LOCAL INDUSTRIES.

Clutha Leader, Volume VI, Issue 339, 9 April 1880, Page 3

LOCAL INDUSTRIES.

;~ •• - *» jj-. ■ ■'■ ; (Continued from last is file.) I have shown that there are abundance of sites with waterfalls suitable for any manufacturing pursuits ; which men of capital and enterprise may avail themselves of.^ Besides the '> water-power, ,th£ Colony is one immense coalfield, so that every objection is thus far met, so far as situations and motive power are concerned. The question how to be considered is: Will the business pay ? Will there be sufficient for invested capital with a margin for risks? To use the technicalities belonging to the trade would render these suggestions, perhaps, unintelligible r *to many, t will endeavour to place this question in such a light as will render it quite easy of comprhensiqn. , 5 Let any^ one call, at a soft goods establishment and they will find that the price of worsted Ganges 'from 4s6d to 6s 6d per lb. .JMdw-.wecari buy -half-; bred wool for 9d pcr r lb in the fleece ; this fleece wool when sorted produces a variety of yarns. I am. allowing 9d, per lb, althdugh I have seen good halfbred bought for V 6d and 7d;per lb ; 1001 bof fleece will yield 651 b clean scoured ;dry yarn* and for the sakepf simplicity, .-we will, average; the retail price at 5s per lb : 651 bat ss, LI 6 ss. 1001 bat 9d ... . ... £3 15.0"'. Carding, spinning, dress- ; ing, and' doubling . 1001 b 2^. ... ... 1 010 Scouring, storing, and pressing 1f...- ..: 012 6 Oil ... ... ... 0 8 0 i ' £5 16 4 Balance to credit ... £10 8 8 : How does it come to pass that we pay Ll6 ss, for that which at the nett cost of production is less than one- third ? It is necessary I should explain this ; and will take a bale of wool sent home to spin, and trace it on its way home and back again. First .there is the freight, the insurance, stamps for bills of lading before it leaves ; on arrival there are dock dues, warehouse charges, brokers' charges, and commission on sales. This wool is usually sold to large monied firms carrying on business as woolbrokersj they have their profit j next the manufacturer and his profit, next the wholesale merchant and his profit, next the expense of freight, insurance, bills of lading, stamps, &c., to New Zealand, then comes our custom duties, next the - wholesale merchant and his projits, next the retailer and his profits. Should a poor man not feel proud to have a pair of worsted socks after all this trouble ? The only wonder is he can afford to pay for them ; and no wonder need be felt at the difference between the nett cost and the retail price. Germany. Italy, and China offer markets for all New Zealand could send had we a hundred mills at work to-day, or even five times that number. I feel confident that if inducements were held out to cover the loss of time and preliminary expenses, men: of capital and skill would readily embark in the business, and bring their whole plant with them. And no local jealousy need be engendered, as the making of such yarns would in. no way effect present mill-owners, except in so far as slightly increasing 1 , the value of the wool named — a result much wanted and one which the business can well afford if properly conducted. From the latest statistics to hand (see Otago Daily Times, Feb. 21) we have paid on goods of the following class, the amounts under their separate heads, for the years 1876, 1877, 1878 :— Hosiery, 1876 ... 30,838 Woollens and blankets, 1876 ... 137,769 Carpeting, 1876... 25,214 Hosiery, 1877 29,054 Woollens and blankets, 1877 ... 107,504 Carpeting, 1877 29,684 Hosiery, 1878 ... ... ... 32,299 Woollens and blankets, 1878 ... 137,207 Carpeting, 1878... ... ... 43,553 Total .... £563,212 Or over, half s million in three years for. three items of daily use !! ! No language I can use speaks so, forcibly as such figures quoted from Government returns. CARPETS, VEGETABLE, ANDPILE. Wool, Pile, and Kidderminster carpets, — these in .their primary stage of manufacture are prepared in a great measure through the aid- of worsted machinery, and all the low wools, stained pieces, pickings, &g.; are worked up into these fabrics together with cowhair, shoddy, f bleached jute,. &&or. r Nothing, of a fibrous kind is too low, and much of our low wools, which scarcely pay shipping ;. expenses, ; would be utilised in this manufacture ; the lowest of our wools would be superior to the general' average of the materials used at home, and I need not occupy the space l of your paper by recapitulating the round-about-way, in which we receive back the manufactured goods. ? ; Another feature in carpeting are those manufactured ? fr6m f 'coir, ; or cbcoa•nutr:fibre., v lv know of nothing which would be of greater importance to NewZealand 'at this 'moment than vegetable carpeting, .the ; more especially as the raw material coming from the Fiji group of Islands, would do more to draw the trade of this group to our shores than all the Imperial decrees ofji Prince Bismarck to the contrary, lj allude to the interest taken by, the Ger-! man Government in t^e South Seal Islands. ' j I was superintending* machinery where some 1600 hands were employed

in this manufacture, and can speak with -some. -show of i authority. In Brussels and neighbourhood this business is carried on to great perfection,-— far beyond anything- 1 have seen; in Great Britain. \,\ Coir and asperta ■■• grass being; the principal, I mention here that which none would believej unacquainted with this business, viz; : That our tussock grass in' its natural state is superior to the asperta grass when manufactured -, this stood us about L2O per ton. If we can grow this grass, as we do our grain crops, I know of nothing that would pay the farming interest equal to it. - All it requires is to, cut it, dry it, tie; in sheaves, press and ship it as we doour wool. I think that at least two tons could be obtained from an acre of ground, if it will grow from seed ; careful selection would increase this return. This fibre along with, the coir would give employment to many mills throughout the Colony, and, instead of paying away money annually for carpeting of this kind, we could save this and export the surplus. A beginning is all that is required, and once the, idea becomes fixed in the public mind I have no fear for the ultimate results. I will occupy too- much of your space by going into details of profit or loss in this manufacture j this can be furnished if required afterwards., Should the Government entertain these, or similar suggestions, and lay off annually, say, LIO,OOO ; L3OO as a bonus when machinery valued at LIO.OOO is shipped ; L3OO when erected and fi t for w,ork j and 8 per cent, on the LI O,OOO for the first three years, until the business was fairly under weigh. I only hint at this mode of encouragement ; by giving a bonus in a lump sum encouragement is held out to speculate in shares for the sake of the bonus, and, when this had been paid^all interest would cease. The establishment of the manufactures named would carry others in their wake. For example, card-making machinery, mills for the making of spools ; each loom would require 20 gross, these can be made from our own timber, and form a profitable adjunct to our present saw-mills ; any timber over one inch (white pine would be the best) would be economised. The mind who conceived, and the Assembly who assented to the Public Works scheme, will occupy a prominent place in the page of New Zealand history ; the conception was based on the persevering industry of the people, with b firm belief in the future. But high as ; these minds will be esteemed, the Government who will prudenrly supplement the initiation of the class of manufactures I have suggested, and plant them through the country, will stand relatively as much higher as our railways do to common roads, or a chronometer to a Dutch clock. It is gratifying to reflect that although some of our leading statesmen would appear sometimes to commit an outrage on the moral of one little hymn of Dr Watt's about bears and lions, &c, there has, upon the whole, been a high-toned patriotism prevading the Legislature of the country, which has made us, the youngest held up as an example worthy of imitation by others much older, and perhaps more wealthy .~ I am, &c, J. C. Forsyth.