5

H.—lsa,

1. The frozen meat is realizing such low prices in London that this industry is threatened with positive failure almost in its infancy, unless, under a different system of management, the actual consumers can be directly reached and retail prices secured. 2. The low price of wool and the fluctuations of the English and Continental markets yield unsatisfactory returns to the growers. 3. Grain has proved so thoroughly unprofitable during two seasons, especially the late one, and the outlook of the situation has so little encouragement, that farmers are wholly at a loss how to provide for the emergency. There is over-production of these great staples of the colony, for which the limited population cannot furnish anything near to a just proportion of consumers. The British markets have hitherto been the only channels for the disposal of our superabundant products ; but many disadvantages and difficulties beset us in participating in the great marts of Britain, and still greater ones are rising which leave but little hope for us, and will shut us out altogether from them. We are too far from the great markets and consumers of Europe; we have no consumers of our own: we shall be swamped out by the vast productions and the limitless cheap labour of India as growers of wheat, and by the meat of the United States of America, Brazil, and Australia. Farmers realize this, and bitter experience has brought it home to them. I met with several who shipped their grain direct Home, and had thereby lost hundreds of pounds, the whole of the fruits of their industry and patient perseverance. Many, following the prevalent pernicious custom of hypothecation, had to refund large proportions of the advances made on their crops by the banks and loan companies. The "cockatoos" are desperately insolvent and unable to satisfy the demands of their tradesmen. I need not tell you what are all the causes I discovered pressing heavily and oppressively on our agricultural population ; but you will agree with me that men who are paying rentals of from £1 to £1 55., and even over £1 10s. per acre per annum, and who are reaping a harvest of an average of only ten or fifteen bushels to the acre, cannot be in a very flourishing condition at the present time. I can assure you that I came across whole districts of small farmers in a state of poverty, indebtedness, and despair, which surprised and shocked me. It seemed inconceivable that such evils should exist in a rich young country like New Zealand, and the similitude of which I think can only be found in Great Britain and Ireland. Such, in the abstract, is the picture presented to the traveller's observation by Canterbury at the present moment. There is a want of confidence in the colony's stability ; a general desire to realize all available assets and abandon the country; a distrust of, seasoned with contempt for, our legislative machinery and institutions. Taking all these evils and errors into consideration, placing all these causes and effects under review, it must be evident to any thoughtful man that greater energy must be instilled into our system, more combined attention bestowed upon our immediate natural resources, and greater reliance placed on our own commercial instincts and enterprise, with far less dependence on the corrupt influences of paternal Government. The remote and insular position of these Islands fits them to become in the future a great maritime nation ; and to fulfil this destiny they must likewise become a purely manufacturing people. I can see no hope for the real prosperity of the colony, in the face of chronic depressions, except in the determination to foster local industries and find profitable markets for their entire absorption. New Zealand should be the emporium of the Pacific. But even the islands of Oceania will not contribute sufficient consumers for our manufactures; therefore, also, other markets nearer than Europe must be found. The facilities and opportunities for finding a footing for our colonial articles have presented themselves for some time back, but, curiously enough, without gaining any attention. I here refer to the Brazils, at the capital port of which the direct steamers of the New Zealand Shipping Company are now touching every fortnight. Here we have at once the offer of entirely new and profitable markets for nearly all our colonial manufactures, accompanied with consumers in unlimited numbers. I claim some knowledge of Brazil and the West Indies, from past personal experience and existing connections. Brazil itself is a country of vast expanse, with a population of twelve or fourteen millions, principally on its extensive seaboard. It is an independent empire, as you are, no doubt, aware. It has great towns and seaports, and its population consists chiefly of Portuguese, Spanish, Africans, and aboriginal Indians. Eio is a beautiful and well-built city, with one of the grandest harbours in the world, and a population of 300,000. The climate is tropical, but not oppressive. I may say it is moderate. The winters are similar to our own, with cold, severe frosts at night, followed by warm, pleasant days. With such a great extent of territory the climate would be very variable with every degree of latitude met with, from equatorial in the north to temperate in the south. Eio Janeiro, therefore, would be a capital field wherein to introduce New Zealand produce and manufactures. You must bear in mind that this people are all consumers, that they prefer quality to inferiority, that they form a dear market, and that there the cost of living is exorbitantly high. The purity of New Zealand textile fabrics, and the freshness and unadulterated make of our products, would compare most favourably with the imports into Brazil from England and the United States of America, whilst with careful management and forethought we could land our goods there at a price that would safely compete with other foreign shipments. It would be to the interest of the New Zealand Shipping Company to assist the development of a Brazilian trade by charging the lowest possible freights, in order to counterbalance the high cost of labour in this country. I have only referred to Eio wherein to secure a footing in the first instance; but, if you direct your attention to the map of South America, you will find other great territories, with numerous populations and thriving cities, to which the introduction of New Zealand commodities could be extended. Looking to the south of Eio, you pass Santos, a large and important seaport (where my brother is British Consul). Then you come to the noble Eio de la Plata, where you will find the capital cities of Buenos Ayres and Montevideo, great centres of independent Spanish Eepublics. The Eiver Plate is navigable for large ships for a thousand miles, and is the highway to the States of Paraguay and Bolivia, with the cities of Corrientes and Asuncion. These countries are remark-