OUR ANTIPODES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 8949, 13 January 1888, Page 6

OUR ANTIPODES.

AN AGRICULTURAL INTERVIEW.

A LITTLE OF EVERYTHING.

IRELAND'S WRONGS AND FROZEN MEAT.

HAM AND EGGS AND EMIGRATION.

WOOL AND OTHER MATTERS.

" This is a traveller, sir.'' —Biaumont A»» FLETOHHR. Among other old ooloniits who have lately returned to New Zealand Is Mr. W. A. Murray, who for a number of years represented an Otago constituency in the New Zealand Parliament. Subsequently he farmed a large estate at Piako. In conversation with a Herald reporter, Mr. Murray entered very fully into his experiences in Great Britain; want of space, however, prevents us from giving more than a few of the main points in his interesting discourse.

HIS ODYSSEY Of TRAVEL. "I went to England," he said, "in the Tainni in May, 1838, our voyage home being a pleasant one. In London I visited the Colinderies, and when at Norwich I also visited the show of the Royal Agricultural Society, but I was disappointed with it, as it was little better than those at Christ" church or Timarc. In passing through Liverpool I went to the exhibition there, but it was a failure in every respect. The Edinburgh exhibition, which I also visited, was a very great success, both in its popularity and financial success."

Air Murray "toured" all through Scotland, "doing" the usual sights—Wallace's monument and the rest. In Edinburgh he was surprised to find, after the lapse of 30 years, how many people he knew. " Another thins; that struck me," he said, "was that so many people had friends in the colonies. Their ideas were somewhat hazy, however, for when they heard I was from New Zealand, they immediately concluded that I would know their friends in Brisbane. At the annual gathering of farmers at film Ford, in my native county of Berwick, I received a most kindly and enthusiastic reception. An account of this reception appeared in various papers, and led to my being frequently interviewed by newspaper reporters. " Winter came on very suddenly, while the orops were still in the fields, and, especially about Newcastle, they presented a most deplorable appearance, the sheaves being black with soot from the collieries, and the grain all sprouting. I did not fail to present New Zealand in the fairest light to these unfortunate farmers. The simplicity of land transactions in New Zealand was a point of special interest to many."

OULD IRELAND. "I also visited Ireland, and saw the Royal Irish Agricultural Society's show at Dublin, which compared very favourably with the English exhibitions; the cattle especially showed a marvellous improvement on what I had formerly seen. While in Wioklow I stayed at Clonmannan, the princely residence of Mr. Traell, whose acquaintance I had made in New Zealand, and from whom I received much kindness."

THE RENT QUESTION. # The wretched condition of many of the Irish tenantry attracted Mr. Murray's attention, tie said : "It was a common sight to Bee five or six farmers watching one man with a miserable scarecrow of a horse, ploughing with an old iron plough such as the Maoris here used to have. This horse seemed to do co-operative duty, by ploughing the fields of all the neighbourhood. Donkeys carried the goods to market. It was not uncommon to aee a donkey in a cart laden with two large bags of produce, and two big Irishmen. I was puzzled how they managednot to pay rentbut to exist at all. County Wicklow 'is the fringe of gold on the garment of frieze,' and contains some of the richest land in the country. My friend, who farmed 1700 acres, under the management of a Scotch land-steward, was an energetic Nationalist, and gave me his views fully. It seemed to a great extent a question of prices ; but there was a deeper question involved. Many of the Irfsh proprietors had lived above their incomes, and had, consequently, exacted exorbitant rents from their tenantry, and gave little in return. When bad times came, the landlords had no reserve of wealth, and many were heavily mortgaged. They failed to meet the charges for interest. The capitalists insisted upon the landlords paying ; and this was one of the chief causes which led up to coercion. 1 concluded that the tenantry have enough to do to exist, without paying rent; ana that people with empty stomachs are not generally in the best of tempers."

BACK TO ENGLAND. After returning from Ireland, Mr. Murray continued his exploration of England, particularly about the valley of the Severn, Shrewsbury, Stafford, Bath, Bristol, Cardiff, and many other placet. Among other places visited was Uttoxeter, where there is a monument to Dr. Johnson. "He seems," said Mr. Murray, "to be unknown to the local inhabitants —a deserving fate for one who so unworthily misrepresented Scottish character." Mr. Murray stayed for some time at Woodhead Hall, near Froghall Station, the residence of Mr. W. S. Alien, who purchased the Annandale estate at Piako. Mr. Allen is a leading Wesleyan, and his hospitalities and generosity were described as being of a most princely character. In Oldham," Bald Mr Murray, " where I visited Mr tiaigh, we saw the butchers selling v ery poor small sheep as New Zealand frozen mutton. My friend and I challenged the butcher, who replied— '"Well, they are River Plate sheep, but we oan only Bell them as New Zealand sheep.' The mutton seemed good enough in quality, but was apparently merino." In June, 1887, when at Newcastle, he visited the exhibition there, and also the Royal Agricultural Society's show. The latter was considered to be the most successful show ever held. It was estimated that 130,000 people visited it in one day, and there was a net profit of £11,000. The exhibits of butter were very poor. Indeed, all over England Danish butter from Kiel ' seemed to be preferred to the local article. He again visited Scotland and went np the Carse of Gowrie, which seemed to be completely played out. The turnips were miserable and patohy, and tbe soil foul with twitoh and docks. There were some passa* ble props of wheat, but the oat crop was wretchedly poor. While at home he had trials made of some of bis patent implements, notably his drill hoe and cultivator, which met with the highest commendation. finally, he left England in the Doric on the 3rd November, in cold, bleak weather, which made him glad to be going back to New Zealand,

BUTTER. Mr. Murray, while in England, took considerable interest in agricultural matters, and in speaking of the farm products of the colony, he said:—"Butter, if good, will fetch a remunerative price in England, but it is useless sending inferior stuff, as they have plenty of that already. The Danish butter fetches from Is to Is 4d, but inferior kinds only bring 5d or 6d a lb."

OHEEBK. " Cheese seems to be subject to more keen competition, and the heavy freights and risk of damage will militate against a profitable trade in this article."

FROZEN MOTION. " The cheapness of ham and bacon comes into serious competition with frozen mutton, and the inferior class of merino mutton from the Plate district seems also to injure sales. The better class of consumers prefer to pay a higher price for the best English or Scotch mutton. Even if they did use frozen meat their servants would not be so easily pleased. There is a good deal of Plate meat sent in cool chambers without freezing at all, I saw soma very good Plate meat, which had been brought over in this way, but New Zealand is too far away to allow the system to be introduced," EGOS. " I don't know whether eggs could be frozen, but the importation of eggs from the Continent to England amounts to upwards of three million sterling." WOOL. " I spent some time with wool men la England, saw the wool sales, visited Bradford and neighbouring districts, and had much conversation with authorities on wool. They estimated the loss to New Zealand through defective packing, classification, improper skirting, and through paint or tar brands—especially the latter—at about 6d per sheep on the Average, and Auokknd in

the chief offender in this respeot. I would enter more fully on this subject but I under* stand it has been very ably treated by Captain Colbeok. I have nob yet had the good fortune to read his article, but the subject is of such importance that I recommend it to the earnest consideration of all the wool.growers in the oolony. Ear-marks and face-brands should be depended on for identification of the sheep. Wool-buyers to whom I showed samples of Piako wool, pro* nounced it excellent, and said they would be glad to buy such wool dlreot at £d more than 11 got at the sales."

WOOL MANUFACTURING. Mr Murray visited the various wool centres in Scotland, and described the industry as being in a very flourishing condition, and quite unaffected by the general depression. They did not appear to possess any superior advantages, even if equal, to those of Now Zealand for wool manufacture. New Zealand's splendid water supply, her abundance of coal, her fine climate, and the raw material at her door should enable her to export her wool in the manufactured state, instead of in the present form. Dear labour and dear money seem to be the chief impediments to the development; of this industry. ■" J have shown various people at home samples of New Zealand woollen manufactures. Much surprise and interest was expressed, and in some oases the statement that they were made in New Zealand was very soeptically received. I made many people presents of New Zealand made articles,, suoh as socks, plaids, and shawls, and they were greatly pleased with them."

HORSES FOR INDIA. - . " I have written letters to the papers on the horse production of the world,, but am not aware whether they have been published. The conclusion I have come to is that India presents a large and increasing market for oolonial horses. The Australian horses are not looked upon with favour, owing to their buck-jumping propensities, but suoh New Zealand horses as have gone there have been generally liked. The horses most wanted are of two kinds, first those capable of drawing commissariat and military trains, and second, a lighter class for ' mounts.' For the latter purpose they use a small hardy breed, and do not care to buy long-leggy horses to mix with them."

STATE-AIDED EMIGRATION. " In England it appeared to me that there were too many people and too much money, precisely the opposite condition to what we have here. English statesmen are beginning to consider the question of State-aided emigration, and to regret that bo much of the colonial lands—the heritage of the whole British people—have been disposed of. It is a question whether New Zealand might not be able to arrange with the Imperial Government to band over so much of our public lands for colonisation purposes in consideration of some equivalent given by the Imperial Government in relieving us of part of our public debt, we of course taking precautions against undesirable emigrants being sent out. While at Marlborough (England) I saw workingmen dismissed wholesale by the farmers, who could not afford to pay them on account of the low price of produce. Only the best hands wore retained, and their wages were reduced from 10i to Ss a week. The rest drifted to London to add to the already deplorable congestion existing there.

RAILWAY TARIFFS. "One thing that strikes a visitor to New Zealand is the extremely high cost of travelling, both by land and sea—about four times as much as in England. From Edinburgh to London, 400 miles, I have travelled first return for 30s. Tne New Zealand Government railways are the most coßtly and unsatisfactory I ever travelled on. There seems to be no system or sense in them. The question of cheap travel is of considerable importance to us. The reputation for dear travelling which New Zealand is acquiring will do much to prevent a l»rge influx of travellers. If the New Zealand Government would issue cheap excursion tickets, available for, say, three months, and if the Union Company would meet them with equally liberal terms, it would tend to popularise New Zealand as a place of resort, and would probably attract many visitors from the Melbourne Exhibition. I have brought a large supply of time-tables and other papers as pabulum for Mr. Vaile.'

new Zealand's reputation. " The impression at Home among those who are informed is that New Zealand is a grand country, with a splendid climate, and a huge debt. They think we have been too long misled by a system of financial jugglery into believing that the legitimate way is to borrow money instead of earn it. The result is, they think that with our small population, we will have great difficulty in continuing to meet our engagements now that we can't borrow further to balance our accounts. Under these circumstances, it is not likely that capital will be largely invested in New Zealand. The change of Government, however, has produced a good feeling at Home, There have been an enormous number of mining companies from all parts of the world floated in London. This state of things has been brought about by the plethora of capi« tal at Home. I was told that there was over 400 millions sterling lying in London idle, or at a nominal rate of interest, waiting for investment."