THE NELSON EXAMINER. Nelson, October 18, 1845.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 189, 18 October 1845, Page 130

THE NELSON EXAMINER. Nelson, October 18, 1845.

Journal* become more neceuary as men become more equal trad individualitin more to be feared. It would be to underrate their importance to auppoie that they aerve only to •ecure liberty : they maintain civilisation. , • • Da TocausviLLß. Of Democracy in America, rol. it., p. 302.

We are extremely happy to heat that a census will be shortly taken in this settlement. Two have already been taken and published ; one by the New Zealand Company, in 1843, the other by Government, last year. The result of the latter was extremely satisfactory and encouraging, showing a very large and rapid increase in the production of wealth. And we anticipate that the forthcoming returns will not at all disappoint the expectations of those who have watched the patient industry of the settlers during the yean In last year's return, the quantity of land in cultivation was given at 1,262 acres, of which 237 were in wheat. This season we have no doubt that it will be over 2,000 acres, of which not less than 600 will be in wheat. Taking 25 bushels to the acre (which is not at all too much to expect, considering what the crops were last year» and how much better they ought to be every year as the land is better cleaned and worked), this will give us about 300 tons of flour. We believe our consumption is not above 200 ; so that We shall have 100 for exportation, which will go to pay, not our debts, for in Nelson we owe none* but for various necessary imports which we shall receive in return. Our potatoes also will probably form an article of export. Last year we had 288 acres. Probably the quantity will not be doubled this, as more land will be put into wheat and barley in proportion to other crops. We have, however, already tnore than enough for local consumption, and some probably will therefore be exported in the coming year. Of barley, last year, we had 182 acres, and should have bad much more, but when the sowing time arrived it was discovered that no seed was to be had, and potatoes, oats, and other crops were put in instead. This year there is seed enough ; and* as a second brewery is to be started at the beginning of the new year, there is every encouragement for the agriculturists to grow a larger quantity, which we understand is being done. In 1843 our sheep amounted to only 1,130. Last year they were 5,782. This year we expect they will not be less than 10,000. Horned cattle last year were 918: allowing one-third for increase, they will be about 1,200 this. Of minor stock, such as goats, pigs, and poultry, we can only say that early in the spring as we yet are, fowls have been retailed at Is. 6d. a couple, eggs at 6d. a dozen, and pork, as usual, in the carcase, at about 2d. a pound. The most satisfactory feature of all this increase is, that it is not the result of any wild speculation, which might, on the turn of Fortune's wheel, leave us in the abyss, but it is the fruit of steady industry and prudent investment. It is all in the colony now. It belongs to ourselves, not to distant creditors; and it forms a capital of great value and of the most permanent sort, which, even if none should enter the colony from any external quarter, might in a few years spread fertility and civilization over the whole of the vast pastoral and agricultural plains of this island. It is easy to foresee, without laying claim to the character of prophet, that shortly we shall emerge from our home district, and drive our flocks and herds farther afield, where the food necessary to support their increasing numbers is to be found ; and so we shall go creeping on by degrees, till the whole of the East Coast is studded with our flocks and the homes of their owners.

Our first step from home will of course 1)e into the Wairau. If the New Zealand Company and the Government should not succeed in coming to such a settlement as : may give us out country lands there, still we do not consider ourselves debarred from the district. The settlers in the Wairarapa run their flocks by arrangement with the natives, paying a small squatting rent ; and we have no doubt that, when the time comes, we shall be able to effect similar arrangements for the Wairau, if the Government should persist in surrendering the Crown estate in New Zealand to the natives as land in, their occupation. Of the rapidity with which wealth increases in a new countny which is capable of producing a staple for manufacturing markets, little idea can be formed without an examination of returns. The whole quantity of wool exported from New South Wales in 1810 was only 167 lbs., worth about £15. In I^4o, that is 30 years afterwards, it was estimated at 12,000,000 lbs., worth considerably more than a million sterling. Then look at the value of the sheep of which that is the annual clip, and consider the numerous collateral investments in cattle, horses, and agriculture, which were all in 1810 at nearly as low an ebb as wool, and have since increased in a somewhat similar ratio, and we may form some idea of what New Zealand may yet be in our lifetime, if the colonists are allowed to avail themselves of its advantages, without those preventive checks which the natives and their patrons in Downing Street and Exeter Hall have hitherto opposed to their progress. We have asked before, and we ask again, how comes it that Government does not publish statistical returns of its own settlements ? Where are we to find an account of the cattle, sheep, and crops of Auckland and its dependencies ? The last census in Cook's Straits was taken by Government ; was none taken in the north? and, as the lawyers say, "if not, why not?" If any was taken, why not published ? Were they afraid of showing the nakedness of the land j — of giving a beggarly account of enrtpty boxes — of proving, by comparison of figures, the propriety of Hobson's choice and Fitz Roy's adoption ? We have no doubt of the enterprise of our northern fellow settlers had a fair chance been given them of exhibiting it successfully; but this continued and apparently studied concealment does certainly look like a consciousness on the part of Government of the ill effects of persevering in its original mistake.