TEA AND SILK FARMING IN NEW ZEALAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6822, 28 September 1883, Page 3

TEA AND SILK FARMING IN NEW ZEALAND.

1 Ms. William Cochran, Overdale, DonBlane, Perthshire, writes on the 26th Jnly, aa follows on the above subject I had the honour of addressing you last on the 2nd of May. Since then the great half-yearly task of stoeb-tabing by the business men of this country, lias been accomplished, and same significant features the future of the tea and silk industries become known. The end of Jane is always an important epoch to those connected with tea for two reasons: The 1 stocks remaining -in the bondea warehouses at that date are usually at their lowest point; and, since the introduction of steam conveyance from China, the new season's teas tctn beg n to arrive. In former times, when sailing ships alone were employed, a longer interval occurred between those events, consequently there was room .for a. moderate advance in prices; tbe harassed merchant had generally an oppor- | tnnity b! to some extent recouping himself I ,for previous losses on importations, and the public did not grudge a lew pence more ,per,.pound for tea, which, in those days, rather improved by moderate keeping, and -was really better . value at the termination of the season than at its coni- ; mencement, because it had been thoroughly cured. But the engagement of huge, swift steamers to bring home onr tea has changed all this. Being more costly to begin with, and iriuch more expensive to sail than the. clipper ships of twenty five years ago, these .big : steamers cannot afford to wait any length of time for a carge, but must be filled up immediately oil ahrival at a'Chinese port, i. irrespective.o.f • the season of the year, or the i fluctuations for ..better or for worse by which t it may have been.;.,characterised. Unfortunate results follow; Should the steamer have arrived too early at her moorings, the i captain cannot ; expect. to load . with the choice' part of "the new crop, because it is not yet ready.....-Nevertheless, he is not sent .vem , pty.-",awayj..V.'-. : He;! : ,, getß a cargo which rejoices in the name at least of tea, for the Chinese have always on hand a supply of handsomely-papered boxes, with blank spaces leftVfor the name of the vessel, and -tbey. ; :haVe po difficulty in producing from mysterious godowns great piles of a fra-grantly-smelling something—it may. be uialoo mixture, or it may, be a wholesome enough article which onco was new—with : which to fill the- chests. it be,, the. lettering on. tho . package-?coriveysv the, impression that the contents are '' Fine new season's Mprrin'g" or " Kaisou, " and as such ~it goes home :to 'London. ; . Again, .it may happsn that, although the ! new. crop. is ..scarcely., ready :for:? shipmen c, ;, it may ■ be: -hurried to completion; and huriied it is; accordingly; : .to . its own injury, to, the... (lis-. ■ appointment .of the. merchant at'the reduced i price it fetches, in: Mmcing; Lane, and to the of .the consamer,. who,'year.% year,sighs over' the. decadence in .the quality ofChina, tea ."without understanding why or being ■ able to . suggest.. a' remedy.Once .more, ...the steamer-may. arrive after the bulk of the new' tea has -been despatched, consequently the agents must' load, with what-; ever may be.offered, ; or, send the ship off to , scrape up cargo elsewhcrei'.ln . this way room, is found, at cheap rate's of freight,'for, ..vast quantities' of. very common tea ; poor,: ; ■thin, refuse'of the hongs, and a surprising" material, which ' has been described as.-, a combination of rice -husks; .. ft'rruginoue.' earth, chopped twigs, carbonised seeds, silkworm's dr.oppings, iron filings,- 'partially . decayed straw, and-willow leaves; mitigled with a very little tea ; all of which rubbish, , in greater oi- lesß quautity, tised to"arrive ;in Londoii neatly:. every year; A sufficient : amount of .mora! evil is,inflicted upon all ppficerned by the mere connection-with such importations,, and . could; the vile, stuff be only retained: for ever at ; its deatiiiatioiiithe. I wrong imposed upon' society- might ■ stopthere ; ..but/; unfortunately, uo piece. of dishonesty ever '.stani:s-. long: alone.. ...When .duty'paying produce hus been>-st<>red''for-a { pertain: length ot ■ time, the Customs auI*thoriti.us, on tho. one hand;., and the .wharfinger or storekeeper; on the otherj begin to ' clamour for - their 'dues. . Under the authority of an Act of - Parliament, passed .in ISGI, such goods may be: sold by public auction. accordingly what is called a " rummage sale'' is held, and the article knocked down whenever- the bids rise sufficiently -high - to' pay the duty and rent, or even the duty' alone; otherwise it,,is destroyed at. the expense of the owner, if hecan be found. On;the sth December; 1870, such a " rummage sale", was hold in MincingLane, 1 in : ' which about 3000 packages ot yenerable tea were catalogued, part having. ■ been 33 years in bond, and, as. might have ■ been expected, 'in a state ot . decay. Although, far from, flavoury, in the usual j acceptation of'.the ■ w-ord, this .ancient: tea ' was, sold; and brought a price of about half a farttiing ; per pound, the. -happy: buyer ! piying the duty... It would have been mtCresting to have followed the migration of this, mature article of food, from its olci resting-place in the Docks to the prodigal tables of. the poor; and an Ordinary newspaper reporter might , easily have' urawn a pathetic picture of how the recipients had been, imposed upon, and-the germs of disease? introduced into their innocent ..teapots thrp'ugh the greed of some, ot .their unscrupulous countrymen. But such a picture Would not have been true to nature, as wenow know, that rubbieh like that described . finds no favour, with, the poor or any otoer class in this fastidious country, but it goes to nourish and comfort the well-to-do colomst.and backwoodsman, who is certainly able to pay for and would gladly' : at all times obtain a tea of a very Uifferent character if he oould, get it. It is the general belief here thac you Antipodeaus are accustomed to receiv and Consume the beat Of everything, and the fine specimens of tea yon had an opportunity of seeing, and. tasting at both tho Kyduey ancl Melbourne. Exhibitions afew years ago ought to have and doubtless elevated your, desires : far above the sweepings of the Lundon Docks. No.verth.eless there seems to be a demand, or at least an outlet, in Canada, Australia, and : New. Zealand lor such rub> j bish, or it would scarcely be: sent;. and so long aB you 'do not. absolutely forbid the im-■ portation of refuse and grow your own tea, Wllich it has,lieen already proved you might i .easily do, you aro. certain, to get.jour.share' of trash. Inueed, so long as you admit tiie i ■Maloo Mixture, so long will tho .Chinese I farmer and' merchants - in .. China postpone i their return to the strict honesty ot ioruier .| days. Although.aU this and more. regaidiug .| tbe deteriorated quality of China tea. has J again and again been dinntd iuto the: ears , of all Counected wi th the trade of that .great-.' country therj is no improvement, \Mien.. stock Was recently taken in Loudon it was found that the quantity of Chma-tea... r.e-. plaining in-bond .was four .million pounds, less than it was at tho correspp'ndiug period of 1882. Here, then, seemed the best and most natural of all excuses for:, unusually, : largo prices on the arrival of the-first ship of the season. On the other hand, it was known that seven large steamers . had sailed from Hankow with consignments amounting, to twenty-two million pounds on boi.r.dj s i it; i was argued that'prices:-would immediately tumble away down; to zero. ; What ao'.ually happened? .. The Stirling Castle arrived on the 22nd June; 4500 packages of her cargo i were sold: the samo: evening at fair -pricey; : ,3000. more, went by,,auctiou tne-iollowiug i day at from Is to Is 7-Jd per pound, au.i j then the market collapsed. -I'our "tluya.i thereafter tho second steamer; the Ulenoglt-, I sailed up the Thames, but the prices reaiiaeu.i for her cargo were from Ud to per pound i less than the. opening rates ot the first! arrival, attributed, not to ihe stale of the. j market, to a poverty of- demand, or to the depressing eflt.et of the large .quantity on the i sea.rbut solely to ;the . disaijpointing quality ! of these specimens of new season's ie;:-;. I

Truly, it seems strange tnat, acquainted as your-,Government--.and- -merchants- must certainly- be, with ~facts . similar-,to those; just .alluded to; they - should hesitate for a moment, no : matter . what .dilhculcy may appear in the way;, about producing, own tea, and to getting: rid .for ever oi ihe, teproach of even seeming to ;encourage frauu in the. Cninese,- I shail-not. occupy ;your ; space .with remarks concerning the teas ot India or-Ceylon,-but shall hasten to rtcoid what I have, to say on this occasion about ,-silki ■ '■■" ■'■'■ y?'.i.'V'iv ' : ', V.

- One of tho- strong reasons urged during the la3tlilteen years.why, the silit Industiy . ought to be pursued ..io Northern .New: . land- was the decay of sik-farmmg;in Europe: arid-part of Asia, owing-to'-the lavages ot disease. Peihaps no better illustration' of what -the. consequent loss meant could: be. adduced than to.. quote..' m!. Llamas',-'.who. aisured the French Senate that in 1553 the. value, of the world's annual .tilk cr.ip at that time was one thousand millions of francs (£39,583,333, at ot which France alone yielded: one-tenth.,. About that peiiod the silkworm maladies in France got the upper

hand, when the subsequent harvests of cocoons diminished aa follow : In 1553 it amounted to .. .. 2G,000,000 kilos. {S; '• •• 21.500,000 „ JSS '• .... 10, SOT, COO ~ " •• •• 7,500,000 „ • " •• •• 6,500,000 ■ „ .. .. 6,000,000 " •• - 4.000,0:0 ;, ' IS7B •' 3,500.000 and had co cure or check for the diseases been discovered, an easy txcrcise of arithmetic would have shown when in all probability the practice of sericulture in that country would • have ceased altogether. Fortunately, ere such a crisis arrived, the distinguished French paysiologist, M. Pasteur, had mastered the symptous and causes of the three most dreaded diseases—isuscardiue, flucherie, aud grebrine—and was able to suggest; remedies which are now proving effectual. A vast amount of injury, however, had meanwhile been done, so that many years are likely to elapse ere the silk industry of the world resumes It 3 former platform of prosperity, as in Europe alone thousands of acr.'s of mulberries had been rooted oat as unlikely to be of any more use, arid legions of skilled workpeople had gone into other employments. The improvement thus inaugurate! by M. Pasteur, although not uucheqiu-red, is, cm the whole progressing. Last; year's silk crop in France and Spain, for example, was more copious and better than that of the previous year, whilst the hardest just gathered there and in Italy is represented as having again fallen off to the. extent of from 20 to 25 per cent. China, has hitherto maintained fairly well her character for a steady yield of s'llk, but she also this last spring has partially collapsed. Early in the season the estimate was that 100,000 bales would be available for export, but climatic disturbances having < ccurred during April, from this cause and disease the actual quantity will only be -a,OOO bales. Making every allowance for error and interested statements, and giving due weight to the influence of the handsome returns the silk-farmer* along the Levaut and in parts of Asia Minor have this year [ obtained, it is believed that the whole silk | harvest of the world for ISS3 will not weigh I p>re, if it equals that, of last year. What, it may be asked, does such a falling off mean? It means simply higher pices, more outlay by the manufacturers of Great Britain, for a raw material, very little of which is as yet produced anywhere by our own people, and the profits connected with j which gravitate into.other pockets than our own. - Surely these are good reasons why thei tea and i-ilk industries should be imi mediately promoted in .Northern New Zealan'd,";:and :' \vhy . the Colonial . Government should, liberally':encourage in every possible manner tho?e who . are willing to undertake the enterprise. ..