a maximum production and at the same time retain the heart of the soil and expand our export trade. The removal of these restrictions and the tendency of our administration to encourage rather than repress the production of such wealth would place New Zealand upon a basis of prosperity practically unassailable by any normal depression of the world's commerce, would enormously facilitate the settlement of our lands—the scope for industry, enterprise and employment, for the great body of the people.

The principal question necessary for the consideration of the colonist is : What will enable the colony to effect a maximum production from its lands and other resources ? And after arriving at a solution of this problem determine : What restrictions exist by which this maximum production is prevented and how such restriction can be removed ?

In the solution of these problems many will have to allow broad general principles to take the place of those narrow and constrained in oharacter. The community must be taken as a whole, and more especially as applied to the growth of cereals, the old adage, " That it is better to have half a loaf than no loaf," must be ever present to the intelligent mind. The system best calculated to effect a maximum production from our land is —Ist, turnips ; 2nd, wheat; to be followed by turnips, succeeded by oats, and afterwards laid down with grass, sometimes mixed with turnips ; each time the turnips are sown more or less of pome kind of manure drilled in with the seed. The turnips pastured by sheep or cattle, the straw in the form of chaff given to the stock while turnip fed.

Such, most farmers would allow, with perhaps some little variation, would attain a maximum production of our staples of commerce. Wheat, wool, meat, oats, and hides and skins, and at the same time acknowledge that if carried out upon a systematic basis would inevitably terminate in ruin. The growth of cerealß is met by unmistakable loss, and taken together with the excessive railway freights and export charges to the only available market of unlimited capacity, Europe, the growth of cereals as a remunerative industry is in a fair way of becoming extinguished.

The growth of cereals is a necessary contingent upon a successful system of agriculture and pasture, and upon which the attainment of a maximum production is based; and if not retained in the rotation of crops, must result in a very serious losh of national wealth. To succumb to what may appear at first sight to be inevitable without due enquiry would be suicidal policy, not only for the individual producer, but the community generally. The matter becomes of sufficient importance as to assume a character of great national import. Any reduction of railway freight, and even subsidisation of shipping to place cereals upon the available markets at the lowest possible rates, should be resorted to in order that this source of wealth shall not be lost to the colony ; and if this policy is not adopted, it will be far more difficult in the future to sustain the commerce of New Zealand, The relief at most would be only temporary, as a more extended and uninterrupted supply would create greater shipping facilities, and therefore competition would speedily produce low rates, and the probable rise in the Home markets would place the industry upon a more healthy footing. The practicability to carry out the system best calculated to produce the greatest national wealth, and thereby creating an extended export trade, will also be followed by an increased import trade with a view to still further increase our capability for production, to absorb our surplus labour, and thereby increase a greater spending power of the community generally, which will re-act in a substantial manner upon our Customs duties, fully recouping the cost of development. The system would quadruple the stocking power of the land, and every other description of produce would be increased in a corresponding degree, the whole resulting in a national income which, in comparison to that which we have at present, would be enormous.

The enhanced prosperity of the settlers would speedily cause an increase in the population, both in town and country, aud the present low value of property, both real and personal, would at least assume its fair value. Upon the other hand the tendency must be generally towards stagnation. The loss of national wealth is somewhat immense, and is followed by the natural sequence, the presence of that terrible ovil in a community, " insecurity of investment."