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Wellington Independent, Volume VIII, Issue 732, 16 October 1852, Page 3

The departure of a nnmhor of our follow colonist* fur the Port Phillip gol.l ( ''oK'"^ s > ul "l the continued influx of so many people into Melbourne from all pans (if the world, is a subject so fraught with interest as to the present and future prospects of this colony, and so important in many respects to its progressive welfare and prosperity in promoting v development of its agricultural capabilities, iliat we ha\e found it necessary to impress upon the occupiers of land here the very great demand that must and will arise in the Australian markets for all kinds of agricultural produce, and the benefits and advantages which are therefore likely to accrue to them from tin increased activity in the cultivation of their lands. There is nothing more conductive or more auxiliary to the welfare of a country than agriculture; it is at all times and under all circumstances a sure and unfailing source of prosperity, but more especially is it likely to prove beneficial to its followers, when from a redundancy.of population the consumption of all kinds of agricultural produce will probably be so great that the supply will uot be equal to the demand, and the prices consequently high and remunerative. In the Maori Messenger we find the following very pertinent remarks upon this important subject which we have transcribed in the hope that they will induce many of the settlers in this and the adjacent settlements to avail themselves of the opportunity now afforded them of reaping a golden harvest ;—

" The intelligence from the variousports of Australia, which have reached us by the Moa, recently arrived from Sydney, are of a. kind which should exercise a beneficial influence upou the agricultural interests of Mew Zealand. Gold continues to be found in great abundance: —and so general is the pursuit, that the •ulture of the soil and the means of providing .sustenance for the hundreds that are daily arriving from every quarter of the globs is becoming more and more neglected. The people of Australia will not till the ground. The farmers of Van Diernen's Lund are every day gatting more deficient of the labour that has hitherto enabled them to do so. Australia in a great many places bas been laid waste by frightful floods which have not only drowned numbers of her unfortunate inhabitants, but have swept away granaries, store houses, ami much of the fruits of the last year's harvest.

Now then is the hour of New Zealand's opportunity. Now is die auspicious inurnent to turn up every available acre, and plant it with those fruits which will be so greatly wanted and which will be so liberally paid for—wheat, oats, barley, uiuize, potatoes, carrots, turnips, onions, butter, cheese, bacon, pork—all will be in demand ; and if a good and continuous supply be only kept up, a constant and lucrative trade may be confidently relied on, inasmuch as the mouths to be fed will fully keep pace with the increase of culture on our part: —and for this sufficient reason, that every month additional and larger ships are departing from every port of Great Britain, so that they who are the most qualified to offer an opinion on the subject, confidently assert that within a yoar there is next to a certainly that the present population of Australia will be fully, if not more than, doubled.

Now, the New Zealand farmers will do well to bear in mind that by far the greatest portion of this vast population are leaviug England for Australia, not to cultivate her soil, but to rush like madmen to her gold diggings. If then, oats, wheat, and other grain and vegetables be scarce and high priced at present, when the number of the consumers is fewer, and when the surplus of former harvests is not entirely exhausted, what is not the price likely to be when luuds as yet in tilth are left to fallow, when no iiew ground shall be prepared, when uo surplus harvests remain to fall back upon, when the recent producers of food have become bat diggers of gold, and when two mouths shall bo craving for the wherewithal to eat, instead of one mouth that now looks to tho industry of others to be fed f Will not the ease, the security, the healthful means by which .the New Zealand farmer will be able to exchange the fruits of his toil, for the gold wrung with pain, privation, sickness, destitution, and death, —will not the industry of the ploughman be quite as productive and much more salutary, both to body and soul, than that of the gpld miner ?

We wish most sincerely that the native landholders would turn their attention to dairy husbandry. Nothing would tend more largely to enrich ■them. Their cattle would,rapidly increase, whilst their buttqr aud cheese would fmd a ready and remunerative market in every port of Australia. Add to this that with skim milk aud other dairy refuse their young pigs would be brought rapidly forward, and their pork acquire a much superior character to that which it has ever yet attained. Let these things be seriously considered. Let our readers ponder our words. We have received much and interesting information from Australia. Every letter encourages us to urge our agriculturists to .increased cultivation. Grow—grow— "row, is the advice contained in every fetter. If our yeomanry only follow that advice,, they caauot fail to prosper."