The industries of New Zealand : an address delivered to the Industrial Association of Canterbury at Christchurch, N.Z. on Thursday, February 24, 1887

Blair, W. N., the Press Co., Christchurch, N.Z., 1887

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Title: The industries of New Zealand : an address delivered to the Industrial Association of Canterbury at Christchurch, N.Z. on Thursday, February 24, 1887

Author: Blair, W. N.

Published: The Press Co., Christchurch, N.Z., 1887

THE INDUSTRIES OF NEW ZEALAND

M W. N. BLAIR, M. Inst., C.E.

AN ADDRESS DELIVERED TO THE of AT CHRISTCHURCH, N.Z., OH THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1887

SHILLING,

PRICE—ONE

F. JENKINS, President of the Association in the Chair,

<f :

Print dt by the * Tress ’ Company, Ltd,, Printers and Bookbinders, Cashel Street, 1887.

THE Industrial Association of Canterbury

(INCORPORATED.)

Founded to Aid, Foster and Encourage the Industries and Productions of New Zealand.

ESTABLISHED AUGUST 12, 1879.

'g’atron: His Excellency Sir W. F. DRUMMOND JERVOIS, G.C.M.G., C.8., &c

jjfrcsibcnt; Mr. F. JENKINS.

■Jltcc-li'vcsjbcnfG: Mr. T. DANES. 1 Mr. G. T. BOOTH,

Aon. treasurer; MR. J. R. GLANVILLE.

hiommUlce;

Messrs. L. Adams

Messrs. E. Ford

E. C. Ashby

B. Hale

A. G. Howland

E. H. Banks

A. W. Heaven

F. Jones

L. Bergh

E. Jones

R. C. Bishop

H. B. Kirk

R. Buchanan

H. B. Lane

E. C. Brown

T. Pavitt

H. Cur Lett

P. Duncan J. Waller

Sccrcfttnj;

H. ANDREWS.

(Offices of (fie Hooocicifion.

No. 210, HIGH STREET, CHRISTCHURCH, N. Z.

1886-87,

J. Waller

J. L. Scott

INDEX.

INTRODUCTORY 5,6

WHAT HAS BEEN DONE 7—35

General Sketch 7,8

Indigenous Exports 8-10 Kauri Timber, Phormium, Whale Oil, Kauri Gum, Fungus.

Pastoral Exports 10—13 Wool, Tallow, Hides, and Sheepskins, Meats, Dairy Produce, Rabbitskins.

Agricultural Exports 13—15 Wheat, Oats, Barley, Potatoes, Hops.

Mining 15—19 Gold, Coal, other Mineral Products, General.

Home Industries 19—31 Preliminary, Alimentary Products, Clothing, Household and Personal Requisites, Building Requisites, Requisites for Settlement and Trade, Machinery and Manufacturing Requisites.

Present Position 31—35 Extent of Trade, Nature of Trade, Interchange, Manufacturing Industries, General.

RESOURCES 36—47

Preliminary 36

Natural Amenities 36—38 Scenery, Climate, Water.

Minerals 38—43 Gold and Silver, Coal, Oil Shales and Oil, Iron, Copper, Lead, Tin and Zinc, Minor Metals, Clays, Building Stone, Marble, Slate, Limes, Minor Minerals.

Vegetable Resources 43—46 Gums, Timber, Minor Forest Products, Phormium.

Land 46, 47 Pastoral, Arable, Capabilities

General 47

WHAT MORE CAN BE DONE 47-96

Future Industrial Development 48-61 Alimentary Products, Textile Industries, Household and Personal Requisites, Building Materials, Mining and Mechanical Industries, Minor Industries, General.

The Great Controversy 61-62

Advantages of Manufactures 70-78

Facilities and Difficulties 79-91

Encouragement to be Given 92-96

CONCLUSION 96

THE INDUSTRIES OF NEW ZEALAND

BY W. N. BLAIR, M. Inst., C.E.

INTRODUCTORY.

Three years ago I had the honour of assisting at the inauguration of the New Zealand Alanufactuiers Association at Dunedin, by delivering an address on the Industries of New Zealand. The Committee of the Industrial Association of Canterbury, has paid me the compliment of inviting me to repeat the address in Christchurch, or give another on the same subject. As the Dunedin address professed to deal with the past, present and future, of the Industries of New Zealand, it is difficult to break new ground, I shall therefore follow on the old lines, but instead of appealing to figures at every turn to elucidate every phase of the subject, it will now be dealt with in more general terms. I, however, produce four diagrams showing the rise and progress of New Zealand trade. The first and second give the amount of our imports and exports every year from 1841 to 1885, and show the interchange between New Zealand and other countries, the third gives the details of our exports for the same period, and the fourth shows the effect of the goldfields.

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Although the question of promoting Colonial Industries is a very old one, it has only risen into prominence during the last five or six years, and within the last three years the importance of the subject has literally been forced on the attention of the Colony. The low price of wool —the falling off in the returns from the goldfields, and the practical collapse of the grain trade has convinced die whole community that we must have more outlets for our energies One of the first fruits of the new faith is the institution in the large centres of societies like the Industrial Association of Canterbury, that have for their object the promotion of Colonial Industries, and the development of the natural resources of New Zealand. Every colonist that has the interests of his adopted country at heart must cordially endorse the objects of the Association. What are the best means of attaining these objects is a debateahle question; but there can be no diversity of opinion on the general proposition that it is desirable to foster and encourage, in this far-off isle of the sea, those arts and industries that are the principal factors in building up a nation.

With the view of presenting the subject to you in an intelligible manner, I shall first give a short sketch of what has already been done, then show the materials we have to work upon, and last of all speculate on what more can be done.

WHAT HAS BEEN DONE.

GENERAL SKETCH.

New Zealand has not lacked historians, she has had them in great profusion and of varied attainments, brilliant and dull, imaginative and veracious. But the histories that have been written, voluminous though they he, give an imperfect idea of the progress of the ■country. They consist for the most part of Maori traditions and chronicles of Native wars —intrigues and feuds and bloodshed—the last struggles of a dying race that has had little influence on the present or future of the world. The history of New Zealand, from a colonizing point of view—the annals of the “ coming race ” —is not yet written. The only authentic record we have on the subject is the volume of statistics published annually by the Registrar-General. This is probably the most valuable book issued from the Government press; at the same time it is one of the least known and least appreciated. Although the information is not always given in the form required for a general investigation of this kind, there is no difficulty in finding the facts and figures necessary to show the progress of settlement and trade, the nature and extent ■of our productions, and the channels through which our commerce is conducted. I am indebted to these statistics for the great majority of the figures given here.

The progress of settlement and trade in New Zealand is divided into regular epochs, each a condition precedent to the next one, and a necessary link in the great •chain of evolution. First we have a guerilla warfare between civilisation and savagedom in the irregular trade that was for some years carried on between English adventurers from the neighbouring Colonies and the Natives of the North Island. Beyond extending •our knowledge of the country, these preliminary

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skirmishes in colonization were of little benefit. To this era belonged the “ whalerman ” a civilised savage — daring and desperate —fearing neither God nor man. The second stage which is really the first step in settlement is the pastoral age during which the whole country was well explored and opened up, and a slight improvement effected in the moral tone of the infant community. Next comes with a rush the great tide of gold-seekers, penetrating into every nook and corner of the land, and achieving the progress of a generation in a single stride. The thirst for gold is a greater colonizer than the love of conquest.

After the gold fever has subsided, we settle down to the steady work of colonization in the time-honoured old-fashioned way, the tilling of the soil. The last stage, the one on which we are now entering, is the age of manufactures, and as I hope to show, it is the most important of all—the crowning act of settlement. This is the step that shows when a young country has attained its majority; from henceforth it is able to go alone.

The sequence of these periods in the settlement of New Zealand and other countries is very remarkable. It seems as if nature had fixed a plan for carrying out the work. The gold-seeker could scarcely penetrate the wilds of an extensive country unless the squatter had preceded him ; the progress of settlement by agriculture alone would be slow had it not received an impetus from gold-digging: and finally, without agriculture the establishment of manufactures would he impossible. Thus the various branches of settlement and trade create and produce others; they act and react on each other, nourishing and fostering each his neighbour in the general march of progress.

Indigenous Exports.

Kauri Timber. —Until the advent of the New Zealand Company, and indeed for many years afterwards, the trade of the Colony was exceedingly small. The principal imports were tomahawks, red blankets, and

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other articles used in barter with the Natives, and Jamaica rum, the favourite beverage of the whalers. It is not, however, clear that the “ popular spirit ” was exclusively used as a corrective to blubber. Tradition hints that it occasionally became the lubricant, if not the actual circulating medium, in land transactions with the unsuspecting savage.

One of the first exports was timber—kauri spars taken to England for the use of the navy. The trade, which still flickers faintly, was initiated by special expeditions sent out from the Admiralty long before the settlers had got a proper foothold in the country.

The trade in spars was the precursor of the general timber trade of the Colony. Notwithstanding the immense quantities of this material imported from all parts of the world, and the large home consumption, the •exports are of considerable magnitude, and yearly increasing. The trade has been much greater during the last four years than ever it was before, the highest year of all" being 1885, when the exports reached £157,380, mostly kauri from Auckland, together with £7806 worth of timber manufactures. The imports of timber in 1885 were £56,381, and of woodware and other timber manufactures, such as wheelwright work, £10,905.

Phormium —The next indigenous export is phorrnium ■tenax— the native flax, or as it is now more appropriately called “ hemp.” Some of you will remember the flax mania which occurred some fifteen years ago, when so many expected to make their fortunes and so few made them. The export of phormium has been in existence since the first traders touched the shores of New Zealand. The first tomahawk or pannikin of ruin was probably given in exchange for a few bales of the fibre, with a square mile or two of good country thrown in.

The industry was up till 1866 almost entirely in the hands of the Maoris. In consequence of Native disturbances the export trade had almost died out between 1860

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and 1^66; machinery was then applied to the preparation of the fibre, and the market being propitious the exports went up rapidly. They amounted to £132,578 in 1870, and £143,799 in 1873 ; but since they have fluctuated between £7,874 and £41,955.

Whale Oil. —The feeble commerce of the pre-settlement days was considerably augmented by the whale fishing, but as the settlers increased in numbers the whales disappeared, and the trade got gradually less. A remnant of the industry, however, remains. In 1885 the exports from the industry amounted to £10,593.

Kauri Gum. — Kauri Gum is another indigenous export that figures largely in the earlier returns, and which is still of considerable importance, being the third or fourth largest item in our exports. The highest point reached was in 1884, when we exported 6393 tors valued at £342,151. Gum digging in Auckland, like rabbitting in Otago, is what may he termed a “vagabond industry,” to he taken up when everything else fails, or when times are hard and other work scarce.

Fungus. —Another forest product of unique character which has appeared of late years in the exports is a peculiar kind of fungus that grows on the trees in the North Island, and which is exported exclusively to China. It is used by the Celestials both for food and medicine, as well as for dyeing silks. The fungus is chiefly found on the West Coast, so it has acquired the name of ‘‘ Taranaki wool.” Although probably a vagabond industry it is of considerable importance to the districts in which it is carried on. The exports in 1885 were £10,922, and in 1882 they ran up to £18,939

Pastoral Exports.

Wool. —Timber and the other indigenous exports to which I have referred are not properly speaking the offsprings of colonization—they belong to the class of

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products that nature has provided ready made in every country. The first fruits of settlement in A'ew Zealand are the wool exports.

The first direct shipment to England took place in 1846, the port of departure being Wellington. In 1853 the exports had increased to £66,508, and it is curious to observe that of this amount only £3OO was credited to Otago and nothing whatever to Canterbury. The northern districts of the Middle Island and the southeastern districts of the North Island produced the great bulk of the wool in the early days. But the position was soon reversed, for in 1861 the two southern Provinces exported two-thirds of the total for the Colony, and the proportion remains much the same to this day.

In dealing with the progress of the pastoral industries a correct result is not obtained by taking the values only of the exports, as the price of wool fluctuates so much. For instance : 59,853,451 pounds exported in 1876 were valued at £3,395,816, whereas 86,507,431 pounds in 1885 were only valued at £3,205,275. Although the value is the main point in interchange, as it determines our buying power, it does not shew correctly the progress of pastoral settlement. With the exception of a few slight fluctuations the export of wool has gone steadily up from 1,071,340 pounds in 1853 to 86,507,431 in 1885, and this is exclusive of 2,000,000 pounds worked up in our cloth factories. We now grow practically as much wool per head of the population as we did in 1877. When we consider the rapid spread of agricultural settlement and the destruction of the natural pastures by rabbits, the figures I have given shew that the Colonists of New Zealand are zealously carrying out the laudable policy of “ making two blades of grass grow where one only had grown before.”

Tallow, Hides, and Sheep Skins. —Although the principal one, wool is by no means the only product of our flocks and herds, tallow, hides, and sheep skins have long figured largely in our exports, and meat of all kinds, together with dairy produce, are of considerable proportions.

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Notwithstanding the large quantities used up m soap and candle works the export of tallow was at its highest both in quantity and value in 1884, the amount being £234,829.

The export of hides and sheepskins is not increasing in proportion to the stock killed for leather is now largely manufactured both for home consumption and export. In 1885 the figures stood at £74,845.

Meats. —The low price of beef and mutton in 1870 and 1871 caused the establishment of six meat-preserving works in Canterbury and Otago, and in the three following years the value of their manufactures ranged from £161,840 to £100.245. The great tide of immigration brought consumers for the meat in its natural state, so in 1875 the exports fell suddenly to £7,180. Since then they have ranged from £21,953 to £81,401, the latter being the figures for 1885.

The export of meat cured in the ordinary way is now at the highest. Last year it reached £47,609, when we consider the short time that has elapsed since all our hams and bacon were imported it is satisfactory to find that our annual exports of these articles now amount to nearly £20,000.

Frozen meat, on which at present hangs the hopes of pastoral New Zealand, appears in the 1882 returns for the first time, the amount of the exports being £15,244. Since that time the industry has progressed steaddy, the value of the exports for 1885 having reached £373,857.

Bairn Produce. —The exports of dairy produce are also in an equally satisfactory state. Last year they stood at £138,129! which is more than double what they were in 1882, and about £30,000 more than the total for the five years ending in 1882. This result is mainly due to the successful establishment of butter and cheese factories throughout the Colony.

Pahhit Skins. —Under the pastoral exports there has of late years appeared an item which might with advantage

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be absent, viz., rabbit skins. It increased without a single intermission from £1,263 in 1873 to £107,514 in 1884, then there is a drop to £85,574 last year. The returns from this export is the only entry on the credit side in the doleful records of the rabbit plague.

Agricultural Exports.

Wheat. —Next to the pastoral industry, and following close in its wake in every respect, comes the various branches of agriculture. Although the trade did not continue long, the Australian gold rush is to be credited with giving this industry a considerable impetus. This is specially pointed out in the first report by the Regis-trar-General for the four years ending 1856. In 1853 the export of wheat and flour was £6,163 ; it went up next year to £22,240, and in 1855 to £67,765. Then on to 1861, the New Zealand gold-fields year, it fluctuated from £25,101 in 1856 to £4,531 in 1860. Up to this time the great proportion of the grain exports of every kind was from Auckland, the produce of that province. Prom 1861 to 1865 the wheat and flour exports were practically nil, and in one of those years, 1863, the only grain export of any kind was 3,238 bushels of barley. The imports of wheat and flour in the non-ex-porting years reached a minimum in 1865, when they amounted to £512,732. The export trade resumed in 1867 with £31,367; went up to £75,966 in 1871, and £263,684 in 1874. Next year there was a fall to £112,793 ; and then a steady rise to £1,132,236 in 1883. But alas, this was the summit of the ridge, and the fall on the other side has been alarmingly rapid. In 1885 the exports of wheat and flour only amounted to £223,145 —£40,539 less than they were in 1874. Although the collapse in our wheat exports has been as complete as it was sudden, the fault does not lie with the country. There has been no diminution in our grain-producing powers. We have simply been swamped in the London market by the cheaper production of America and India.

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There is no more striking circumstance in the industrial history of New Zealand than the rapidity with which its bread-producing resources were developed. In 1867 we imported £l4-5,959 worth of wheat and flour more than we exported, and in 1883, sixteen years afterwards, the exports exceeded the imports by £1,119,307. The first direct exportation of wheat to England was only made in 1868, and in 1883 we dispatched to various parts of the world an amount equal to the full cargoes of a hundred ships. One of the strongest arguments brought by an eminent English economist against the Public Works scheme of Sir Julius Vogel was that New Zealand could not grow its own wheat. How quickly and effectually was that reproach removed. After amply providing for our own wants, we had in 1883, £1,132,236 worth of wheat and flour to send abroad, a contribution of thirty-nine shillings worth from every inhabitant of New Zealand to the hungry of other lands. Curiously enough the point at which we became able to grow our own wheat was reached simultaneously with the opening of the first section of railway under the irublic Works scheme, when the exports became equal to the imports. In 1871 the imports of wheat and flour exceeded the exports by £t6,79t. The following year there was a balance of £39,397 on the other side; consequently the tide had turned late in 1872, and the first section of Sir Julius Yogel’s railways was opened in April of that year. As showing the rapidity of agricultural settlement in Canterbury, I may state that the only “topographical features” on some of the railway plans across the plains were the dogs that kept the boundaries—the only landmai'ks in a wilderness of tussock. Compare this with the continuous panorama of well cultivated farms and thriving villages seen to-day from the railway trains. I went overland from Christchurch to L'unedin in July, 1872, and none of the rivers between the Selwyn and the Waikouaiti were bridged. In 1882 every river between the Northern Waiau in Nelson and the Southern Waiau

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in Southland, a distance of 500 miles, was bridged both for road and railway.

Oats. —After wheat, the most important agricultural product in the Colony is oats, and the history of the industry is somewhat similar, only that the increase has been far less, and that there has been no collapse, but a steady advance. Although there was a slight fall in the values from the previous year, 1885 was the best year of any, so far as quantities are concerned. The exports of oats and oatmeal amounted to £278,251 in 1884, and £277,300 in 1885.

Barley. —The exports of barley and malt together have only ranged from £33,582 to £54,210 for the last four years, but it is satisfactory to find that the export of malt is on the increase ; 1885 was the highest year, the figures standing at £20,517.

Potatoes. —The export trade in potatoes is exceedingly fluctuating and uncertain. It was £91,509 in 1855, £827 in 1872, £62,806 in 1882, and £38,625 in 1885Considerable capital has been made of the lapsus Ungues of a well-known public man who suggested the export of frozen potatoes. While admitting that the popular vegetable would not be palatable as an ice, I have no doubt the exportation of potatoes in a fresh state would be greatly facilitated by sending a current of cold air among them in the ship’s hold. One or two shipments of potatoes have been made to Rio de Janerio since the establishment of the direct mail service.

Hops. —Hops have been an item in our exports since 1877, and in 1883 the respectable sum of £62,423 was reached, but like wheat, there has since been a great decline, the amount for 1885 being only £8,346. This is due to exactly the same cause as the collapse in the grain trade —a great fall in the price. Notwithstanding the power of production in the Colony, £1920 worth of hops was imported in 1885.

Mining.

Gold. —Coming now to gold-mining, one of the four distinctly marked epochs in the colonisation of New

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Zealand, we find that the production of the precious metal Avent up with a bound during 1861 and 1862, reaching £2,432,479 in 1863 ; it fell to £1,855,830 in 1864, hut recovered immediately, and for the next seven years fluctuated between £2,897,412 and £2,163,910. Between 1872 and 1883 the exports decreased gradually to £892,445, then there was a rise to £988,953 in 1884, and finally a fall to £890,056 in 1885.

The extent to which the gold-mining industry has benefitted New Zealand is a debatable point. Some go so far as to aver that ic would have been better had the precious metal never been discovered—that it would pay better to leave the gold where it is in the bowels of the earth and cultivate the golden grain on the surface.

I am not prepared to say that gold-mining has in itself been a profitable investment for the Colony. It is not only quite possible but highly probable that the sovereign has cost far more than twenty shillings, for in the matter of trade the greatest balance against the Colony was in the “golden years,” when we imported a little over £2OO worth of goods for every £lOO worth of Colonial products we exported. But on the other hand the benefits derived from the industry in the impetus it gave every other branch of settlement are incalculable. It is the lever that starts the engine—the train that fires the mine. A small diagram which I have prepared shows clearly the results produced by the gold discoveries, I have ruled on the exports an equalising line which may be called the “ gradient of settlement,” the rate at which our power of production is increasing. From 1841 to 1860 the gradient is one in 38, an increase at the rate of a million in 38 years. Then comes the gold rush and for three years the gradient is 1 iu 1. It slows down to 1 in between 1863 and 1871 and since then it has been 1 in 7. Taking even the present gradient which is five times steeper than the prediggings one, and starting from the level of 1860 instead of 1863, our trade now would only be about

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three-fifths of what it is, and our present position would not be reached for at least twenty years. IJp till 1860 we simply followed up the river bed, rising very slowly, then gold appears, and we are suddenly lifted on to the terrace, never again to descend. The elevation thus attained is clearly attributable to the goldfields. According to the last Mines Statement, the number of men at present engaged in gold mining and digging is as follows ;

Europeans. Chinese. Total.

Alluvial Miners ... 6247 2826 9073

Quartz Miners - ... 2105 ... 21('5

Total ... 8352 2826 11,178

In the year ending March, 1886, the yield of gold from alluvial diggings was 121,637 ounces, and from, quartz mines 111,432, making a total of 233,068 ounces. Including £343,188 expended by Government on water races the value of the gold mining appliances in the Colony is estimated at £1,438,859.

Coal. —The next most important mining industry hitherto established in New Zealand is coal. A few years hack we depended almost entirely on other countries for our coal supply, hut since 1878 the native product has greatly exceeded the imports. The demand for, and supply of coal in New Zealand during the last seven years are as follows ;

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The exports for 1885 include 45,050 tons used by •ocean steamers and 4000 shipped for war purposes •during the scare. The export trade proper is still very small; it consists chiefly of Greymouth coal sent to Victoria for gas making.

In addition to the large expenditure by the Government and Harbour Boards in opening up coalfields byrailways and harbour works private capital to the amount of £148,773 has been invested in coal mining plant and machinery. Coal mining in New Zealand gives employment to 1483 men.

Other Mineral Products. —Under this head the most important export is silver. Up till 1885 £118,322 worth ■of silver the produce of the Colony had been entered for exportation, the greater portion of which was extracted from the Thames gold which contains about thirty per cent, of silver as an alloy.

Next comes manganese, £43,103, the trade in which, for the last seven years, has fluctuated between £BO9 and £10,423. It has fallen off greatly since 1882.

Chrome ore follows with £37,367, but this is a thing of the past. There has been no export since 1866

The total for copper is £17,397, but it also has seen better days; the trade was larger twenty-five years ago than it is now.

Antimony to the value of £7731 has been exported from New Zealand —the amount in 1885 being £5289. This promises to be a successful industry; it is still in its infancy.

Total Mineral Exports. —ln his last Statement the Minister for Mines gives a Table showing the value of

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all the mineral exports of the colony up till the end of 1885. The following is an abstract thereof.

Gold ... ... ... ... £42,327,907

Kauri Gum ... ... ... 3,685,499

Silver ... ... ... ... 118,322

Coal and Coke ... ... ... 107,554

Manganese Ore ... ... ... 43,103

Chrome Ore ... .- ... 37,367

Copper Ore ... ... ... 17,397

Antimony ... ... ... ... 7,731

Mixed Minerals ... ... ... 50,054

£46,394,934

Home Industries.

'Preliminary. —l have now given a sketch of the industries that have hitherto contributed most to the sea-borne commerce of New Zealand. So far my task has been an easy one, for Ihe statistics show plainly their rise and progress as well as the struggle for supremacy between the native and imported products ; but it is different with those industries that have not reached the exporting point, there being no such direct means of arriving at their true history or present condition. An idea can, however, be formed by calculating the amount per head of imports and exports for eacli class or article at different times. A statement on this basis is appended to my Dunedin address, which gives general deductions, and from which results in any particular case can be worked out.

In addition to a great variety of ordinary food preparations, which are exported in hirge quantities, about twenty other items of New Zealand manufactures appear among the exports. Of this number (here are seven in which the amount for 1885 exceeded £3OOO, viz. biscuits, leather, cloth, soap, doors and sashes, woodware and machinery. The largest of all is leather, whicii has been an export since 1837. The exports have grown with few intermissions to £48,346 in 1883, the amount for 1885 being £47,054. Against this, however, our

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imports amount to nearly double these figures. Of course the imported kinds are quite different from the exported ones ; but this shows that there is ample room for an expansion of the industry, particularly as we export £75,000 worth of the raw materials. Leather is practically the only New Zealand manufacture sent to England.

Alimentary Products. —After the staff of life in its various forms the other eatables that we now produce in the colony are fancy biscuits, confectionery, and jams. The industries connected herewith have become of considerable importance in recent years, and some of the finest exhibits at the Industrial Exhibition were in this class. They would do credit to the best confectioners in the old world. The local products are rapidly taking the place of the imports in the principal articles all over the colony.

Ten years ago we imported about £2OOO worth of fancy biscuits. In 1885 the imports were only £773.

The imports of confectionery used to range from £20,000 to £25,000. Now they range from £15,000 to £20,000. The local products are valued at £17,130.

From 1875 to 1881 the imports of jams fluctuated between £35,761 and £49,490. Since 1881 the range has been from £10,552 to £22,923. In 1885 the colonial factories turned out £32,292 worth.

Sugar, the principal ingredient in these manufactures, is itself a New Zealand manufacture, the Auckland Sugar .Refinery being now in active operation. This is an extensive establishment —the output in 1885 was valued at £176,591. Hitherto the supply of raw sugar has been obtained from Java, but in future the proprietors will grow the cane on their own estates in Fiji.

Pickles and sauces is another class of preserves and condiments that made a good show at the Exhibition. They are now manufactured all over the Colony.

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After food come drinkables and materials for making them, under this head our native manufactures are beer and aerated waters. In 1885 we exported £1,780 worth of Colonial beer, but we are still far from the exporting stage, for the imports amounted to £102,229. Notwithstanding that about 4,500,000 gallons of beer are annually brewed in the Colony, the imports are practically keeping pace with the increase of population.

There are 560 men employed in malting and brewing, and the capital invested in the industry is estimated at £284,056.

The market in aerated waters and mild cordials is mostly supplied by local products. The statistics show that there are 273 hands employed in the industry, that the capital invested is £93,478, and that £94,098 worth of the various drinks were produced in 1885.

Taken altogether we are now producing not only all the necessaries, but most of the luxuries of life that can be produced in temperate climes.

Clothing. —Next to food the greatest essential of civilized life is clothing and some of our most successful efforts in manufactures have been made in providing it for ourselves. In the various industries connected with manufacturing and making up leather and cloth no fewer than 4,077 hands are employed, and the capital invested in land, plant, and buildings is estimated at about £330,000.

I have already referred to leather in connection with Colonial manufactures that are exported. In addition to the ordinary leathers used in shoemaking and saddlery, the tanneries are now manufacturing the finer kinds required for bookbinding and fancy work.

Several of the native barks are used for tanning, more particularly birch bark a large quantity of which is produced in Nelson

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In 1885 there were £183,642 worth of boots imported, and £276,725 worth made in factories in the Colony,

A new feature in the leather trade—the manufacture of portmanteaux and Gladstone hags—was well represented at the Exhibition.

There is no industry in New Zealand of which the colonists are prouder than the woollen manufactures, and they undoubtedly merit the estimation in which they are held, whether as regards the success they have achieved or the excellence of the products. Seven mills are now in operation, four of them have been established for many years, and three started within the last three years. Arrangements are also made for building three more. The six mills in active operation at the end of 1885, work up annually 2,000,000 pounds of wool, the value of which is £70,000. The cloth produced is worth £200,000, and the clothing into which it is made £600,000. If these manufactures took only the place of cloth, the amount of imports excluded by them would he of course £200,000, but if they took the place of ready-made clothing the amount would be the full £600,000. We know that they act in both ways, consequently it will probably he fair to assume that the Colonial manufactures, affect the imports to the extent of about £400,000.

The New Zealand cloth mills produce a great variety of fabrics suitable for all the purposes of humanity, old and young, savage and civilized. There has been a considerable export of our woollens to the neighbouring colonies, and one or two sample shipments have found their way to England.

Household and Personal Requisites. —Taking household requisites as a whole the import trade is not materially affected by the local manufactures, the decrease in some articles being balanced by an increase in others.

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Our furniture factories are second to the cloth mills in the success they have mot with, but equal to them in the beauty and excellence of their manufactures. Furniture of all kinds and description is made in considerable quantities, suitable for all classes of homes—from cottage to castle. But, considering our large supplies of beautiful woods, the industry is not so extensive as it ought to be. The imports for the last five years have averaged £57,361 as against £66,125 for the five years ending 1880. This is probably due to the fact that the trade depends not so much on the necessities of life as on the caprice of fashion and trade.

Furniture making gives employment to 757 men. The capital invested is estimated at £103,977, and the annual output at £170,135.

Ordinary earthenware for domestic purposes is manufactured at several of our potteries, and tile works in considerable quantities; but the manufacture of the finer kinds has not yet passed the experimental stage.

A glass work on a small scale lias been in operation in Auckland for some years. Its products are mainly lamp glasses and chimneys, and water bottles and jugs.

The manufactures of soap and candles are generally earned on together. Although the imports of common soap have increased slightly during the past two years we may say that the local product commands the market. The exports in 1886 were £576 more than the imports. Fancy soaps of various kinds are also manufactured at the larger works.

The imports of candles fell from £96,412 in 1877 to £45,225 in 1883, but there was a rise to £74,452 in 1884 ; the amount for 1885 being £71,673. From this it would appear that the Colonial candle works are not holding their own. O

The annual value of the raw materials used in the manufacture of soap and candles is returned at £72,951,

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and that of the products at £130,745. The plant and machinery is worth £75,928, and 204 hands are employed.

Under the head of personal requisites the most important item is tobacco. Although the plant has long been grown by the Maoris for their own use, and by the settlers for sheep dipping, it is only of late years that it has been cultivated for manufacturing purposes. Auckland tobacco, raw and manufactured and in a great variety of forms, made a good show at the Exhibition. The quality is officially pronounced to be “ highly commendable.” Duty was paid in 1885 on 16,613 pounds of Native tobacco and cigars.

Among the less important household and personal requisites of Colonial manufacture at the Exhibition were brooms and brushware, knife, metal, and boot-polish, soap-powder and blacking, plate and jewellery, drugs and perfumery, cod liver oil and mineral waters, and artificial limbs and fiddle strings.

Building Requisites. — In building requisites the principal Colonial product is timber, which has been already referred to. According to the last returns there are 5,108 hands employed in sawmills and woodware factories of various kinds, nearly an eighth of the manufacturing labour of the Colony. The capital invested in machinery, plant, and buildings is estimated at about £970,000. It is satisfactory to find that in 1885 £7,806 worth of the timber was exported in a manufactured stale. £3,640 of this was doors and sashes, and the remainder woodware. The latest timber industry established is creosoting works to preserve the less durable woods. A large establishment is now in full operation near Invercargill. It turns out 15,000 sleepers a month.

After timber come brick and tile works, stone quarrying and lime burning, which give employment to 870 men, and in which £198,267 is invested. The annual output from these industries is estimated at £198,267. A small quantity of the lime is exported.

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The drain pipes and stoneware made from the native clays are of particularly good quality, and the manufactures have been a complete success. In addition to ordinary drainage appliances the higher class of articles for building, ornamental, and sanitary purposes are produced.

Hydraulic lime, equal to Portland cement for most purposes, is now produced in Auckland by three or four kilns, and getting into general use all over the North Island. The output of the Mahurangi kilns alone is said to be about 1500 bushels a week.

After numerous trials and failures New Zealand Portland cement of good quality has recently reached the market. It is manufactured at Mahurangi. Another factory is in course of erection near Dunedin, samples from which have given satisfactory results.

Paint made from haematite and other minerals is manufactured in Nelson and Auckland in considerable quantities. The works at the Thames produce a great variety of colours.

A factory for the manufacture of varnish from kauri gum has recently been established in Auckland. O •/

Requisites for Settlement and Trade —The principal colonial industries under this head are rope-making, the manufacture of paper, gunpowder, and artificial manures, the building of carriages and other vehicles, ship and boat building, and the manufacture of agricultural implements.

Rope making is an old established industry in New Zealand. Rope and cord of all sizes and description, from hawsers to fishing lines, are manufactured from native and imported materials in considerable quantities, and there is a small export in the manufactures.

There are two paper mills in operation, one at the Mataura and the other at Dunedin. White paper has been produced experimentally and used in printing the

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Dunedin “ Herald,” but the manufactures hitherto have principally been wrapping and blotting papers. Considerable quantities are produced of all kinds and colours, the total value of the manufactures in 1885 being £7280. The paper is made chiefly from native grasses, with the addition of such rags and waste paper as are procurable in the colony.

Although we do not manufacture writing paper in New Zealand we contribute to literature by producing writing inks, of which a variety w 7 as shown at the Exhibition.

A mill for the manufacture of blasting powder has been in operation at Gatlin’s Elver for some years. With the exception of saltpetre all the raw materials are found in the country. The sulphur comes from White Island, and the charcoal is made chiefly from mako-mako, a small tree of little value for anything else. There is apparently no difference in quality between the Colonial and English blasting powder. As yet the industry does not seem to be a commercial success. The construction of the fortifications may however give it an V O impetus. A cartridge factory has been established and the scheme of defence will not be complete without a local supply of gunpowder.

On account of the fertility of the soil there was little demand for manure of any kind until of late years. The item does not appear in the imports till 1879 but in 1880 £26,941 worth was imported, chiefly bone dust. Since then the imports have ranged from £31,906 to £47,022. The local manufacture sprang up as soon as the demand arose, and it is now becoming of considerable importance. In 1885 there were six chemical works, and seven bone mills in the Colony, employing 65 hands, but the chemical works are not exclusively engaged in manufacturing artificial manure, among other things they produce sulphuric acid which is extensively used in candle making, and other manufactures.

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The annual value of the artificial manures and chemicals produced at these works is £43,620, and the capital invested is returned at £35,678.

The building of carriages and other vehicles has of late years attained considerable proportions, about 650 men being employed in the various establishments throughout the Colony. Vehicles of all kinds are manufactured regularly in large numbers, from mail coaches and private carriages to six-horse waggons and farm carts, and in all the vagaries of shape and style so much affected by colonials. Whether as regards design, workmanship, or price, the New Zealand made vehicle compares favourably with the imported article. Until of late years imported timber was chiefly used for wheelwright work, but the native hardwoods are now coming into general use. Kowhai, manuka, rata, and pohutukawa are found to be as suitable as hickory, ash and ironbark, and mangiao, a North Island wood, is pronounced to be the best known for body work. A landau from Auckland of this timber at the Exhibition attracted considerable attention.

In 1582 the value of vehicles of all kinds imported into New Zealand was £99,715, exactly £B3O above the amount for 1862. Since 1882 the imports have ranged from £23,323 to £29,528. The imports include materials for making vehicles which of late years are generally about two thirds of the whole. The output of the Colonial factories is estimated at £128,346, and £106,238 is invested in plant, machinery, and land.

About 170 men are regularly employed in the building of wooden steamers, sailing vessels, and boats. The industry is confined almost entirely to Auckland, where there is an abundant supply of suitable timber. Trading vessels up to 500 or 600 tons are built, and the Auckland yachts have acquired a high reputation all over the Southern Seas.

There is no more successful business in the Colony than the manufacture of agricultural implements and

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machinery, and this fact has a peculiar significance for those interested in the establishment of manufactures. It shews that industries of this sort find a congenial soil in New Zealand, for the one now under consideration has not been fostered nor encouraged in any way. It has not even had the slight protection of the ordinary Customs’ duty, agricultural appliances having all along been duty free.

The local manufactures are by no means confined to the commoner agricultural implements, hut embrace high class machinery of the most scientific kind, with the very latest improvements. A peculiarity of this industry is the continual change in the fashion of the articles produced. There is no class of appliances which has of late years undergone more alterations and improvements than those connected with agriculture, and the colonists of New Zealand are always ready to adopt any invention that will save labour or otherwise cheapen the cost of production. The latest improvement in agricultural machinery is generally in full swing at the Antipodes long before it has gained a footing in the Old Country. The success of the local industries is probably due in a great measure to the alacrity with which those engaged in them accept and adopt these improvements, Although the Colonial manufacture of agricultural appliances is so great, it has not kept pace with the spread of agricultural settlement; not including hand tools, we still import from £50,000 to £lOO,OOO worth of plant for tilling the soil and gathering in its fruits. Agricultural implements are made at 17 factories, and the capital invested in the industry is £50,205, 336 men are employed, and the output is estimated at £111,823.

Machinery and Manufacturing Requisites. —The industries just referred to merge naturally into those under the head of Machinery and Manufacturing Requisites, and the only ones not yet considered are the general mechanical and metal trades. Tirst as to the raw materials for these industries —many of them exist in considerable quantities but, hitherto, our attempts to utilise them have heea

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anything bnt successful. Iron sand that is so plentiful on our shores has heen tried time after time and much money sunk to bring nothing hut loss and disappointment. We want a Bessemer or a Siemens to overcome refractory Nature, and in the meantime our efforts should be confined to haematite and the other ores whose properties are well known.

So also with copper ; the ore has been mined and exported at great cost and small profit, hut the metal has never reached the local consumer in marketable quantities.

Cast steel works to convert scrap iron are in course of erection at Green Island. These, I have no doubt will be successful.

In addition to the ordinary requirements of trade, settlement, and manufactures, the mechanical industries in New Zealand have received a considerable impetus from goldmining, for which little machinery is imported.

Looked at from an English point of view our essays in iron-shipbuilding have been insignificant, but as a colonial industry they are well worthy of notice. Ninety-eight steamers, of sufficient importance to be put on the register of shipping, have from first to last been built in New Zealand, and, with a few exceptions, their engines were also made in the Colony. Ten iron steam dredgers have also been built and engined —the largest being the “ Vulcan,” 70 horse power.

Land engines of all sizes are regularly made for mills» mines, and other purposes, and water motors of various kinds have long been a speciality. In connection herewith I ought to make especial reference to a quartz mill now at work in the Wakatipu district. Twenty head of stampers are driven by electricity, engendered by the force of a stream nearly two miles away, and conveyed over an intervening range 800 feet high, by a No. 8 copper wire. This is one of the most successful applications on record of electric power, and it promises to revolutionize our mining and mechanical industries.

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With, the view of giving local industry a fair tria Government has, within the last two or three years» entered into a number of contracts for iron bridges to he manufactured entirely in the colony. Four large bridges and a number of smaller ones, comprising in all about 1700 tons, are in course of construction, and about as much more is in immediate prospect. The result, so far, has been highly satisfactory. There has always been sufficient competition in tendering, and the contracts have been let at a price very little, if anything, in advance of what the bridges would cost had the ironwork been imported ready made. The contractors have the option of importing the materials specially for these bridges, but the different forms of iron are imported in the state in which they leave the rolling mills, without work of any kind. In fact, the local manufacturers do more than would be done by bridge-makers in England, for even the bolts and rivets are made in the colony.

You are all familiar with the experiment Government is making in getting locomotives manufactured in the colony. It promises to be as successful as the bridge building. If we can make locomotives at anything like a reasonable cost it augurs well for other engineering industries, this being a high stage in mechanical development.

There is another class of iron manufactures that has acquired a firm footing in the colony —office safes, copying presses, kitchen ranges, stoves, grates, ornamental castings, and other light ironwork—all of which were well represented at the Exhibition.

In brass and copper works New Zealand seems to have fairly taken the lead of the Australian colonies, all the principal prizes at the Sydney and Melbourne Exhibitions having come to Dunedin. Several large orders for brewery plant and other special manufactures have followed those prizes, and many of the ordinary wares find their way to the Australian market. The local manufacture of lead piping has now complete hold of the

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home trade, none being imported A remarkable feature of this trade is the large quantity of small articles manufactured —steam, water, and gas fittings, and the thousand and one metal nick-nacks that seem to constitute the stock and trade of an ironmonger. On making inquiries I find that in every instance the question of importing versus manufacturing has been carefully considered, and nothing is made that it would pay better to import. Among other advantages in making those stock articles is that it enables the manufacturers to keep around them a good supply of skilled workmen. A new branch of tinsmith work well represented at the Exhibition is the manufacture of Japanned goods, deed and travelling boxes, coal vases, canisters, trays, and other wares of this class

The mechanical and metal industries in New Zealand give employment to 1988 men. The capital invested in land, plant, and machinery is £276,171 and the value of the annual output is £395,608

Present Position.

Extent of Trade. —A sketch of the present position of the trade of New Zealand is practically a recapitulation of the statements already made. It is therefore unnecessary to do more than refer to the diagrams and give a few leading facts and figures.

For the 10 years ending 1875 the Imports averaged £5,767,717 and the Exports £4,980,4.58, and for the ten years ending 1885 the figures are: Imports £7,635,501 Exports £6,383,893. This is the value in the Colony of both Imports and Exports, but if the value is taken in the producing country the Imports will be reduced by 10 per cent. On this basis we have for the last ten years sent £lOO worth of our products to other countries for every £lO7 worth they send us.

Eeturning to Colonial values the greatest difference between our imports and exports was in 1863 and 1864, the goldfield years, when the imports exceeded the

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exports by £3,539,269 and £3,598,988, more than double; and again in 1874 and 1878, when the figures were £2,873,543 and £2,739,963. The only years in which there was a balance on the other side are 1870,. 1871, 1872, and 1880, when the exports were from £47,714 to £1,203,891 in excess of the imports.

During the five golden years ending 1866 the imports exceeded the exports by £12,598,153. It is curious to speculate how these imports were paid for, as there was very little bori’owing publicly or privately in those days.

The diagrams show extraordinary fluctuations in the import trade. Leaving out the goldfield years, when it went up £5,476,341 in a single bound, which is easily accounted for, there have since then been several ups and downs—the rise from 1871 to 1874 was £4,043,619, and the fall from 1878 to 1880, £2,593,652. I suppose these fluctuations are attributable to “ over-importing,” the cause, according to popular tradition, of all the ills to which commercial New Zealand is subject. The export trade, on the other hand, is remarkably steady. Since the first jump up in the goldfields’ years the fluctuations on either side of the average line have never reached £500,000.

Nature of Trade. —At present about 20 per cent, of our imports are eatables and drinkables, and 40 per cent, clothing and household requisites. Of the exports 72 per cent, are pastoral and agricultural products, and 14 per cent, come from the mines.

Comparing our exports with those of the other Australasian Colonies, we find that in food preparations New Zealand holds a foremost place, and in the matter of frozen meat, she exports four times as much as all the other Colonies put together. She has also a speciality in kauri gum. On the other hand Victoria exports nearly four times as much leather, and the tin and copper exports of New South Wales amount to about a million annually. South Australia of course greatly exceeds all the other Colonies in the exportation of grain.

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Another point worth noticing is the extraordinary way in which the other industries took up the running as the gold exports gave out. Since the first great shove, gold has contributed little to the gradient of settlement. The gold line is falling nearly as fast as the other is rising.

Interchange. —About 70 per cent, of the trade of New Zealand is with the United Kingdom, and as might be expected there is more reciprocity between her and the mother country than in any other case. During the last ten years the balance of trade between England and New Zealand has only averaged £5157.

Our next largest transactions are with Victoria which gets about per cent, of our trade, but in this case there is less reciprocity. The Victorians only take £lOO worth of our wares for every £l6O worth they send us. Furthermore what we send is mostly gold, and what they send is not their own products hut the manufactures of other countries. The trade with Victoria has fallen off greatly since the establishment of the direct steam service.

The trade with New South Wales, although rapidly increasing, is still somewhat less than that with Victoria, but there is far more interchange of commodities. New South Wales is one of our best customers; she takes large quantities of our produce, and a fair share of our manufactures.

Manufacturing Industries. —The details of the Industrial census taken in March last, are not yet published, but the Registrar-General has kindly furnished me with the following general results, together with the corresponding figures for 1881: —

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The value of the raw materials used up in manufactures proper is about £2,000,000.

The Industrial statistics of all the colonies contain if pms that can scarcely be classed as manufactures. Excluding these, the relative position of the three leading Australasian colonies as regards manufacturing development is shown by the following table, the figures in all cases being only approximate:—

The proportions of the population engaged in manufactures in other countries are—Great Britain, 24 J per cent; Belgium, 17J; Prussia, 13; Prance, 12; and the United States, 7-J.

A further comparison of the Industrial position of the Colonies is made in the number of persons engaged in leading manufactures :

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Deducting the sugar manufactories, which are a speciality, this table shews that with few exceptions New South Wales is far behind Victoria in leading manufactures, and that she is also surpassed by New Zealand in a few of the more important industries.

General. —This concludes my sketch of the history and present position of the trade and industries of New Zealand, and I claim to have shewn that the handful of people who constitute the pioneers of this infant nation have skillfully initiated and are zealously and successfully carrying out the “ heroic work of colonisation.” V O

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RESOURCES.

Preliminary.

In considering the resources of New Zealand I shall first refer to a subject to which I have previously _ directed attention—the necessity for a thorough investigation into the resources of the Colony and the want of a systematic arrangement of the information already collected. Although several excellent sketches have appeared, a comprehensive treatise on the Economic Geology and Botany of New Zealand, like Buller’s « Book of Birds,” or Hector’s “ Grasses,” has never been attempted, and the large amount of valuable information we have on the subject is so mixed up witli the general literature of the country as to be comparatively useless.

I believe the want will now be supplied through the labors of the Mines, Forests, and Agricultural Departments.

Natural Amenities:

Scenery. —The first and by no means the least of the resources of New Zealand is its natural amenities. Someone has said that we cannot discount climate. As an abstract proposition this is probably correct, hut in actual practice it is nearly as fallacious as the assertion that we could not grow our own wheat. Although they cannot well be included in the schedule to a Loan Bill, fine scenery and blue skies are valuable collatei’al security, with fertile plains and rich mines in the money market. Grand mountains, rivers, and lakes, are tangible assets in a nation’s balance sheet; and in some countries they are, indirectly, the main source of revenue. Even in Great Britain with all its wealth they are the direct and sole support of large and populous districts. According to Mulhall 947,500 travellers went to Switzerland in 1879, and they left there £5,800,000.

Although the tourist traffic is only in its infancy, it is beginning to affect the commerce of the country. The geysers of the North and the glaciers of the South are

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already contributing their quota to the dividends of the Union Company, and the main stay of the Wakatipu district is the scenery of the Lake. As there is nothing in the Southern Seas to compete with her scenery, New Zealand must always be the recreation ground of Australasia ; and the healing waters of the North Island have appropriately been called “the World’s Bethesda.” The protective policy of the Victorians may keep our oats and potatoes out of their market, but it cannot keep the money in their own country when the commodities to be bought are the health-giving pleasures of the Hot Springs and the mountains. It is impossible to estimate the possibilities of the tourists traffic of New Zealand. We are really only breaking ground in the matter. Although the Colony has suffered incalculable loss in the Terraces, there are still innumerable attractions to be unfolded. Some of the finest scenery in both islands has only been seen by a few explorers.

Climate. —The climatic endowments are greatly enhanced by their diversity. Taken in connection with her other varied resources this makes New Zealand what may be termed a self-contained country. We grow maize and oranges in the north, and barley and turnips in the south; grapes in the interior of Otago, and red currants on the sea-board. The diversity of climate is attributable to the configuration and geographical position of the islands —a long narrow strip lying north and south close to the tropics, but separated from this and other heat centres by unbroken seas that modify the temperature. There is no country in the world of so small a size that extends over so many degrees of latitude.

Water. —Another natural endowment in New Zealand, which is not appraised at its proper value, is the abundant supply of water everywhere obtainable. In all probability there is not a single spot in either island that is ten miles from a permanent water supply, and the places where the distance is even half as much are few and far between. In addition to its ordinary uses

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pure water is indispensable for many manufacturing purposes, And if tlie predictions of scientific men, vith reference to electricity, come true, of which there is now little doubt, we have in our swift flowing rivers, what Dr. Johnson would call, a “ potentiality of wealth. Scientists assure us that the motive power of the future is electricity, to be engendered by the forces now running to waste in every stream, and distributed to the consumer like gas or water. There is more inherent pou cr in the Waitaki River alone than in all the engines of all the steamers that trade in New Zealand waters. What a vista of industrial activity is opened up when we consider the “world of waters” that flows from the Southern Alps, and the possibility of converting these giant forces into useful mechanical agents. We might even go so far as to predict that, instead of destroying the fertile land on its banks, the Waimakariri will some day be trained to plough them.

Minerals.

Gold and Silver. —Coming now to less ethereal resources, we have first to deal with those under the earth, and of these the most important hitherto has been gold. As shown in our historical sketch, gold-mining made one great effort to advance the colonization of New Zealand, and having fulfilled its mission sank into comparative insignificance. The country has now been well prospected, consequently there is little chance of further discoveries of alluvial diggings of an extensive character. The ordinary river workings are rapidly coming to an end, but the hydraulic workings in gravel and cement terraces will last many years, and quartz-mining is supposed to be only in its infancy. Although not very rich the quartz reefs of New Zealand are numerous and large —a small quantity of gold permeates a large body of stone. The extension of the industry is therefore dependent to a great extent on improved appliances for cheapening production. We cannot, however, calculate on any material increase on the present yield of gold ;

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the decrease in alluvial diggings will balance any increase that may take place in quartz-mining, for the alluvial mines are still yielding more than one-half of the gold obtained in the Colony.

Nearly all the silver hitherto exported from New Zealand has been extracted from the Thames gold, which contains 30 per cent, of silver as an alloy. There is a well-defined lode of silver ore in Collingwood, but it is not supposed to be very rich. Silver has also been found combined with lead and other minerals in Nelson and Westland.

Coal. —Until the predicted revolution in mechanical science takes place coal will, of course, be one of the most important minerals in the Colony, so it is satisfactory to know that, from a Colonial point of view the supply is practically inexhaustible. Coal of various kinds occurs all over the country at short intervals —the geological maps are bristling with black marks indicative of its presence. Instead of being a boon this superabundance of fuel has hitherto been a real difficulty and cause of expense, not only to the Colony as a whole, but to private individuals, for the industry is being developed in all directions much in advance of our requirements.

The portions of the Collingwood, Buller, and Grey Coalfields that have been surveyed are estimated to contain 200,000,000 tons of the best bituminous coal, a quantity equal to the present consumption of the Colony for nearly 400 years, assuming that nothing but this class of coal was burned. The area of the Kaitangata and Tokomairiro field, which yields the best class of non-bituminous coal, is about 60 square miles, and the estimated quantity, 768,000,000 tons. With the exception of the Collingwood field, which has water communication, all those just mentioned are opened up by railways. They are all in accessible situations, and, except at the Grey, nearly all the coal is procurable without sinking. Hallways have also been constructed into other extensive coalfields in Auckland, Canterbury and Otago. Tor example: the Night-caps field, in

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Southland, estimated to contain 100,000,000 tons of the Kaitangata class of coal; and the Green Island field, with much the same quantity of brown coal.

Extensive coalfields that have not been opened out are also known to exist in the Mokau, Wangapeka, Upper Buller, Clarence and Paringa districts. Including the Westport and Greymouth fields there are altogether about 1250 square miles of coal-bearing formation in the country traversed by the Midland Railway.

Oil Shales and Oil. —Lighting comes naturally after fuel, and to provide it nature has supplied us with the raw materials in the form of oil shales and mineral oils. Shales have been discovered in Auckland, Nelson and Otago. They are of good quality, and the deposits are believed to he of considerable extent. In addition to oils of various kinds these shales are rich in gas. I have no doubt the deposits at Orepuki will be utilised for this purpose when fully opened out, as the railway is now running into the district. The mineral oils have been found in Taranaki and Auckland, some of them are of excellent quality, and, according to present prospects a good supply seems to he forthcoming from the Poverty Bay wells.

Iron. —ln conjunction with coal, the most important mineral to have in any country is iron, and New Zealand seems to be well supplied. Iron ores of various kinds have been found all over the country; but the information with reference to them is not very complete, no attempt having been made to work any of them, except the iron sand. The extent of some of the deposits has, however, been ascertained. The quantity of haematite ore, exposed at the Parapara River, in Nelson, is estimated at about 53,000,000 tons, and there is another bed in the same locality 60 feet thick. Veins of somewhat similar ore, 6 feet thick, occur in Canlerbury and the Wakatipu district.

Haematite is also found at Paringa and other places in South Westland.

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Black band and clay ironstone, which are the ores most easily reduced by the old methods, have been discovered at various places in both islands.

In most cases coal and lime, the materials required in smelting iron, are found in close proximity to the ores.

Copper. —Copper has been found all over the Colony, from Auckland to Otago, but more particularly in Nelson, which is veritably the home of minerals. Copper mines have been opened at various times and places, but as yet the industry is not established on a satisfactory basis.

Lead. —On a recent visit to the West Coast I was shewn a splendid sample of lead ore from Mount Bangitoto, similar in every respect to what I had seen worked at Home. It was looked upon merely as a matrix in which silver was found and considered of little value. This is reversing the order of things. In England, the occurrence of silver in lead ore is considered incidental, the latter being the more important metal. Lead ore is well dispersed throughout the Colony, hut the extent of the deposits is unknown.

Tin and Zinc. —Tin has been discovered in Otago and at Reefton; but the samples hitherto obtained have been very small. Zinc occurs in Auckland, Nelson, and Westland.

Minor Metals. —Among less important metalic ores discoveries have been made of platinum, mercury, nickel, cobalt, manganese, chrome, antimony, and scheelite. The four latter are worked to a small extent.

In many cases small specimens only of the minerals have been found, Avhich of course gives no clue to the extent of the deposits, but it is reasonable to assume therefrom that deposits exist. There must be a stock where the sample comes from.

Clays. —Coming nearer the surface of the earth we find clays, building stones, roofing slate, lime, and other building materials. Clays of all kinds are very plentiful

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throughout New Zealand, and there seems to be a variety for every purpose, from common bricks and tiles to chinaware and tobacco pipes.

Building Stone. —Building stone is also everywhere present in large quantities and of all kinds. Ibe bardstones are represented by granite in Nelson and the Sounds, and volcanic rocks near Dunedin, Christchurch, and Auckland. One of the best and easiest worked is the well-known Port Chalmers stone, the supply of which is practically unlimited. Freestones are also plentiful and well dispersed, particularly in the South Island. The white granular variety, of which the Oamaru stone is the type, occurs in immense quantities right across Southland, and all along the front range from the Kakanui to North Canterbury. They are all remarkable for uniformity of colour and consistency, and the Mount Somers and Southland varieties are probably the best, being comparatively hard and impervious. A particularly fine stone of this class is found at Fox’s River, on the West Coast.

Marble. —Marble of various colours and consistency has been discovered all over the South Island, and in several places in the North Island. Small specimens of statuary marble have been found on the West Coast, but no regular deposit. Many of the best of the commoner kinds occur in accessible situations, notably at Caswell Sound, where a quarry has been opened, and in several places in Nelson, Canterbury, and Otago. There is a large hill of marble at the head of the Maruia Plain.

Slate. —Roofing slate, equal in quality to Welsh, is found in the Kakanui Range, commencing at Otepopo, and running inland for a great distance. The deposits cover an immense area, but it is not clear that a large proportion of marketable slates can be obtained readily, the rock on the surface being considerably shattered.

Limes. —Limestone, suitable for burning, is almost as plentiful and widely dispersed as clay and building stone, but the hydraulic varieties which make the best

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mortar are not so common. The best and largest deposits occur in Auckland, and on the Otago Peninsula, Chalk the principal ingredient in Portland cement is found in large quantities at Oxford, and again in the Kaikoura mountains.

Minor Minerals. —Among the minor non-metalic minerals used in manufactures and the arts, which have been found in New Zealand, are plumbago, sulphur, gypsum, magnesia, alum, flint, felspar, asbestos, meerschaum, and talc.

Vegetable Resources.

Gums. —Kauri gum is classed indifferently as a vegetable and mineral product. It is difficult to estimate the extent of our resources in this article, hut I am informed that there is little chance of the supply giving out for many years to come. Gum-digging will probably last as long as alluvial gold-mining.

It is not generally known that retinite, a fossil resin or gum of a somewhat similar character, occurs in considerable quantities in some ot the lignite beds of the Middle Island. I have no doubt it could be utilised in the manufacture of varnishes, but its special properties and commercial value have not been determined. The lignite beds on the Maniototo Plain are believed to contain large deposits of retinite,

Timber. Coming now to the ordinary vegetable resources of the Colony, we have first to deal with timber, the most important material in any new country. The total area of bush land of all kinds in New Zealand is variously estimated at from 15,000,000 to 20,000,000 acres, but the different kinds and qualities of timber have not yet been definitely classified.

Unfortunately the forests are not well dispersed throughout the Colony. Large portions of the North Island, and the whole of the West Coast of the South Island, have too much hush, while the eastern side of

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the South Island, north of the Clutha, has far too little' The great hulk of the settlement is in the latter area, consequently the timber supply is not convenient to the market. This is the principal reason why our forest resources have not been utilised to the fullest extent. It is easier to get ironhark for spokes from New South Wales than rata from the West Coast, although the latter is more suitable ; and jarrah sleepers from Western Australia can sometimes be landed at Lyttelton and Port Chalmers at an advance of 20 per cent, on the cost of totara or matai from Southland or Wellington. When we consider the relative values of the timbers the balance is greatly in favour of the imported article —jarrah being one of the best timbers in the world for sleepers. These anomalies will of course rectify themselves as industries develop, and communication is further improved.

New Zealand has no extensive supply of large hardwood timber of special strength, like the gums of Australia and Tasmania, but she has what is more valuable, a great quantity of the pines and other softwoods that are most required tor building purposes—and there are few countries in which such a variety of timber occurs. The other Australasian colonies near us are very deficient in this respect. New Zealand has ten pines that yield sawing timber, six of them being large trees.

The supplies of the various kinds of timber in the Colony are well proportioned to our wants, but, for the reason already given, many special kinds are still unused. We have for several years produced all our own building timbers, and had a surplus to export, but considerable quantities of hardwoods and furniture woods are still imported. There is no substitute for the Australian gums for long timbers of special strength, hut the ordinary hardwoods imported for the use of the wheelwright, carriage builder, and implement maker, might well be superseded by the native article. Kowhai and rata are much stronger and quite as straight-grained

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as English oalc and ash. And in the matter of furniture woods, beyond the fact that cedar is easier worked, there is no point in which the imported materials can he compared with the home products. New Zealand is particularly rich in ornamental woods, and some of the best have never been utilised.

As in the case of many other colonial products, the fashion is to deprecate New Zealand timbers. There is no real ground for doing so—class for class they compare favourably with timbers of other countries. Their faults and failures are not so much due to inherent defects as to improper treatment and ignorance of the relative qualities of the different kinds. Instead of using welldried heart-wood from mature trees, felled at the proper season, we put into our houses wet sap-wood from young trees, that are felled when most convenient; often in their juiciest state. And, without a single enquiry into its suitableness, timber is constantly used in positions for which it was never intended by nature.

Minor Forest Products. —As a minor forest product I have already referred to the fungus found on the trees in the North Island and exported to China. We have little information as to the extent of our resources in this commodity; they are believed to be considerable; and, being a growth which replenishes itself, the industry will undoubtedly be permanent.

Eive or six of the native trees furnish hark rich in tannin, which is gradually coming into use. Being easily obtained, the bark principally used is that of the red birch (Fagusfusca). It is, however, not so good as that of the kamai, a smaller tree, very plentiful in Southland and on the West Coast.

Many of the New Zealand plants furnish, dye-stuffs of various colours. The Maoris were well acquainted with them properties, and used them extensively, but the settlers have hitherto done little with them. Neither have we made any attempt to utilise the extracts, turpentine, creosote, tar, pitch, resin, and other similar products of our forests.

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Phormium. —The problem of cultivating the native hemp profitably has not yet been solved. Until this is done there can be little advance in the industries connected with this product, for the natural supply is rapidly decreasing. Phormium thrives best in good land, consequently it vanishes on the approach of agriculture.

Land.

Pastoral. —The pastoral lands of New Zealand are estimated at 27, QU0, 000 acres, nearly all of which have been turned to account in growing wool and mutton; 2,671,885 acres, chiefly in the fern and bush lands of the North Island have "been surface sown with English grasses, but the remainder is in its natural state. Whether the productiveness of the tussock lands can he materially increased by similar treatment seems an open question, for little surface sowing is done in the South Island.

Arable. —The arable lands comprise about 16,000,000 acres, of which 3,997,035 had been cultivated and broken up in 1886.

In the mild climate of New Zealand every acre of land over which the plough can pass will grow crops, no matter what the altitude may he. Our food-pro-ducing resources are therefore enormous. Instead of having to depend on other countries for our supply of wheat, as alleged by the great English economist already referred to, we could supply the whole of England with the staff of life from about half our agricultural lands.

Capabilities. —The pasture lands of the United Kingdom amount to about 23,000,001) acres, and the arable lands to 21,000,000, the aggregate being 4,000,000 more than the pastoral and agricultural lands of New Zealand. But taking the superiority of our climate into consideration, we could in all probability produce as much food of all kinds as Great Britain and Ireland if our resources

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■were fully developed. That is, we might feed 20,000.000 or 25,00(3,000 human beings instead of the mere handful of people that constitute the population of the Colony.

As already indicated, the value of our lands is greatly enhanced by the diversity of climate. In addition to the grain and root crops of the Old Country sub-tropical plants of all kinds grow luxuriantly in New Zealand. Grapes, oranges, lemons, citrons, melons, and almonds have long been common fruits. Olive and corkwood trees are growing well in the North, and proposals have been made to the Government to commence a tea plantation. Tobacco manufactured from leaf grown in the Colony has been smoked for years, and we are planting mulberry trees for our future silk manufactures.

General.

This concludes the second division of my subject—a sketch of the industrial resources of New Zealand. At the risk of being included in Anthony Trollope’s category of “ colonial blowers,” I think you will agree in the conclusion that we have in this far-off isle of the sea the makings of a good little country. We might even be justified in saying that Nature has written on more than one page the promise given to a country with far fewer resources, “ I will make of thee a great nation.”

WHAT MORE CAN BE DONE.

Preliminary.

Having shown what we have already done, and the materials we have to work upon, I shall now consider our future prospects —What it is possible for us to do. As already stated we confidently hope and trust that the future of our industries is of far greater importance than the past. I shall therefore consider it in detail. I shall first show the direction in which the industries of New Zealand can expand, and then consider the ways and means, difficulties and doubts, which are involved in the question of extending them.

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Further Industrial Development.

Alimentary Products. —As already shown, the Colony now grows far more food than it can consume, and its capacity for further development is very great. We are on the right track in this matter, and nothing is wanted to increase our production to an enormous extent hut a better market.

If it only continues, the trade in frozen and preserved meats of all kinds will he a great impetus to the pastoral industries. The arable lands will be broken up more rapidly and laid down in English grass. Instead of having three acres for a sheep there will be three sheep on the acre. The old race of squatters, whom I have heard derisively styled “ tussockers,” will give place to sheep-farmers, tillers of the soil, like their humbler brethren, the “ cockatoos.” Before we reach the full measure of our productiveness our flocks must be doubled, and the number of cattle and other domestic animals increased about twenty-fold.

As shewn by Mr. Stead, the by-products of the pastoral and agricultural industries are important items in our exports, and it would be well to devote more attention to them, for it is questionable whether the New Zealand farmer will ever again get a good price for his wheat in London. The price, which has long been falling, is now only 57 per cent, of the average for the five years ending 1869. Wheat is delivered into granaries in Dakota for Is. 9d. a bushel, and it can be raised in the interior of India for 9d. a bushel. The carriage from these places to England is probably a little higher than from New Zealand, but the difference cannot be very great, for the total carriage on wheat between Chicago and Liverpool is only 9d. a bushel. With such formidable rivals I am afraid that the glories of the grain years have departed never to return. It will be many a long day before we again see a dozen reaping machines following each other in the same paddock, and three dozen ships loading grain together at Lyttelton.

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There was no portion of the Industrial Exhibition more attractive than the food section. Animal and vegetable products and preparations of all kinds were shown in great profusion, and in every conceivable shape and form. The conclusion come to, after an inspection of them, is that New Zealand can hold its own with any country in the variety and excellence of its food supplies. With so many advantages there seems no reason why we should not extend our trade to other countries and climes.

Many of the imports under this head, such as rice, sago, and arrowroot, are grown only in tropical countries, consequently they can never be replaced by the products of New Zealand. The largest item connected with ordinary breadstuffs is seeds, which must always remain a considerable import if agriculture is to progress. We import upwards of £lOO,OOO worth, but export about a third as much.

Another large item is fruit and nuts, of which we import annually £130,000 worth. So far as soil and sun are concerned the greater portion of these might be grown in the Colony. Why they have not been so grown is probably due to the fact that we have not yet settled down to the systematic cultivation of anything hut the “ staff of life.”

The largest food import now existing is sugar, which in the raw and manufactured state amounts to upwards of £350,000 a year. The question of producing this article in the Colony has received considerable attention, and the cultivation of both sorghum—sugar grass or cane—and sugar beet has been practically tested in the North Island.

Although scarcely known in international trade, sorghum is much cultivated in America for Home consumption. It grows in a much colder climate than the ordinary cane of the tropics, and is said to produce an equally good sugar; the plant is also useful as fodder, being of the nature of maize. Some of the sorghum

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extract produced in America is manufactured into syrup and sugar, in large works, hut the greater portion is worked up hy the farmers themselves. About £1,500,000 wort a is produced annually. Sorghum is grown in Auckland in considerable quantities, and the cane has been crushed and otherwise experimented on. The results are so far favorable, so is also the chemical analysis; hut further experiments are required before the extract can he pronounced of the proper quality, for sugar boiling, like brewing, is a process which very little upsets. It is supposed that the climate of the isthmus of Auckland, where the greater portion of the sorghum has been tried, is too moist to give rich juice. If this is the only objection it is not a serious one, for any number of places can be got where the climate is much drier though quite as warm.

After a number of trials sugar beet of the proper quality has been successfully grown in various parts of the Colony. Considerable quantities have been grown in the Waikato, which contains 12 per cent, of sugar. This is something like 3 per cent, more than is common in the beet from which the sugars of Continental Europe are manufactured. Beet sugar is almost unknown in New Zealand as an ordinary article of food, but this is not the case in other countries. According to Mulhall the annual consumption of sugar in the world is estimated at 3,671,000 tons, of which 1,811,000 is beet and 1,860,000 cane. Nearly all the beet sugar is produced in Erance, Germany, Austria, Holland and Hussia In those countries it is used almost exclusively for home consumption, and large quantities are exported.

The proximity of New Zealand to cane-growing countries, and our prejudice in favour of that kind, will retard the production of beet sugar in New Zealand; but it is certain to become an important industry some day, for this article is rapidly superseding all others of the kind in the principal markets of the world. Beet sugar is not so agreeable to the English palate as that made from cane, but this is mere insular prejudice; any

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difference in the flavour is due entirely to defects in the manufacture. When properly refined it is almost identical in every respect with cane sugar.

The recent discovery of the chemical sweetener—saccharin—will give beet sugar a further advantage. Although not quite so sweet as cane sugar it is more wholesome; the addition of saccharin therefore will completely turn the scale in its favour.

About 7,000,000 gallons of spirits are also distilled every year in France from beet root. This is the source of much of the famous pale brandies so popular in the Colonies.

The liquor hill of New Zealand is a very large one. The gold we extract from the bowels of the earth barely pays for the spirituous liquors we imbibe.

I have already referred to the large consumption of imported beer. There is no territorial reason why this beverage should not be made of as good a quality in south New Zealand as on the banks of the Trent. This state of affairs must either be dvie to defects in the local manufacture or the prejudice of the consumers. As previously shewn, the cultivation of hops has become an established industry in the Northern districts of the Middle Island. Like many other crops in the virgin soil of the Colony, the yield is very large—nearly double of what it is in Kent. There is an impression that the quality is inferior to the English article; but on making inquiries of experts I find that this is not the case. There is no inherent defect in the plant, but it is not always harvested and dried in the best manner.

With the advantages that the Colony possesses in cheap barley, and hops, good water, and a suitable climate, we should not only brew all the beer that we drink ourselves, but have a considerable export trade.

As you know, the distillation of spirits was begun in New Zealand some years ago, but it was shortly afterwards discontinued on account of the loss to the

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revenue by the concessions made to the promoters. They got a remission of half the duty, which at that time amounted to six shillings per gallon. It is difficult to say what amount of encouragement, if any, is required to again start this industry. In\ictoria, where erery local manufacture is supposed to he thoroughly protected the concession only amounts to four shillings, and there are six distilleries at work, producing about 250,000 gallons annually. I do not know what quality of liquor is manufactured, but, from the number of establishments, it is reasonable to conclude that the industry is financially a success. New Zealand is better adapted for this manufacture than any of the Australian Colonies we have all the materials required, down even to peat, which gives the peculiar flavour so much affected alike by Celt and Saxon. That we can or ought to make spirits cheaper than our neighbours across the water is evinced by the fact that one of our few exports to Victoria is barley and malt, the principle ingredients in the manufacture of spirits.

Vine culture and wine making as a local industry in New Zealand is a subject which has received considerable attention, the conclusion being that it is well adapted to the country. When we consider how well the industry is succeeding at the Cape of Good Hope, and in Australia, and California —all new countries—there can be no doubt of a similar result in New Zealand. There are many places all over the Colony where the vine grows freely; but the future wine country par excellence will, in all probability, be tbe interior of Otago, notably the Upper Clutha Valley. Tn addition to other advantages, a uniformity of climate can always be depended on. The appearance even of the country favours the idea; the slopes of the ranges in the Duastan district always remind me of views I have seen of the wine districts in Spain and Portugal.

Several proposals have been made to the Government to begin a tea plantation in Auckland; I believe the only real difficulty in the way is the labour question.

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The various experts who have investigated the matter are satisfied that the soil and climate are quite suitable.

Textile Industries. —The wool mills now in operation and building are quite up to, if not in advance of our present requirements in the particular class of goods for which they are adapted, but there seem to he wide openings in other directions. Independently of the large quantity of woollen manufactures included in drapery and slops—the total of which for 1885, amounts to £1,233,306 we still import about £200,000 worth of blankets, carpets, hosiery, and other goods which are or ought to be wool. The value of the woollen articles imported under the head of drapery and slops is at least £400,000, consequently we are still importing about £600,000 worth of clothing, the raw material for which is the staple of New Zealand. It is of course impossible to meet all this by the local manufacturers, but many more of the articles just mentioned might be made here as well as lighter fabrics for dresses. The Roslyn mill has recently erected machinery for manufacturing twilled coatings which is a step in this direction.

The question of exporting our cloth manufactures demands a passing reference. There is only one obstacle in the way, the “demon adulteration.” to which I shall allude further on. But for this potentate we might find a market for our woollen manufactures in London itself.

The imports under the head of linens are comparatively small, being only about £25,000, but that “Maelstrom of attire ” —drapery —undoubtedly includes considerable quantities of linen goods. We are now cultivating European flax for the sake of the seed, which is used in making oil. The plant grows freelj ; so there is only one step to be taken in establishing the cloth industry—the utilisation of the fibre. Formerly the two industries of oil-pressing and linen-weaving could not be worked together for the flax had to be cut at different times to suit the two pui’poses. But the difficulty has quite recently been overcome by improvements in machinery,

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and the two industries now go together. Independently of the home consumption there is a large market in England for the fibre in a raw state. With so many outlets I have no doubt the cultivation of flax and manufacture of linen will ultimately be established in New Zealand. It is rapidly becoming a large industry in the United States where there are fewer natural advantages.

At this early stage of our history it is premature to consider cotton manufactures further than to say, that our proximity to the South Sea Islands, and the fact that we will have an extensive trade with them, gives us a locus standi in the matter. If New Zealand is to work up to the ambitious future of the Britain of the South she cannot do without a Manchester. The cotton trade is as natural to New Zealand as to England, and if our textile industries are to advance we must manufacture mixed fabrics, cotton and wool.

A number of experiments have been made in growing mulberries and breeding silk-worms. They show that nature has done all that is required for the successful production of silk in New Zealand. It will be many years before we can support a silk mill in the Colony; but there is no reason why the raw silk should not be produced for exportation. A small quantity will also be taken at once by the wool mills for silk mixtures. Producing silk is an industry that requires little capital, it can be carried on to a considerable extent as a pastime like bee-keeping.

Household and Personal Requisites. —lleference has already been made to the large imports of furniture and other household appliances. If we only had the courage of our opinions in these matters the Colonial manufactures would soon supersede the imported ones, for the native materials can scarcely be excelled, and we only require to attract the eye of fashion to make our wares acceptable in a foreign market.

China, and glass, and earthenware is another class of goods of which an immense quantity is imported, although

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we have the raw materials for them in the country. The imports of china and earthenware alone amount to about £50.000. There is no physical reason why a large portion of the commoner articles should not even now be manufactured in the Colony.

Referring to tobacco, the principal item to be dealt with under the head of personal requisites, the Colonial Industries Commission’s Report says “ The evidence establishes the fact that any quantity of tobacco, equal in quality to the first American, can be grown in New Zealand, and that there is no reason why the whole of the tobacco consumed in the Colony should not ultimately be produced and manufactured in it.” This opinion is borne out by the official testimony to the excellence of the native tobacco at the Industrial Exhibition previously quoted.

Building Materials. —ln 1885 about £500,000 worth of building materials of all kinds was imported; and of this amount at least £300,000 worth could be produced in the Colony forthwith, and £lOO,OOO worth more when our resources are further developed. In fact, all the articles in this class might be produced here except a small portion of the metal work and some of the painting materials. There are three items particularly that ought to have disappeared altogether or become much less long ago—timber and cementing and roofin'»' materials. The former is fast disappearing, and it becomes a question whether we cannot further extend ■our exports of timber and woodware.

I do not think it will pay to send ordinary buildino--timber to England in competition with the supplies from the Baltic and North America ; but it is possible that a small trade in furniture woods might be established, and there is said to be a large market on the continent of Europe and in South Australia for cask staves, for which birch is suitable. A small quantity of timber was exported from Westland to Melbourne when the communication was more direct; but for some years the trade

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has entirely ceased. It is probable, however, that it will revive when the harbours are made and direct communication resumed.

In the case of cement there are two reasons why the import should diminish—First, because we have a good substitute in the hydraulic limes that are found in the country ; and second, because the manufacture of cement is pre-eminently a Colonial industry.

Cement is used in New Zealand so extensively simply because the ordinary rich limes in the market have not the necessary strength, and do not set in a damp situation. With the exception of some special cases, where quick setting or extra strength is required, there are few works in New Zealand for which the native hydraulic limes are not quite suitable. These limes could possibly take the place of nine-tenths of the cement. On the imports of 1885 this represents about £75,000.

The reason hydraulic lime has hitherto not been made in the South Island is that it costs a little more, and the general public are inditferent to quality. This is not the case in the North; the superior quality of the material is recognised on all sides, and as a consequence the industry has become of considerable importance. The lime is carefully manufactured and prepared; it is first calcined, then broken by stampers or rollers, and finally ground like flour, the process followed in the manufacture of cement. Auckland lime is fast superseding cement in the local market; it has even found its way to Christchurch and Dunedin, but strength for strength, it is not, at this distance, as cheap as the imported article.

The existence of hydraulic lime obviates to a great extent the necessity for manufacturing cement. If the former is properly utilised there is little room for the latter; but if the present system of burning nothing hut common lime is continued in the Middle Island a good opening is left for cement works. We have the

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raw materials in profusion—it is a low-priced article, the price of which is doubled by the charges of importation, and little skilled labour is required iu the manufacture, all of which are in its favour as a Colonial industry.

As you all know, the ingredients of English Portland cement are chalk and clay, in the proportion of seven of the former to three of the latter. After being mixed together the raw materials are burned in a kiln and thoroughly pulverised in the manner just described. In Germany, where there is no chalk, hard limestone is used. The quality of the cement is the same in both cases, but the latter process is somewhat more expensive.

On account of the chalk and the proximity to the Malvern coalfield the best place in the Middle Island for cement works is Oxford, and after it the Kakanui and Otautau districts. The mud from Lyttelton Harbour and Lakes Ellesmere and Forsyth would, I have no doubt, do to mix with the Oxford chalk, hut a supply may possibly be got nearer —in the Malvern Hills or the low-lying swampy lands on the coast.

Our bill for roofing materials of all kinds in 1885 amounted to about £140,000. As already stated the native slate is equal to the best imported kinds, and the supply is practically inexhaustible; still the attempts hitherto made to establish the industry of slate-quarry-ing have not been successful. This is due to a variety of ■causes —want of sufficient capital, the inaccessible situation of the quarries, and the prejudice of buyers, more particularly as regards the size. To save freight nothing hut the largest and the lightest slates are imported ; this has established a fashion in the Colony for the large size, and no other will be taken although the smaller sizes are in reality more serviceable. Had there been a ready market for all the produce of the quarries the industry might possibly have pulled through. Notwithstanding its drawbacks and previous failures, I have no doubt slate-quarrying will ultimately be an important

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Colonial industry, not only to supply our own wants, but for exportation, as the New Zealand slate is much superior to anything hitherto discovered in the other Australasian colonies.

An important item in building materials is glass, more particularly if we include the bottles and other glass wares in the classes already noticed, which bring up the total imports to about £50,000. The glass works at Auckland produces first class articles, but it is on too small a scale to affect the imports. We trust that the operations of the Kaiapoi works will ere long tell a different tale.

Mining and Mechanical Industries. —Although our historical sketch shows that the mineral x’esources of New Zealand have been developed to a considerable extent, gold and coal-mining are really the only two industries that have been fairly established on a satisfactory basis. The others have not yet passed the experimental stage, and the failures in the past have been so numerous that there is not much confidence in the future. These failures are not attributable so much to deficiencies in the natural supplies as to the want of means and experience on the part of those who tried to develop them, and in not a few cases to the cupidity of speculators.

In the immediate future the most tangible prospect isthe possibilities of the coal trade. As previously shewn, the coal-mines of New Zealand depend almost entirely on the home consumption, which has hitherto been more than sufficient to absorb the supply. It is evident, however, that the home market is not sufficient to cause anything like a proper development of the industry, no matter bow rapidly the colony may progress, or how much local manufactures are extended. Furthermore, the nature of our trade with New South Wales enables the imported coal to compete with the native product in all the larger centres. The New Zealand steamers have less cargo offering from Sydney than New Zealand, consequently they can carry coal at a very low freight.

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All these circumstances point to the necessity for finding a market for the New Zealand coal outside the colony. I believe that the only real difficulty in the way is the West Coast harbours, and that a large export trade will spring up so soon as vessels of large draught can come in. Nor gas purposes the Greymouth coal is worth about 2s. 6d. per ton more than Newcastle ; and this opens the door to all the colonies that have no coal of their own. With improved means of transport, I see no reason why New Zealand coal should not compete all round, and for all purposes, with the coal from New South Wales. The amount of coal imported into Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania during 1884 was over 600,000 tons; and these are not the only markets open to the New Zealand coal, if it can only be supplied cheap enough. Including the colonies just mentioned, it is estimated that the demand for coal in the southern seas and other places commanded by New Zealand, is over 4,000,000 tons per annum, of which Newcastle only supplies about 1,700,000, the remainder being obtained from England. This shows that the possibilities of the coal industries on the West Coast are very great.

As for the non-bituminous coals, which it will not pay to export, they must still depend entirely on the Home market.

Next to coal and gold the most important mining industries in future years will be those connected with the manufacture of iron and steel. Including corrugated iron, fencing wire, tram-rails, pipes, and other articles that have only been through the first processes of manufacture, we import annually about 50,000 tons of iron, valued at about £450,000, which is sufficient to keep one or two small furnaces and mills at work.

As already stated, the numerous attempts made to utilise the iron sands have signally failed—marketable iron cannot be produced at anything like a reasonable price. The reason is, simply, that the proper way of

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dealino-with the ore has not been discovered. There is, however, no necessity to confine our attentions nonsand ; haematite, which occurs in such profusion, is the ore most used in making steel by the new processes now everywhere adopted. This ore is not plentiful in -England* and large quantities are imported from Spain, the amount for' 1885 being 2,533,938 tons, valued at £1,688,234. There are large deposits of haematite m America, hence the wonderful success of the steel manufactures.

Steel is made direct from the haematite ore in one operation, the process being exceedingly simple and cheap. There is a large hill of the ore at Tara Tara to quarry straight into—coal and lime are in the neighbourhood, and there is a tolerably extensive market in the Colony for the products ; we may therefore assume that there is a fair prospect of our having, at no distant date, a supply of the material most wanted in the mechanical arts.

It is impossible to consider individually the future prospects of the various branches of the mechanical industries; and, indeed, it is unnecessary to do so, for there are few of them untried. All that is required is to develop those that are now in existence —to build on the foundation already laid.

Minor Industries. —I have in this section considered in detail the more important industrial developments attainable in the immediate future, and others have been referred to in previous sections. I shall now simply enumerate minor industries and manufactures that it is possible to establish or extend, and which, although small individually, would in the aggregate contribute largely to the local trade of the Colony. Troducts : Mimosa Bark, Osiers, Tea-nuts, Currants, Oranges, Olives, Mustard, Castor Oil Tlant, Saffron, Terfumery, Opium, Honey, Teazles, Garden Seeds, Buckwheat, Maize and Teruvian Bark and other medicinal plants. Manufactures: Trescrved Milk, Trcserved Fish,

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Vinegar, Felt, Mats, Starch, Maizena, Whiting, Blacking, Ink, Glue, Basketware, Brushware, Paint, Varnish, Oils, Fuse, Type-founding, Matches, and Tobacco Pipes.

General. —As an indication of the possible expansion and development of our industries I have analysed roughly the character of our imports, with the following results :

Value Imported.

1. Articles that could be produced in New Zealand by merely extending the industries already in existence ... ... ... ... £1,750,000

2. Articles that could readily be produced by establishing new industries, the conditions for which are favourable ... .. ... £2,000,000

3. Articles that could be produced when the resources of the Colony are further or fully developed ... £1,750,000

4. Articles, the products of tropical countries and manufactures which there is no chance of superseding by local supplies ... ... £2,000,000 Total ... ... ... £7,500,000

It is thus possible to produce and make three-fourths of the goods we buy from other countries, and in some oases there is every prospect of an export trade.

The Great Controversy.

At this stage I ought to give you a dissertation on the much-debated question of Freetrade versus Protection, but I will not do so, for various cogent reasons, the principal one being that I can only give a “ layman’s opinion” on the subject, my acquaintance with the “ Dismal Science ” being very slight. I shall, however, give what I consider the salient points of the controversy—” how it strikes a stranger ” —and will endeavour to show the bearing of the question on the industries of New Zealand.

In the first place it is perfectly clear that we must not accept the statements, conclusions, or predictions of either side as gospel, for we see one country flourishing with freetrade and another equally prosperous with

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protection, and the one appears to be as much subject to periods of depression as the other. We are told that there are certain economic laws as immutable as those of the Modes and Persians, and that these laws govern and regulate every movement in the commercial world. I believe that nine-tenths of these laws are a myth, and that political economy has no real existence as a science. Comte, the great French philosopher, defines science as “ the power of prediction.” The captain of any of our Home steamers, though he has not seen land for a month, can tell the hour and minute when a certain lighthouse will appear in sight, and we know beforehand that spirits of salt poured on limestone will cause an effervesence, hut the Dismal Science gives no such certainty in predicting effect from cause. According to all rule the industries of America should have come 1o grief long ago, hut they are to-day mere vigorous than ever. America manufactures more steel rails and weaves more woollen cloth than England. We have American locomotives running on our railways, because they are cheaper and better suited to our requirements, and can he got m less time than from England. Belgium, a country where native industries are protected, should not be able to compete with freetrade England, yet we are using Belgian iron in the Waiau Bridge because it is cheaper, and we hear of Belgian ironwork being used in Glasgow itself for the same reason. Furthermore, German cottons have in a few instances been sold in Manchester.

The value of iron and ironwork imported into Great Britain from Belgium and Holland during the last five years has averaged £1,847,780 a year.

Richard Cohden predicted “ that in less than ten years from the time that freetrade was inaugurated in England every civilized country would he freetraders to the backbone ” It is now 40 years since freetrade was established in England, and for all practical purposes she has gone alone. Either the prophecy of the great apostle is unfulfilled, or there is only one civilised

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country on the face of the earth. lam afraid we must accept the former of these alternatives, for Gladstone says “ that the commercial supremacy of the world must ultimately pass from the United Kingdom to the United States.

Referring to this subject Mulhall says “ American industry and population increase much faster than in Europe, and so does the wealth of the nation. Everyday that the sun rises upon the American people it sees an addition of £500,000 sterling to the accumulated wealth of the republic, which is equal to one-third of the daily accumulation of mankind.” The manufacturing industries of the United States are already 35 per cent, greater than those of the United Kingdom.

The protectionists point triumphantly to the progress of the industrial arts in America, as proof positive that their views are correct, hut freetraders say that the prosperity of America is attributable to other causes that she has prospered “in spite of protection.” Theoretical freetraders tell us that England has most to fear from competition when foreign countries throw off the trammels of protection; but the practical Chairman of the Manchester Royal Exchange says that “ foreign tariffs are the bane of our existence.”

We thus see that political economy is anything but an exact science, and that it cannot even he classed with the practical rule of thumb science of our every day life. The reason is simply that in the one case we have inert matter with no will of its own, to work upon —the clay in the hands of the potter. In the other we deal with the sentiments, passions and aspirations of humanity which obey no natural laws.

Another fallacy is the idea that a hard and fast line can he drawn between freetrade and protection. This can only be done when we deal with abstract principles, and carried to extremes the abstract principle in either case ends in absurdity. Mathematical freetrade, as understand it, is an effectual barrier to all progress, “

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folding of the hands to sleep.” The essence of its philosophy seems to be, “thou shalt not produce nor make anything that can be produced or made cheaper by anybody else.” As applied to our case this is equivalent to saying America can grow wheat cheaper than New Zealand, why should we attempt to till our lands ? Galashiels can weave cloth cheaper than Mosgiel, why think of wearing Colonial tweeds ? And the other side of the picture is equally absurd : —protection, pure and simple, means that we are to roof in the Taieri Plain with glass to grow grapes, rather than let any of our money find its way to the vine growers on the banks of the Douro.

This shows the impossibility of defining the issues between freetrade and protection, in fact there is no boundary to fight for—each party is constantly encroaching on the other’s territory. Freetraders are rank protectionists as regards their social and educational institutions, and protectionists are ultra-free-traders when it involves the question of cheapening raw materials and labour. The manufacturers of England w r ould like to restrict the export of machinery, and the agriculturist the import of wheat. And quite recently the English newspapers wanted the Queen to entertain to encourage trade.

Another untenable position is to apply the same principle to all countries, and at all times. What suits old countries, who have manufactures firmly established by precedent and practise, may he quite unsuitable in a new country, where manufactures are struggling into existence. John Stuart Mill advocated temporary protection in his earlier works, and in his old age affirmed the principle, saying, further, “ I do not even say that if 1 were an American I would not be a protectionist.”

The motto of the Cobden Club is, “ Peace on earth, good-will among nations,” and many of its teachings are on these lines, philanthropy being a favourite text to preach from. In this matter-of-fact age it is difficult to

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accept the theory of pure disinterestedness. It is far easier to assume that with freetraders and protectionists alike the main-spring of action is self-interest. Until the millenium comes this is the only feasible hypothesis. During the civil war in America, when the trade of Manchester was at its last gasp for want of cotton, the freetraders, one and all, with Cobden at their head, pressed the English Government to “ stimulate ” the cultivation of cotton in India. When charged with inconsistency, Cobden admitted that on this question he flung the principles of free-trade to the winds.

As I was writing this part of my lecture, I came across a case in point. An article in a leading colonial newspaper, one that is severely orthodox on the doctrines of freetrade; it said —“ The impenetrable stupidity of our legislators has in the past prevented the colony from reaping her full share of the advantages to be derived from the stores of coals on the West Coast. A liberal expenditure on harbours ten years ago would have repaid us again and again.” This paper would probably go into convulsions at the idea of putting a shilling duty on coals, but here it proposes to give what, with the cost of the railways already made for the same purpose, is equivalent to a bounty of five shillings a ton on the total consumption of the colony for the last ten years. The interest on the expenditure is equal to a duty of ten shillings a ton on all the coal we import. As a strict matter of principle there is as much protection in making harbours to develop our own coalfields as there would be in prohibiting the import of coal from Newcastle.

The whole Public Works policy of New Zealand is a gigantic system of protection to develop the resources of the colony, and stimulate her various industries. So also is the education system ; the State educates our children simply that we may hold our own with other countries. Although theoretically a free trade country, New Zealand is violating the laws of freetrade at every turn, and it has been the same all through. In the

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early days woolpacks and sheepwash were admitted free as a protection to the squatter. Agricultural appliances of all kinds have always been duty free as a bounty to the farmer, and now his produce is carried on the railways at a low rate with the same object. Coalmining is encouraged by the construction of harbours, and gold-digging by the making of water races. Protection is only supposed to he extended to industries that cannot go alone or require a start. In New Zealand we protect some of the industries which, above all others, are best adapted to the country. If corn cannot now be grown without protection, the look-out for manufactures is not very bright.

Assuming that there is a seed of disinterestedness in the world of commerce, I think that it finds a more ■congenial soil in protection than in free trade. Protection teaches the old fashioned doctrines “ love thy neighbour as thyself,” and the “ labourer is worthy of his hire,” in modern phraseology “ give a good day’s pay for a good day’s work.” Free trade says “ buy in the cheapest market, and sell in the dearest.” It is the practical exponent of the Darwinian theory, “ the survival of the fittest. “ Kill or be killed.” Carlyle, Ruskin, and Max O’Rell are each in his way severely sarcastic on the great free trade principle of cheap production. The sage of Chelsea says :—“ Sad news that the English nation’s existence depends on selling manufactured ■cotton at a farthing an ell cheaper than any other people. A most narrow platform for a great nation to base itself on.”

It is this unchristian doctrine of extorting the uttermost farthing that has given us the Song of the Shirt.

“ With fingers weary and worn,

With ey.lids heavy and red;

A woman sat in unwomanly rags

Plying her needle and thread.

Stitch ! stitch ! stich !

In poverty, hunger, and dirt,

And with a voice of dolorous pitch

She sang the Song of the Shirt.”

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“Work, work, work,

Till the brain begins to swim ;

Work, work, work,

Till the eyes are heavy and dim;

Seam and gusset, and band,

Band and gusset and seam,

Till over the buttons I fall asleep

And sew them on in a dream.”

“ Work, work, work,

My labour never flags.

And what are its wages ? a bed of straw,

A crust of bread and rags.

That shatter’d roof—and this naked floor;

A table —-a broken chair

And a wall so blank my shadow I thank

Por sometimes falling there.”

All this is in favour of the protectionists, hut we must not run away with the idea that there is nothing to be said on the other side.

The duty on cloth in Victoria has been raised lately simply because the New Zealand manufactures were competing successfully with those of Victoria on their own ground. The discussion on the question revealed the fact that the Victorian factories are not so well appointed nor so well conducted as the New Zealand ones. Excessive or premature protection undoubtedly emasculate an industry of this kind. In the one case it lessens competition, without which there cannot be life and vigour, and in the other the young plant is forced into full bloom before it has time to gather strength for itself. Although undue competition has given us the Song of the Shirt, it does not follow that a moderate amount is injurious, many a deadly poison is a good medicine when taken in proper doses, and we know that the plant that is unduly forced in its youth will not stand alone in its old age, it wants support all its life.

To start industries before their time is a still greater evil : a cloth-mill on tbe diggings, or a cement factory in the pastoral age, would have little chance of succeeding, no matter how much protected or stimulated.

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It may also he set down as an axiom that assistance not required is injurious. The pace is always steadiest when there is a heavy load to pull, 'there is always a danger of a capsize when the power is in excess of the work to he done.

Again, we may take it for granted that the cost of production in a highly protected country is greater than in a free-trade one, everything else being equal; consequently, all the industries in that country which depend on a foreign market, are placed at a disadvantage. The western farmer of America, or the wine-grower of Prance receives no benefit from the protected manufactures with which he is surrounded. On the contrary, they do him harm. In like manner the gold-digger of New Zealand is not a protectionist in the matter of trade. Open ports mean cheap powder and cheap picks to him, consequently he goes in for protection in the shape of roads, water-races, and sludge channels.

One of the greatest objections to protection is the uncertainty of its actions. Like some of the new torpedos, it does not always discriminate between friend and foe. The whole trade of a country may be compared to the water in a hydraulic press. The slighest pressure applied at any point is transmitted through the whole mass, and the weakest place suffers most. An all-round system of protection would have much the same effect as absolute free trade and isolated protection, whether in the form of differential duties or exemptions, is a harp very hard to tune. Nearly every manufacturer in New Zealand would he henefitted by getting in raw materials duty free, but this would leave undeveloped the natural resources of the country, and all industries connected therewith.

In admitting machinery duty free as an encouragement to manuiactures, we discourage the local manufacture of machinery. Carpet weaving is encouraged by admitting certain yarns; but this militates against the use of Colonial wools, which would make a better fabric.

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The evils of isolated protection and the anomalies arising therefrom are well exemplified in the evidence taken hy the Colonial Industries Commission in 1880. One set of manufacturers wanted the duties taken off certain articles, and another set wanted more put on, It would be to the advantage of sauce and candlemakers to get bottles and wrapping paper admitted free, hut the bottle and paper-makers see the question from a different aspect. And this difference of opinion is not restricted to different trades ; it frequently exists in the same business. One Dunedin firm, in the furniture trade, advocated protection on a large scale; the representative of another waxed eloquent over the beauties of freetrade. The explanation in this case is not far to seek-one manufactures the whole of the furniture from colonial woods; the other imports it ready to put together, the fitting, polishing, and stuffing being all that is done hy him, Auckland manufacturers wanted a protective duty of 35 per cent, put on agricultural implements and brass-work. Beyond the abolishing of some exemptions, the representatives of these trades in Dunedin wanted nothing; and I have already shown that they are two of the most successful manufactnres in the Colony. These cases indicate the difficulties that beset any system of isolated protection, To deal out even-handed justice in the matter is an intricate problem that can only be solved by a system of trial and error.

I shall have occasion further on to revert incidentally to the question of freetrade versus protection, but in the meantime I will sum up the whole case in the words of the naturalist who undertook to write a treatise on the snakes of Ireland —“ there are no snakes in Ireland.” There is no such thing in practise as freetrade or protection, and to the theorists on both sides I might quote the ancient Latin proverb, In medio tutissimus ibis, the golden mean is the only safe position; or, putting it into the vernacular, keep the middle track.

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Advantages of Manufactures.

The main proposition we have to demonstrate is that it is not only desirable but necessary to establish manufactures in New Zealand.

The principal countries in the world are those in which manufactures are extensively carried on, and it has always been the ambition of rulers and statesmen, from Peter the Great to Richard Cobden, to make their own a manufacturing country.

The power of England is not in her ironclads, but her shuttles, consequently the fulfilment of Gladstone’s prediction involves the loss of more than mere commercial supremacy. Let us hope this may be another unfulfilled prophecy. One part of it, at least, we believe will never be fulfilled. Should the dark day ever come when the sceptre of England’s commercial supremacy passes from her hand it will not go to a foreign power but into the hands of her own sons, the young nations she has brought to life. We trust that Macaulay’s New Zealander may be a standard bearer in the new confederation.

No one questions the desirableness of establishing manufactures in any country, old or new, providing the conditions are favourable thereto, for without them the other resources of the country cannot be developed. The Americans go further than this, and promote every industry, “ against which nature has not interposed a barrier.”

Economists of all countries and ages advocate the establishment of manufactures on the ground that they provide two markets—one at Home, and the other abroad. Adam Smith advocated them as affording a ready market for rude produce, and showed that the Home market was more profitable to the State than the Foreign one. Although the latter might increase individual wealth, the former was of greater benefit to the community at large. Benjamin Franklin said—“ Every

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manufacturer encouraged in our country makes part of a market for provisions within ourselves, and saves so much money to the country as would otherwise be exported to pay for the manufactures he supplies.”

Horace Greely appraises industrial skill and energy at its proper value u hen he says that Watt, Arkwright, and Stephenson would be worth more to the United States than Canada or Mexico. I could name half-a-dozen members of our little industrial community who have done more for New Zealand than a legion of Carlyle’s “ perorating politicians ” who contribute most to Hansard.

Manufactures do not spring spontaneously from the soil in any country or clime no matter how favourable the soil may be. Under any circumstance the seed must be sown and the young plant sheltered and nurtured till it takes root and gains strength, and is old enough to hear fruit.

Every commercial and manufacturing country in the world has at one time or another protected and stimulated its trade and industries in a direct manner. Every legitimate means has been and still is employed, and many means that are neither legitimate nor just have in the past been resorted to. “ England’s thunder ” has more than once been evoked to stimulate the looms of Manchester, and untold hardships and suffering have been inflicted in forcibly carrying British commerce into every corner of the globe.

The second Act passed by the first United States Congress in 1789, was one to promote native industries, and the policy thus early initiated has been persistently adhered to.

All the great industries of the United Kingdom have been largely stimulated by assistance or concessions from the State at various times. Direct bounties were given, protective duties imposed, and competition absolutely prohibited, and these regulations were altered and amended as occasion required.

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The Navigation Laws of Cromwell which were only finally repealed in 1854, provided that all goods imported into England should be carried in English ships, threefourths of the crew being Englishmen. Besides giving a direct impetus to English commerce, these laws were intended to checkmate the Dutch who were then formidable rivals in maritime trade. It is the Navigation Laws that really made Britain the ruler of the seas. Although a free trader himself, Adam Smith says of them that they were “ perhaps the wisest of all the commercial regulations of England.”

While thus protecting her own commerce, England choked off competition by prohibiting the carriage of colonial manufactures, even from one colony to another. And although the linen trade of Ireland was for a time protected along with that of Scotland, her industries were crushed in much the same fashion as the colonial ones. She was forbidden to trade with the East, the Mediterranean and the Colonies, and for some time the English market was absolutely closed against certain of her Inanufactures and agricultural products. These restrictions combined with the reluctance of the Irish to use machinery, and the start given to English manufactures completely crushed the industries of Ireland. In the year before the Union, there were 6,600 weavers in Cork alone, thirty-five years afterwards there were not 500. When we consider the army of spinners, dyers, and other workers in textile fabrics that this number of weavers represents, we have an idea of the dire calamity that befell the country. Practically it meant the extinction of Irish manufactures, for they have not recovered to this day. With the exception of the linen trade there is no manufacture in Ireland worthy of the name. Perhaps the complications in that fair isle would have been averted had her industries been properly developed.

All the metal and textile industries in Great Britain have been protected at various times, and in different ways. At one time the duty on iron was £6 10s. a ton, and later on the export of machinery and skilled labour

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was absolutely prohibited. lu 1700 the use as well as the importation of cotton was prohibited, because it spoiled the woollen trade, and a century later there was an import duty of 60 per cent, on cotton goods as a protection to the English manufactures of cottons.

The greatest rival that England had in the cotton trade was India, and she was silenced by a special enactment that absolutely prohibited the importation of cotton goods from any place east of the Cape, This ruthless application of the Darwinian law brought starvation and death to many thousands in India—poor weaklings, who could not defend themselves, even through the ballot box. Surely they were not “ foemen worthy of our steel.”

So great was the desire to stimulate manufactures in the olden times that the obligation to encourage them did not cease with life. At one time it was illegal to he buried in anything but linen, and at another the only lawful cerements were of woollen cloth. I have copied from an old Scotch Act of Parliament in the General Assembly Library the title and preamble of one of these laws, passed in 1597. In addition to being a literary curiosity it is a good exposition of leading points in the philosophy of manufactures. “ Act anent the Itestreaning off the hame-bringing of Inglis claith. The same claith haveand onlie for the maist parte ane outwarde shaw wantand the substance and strenth qlk oftymes it appends to have, and being ane of the chief causes of the transporting of all gold and silver furth of this realme, and consequentlie of the grite scarsitie and pnt derth of the cunyie now current within the sami.”

The complaint of auld Scotland 800 years ago is repeated in young New Zealand to-day, and with equal force. The “ hamebringing ” of shoddy from England militates against the cloth manufactures of the Colony, and assists to “ transport forth the realme ” that cunyie” already remarkable for its ‘‘grite scarsitie nd present derth.”

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Having thus shown how highly manufactures are prized in other countries, and what means have been employed to secure them, I shall now consider the question from a colonial point of view.

Although the sketch I have given shows that ground has been broken in many places, and that a goodly number of our manufacturing industries have made fair progress, we are still depending most on the production and export of raw materials. The state of the wool market is still the pulse of colonial trade, every industry being more or less affected by its fluctuations. Wool alone constitutes about 45 per cent, of our exports, and all the pastoral products about 60 per cent. One penny on the wool clip comes to more than the property tax.

Four years ago all our hopes were centred on the grain trade. It went up with a bound, but ran down just as fast, like a watch when the mainspring is broken. As previously shewn the export of wheat in 1885 was only about a sixth of what it was in 1883. This seems the fate of all grain-growing countries, the main source of supply is continually changing. The reason is simply that the cheap production of corn in large quantities is not a permanent industry, it wants fresh fields at short intervals. This has not been directly the cause of the collapse in New Zealand, for our virgin grain country is not nearly exhausted. Notwithstanding the larger returns, we have been jostled out of the market by those who can work their fresh fields more cheaply.

A United States Commission has declared that “ the policy of growing grain for exportation, except as a pioneer expedient in opening and improving farms, ia not to he commended.” The western farmer, so much patronised by the Cohden Club, is not a desirable settler. Like his countryman, the Colorado beetle, he sweeps across the country a veritable plague, eating up every green blade or what comes to the same thing, extracting all the substance from the land.

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This is not the only way in which new countries are living on their capital—killing the goose that lays the golden egg. The wholesale destruction of our forests is a case in point. Instead of carefully conserving them —a store of industrial wealth—they are ruthlessly cut down as a “pioneer expedient” to raise the wind, or to make room for less valuable crops. Kauri gum is another indigenious export that will ultimately pay better to keep for our use or to manufacture for export, rather than export in the raw state.

Looking at the matter as a national policy, we might go further and question the wisdom of exporting coal in large quantities, for which we are making such extensive preparations. We should not be too anxious to divest ourselves of any raw material which does not reproduce itself. Although our coal supply is large for a young colony, it is very small for a large manufacturing country. The Westport coalfield would only give about one year’s supply to Great Britain.

Viewed in this light, the collapse of the export trade in grain, ‘‘although for the present grievous,” is not the dire calamity at first supposed. If the average price of wheat for the 80 years prior to 1881 had been sustained, the end of the century would have seen the light shingly lands of Canterbury transformed into a barren waste.

As just shown, the grain trade was only ephemeral at the best, and in the language of the old Scotch act, it “ transported furth the realme ” much of our substance that can be better utilised at home. A farmer on the Canterbury plains only gets 3s. a bushel for the wheat that he exports, but when it reaches Bradford it is worth ss. as food for weavers. That food is converted into labour and woven into the cloth just as much as the yarn. By-and-by the cloth finds its way back to Canterbury, and by this time it is worth 6s. The farmer, therefore, has to pay double for the labour created by his own wheat. In consequence of the

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round-about way in which the conversion is effected he gives two bushels for tiie labour that is contained in one. When the farmer and weaver are working side by side on the Canterbury plain that second bushel of wheat will be divided between them.

If we take frozen meat and other articles of food in which the difference between the English and Colonial prices is about three to one, the result will be still more striking, one pound’s worth of our exports converted into labour in manufacturing goods for the Colonial market will cost us four.

But the loss on food is not the only one. Ordinary wool used in the manufacture of tweeds is worth Is. 6d. a pound in New Zealand, and when we buy it back in the form of English cloth we pay ss. a pound for it. This leaves a balance of 3s. 6d. that might be distributed among the wool growers, woollen manufacturers, and consumers of cloth in the colony.

Without knowing the relative values of labour, capital, and profit in manufactured goods it is impossible to give the combined results in exporting both food and raw materials, but enough has been said to show the enormous advantages to be derived by using our own food, fuel, and raw materials in manufacturing goods for our own consumption. Unless it is a positive and permanent burden every fresh industry that starts benefits those already in existence and, through them, all classes of the community, and the producer of raw materials most of all.

Much of the opposition to local manufactures is by, or at any rate in the name of, the producer. It is contended that they are inimical to his interests, and that any encouragement given to them must be at the expense of the farmer and grazier. Theoretically this may be in accordance with “ sound economics,” what would be called in Scotland “ the fundamentals,” but practically the effect is as often the other way about. A case in point occurred two or three years ago within the sound

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of the Cathedral hells. Immediately on the establishment of barhed wire manufactures in the Colony the price of the imported article fell £lB a ton in one drop. Assuming that a sixth of the wire used in New Zealand is barbed, this fall represents a saving to the producer of about £20,000 a year. He may well afford a handsome commission to local industry out of the transaction.

There is no country in the world more subject to ups and downs than New Zealand. The reason simply is that we have so few strands in our cable. When one or two give way the ship goes on the rocks. If the woolgrowers, farmers, and miners had a market within the Colony they would get better prices for their products, and in all probability the periods of depression would he fewer and less sudden and severe.

It has been shown that grain growing for export is not, under any circumstance, a “ national policy ”; and further, that for the present, at least, it is not even a paying business in New Zealand. But independently of these considerations, agriculture is not of itself sufficient to develop any country. Adam Smith says: — “ Flourishing manufactures and commerce are indispensable to a flourishing agriculture. To suppose that the latter should exist without the former is to suppose that man may be industrious without a motive—that there may be an effect without a cause.”

As “we cannot live by bread alone,” neither can we live altogether by producing bread. If we confine our colonising operations to growing wool and corn, as we are frequently advised to do by political economists of the Old Country, our progress will speedily come to an end. Agriculture cannot live without railways, and railways cannot live on agriculture. The half-million i O people that inhabit New Zealand are all living on the fruits of the earth ; but it only takes a sixth of the number to gather these fruits—the rest are camp followers, who

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minister to the regular soldiers, and without which the warfare cannot be carried on. The relative proportion of the two classes must not be brought below a certain point, otherwise the producers will suffer; and, as already shown, the more trades and industries are multiplied the better for them.

The policy of the Colony all through has been one of progress, to make of itself a nation; but what nation can exist in these modern times that is composed entirely of tillers of the ground and shepherds of sheep ?

A paucity of pursuits means a paucity of ideas, and without ideas in profusion there can be no progress. Growing corn and wool demand skill and experience on the part of those who conduct the business, but the rank and hie are a lower grade than their confreres, who are engaged in manufactures; their pay also is much lower.

In pursuance of the national policy just referred to. New Zealand has made the most liberal provision for educating and raising the people to a high intellectual standard. Every latent faculty is to he developed, every talent brought to light; and as there is such a diversity of faculties in humanity generally, and in colonists particularly, so must there be a diversity of pursuits. We must have employment for “ all sorts and conditions of men,” strong and weak, old and young. Manufactures and other industries of various kinds would not only furnish these employments, but they would awaken ideas, develop skill in manipulation, and generally uphold the intellectual standard of the community.

What are we to do with our boys ? is a question frequently asked, and every day becoming more pressing. There is only one answer ;—Unless we develop new industries and new occupations within the Colony, wo must simply export them along with other raw materials I

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Facilities and Difficulties.

Having shown that it is desirable and necessary to establish manufactures in New Zealand, I shall now consider the facilities that exist and the difficulties to be overcome.

The greatest advantage that we possess is that the Britain of the South is inhabitated by identically the same race as the Britain of the North. The race that has made England supreme in all matters commercial and mechanical, and which is improving on itself across the Atlantic. The manufacturers of England deny to us the right of developing our industrial instincts We are to he the “ hewers of wood and drawers of water.” “ roughing it ” in the far distant Lebanon, while they the skilled workmen abide at home in Jerusalem earning higher wages in ease and comfort. We are to he the hodmen they the bricklayers. Before this condition of things is conceded we must assume that the Colonist has left his brains at home, and only brought muscle with him to the wilds. It is in reality the other war about. Through natural selection in coming abroad the average colonist is all round a better man than his compeer who stays at home. This being the case, why should we stifle our natural instincts, and accept an inferior position.

In a new country like this we have really an advantage as regards intellectual development. There are no time honoured ruts to travel in, no precedents or prejudices to clog our actions. Every one is fancy free to strike out a new path for himself. These privileges give us Yankee notions, and otherwise contribute largely to the prosperity of the United States. I have shown that this spirit is already in our midst, it is evinced in the readiness with which new ideas and appliances are adopted. A curious incident in connection herewith occurred recently. The Board of Trade sent for particulars of the wire tramways in Dunedin. Fancy her youngest colony being a step in advance of England in a matter of this kind.

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Next to having the proper race of men, to commence •with the greatest factor in building up a nation, is to have the where-withal to prevent that race from deteriorating—a good climate, pure water, and abundance of food, in every one of which New Zealand holds a premierplace. It is no exaggeration to say that there is no country on earth better suited for the Anglo-Saxon race than the one we inhabit. The climate of New .Zealand is not only conducive to industrial activity in the people, hut directly favours many processes of manufactures, and, as already shown, gives a wide range to our power of production.

According to some high French authorities, “ that country must be considered the most prosperous in which the inhabitants are able to have the largest ratio of meat for their food.” The Americans eat 120 pounds of meat per annum ; and although there is so much poverty and destitution in the Old Country, the average Englishman eats more meat than any other European, his annual consumption being 110 pounds. The next highest meat eaters in Europe are the French, with 66 pounds; and the lowest the Portuguese, with 20 pounds. If the French philosophers are right, “ Britannia rules the waves,” not by the force of intellect, but through the power ot roast beef; and by the same rule New Zealand must be the most prosperous country in the Vorld, for it is estimated that each of its inhabitants consumes from 200 to 250 pounds of meat per annum. As showing the superabundance of food in the Colony, it is calculated that the rabbits killed every year would yield upwards of 100,000,000 pounds of flesh fit for human use, all of which is wasted. What a god-seud this would be to the starving thousands of London, who do not know from personal experience that man is a carnivorous animal.

With such an abundance of food, New Zealand can grow strong vigorous men, which is the main point, whether brain or muscle is required. Athough the rule does not hold good in individuals, it is well known that in communities the best eaters are the best workers. The

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human body is exactly like a steam engine, the amount of work that can be done being in direct proportion to the fuel consumed. This, I have no douht is the secret of the success of many of our undertakings in New Zealand. Although wages are more than double the rate in the Old Country, the cost of production is not in the same proportion, for men here do more work.

With the raw materials and coal in the country, the industries of New Zealand have a large natural protection in the distance we are from the seat of manufactures. The charges connected with sending wool Home and getting it back in cloth alone amounts to 3d. per pound. This, on the quantity worked up by our wool mills, amounts to £25,000, a very handsome protection on £200,000 worth of goods. And, as already shown, we not only send Home the wool to be woven into cloth, but we send the corn and meat to feed the weavers.

This question of manufacturing raw materials forborne consumption on the ground is attracting considerable attention all over the world. The theory that England is the workshop of the world, and that the “ natural way ” is to send raw materials there to be manufactured is not universally accepted now. Frima facia a voyage round the world is not conducive to cheap production. It is found that cotton yarn can be produced in Bombay for 3Jd. a pound less than in Manchester that being tbe cost of sending the raw cotton home and getting the yarn back. There are already eighty-one cotton mills in India, and Mr. T. S. 'leans says that were it not for the want of security to property, India would be a formidable rival to England in the cotton trade. After referring to the great decline of the silk industries in England, and the corresponding advance in America, the same writer shows that linen and jute are the only important manufactures in which England is holding her own, he says :—“ In the cotton, wool, and silk trades, in the manufacture of iron and steel, in the mechanical arts, and a hundred minor industries, her pre-eminence has been threatened, and in some cases

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with unmistakable success.” Referring to America and the Colonies, Professor Rogers says: -“There is no reason apparently except priority in the market, why the industry of the Old Country should not be transplanted to the new.”

Comparing New Zealand with the other Australasian Colonies, it is found that she probably holds the best position for a manufacturing country. New South Wales has more mineral resources, but comes after New Zealand on all other points. Tasmania has all round as many natural endowments, but for some reason or other she seems to have struck the wrong track in industrial development.

One of the greatest difficulties to be encountered in •establishing manufactures in New Zealand is the opposition, positive and negative, of those who have vested interests in the present state of affairs. As I have already shown philanthropic and all other sentimental arguments maybe cast aside. We must go down to the bed rock of self-interest.

The first point to be considered is the relations between us and the old country. 'leans says :—“ It is not an uncommon sentiment at Home, that the Colonies while under English rule, ought not to be permitted to impose tariffs hostile to English trade, or indeed to follow any other fiscal policy than that with which the Mother Country has become identified.” After showing how far the colonies have gone astray on this point, he adds : “ Pacts of this kind are not calculated to put the Mother Country in the best of humour with the Colonies.”

This is one of the sentimental arguments which may be disregarded. We can transact business on strict business principles without detracting in the slightest degree from our affection for the old country, and loyalty to the old flag.

England’s dealings with the colonies have always been a matter of business. They were originally founded with the object of providing an outlet for British trade,

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and any attempt to establish industries in them was promptly stamped out. A writer in 1750, after describing how colonial manufacturers were to be repressed, said, that the colonists should be encouraged to go on cheerfully as they were doing, because “ only one-fourth of their products redounds to their own profit,” and also because they paid high interest to the English mortgagee, and bought clothing that w’as old fashioned at Home, but “ new fashioned enough ” in the colonies.

These sentiments have not died out after IOU years. Lord Brassey says: —“The British capitalist who lends his money to the farmers in New Zealand, or the grazier in Australia, may both command a liberal return for bis capital, increase the supplies of food at Home, and confer a special benefit on his country by helping to create a market for her manufactures.” Shakespeare says that mercy—

“ Is twice bless’d,

It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.”

In this transaction of Lord Brassey’s the giver is himself thrice bless’d.

In a paper recently read at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition Teans advocates the construction of railways in the Colonies on exactly the same ground that Brassey recommends the lending of money to colonists.

In 1750 Lord Chatham said that the colonies should not be allowed to manufacture so much as a hob-nail or a horse-shoe, and in the same year a hat factory in Massachusett’s was suppressed as a “ common nuisance.” In 1815 Lord Brougham said, “ England can afford to incur some loss for the purpose of destroying foreign manufactures in their cradle,” and the sentiment was endorsed by Hume in 1828.

A colonial factory cannot now be indited as a common nuisance, but Lord Brougham’s policy is still in force. A struggling industry is frequently swamped by unfair competition, and instances are not unknown even in New Zealand of colonial goods being supplanted

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by inferior English imitations. This is the reason why some of our manufacturers were so chary of sending exhibits to London.

In 1885 the total exports of Great Britain amounted to £271,403,694. Of this the Colonies and other British possessions took £85,424,218, the share for Australasia being £28,104,258. The Colonial exports are increasing much faster than the Foreign ones, consequently it is only natural that England should do all in her power to retain and foster the colonial trade. Any movement that tends in the other direction is not only viewed with disfavour and discouraged, but promptly and vigorously opposed.

Beferring to the Colonial Exhibition, the London Times says—“ The manufacturing exhibits from New Zealand, as well as the other colonies, cannot well be a very agreeable spectacle to the English exporter.” Two or three years ago, when a proposal was made to manufacture rails in New South Wales, the Times hoped that the industry would not be subsidised in any way, and about the same time a writer in an English periodical deprecated the idea of cloth being made in the colonies. He said it would pay us better to send our wool home and have it properly manufactured by skilled workmen.

The energy displayed by the disciples of the Manchester school in stamping out heresy has been frequently remarked. As far back as 1863 the London Times itself said : “ Twenty years ago we were all thoroughly ‘ posted up,’ as the Americans say, in every detail of the great free-trade controversy. Protection could not show its nose above water for a moment without being made the mark for a hundred harpoons discharged from vigorous and unerring hands ”

The same vigilance is exercised to this day. The slightest eddy in the current of free trade is quickly obliterated by a spate of Cobden Club literature—metaphysical and statistical, serious and facetious. A discussion in the Parliament of New Zealand in 1885, brought

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forth a regular shower of these publications “ thick as leaves in Yallambrosa.” A recent article by Lord Penzance in favour of protection was promptly replied to at the instance of the Club, by one of its ablest writers.

As showing the thraldom in which the community is held by the creed of Oobden, it is said that when the Queen was petitioned to wear Irish poplin to encourage trade, the Premier advised against it on the ground that it was contrary to the principles of free trade, and might lead to international complications.

All this goes to prove that vested interests in one form or another are a formidable obstacle in establishing colonial industries.

The next greatest difficulty is cheap production, the “ farthing an ell ” consideration which Carlyle despised. Although frequently overlooked, one of the principal points in connection with it, is the quality of the article produced. After paying the cost of transit, and 15 per cent, duty, English cloth purporting to be made from New Zealand wool is sold in the Colony at the same price as the Colonial-made goods. But what is more, blankets and certain kinds of cloth can be bought in England for 20 per cent, less than the wool that is supposed to be in them. I have the actual figures as occurring several years ago. The price of the wool was from Is. lOd. to 2s. a pound, and of the blankets, Is. 2d. The explanation is simple enough, the blankets were not like colonial cloth “ all wool.” With cotton at fid. a pound, and shoddy at 2-gd., the problem is easily solved. Merinos, blankets, flannels, and similar goods can he mixed with 70 per cent, of cotton, and still keep the appearance of wool. For some purposes the mixture is an improvement, but this does not lessen the fraud in selling an article for what it is not.

Cotton is however an honest adulterant when compared with shoddy, appropriately called “ Devils’ dust.” This is a mysterious commodity that reminds one of the Hindoo

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doctrine of the transmigration of souls. It never dies hut passes from one state of existence to another. This time it clothes a saint and the next a sinner. Like lago’s purse “’twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands.”

Shoddy is largely used in the manufacture of all kinds of woollen fabrics from frieze to broad cloth. The magnitude of the trade may he gathered from the fact that the rugs made into shoddy in Great Britain exceed the wool clip of New Zealand. A curious circumstance in connection herewith is that the clippings from our clothing factories command the highest price in the rag market. Being all new wool, the first state of existence they are considered the “ artist’s proofs ” of shoddy.

So much is cloth adulterated that only a few manufacturers in England guarantee to give all new wool in their goods. A Erench manufacturer at the Sydney Exhibition, after critically examining the New Zealand cloth, and finding to his astonishment that it was all wool, exclaimed “well these New Zealanders are fools ” If this be folly may they ne’er be wise.

There are few manufactures of any kind that are not more or less adulterated, and in some cases even the adulterants are adulterated. The chicory that is mixed with coffee is itself “ sophisticated.” The chief of the Municipal Laboratory in Paris, says that forty years ago seven-eights of the brandy manufactured was pure, but now out of a production of 50,000,000 gallons, not 1 per cent, is from grapes. The raw materials principally used are grain, beet-root, and potatoes. The shantykeeper in New Zealand adds bine-stone, vitriol, and tobacco juice. The combined result is a decoction that even a shearer’s stomach cannot withstand.

The English manufacturer dresses cotton goods with size and china clay to twice its original weight, and sends the mixture abroad to clothe savages who have no regular washing day. Carlyle’s “farthing an ell” is taken out in china clay.

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1 lie “Heathen Cliince” may be given to “ways that are tlaik and tricks that are vain,” but he is bv no means “ peculiar ”in them. And in the matter of adulteration his standard is higher than the Englishman’s. He uses 'i e tea >” but tells the quantity that he puts in. The average Englishman omits the latter part of the business.

Many of the improvements that have taken place in manufacturing processes of late years to cheapen production are really devices to improve the appearance of inferior wares. In the language of the old Scotch Act these wares “ haveand onlie for the maist part ane outwarde shaw, wantand the substance and strenth quhilk oftymes they appear to have.” More than ever it can be said that “ things are not what they seem.” Life may be real, but most things manufactured are a ■“sham.”

This is one of the greatest difficulties that colonial manufacturers have to contend with. As they cannot reduce the quality of their goods, the remedy lies with the consumer, who must be taught to discriminate between the wares that he is asked to buy.

The labour question is another important consideration in establishing certain industries, notably the cultivation of tea, tobacco, olives, grapes, and other subtropical products that require a considerable amount of manual labour. One of the English companies that offered to establish a tea plantation in the North Island stipulated for a certain proportion of Maori labour at a given rate. It was, of course, impossible to comply with this condition; neither can we depend on the South Sea Islands for cheap labour, as Queensland is at present doing. It would not be desirable to see New Zealand over-run with Chinese; but it seems to me that if the class of industries just mentioned is to be developed it can only be done through them.

Cheap labour is necessary in some cases where manual work is required, but it is of much less importance in manufactures, where most of the work is done by

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machinery. Doubling the rate of wages makes a considerable difference in the cost of a chain of ditching done with a spade, but it is very little on a pair of boots when one man attending a machine can turn out 300 pairs a day. By our exports it is shown that we can produce certain raw materials and food cheaper than at Home; and, as in the case of better food, higher wages produce more work. We may therefore conclude that the extra price of labour in New Zealand will not prejudice the establishment of manufactures, a conclusion that is fully borne out by the experience in America. A remarkable case in point has recently occurred. The New South Wales Government called for tenders for the largest bridge in Australasia, that over the Hawkesbury Biver, contractors to send in their own designs. Fourteen tenders were received, from English. French, American, and Colonial firms. The prices ranged from £280,800 to £702,884,. There were three American tenders, and they were the lowest, the highest of them being £50,500 below the next tender, an English one. The iron for the bridge is bought in England, shipped to America to be manufactured, and re-shipped to Australia to be erected. This is a strong testimony to the energy and skill of our Yankee cousins, and it shows that dear labour is not incompatible with cheap proauction.

Deferring to this subject, Brassey says : “ I maintain unhesitatingly that daily wages are no criterion of the actual cost of executing work or of carrying out manufacturing operations.”

Hitherto I have not struck a chord which is not responded to by every one who wishes to see industries multiplied in New Zealand. But the remarks I am now about to make will not he so unanimously subscribed to.

One of the greatest rocks ahead in our industrial development is the conflict of labour and capital. This has been a crying evil in the Old World, and it is inten sified in the New. The seed has already been sown in

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New Zealand, and may bring forth a crop of weeds that will choke our struggling industries. The largest employer of labour in the Colony—the man who has emphatically done most to advance the commerce of New Zealand—informs me that he cannot employ a hoy in the most menial capacity without first going hat in hand to the Secretary of a Trades’ Society for permission. And just the other week we heard of 130 colliers going on strike at the Kaitangata mine because the proprietors would not discharge two men who did not belong to the Union. On the very day of the strike there were 960 “ unemployed ” on the relief works in Otago and -Canterbury.

Union is strength, and combinations for mutual protection and assistance, in some shape or form, are oommon among all classes, and in many cases they do much good. But these objects can be attained without the absurd unreasoning restrictions that are put on labour by some of the trade societies. To think that •employers such as I have referred to cannot employ whom they please is an outrage on common sense.

In England some trades unions prescribe the number of bricks that a hodman is to carry, and the rate at which men are to walk. And they nearly all stereotype labour by insisting on a uniformity of wages. As one star excels another in glory, so does one workman excel another in strength and skill, and why should the best man not reap the reward of his superiority.

Colonial employers are, I have no doubt, as ready as English ones to “ extort the uttermost farthing ” from their employees, but there is a much more equitable division of profits between masters and men in the New World than the Old. Cotton lords and millionaire ironmasters do not grow in the colonies. The position of the workman is in every way improved, he should therefore be more amenable to reason.

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1 believe that this question of capital versus labour has a very important hearing on the future of our industries, and it ought to he put on a satisfactory footing without delay. It is surely possible to settle disputes without resorting to expedients that bring certain loss to both parties.

Many of the industries hitherto established by public companies have been unsuccessful, simply because they were not gone into as an investment or a regular source of income, but as a speculation to be got rid of on the first opportunity.

This brings me to a point that has given rise to much controversy. Mill says “ Industry cannot be multiplied to any greater extent than there is capital to invest ” ; and the opponents of manufactures in a new country construe this into meaning that industries are not to be started on borrowed capital. There is no reason why manufactures should not give as good security as agriculture. On the contrary, the security is probably better, but the English capitalist does not look on the interest alone. According to Lord lirasscy, he wants three returns for his investment. This he will get in lending to agriculturalists in the Colony, but he only gets one return when lending to colonial manufacturers. Free traders and protectionists alike admit that the accumulation of wealth in England is mainly due to manufactures, and protectionists claim the same for America. In both cases a commencement was made with small means ; why should we not pursue the same course in New Zealand? If manufactures are such an important factor in accumulating wealth, there can be no serious difficulty in getting sufficient capital for a start.

One of tbe greatest difficulties to contend with in establishing industries is the prejudice that exists in the minds of the public against colonial-made goods. I have frequently observed this myself; and one of our leading manufacturers considers it a greater evil than the want of protection. It is the old story, “ a prophet hath no honour in his own country.”

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"With the reputation we have for belauding the Colony generally, it is curious that the other side should he taken when we descend to particulars. A senator waxes eloquent over the benefits that are to accrue from the establishment of native industries, “to keep the money in the country ”; but when he retires to Bellamy’s, to refresh the inner man after his exertions, he will not touch what he calls the “ beastly colonial.”

The manufacturer to whom I have just referred sends some of his wares to a neighbouring colony. He does not, as a rule, “ hide his light under a bushel,” his brand is conspicuous on all his manufactures, hut in this case it is judiciously suppressed, the goods are sold as English make. A similar incident is related of an American maker of fish-hooks; the hooks were repeatedly rejected as inferior by a New York merchant. By-and-hy the manufacturer bought foreign hooks surreptiously from the merchant, and on offering them back as Home make they were also rejected.

This depreciation of Home productions is by no means a new experience in New Zealand, it has been the case all through. In the olden times it was an accepted theory in Otago, that crops would only grow on the cleared bush lands, and that the milk of cows fed on native grass would not make butter; and many of you will remember how difficult it was to get people to use colonial flour.

Another difficulty in establishing certain industries is the serious effect it may have on the finances of the Colony. Two of the manufactures most likely to succeed in New Zealand are the cultivation of tobacco and the distillation of spirits. The duties on these articles in 1885 amounted to nearly £600,000 —about two-fifths of the Customs revenue. If large concessions are necessary to make them colonial industries, and if the benefits to be derived therefrom are worth such concessions, it is clear that the revenue must be made up in some other way. To use the popular expression “ the incidence of taxation must be altered.”

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Among the minor objections to manufactures is that the occupation has a tendency to raise up a grimy, sickly race of mortals in which the higher attributes of humanity are deteriorating. It is true that factory hands have not the physique of their brethren who work in the fields; but it does not follow that they are less comfortable or less happy—they have certainly less “care for the morrow,” as their bread is sure in all weathers. On account of their higher education and attainments they have also more means of enjoyment.

The last difficulty in establishing manufactures that I will mention is one that is almost peculiar to New Zealand—local rivalries and jealousies—No sooner is a new industry established in one place, than other places take it up, quite irrespective of the consideration as to whether there is room for all. The result is inevitable failure in the particular industry concerned, and a prejudicing of all other industries of a similar kind.

Encouragement to be Given.

Although it is so difficult to encourage colonial industries in a proper manner, there is not the slightest doubt they should be encouraged, for as already shown, the benefits to be derived from the establishment of manufactures of various kinds are incalculable, and our position as a commercial country will not be secure without them. It would be unwise to foster any industry that wants continual propping up—money kept in the country at this price is too dear. But when the beam is so near the balance that a slight touch will turn it, that touch should certainly he applied. As already shewn, the whole community will undoubtedly benefit by the establishment of new industries, consequently it is only reasonable that the country should bear the expense of finding out what industries are likely to succeed, and of the experiments necessary to shew whether they can really go alone. What form such assistance should take, and whether it should be decided

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on general principles or individual requirements are questions for Legislators to determine. One thing however is clear, on account of its natural advantages, a multiplicity of industries can he established in New Zealand at little cost, and providing they can only get a start, the less State assistance they receive the better.

Leaving out bonuses, protection, and the other direct means of encouraging colonial industries which belong to the sphere of politics, I shall notice a few of the more general requirements.

One of the first is the cultivation of a thoroughly national spirit in favour of our own productions. The spirit that animated George Washington who was inaugurated in a suit of homespun, and which animates Americans to this day. The creed of Monroe may be selfish, but it has the rare merit of honesty, and it is founded on sound principles “ charity begins at home.”

The prejudices against home-made goods already referred to will undoubtedly wear away through time, as the public get to learn that they are unfounded; and, in the meantime, any foundation that exists should be removed by the production of nothing hut first-class articles in every branch of trade. On the other hand, public bodies as well as individuals should give the preference to colonial manufactures, in every case where they compete fairly with the imported article. Loyalty to our duty as colonists demands this sacrifice, if sacrifice it is.

Another means of encouraging colonial industries is a thoroughly systematic inquiry into the industrial resources of the country and a wide-spread diffusion of the knowledge thus obtained. The necessity for this is illustrated by a paragraph which some time since appeared in the papers, stating that a great difficulty in butter-making is the want of proper timber to make casks. This is quite incorrect, the most plentiful timber in the Colony —birch—being as suitable for the purpose as English beech or oak. There are 2,208,000 acres of

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birch in the country traversed by the Midland Railway. We have another illustration in the fungus previously referred to, the properties of which were unknown to the settlers. There are possibly many such products in the country of which we have no knowledge. In addition to the fullest information about our resources, we want periodically an authoritative record of the progress that is made in the various industries. The Royal Commission of 1880 made recommendations in this direction. The principal part of the work must of necessity he done by Government, but much can he done locally.

It is unnecessary to descant on the benefits of exhibitions—they are universally admitted. The one held at Wellington in 1885 was a powerful stimulus to colonial manufactures. It not only showed what has been and can be done, but dispelled prejudice and extended the market for home products.

The establishment of small industrial museums or permanent exhibitions in the larger centres would also he of great service. The Mines Department has taken a step in this direction by sending a collection of typical minerals to the mining districts.

In the evidence before the Royal Commission on the Depression in England much stress is laid on the want of the technical schools so common on the Continent. We will require these aids to industry by and by, but in the meantime the cry for them is premature. The industries must come first, otherwise their effect will simply be to drive more of the rising generation out of the Colony, and instead of going as raw materials they will be exported in a semi-manufactured state like the fruit pulp that comes from Tasmania.

Another important factor in the promotion of every colonial industry is the improvement in inter-communica-tion that is constantly going on, and which will undoubtedly be continued till all the resources of the Colony are opened up. This is one of the engines

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started by the golden lever. Without it in the past our present position would not have been attained, and without it in the future our progress must soon come to an end. Facility for inter-communication benefits every branch of industry, and equalises trade by putting matter in the right place.

Accessibility is the first factor in every thing; an acre of land near London too poor to grow anything but houses is worth 10,000 acres of the richest agricultural land in Maniatoha.

For want of roads the price of potatoes in the Wakatipu district, in 1864, was about £6O a ton; three years afterwards they could be bought for ten shillings, for exactly the same reason. I paid sixteen shillings a bushel for oats on the Kawarau in 1864; the price at Tapanui, in 1879, was tenpence. The extremes in one direction were due to the want of facilities for bringing the produce into the district, and in the other, to the want of facilities for taking it away.

The last and most important requirement in extending the industries that already exist, and establishing new ones in the Colony, is men. With the cry of the “unemployed” ringing in our ears, this statement mav appear open to question, but it is nevertheless true. In New Zealand we want most of all men, women, and children—“ all sorts and conditions of men,” and of all “ kindreds and tongues,” to develop the varied resources of the Colony. Anglo-Saxons to trade, grow corn, and drive engines ; Italians to plant olives; Frenchmen to make wine; and Mongolians to grow tea and tobacco. If a tithe of the industries we have discussed to-night were fully developed, and the population increased in due proportion, there would be fewer unemployed. 4\ e have them now so often simply because the sources of employment are so limited.

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Referring to this subject Brassey says : —“ The economic value of the population is the most important element in the capital of the United Kingdom,” and with all their protective proclivities the Americans have never protected labour; they also appraise it at its proper value. It is calculated that every immigrant that lands at New York is worth from £2OO to £250 to the State. 75,221 landed during the first half of 1886. At £2OO this represents £15,000,000 added to the wealth of the country. At the same rate 10,000 immigrants coming annually to New Zealand would he worth £2,000,000, and the taxes paid by them would just meet the interest on the million a year we are borrowing.

CONCLUSION.

The patience with which you have listened to my long attempt to lay before you the past, present, and future of the Industries of New Zealand is a proof that you do not consider the subject a dry one. We might even go further and find a ray of sentiment amid the details of facts and figures, processes and plans whicli the question involves, for in pointing out new fields of industry we are contributing a mite to the prosperity of our adopted country. Sentiment claims as its special habitat the breezy down and fragrant meadow—

“ The sheltered cot and cultivated farm,

Where health and plenty cheer the labouring swain.”

Lowing herds and bleating flocks are sweet music, but so also is the din of busy labour-—the sough of steam and the clank of looms. They may not murmur peace and plenty, but they tell of active brains and lissom fingers that are building up a state which may eventually hold its own in the Council of Nations—

“ There’s glory in the shuttle’s song,

f-i —~ There’s triumph in the anvil’s stroke,

There’s merit in the grave and strong

"Who dig the mine, or fell the oak.”

W. N. BLAIR.

NOTABILIA

GENERAL MEETINGS OF The Industrial Association of Canterbury,

WILL BE HELD At the Room, 210, High Street, Christchurch, N.Z.

OH THE FOLLOWING DATES :

Wednesday 13th April, 1887, at 8 p.m.

„ ... Bth June, „ „

,, (Annual Meeting) 17th August „ „ at which members are earnestly requested to attend.

Members who may desire to offer suggestions or information for consideration at any of these meetings (or any Committee meetings), are invited to communicate with the Committee or the Secretary.

Committee meetings for the new year will be held fortnightly, on "Wednesdays, at 7.30 p.m., dating from Wednesday the Ist September, 1886.

Rule xvi., Visitors. —Any Member may introduce visitors to the Meetings of the Association, personally or by order signed by himself; and any visitor may take part in the proceedings, but shall not be allowed to vote.

Rule xvii., Members mat Read Papers. —Members shall have the privilege of reading before the Association papers containing statistics, observations, and essays on subjects within the scope of the A ssociation.

Members or visitors are requested to record any suggestions that mav be of interest to the Association, in a Book lying on the table for that purpose.

A Scrap Book is also provided for newspaper or other clippings, affording information respecting manufactures and productions, for record and reference.

Manufacturers are invited to send small exhibits of their industries suitable to the rooms for display, with any information respecting them which may be instructive or interesting.

The Rooms are open on Saturday evenings, from 7to 10 p.m., for the use of Members and visitors.

Subscriptions for the current year were due on the 12th August. Members will oblige by forwarding the same to the Secretary as early as possible.

The following are some of the Reports and Papers in the Rooms:-

New Zealand Gazette. New Zealand Industrial Gazette.

New Zealand Parliamentary Debates.

Report of Surveys of New Zealand, with Maps.

Report of Colonial Industries’ Commission, New Zealand.

Report of Goldfields of New Zealand.

Report on Mining Machinery in Victoria and New South Wales, with Plates.

Report of Mining, State of California.

Report on Control and Inspection of Mines, New Zealand.

Report of Commissioners appointed to inquire into the preparation of the Phormium Fibre or Ner\ Zealand Flax.

Report of Committee to Establish New Industries.

Report on East and West Coast and Nelson Railway, 18S6, with Maps, by W. N. Blair, M.I.C.E.

Report of Railway Commissioners.

Report of New Zealand Timber, Bark, and Secondary Forest Products, by T. Kirk, F.L.S.

-J ’ Report on Native Forests and the State of the Timber Trade, by T. Kirk, F L.S.

Papers respecting Sericulture in New Zealand.

Papers relative to the Interchange of Colonial Products and Manufactures between the Colonies of Australia.

Papers on Manufacture of Portland Cement, by Mr. Geo. Gray, of Canterbury College.

The Defence of New Zealand, an Address by His Excellency Sir

W. F. D. Jervois, G.C.M.G., C.8., &c. Illustrated with Charts and Plates.

An Address on the Industries of New Zealand, by W. N. Blair, M.I.C.E.

Three Prize Essays on the Industries of New r Zealand, by E. Winter, W. E. Haselden, and G. R. Hart

East and West Coast and Nelson Railway—the League’s Pamphlet—in 1 volume, with Map.

Mines Statement, by the Minister of Mines, Hon. W. J. N. Laruach C.M.G.

Public Works Statement, by the Minister of Public Works, the Hon E. Richardson, C.M.G.

A large number of Maps and Exhibits are now in the Rooms ready for Inspection.

The Daily Papers—“lllustrated London News”—‘Graphic”—and other papers are laid on the table.

The “ Engineer,” “ Scientific American,” “ Iron,” and the “ Builder, and other periodicals will shortly be added.

Donations of Reports, Addresses, and Papers, or any Literature which will tend to promote Colonial Industries and the development of the natural resources of New Zealand, are earnestly solicited.

F. JENKINS, President.

PRINTED BY “ THE PRESS” COMPANY LIMITED, PRINTERS AND BOOKBINDERS, CASHEL STREET, CHRISTCHURCH, N.Z.