REMOVAL OF DEPRESSION.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 741, 14 May 1886, Page 29

REMOVAL OF DEPRESSION.

I TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW ZEALAND MAIL. Sm, —The question of the line to be taken for the removal of depression is evident enough, but the application requires careful consideration. The operation is, simply increase your exports in quantity and variety, but the practical question is how to do this in articles which will pay. This is a question which should be solved by the people themselves assisted by Chambers of Commerce and other bodies, and there is no necessity to cry to the Government for help, ft can do very little in the matter. The problem is extremely simple. We have a heavy public debt of L 30.000,000, the interest of which has to be remitted to Europe. We have private debts to a large amount, and we have to pay for our imports. All this has to be met by our exports. If our chief staples of wool and wheat had not greatly fallen in value, they, combined with gold, would have been amply sufficient, but at the present low prices they are barely adequate, and require to be supplemented by other products. To meet the depression we constantly have to call for protection to develop manufactures, but does anyone in his senses suppose that we could send manufactures to Europe to pay our debts 1 All that we can do in that way is to make certain articles of consumption, so as to displace to some extent the imports required. If we try to go beyond that we should simply be tying up the energies of our producers. We should be following a policy or contraction instead of expansion. I have observed, during an experience of many years in these colonies, that a period of depression is generally followed by a great expansion of industry, because people are forced to exert their wits in a new groove. If we take the right line we shall probably find similar results on the present occasion. A way of reducing the incidence of the

public debt would be by buying it up in the Colony. Ido not suppose that til© colonists are generally in a position to buy a debt returning less than 4 5 £ cent, at present prices, but it might be advisable to invest trust funds in this way, and even supposing there was only a small beginning, there would be a constantly increasing flow of funds held in the Colony. I may mention that in Portugal, where the interest of money is doubtless much higher than in England, loans floated in London seem to be eventually bought up by the Portugese themselves. I will make a few suggestions :—Australia is a wine-growing country ; New Zealand has a soil and climate favorable for cereals. She should import wine from Australia, and should supply that country with beer. Why we do not do so is doubtless because our brewers do not take sufficient trouble to make good beer. There is no reason why this Colony should not turn out as good beer as the Burton brewers, command the supply of Australasia, and possibly invade India. Still better if they made a good lager beer. By that means our farmers would be encouraged to grow barley and hops.

Then there is the distillation of spirits. Formerly this industry was allowed, but was put a stop to as detrimental to the revenue. Now that the growth of cereals has so much increased, the prohibition of distillation must be a serious financial loss to the Colony. As with regard to beer, New Zealand ought to find a market for its spirits in the Australian Colonies, but one of the preliminaries is to get out of the Protectionist groove. If we levy a duty of 5s 6d a gallon on Australian wine it is not likely that our beer and spirits will be admitted without heavy duties. I should like to see the wine duties reduced to the English level of Is a gallon as a maximum, and this in the cause of temperance. Wine in these latitudes should be treated as a necessary, not as a luxury. Possibly someday marketable wine may be made in the Colony. Tobacco is another crop which may be very profitable. Figs in the warmer parts of the Colony, and fruits generally. The hilly ground of the North Island would seem particularly adapted for terracing for fruit growing, but this is perhaps a matter for a larger population. The same may be said of the growth of silk. A few extracts from the report of the Victorian Commission on vegetable products are suggestive. “ James Miller, rope manufacturer, strongly recommended the culture of Italian hemp. It was worth from L4O to L 42 per ton. He had recently obtained a supply of flax from Adelaide. In France, by the use of some chemical, it was now being prepared without machinery. After examining the fibres prepared by Mr Guilfoyle he was of opinion that many of them had a commercial value. Among

those mightbe mentioned the Yucca, Mexican hemp, the flame tree of New South Wales (as good as Italian hemp), African hemp, Queensland hemp, tree mallow, torch lily, the palm lily, the abutilous, and other varieties. The fibres of rushes exhibited would have all been turned to commercial account iu England.” Mr John D. Custane, F. C.S., states : .“Among oil-producing plants he would place flax first. The seed could be used both for oil and oil cake, and if a market could be fouud for the straw it would be a profitable crop. In some of the paper manufactories at Home flax straw at L 4 10s per ton threatened to supersede esparto grass at L 6 to L 7 per ton. In South Australia, sunflowers as a crop, yield from 40 to 50 bushels of seed per acre, and each bushel of seed would give a gallon of oil. The fibre I was largely used by the Chinese for mixing with their silk fibre.” lam as anxious as anyone to see the development of native industry in all directions, but the market for the article depends upon the farmer. If the latter is cribbed and confined by a restrictive policy, the industry of the former is bound to languish. One of the worst results to be looked for from a policy of restriction is that it turns the eyes in the wrong direction. They go wandering about to right, and left and rear. “ Eyes front ” is the proper word of command, and these should look straight to expansion in quantity and variety of our exports. —I am, &c., James Crawford. Miranaar, May 10, 1886.