NEW ZEALAND'S CHANCEO.

Timaru Herald, Volume LII, Issue 5163, 9 June 1891, Page 4

NEW ZEALAND'S CHANCEO.

A gentleman Darned Tighe, who ssjb he is a na'ivn of Australia, and hns travelled 60,000 milea there wi'liin the last ten years, writes to the Nelson Colonist as follows on the Australian market for noglccted products of New Zealand : — Why has the population of Nelson decreased , and for that matter, why is such the case throughout Ne^v Zealand ? Answer—Bocauso remunerative employment is not to be found for all : no, not on tho grandest and mont fertile spot of lond under tho canopy of heaven. Why is thi9 so? Simply becauso its inhabitants have not yet Been their great: ndvintages this sido of tho lino, or opened their eyes and looked upon the many requirements of other lands

Let us glanco at that great, continent Australia, aud ccc what Ihey require, or what good" other people are supplying thorn with The butchers of Australia are supplied by America with mint, thyme, and other herba used m their biirin.sa. The samo country nlso forwards tons of butter m hermetically sealed tins, weighing from ono to threo pounds, and tons of potatoes, peeled, dried, and preserved, m tins of half hundredweights and upward?. Cali fornia forwards to the Queensland porta alono great shipments of apples, dried and pressed into boxes, as well aa tbo fruit m its natural «t,ate. each apple being wrapped m paper ; Newfoundland supplies dried fish m tho -shop* of ling, etc., while othor folk mako .money oyt of tiuning oyaterß for that country ; Switzerland . and other parts of tbo

world forward each year tons of preserved milk, while lhe brands on bot. les containing pickles, red aud black currants, gooseberries, etc., aro too numerous to mention, to say nothing about quantitios of preserved fruit, cabbage, carrots, and other vegetables which aro dried, pressed, and forwarded oach year. Where do their hopa come from? they don't grow them, neither does that land produce tho hundreds of tons of eulphur used at the chlorination workß on the goldfields, or sprinkled each year over many thousand acres of vineyards. One hundred other items might bo added, but my New Zealand brother tella mo to atop, and says m the same breath that we supply thorn with butter. I answer, you send some, but remember people cannot foward butter to their customers near one thousand miles inland, m large packets, nor will it keep when melted to oil every day, nor (can they, for similar redone, forward potatoes, fruit, vegetables, cheese, or bacon. Jonathan has learned thatto supply Australia with any of these things they must not bo exposed to the air. My brother again : " What rubbish to talk about' mint and thyme, it is not much good, and growo almost wild here." Exactly so, because you can go aud pluck it when you like, you forget that there are other people who cannot, grow it at all. You don't like sebnapper, it. is a coarse fish. It eats very sweet m Sydnoy, though, when one remembers that hia wife or landlady pays one shilling per lb for it. You don't. lik!>;applss, rou always bavo them, and becaiiße you are so fully suppliedj such a thought never enters your mind that peoplo think them delicious m a lind where they are not grown. Cf course you i.'o 'not cam for pickle. , not likely, when cabbage; potatoes, etc., come steaming bot to the table overy day ; but tbey would bo nice if you had not seen tbem for six months.

I lnok upon Now Zealand as an immen.o garden for producing semi-tropical fruits airi v ogeta'ion, and Australia as an enormouv stock fnrni, producing m 1 1 •> main, tropical fruitn and v r-;etatiou. Tho > can within themaelves j >Huee why: is <..- o found m any other' pan nf tho .orld. My brother again, "Well, we tried tl- fish trade by Bonding over preserved mullfi, and failed. No wonder, you might just 11 well have sent coal to Newcastle,' for thai is the only kind of fish they have an abundance of. "Then again we failed or, one occasion by Bending over onr tweeda." I know you did, simply be causa tho miilc-rinl you sent for making clothes out of was heavier than most biankeiß found m Australia. Why are those mistakes made, and why do wo ccc the article going by onr door to Australia, and .lur shipo carrying to thnt colony the bone and ei'iew of our country ? J'iiiiply because those ships have not yet carried from our shores tbo man .that ought to go 7 the one who should go is the commercial man. for it is he wtjo has been the means, and is still the means, of exporting to Australia the products which arrivo m that land each year. Common sense tell ua that a wholesale merchant will not sit at home to .ell hia wares. He must go forth, or send his representative to do that business. Whether the man or mas'er travels it matters not, either will find that gooda are required which he may not have thought of. Now, if one acquainted with our products waß sent to Australia, and carried with him . br-iins as woll aa money, I don't hesitate iv stating that, a new industry or industries would be the outcome. If America and other parts of the world can afford to Br>nd their travellers m theso special lines, if they can produce, manufacture, and export them, why cmnot New Zaaland? You cope with them m the grain market, and why not m all other products ?