The Lyttelton Times. MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 1884.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXI, Issue 7143, 21 January 1884, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times. MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 1884.

Thebe are signs of a revival; not of the kind whose seed is the raving of irresponsible ranters, and whose fruit is a crowd of hysterical weak-minded fanatics; but of the order financial. One of the signs is the success of the recent Colonial loans. They were met with grave protests from potent financial authorities, but they were strikingly successful—with a success telling largely of the abundance of money. The same tale is told by the pleasing history of every Colonial project which has lately sought the assistance of the British capitalist for enterprise by sea and land, for objects public and private alike. Six months ago it was predicted, to a ruefully incredulous public, that money would be plentiful before very long ; and the prediction is being realised. The beginning of the cud of depression we may hope has arrived. It has yet another sign, which tells of the discomfiture of the croakers who for the past two or three years have been doing their utmost, at Home and abroad, to destroy and utterly ruin the credit of this Colony. Plunged in the “ winter of their discontent,” they strove to make the world regard these islands as countries of perpetual snow. The Colony had been ruined by extravagance and radicalism; it was the most debt-ridden spot on the face of the earth; it was remarkable for fundamental insecurity and phenomenal exhaustion; it was the last place for decent people seeking a home wherein to enjoy the modest proceeds of safe investment. Such was the well-worn theme that many Colonists were not ashamed to rehearse with repeated relish and energetic gloom. Happily it is not true

that men arc mostly fools, though a great man who was regarded during his famous life as a great philosopher said so. Perhaps his dictum Was a stroke of unwilling satire provoked by his prodigious reputation. As soon as the direct steamers were put on it was seen that the croakers had only succeeded in writing themselves down asses. The steamers filled up with paying passengers so that they could find scarcely any room for Government emigrants. It was plain that the world was beginning to understand the greatest of our facts, viz,, that this country, which is capable of supporting millions, contains but a poor live hundred thousand souls. The two most cheering signs of the situation, then, are abundance of money, and a rising tide of voluntary immigration, mostly with the moans of settling down profitably. The last, it is significant, added a net increase of 10,000 to the population during last year, and has given direct steam a tremendous and astonishing impetus. The capitalist who is flush of cash, and the suitable settler, with some means of his own, have both given unmistalceable proof of their thorough belief in Now Zealand.

Another hopeful sign is that the carrying of frozen meat is proving a most profitable business. So much so that a competition has already set in which will have a most beneficial effect on freight rates. If the supply of mutton is properly kept up there will bo a grand revenue from this source. So there ought to bo from cheese and butter, for the fact has just been established, by the successful arrival of the Doric consignments, that cheese and butter can be taken Home in a cool chamber in perfect condition. The butter and the cheese do not appear to have been of the first quality, for which there is said to be a good reason. In future, care will have to be taken to produce for export nothing but the best. .The great fact, however, is now established that the most unlimited market in the world is open to Colonial dairy produce. Another most valuable fact in connection with the productive industries of the Colony is vouched for by Mr Federli. A long, close, and careful experience with the silkworm in New Zealand has enabled this gentlemen, who thoroughly understands his subject, to pronounce that the silk worm has been acclimatised here with phenomenal success. He has found that the variations of the climate do not affect the worm in the least degree: which means a superiority to silk culture whenever it is established in New Zealand, of ten per cent, that being the average loss due, in the best silk countries, to climatic variation. He has discovered, in addition, that the dryness of the climate (speaking comparatively) gives the mulberry a leaf containing less moisture than it has in the silk countries of Europe. The consequence is that the lea ves, when fed to the worms, dry instead of becoming damp and mouldy, and this means immunity from the disease (pebrine), which has decimated the silkworms of Southern Europe, and is now playing havoc with the silk culture of China and Japan. As the value of “ grain” from a given number of worms is nearly three times as great as the cocoons, there ought to be in the fever-ridden districts of China and Japan an unlimited market for a few years for the New Zealand silk industry. It is reasonable, for these reasons, to believe that a turn has come in the tide of our affairs ; and it is the part of reasonable men to prepare energetically and with prudence for taking the utmost advantage of that turn. The means are obvious. As we said the other day, the Colony must bo more fully and more systematically advertised, so that the streaming of capital and suitable industrious, independent immigration may be stronger and broader. As Mr Federli insists, special efforts should be made to encourage the population to understand the value of the products. Which can be added so easily in this country, so marvellously endowed by nature for their cultivation, to the list of the Colonial exports. These are the things which Governments should turn their attention to in new countries. It behoves our statesmen to concern themselves more with the spirit which is embodied in the saying by which honour is given to the man who makes two blades of grass grow where one grew before, than in the spirit which finds breath in the struggles of political parties aping the forms of old complicated systems. We have the exact measure of what our statesmen ought not to be, in the lamentable fact that our political system does not contain a department of agriculture. Wo have to make a nation out of the teeming soil, and our records are more taken up with questions of Parliamentary form and precedent than with anything else. Our self-government has done some good work, much good work ; it is unquestionable. But that it has given us too little productive work, and too many barren wrangles, is also unquestionable. We have, in a word, grasped too much at the Parliamentary shadow, and neglected too greatly the productive substance of the work of forming a new country. But it is never too late to mend, and the present time of opening prosperity gives us a magnificent opportunity to sot our house in order.