INDUSTRIAL NOTES.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume I, Issue 29, 15 November 1873, Page 11

INDUSTRIAL NOTES.

Two gentlemen, Messrs O'Halloran and Nicholl, the reoresentatiw 7 J^rT^ 7 'wT^i ° rmed ln E"SlanclE "S lancl undei> fclle of tlle New Zealand Fibre Works Company, have visited Blenheim lately, with a view of ascertaining what facilities exist in thnt locality for establishing the head-quarters- of their manufacturing department The company in question are the patentees of a new kind of machinery which produces a fibre infinitely superior f.o anything hitherto known. Ihe coal trade of the Uuller, about which so mid* has bren s.-.id and projected, is at last approaching very closely a definite form and issue. The Coomerong may be expected within a few clays, and all things favoring may go a«-ay coal hden. An application has been made by the Buller Coal Oompiny f»r a wha*f sire, « nd wil ] probably be followed by other". l J Another coal company is also making quiet but steady progress, and may eveu yet Vo the first to do actual business. The promoters of the North NgukawWC ol Company ' Juving so far made antufectorv arrangements for working tlucoalseuns on t'w north, bank of the Ngakawhau have applied for a wharf sit.- there, and also for another Bite as a coal depot at the South Spit,. Bullnp river, wlicrethev purpose storing coal Tor trading purpose*. To bring coals thither they hare arranged for chartering for twelve months a light dnuHit twin-screw steamer now being buile at Hokilikn. This steam-r in about two months time will be in runni.ijj I rim. Shu will carry 40 to is under hatchee, at 4ft 6in draught, or 20 tons on an ev<>n keel at 3 lt Gin is being built expiesely for working shallow bars like th-it of the N«akawhau inlet, and will thus be enabled, even when the entrance there is in its worst state, to bring out at least half cargoes, and under ordinary circumstances full freights. An influential meeting of merchants Ins been hcli at Wellington to consider the question of forming a sugar refinery ; the proposed capital to be £100,000. Provisional Directo-s wero appointed,- to obtain information on the sul-j-ct, and should they doem it desirable to form and register the company. At a meeting of the Canterbury Meat Export Company heM at Christchurch, a proposal wns made to wind up the Company, bub ifc fell through for want of a seconder. The balance sheet only showed a Bmall profit, but it* tone was extremely hopeful. The Chairman congratulated the meeting on the Company gaining a medal at the Vienna Exhibition, and expressed confidence in the dividend for next yrav The right, to prospect for conl over 33,783 acres of land between the Little Wanstanui and Orawaiti rirers hns been grante I by Die Nelson Waste L uids Board. The prospecting licenses are to be held fur cix months, when the prospectors will have *o decide what areas they desire to take on lease. The introduction of losal and foroijjn capital is represented by those applications, and the only wonder Is that so many weary years have flitted by sit cc the vast, coal treasures of the coast became known, without earlier interest having- been displayed by sharp promoters and men of capital. The applications for the aggregate area above stated represent some twenty embryo companies. ° The Oamaru paper states that at the rale of progress— if indeed the word "progress" be not a misnomer — the Waitaki bridge is likely to be completed about the time that sucking infants of to-day are thinking about getting settled in life ; that is, something like a century hence. The material sent out proved to be o( an entirely different description to that ordered, beius "a bargain" by the Agent-General or some ngent of the colony at Home. But we -venture to predict that the bargain will prove a dear one, if it do not result in ail utter failure (and this in a matter which will, we believe, by the time it is finished, involve an expenditure of something like £200,000), aud will at least retard for years Ihe progress of both the southern part of Canterbury and the northern part of Otago. Messrs O'fcsullivau Bros., of Waitahi valley, Harlborou*li, have obtaiped a contract for. supplying from that discriot 200,000° feet of squaied tiuber, to be employed in the construction of the Tamuaki railway. The Tokomairiro and Lawrence railway works are beinw pushed forward with commendable energy, and should the present" rate of progress be maintained, there is erery reason to believe that tlie line will be ready for traffic contemporaneously with tliat of Tokomairiro to Dunedin. From a report on the oyster fisheries of Stewart's Islaud, sent to the Commissioner of Customs by Capt. G-reig, we learn that ei^it cutters, from six to sixteen tons, are employed in the trade, operations beii.g confined to a space of ground about a mile broad, and a mile and a quarter long, immediately off Half moon Bay, three men bein<* able in one day to draw up 500 dozen oysters 5 that it is considered probable that the beds extend across to Ruapuke, and that the supply of oysters is all but inexhaustible. " Why," asks an exchange, " cannot New Zealand manufacture agricultural implements ? In 1872, we imported these implements to the value of £15,515. All the profit included in this large sum could, one would suppose, have been kept in the colony. A similar remark applies to washing materials, wearing apparel, anus and ammunition, bags and sacks, beer, biscuits, boots and shoes, candles, canvas, carriages, carts, and even chaff. The importation of cheese is nearly at an end. We still import coals. At the importation of coffee we cannot wonder, but why caunot we make our own lollies ? Drapery importation may be excused fer some years to come, but surely our importation of fish should not be equal to £25,764, exclusive of duty which amounted in 1872 to £1898 Us sd. A necessary of life— flour— we imported to the tune of £59,345, duty £3599 lla 2d. Indeed, it may be generally said that, exceptiug gold and wool, we import almost erery luxury and necessary of existence."