The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, The Morning News and The Echo. WEDNESDAY. JULY 19, 1882.

Auckland Star, Volume XV, Issue 3724, 19 July 1882, Page 2

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, The Morning News and The Echo.

WEDNESDAY. JULY 19, 1882.

For the cause that lacks assis tanco, 7or the wrong that needs rcsistaac* For tha future In the distance, And tha good that we can do.

We in New Zealand are just beginning to "feel that we are greater than we know." When five months ago the good ship Dunedin left our shores with 5,000 carcases of New Zealand sheep on board in her new Coleman-Bell refrigerating chamber, no one dreamed of the excitement which this first consignment of fresh meat to the Home market was destined to produce. Every one knew that the Australian fresh meat trade had assumed vast proportions; but while they heard of large steamer-loads being landed in good condition and commanding good prices in the English market, they also learned of comparative failure of the freezing apparatus, and consequent Jail in the value 01 the meat. Hence, when there was uncertainty as to the preservation in good condition of fresh meatconvejed quickly in steamers, the anticipations were the reverse of sanguine as to the success of the experiment of [conveying such meat in a eailing vessel,taking over[three months to make the voyage and spending perhaps weeks iv the sweltering heat of the Tropics, Most people here,""ho doubt, had also an opinion that New Zealand mutton was infinitely superior to that raised iv Australia, and testimony to this was borne by the officers and passengers travelling by the Pacific Mail steamers, and others in a position to institute a comparison. Bat, after all, many were modestly wont to think that this might, after all, be no mote than an opinion, and tbe corroborative testimony nothing but the amiable desire of strangers and visitors to compliment us, But, for once in our experience, we have been proved to be too cautious in our speculative outlook and a great doal overmoderate in our estimate ot the capabilities of bur soil and value of our products. Not only has ,tae sailing ship carried the meat safely, and landed it in excellent condition, but its quality has Men such as to gain for it at once the very highest reputation, The result has been ail excitement in Britaij), as great as waa

American fresh meat were placed in the marker, and evoking the usual outcry from the representatives of the interests affected by the innovation. We have accounts from different sources, reaching oa in a variety of ways, and all agree in describing the triumph of New Zealand meat as most complete, and the excitement produced among owners of land and stock as more than usually intense. The "Times " devoted a leading article to the subject, in which it declared that "it is impossible to say where this will end, :ind how it will affect the destinies of the country." Reflecting the pessimist view of the future of land in England which has taken hold of the landed proprietors, in view of the increasing importation of fresh meat and grain into the country, the leadin? journal counsels the British gentlemen to'take to forest cultivation, which is safer than agriculture or sheep farming,inasmuch as " they do not lose much by planting and will earn the thanks of thoir remotest successors, not to say of a grateful nation." Sir Francis Dillon Bell, in a letter to the "Times," which we reproduce in auother column, puts the question In a more common-sense light by asking whether, since Britain must needs import a large proportion ot her grain and meat, it is not better that she Bhould receive it from her own colonies than from foreigners; and other correspondents also take a calmer and more correct view of the situation. One writer points out that so far from the value ot English land being depreciated by the temporary decline of agricultural and grazing pursuits it will be increased in value—basing this conclusion upon the assertion that the growth ot population in Britain greatly enhances the value of the land, and that importations of meat and grain are absolutely essential to the maintenance of this increased and still increasing population. The " limes,"however, sees nn remedy but emigration to New Zealand or other colonies, few people at Home, it declares, have the land, the money, the skill, or the spirit to compete against the odds in favour of euch a country as New Zealand, and it goes on to re-mark:-"The hands te till the land arc everywhere decreasing, and the agricultural reports tell a sad tale of weeds and of land geaerally in bad condition, all for want of labour, which is now too costly or not to be got on any terms, Where are the men to be found, is now the cry in many quarters where man was a weed half a century ago. The only thing that increases is the income derived from trade and manufacture. Happily, a large portion of this overflows from the seats of industry in a constant and beneficial gtream, recruiting.the ex« bausted strength ot the land. It is the town that enables the soil to retain its full strength. But this does not prevent the uncropping of a vast nece»sitous crowd ask. ing for employment - that is for life on pleasant, easy, and diguifud terms. They must follow the old rnle of tracing the Nile to its source. They see many a life-giving stream of food for man and beast flowing into this country across the broad seas, and they mutt go, where the food comes from, New Zealand, from all accounts, can accommodate a good many more, and is a very healthy, very pleasant, and extremely beautiful country. Its only troubles are that it has too much of what we want, land and produce; and not enough ot the people we ore ready to send them." Looking at the subject from a Colonial point of view, we see in the success of this experiment double cause for very hearty gratolation. Not only is there opened np the prospect of almost limitless expansion for our export trade in fresh meat, but in the panic which has beea created in the minds of British landowners, and the antidote presciibed by the "Times," we see promise of a considerable gain to j>ew Zealand in the shape of a moat valuable class of colonists, possessed of capital and experience, along with a crowd of much-needed tillers of the soil. From the British standpoint, viewed at this dispassionate distance, we see no reason for other than congratulation. The English consumer .is henceferth assured of a constant supply of first-class fresh meat at a price within bis reach, and we shall offer a field of settlement for the surplus population which, while relieving the ovcr-ciowded centres of Britain, will assist materially in the development of tlie resources of New Zealand, and ensuie tbc consumer at Home still more liberal supplies than before of the necessaries of life. Our Australian neighbours may have some slight caiiae to grumble at oar competition in sending sheep weighing loOlbs against their SOlb animals; t.ut there is no fear of New Zealand shutting them ont of the market. It is Homo producers who will suffer most from our competition. There will always be plenty of consumer* ia Britain for a cheap and inferior dencrintion of meat, and the frozen meat trade of both Aus» tralia and New Zealand may be pursued to the fullest extent without any danger of their interests conflicting.