The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, The Morning News and The Echo. MONDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1882.

Auckland Star, Volume XVI, Issue 3807, 23 October 1882, Page 2

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

MONDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1882.

Tot tho causa that lacks asslstanca, For the wrong that need, resist -c« fur tho future in the .distance. And the .cod that we can do,

THE growth of manufacturing industries and of an industrial population, so essential to tho prosperity of the coloay, would seem, from statistics, to be goiog ou us rapidly and satisfactorily as could bo wished. In the courso of tho three years cmbrac»d between the census of 1579 and that of 1881, there has been an incroaso of 372 in tho number of manufactories iv the colony, and a corresponding increase in tbo number of hands employed. This increase is spread over oil the piovincial districts, with the single exception of Westlind, where thero has been during the three years a decrease of nine establishments, uf tbe total of 1643 factories ia tho colony, Auckland has 366, and they nto apportioned among the principal Industrie-, thus -.—Saw-mills and sush and door lactones, 43; brick, tile, and pottery works, 30; quartz mining, 28; flax mill--, 20; printing establishments, 20; graiu mills, 18; ship and boat-building works, 17; breweries, 15; rcratcd water manufactories, It; ftirnituro-makiag work*, 14; hoot manufactories, 12; fellmongery and tanning works, 12; irou aad brass foundries, 10 ; conch-Dnilding and punting works, 10. This province enjoys a monopoly in .manganese mining, and in the manufacture of bellows, chemicals, brushes, hemaiito paint, portmanteaus, and. oruamentnl silk—these industries not having obtainod a footing in any other part of the colony. Auckland takes tho lead also in the following important branches :-Ship and boat building, furniture-making, llnxmaking, boot-mnkiog, and iron aud brassworking. Thus of 25 sbip-building works in tho colony, Acukland has no fewer than 17; she has 20 flax mills, one half of the totul number in tho colony; and so on. Glancing next at tho statistics of persons employe- iv industrial pursuits, wo find these, as stated in the census return, " Employments of the People," to number 64,355, or with certain undefined workers iucluded, a total of 82,259. As these figures, however, embrace many of tho purely commercial class, such a. grocera, drapers, &c, it is difficult to determine how many are engaged in actual production, and how many are simply distributors of goods. A few outstanding feci- are, however, quite clear, and of considerable interest. The large number of 13,000 persons are employed in gold-mining; over 17,000 are merely described as laboureis; whlje there aro 6,272 carpenters, and 1,898 paint t_, plumbery glaziers, and pap-uhaugers, Amongthose engaged in connection with the fooa of the people, there are 2,214 butchors against 1,372 bakers, 632 dairymen, 150 greengrocers and fruiterers, and 120 fishmonger?. This shows New -ealanders to be as eminently a flesh eating community as in tho days uf the cannibal feasts of the Maoris. In articles of dicss it is curious to note that while 1,457 tailors and tuiloresses oan make all the garments for the male population, it requires 3,658 milliners and dressmakers to supply the wants of tho fair sex in the matter of external adornment, Tho unique occupations of the colony—those represented by only a Bingle figure—are :—Tho Governor (some people arc in doubt at times whether we even have him)! onb analytical chemist (whom Aucklanders ought to know), one billiard-table maker, and ouo cheesemonger. Among other curiosities of colonial industries, it may bb noted that thero aro only five bill-sti.kers in tho colony, which seems a small number of mural artists for such a wide area; but probably there are still fewer bill-posters iv China, though the "Great Wall" offers special facilities for carrying on their rjestbetio pursuits. There arc 3,032 people employed in making and selling tho "understandings " of tho half-million people la the colony; but to clean these half-million pairs of boots there is a shoe-black brigado of only three persons. If tho setvint gttlsci the colony do not clean the hoots, who does ? Many a hard-worked mother and would be genteel husband and bachelor, may sadly supply tho needed answer. Then, the return of 29 chimney sweeps is out of all proportion to the number of chimneys requiring to bo swept; while the small number of Aye scavengers aud nigbtmen would seem to account for defective sanitary arrangements and badly kept streets. Can it be possible that men are ashamed of pursuing such honest avocations as those of scavenger and chimney-weep, and have deliberately made false returns or sheltered themselves behind the general definition of labourer? affectation ot gentility could surely no further go than this. Finally, we note, bs to employment of female?, that while there are 299 hotel-keepers' wives and 66 farmers' wives who assist their husbands jit their labours, there is only one butcber's wife returned as assisting in the business. Whatever this may prove, it does not seem to show that the butcher's occupation is the least lucrative in the colony.