WHALE FISHING IN THE SOUTH SEAS. (From the Hobart Town Mercury, March 16.)

Otago Witness, Issue 488, 6 April 1861, Page 9

WHALE FISHING IN THE SOUTH SEAS. (From the Hobart Town Mercury, March 16.)

The importance which has b<?6n uniformly attached to the Whale Fishery iti England, may he gathered from the fact that since the year 1750 a sum of upwards of two millions and a-half sterling has been expended by the Parliament of Great Britain in the shape of bounties for its encouragement. In the year we have named, a bounty of 40s. per ton was allowed on all vessels fitted out for whale fishing, and this system of artificial stimulus, which was quite in accordance with the commercial philosophy of those days, continued down to as recent a period as 1825 — the bounty having during the interval fluctuated in amount from 40s. to 20s. per ton. In 1824 the trade was abandoned to the operation of the natural laws of mercantile enterprise. The British whale fishery reached its maximum about the year 1815, when 134 ships were employed in it, of a gross burthen of 34,320 tons. Since that period this fishery has greatly declined, M'Culloch attributes the decline to the following causes. There has been a change in the locality of the fishery. When it began, he states, the whales were found in vast numbers in the seas round Spitzbergen, but being gradually exterminated and driven thence, the ships followed them up to the icy barrier that bounds the Greenland sea on the north. The Greenland sea and Davis's Straits continued to be the' fishing grounds generally resorted to up to the general decline of the enterprise. For several years past the whale fishery has been so hazardous as to have partaken more of the character of a gambling transaction than of a regular pursuit of maritime industry. In 1830, we learn that of 91 ships that sailed for Davis's straits, 19 were totally lost in these boisterous and treacherous seas, whilst 24 returned without having caught a single fish, and of the remainder not one had a full cargo. In fact, the business of whale-fish-ing by English vessels may be considered all but abandoned — the produce of the fishery having consisted of late years almost entirely of seals. Hull is now the only seat of the fishery in England, and the entiie aniuial value is estimated at about four million pounds — an insignificant sum certainly to represent any branch of enterprise belonging to an empire with such enormous resources and such a gigantic commerce as Great Britain. Consequent upon the failure of whales in the northern seas, the southern fishery began to be prosecuted about the commencement of the American war. The sperm and the common whale were both found in large numbers in the hemisphere, as well ;is the sea elephar.l, which yields oil plentifully. But the English whalers have now abandoned the southern a3 well ds the northern fishing grounds. The result is not at all to be attributed to the fact that the whale is becoming an extinct animal. The waters with which the earth is begirt, are still full of the leviathans of the deep. They change indeed their habitation from time to time. They are found scarce and consequently difficult to catch in their old haunts, as if seeking refuge from their pursuers. This we know from local experience. Our harbour used to he a favourite resort of the black whale, which has now however abandoned it. But our whalers have nothing to do but just to shift their position. If not to be caught high up in our harbour, whales are to be met with in shoals off the South-west Cape. Before the foreigners engaged in this pursuit were driven from our port, an American craft called the Cicero came up to Ilobart Town three seasons in succession filled with the produce of sperm whales caught on that field. This, and the adjacent grounds, have been the scene of the great success which has attended the fishing during the present season. But in truth it is notorious that wo are in the very centre of a vast whaling ground, extending from the Cape of Good Hope far away to the east, and stretching from high latitudes to the line. So far from the fish becoming scarce in these seas, it is a fact that so much oil has never during any previous season been brought into Hobart Town in vessels belonging to the port, as during the last, six months. Every one engaged in this enterprise is satisfied with his success. It cannot he said of the South as of the Greenland Seas, that the whale fishery is so hazardous as to partake more of the character of a gambling transaction than of a regular commercial enterprise. Nay, not only are whales plentiful in these waters, but whalers engaged in the task of capturing them are plentiful too. They are for the most part however foreigners, and this is the remarkable fact of the case. Whilst the whaling ships from Hull and Peterhead have almost abandoned the fishery altogether, contenting themselves with the capture of seals in the Northland have given up the Southern grounds, American ships from New Bedford' and other New England parts aro about us in scores, — not dropping into Hobart Town, indeed, as they once did, but sweeping our seas in every direction, and carrying off from under our very eyes the wealth that nature sedms rather to have destined for our heritage than that of these distant adventurers. M'Culloch ascribes the abandonment of the whale fishery by the English, consequent upon the scarcity of whales in the Northern Seas, and the necessity of seeking them further from home, to foreign competition. He uses this remarkable expression :—": — " The fishery has greatly declined, partly in consequence of the competition of the Americans, who have peculiar advantages for carrying it on." We find the same opinion expressed by various writers, but we use M'Culloch as the greatest modern authority on commerce, in support of a dogma, which, however apparently well established by statistics* is certainly not easy to reconcile with otlr national predilections or with Commonly received opini ion; "We have bten accustomed to think the Ehglishmnh the most intrepid sailor, and the most hardy and adventurous fisherman in stormy seas, that the world could producej He cbmes from a maritime stock, and lie has been all his history through a seafaring mail. His ancestors werfe pirates, in the days when on the sen, as on the land there was Considered nothing infamous in the law, Le"t him tako wlib hits the' power', And let him keep who can. , Arid when we call to mind the daring and adventurous incidents of that great drama *• > ■

of maritime discovery,jwhich was the fact of the 16th centtiry.; % exploits df Blals and the rest of the Sea Kings 5 the heroism of Franklin and his band of explorers \, or — let us say, at once, ttt be hontiely in bur illustrations — the fearlesfr chivalry of the crews who man the lifeboats ,on thfe British coasts \ we find a stUmbling-block in the suggestion that we have. succumbed tb the Yankees in the chase of! the whale, and abandoned to them the great sea-hunt-ing ground. Are wfe nwt traditionally a nation of sails f Is not'the BritisK-tar as much a stock character on the teal Stage as the dispossessed heir in the play f Can we recall the fascinations the sea had for us in our boyhood, and reconcile ourselves to the fact that we are superseded in any line of enterprise on the face of the great deep, by any nation whatever ? Yet we fear the fact is indisputable; Hobart Town is the great depot of the" colonial fisheries. Twenty-eight whalers belong to this port. The whole number of colonial craft engaged in the tradb does not greatly exceed that figure. This humber is insignificant compared with the gross number of whalers employed in the Souths crn Seas. One ihfo'rmarit tells us that ort rounding the Cape he passeil as many, as forty whaling vessels . in a space 'of thre^ . days. When this port was the rendezvous of ships engaged in the trade, as many as seventeen have been cleared and got under way in one morning, and thirty whalers have been seen in port at one time.. There are probably from eighty to a hundred American ships pursuing whale's within our close neighbourhood at this moment; Strange that in this branch of maritime enterprise the child should thus beat the parent from whom he derives all his seafaring qualities. England can run the 1 States Steamers off the Atlantic, but Cannot compete with the Yankee adventurer on the whaling grouhtL The North Amerldati colonists seehi td have taken darly and feagerly to this pur-i suit. Nearly a hundred years ago (1774) Burke asked the tloiise of Commons "what in the world was equal" to, the enterprise by which these colonies had drawn wealth from the sea by their fiaheriesi- " Look," exclaimed tKe orator, "at the manner in which the New England people carry on the whale fishery. While w& follow among the trembling mountains of ice; behold them penetrating into the deepest frozen recesses of Hudson's Bay and Davis's Straits \ while, we are looking for them beneath the Arctic Circle, we hear that they have pierced into thfe opposite region of polar cold, that they are at the" Antipodes and engaged under the frozen serpent of the north. Falkland Island; which seemed too remote and too romantic an object for the grasp of national ambition, is but a stage and resting-place for their victorious industry. Nor is the equinoctial heat more discouraging to them than the accumulated cold of both poles. We learn that while some of them draw, the line and strike the harpoon on the^* coast of Africa, others run the longitude and pursue their gigantic game along the const of Brazil. No sea. but what is vexed with their fisheries, no climate that is not witness of their toils. Neither the perseverance of Holland, ndr Uie activity of France, nor the idexterous^and firm sagacity of- English" enterprise, ever darned thw most perilous mode of hardy industry to" the extent to which it has been pursued by this recent people ; a people^who are still in the gristle, and not hardened into" manhood." At the time this glowing eulogium was uttered ; at the time the foundations of the daring enterprise thus held up to the admiration of the English Senate were laid ; the American people were the ■ colonists of Great Britain — as we are. What are the peculiarities of circumstance that from that day to this have enabled them to outstrip 1 the " mariners of England " in one of their " hardy industries ? " In other words* what are the " peculiar advantages " to which M'Culloch refers, but does not particularise ? Are they advantages peculiar to the Americans only ? Are they peculiar to them merely as compared with,. older nations, or peculiar a 9 compared for In* stance with our own circumstances ? ' These are inquiries iri which we are too deeply ' interested to allow them to pass unnoticed;

Wages op Able-Bodied PiionGHMEN.-^ During a discussion at the Central Farmers' Club, London, on " The condition of the h* 1 bourer in England and Scotland and his condition on the Continent," it was elicited that the followittg rate of wages was given to able* ! bodied ploilghmeh in Various parts of England: — In Northumberland, 15s. weekly, with perquisites worth Ss. 6d. a-day in.haiyesti with a few presents at Christmas ; also Ids. weekly, with two bushels df wheat,, two bushels of barley, thirty stone of potatoes house free, and coals carried." Cumberland; £18 yearly; also £21 yearly, with food and cottage. Durham, 15a. arid 12a., wUfi tbiir tons of coal. Yorkshire, 14s. toDekly} £lt yearly, with meal. Lancashire, 15s. weekly. Derbyshire, 14s. weekly. Notts, 103. toeeklyj with rations. Cheshire, 12s. td 14s. weekly; Lincolnshire, 10s. to 17s. weekly: Shropshire, ils. weekly, with tivd ijtiaits of beer adaj', and.fuel hauled. Warwickshire, 12s. 6d. weekly, with a quar£ of beer per day ; 18s., with house and garden free, potato ground free, beer, and double wages in harvest. Itut-i, landshire, 12s. 3d. weekly, with one quart of beer a-diiy. Leicestershire, 15s. weeklyj with cottage free, coal hauled, and soinetmied two 1 bushels of malt. Staffordshire, 10s": weekly, ' Northamptonshire, 12s. weekly, with beer; an(f 6d. for every 10 quarters of corn delivered. Worcestershire, 1 Is. to 121 weekly, witiH 'ttfro quarts of beer a day, anS 20s. extra sut harvest; Herefordshire, 10s. weekly, ivitK 'cottage and garden worili 2s. 6d., and cider daily worth 205. ; and in harvest 3s. 6d. a- week ; also' lbs: weekly; cottage, garden; cider, and potato ground, Worth 4s. a-weck. *Montnouth« , 10& weekly, with cider and ground equaT to* 2s. extra. Gloucestershire, 11s. weekly, with cottage Is., beer, Is., and 20s. harvest, Oxfordshire, 12s. to 15s, Weekly. Berkshire^ 10s: weekly, and 20s. at Michaelmas 3 9su Weekly i with house, and garden freei pdtaHy.-grouhd'': free, beer add double wages in harves t^JLJuoks! Ils. to 14s. Weekly. „ Hertpj A&& - weekly; Cambridgeshire, 10*. td^llii^ weekly. •'■Norfolk, !os. Cd. week ty., Suffolk^rJ o<s,* *esldy; with perquisites. $ssex, , J2%r[wcejs|ys~ hdoTsb^ free; ahso, llsi rind 12^.- weekly^ certain times. Siissexf 13s,, weekly,,^££wjhjeij ! " carting, and 20s. at- harvest. /•■. Haiib% lOja,,,!;©^ l2s. weekly 1 . Dorset, §s.'iw,fceklyii|(^osjD,',^it^ garden, potato^ Jaj)|l pt^ltedi^iifjl|)^[O#r% F carriage of fnel^2osi, A'ntu has^e^t .tfiiditw^^^ 1?jonrney with tfeatnj -h&it \^^^h^\h^^^a? wheat at 3s^ jjep;bUshfel^'-alsO^^^^hj^^^-^ sites. , \ .Somerseti /|P««-'k^^i^s^^^^^ f ' 10s. weekly, with'cottagialpmMll^^^liufe? bushels jti* maU r --

"'~~'y? ,V ; °r.,! : oTActo; .;', - jLyitctyon Times, March-23.) ,:rfO2ie Balance Sheet of the .province of Otago 4br '$e?th,ree,jmQnths .ended-JUst December tiß6p/4s,certauily-at iB6p/4s,certauily-a significant document. Com; fencing. ,pn, the; Ist October with a cash bal'anc4 inj-tlie Ihiands of the Treasurer of no less jthan s j^|,W6; ttie'shbrVsp'ace of three months ; leaves it with'-tlie sadly 'diminished total of £130 to the credit' of that functionary, prov,tag: that, bur »canny neighbours in the South : have fallen in some degree into a similar error .with... our; . ow;n\G,overninent,-and .mistaken a 1 sudden, casual, increase in that most uncertain of all .sources^ of revenue— the . Waste Land " Salea-^-for" a. permanent addition to the income of the' country, and enlarged their engagements and expenditure accordingly. It is impossible for us to say whether the resources of the Province will enable the Government to escape sinking into debtfor a time, but judging ifrotn our, own experience it is more likety, with the outstanding liabilities for immigra-tion-and public works* that the knowledge of -tti&f uncertain ' nature of the revenue arising itroto' Crown Lands will be impressed on our neighbours in as decided a manner as it has .been on ourselves. This falling off in the income, of the Pro,yiriceis partly owing no doubt to the advance in the price of the waste lands from lus. to £l per acre — a measure the contemplation of which must have been known to- many for -sometime before it came into effect, and must therefore have assisted to inflate temporarily the income of the country, and cause a corres- . ponding ..reaction afterwards. .But a more' reasonable explanation is to be found in the fblpvt the credit of. the Province has received iVoiii the \fild and reckless schemes propounded ' by its Superintendent at a time when its territory was threatened with- division, and its revenues, were rapidly falling off. This was the juncture considered the fittest for coming .gravely forward and proposing that the ProVvince should undertake single handed the gigantic scheme of. supporting an independent 'steam route to England via Panama. After •that announcement, nothing that has occurred in the career of the Superintendent of Otago .can have occasioned the least surprise. '. . The^prospects of a speedy cessation of the extensive system o£assisted immigration which hris been going on for some time, and by which 'some three 'thousand or more settlers must have been introduced within the last eighteen months, seems- to have excited a feeling of .alarm on -the , subject of the settlement of the ,cojony,- and:.we- find a communication signed .f/Jn-yestigator" in .the Witness, advocating the system, of free grants of land to hasten the colonisation of ihe country. The writer of thisletter seems to be carried away with .the idea that the one end and aim of good govern- ; ment in JSTew Zealand is to introduce people s aß rapidly as possible. The work of ten years mustbedoneinone, that of a century in a single life, aiid then all will go well. Let the people' be brought in and leave the rest to Providence.- The laud is a good land, and what is wanted are the hands to labour on it. If the' main purpose of government is to jteople the wastes of this country rapidly, doubtless this plan is good as far as it goes; though why the bait held out should bo con.fined, to, 40 acres .when by making it 100 or ,even more, the .number might be doubled or trebled f that would be induced to immigrate, is difficult. to. say ; but it is, fair to the writer fi to suppose that with, all his go-ahead notions "he has not entirely overlooked the fact that it is 'the. duty of a government to consult the happiness- of its people, and see that there is a fair prospect of remunerative employment for $iose; who tmay.be .and are induced to imniig^ate^before they arrive on the. field of their labour. Jfree.grarit of land is a tempting Dait to msny, though it is always open to the doubt that what is given away, so freely must "be comparatively- worthless;' lmt the land, though freely given^ will not support the settler without means for at . least a year, and what is be to do in , the meantime Experience haa proved that especially in the yonnger diys of a colony, population cannot he hurried in unadvisedly and without calculating the requirements' of", the labour market, without inflicting serious injury on individuals. An intermittent, style ;of immigration, now forced to excess and again suffered. to collapse entirely^is^fEaught .with . manifold evil and injustice tQ,the\efnployer and employed. Should the Government f of Otago be induced to follow 'the example of Auckland, and give free grants of land to induce rapid immigration, they will Very likely succeed in their object, but they will commit an act of injustice towards those .whoare already, settled in the Province and haye not enjoyed, a similar privilege, and will fjnd moreover .there are such things as inco'uyenience and distress arising ifrom a plethora of uiihugpation. : ''p^p^H as -'we have always been to any change m the price of bur waste lands or in . the system proposed in our immigration regu- " lations, as regards. the inducement held out to immigrants, we are yet inclined to think that some modification in our Land Regulations might be made which would enable the immigrant farmer to get more readily on the land without interfering with the revenue orimj&irrag)the security held by the Government m the property of the waste lands. , ;Tne plan .propounded by our correspondent "A^rico^'appears, well worthy of consideration./,^ ft' is a, good thing- that the people s^pipldjget on the land Quickly, and at once become, producers, it is surely wrong in prinCJp|e iptajc.them so, heavily in the first cost of the material, as tp prevent the large majority from doing ,so. The natural consequence of this is, that the labouring man, as our corresJxmdent asserts, instead of purchasing land irom the Government, rents it second-band, ty^th a purchasing clause, at from £5 an acre and miwar4s. We can see n o good reason why fitee; Goverjunent .should not he able to give leases >t a moderate rental, granting a pure»aattg.,clau.se to the holder at the original f|iice.of 'j£s,pef'acre, to be exercised within a ise^gonable period. . By these means, hundreds jWtinWHSeJajwe to enter on farming operations $hft 'ark now unable from want of means, and inapy men of moderate capital, who are unwilling to sink a large portion' of it at the outset id ? the purchase, of the |and, would see their w^to.eh^er.hpon farming without the necessty "of their children sinking to the level of labourers. Regulations such as these, when circulated in England, would bring out thousjindd who would hesitate were the land offered them as a' free gift; and doubt the value of that the. owners we apparently so ready to