I TRADE WITH NEW CALEDONIA. TO THE EDITOR OF THE EVENING POST.

Evening Post, Volume XXII, Issue 151, 29 December 1881, Page 2

I TRADE WITH NEW CALEDONIA. TO THE EDITOR OF THE EVENING POST.

Sir— l have much pleasure in leply ing to Mr. Coleman Phillips' proposal that onr Government should subsidise a etoatn ser1 vice to Noumea. The Imperial Government receive and publish annual ciroulal* reports, and in August last a report by Consul Layard (Noumea) was so received and publ'shed, and reached me a few days ago. Mr. 1 Layard says emphatically that tbe island can 1 never be a colony in the true sense of the word, and that whitos will remain only as long as the French keap it up as a penal settlement, withjan extensive staff of officials^ and naval and military forces. I must epi-' tomise his very careful language— ", Coast utterly infertile and useless." " Inland very j hilly ; soil pood, but sever could pay for cultivation." " Millions of locusts devour crop after crop." The only conceivable exports are copra, copper, nickel, and of these, nickel is, I auppo3e, the most important. The export returns for the second and third quarters (1880) are befora me. Together they oome to 2080 tons, valued at , 60 franc * pf r kilo. Why anyone should be sucn an idiot as to quote weight in tons and value in kilos I can't gues3. Let ua call it .£500,000 in rough numbers. Thit would mean an export of one million ([do not for a moment believe the export is anything like so great' as this) per annum. If Mr. Phillips has any later information I shall be glad to hear of ii*. As far as I can see, the colony will collapse when the convicts leave, and it would be mo3t imprudent to sink money in attempting to push, trade. If 3000 tons of flour is wanted, surely it will go best in sailing ships ? My reason in writing this lottor does not lie on the surface. I wish a few people to know that I, and a few more, protest most indignantly at the way our New Zealand Government refnse to gratify our natural desire to get information about the prospects and resources of the Empire. Mr. Phil Ups will cordially agree with me that these Consular reports, together with all State papers published by the Imperial Government, ought to be accessible to students in the four New Zealand towns. Why should private people, like myaelf , have to go to the very great trouble and expense of importing specially saoh. documents? It is the same with all information. All the way up the coast, from J*atea to Hawera, Opuaake, and New Plymouth, there ia not a place where even the publications, of the New Zealand Government can be seen. Ton cannot get a file of the Gazette, a set of Acts, or even a copy of the West Coast Comtniss'on Report. I am, &c, W. F. HOWLETT.