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New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4176, 8 August 1874, Page 2

Some of the facts and figures'cbhtained in the general summary just laid before: Parliament of the import and export re-, turns for the year 1873, are highly suggestive of neglected opportunities. It is evident from them that the colonists have not- yet begun to' help -themselves in many branches of industry for which they have opportunities, and that there are numerous directions in which capital and labor r might combine, to supply a Colonial demand, and in which they no doubt will associate -when skilled and rough labor bring a-less price in'the labor market: ithan they now do. :' We see, for, example, that figuratively, coals have been carried to Newcastle to a very considerable extent. , The quantity. im-j ported, and it all came from Newcastle, 1 New Soutli "Wales—for if the small coast shipments are included: their valued is comparatively infinitesimal—was 108,203 tons, valued at £187,833. Arid this while New Zealand has in the Province of Nelson and also in Westland as, fine steam coal as, could possibly be desired, with coal fit for household purposes in almost every-Province and district of the two islands. At Greymouth, a spirited attempt has been made to use the remarksable deposit of steam and gas coal there, and the fire-clay that is found with it; and the Ngakawhau miners have spent a large sum and have fully proved a most valuable mine, but one which, for the present, they are unable to work profitably for want, of a harbor. , Greymouth, can. never hope to see largo vessels entering and leaving its harbor, engaged in the coal trade of tho coast as well as of Australia and the Eastern Seas: but she may and does expect to supply tho other markets: of the Colony by means of small vessels, and by their help also to load larger ships in some convenient harbor—Nelson or Wellington—where :a depot might be established. But Nature has denied a port to the West Coast other than that of the Bu Her River ; and when the railway, from Wostporfc to the Mount Rochfort coal-field is constructed, or'a new port established in Golden Bay to enable the coals in the Collingwood district to be shipped, we may hope to see the figures set down as representing the value of imported coal very much re-' duccd. But we find, also, that not less than £30,724,was the value, of the fish imported. This sum does not include "oilmen's stores," in which, probably, a considerable quantity of sardines, &c, were included ; and of course it includes

English and American salmon, with which local curera could not compete ; but this import, nevertheless,, shows that a very important branch, of industry is almost totally neglected in. this Colony. The case of Wellington may be cited in proof. The harbor of Port Nicholson, and the waters outside, are perhaps richer in finny treasures than any other portion of the coast. Yet it is scarcely possible, even occasionally, for the public to obtain fresh fish, for breakfast or dinner, unless they go out a fishing to supply themselves. The few .fresh fish that do come to the market are unconscionably dear, when they are to be had ; but as a rule they are'bought up beforehand to supply regular customers of the dealers, and the public go a-wanting. Lyttelton, with much poorer waters, has formed a fishing company which assists in supplying local wants, and contributes a surplus for export. Dunedin has also sho tra some little activity in this respect; and it is scarcely to be credited, though true nevertheless, that the only supplies of really good cured fish to be obtained in Wellington come hither from Port Chalmers. Surely if this source of wealth were a little more cultivated, some portion at least of the cost of imported fish might be saved, and the variety of food offered to the public might be greatly increased. The importation of cordage is also to be noticed. The cost of the importation of that article was £15,860. A considerable quantity of the rope imported came, we have no doubt, from the steam rope works on the banks of the Yarra, where no more facilities exist for the manufacture than are to be found in New Zealand. "Victoria grows neither phormium nor hemp. The raw material used up in Melbourne is obtained partly from this Colony, but chiefly from Manilla, the hemp being brought thence either in vessels specially chartered, or which load up partly with sugar. New Zealand has not yet its sugar refinery, butthere is room forsuchan establishment; and if there was one at work we should not need to send out of the Colony so much as £372,882—as was done in 1873 —for the sugar now so extensively used, not merely to sweeten tea or convert into confectionery, but for use in the breweries, now becoming so numerous, as well as in the distilleries. With so much phormium at command, and a market not remarkably good for the prepared material at present, would it not be worth somebody's labor to endeavor to utilise it, though it might be necessary to bring hemp from Manilla also, as well as sugar, which now comes direct to these ports only from Mauritius, or Melbourne, or Honolulu. We need not again speak of iron, the quantity of 'which used in this Colony in its various forms is something enormous. 0:i that subject wo have written again and again. Large capital, comparatively, is required to open up a field of iron ore, and convert it into material to compete with Cleveland, or, Dowlais, or Glasgow. Wo may remark, however, that there can be but little reason why the Colony should pay in one year nearly £22,000 for agricultural implements—not machines or complicated pieceg of works, but such things as ploughs, harrows, &c. Time was, and that only a very few years ago, when Victoria bought in England all the farm implements she required. But with the extension of agricultural settlement the Vulcans of the Colony set to work, they boldly competed with the best samples of the imported article, they won prizes, and now they have almost entire command of that market—not through the help of protective duties, but from the merits of their workmanship. Bags and sacks figure for the enormous sum of £115,348. We cannot rival Calcutta or Dundee in the manufacture of these indispensable articles in a wool and corn country ; but here again the phormium of New Zealand might be found useful as a raw material to work up for rough purposes such as bagging. Earthenware costs the country £38,905 ; yet clay in abundance exists in the Colony fit at least for the commoner sorts of ware, and there is but little mystery in the management of a potter's wheel and a glazier's kiln. Elour was imported to the value of £69,575. It is necessary to use the finest possible flour, no doubt, for mixing purposes ; but surely it cannot be necessary to resort to South Australia, or Victoria, or Tasmania, from a wheat-growing Colony like this, for superior flour to the extent of nearly £70,000 per annum. The list of imports presents, in short, 'at least a score of articles, for which large sums are sent out of the country, which we should, and which we no doubt shall, in time, manufacture or produce for, ourselves.