HOME PRODUCTIONS.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XII, Issue 1498, 22 February 1883, Page 2

HOME PRODUCTIONS.

Now that we may look forward with almost a certainty to our harbour becoming a direct home shipping port for the introduction of every class of goods needed by the settlers of the Bay of Plenty, and thus for ever getting rid of what has hitherto been a regular old man of tho sea to the trade of Tauranga, namely, the transhipment at Auckland of passengers and goods, with not only the consequent heavily increased charges, but a considerable amount of damage to the latter, and almost entire ruin to perishable commodities ; it behoves us not to be laggards in the race for mercantile Buccess, and to hail with gladness the dawn of more prosperous days for the commerce of Tauranga. As a preliminary, we should forthwith take steps to secure the return cargo for the Lady Joeelyn, and have all things in a state of preparedness for that ship on her arrival here, but especially to ensure the auecess of the inauguration of continuous direct shipments there should "be gathered together a sufficient cargo to load her in London for her outward Journey. Of course we are aware that flhe will be largely filled with railway plant and passengers' goods, stores, &c. ; yet in so large a vessel there is sure te be room for a considerable amount of merchandise, and our merchants here should be very careful in their letters of advice with indents home, to give the strictest instructions to their agents in London to ship all goods for Tauranga and district by direct ship only, be it the Lady Joeelyn or any other, and bo foster this infant trade. Let us no longer have to study the Auckland market, or be at the mercy of Auckland merchants. A direct trade being once established, we shall obtain our goods at first prices, and not have to pay three or four commission agents. There should be and is, we doubt not, ample capital amongst our merchants to keep an importation going sufficient as a beginning to fill two ships of the Joeelyn class per year, and our consumptive powers will not be greatly exercised to dispose of two such shipments easily. On the other hand, it is surely in our power to load her for Home twice a year, and few of our readers will differ with us, after we shall have given cx r preßsion to some of the articles we aright with benefit to all manufacture and export from this town and district. Of course the promier place must be given to the frozen meat trade, but in connection therewith we might advantageously turn the hides and sheepskins to great utility and profit for ourselves. By establishing tanneries ai one of the most profitable investments that could be made, let us ask our .readers seriously to consider whether it is sensible in us to^export j the whole of the raw material for which in return we receive whatever the Auckland merchants choose to give us, and then have to pay them an exorbitant price for the same article after Ifc has been converted into leather? Would it not be a wiser policy to keep as much of the raw material as would ■uffice for our own use, and employ our own industrious settlers in its con-

version "to leather 5 the surplus stock wttuld "be better consigned to the Homo market, as it would, in all probability, realise a much, better price ; at all events it would be taken as a matter oi barter, and so prevent money being sent from here. By acting thus, we should* get our leather not only cheaper, but, probably, better, and not continually be remitting for the benefit of banks and others out of our own district. The bones of all beasts, sheep, and horses that meet their death in Tauranga and the outlying country would, if gathered by energetic hands, very nearly, if not quite, supply a mill for rendering the same into the now almost universal fertiliser, bone dust. Here again, if we contemplate at all, we must see the utter absurdity of our present mode of dealing with this article. Travel in any portion of the district where wo will, and visit any of tho large outlying cattle and sheep stations, we are sure to soe in many places multitudinous small hoaps of bones — generally tho skeleton remains of some beast or sheep that has been a victim to the tutu. These bones lie there and rot, not being value sufficient to gather for exportation to some distant town, but if a bone mill were established in our midst we should find our station holders, farmers, and others carefully preserving the bones of their dead horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, &c, for transmission to the neighbouring bone mill, and which they would gladly re-purchase when converted into pure and unadulterated bone manure. By this means our lands would gain, our farmers would gain, and our produce would gain. The horns and hoofs might help tho cargo for home. Next to hides and bones comes appropriately the fat. Many years have now passed since we oan remember that, on all large stations where numbers of hands were engaged, one of the chief stipulations of the man cook, when being engaged, was, as a rule, that, over and beyond his wages, he was to have as a perquisite all the fat, and we remember such was the case on board ship, whether naval or mercantile ; and we know, as a fact, that in the course of twelve months this article totted up a very considerable figure, and often formed the nucleus of a respectable capital, by which the said cooks were sometimes enabled to establish houses of accommodation in the outdistricts, and cafes and restaurants in towns. By means of this fat a soap works and candle factory might be made a success, but in the meanwhile it would form — when gathered from our butchers, hotel-keepers, and others — a considerable item in a cargo home. In course of time, no doubt, we shall have our own means of rendering this article a more mercantile product, and the sooner that is so the better for Tauranga. Of conrse, &t present, as with the hides so with the fat — we are content to send it away to be converted by others, and thus pay money to outsiders ourselves, and create profitable employment for very many willing hands. It is the constant importation of everything we need, much of which we could manufacture ourselves, and the constant drain of money from our district, that is one of the sources from which have sprung the frequent " hard times" we have had of late to endure ; and until we are more self-reliant and self-pro-ducing we may expect that at intervals such will ever occur. There are many other industries we could mention that might be very profitably undertaken here, btit we will defer any exposition thereof to a future article. There is one point of some magnitude in a monetary view that we should keep steadily before vs — it is this : that having secured direct shipments we shall soon have to undertake any repairs needed by the ships so employed, and we shall be largely benefitted by the monies expended for them as well as by that paid in wages to the crews ; and further, the large supplies needed for the support of the same. Beyond this, the lading of ships in our port will give almost constant employment to our" coasters bringing freight from outports, and to our carters for doing likewise from inlying towns ; . this would cause a large circulation of money and the certainty of all participating in the benefits derived.

The national debt of Great Britian now amounts to £763,000,000, an actual reduction in 25 years of 76,000,000. We regret to hear that Mr A. J. Vogan, Te Puke, is suffering from a slight sun stroke which he sustained on Wednesday the 14th inst. We are glad to see that steps have at last been taken for the formation of Elizabeth Street. Mr Hamilton was yesterday engaged in ploughing the Street. A country editor suggests thut persons sending in big eggs will please accompany them by several ordinary sized ones, not for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith. Missionary enterprise in New Guinea is attended with danger. Some of the native tribes a»*e skull hunters, and. have no objection to include a missionary's amongst their spoil. A meeting of the members of the Druids' Lodge will be held at Menzies' Hotel al half-past seven o'clock this evening, when certificates will be issued to members for medical examination. Thirteen men arrived per s. h. Glenelg from Auckland yesterday morning, engagod by Mr James Home, the enterprising contractor for forming No. 2 section Carabridgo-liotorua Bush Road. An exchange innocently remarks : — " AblackfellowatThornborough, Queensland, recently tomahawked his gin." We have heard of a man quarreling with his whisky, but the gin destroyer gives him points. Messrs Paget and Hulme, auctioneers, yesterday submitted to public competition that valuable leasehold situated at the corner of Camoron Eoad und Spring street, being allotments 126, 127 and 128, section 1, town of Tauranga, with fourroomed cottage and stable erected thereon. There was a good attendance, but the bidding wao not spirited. The property was (started at £100, and was finally knocked down to Mr J. H. McCaw, for £120.

Mr 3J. Grill, Under-Secretary for Native Affairs, was a passenger to Auckland by the b.s. Gl n nelg yesterday. We understand that his future movements are uncertain, whether he returns to Maketu or proceeds to JSTapier. A special meeting of the Tauranga Borough Council will be held in the Council Chambers at 2 p.m. to-day for the purpose of considering and niaklng a special or"dci? re" the bye-lawii which 1 were published a few days ago in the Bay or Plenty Times. There was on view yesterday in Mr Maxwell's shop window, the Strand, two very large and handsome apples. The two npple3, which are of the seedling variety, weighed lib llozand were grown at Welcome Bay on a young tree planted by Mr Jonathan Brown When hams and bacon are taken out of pickle is any advantage to be obtained by placing them under pressure pior to smoking 1 ISTo advantage would be gained by this ; in fact, harm might be done. It is right to state that curers do not now approve of putting ham in pickle, but take them from the salt for smoking. Captain William Morgan, the Freemason who is said to have divulged the secrets of the order and mysteriously disappeared, has bad a monument erected in his memory at Batavia. It is a shaft 40 feet high, with anti Masonic tablets. He was a native of Virginia and served in the war of 1812, in which he was promoted to a captaincy. At the Police Court yesterday, before P. Swindley and E. M. Edgcumbe, Eaqrs. , J.P.s, G-ordan. Johnston was charged with malicious injury to property, by breaking a window at the oflice of Mr John A. ClarK. He was fined 12s damages, and costs 7s. The same man was also charged with resisting the police in the execution of their duty, and was fined £X, and costs 7s. The correspondent of the Australasian asserts : -It is believed by the best judges that tho native King movement i 9 finally crumbling to peices, and that if Government persist in the present course they will meet with little or no resistance, active or passive, on .the part of the natives. - This idoa is confirmed by tolerably trustworthy information from tho natives themselves. We ove pleased to learn that the Commissioner of the Government Lite Assurance Department, Wellington, has recognised the efforts of the local agent, Mr John A. Clark, in pushing the business of the Department here and at Katikati, by forwarding him yesterday a cheque for a substantial bonus in addition to his ordinary commission. Since Mr Clark took tho agency for the Government in thiß district, eleven months ago, the business of the department has more than doubled itself. The application of the County of Tauranga for monies under the Eoada and Bridges Construction Act has been refused on the ground that the plans and specifications required by the Act were not supplied. These plans and specifications would cost a very large sum, and as we mentioned in our editorial columns some little time back, even did tho Council spend the ratepayers' money in procuring them, there is no certainty that the grant would be obtained, as but £100,000 is available for distribution, and £750,000 was applied for. ___^ - ~_ for the County arrived by yesterday's steamer from Auckland, and all objections thereto must reach Wellington by the Ist March. Unless the objections were sent by the mail which left here last evening, in order to catch the Wairarapa at Auckland to-day, it will be impossible for them to reach Wellington by the date named. In valuing an extensive district such as the Tauranga County, mistakes cannot be avoided, and unfortunates, who, through the action of the Government, have been unable to object will probably have to pay the next three years' County rates, as well as the Property Tax, on the basis of this valuation. A club in London has a rule — a rule adopted by other. clubs — that a member who remains on the premises after tho authorised time of closing is to be fined ten shillings for the first half -hour, a soverign for the second and so on. In one of the West-end clubs ©no night last week, a short time before the hour of closing, a member went off to sleep, and slept peacefully for several hours. Then he woke up and went out all in a hurry. A fe* days after he received a little bill from the club secretary, carefully computed on the cumulative principle. From this he learnt tlio pleasing fact that he was indobtod to the club in tho sum of £24.000 odd? The story about the nails in the horse's shoe occurred to his mind, he went with a rather heavy heart to the secretary, who turned the debt into a joke, and so settled the matter by a fine of five pounds.