THE Otago Daily Times. "Inveniam viam aut faciam” DUNEDIN, TUESDAY, MARCH 7, 1865. SHIPPING.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22824, 7 March 1936, Page 5

THE Otago Daily Times. "Inveniam viam aut faciam” DUNEDIN, TUESDAY, MARCH 7, 1865. SHIPPING.

SEVENTY-ONE YEARS AGO.

PORT CHALMERS.— March 6. The schooner Wallace, with about fifty passengers on board for Oldtiki, is now receiving ballast and water at Port Chalmers, and is expected to sail at an early hour. The steamer Bruce is now being fitted up for the passage to Okitiki, and is expected to be ready for sea on Wednesday. As she is the only steam vessel which has yet been laid on from this port for the river, and as her strength of build sufficientlv fits her for such a trip, she is likely to have a considerable number of passengers. . . .

The accounts from all parts of the Province with reference to the year's crops are of the most satisfactory character. We use the word crops in a comprehensive sense. The yield of wool has been large, as the export returns will testify when they are compiled and published. This, however, is an established industry, the growth of which year by year is a natural consequence of the more extended use of capital in the enlargement of the capabilities of the runs to carry stock and the improvement of the breed of sheep. So long as the pastoral interest is in a position to hold its own in New Zealand, the advantages it possesses ,in the command of a vast area of available country will enable it to furnish the materials for a stoi-y of uniform advancement and increase. As an indication of social and industrial progress of another character, the statistics of farming industry may be cited. Pastoral occupation belongs- to the primitive stages of colonial history. It is not, indeed, pleasant to contemplate, nor is it possible to aneitipate. the advent of a period when the flocks of the squatter shall cease to roam over the hills and plains of New Zealand. Wool is one of the most important of the raw materials which the manufacturing industry of the world demands, and the shepherd-king will always hold his place as one of the tenants of the earth a surface. It is true at the same time that the march of colonial progress is marked by the gradual reclamation of the lands fit for agriculture from the hands of the sheep squatter. It is doubly satisfactory to know that whilst the yield of wool is steadily increasing year by year, so also year by year is spreading the expanse of country over which the labor of the husbandman extends, and which vields the ripe fruits of harvest. . . . In Otago there were in 18G1 42.000 acres fenced in, and 10,000 in crop. In 1804 there were 150,000 fenced in a' l '' 43,000 in crop. . • ■

Accounts from tlic Lake District state that the news from the West Coast has induced a number of miners from the Shotover to emigrate hither. Very few have left the Arrow District, where the valuable ground opened lately has turned out too substantial prospects to be lightly abandoned. "The Old House at Home." which was produced at the Princess Theatre last evening, is a two-act drama of the strong domestic class which seems to keep possession of the stage by virtue of startling incongruity of incident and general improbability. . . . "The Maid and the Magpie "was successfully repeated. " Easy Sliaving," "Peter White," and the burlesque are announced for this evening. The Bruce, steamer, is laid on for Okitiki, and has, we believe, already filled up. The Bruce will proceed north or south about, according to the direction of the wind at the time of her sailing. The steamer is expected to be able to cross the bar owing to her light draught of water, and will probably continue to ply as a convov to vessels visiting Okitiki. fcjhe leaves the port tomorrow.