The Wealth of the Land

Southland Times, Issue 11655, 9 February 1891, Page 2

The Wealth of the Land

(N, Z. Mail). It is only when we read carefully the statistics of oar agricultural exports that we are abln to form an accurate opinion of the ereat yielding power* of the land of thia colony. Daring tbe past ten yeats this colony ha* m»de wonderful stride*. Out agricultural exports have advanced to an extent that is calculated to surprise outsider*. The a mericans boast of their rapid rises from a barren prairie to a flourishing district. They aave many advantage* to enable these •nd- < den burst* of prosperity to become aetnal solid facts. They n»ve an enormoa* stretch •>f country. An enormous population, and are within a few day*' journey of the peat marked of the world. Here oar land is limited, oar population small, and we an in the antipodes of the world's market, London. With the disadvantage* against as onr rapid progress daring the past ten year* is alt the more remarkable. In spite of many drawbacks, in «pite of ta« great depreufon which hang so long over the colony, we have gone jkmd in a marvellous manner. In 1881 onr wool export was valued at L 2 909 760. In I*9) it had reached Li 15') 595, and for this present rear it will probably reach five million*. Take oar next sunle industry, froien meat. The year of 1881 was a year of email beginnings in thia trade, we sent away meat of the value of L 22.391 only. T ast year this trade had incre*»e l to L 1,233,644, and in 1891 we shall no donbt increase it to one and a half million*. i Then a glance at onr dairy industry shows u« that in 1881 we exported cheese to the value of L 6112, nnd batter L 8496. la 1890 these figures had grown to— cheese L 84.986; batter, LI 12,696. Big as these exports hive grown in ten years, they are bat a fraction of what it is possible for as to do if onr fanners would only pat their souls into their work, and strain ttyntj nerve for supremacy in tile world's market, Men oapable of forming a correct judgment tell us that we can make butter and cheese equal to the make of any country in the world. It is oar own fault if we do not. Then, that being so, oar exports would at once jump into the millions rapidly. If our dairists would act upon the ad*ice so often riven them— of making nothing but the finest uniform quality of both butter and cheeie for export — and they need not now plead ignorance in the presence of competent dairy instructors, and the assistance given by the valuable matter imparted week after week by the agricultural journals of this and the neighboring colonies — then they could to a great ex ent control the English markets. The Molber Country is capable of taking batter and cheese from a* to tbe value of from 6>e to tea million sterling per annum. The only stipulation Great Britain makes for this immense trade is uniformity, careful packing and delivery, and a study of the wants of the consumers; not hard tasks, by men who have energy and intelligence, but tasks that will well repay the trouble of solving. -- In grain we have not made much headway in the p*st tern years. The value exported in 1881 was L»95,700,and in 1890 L 1,007,025., 007,025. This is probab ly accounted for by the extra growth of the wool and meat trades. It has in many instances been found more profitable to make butter and che se, grow wool' lad 'freezers' than grain. Anothei feature is. that grain i has been, with an exception, now and then, »,t low rates, and soiling oats at la *d with the yield ■malfdoee.not pay expenses. These are sp,rae of the eanses why onr grain export does not show the same expendosJas the Qther lines, ; Farmers are not to blame for oar stagns. tion in tbe grain trade. It is to their and the country* advantage to produce what pays them best, and if grain-growing does not met current es venues and leave a balance bhiad, it i< certainly tbe beat policy to abandon it It is a safe truism, 'Deal largely in that which p»j s you best.' Our total agricultural exports in 1881 were at the value of L 3.942 449; in 189 ft they had reached the respectable Qgtipe of ' L6,603,f ) 44 ,and it is very probable overseve* millions will ba; reached Before tbe present year \*% tau oat. Bneh solid progress is something to be proad of, and it behove* every member of the agricultural section of oar population to set his wit* and energies to work to increase our commercial reputation by honest endeavours.