CORRESPONDENCE.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVII, Issue 4409, 2 October 1871, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

A Plain Question for Free-traders. — A "Franklin Settler" sends a few pointed remarks upon protection. He pays,wheatgrowing -frill not' pay under sa. *6d. to 63. per bushel, but wheat can be "Imported cheaper than • that. If a protective tariff , were, temporarily , .impose^ to , ,besp ■ th6 •marlcek price' of whkaE up \o ine standard mentioned, the large .agricultural population of the p'roVince' Wo'ula be able to ;engage profitably in cultirating that cereal. Would" it not,, he asks, be better for consumers to submit to' g'ncn *' tax/ than thai) ,mon#y should be sent away for the purchase of food which could" be produced here ? The importation of breadstuffs is not only injuring the iagribaltitfist* but is imporerishing" the country, and preyenta the steady accumulation of wealth which' would ' benefit all 1 classes alike'. ' ' ,

The -WAiKAtfo Railway.— Mr. William Johns, T» Awaniutu, contributes a few facts concerning the Waikato district, in contradiction of. a published statement/ thut the Tuakaa 'district is more fertile, and consequently of more importance, than the Waikato. He saya : — "there are in the ,Upper Waikato district from 90Q to- 1,000 Bettlers, who have at present between 30,000 and 40,000 acres of land under cultivation. One-third of this acreage could, with cheap freights and sufficient inducement, be put under grain every year, which, at the rate of 20 bushels per acre (Mr. Bridgman, of Kihikihi, obtained 60 bushels last year off ordinary land), would produce over 250,000 bushels, nearly the whole of which could be sent ij9 the Auckland market. Besides the above, there are on an average from 5,000 to 10,000 acres of new land under cultivation yearly, which rate would be very greatly increased with improved means of transit and augmented trade. The Basin of the Upper yVaikato contains 500,000 acres of alluvial land of the first quality, all of whioh could be put under cultivation in the course of three or four years ; added to this, there is the vast Taupo country, and millions of aores of , fertile Maori land immediately adjoining, which, when the native difficulty is dispensed with, will soon be | brought under cultivation, and find an outlet for their teeming products through the Waikato. Such is the Waikato country." He admits a want of personal acquaintance with the capabilities of Tuakau, but adds that if by statistics its settlers can show a better claim than he has given on behalf of Waikato ho is willing that the railway should terminate at Tuakau, as he is anxious to see th« work prove a profitable one. He is convinced, however, that if the railway is constructed to Point Russell it will enable the Waikato settlers to supply Auckland with all its breadstuff's, and could be cheaply extended to the Waikato delta, opening up a vast and splendid tract of country, equal in fertility and passing in extent all the land between Tuakau and the Manukau. Election of Synodsmen.— -Mr. William Atkin, Tamaki, deems the present system of nominating and electing Synodsmen unsatisfactory. The Deputy Returning Officer has, he thinks, the power of influencing elections, and he states that, at the Tamaki election, "Young New Zealand," from Parnell, canvassed the Tamaki electors on behalf of Mr. Vialou. He proposes in lieu of the existing system that notice should be given to each parish intimating that all nominations must be sent to the Bishop or his commissary within a certain period. The names of the nominated persons should then bo entered on the voting paper before it is issued,- and the churchwardens could then distribute the papers without the intervention of the Deputy Returning Officer.