THE New Zealand Herald. SPECTEMUR AGENDO. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1874.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XI, Issue 4021, 1 October 1874, Page 2

THE New Zealand Herald. SPECTEMUR AGENDO. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1874.

The excellent samples of sugai- received lately from the Fijian Islands have excited much interest, and proved conclusively of what the group is capable. The Islands are comparatively small and numerous. Their whole area is less than four millions of acres, and their position and physical characteristics save them from many of the drawbacks to which other sugar-growing countries are liable. The frosts which destroy the cane on continents, and the locusts and insects equally fatal in New Caledonia and other large islands, are unknown in Fiji. Tho natives have a tradition of " stone rain" having once fallen, but no living man has seen hail—still less has he the least idea of frost. Sugar requires a rich alluvial soil, being in its nature one of tlie most exhausting crops, and the soil of the river valleys is not to be surpassed in the world. The cane, yielding from 30 to 40 tons per aci e, requires to be grown in places where carriage to the mills is easy, and in this respect also the alluvial lands of Fiji are not to be surpassed. In every sense the natural conditions are so favourable that the production of sugar is sare to inrapidly, and to assume in a few years proportions which only those who know the wonderful facilities for its growth could anticipate. Cotton sprung up there in a few years from a few pounds to a hundred and twenty thousand pounds in annual value. Au w a f£ er ol jy two years' work with sugar, V|Q mQ market of the Islands ?s supplied a iiu-v-gj f ar from contemptible in itself with a copulation of 2,500 whites and 150,000 natives. The surplus growth will now be available for exportation, and the amount will soon be considerable. It becomes, then, a question whether we are to see the bulk of this | trade, as of the cotton and other Island produce, go to Sydney and Melbourne, or whether we are to secure a fair share of it for New Zealand.

In one important respect New Zealand has a great advantage, inasmuch as Fijian sugar in Australia will have to pay a duty and then compete with that of home growth. Here it will find only in opposi- | tion to itself 3 the imported sugar from other countries. But much will depend on whether the-, planters find it more profitable to export the rough raw sagar, or to prepare it of the best Qualities for immediate use. In the former case they will naturally prefer sending it to Sydney or Melbourne where there are refineries, and in the latter to iSfew Zealand where there will be the readiest and best market. We have had opportunities of hearing much that is to be said on this subject, and the balance of opinion is strongly in favour of the export of raw sugar, or of what is now called "concrete." The raw sugar contains the molasses untouched and is liable to considerable loss on the voyage. The concrete contains the same molasses, but dried after leaving the boiling pans by a patent process which sends it into boxes where it settles into an almost solid block. The boxes are of only a hundredweight each and are thus easily handled. The loss, on even long voyages, is found not to exceed half per cent, of the original weight and there are 110 casks to provide. If fine cugar be made, the machinery is of a much more expensive order. Where £4,000 cr £5,000 might suffice for concrete, it would require five times the sum for refining properly. The cane-grower is likely, therefore, to find it more profitable to use his capital in increasing his production than in adding so expensively to his machinery. A mill to make two to two and a-Jialf tons of concrete a day will not cost more than £4,000, and would suffice for a large plantation. We may add to this the important consideration that no store rooms would be needed for the molasses and no distilleries nor cellars for the rum made from the refuse. If these views be correct it follows that a large export of raw sugar or concrete is likely to be the form in which the trade will develop itself for the next few years. In that case Sydney and Melbourne, having sugar refineries already established, may keep their present lead and we shall find ourselves importing from them the sugar which we ought to obtain direct and manufacture among ourselves.

Wo bring this subject to the notice of our business men as one -well worth consideration. There arc few, if any, Auckland houses established in Fiji, and our hold on what trsde we have with the Islands is of a slippery character. It would be well worth while if, looking to the future, enquiry were made as to°the cost of establishing a sugar refinery in this city. It has been talkei? of more tnan or.ee i;i TTVAlinglon and uuncdin. If we mistake not, the preliminaries for the formation of a company were actually arranged in the former city. It is clear that wherever such a. sugar refinery ia established the trade of the colony in this article "/ill centre. There is no reason why this should not bo Auckland and we should be glad to see some one acquainted with the subject bringing it forward practically. It would be of so much impoitance to the trade and so materially improve tho position of Auckland that we are sure, if properly brought forward, and if it be shewn that there is a fair prospect of employment before it, a sugar refining company might be made a favorite investment, beneficial to the province and profitable to those who put money into it. It must not be forgotten that the trade with tropical countries has always proved oue of the most favorable to those of temperate climes. Especial!}' would this be the case in Fiji, where they would find it much more to their interest to supply themselves through us, and pay with their easily grown sugar, tobacco, and copra, than to attempt supplying their wants with articles uncongenial to their climate and only to be grown with difficulty and at great expense. The extensive trade in live stock which has already sprung into existence is a fair augury of what may be looked for when the purchasing power of the Islands is increased by the production of a crop for which there is so enormous and world-wide a demand as sugar, and in this light tho small parcels sent lately may prove of nearly as much value to

•uraelvci". -as to the Islands in wlu<& tliey ! <ave be v ii;so easily produced.

The communica.tioh of, oiir esteemed, porTe3pondeiit, '' Agricola,, offers but'little encouragement to in the future, and but poor consolation for what they have suffered in the past. " Agricola" thinks it would be very interesting to see | a farm worked in New Zealand on a system of high cultivation, as it would settle the vexed question, " Will high farming pay in New Zealand?" But our correspondent answers the question immediately afterwards in the negative by stating "that it is useless to attempt to compete with landholders who adopt the plan carried on in all new countries of exhausting their farms, and when that is done buying fresh ones." " Agricola" draws a comparison between the province of Auckland and the State of Massachusetts, the cultivators of the soil in both these places having gone through the same ordeal with the same results. He quotes from a Massachusetts report which says, "The land has diminished in productiveness within the last twenty years. Few farmers are making more than a living at the business. Almost all the old fanners have left their farms and moved into the villages. What has driven them off is high taxes, the high price of labour, and the general deterioration of the soil. So, "Agricola" concludes it is all up with small farming and large farming with small capital. All this is taking a very dismal view of an important question. We may mention that lrgh farming is one tiling, and good, careful fanning is another. The former demands large capital, the new methods proposed by chemical science as applied to our soil, skilled labour, and efficient machinery ; the latter no more than the ordinary skill which working farmers usually possess—supplemented by industry, thrift, and great care in carrying out into minute detail all that relates to economising that which helps to increase the products of the land. We do not see ' why high fanning should not pay, nor why small agricultural holdings should not yield a fair competency to those who work them industriously by the aid of their own families, and doing with as little of.' paid labour as circumstances will allow. We believe that dairy farming has paid well all through the winter, and that butter, cheese, pork, bacon, and hams, will continue to give most profitable returns. Fat stock is, and has been fetching high prices, such as must have greatly enriched the grazier, while cereals will be, as they always have been, subject to fluctuations, more by the transactions of speculators than that of supply being proportionate to demand. There is no reason for farmers to hesitate fanning land which is clear from Kens and mortgages, but there is every fear where this is not the case. No farmer can expect to overcome the difficulties of a heavy nioivgage upon his laud, excepting by a miracle, and in these later days they do not come to pass.

It is satisfactory to learn that the threa— ened trouble with, the natives in reference to the closing of the Piako river to steamer traffic had no foundation in fact, the so-called difficulty having been only the concoction of one of that most dangerous of all classes of " natives" a pakeha-Maori. It appears that the owner of the steamer, acting upon advice teudo-rod in the columns of the Thames Advertiser, took no notice of !■ 1u; "prohibition" manifesto, and, placing his boat on the trade again, returned to Shortland safely with a large number of passengers, among these being one of the cliiefs who threatened all kinds of trouble if the owner of the steamer dared to navigate the Piako again. It is very fortunate that the steamer's owner did act upon this advice, as the letters announcing the closing of the river have turned out to be forgeries —concoctions, says the Advertiser, of an unscrupulouspakclu-Maori, probably assisted by equally unscrupulous natives, the result shewing that Tirapipipi and some other natives were very glad to avail themselves of the opportunity thus afforded for a comfortable trip tc Shortland, while the former denies ever having signed the "prohibition." In a letter pubSshed by our Thames contemporary, and vritteu by Major George, a settler in the Upper Thames country, there are some rather singular statements respecting the conduct of a Shortland storekeeper, who is virtually charged with fomenting, if not originating, the recent trouble about the navigation of the Piako. The story as told by Major George is, that Mr. Adlam collected money from certain nativesfor passages up the Piako. The steamer had been, chartered for the trip, and could not take the natives, whereupon Mr. Adlam made threats which were afterwards put into execution. Major George concludes his letter with the following remarks : —" In my opinion, no trouble would have occurred had it not been for the meddling interference (if not a worse of Mr. Adlam. I notice in your issue of the 'Joth instant, a letter purporting to have bicn signed by Tarapipipi, Whetuini, anl Itangauna, to the effect that the use of the Piako shall be stopped. I shewed this to Tarapipipi yesterday, and he denied having agreed to it. Tlb other signatures also may be spurious. Such attempts to set the Euro- , peans and natives by the ears are much to be deprecated. Ido not anticipate that the natives will attempt to put a sto]i to the traffic on ;he river (the value of which they already see), but should they do so, it will lie the dutj of the Government to prevent so great an injury being done to the settlers on the Pialo and VYaitoa rivei's, whose only road it is during the winter months, until a road is made from Hamilton to the Thames river-, whbh is very much required, the Piako being only navigable during the w Inter months."

Some time buck the Victorian Government called for finders for 56()0 iron pipes of seven inches dr.uiuito', and received three from importing (inns, the highest being £ii,OCO, the lowest £10,11>7 ; while there were four from colonial nnnufactories, the lowest of which amounted to .113,521, or £3354 in excess of the tenders of the importers. But this, it appears, dees not shew the actual difference, for two thousand out of £10,107 lias to be paid for duty ; in other words, the price of the import.ng contractors was actually ±'5354 less than ;hc colonial manufacturers could afford to tike. " This," says the Melbourne Arr/us, in making its protest against the policy of protection, " we think is rather too large a per centage to pay for the purpose of fostering useless trades. TJat the question arises—if Victorian iron-founders cannot compete with importers with a duty of 20 per cent, in their favour, what is the good of going on plundering the public for their benetb V Surely they do not expect to grind more out of the community towards their support. Why, according to this return a 50 per cent, duty would not put them on equal terms with their British rivals. Let them take to some honest trade, at which they can make a living without robbing their neighbours." The Argtii pertinently asks whether the return laid before the Assembly shewing tho difference in cost between English and colonial iron made pipes may be taken as a fair specimen of what others would be ■•elating to various articles. For instance, is the difference ill the price between English and colonial locomotives and rolling sto;k generally as great ? We wish that some :uquisitive member would ask for some iufoniation on this head, for it would be as well that the country should know from.timotb time what it is paying for the priceless tnun of protection, for if the nn- ■ protected juajority must pay towards the maintenance!" the few, it is only right they should kiw'.v how much they are eontribut-

iag, and. how theit fsrocd charity buted. -i .j ; New South: TVale3 criminals to - England in. dfdss.io tree tnat colony from tlie inconvenience of having to sliepherd a great scoundreL England, as a quid pro quo, sends us in exchange some of its worst class cf females. The Ulster Weshty News contains a report of a Police Court case in which charge was brought against a girl fifteen ysjirs of age of illegally p-wning certain stolen articles of clothing. Ihe girl's employer suggested to the magistrate that he might use his influence to have accused sent out to 2vcw Zealand, as she would be safer there than to remain where she was at present. His Worship seemed to approve of the idea, for he recommended that a free passage should be procured for the girl by her father. This interesting female will probably soon be in our midst, and it will be no doubt a great satisfaction to her feelings to learn that the colony is so far advanced in civilization as to be able to boast of having several pawnbrokers' shops on a perfectly independent footing.

If what our correspondent writes us from Alexandra be founded on correct information, it is time the Commissioner of Customs should direct that the matter be dealt with. It would appear that a small steamer lately entered the harbour of Mokau and discharged all the apparatus and appliances necessary to the working of a still for the production of spirits in large quantities. The name of the pakelia-Maori engaged in this deleterious manufacture is furnished by our correspondent, but for obvious reasons we at present decline to publish it. The mn.ll, we are told, has been engaged for some time previously in the production of raw spirit from a small and imperfectly-made still, but that he succeeded in obtaining the present larger apparatus ill exchange for fourteen head of cattle, which were placed on board the Go-Ahead, steamer. The spirit is produced from the stalks of maize,—maize being grown in large quantities by the natives of the district, which our corresj>ondent asserts will be freely exchanged for the fiery liquid. Of the evils likely to result from the selling of ardent spirits manufactured from such rough material it would be difficult to pronounce. But here is the statement made by our Alexandra correspondent, and the information he has hitherto furnished us with has been of a most reliable character.

Another triumph to our capabilities in shipbuilding was exhibited yesterday, when a barque of large dimensions was successfully launched from the ship-building yard of Messrs. Sims and Brown, of the North Shore, to the order of Messrs. Watt Bros., of Napier. The length, breadth, depth of hold, tonnage, dimensions, and all particulars are given at length in our shipping columns, and we merely draw attention to the building of tilt Falcon as shewing thit our ship-builders are becoming known throughout the colony, as capable of turning out from their yards any class of craft which may be called for, and that at a price for tonnage which will in future prevent orders being sent to other and older shipbuilding colonies. As regards the sailing qualities of Auckland built vessels, their strength and capabilities for ocean service, capacity for stowage and passenger accommodation for size, we now boast of having obtained the palm of superior merit. It has lately been found as much to the surprise as it to the satisfaction of colonial shipping n.rm s . that vessels even of large draught of water, Wfleiw. or sailing purposes, will no longer be required to be sent for to English shipbuilding yards.