THE COLONIST.

Colonist, Volume II, Issue 181, 15 July 1859, Page 2

THE COLONIST.

NELSON, FRIDAY, JULY IS, 1859,

Theee i 3 nothing perhaps which more tends to the advancement of a district or colony than a reliance upon the natural production's of itself. At first, in beginning a new settlement, all the various articles necessary for the emigrant's comfort have to he shipped to him at a considerable cost. This being a necessity must he borne with,-but no greater proof could be shewn of the probabfe success of any colony, than the production amongst themselves of the. larger portion of their necessaries. They may find too, amongst that which is already to their band, or may ha produced, by.j-jtheir industry, valuable exports, If ladies ever read a newspaper article they will remeniber that the fabrics known as Paramatta are the products of" the very industry we speak of, and the sale of these has already become European. In the manufactories of-'the Messrs. Byrnes, Barker, &c, of New South Wales, are produced fabrics which, from their being on the spot where the material is grown, bear a high value even in the English market; so much so, that at the present time the name of the town is used to describe a superior cloth.

If, then, the wd&l-growers of Australia can connect with themselves so important an advantage, • why should not New Zealand in each of her provinces ? To ours, we believe attaches the honor of being the first in this field of commercial enterprise, and we cannot help expressing our surprise that our example is not followed, and that in districts whose principal export is wool, there should be so few who are acquainted with the means of preparing the raw material into an article of more than double value. A commercial speculation which is to prepare fes public sale that grown at the very door, should be remunerative if the article produced is bought and eagerly sought after' by Lhe inhabitants of a country some sixteen thousand miles distant; every mile of that distance adds a cost on to the material of which the fabric is produced, and we who have sent the fleece away have to pay a double freight on it for the satisfaction of seeing it returned to us as cloth. If this subject were more fully discussed in England we should find no doubt some persons of ability, energy aud capital, who would establish in oUier provinces that which we have already done, and we should soon find that names familiar to us would become metropolitan. There would be WakatU tweeds and Kajkora doeskins; this;-in our ears,-sounds absurd, but if the native language of i?ew South Wales can. furnish the cloth merchant with a name, the musical language of the Maori might be introduced. ■';..■:■ We have also, in common with the rest of the colony, a natural production of great value, and that is the flax plant. Much is it talked about; large sums are offered to induce people to analyze and explain the chemical agent which would allow the silky fibre to be cleansed. And upon this subject again we may. say that our province is doing more than others, for here a flax, dressing machine may be seen at work. Talring these two facts into consideration, we of Nelson may feel proud of our province, and although it is not numerically the largest, we shall bo the producers of the most valuable exports. Connecting this with our. gold-fields, we need have no fear for our future prospects, and the tide of emigration will flow to our shores more freely than it has ever done yet.