The Poverty Bay Herald AND Cast Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. MondaY, October 27, 1879.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 934, 27 October 1879, Page 2

The Poverty Bay Herald AND Cast Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. MondaY, October 27, 1879.

The Poverty Bay Agricultural Society's Show will be held, as advertised, on the fine ground at Waerenga-a-.hika on Wednesday next. We believe the Committee and those intrusted with' its management are doing their very utmost to make it as successful and attractive as circumstances will allow. We hope to hear of the farmers aiding them m every •way, for it is upon the successful cultivation of the soil the people of Poverty Bay must depend for their prosperity, present and prospective. There is, be it borne m mind, nothing else we have to depend on. Wool and tallow, hideg and skins, grass seed, maize, wheat, oats, potatoes, and root crops, are valuable products, but they are only the outcome of active industry and great thrift, and above all, security of possession. We have no minerals that we know of. We have no manufactures of any kind — no industries m fine, but what comes of the plough, or the breeding of sheep, cattle and horses. We may become by individual and united efforts a well-to-do thriving people ; but time only will bring this to pass. The farmers, instead of growing speculative crops for high prices, which may never be realised, must give their attention and devote their skill •to what the laud they cultivate is best able to produce. The present method of farming is simply destroying the soil, as must be the case when the land, never manured, is cropped this year as it was the last and all years preceding. Just now the farming interests all over the world are m a very depressed state, both as regards the tenantry and the laboring populations. Agriculture is not all profit m the colonies ; farmers have crosses to bear m unfavorable seasons, short crops, and so on, and also feel the effects of the pressure of competition and contracted markets ; the pressure is ■within as well as from without, the means of consumption being very far behind the power of. production. Farmers, m fact, produce for exportation, and the large colonial surplus is shipped away every year, to compete m the markets of the world with the products which pour m from other lands. Hence there, is very little likelihood of profits becoming excessive ; there will, under, particularly favorable conditions, be a fair margin, whilst the average will be a

profit and this is all. This is about what may be anticipated m the future, as regards grain and wool. It is true that the power of production m the colony is practically unlimited, but that power is only to be developed by liberal consumption, and such, consumption, that is, consumption proportinate to the fecundity of the millions of acres under and ready for tillage m new countries, to supply old ones, is not to be expected. Already this is m course of demonstration, and the effects are perceptible throughout the world, but especially m Great Britain, which once agricultural par excellence, is now almost m the thi-oes of agricultural dissolution. The farming interest has indeed declined there, and that celebrated yeomanry, once its country's boast, is threatened with extinction. Hitherto English farm life has been regarded as a most enviable phase of existence ; independent, profitable, and conferring, m the higher walks, a position second only to that of the country squire, into which it not unfrequently merged. It is true that the great bulk of the farmers were simply tenants, the proportion of freholders amongst them being extremely small. But tenants and landlords stood on excellent terms, and as every pound of produce was consumed within the kingdom farming continued profitable until outside competition became excessive. Owing to the absence of a port, the high price of freights, and the want of good roads, Poverty Bay cannot at present, m cereals, hope to grow with profit a surplus for export; but it ought to grow sufficient for its own consumption at least, while the growing o£ wool for shipment and our surplus of live stock, must be looked to to keep the district m a thriving condition. If we do not cultivate, if we do not breed stock to supply markets at places less able than we are, then there is indeed little hope for the districts. But we have hopes of the Bay, because we think we see that wild speculation has come to an end by bringing so much commercial disaster and ruin m its train. Farmers must see that the means of a bare livelihood, and honorably paying their way depend " on their exertions. Wool growers who are not handicapped with heavy mortgages and high interests will rub along well enough, but wool-growing, pure and simple, will not support a large community, unless the wool is converted into textiles where it is produced. Co-operative farming, such as is carried on m South Australia among the dwellers of the smaller settlements, we think, ought to answer here. This is something as follows : There are central depots to which all the milk is carried for conversion into butter and cheese. So there are for the curing of bacon and hams, and for disposing of cereals and root crops, and the system is found to answer admirably ) but the precise system and the success attending it will find space m our to-morrow's issue, ■ where we hope it will be read and command the attenion it deserves.