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James Marshall (Messrs. Marshall & Copeland, Brewers).
John Marshall (Messrs. Marshall & Copeland, Brewers).
C. S. Reeves, Princes Street, Dunedin,
Offices:
7 Union Chambers, Princes Street, Dunedin,
George Grant, Secretary.
Treasurer:
C. S. Reeves.
Secretary:
George Grant.
Offices: 7 Union Chambers, Princes Street, Dunedin.
The Subscription of Members of the Association shall be an annual payment of One Guinea by employers and others, and of Five Shillings by employés.
Every information as to the objects of the Association will be furnished on application to the Secretary, with whom members and others interested are invited to put themselves in communication
As the weight and influence, and consequently the interests of this Association will be augmented and advanced in proportion to its increase in numerical strength, it is suggested that each Member should urge its importance and advantages upon all manufacturers and others interested in the prosperity of the Colony within the circle of his acquaintance, with a view to inducing them to join its ranks.
The Dunedin National Industrial Association was formed to aid in the encouragement of manufactures. The members of the Association felt that the colony could never hope to he permanently prosperous if reliance were put on one or two products only. The more diversified our industries are the less the risk of dull times and commercial crises. Looked at from a mere money point of view, the need of developing manufactures was felt. The members of the Association, however, believed that in addition to the money point of view there was another aspect in which the encouragement of industrial enterprise should be considered; namely—the more diversified the industries become, the greater are the advantages educationally to the people.
Being thus impressed with the absolute need of diversified industries, the question was asked, How can we best attain our aim? Various projects were proposed. First, it was felt that the very existence of such an Association would be one means of impressing on the people the need of manufactures. Second, the Association could carefully watch the legislation proposed in Parliament, so that nothing detrimental to the rising manufactures might be enacted without protest; and third, the Association might use every effort in fostering and encouraging the local manufactures already started, and then urge on the founding of new industries The holding of an Exhibition was deemed one way of drawing attention to the already existing manufactures and of encouraging the colonists to use locally manufactured articles. Beyond this, it was felt that an Exhibition would be the best way of showing what the colony was capable of doing in manufactures, and also in what direction new industries might be started. It was with these objects in view that arrangements were made for holding an Industrial Exhibition in Dunedin.
The Association has had considerable difficulties to overcome. First, the getting of a suitable place for the holding of an Exhibition was difficult. It was thought that there might be erected a permanent building in the Botanic Garden Domain that would be suitable for holding the Exhibition, and that might be used for concerts and meetings, and also as a Winter Garden. This project, though warmly taken up by many citizens, had to be abandoned. There was no proper provision in the existing Public Domains Statute for erecting such a hall and charging for admission, and the City Council did not feel
So far as the exhibits are concerned, they must speak for themselves. The Association think that any one viewing this display of the products of a country so newly settled as New Zealand, must admit that in the colony there are all the natural agencies necessary to the establishing and maintaining of varied manufactures. The industrial development in Dunedin since
To further develope our manufactures, however, several things are requisite. First—There must be a feeling created that it is our duty to foster Native industries by all legitimate means. Second—Something must be done to prepare our youth for following industrial enterprises. The first may be aided by the holding of this Exhibition. It will show how much has been done; it will also point out the vast possibilities of our colony in industrial enterprise; and it will, it is thought, prove that in many industries we can equal, if not excel, the products of older countries. The second thing requisite, is the training of our youth to industrial pursuits. One of the great advantages that old countries have over colonies, is that there is in the former, always a great number of men trained to certain manufactures. In the colonies, manufactories have often to be started, wanting the necessary skilled workmen; then again, manufactories grow and have their history and associations. Here they have to be started without these advantages. To overcome such difficulties, there is need of the youths being industrially trained. Politics include industry as well as government. Technical Schools and
The Industrial Association has therefore many claims on the public. Its aims are legitimate and praiseworthy; the means it takes to further them, cannot be condemned Its members are fully aware that in no new country can it be expected to have industries so numerous and so well equipped, as in older countries, but it is believed that a public spirit once created amongst the population in favor of local manufactures, must bear much fruit. It will draw out all the varied intellectual powers of the young colonists. Some may excel in one branch of industry, some in another. It will provide for diversity in occupation—a diversity that of itself, tends to intellectual advancement, if this Exhibition, held under the auspices of this Association, does ill any small degree tend to create an enthusiasm for local industries, it will have accomplished its object. For the aid and assistance given by the exhibitors, and some who are neither exhibitors nor members of the Association, hearty thanks are due. The desire to show what the colony may produce, animates many. If since
Allen, J. W. Dunedin
Oil Paintings. Oil Portrait
Armstrong, John. P., Dunedin
Case of Artificial Dentistry
Armstrong, Mrs., Dunedin
New Zealand Ferns
Bank of New Zealand
Specimens from the New Zealand Goldfields—
Also additional Specimens—
The following is the average composition of alluvial gold from the Southern Goldfields, as per assay:—
And the average composition of gold for quartz from the Thames District, per assay, is as under:—
Gold from the same district, refined by a process patented by the Bank of New Zealand, yields the following results per assay:—
Barker, Stephen, Dunedin
New Zealand Ferns in frames
Barry, M., Napier
Wool Flowers
Binns, George J., Dunedin
Water-colour Sketch
Binns, Mrs. M. C., Dunedin
Water-colour Sketch, New Zealand Scenery
Block, Theo., Nelson
2 Frames Photographs
Blomfield, Charles, Auckland
4 Oil Paintings, New Zealand Scenery
Bonner, A. C., Dunedin
Book of New Zealand Ferns
Brown, James, Dunedin
Specimens of Kauri Gum Ornaments
Burnside, J. A., Dunedin
Model of the Residence of the Hon. R. Campbell, Otekaika
Burton Brothers, Dunedin
Photographs. (See also Dunedin Corporation Exhibit)
Burwell, F. W., F.R.I B.A., Invercargill
Architectural Drawings
Callender, Miss Eliza, Dunedin
Book British Ferns, arranged by exhibitor
Callender, Miss Jane, Dunedin
Book New Zealand Ferns, arranged and classified by exhibitor
Carmichael, Mrs. Helen, Dunedin
2 Gipsy Table Tops, Ornamented
Carroll, Miss E., Dunedin
2 Pictures in wool and silk
Cherrill, Nelson K., Christchurh
Photographs on Porcelain, Ceramic Enamels, Portraits, &c.
Clifford and Morris, Dunedin
Photographs consisting of Portraits and New Zealand Views
Colenso, W., F.L.S., Napier
New Testament, printed in Maori in New Zealand,
Church of England Prayer Book, complete, with Psalms, Rubrics, Thirty-nine Articles, and also Forty-two Hymns 12mo.
Early Public Papers, viz.:—
N.B.—All of those books printed in New Zealand were composited by the Exhibitor, and some were written, bound, and translated by him. Also Class 427, No. 820, Official Catalogue, New Zealand Court.
Cast of Ancient Asiatic Bell
Framed and Glazed Plate of Ancient Asiatic Bell
Paper made from Phormium Tenax, before
A small volume, 12mo, containing 14 early printed publications, many before the foundation of the Colony, viz.:—
(Numbered as bound up in the said volume.)
Both these essays were published in "Transactions New Zealand Institute," vol. 1. Other essays and papers by the Exhibitor are contained in vols. 10-13, "Transactions New Zealand Institute."
Corbett, James, Dunedin
Two Gilded Miniature Picture Frames
Coultman, Katie Mary, Dnnedin
Two Crayon Pictures
Coxhead and Le Sueur, Dunedin
Two Frames of Photograhs; Views and Portraits
Craig, Eric, Princes street, Auckland
New Zealand Ferns
Crawford, John, Dunedin
Specimen of Plaster of Paris Casts
Four Water-colour Drawings
Camming, Richard, Dunedin
Six Copies of Masonic Newspapers, printed in two colours
Davis, Louis, Dunedin
Map of India
Specimen of Writing
Davis, Chas., Lawrence
Map of World
Deverell., W., Invercargill
Specimens of Survey Drafting, bound in book form
Dick, Miss, Dunedin
Painted Table and several Fancy Articles
Dunedin Corporation
Series of Photographic Views of Public Buildings in and around Dunedin, taken by Burton Brothers
Egglestone, Joseph. Lawrence
Ornamental Mirror Frame made of Kauri Panels
White Holly
Photograph Frame, made of Kauri
Erfurth, Paul, Dunedin
Greatly-improved System of Book-keeping by double-entry completely set out and shown on large elephant sheets of paper
Fergusson, John L., Dunedin
Maps: the work of pupils
Fergusson & Mitchell, Dunedin
Account Books of their own manufacture
Specimens of Embossing, in Coloured Relief, forpaper and envelopes.
Specimens of Rubber Stamps
Fodor, Geo. F., N. E. Valley
Oil Painting of race-horse "Sir Modred"
Forbes, Alex., Kensington
Water Colour Painting
Fowler, Mrs., Lawrence
3 Frames Fancy Cut Pacers
Fraer, Wm., (aged 13), Lawrence
Map of New Zealand
Frost, W. R. Dunedin
Specimens of Photography
George, Sydney, Dunedin
Illuminated Draught Board
George, Thomas, Dunedin
Illuminated Address presented to Mr. G. R West, of Dunedin, by Members of the Dunedin Wesleyan Church
George, Thomas, Dunedin
Lithographic Specimens
Gibb, John, Christchurch
4 Oil Paintings; New Zealand Scenery
Gibbs, W. B., Lambtou Quay, Wellington
Photographs
Gifford, E. A., Oamaru
Water-colour Painting, New Zealand Scenery
Gilbert, David. Gore
Oil Paintings
Gillies, Alex., Dunedin
Map drawn by Miss Gillies when aged 13
Gordon, W., F.L.S., Napier
The Lord's Prayer in Maori, illuminated in Maori tracery, representing ancient Maori carvings
Maori Grammar,
Threepenny Ticket dated River Hutt,
Pen-and-ink Picture—"Stray Leaves"
3 Vegetable Caterpillars
Grant, James L., Dunedin
Specimens of Fretwork in Boxes, Picture Frames, Pen Racks, and ornamental work
Grant, Thomas M., Survey Department, Wellington
Pen and Ink Drawing, on single sheet paper
Green, Samuel E., Waihola
Water Colour Painting
Griffin, George, Dunedin
Specimens of Typography — "Colonial Printers Register" and Card Printing
Gully, John, Nelson
Water-colour Painting, New Zealand Scenery
Harding, John, Waipukurau, Napier
Stone Axes, native manufacture
Maori Carvings
Limestone Fossils, Mount Vernon
Harlock, Miss M. A., Roslyn
Water-colour Painting; Flowers
Hart, Campbell, & Co., Invercargill
Photographic Views and Portraits
Hart, J. H. Lawrence
Fretwork in Black Walnut
Hawkins, F. G., Dunedin
Photographic Views of New Zealand Scenery
Helms, Mrs., Grey mouth
Collection of New Zealand Lichens and Mosses, 80 species, on cards 12 × 10 in., in 2 folios
Helms, Richard, Greymouth
Collection of Insects from the West Coast of New Zealand
Collection of New Zealand Ferns of 30 varieties, on 31 cards, size 25 × 20 in., in folio Collection of New Zealand Ferns of 132 species, on 121 cards 20 × 12 in., in 3 folios
Collection of New Zealand Ferns of 89 species, on cards 12 × 10 in, in 2 folios
Hibberd, C., & Co., Abbotsford
Photography illustrative of Patent Artificial Stone
Hill, John, Dunedin
Wood Turning and Carving (various) in New Zealand Woods
Hodgkins, W. M., Dunedin
"Water-colour Picture; New Zealand Scenery
Horn, Thomas, Dunedin
New Zealand Ferns, in frames 4 Ornaments
Jennings, D. H., Motueka, Nelson
Baskets made of native material
Card of Pawa Shell Ornaments
Jones and Co., Dunedin
Model of Dr. Sayers Tripod, for treating spinal curvature
Specimens of Surgical Instruments
Laing, John, Dunedin
Samples of Plaster Casts, Ancient and Modern, made by exhibitor
Leves, N., Dunedin
Water-colour Drawings
Lewis, Miss, Dunedin
Picture; in Hair Work
Marshall, G. M., Dunedin
Fretwork, various articles
Marx, Miss Annie, Dunedin
Water-colour Painting
Matthews, Isaac, Oamaru
13 Pencil Drawings
Maxwell, Miss, Wellington
Water-colour Painting in Silk, for Banner Screen
Water-colour Painting in Satin, for Brackets
Melvin, William, Dunedin
3 Oil Pictures
Home Treasures
Grandmamma
Royal Arms
Moran, Margaret, Dunedin
Wool Work Picture; "Prince Charles in Exile."
Muller, G, Hokitika
Map showing distribution of Metals in Westland.
Murdoch, Helen L., Napier
Stencillings of Ferns and Water-colour Drawings
McDougall, Miss, Dunedin
Oil Painting New Zealand Scenery
McGeorge, Leslie Duncan, Clyde, Otago
Plan of Suspension Bridge over River Clutha
McGregor, John, Dunedin
Photographs
McNickle, John A., aged 13, Lawrence
Map of New Zealand
McTavish, Miss A., Auckland
New Zealand Flax Work
Oakden & Begg, Dunedin
Architectural Drawings
Plans for Farm Buildings
Packer, J. A., Nelson
Artificial Leg, with movable joints at knee, ankle, and toes
The leg is made from willow. The upper bucket is made of solid log to fit limb, thus obviating any stuffing or lining on account of glued joints, the whole being covered with calfskin. Springs necessary for movement are all outside, and thereby easily adjusted or renewed. Made to imitate a natural limb, and only weighs 4½ lbs complete
Parker, Professor T. Jeffery, Otago Museum, Dunedin
A Comparative Series of 12 Vertebrate Skulls, comprising—
Each skull is longitudinally bisected, and is so placed that the series of bones forming the base of the skull (basis cranii) is horizontal. The direction of this series of bones is shown by a red wire, which thus represents the cranial axis. From the fore end of this red wire a blue wire is continued along the bones forming the axis of the face, and so marks the facial axis. The green wire indicates the direction of the ethemoidal plane by which the cavity of the brain-case is separated from the chamber of the nose; the black wire, of the tentorial plane, or plane of separation between the greater brain or cerebrun and the lesser brain or cerebellum; the yellow wire, the occipital plane, or plane of the aperture (occipital foramen), through which the spinal cord becomes continuous with the brain. The outline diagrams represent the position of the brain in the skull in the lowest (frog) and highest (man) members of the series, the cranial axis being made of the same absolute length in both. It will be seen that with the increased relative size of the brain, the facial axis, a c, becomes bent downward upon the cranial axis, a b, the angle, c a b being, in man, nearly a right angle, instead of, as n the frog, equal to two right angles. At the same time the ethemoidal plane, a d, is rotated forwards, the angle d a b. a right angle in the frog, becoming greater than two right angles in man, and the tentorial and occipital planes are rotated backwards, the angles a g e, a b f, becoming obtuse instead of right angles.
Parker, Professor T. Jeflery, Otago Museum, Dunedin
Skeleton of a Calf.
Skeleton of a Great Blue Shark
Parker, Professor T. Jeffery, Otago Museum, Dunedin
Sea Crayfish, (Palinurus Edwardsii), prepared by being soaked in equal parts of methylated spirits, glycerine, and water, before drying. This method has the advantage of retaining the natural colour and flexibility.
Paton, H. J., Bay of Islands
Kauri Gum Ornaments
Percival, W. J. Dunedin
Lithographs of Survey Blocks
Topographical Map of Lake Wakitipu
Water-colour Drawing New Zealand Scenery
Porter James, Waiotahi Creek, Thames
Puzzle in Decanter
Powell, Mrs. Harry, Oamaru
Picture in Wool and Silk
Power, Peter, Dunedin
5 Paintings in Oil of New Zealand Scenery
Reischek, Auckland
Group of Australian Birds
Skeleton of Snake
Piece of Kauri Gum (80lbs.)
Roberts, Miss Undine, Dunedin
Two Pieces of Dresden China, ornamented, with paintings, by the Exhibitor
Robinson, H. W. G., Dunedin
Case of Artificial Teeth
Rutherford, R. W., Dunedin
Portraits in Chalk
Rutherford, R. W. Dunedin
Specimens of Photography
Salmon, Mrs. Kate, Kakaramea, Patea
Cone Work Frames, &c.
Simon, Madame, Dunedin
Decorated White Cross, in Wax
Sinclair, George, Dunedin
Illuminated Designs of part of William Blake's "Mad Song" and of Tennyson's "Two Voices," in Water-colours
Smyth, William, Caversham
Stuffed and Mounted Birds and Animals
South, A., Saddle Hill
Rustic House; made by exhibitor
Thomas, Miss E., Kensington
Basket of Flowers; in Wool and Silk
Thomson, J. T., C.E., Invercargill
Water-colour Miniature
Thompson, William, Dunedin
Draught Board, made from Painter's Trying Block; imitation of inlaid wood
"Timaru Herald," Timaru.
Letterpress Printing
Trevithick, F. R., Dunedin
Dog and Bird carved on Burnt Kauri
Veaux, A. F. de, Christchurch
Chart showing variations in prices, &c., of Grain, from
Wales, N. Y. A., Dunedin
Architectural Drawings and Pictures
Walker, John, Christchurch
Drawings
Watts, Mrs., Dunedin
3 Water-colour Drawings
Wellington Corporation
30 Views of the principal Buildings in Wellington, photographed by Bragge
Williams, Harwell, Greymouth
4 Frames of Photographs of New Zealand Scenery
Wilson, H.C., Napier
Artificial Dentistry
Zander, Henry, Ashburton
Specimen of full-sized Maori Devil; caught in Ashburton
Specimen of Shark's Teeth, embedded in stone Fretwork, various
Anderson and Morrison, Dunedin
2 Cabinet Wash-hand Basins, for hot and cold water
1 Plate Zinc Bath, with fittings
1 Copper Circulating Cistern, for hot water
3 Brass Lift and Force Pumps; assorted patterns
1 Brewer's Refrigerator
2 Brewer's Copper Mashers
2 Swan Necks, for yeast troughs
2 Racking Cocks, yeast troughs
2 Sluicing Nozzles, with branch pipes
1 Ship's Binnacle (brass)
1 pair Ship's Lamps; port and starboard
1 pair Jeweller's Reflecting Window Lamps
1 Portable Washing Boiler and Furnace
1 Archemedian Ventilator (self acting)
3 Church Bells
Plumbers', Gasfitters', and Engineers' Brass Work
Arnold, Edwin, Karipuni
1 Chair
1 Flowerstand
Ashbury, F. H, Dunedin
Heating Apparatus
Cold and Warm Air Radiators
Box Coils, &c.
Austin, Kirk and Co., Christchurch
Pottery and Stone Ware
Baker, Joseph, Dunedin
Patent Gold Lever Watch, with exception of Dial and Case, made entirely by exhibitor; ditto in Silver
Barningham and Co., Dunedin
Patent Cooking and Heating Range
Baxter, John N., Dunedin
Specimens of Walking Sticks of New Zealand Wood
Bayley, J., Woolston, Christchurch
Wool Rugs
Coloured Leather for Furniture, &c.
Black, Agnes F., Dunedin
Wax Fruit and Flowers
Blytt, Andreas, Christchurch
1 Silver Epergne
1 Silver Tea Service (3 pieces)
2 Silver Sugar Basins
1 Inkstand
2 Flower Vases, Emu Egg and Silver
1 Silver Claret Jug
1 dozen Silver Tea Spoons
3 Silver Cups
4 Napkin Rings
1 Figure
1 Kiwi
1 Pigeon
1 Deer
1 Dog
Burke, G. D., Auckland
Specimens of Bellows
Burns, A., Dunedin Hospital
1 Fancy Screen
Burnside, Mrs. and Misses, St. Kilda, Dunedin
Parlor Screen, Chairs, and Fender Stool
Burt, A. and T. Dunedin
Plumbers' Brasswork
Engineers' Brasswork
1 Portable Station Pump
4 Brass Lift and Force Pumps (different patterns)
2 Brewers' Mashers
1 Brewers' Refrigerator
2 Brewers' Corking Machines
1 Brewers' Sparger
2 Brewers' Bottling Syphons
1 Set Copper Measures
1 Pyramid Lead Pipe
1 Pyramid Composition Pipe
1 Improved Water Engine
7 Gasaliers
3 Pillar Lights
1 Billiard Light
1 Warehouse Light
Gas Brackets
Outside Lamps
3 Cabinet Wash Stands
1 Bath, with Spray and Douche and Water Closet
1 Foot Pail
1 Bidet
1 Tip-up Basin
Copper Washing Boilers and Portable Stands
Copper Hot Water Circulating Tanks
Specimens of Copper Work
1 Set Beer Pumps and Motions
Coffee Urn
Ice Machine
Sample Rough Castings
Sluice Valves for Water
Improved Gas Valve
Archemedian Ventilators and Chimney Cowls
Specimens Apprentices' Brass and Copper Work; under two years at the trade
Cunningham, James H., Oamaru
1 Fancy Bird Cage
Duncan, Jane, Port Chalmers
Satin Sofa Cushion, worked in Chenille
Ellery, Miss E. F.
Fancy Brackets
Ellery, Miss M. F., North-East Valley
Wax Flowers
Paper Flowers
Wax Fruit
Fern Pictures; Leather Frame
Ellis and Nicholson, Kaikorai
3 Samples of Flock for Upholsterers' purposes
Ellis, Thomas, Wanganui
Toadies' Cotton Stand
Fermor, Ellen, Mosgiel
Furniture and Fancy Articles, in Native Wood;
decorated with New Zealand Ferns
3 Sofa Cushions
Forsyth, Miss M., Port Chalmers
1 Fancy Bracket
France, John, Dunedin
1 Bookcase
1 Chest of Drawers
Frew, J. D., Dunedin
Specimens of Graining on Wood and Glass
Gilchrist, W., and Co., Dunedin
Mantelpieces, Painted Panels
Design of Paper Panels
Pictures, Tiles, and Flower Boxes
Goldstein and Möller, Dunedin
Silver Racing Cup, manufactured by exhibitors
Graham, Wm., Lyttelton
Specimens of Turnery, in Ivory, Bone and Wood, with lathe working
Guthrie and Larnach's Co., Limited., Dunedin
Drawing Room Suite
Hatstand, Bedstea
Hall Door, Cabinet
Work Table, Gilt Chair, &c.
Hacker, Joseph, Dunedin
1 Davenport New Zealand Woods
Harbutt, T. J., Auckland
Specimens of Brushware; manufactured by Exhibitor
Hill, John, Dunedin
Cabinet; New Zealand woods
Hyde, Joseph, Ashburton
Portable Shower and Taper Bath
Jennings, D. H., Motueka, Nelson
Nest of two Baskets made of native material Card of Pawa Shell Ornaments
Kelsey, Arnold R., and Co., Dunedin
1 Pianette; manufactured entirely in New Zealand by exhibitors
1 Pianette; manufactured by Collard and Collard, of London, for comparison
Kemnitz, Louis, Dunedin
Specimens of Engraving in Gold and Silver
Kennedy, Thomas, Oamaru
Specimens of Imitation Woods and Marble; in Oil Colour
King, W. R., New Plymouth
Maori Kits, New Zealand Flax
Kohn and Co., Dunedin
Specimens of their work, in gold and silver
Leves and Scott, Dunedin
Embossed Cut. Glass
Pantographs, Punches, Photos, &c., &c.
Malcolm, Alice Jane, Dunedin
Picture in Berlin Wool and Silk; "Dogs"
Malcolm. Mires, Dunedin
Screen on Satin Cloth
Malcolm, Olivia Alberta, Dunedin
Picture in Berlin Wool and Silk; "The Huguenots"
Raised Berlin Wool and Silk Picture; "Flowers"
Melvin, William, Dunedin
Bound Table with Glass Top
Milne, Angus, Dunedin
Specimens of Engraving on Glassware; with Machine shewing method of working at above
Müller, John, Dunedin
2 Ladies' Work Tables
Munro, George, Dunedin
Specimens of Tobacco Pipes; made in Dunedin, from Otago Clay
Murdoch, Miss H. L., Upper Hutt, Wellington
2 Banner Screens 1 Blotting Case
1 Handkerchief Case
New Zealand Pottery Co., Limited, Dunedin
Specimens of Earthenware, manufactured by the Company at their Works, Milton; made entirely from New Zealand materials
Oliver, Edwin H., Kinghtstown, Christchurch
1 Table Writing Desk, inlaid with New Zealand Woods
Paterson, Burk and Co., Dunedin
2 Venetian Blinds
Rawley, Thomas, Dunedin
Specimens of Decoration on Glass
Bennie, Susan, Glendermid
Black Satin Sofa Cushion; ornamented with Crewel Work
Richardson, Dr., Dunedin
2 Baskets; made of Ribbon Wood from Akaroa
Risk, Mrs., Mornington, Dunedin
Specimens of Leather Work and Wool Flowers
Sandstein, M., Christchurch
Silver Epergne; of local manufacture
Stansell, John Brough, Christchurch
Half Stuff and Papier-maché; manufactured from New Zealand Flax
Scott, Bros., Christchurch
3 Cooking Ranges, various
Scott, George, Mornington, Dunedin
Rustic Chair, composed of 8,000 Pieces; all New Zealand Woods
Scott, Miss Jessie, Dunedin
Satin and Point Lace Cushion
Shacklock, H. E., Dunedin
Kitchen Ranges
Register Grates
Combined Mangle and Wringing Machine
Smith, Mary Jane, Dunedin
Silk Cushion
Snowden, Frederick, Dunedin
3 Enamelled Wood Mantelpieces
Sparrow and Wilkinson, Dunedin
2 Portable Ranges
1 Register Grate
Stannard, A., Dunedin
Basket Work
Stebbing, George, St. Kilda
Specimens of Brackets and other Ornaments for Household Decoration
Sullivan, M., Dunedin
Basket Work
Taylor, John, Dunedin
Venetian Blinds; with Stand and Pullies complete
Thomas, Miss E., Kensington
Flowers in Wool and Silk
Treacy, Thomas J., South Dunedin
Fancy Cardboard Boxes
Watts, Henry, Dunedin
Couches
White, A. J., Christchurch
Dining and Drawingroom Furniture; manufactured by exhibitor
Waters, T. J., Christchurch
1 Range
White, A. J., Christchurch
Organ built by exhibitor
Wilson, William, Dunedin
Spring Revolving Shutter; in working order Perforated Wood Cornice
Wood, Mrs. E. T., Dunedin
1 Draught Screen, in Silk Embroidery
1 Velvet Cushion
Wright and Vincent, Hamilton, Auckland
Three Bottles and Stands 1 Teapot 1 Bread Plate 1 Water Jug and Stand 2 Cornice Bricks 4 Plate Specimens 13 Specimens of New Zealand Clay
Almao, Vicenzo, Dunedin
Hats and Caps; manufactured by the exhibitor
Beeby, Mrs. E., Queenstown
Knitted Counterpane
Bevan, Thos., Junr., Foxton
Fishing Line, 55 fathoms
Ball of Double Twine
Two Balls of Single Twine
Lead Line, 16 fathoms
Two-inch Rope, 14 fathoms
Two Horse Halters (double twine)
Fishing Line, 50 fathoms
Coloured Fibre
Coloured Twine
All made from New Zealand Flax.
Bertinshaw, George, Furrier, Dunedin
Process of converting Rabbits Fur into Felt Hats—
Binns, Mrs. M. C., Dunedin
Imitation Point Lace; handmade
Bishop, Miss, Ashburton
Hand-braided Work
Blackley, Miss Edith, Dunedin, (Aged 11)
Child's Dress; made by exhibitor
Blackley, Miss Jane, Dunedin
Child's Night Dress
1 Crotchet Counterpane
1 Knitted Counterpane
Brown, Ewing and Co., Dunedin
Costumes, Mantles and Bonnets (own manufacture)
Men's Clothing (own manufacture)
Charles, Lizzie, Dunedin
Fancy Work
Chinnery, Charles, Rangiora, Canterbury
New Zealand Flax
No. 1 exhibit is a very fine description of New Zealand fibre, and adapted to the purpose of making rope of the finest quality. The Flax is stripped, washed, bleached, and dry scutched, but not hackled. Value, £27 12s. per ton.
No. 2 exhibit is Flax-stripped, not washed, boiled, dried, and dry scutched. Value, £25 per ton f.o.b. at Lyttelton. It is adapted for the purpose of making twine for binding.
Cottrell, John,
Specimens of Pattens and Clogs
Davidson, Miss E., Dunedin
Boots and Shoes; manufactured and in process of manufacture
Donaghy, M., Forbury
Samples of Rope and Cordage of Manilla, N.Z. Flax, and Russian Hemp
Dow, Miss, Dunedin
1 Quilt
Duckworth, Miss A., Stirling
3 Fairs double-knitted Stockings in process; two stockings being knitted at the same time on one set of wires
Ellery, Miss M. F., North East Valley
1 Crochet Antimaccassar
Evans, Miss Sarah (aged 12), Dunedin
Patch Work Quilt
Every, Simon F., Anderson's Bay
Specimens and Models of Fishing Nets
No. 1 represents a net to be used in harbour, to be lowered from vessels when anchored, and to be baited so as to attract the fish. These nets may be made like the model of square mesh, or they may be construcled out of machine made nets more economically. It is proposed to call them the Sailor's Port Dinner providers.
No. 2 represents a trammel. This net is intended for setting in places where there is very little current; the fish roaming about, particularly at night, get caught by the loose net being formed into pockets. For extracting large trout from the rivers, they would be required of very large meshes, and the proportion of slack must be increased.
No. 3 represents a drag net, of novel construction, suitable for harbour or river fishing. Being made with square meshes it will pass freely through the water, and by the introduction of a few widenings will fish to a greater depth in the centre than at the ends.
No. 4 shows how machine made nets may be converted into tuck nets for drawing in rivers or harbours. The mode of altering will depend upon what is required for any special locality. Such an arrangement will be found far more handy than the seine principle, and answer quite as well where the centre depth does not much exceed that of the sides.
Needles Nos. 3 and 4, are for general purposes; No. 5, for gearing, i e., fixing nets to the ropes.
Two large meshes are for trammel walling and sheep nets
Three smaller meshes, to be held differently, are for varied work
Fermor, Ellen, Mosgiel
1 Silk Shawl
1 Tea Cosy
1 Smoking Cap
Silk Patchwork
Fraser, Mrs, Milton
Hearthrug of Patch Work
Fulton, Charles, Blenheim
Sample of Flax
Gallie, Mrs. Helen, Waimate
5 pairs Hand Knitted Tartan Stockings, for Highland Costume; made by exhibitor
Glover, G. H. and Co., Dunedin
Hats of various sorts. Own Manufacture
Scarfs of various sorts. Own Manufacture
Goldie, Miss Jane, Port Chalmers
Gentlemen's Silk Socks
Print Lace Collar
Shawl of Eis Wool
Goldie, Miss J. C., Dunedin
Point Lace Collar and Cuffs
Point Lace Trimming
Geneva Point Lace Trimming
Milan Point Lace Trimming
Collar; Tatting and Point Lace
Harlock, Miss M. A., Roslyn
Satin Apron, Roman Shape; Painting in Water Colours
Pair Satin Shoes to match; Painted in Water Colours
Harris, Wm., Christchurch
Boots and Shoes; Home-made
Hallenstein Bros., New Zealand Clothing Factory, Dunedin
Clothing, Shirts, Ac.; for Men and Boys
Howlison, Miss Janet, Dunedin
Specimen of Crochet Work
Howlison, Miss, Dunedin
Specimens of Point Lace, and Tape Lace
Inglis, A. and T., Dunedin—(Workmen in the various departments of)
Boots and Shoes, and machine shewing manufacture
Isaacs, Miss F., Dunedin
Lace Shawl (hand worked)
Jones, Jeanie M., Nelson
Point Lace
Kessell, Mrs. S. E., North-East Valley
Point Lace
Cuffs
Apron
Lace
Handkerchief
Logan, Miss Jessie ft., Dunedin
Specimens of Lace Work
Martin, Miss Edith, Dunedin
Crewel work
Maxwell, Mrs., Fernhill, Wellington
2 pail's of Curtains; N.Z. Ferns and China work
Milligan, Airs. J. A., Oamaru
Window Curtains
Mills, James, Dunedin
Guns
Mosgiel Woollen Factory Co., Dunedin
Woollen Manufactures; consisting of Tweeds, Blankets, Rugs, Plaids, Underclothing, Hosiery, Fancy Yarns, Shetland and Orkney Style of Home-spun Plaidings and Flannels
Muir, James, Dunedin
Hats and Caps; manufactured by exhibitor
Murdoch, Miss H. L., Upper Hutt, Wellington
Dozen Stencilled D'Oyleys
D'Oyleys, with Hand-painted Views
Murphy, J. W., Agricultural Assessor, Christchurch
Dressed Flax; English, Dutch and Russian
Hemp of Sorts; New Zealand Fibre
McLennan, Mrs. C., Broad Bay
2 pairs Knitted Window Curtains
Four Antimacassars
McQueen and Paris, Dunedin
Hair Jewellery and Wig Work
Outred, Mrs., Dunedin
Knitted Counterpane
Passmore Brothers, Whare Flat
Samples of Ropes, Lines and Twine; made entirely from New Zealand Flax
Paton, Rubina, Port Chalmers
Knitted Cotton Counterpane
Pope, Jessie, Bluespur School
Specimen of Plain Sewing
Renwick and Co., Dunedin
Underclothing, Hosiery, &c.; with Stocking Frame at work
Robson, William, Mornington
Boots and Shoes; own make
Ross and Glendenning, Dunedin
Woollen Manufactures
Rother, Louis, Dunedin
Specimens of Dunedin-manufactured Socks, Stockings, Pants, Shirts, Football Suits, all of New Zealand Wools, unadulterated
Scott, Miss Jessie, Dunedin
Antimacassar; hand sewed
Scott, Mrs., Milton
Patchwork Hearthrug
Seed, James, Canterbury
New Zealand Manufactures from Phormium Tenax—
1 Coil Flax Rope, 2½-inch; £55 per ton
1 Coil Flax Rope, ½-inch; £55 per ton
1 Ball Twine for Reaper and Binding Machines; prepared to suit all climates, especially tropical; length 250 yards to the pound; 1s. per lb.
1 Bale Dressed Flax; £25 per ton
1 Bale Tow; £20 per ton
Plough Lines, Twine, &c.
Skinner, Samuel, Dunedin
1 pair Ladies' Boots
Steadman, Mrs. J. D., Opoho
Knitted Work; in Wool, Linen and Cotton
Toomer Brothers, Christchurch
Boots and Shoes, manufactured by exhibitors
Tunnicliffe, Miss, Dunedin
Knitted Cotton Counterpane
Wand, Mrs. C., Dunedin
Bed Quilt
Wood, Mrs. E. T., Dunedin
Velvet Collars and Cuffs (embroidered,
Child's Dress (embroidered)
Smoking Caps (embroidered)
1 Point Lace Cap
Young, Miss A. M., Timaru
Wool Work
Embroidery
Point Lace
Barber, W., Wellington
Dyed New Zealand Flax
Bardsley, M. & E. (each under 20 years), Dunedin
1 case Fancy Toilet Soap
Bayley, John Woolston, Christchurch
Sheepskin Hearthrugs, various colours
Piano Mats, Door and Carriage Mats
Lamp Mats, Coloured Skins for Furniture, &c.
Children's Muffs, black and white
Collier, Thomas, Nelson
Parchment, made by exhibitor
Constantine, J., Dunedin
Furs, Skins, Rugs
Feathers trimmed and untrimmed
Coombs and Son, Dunedin
Leather
Uppers for Boots and Shoes
Edwards, E. R., Thames
Pigments and Minerals—
Hall, J. E. Dunedin
Analyne Dyes
Specimens of Washing Fluids
Wool Mats; striped and dyed
Feathers; striped and dyed
Lines, William, Port Chalmers
Specimen of Cod Liver Oil
Isett, F., Christchurch
Matting manufactured in Auckland from New Zealand Flax
Johnston and Sons, Nelson
Hematite Paint from Para Para Iron Ore
Kempthorne, Prosser and Co., Dunedin
Chemical, Pharmaceutical, and Manufactured Products
Marshall, Martin, Dunedin
Homœpathic Medicines, manufactured by exhibitor
McLeod Brothers, Dunedin
Soap and Stearine Candles
New Zealand Hematite Paint Co., Dunedin
Hematite Paint and Ore
Oldham and Sons, Auckland
Matting manufactured from New Zealand Flax
Otago Paper Mill Co., Dunedin
Samples of Wrapping Papers
Quaife, F. W., Rakaia
Parafine Candles
Wax Candles
Richards, George, Lawrence
Harness and Boot Polish; waterproof, and requires no brushing
Smith, E. N. & Co., Burnside, Dunedin
Wool Mats, Bugs, &c.
Inside Leathers for Bootmakers
Stodart, Francis, Ponsonby, Auckland
Raw Silk, produced by 500 silk worms reared by exhibitor
Tyer, Alfred, Ngahauranga, Wellington
Sole Leather; Basils
Allan, James, Taieri
2 Samples of Wheat, grown by exhibitor
Allen and Neilson, Dunedin
Wines and Cordials .
Æräted Water
Almao, Vicenzo, Dunedin
Specimens of Extract of Tomato Preserves
Tomato Sauce
Preserved Groper Fish Roe
Arnold, Edwin, Masterton
Beehives (straw); by which honey can be obtained without destroying bees
Begg Brothers, Hill End, near Clutha
1 Bag Wheat
Bennet, H. C. & Co., Dunedin
Two Samples of Porter, in bottle
Two Samples of Ale, in bottle
Binnie J., Dunedin
Biscuits and Bread
Boenicke, Richard, Kaikorai
Samples of Vinegar, in wood and bottle
Butel, P., and Co., Arrow, Otago
2 Samples of Flour
2 Samples of Wheat
Bycroft and Co., Auckland
70 Tins Biscuits
Carew and Co., Dunedin
Samples of Worcestershire and Tomato Sauce; made by exhibitor
Cuddon, Wm., Christchurch
1 hhd XXX Ale
1 dozen Bottled Porter
Pale and Patent Black Malt from Canterbury Barley
Drew, John, Waikouaiti
12 Varieties of Potatoes, grown by exhibitor
Dwyer, Matthew, Franklin, Otago
Red Wheat; sown in Autumn and reaped in
Eagle, James, Christchurch
4 Hams
2 Sides Bacon
Eastbrook, E. C., Wellington
Table Sauce; own manufacture
Fargie, John, Dunedin
Three Samples of Adelaide Wines; for exhibition only
Feraud, J. D., Clyde, Otago
Samples of Syrups, Liquers, and Bitters—
Samples of Wine, 4 bottles each—
Fleming, John, Dunedin
2 Samples of Cheese
1 Samples of Oats
1 Samples of Wheat
Fort and Woolfenden, Caversham
Hams and Bacon; smoked and green
Gear, James, Wellington
Preserved Meats and Soups
Gee, Alfred, Christchurch
Jellies (various)
Gibson, Jamas, and Co., Dunedin
Samples of Starch
Samples of Corn Flour
Samples of Maizena
Gomez, Joseph, Bulls, Rangitikei
1 Doz. Soda Water
1 Doz. Lemonade
3 Bottles Sarsaparilla
3 Bottles Lemon Syrup
3 Bottles Raspberry Syrup
3 Bottles Peppermint
3 Bottles Cloves
Goodwin, James, Pigeon Bay, Lyttelton
Cheese; made on the Chedder system, especially for export
Gregg, W., and Co., Dunedin
Coffee, Chicory, Pepper, Spices
Harley and Sons, Nelson
1 Bushel Barley
1 Bushel Malt; made from same sample
Hudson, Richard, Thames
Peaches; preserved in English fashion, without sugar
Irvine, W. and Co., Millers, Shag Valley
Samples of Flour and Oatmeal
Joel, Maurice, Brewer, Dunedin
Beer and Stout
Kessell, T. N., North East Valley, Dunedin
1 Case Worcester Sauce
King, George, and Co., Christchurch
Samples of Grain—
Kofoed and Clive, Milton
Ale in Bulk
Koefoed, H. L., Thames
Tomato Sauce
Lane, Wm. and Co., Dunedin
Cordials and Liqueurs—
Marshall and Copeland, Brewers, Dunedin
Ale and Stout; in bottle and bulk
Malt and Barley
Mein, William Henry, Christchurch
Preserved Meats, viz.:—
Moffett, "W. J, Invercargill
12 Bottles Cordials (various)
McLean, A. H., Christchurch
Pickles
McDonald and Miller, Ham Curers, Green Island
Hams; smoked and green
Sides Bacon; smoked and green
Rolls of Bacon
Naumann, F. G., South Dunedin
Beehives; made by exhibitor
Neil, James, Dunedin
Botanic Medicines
Neill, Bros., Merchants, Dunedin
Samples of Indian Tea; forwarded by the Calcutta Syndicate, for exhibition only
Newbury, P. J., Confectioner, Dunedin
Cracknell Biscuits
Paterson, John, Tapanui
Samples of Flour and Oatmeal
Proctors, .Jones, and Co., Merchants, Dunedin
Colonial Dairy Produce
Proctors, Jones, and Co., Merchants, Dunedin
Samples of Queensland Sugar, for exhibition only
Renton, J. C., Confectioner, Dunedin
Biscuits manufactured by Exhibitor
Rice and Son, Dunedin
Confectionery (boiled sugars)
Richmond, M. C., Ham Curer, Palmerston
2 Rolls of Bacon
Purified Lard
Saeffer, Barnett, Napier
Hand made Cigarettes
Samson, Charles, Dunedin
Hams and Bacon, Smoked and Green
Schwartz and Co, Christchurch
New Zealand Wines—
Sheedy, Edward, Ham Curer, Dunedin
Hams and Sides of Bacon, and Rolled ditto., smoked and unsmoked
Smith, James, Nelson.
Fruit Wines, and Liqueors, exclusive of Grape (nineteen numbers in duplicate)
Rum and Shrub Liqueur; manufactured
Shrub Liqueur; manufactured
Oranges, and Sugar
Aniseed Liqueur; manufactured
This Liqueur has kept itself in excellent candition, and by it appearance, would remain good for 50 years.
Whiskey Liqueur; manufactured
Ginger Wine; manufactured
This wine is most, peculiar in itself, seeing that it has not formed a sediment during the 11 years that it has been manufactured.
Hock A, manufactured from Green Gooseberries and Rhubarb,
Hock B, manufactured from Green Gooseberries,
This wine ought to be very clean on the palate, and not sweet.
Hock C, manufactured from Green Gooseberries,
This wine is unsweetened, a little dry, and clean on the palate, requiring very minute tasting.
Hock D, manufactured from Damsons and Gooseberries,
This wine is dry and clean on palate.
Cherade A, manufactured from Strawberries, Apricots, and White Heart Cherries,
This wine ought to be of a nutty taste, and very clean on the palate.
Cherade B, manufactured from Apricots and White Heart Cherries,
This wine ought to be very clean on the palate, and of a nutty flavour.
Cherade C, manufactured from Apricots and Gooseberries,
This wine is very light, of a nutty flavour, dry and clean on the palate.
Cherade D, manufactured from Red Rough Gooseberries and Damsons,
This wine is not sweet. Dry and clean on palate.
Cherade A, manufactured from Black Cherries, Damsons, and Mulberries,
This wine ought to be mellow, mature, and clean on the palate.
Cherade B, manufactured from Cherries and Plums,
This wine ought to be a little dry, and clean on the palate.
Cherade C, manufactured from Grafted Cherries and Mulberries,
Cherade D, manufactured from Boiled Damsons,
Cherade E, manufactured from Mulberries, Black Damsons, Bramble and Gooseberries,
Orange Tonic; J, manufactured from Sydney Oranges,
All the foregoing wines are manufactured from the fruits described, sugar, water, exclusive of any fortifying in the shape of alcohol unless created by theirown fermentation and saccharine.
Speight and Co., Brewers, Dunedin
1 Hogshead Strong Ale, (Old)
1 Hogshead Strong Ale, (New)
Strachan. Wm, Dunedin
Ale and Porter; in bottle and bulk
Strang, David, Invercargill
Prepared Coffees, Peppers, and Spices
The coffees are prepared by the exhibitor's' patent process, whereby the natural aroma, or flavour, of the coffee is preserved. The peppers and spices are silk-dressed.
The exhibits are fair stock samples
Strang, J., Waikouati
Potatoes grown from seed imported, principally from California
Stuck, James R., Riverton
Potatoe Starch
Theyers and Beck, Manuherikia
1 Barrel Ale
2 Dozen Bottled Ale
Thomson and Co., Dunedin
Cordsals, Liqueurs Aerated Waters
Vile, Job, Masterton, Wellington
1 Bushel Black Tartarian Oats
1 Bushel White Tartarian Oats
1 Bushel Potato Oats
I Bushel Velvet Chaff wheat
25 lbs Flour, ground sample of ditto
1 Bushel Hunter's White Wheat
25 lbs. Flour, from sample of ditto
1 Bushel Rye Grass Seed
Walker, John, Christchurch
Tomato Sauce
Ward and Co., Christchurch
1 Bushel Colonial .Malt
Ward, Judge, Timaru
Samples of Oats grown at Spring bank Estate, Southland
Sample of Wheat, grown in Hakateramea Valley
Watts, Henry, Dunedin
Beehives
Watson, William, Brookside, Canterbury
2 Cheeses
Whitson, R. and Son, Brewers, Auckland
Pale Ale and Stout, in bottle
White and Tinnock, Merchants, Dunedin
Coffees and Pepper
Wilson, James, and Co., Dunedin
6 Hogsheads Ale
2 Hogsheads Stout
3 Dozen Bottled Stout
3 Dozen Bottled Ale
Black Currant Wine
Samples Malt and Barley
Wright, William, Dunedin
Patent Self-Raising
Flour Biscuits, Bread, and Cakes
Auckland Harbour Board, Auckland
Specimens of Australian and New Zealand Timber, showing the action of "Teredo Navalis"
Specimens of Jarrah and Totara Timbers
Campbell Brothers, Dunedin
2 Samples of Bone Dust, ground in Dunedin
Council and Clowes, Oamaru
Collection of Grass and Agricultural Seeds; grown in Oamaru disirict
Isaacs, Edward, Eden Crescent, Auckland
Bough piece of Kauri Timber, showing the natural formation of kauri gum
Jackson, George, North Dunedin
3 Cases Ferns
Nimmo and Blair, Dunedin,
Clover, Grass, and other Seeds
Regan, John, Thames
Collection Colonial Ferns. 12 in number
Watkins, Chas. E., Akaroa
Sample of Cocksfoot Grass Seed, grown on the Exhibitor's farm
Watt, John, Glendermid
Case of New Zealand Ferns
Wood, W. H., Akaroa
Sample of Cocksfoot Grass Seed
Adams, Walter, Dunedin
Model of Full-rigged Ship
Alves, John, Dunedin
Working Model of Alves' Patent Aerial Tramway, with specimen full-size clip and hanger, for 2-inch rope, capable of carrying 2 cwt per basket, and as now working at Fernhill Colliery, near Dunedin
Alves. John, Dunedin
Model of Alves' Patent Silt Elevator and Carrier
This is a machine, or rather a combination of two machines, for raising stuff from a punt and afterwards carrying it to almost any distance required, at any rate within reason. Messrs. Alves and Howorth are the patentees, and patents have been taken out in New Zealand, the Australian Colonies, and America.
The working model exhibited is on a scale of 1½ inches to the foot, and the carrier, as it stands, can take the stuff nearly a chain—that is, proportionately to scale.
In the full-size machine the ropes will be crucible steel, flat or round, as may be required for the special work to be done.
The clips will be made of steel moulded to fit strands of ropes, (see clips screwed to top rail of model.) Each clip will be fastened by bolt and nut, and will bear a strain on each bucket of two tons without slipping.
The buckets will be made of steel plate and capable of holding 2 cwt. of material. The lifting buckets will be fastened to the ropes with 4 clips to each to resist a strain on each bucket of 4 tons. The carrying buckets are reversible and easily adjusted.
Whenever it becomes necessary to extend the carrying ladder, a wire rope is stretched over the trestles to the distance required.
The bucket-ladder can be made of sufficient length and strength to dredge direct from bottom of docks or rivers instead of lifting the material out of punts, as shown.
By fixing the lifting-ladder in front of the machine, a canal can be cut and the material carried and deposited by one and the same operation.
There being no pins to wear as in pitch chains, and the ropes passing smoothly over the pulley-wheels, the wear and tear is reduced to a minimum, great rapidity of speed is gained, and a great saving of engine power is effected.
Alves, John, Dunedin
Patented Furnace Bars and Bridge for better combustion of fuel, securing greater economy, cleanliness, &c.
Barningham and Co., Dunedin
Verandah, ornamental cast iron; made by exhibitors
Clifford, R., Dunedin
Model of Tararua
Cutten and Co., Dunedin
Bicycle
Machinery
Dunbar, A., Christchurch
2 Steeplechase Saddles
2 Ladies' Saddles
2 Gents' Saddles
Ellis, Thomas, Wanganui
Butter Churn, manufactured by exhibitor of kauri wood; will churn from 5 to 45 lbs. butter
376. Frost, John W., Wellington
Rubber Stamps (various)
Green, H. F., Pelichet Bay
Models of Yachts, &c.
Guthrie and Larnach's Co., Ltd., Dunedin
Spokes, Wheel Rims, Swingle Bars
Tubs, Butter Firkins
Dairy Utensils, See.; their own manufacture
Hargreaves, Thomas, Nelson
Model Wave Power Machine
This machine could be used to compress air, to drive an air engine, or to work the electric light at any lighthouse, or for other purposes on the sea coast. No difference would be made in the forward motion by the irregularity of the waves. With a cylinder 20 ft. in diameter and 8ft. wave per minute, the machine would be equal to 19 horse-power; and with three waves per minute, each 5ft., it would give 20 horse-power. It has been favourably reviewed in "The English Mechanic and World of Science" of
Haxton and Beattie, Gore
Patent Flexible Tired Harrow
Hill, E. H., Kaikorai Valley
Improved Letter Copying Press
Hunter, A., Dunedin
Patent Family Mangle, own make Engine
Jackson, George W., Dunedin
Working Model of Cable Tramway, with improved gripper
Lochhead, Robert, Dunedin
Automatic Plaiting Machine, invented and patented by exhibitor
Locke, Alfred, Wellington
Leather
Saddle and Shoe Work
Marr, David, Port Chalmers
4 Casks
1 Cheese Vat
1 Washing Tub
Moore, Charles, Dunedin
Harness and Saddlery
McCarthy. Samuel, Dunedin
Electric Bell and Fittings in working order, &c.
Nordgreen, John, Port Chalmers
2 Cases of Model Ships
Papprill, S., Christchurch
Specimens of Electrotypes and Stereotypes for Printing Specimens of Nickel and other plating
Reading, Samuel, Dunedin
Dies, Tools, Stamps, and Engravings
Reid and Gray, Dunedin
Double-furrow Plough, with swivel coulters
The frame is made of best hammered scrap iron, and the coulters, mould boards, and shares of best hard cast steel. These ploughs, of which we have made and sold over twelve hundred in one season, have taken, in actual trials in the field, more prizes than those of all other makers combined, besides having repeatedly taken the Champion Prize for the best ploughing in the field, when competing against the best single and double ploughs of other makers
1 Double Furrow and Subsoil Plough combined
1 Set New Steel Tripod Harrows
An Assortment of Patented Machine-made Castings
An Assortment of Spokes, Swingle Trees and Cart Staves
Robin T. and Co., Dunedin
Carriages
Paintings
Schlaadt, Bros., Dunedin
4 Horse-power Water Engine, on New Principle
Sole Cutting Knives, for Leather Pressing Rollers, for Boot Factories
Block Machine, for do.
Sinclair, Mark, Dunedin
1 Double Buggy, built by exhibitor
1 Set Elliptic Springs, made by exhibitor
1 Set Buggy Wheels made by exhibitor
Sparrow, R. S., Dunedin
Models and Drawings of Steamers
Stannard and Grigg, Dunedin
Perambulators, made by exhibitors
Stewart, T. and W., Dunedin
1 Waggonette, English Style, built by exhibitors
1 Single Buggy, built by exhibitors
1 Double Buggy, built by exhibitors
Thomson, Thomas, Bluff Harbour
Washing Machines
Method of Lifting Heavy Weights
Models of Ships' Compasses, Ships' Anchors, Wind Power, Water Power
Union Steamship Co. of New Zealand, Limited, Dunedin
Steam Navigation in New Zealand Waters, illustrated by statistics and models of steamers
Model of the Company's s.s. "Rotomahana "
Model of the Company's s.s. "Wakatipu"
Model of the Company's s.s. "Te Anau"
Model of the Company's s.s. "Kotorua"
Model of the Company's s.s. "Arawata"
Model of the Company's s s. "Ringarooma"
Model of the Company's screw steam yacht
Model of Tug Steamer for the Otago Towing Co. Chart, showing the ocean tracks of the Company's steamers
Shield
Fleet of Steamers Belonging to the Union S.S. Co.
Watt and Co., Dunedin
1 Water Engine
1 Tide Guage
1 Bell Punch
1 Bunsen's Burner
1 Electric Sign
1 Pair Blake's Transmitters (telephone)
1 Pair Microphone do., with automatic switches and Telephones, complete
Model of House fitted with Door and Window Alarms, Fire Alarms, &c.
Self Adjusting Pendulum Indicator
Flag Adjusting Pendulum Indicator
1 each Nos. 1, 2 and 3 Metallic Base Electric Bells
Thermostat, Burglar Alarms for doors and windows
Switches, Fly Switches, 2-way Switches, 3-way Switch
Medical Coil and Battery
Electric Pipe Lighter
1 Bell each of the following Voltaic Batteries:—Smee's, Fuller's, Bunsen's, Daniel's, Woolaston's, Leclanche's. Grove's, Tyer's, Walker's, Dale's, Grant's, Gravity Bichromate, &c.
Samples of Electro-plating, Nickelling, Gilding, Coppering. Electrotyping, Ac.
Binding Screws, Carbons, Zincs, and other Battery requisites
Pole Board for Medical Battery
Waymouth, John, Auckland
Models of five Celebrated Yachts, and five modified from these by being designed on a diagonal line of geometrical construction
The method adopted by the designer and exhibitor is a practical development of Scott Russell's wave-line theory. It is an immense stride forward in yacht designing, as it gives geometrical certainty to what has hitherto been mere matter of taste or rule of thumb.
Whittingham, Richard, Dunedin
3 Churns of Kauri, various designs, with improvements made by exhibitor
Wootton, Charles, Dunedin
Bridle Bit; made by exhibitor
Zander, Henry, Ashburton
Model of a Fleet of Ships; made by exhibitor
Ashcroft, George, Wellington
Patent Crushing and Gold Saving Machine
Atkinson, D., New Plymouth
Concrete and Cement; in various forms
Austin, Kirk and Co.
Drain Pipes and Oreamental Fire Clay Goods
Begg, Thomas, Anderson's Bay, Dunedin
Specimens of Building Stone, suitable for Asphalting, Screening, &c.
Binns, George J., Dunedin
Native Coal, Lignite, and Coke
Bishop, James, Shag Point
Model of Safety Cage and disengaging hook
Cutten and Co., Dunedin
Miners' Tools
Edgar, John, Queenstown
Specimen of Fossilized Fern
Fernhill Coal Co., Dunedin
Samples of Gravel and Quartz, as supplied from their Works
Samples of Clay and of Bricks Ordinary and Fireproof, made therefrom
Fernhill Coal Co., Dunedin
Specimen of Coal from their Works at Fernhill
Hacket, J. R., Nelson
Chrome Ore, from Ben Nevis Mine
Silver Ore, from Richmond Hill Mine
Reports of the Mines
Hibbard, C. and Co., Abbotsford, Dunedin
Patent Artificial Stone
Channelling, Doors and Windows, Water Tanks,
Drain Pipes, Kerbing, Flagging, &c.
Portland Cement, from Colonial materials
Hildgendorf, Charles, Waihola
Samples of Lime Stone, 3 in number; with Lime made therefrom
Hoffman, F. H., Dunedin
Quartz from Golden Link Mine, Serpentine, Otago; result of first crushing, 3oz. to the ton, from 5ft Reef
Cake of Gold from the Mine
Kaitangata Coal and Railway Company, Limited, Dunedin Coal
Lambert, J. H., N.E. Valley
Drain Pipes, Chimney Tops, Vases, Flower Pots, &c.
Munro, George, and Co., Dunedin
Oainaru stone
McCaffrey, Edward, Queenstown
Freestone, undressed
Freestone, dressed by Patent Process Fossils from Wakatipu
McIlraith, J. A. Home's Bush, Malvern Hill
Bricks, Fireclay and Coal
Nightcaps Coal Company, Southland
Block of Coal
Port Chalmers Quarry Co., Port Chalmers
Obelisk of Port Chalmers Bluestone
Reid and Duncans, for Elliotvale Colliery Company
Coal
Saunders, Joseph, White Cliff
Coal
Shag Point Coal Co., Shag Point
Section of Coal Seam, Shag Point Colliery
Stansell, John B., Christchurch
Specimen of Iron Ore and small Ingot, from Para Para, Nelson
Watson and Buchan, Dunedin
15 Specimens of Otago minerals
Blocks of Ore from various mineral lodes in Otago
Welcome Quartz Mining Company, Reefton
Specimens of Quartz from the mine
Wellington Corporation, Wellington
Concrete Slab
Concrete Kerbing Block, Concrete Channel Block and Asphalt Channel Block
Concrete Insert Blocks
Asphalt Paving Slab
White, W. M., Kensington
Sewerage Pipes
Williams, William, Anderson's Bay, Dunedin
Building Bricks
Industrial Statistics forare admittedly incorrect, and the totals for are not yet compiled.
Notwithstanding—indeed, I should say, in consequence of—the advent to office of the present Government in January last, returns show that the excess of departures over arrivals for the following six months (ended
There is, moreover, rapidly increasing depression, which must result in further emigration—the inevitable consequence of a plundering and blundering policy.
It behoves us, therefore, to search carefully for the causes of, and the cure for, such disastrous circumstances.
The Premier, on the 10th of last July, in the House, stated (Hansard p. 124), "I have always said, and I repeat, that the principal cause of this exodus of population is that there has not been land in small areas in sufficient quantity on which the people could settle." . . . . Again, "Many people are leaving New Zealand for other shores because they cannot get land here. Sir, unless the big estates are dealt with, I firmly believe-honestly in my heart believe—that the exodus of population must continue."
But, as it seems to me, this is either ignorant, reckless, or dishonest, talk; the kind of dangerous jargon which is bringing ruin upon us all.
For neither land, nor the want of land, is a primary, a nearer, or a proximate, cause of the exodus; as any able statesman must know.
The primary cause of the exodus is our ignorance and selfish apathy, and especially the apathy of our educated men; in ignoring that the welfare of the individuals who compose the State is dependent upon the welfare of the State.
We forget that personal happiness-individual prosperity—is not distinct from, but, on the contrary, is expressly dependent upon, wise laws and prudent administration. Therefore, even on the most selfish principle of self-prosperity, it was, as I urged prior to the elections in not, not a philosophy of thorns; i.e., to insure our urgent needs, financial invigoration (involving restoration of confidence) and increased suitable population: and then (but not before) to insure further measures to secure permanent prosperity.
Of course, incidentally to those further measures, just steps might be taken to prevent and remedy large land-holdings; although not, not by a land tax, or by any other method of class spoliation, or injustice. (See, for instance, Mill's Principles of Polit. Ec.,
The natural result of our ignorance and selfish apathy has been the election from time to time of a House, of whom the very very large majority have been, and are, ignorant and dishonest. For instance, they are ignorant in respect of even the first principles of political economy, i.e., ignorant of what would render us happy, or miserable; and therefore treat measures as they arise, or are forced upon them only in an ad captandum, haphazard, manner; and they are dishonest, because even if they happen, on any particular occasion, to know what is right, and therefore best, in the interests of the Colony, and therefore in the interest of the individuals who compose the Colony, their main efforts are to toady to the public opinion of the hour, and thereby to obtain, or retain, personal prestige, or plunder, in the shape of office, or otherwise.
Thus, I fear that the number of members who are likely to have, like Socrates, to drink poison, as the penalty of their superior wisdom, is small.
How appropriately do the words used by Disraeli over 56 years ago apply ("Times,"
Truly human nature is now the same as it was nearly 2300 years ago and therefore history must repeat itself.
Such then has been the natural effect of the original cause; i.e., of our ignorance and selfish apathy.
Then the effect, i.e., the ignorant and dishonest, very large majority of the House, became, in its turn, a cause—a promotive of the exodus; by passing unwise laws, and by permitting imprudent administration: as shown in (1) neglecting constitutional reforms, (2) allowing Treasurers to violate the primary canons of State finance, (3) permitting unfair legislation, and in (4) the non-promotion of wealth production.
Unwise laws, and imprudent administration, in natural sequence (even before the present Government came into office), produced want of confidence—indeed, deep seated distrust—amongst capitalists, and virtual stoppage of immigration; the distrust meaning not only no inflow, and a disastrous lack, of cash in general circulation, but also a forcing of outflow.
Thus the primary cause of the excess of exodus is ignorant apathy,; and the proximate causes are natural results immediately arising from unwise laws and imprudent administration: namely, (1) want of confidence—deep-seated distrust (indeed, now, fright) amongst capitalists—and (2) virtual stoppage of immigration.
These natural results have, necessarily, in their turn, produced cessation of the investment, and of other expenditure, of money; and thereby stagnation with its inevitable consequences — destruction of values, paralysis of trade, scarcity of employment, and cheap prices of labour and wares in the struggle to live.
Hence, in natural sequence, widespread misery; and, in a very large number of cases, necessarily bankruptcy, death, or exodus.
For capital and people are the life-blood of prosperity; and how can enterprises—productive or manufacturing—flourish if the main arteries be dammed? [Note also what "The Sydney Morning Herald" says, as reprinted in "The New Zealand Herald" of
Indeed, before prosperity can again dawn it must, as I wrote in "The New Zealand Herald" of a sensitive plant.
The working man has been deluded to forget—whilst it is he above all others that should remember—that industry is limited by capital, that labour cannot prosper without capital, that capital, by whomsoever supplied, is just as indispensable to State prosperity as labour, and that capital is absolutely requisite to found and support industries, which are what the working man mainly depends upon for his daily food; and therefore that it is suicidal for him to promote, or support, any movement, Ministry, or man, that advocates, or pursues, a policy to oppress, harass, or frighten Capital: and, moreover, of the utmost importance not to otherwise alarm the propertied classes by wild talk—such as land nationalisation, or single, or graduated land, tax.
Instead of sound political economy, the working man has been deluded by specious talkers to believe that labour and capital are necessarily antagonistic; that all wealth
The working man has thus been humbugged out of his votes, and his hurrahs. Alas! alas! disastrous delusions. But humbug and credulity are twins.
It is truly marvellous, as I have repeatedly pointed out from time to time, that the Colony (and especially the working man) has permitted the Legislature for years past to play, and still approves of the Legislature playing, such ruinous antics, as have been and are now in vogue; and, indeed, wonderful that Labour has been so hoodwinked as to send members to power whom capitalists, be they great or small, must view with the utmost distrust. For instead, every exertion should, as, of course, have been made, and particularly by Labour, to inspire Capital with confidence, and to secure an increase of suitable population; and every regard had to a lesson that history teaches—to Disraeli's prophetic words: "You will in due season, with a democracy, find that your property is less valuable, and your freedom is less complete. I doubt not when there has been realised a sufficient quantity of disaffection and dismay, the good sense of this country will come to the rally, and that you will obtain some remedy for your grievances, and some redress for your wrongs, by the process through which alone it can be obtained—by that process which may make your property more secure, but which will not render your liberty more eminent." — (See Kebbel's Beaconsfield, p. 100.)
It is under such circumstances of unwise laws, and imprudent administration, that withdrawal of money from circulation, and emigration, have been forced upon Capital; and exodus upon a large section of the population who are especially and directly dependent upon the smiles of Capital. Nor can want of confidence and emigration stop until we become sane enough to institute the necessary measures to restore confidence amongst capitalists, and to promote prudent immigration; by electing wise men to the Legislature having the confidence of Capital as well as of Labour. For, as even Mr. Buick admits, "By wealth we live." (See Hansard,
The way to promote further stagnation, and therefore additional disaster, and especially for Labour—that is markedly dependent upon Capital feeling contented, not discontented—is to insist upon such legislative enactments as will still furthe oppress, harass, and frighten land-owners, and capitalists, and render the investment? of money here yet more unremunerative and insecure.
Thus, rigidly carry out the proposed land and income tax: and also enact laws (a) whereby free labour is to be suppressed, and Union men only are to be employed; (6) whereby every man who applies for work must be employed, and whereby no man shall receive less than, say, £4 a week, for say five days, work, of, say, six hours a day, regardless of quality, or sale prices; (c) that compulsory Labour Courts of Arbitration (i.e., involving compulsory references) be established; (d) that New Zealand shall be only! for New Zealanders (see Premier's speech reported in "The New Zealand Herald' of shall invest their money, if called upon to do so, at, say, five per cent. per annum on such personal, or other, security as may be approved by a public valuator appointed by the Trade and Labour i Councils, with a penalty as against the capitalist for non-employing an applicant for work, or for not investing when called upon; (f) that there be immediately a further loan of, say, ten millions, to insure employment to all at good wages; (g) that the Government undertake, as a State function, the employment of all needing work, that is when the private employers, who are in the first instances to find work for applicants, have become bankrupt. ("The policy of the Government is to relieve as far as possible the artisans, and to try and find employment for them in the colony."—Hon. J. G. Ward, must employ and pay him, whether or not B needs a clerk; (h) that all Customs duties which do not specially touch capital be instantly repealed; and, above all, (i) that such an amended land tax be enacted, including confiscation of the unearned increment (See Sir George Grey's Parliamentary speech of
The main result, necessarily, would be wholesale emigration, retail humiliation—a further folding of tents and flitting, and a further withdrawal of money from circulation, on the part of Capital; i.e., further fright and flight on the part of the employer, the chief friend of Labour, and
not, certainly not, the attainment of the Socialist's goal—cloak it as you may—i.e., the equal redistribution of wealth.
The working man must be mad to think that by class legislation, by legislating, as he thinks, specially for himself, he is benefitting himself. Thus, for instance, in the matter of wages, it is idle to think that Capital can, or will, permanently pay such remuneration to the labourer as leaves it no margin. Indeed, legislative regulation of adult labour is a short-sighted unwholesome delusion; as shown very plainly in the recent article in "The Nineteenth Century Review," by the late Mr. Bradlaugh.
It is significant, also, that the British Association now sitting have arrived at the same conclusion; and, in this connection, it may not be irrelevant to remark that, even in England, where wages are so much lower than here, the late Trade Commission decided that remuneration was almost even between capital and work.
If, however, the working man must have a special political goal let him—instead of risking the denunciations of the Pope as an impious barbarian whose pretentions are ridiculous and insane (see cablegram "New Zealand Herald,"
I must defer comment upon the Land Tax for the next section of this article.
Meantime, to Labour, I—who in my youth was engaged in manual toil, who have always worked and still work for far more than 8 hours a day, and who am forced to believe that the working man has been a miserable sinner towards himself—would say:—Wear your follies loosely like your clothes, not like your skin; as you will have to change them for wisdoms from time to time; and believe me that although this article may seem like a tocsin of war, it is indeed written in the interests of peace.
Further, meantime, to all workers in the cause of promoting our prosperity, I commend, as a supreme basis, The Sovereignty of Wisdom; and, as maxims, not merely " "It's (logged that does it."Omnia Vincit Labor," but, pre-eminently, the Disraelian-Gladstonian precept—
Let us now turn to the Land Tax; especially in relation to large land-holdings.
The Premier, as already quoted in Part I. of this article, has stated (Hansard,
He has, therefore, inaugurated the land tax bursting up policy as a panacea for the exodus.
As, however, I hold it to be a sinister scheme, without any sound basis of reason for its inception, and in its scope and principles, dishonest, and otherwise inherently vicious, and otherwise most impolitic, and otherwise a huge mistake, I now comment fully upon its inception, scope, and principles.
But for an analysis of its details in respect of injustices, inequalities, and anomalies, I cannot do better than commend to my readers a speech made in the House by
Nor do I dwell upon the vicious principle of taxing improvements over £3000; because that is admitted even by the Government to be a serious blot.
Now, first, although, where land is needed for cockatoo settlement, such holdings may possibly be prejudicial to general prosperity, yet a Land Tax, levied in excess of the due proportion of taxes which should be paid by land, is dishonest; because confiscatory in its nature.
Thus Professor Fawcett in his Manual of Polit. Ec. (It would now, however," (the italics are mine) "be an unjust confiscation of property to increase the land tax; such an augmentation of the tax would be paid out only from the rent of landowners, and would therefore be as indefensible as any other impost laid upon one special class." (See also, J. S. Mill's Principles of Polit. Ec.,
Similarly, a tax primarily levied for other than revenue purposes, or even levied with a subsidiary purpose, other than a revenue purpose, is also considered by Professor Fawcett as inherently vicious. (See, for instance, Manual Polit. Ec., et seq., and p. 573; and mark the speech of even the Legislative Councillor chosen by the Government to second the Address-in-Reply; and also note addresses by Mr. M. J. S. McKenzie, and the Hon. Mr. Rolleston.—Hansard,
Such a tax, therefore, as imposes upon large landed estates a levy of 1¾d per acre, in addition to the normal levy (see schedules A and B to the pending Land and Income Assessment Bill), for a purpose avowedly other than revenue, although revenue be one of the purposes, is distinctly confiscatory in its nature, and therefore, distinctly dishonest, and otherwise inherently vicious.
In illustration, it should be remembered that the confiscatory principle of such a tax would not be more true, but would only be glaringly evident, if £1 per acre were substituted for the 1¾d. Indeed, the principle, or, rather, the unprincipled character of the tax, was unblushingly announced by Mr. Rees in the House (Hansard,
Such a tax, therefore, must prove ultimately disastrous to the Colony, even on the ground of patent inherent vice alone. For dishonesty means disaster.
But I fear—worse still—not only that there is patent dishonesty, but covert also. For in turning to the Governor's Speech (Hansard, p. 2, present session) I find the following sentence:—"Moreover, the time seems to be approaching when the immense task of repurchasing parts of the large private estates which now bar settlement in some of the more fertile parts of the colony must be entered upon, and undertaken," etc.
So that, apparently, a bursting-up tax is imposed with the covert intention also of forcing owners to sell to the Government at such low prices as could not otherwise be hoped for; the Government buying, I presume, by means of new State loans obtained for the purpose. Indeed, as I hereinafter point out, who else is there that could be found to buy?
Moreover, the tax is otherwise vicious; for it not only aims to effect its purpose in a sinister manner, but, forsooth, punishes a man for being more industrious and thrifty than his fellow colonists.
I go further, however, and hold that even if such a tax were not dishonest, or otherwise inherently vicious, it must be most impolitic for us, in our present condition of urgent need for yeomen; as a land tax, of whatever nature it is, must tend to deter the immigration we especially require, and dishearten the small farming class that we ought above all others to foster: to say nothing of the proposed graduation being looked upon as most unjust and oppressive by the capitalist class—a class which Labour is most foolishly, but most evidently, resolved to oppress and harass at all costs.
Indeed, to encourage yeoman settlement, I would long, long ago have offered, and would still offer, good land, free of all cost and of all rates and taxes up to a certain acreage, to induce immigration and the settlement of small farmers; subject only to certain residential and cultivation conditions, and to restrictions against mortgaging.
Assuming, however, for the sake of my argument that the proposed tax is not dishonest, or otherwise inherently vicious, or otherwise impolitic, I am convinced that,
But all this assumes premises to exist which are not proved to exist. For it has not been proved (1) that big estates have any connection herewith industrial misery, or general prosperity; and, therefore, it has not been proved that the bursting up—even if effected in a simple straightforward manner—would prevent, or cure, any such misery here, or would promote here general prosperity.
Nor (2) has it been shown that there is a lack of good land now available here for general settlement; both which premises it is, of course, necessary to prove before you can urge that big estates here are causing, or perpetuating, misery, or preventing, or retarding, prosperity.
Indeed, in respect of the first premiss I have already pointed out in "The New Evangel," No. VIII., Part 2 ("The New Zealand Herald," not the effect contended for; as testified, strange to tell, even in the socialistic publication, "The Labour Movement in America," by E. and E. M. Aveling (Swan, Sonnenshein, Lowry, and Co., i.e., America) in which at the same time there is the largest area of land as yet unclaimed, or uncultivated," etc. (See p.p. 15 and
Ergo, it cannot be contended that the existence of such areas available for small settlements, prevent industrial misery, or promote general prosperity, in The United States.
Indeed, not only has no connection been proved between big estates here and industrial misery, or general prosperity, but even Sir George Grey so lately as testified to the protection and sympathy, that owners who have honestly acquired such estates are entitled to—and to the valuable use to the Stale of such properties.
It will be seen that his words go much further, in favour of such estates, than for the purpose of my present argument, there is any need for me to go in this article.
Thus the Hansard reports (they deserve every protection and every sympathy from us. Again, in the same debate (p. 175): "I believe that capitalists are to a certain extent like great lakes in mountain districts, which supply water to streams in time of drought, and are the reservoirs for which the whole of the country, at periods when otherwise it would be a barren waste, is fertilised. I believe that, if you do not allow money to take its true course, and flow into those channels in which it can be used, you will inflict a great injury on the country, and, what is more, you will not succeed in your effort. The money will find its own level. Pass what laws you will, some means will be found of evading, and I think it is unwise to attempt to legislate on such a subject in the direction I understand it is proposed to do."
But the evidence respecting the second premiss is even more startling, and also supplies an additional doubt whether the cry to burst up big estates is not solely, and essentially, a dishonest outburst of malice against landowners and capitalists—because they are so; or distinct evidence of an intention to plunder them by what is, practically, confiscation.
For, notwithstanding the Premier's statements quoted by me at the commencement of this article (Hansard, 21 years' supply: and, of this (1,734,715 acres), 425,000 acres are 1st-class lands, amounting to over forty years' supply — calculating the present yearly average of absorption of 1st-class land in this provincial district to be, as I am officially informed it is, about 10,000 acres. Of course, these lands being in the hands of the Crown, are directly under the Premier's control, and are therefore available to be sold in small areas to suit purchasers.
Indeed, the Premier's Financial Statement, mirabile dictu, admits (Hansard i.e., land still in the hands of the Crown here, and therefore available to be sold in small areas to suit purchasers.
Nor must it be overlooked that these figures do not include fresh supplies periodically accruing from new purchases, or leases available to be made by the Government from the Maoris: and which are contemplated. [See, for instance, the Governor's speech, Hansard,
So that, in a most startling and notorious measure, it is not land that is needed for the population, but population that is needed for the land; and, therefore, to say, as the Premier is reported to have said (see, for instance, Hansard,
Moreover, it is well known that thousands of private owners, large and small, would be only too glad to sell land, in areas to suit purchasers; aye, and in many instances at such a price as, including buildings and other improvements, would be less than its original cost price from the Crown.
Thus, first of all, the premises do not exist; i.e., there is no honest ground for, or honest reason in, any bursting up policy; and second, even if the premises were proved to exist, the cure, like the cry, is (a) sinister and dishonest, and otherwise inherently vicious, and (b) otherwise most impolitic, and must, therefore, eventuate disastrously for the Colony.
Indeed, it is well known to impartial investigators of truth, that the cry comes not from persons who, in good faith, are needing, or seeking, land for settlement; but from agitators, or fanatics, moved by the love of popularity, or gain, or by idiosyncracies, or from those who are inspired with hatred against, or dishonest intentions towards, property owners, because they are property owners: i.e., the cy proceeds from persons who crowd tie cities, and who would not go upon the bet of land if it were given to them for nothing, subject to residential and cultivation conditions.
But the whole Land Tax scheme is otherwise a huge mistake. For our urgent needs, as I have over and over again pointed out, and in this article have already indicate!, are Financial Invigoration (involving restoration of confidence) and increased suitable Population. We are dying of inanition; and therefore need immedide tonics. Consequently, supposing the Laid Tax scheme were the grandest tax project devisable by human ingenuity—instead of being a miserable clap-trap delusion—surey its most ardent advocates would not dafe to assert that its effects will be sufficienty speedy to supply us with either of our urgent needs immediately, or, indeed, for a long, long time hence.
Thus, it can't be conceived that large landholders, however much they might like to do so, can sell, or could sell (except, possibly to the Government at forced sale prices), and thereby break up their estate, forthwith; and that, even if they could, the lands—plus those now available for settlement—could be settled for many many years thereafter: and even then a considerable period must afterwards elapse before settlement could affect materially the general prosperity of the colony.
For (1) the population to settle such lands is not here; and (2) the Colony's insane policy has been for a long time past, and still is, to discourage immigration, as shown by the Premier's recent remark—"My policy is New Zealand for the New Zealanders" (New Zealand Herald,
Indeed, the Premier's reply to the question (see Hansard, immediate settlement can be hoped for. For his reply is reported in Hansard (
So that before the settlement takes place, and before the relief comes for our immediately urgent needs, to save us from dying of inanition, we have to wait for the Premier's yeomen to breed and rear sons, for the purposes of our salvation.
Thus, even apart from the admitted tax upon-improvements blot, and apart from injustices, inequalities, and anomalies in detail, and apart from its having no sound basis of reason for its inception, the whole land tax scheme is, in its scope and principles, so bristling with absurdities, and so profoundly dishonest, and otherwise so inherently vicious, and otherwise so impolitic, that if a veteran philosopher like Sir George did not support it, I could not understand how it could even be arguable for us.
Nor is there even any need of such a tax on revenue grounds.
For, as I have exhaustively shown (see, for instance, "The New Evangel" in "The New Zealand Herald" of very small proportion of the immense retrenchment available were made, the amount estimated to be obtained from the proposed land tax would not be needed; and, if any such amount were needed, a very different tax should, in our present condition, be imposed, as I have fully pointed out in one of my articles upon taxation (see "The New Zealand Herald,"
But I fear to weary; and therefore must postpone my summary of the situation for the concluding section of this article.
Meantime, it may possibly be a comfort for us to remember that truth must eventually prevail—that Providence decrees our future to be in our own hands—that everything has happened, and will happen, in natural sequence—that, as the present Holy Father's motto says, nothing is to be feared unless it be from God—and that (as I wrote on
Erst wägen, dann wagen.
"False ideas may achieve a more or less extended, a more or less durable success—they can never extirpate their God-like assailants. Truth is patient—it does not easily surrender its hold 'on society—it never abandons its purpose—it even exercises some sway over that region where error reigns most despotically."—Guizot, Representative Government,
1852 ed., p. 68.
Let me now summarise my arguments against the Land Tax; and especially in relation to large holdings.
1. As its main primary purpose is avowed to be not revenue, but to burst up big estates, it should, of course, be first proved that big estates have some connection with industrial misery, or general prosperity; which has not been proved.
2. Even supposing that had been proved, it must also, of course, be shewn that there is now a lack of good available land here, and therefore that the existence of big estates is retarding general settlement; which also has not been shown—but the contrary is fact, and well recognised fact.
Thus, first of all, the premises are wanting; and thus there is no honest ground for, or honest reason in, any bursting-up policy.
But even if the premises were proved to exist, and if, therefore, a remedy should be sought for, then—
3. What is proposed, i.e., the land tax, is not a straightforward remedy, but merely a scheme, in its scope and principles dishonest—patently and covertly—and otherwise inherently vicious; because it is in the form of a tax in its nature confiscatory, and
Moreover, it aims to effect its purpose in a sinister manner; and, forsooth, punishes a man for being more industrious, or thrifty, than his fellow colonists.
4. Further, if the tax were not dishonest, or otherwise inherently vicious, it is most impolitic for us, in cur present condition of urgent need of yeomen, to impose a land tax of any kind; i.e., to do anything which might deter such immigration, or which may dishearten small farmers: and of the utmost importance to inspire capitalists with confidence—not to oppress, harass, or frighten them.
5. Moreover, even assuming, for the sake of argument, that such a tax is not dishonest, or otherwise inherently vicious, or otherwise impolitic, it, as a lever to burst up big estates is not only a sinister, but an absurdly clumsy expedient; inasmuch as such bursting up could be effected simply, straightforwardly, and far more effectively by direct prohibitive enactment: under such special circumstances and conditions as might not render such prohibition open to the charges of dishonesty, or other vice, or other impolicy.
6. But the whole Land Tax scheme is otherwise a huge mistake—a miserablo clap-trap delusion. For we are dying of inanition, needing immediate tonics, not purges; which inanition cannot be remedied, and which immediate tonics can't be supplied by any such a tax, even if it were the grandest tax project devisable; because it can't supply our immediately urgent needs—Financial Invigoration (involving restoration of confidence) and increased suitable Population.
Moreover, who (except the Government at forced sale prices) is to buy the big estates, and when bought, where is the population to settle upon them, in addition to the land now available for settlement? because (a) it must take some little time for the Premier's yeomen to breed and rear sufficient sons for the purpose, and (b) because the Colony's insane policy has been for a long time past, and is still, to discourage immigration; and (c) because our legislative acts are not likely to encourage any such population to come. Further, even if such settlement could be made, a considerable time must afterwards elapse before settlement could affect materially the general prosperity of the Colony.
Nor must it be overlooked that if the Government intend to buy the estates in order to retail them, the purchases can only be effected by loans, involving, of course, the annual payment of a huge sura for interest additional to that now paid.
7. Finally, supposing that the main purpose of the Land Tax be revenue, then, as I have exhaustively shown (see, for instance, "The New Zealand Herald," no need for any such a tax; and even if any need existed for any tax in place of the property tax (which, of course, I deny), then a very different tax, in our present condition, should be imposed. (See "The New Evangel," "The New Zealand Herald,"
Thus, the whole Land Tax scheme, apart from the admitted tax-upon-improvements blot, and apart from injustices, inequalities, and anomalies in detail, has no sound basis for its inception; and is, in its scope and principles, bristling with absurdities, profoundly dishonest, otherwise inherently vicious, and otherwise flagrantly impolitic.
Truly, the ideas and pranks of the Premier respecting big estates, and the alienation of Crown lands, are past understanding; not only in view of the facts and arguments that I have adduced, but in view of the connection of the Stout-Vogel Ministry with the grant of the huge area of 2,500,000 acres to the Midland Railway Company, (in which Ministry the Premier was Minister for Lands and Immigration)—to say nothing of the immense quantities of Crown lands sold by the same Ministry for cash, and of their having maintained the property tax through the whole term of office, and of the Meiggs' negotiations. (See also the Premier's speech on the third reading of "The Land and Income Assessment Act," Hansard No. 21, p. 325; and Mr. Fisher's speech on the Land Bill, Hansard, et seq.)
Before, however, leaving this (Land Tax) subject, let me warn those unacquainted with standard writings on political economy against being misled by the misapplication of principles, or by quotations without the context; such, for instance, as the misapplication of the misleading passage that I give below.
For the superficial reader might suppose that the passage in question referred to a "graduated tax on land values," and would naturally presume that it is to be read without qualification; whereas it is patent, even upon the face of the quotation, that the passage has no reference to a "graduated tax on land values," but only to the taxation of unearned increment: and, moreover, is so subsequently qualified by J. S. Mill, that he, evidently, would not apply such a principle here, except in respect of future accruing increment—which, of course, involves entirely different considerations.
A cause which requires such artifices to bolster it up, must indeed be indefensible.
I now append the passage in question; and then add the context, and Mill's qualification—
1st. The passage, as follows, appeared in a letter in "The Auckland Star" of "Now, as to the justice of a graduated tax on land values, Mill thus expresses himself: 'Before leaving the subject of equality of taxation, I must remark that there are cases in which exceptions may be made to it, consistently with that equal justice which is the groundwork of the rule. Suppose that there is a kind of income which constantly tends to increase, without any exertion or sacrifice on the part of the owners; those owners constituting a class in the community whom the natural course of things progressively enriches, consistently with complete passiveness on their own part; in such a case, it would be no violation of the principles on which private property is grounded if the State should appropriate this income of wealth, or part of it, as it arises. This would not properly be taking anything from anybody; it would merely be applying an accession of wealth created by circumstances to the benefit of society, instead of allowing it to become an unearned appen dage to the riches of a particular class.'"
2nd. The context (see Mill's "Principles of Political Economy," "Now this is actually the ease with rents."
It would, however, be most disingenuous for any writer, quoting the sentence, to stop there. For .Mill goes on to say:—
"But, though there could be no question as to the justice of taking the increase of rent, if society had avowedly reserved the right, "For the expectations thus raised, it appears to me that an amply sufficient allowance is made, if the whole increase of income which has accrued during this long period from a mere natural law, without exertion or sacrifice, is held sacred from any peculiar taxation. has not society waived the right, by not exercising it. In England, for example, have not all who bought land for the last century or more, given value, not only for existing income, but for the prospects of increase, under an implied assurance of being only taxed in the same proportion as other income?" &c., &c.From the present date, or any subsequent time at which the Legislature may think fit to assert the principle, I see no objection to deciding that the future increment of rent should be liable to special taxation; in doing which all injustice to the landlords would be obviated, if the present market value of their land were secured to them, since that includes the present value of all future expectations."
Mill, moreover, further says (p. 469):—
"In laying on a general land tax . . . there would be assurance of not touching any increase of income which might be the result of capital expended, or industry exerted by the proprietor."
The italics are mine.
I give the quotations pretty fully, so that it may be known that no colour is given by Mill to the confiscation theories now openly advocated; and which he is quoted as countenancing.
In view of the facts and arguments adduced, it seems almost needless to state that it is beyond my intelligence to realise how the Land Tax scheme can by any possibility benefit Labour, or any other class in the Colony.
But the absence of any sound basis of reason for its inception, and the sinister character of the scheme, and its patent and covert dishonesty, and its other inherent viciousness, and its otherwise grave folly, including its needlessness, are no mysteries to me; but patent, melancholy facts, which must result disastrously for the Colony, and especially for Labour.
Nor can I understand how strikes, or any compulsory statutory acts can permanently aid the working man. For class legislation, whether in the form of unjust land, income or property tax, impositions, or exemptions, unfair charitable aid provisions, protection of local industries, absurd bankruptcy laws, or statutes for the special advantage of Labour, must, as a natural consequence, discourage the main springs of national prosperity; and therefore be not only ruinous to general prosperity, and therefore to individual prosperity, but react disastrously Against the favoured class.
As Disraeli said upon a memorable occasion:—
"It may be in vain now in the midnight of their intoxication, to tell them that there will be an awakening of bitterness; it maybe idle now, in the springtide of their economic frenzy, to warn them that there may be an ebb of trouble. But the dark and inevitable hour will arrive. Then, when their spirit is softened by misfortune, they will recur to those principles that made England great, and which, in our belief, can alone keep England great."
Meantime, no impartial person can read the very able article by one of the leaders of Labour, Mr. H. H. Champion, in "The Nineteenth Century Review' for February last, and the reply in the March number by the Australian labour delegate, Mr. J.
Such are some of the indications that Time, that brings all things, will bring the conviction to Labour that the idols she has worshipped, and the oracles that have deluded her, are not the true ones.
She will also find out, in respect of those leaders, that she must not contrast too strongly the hours of courtship with the years of possession.
It will be interesting to watch the result of the recent laws enacted in The Great Republic for the protection of wage-earners; especially The Weekly Payment Act in New York, and the other cognate enactments there, and in Maryland, Ohio, Virginia, Iowa, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and North Dakota. (See "The Review of Reviews,"
The cure for the exodus is not, not the quack remedies intended to be applied by the Premier, viz., the putting in hand of public relief, i.e., of public plundering, works (see Hansard,
It consists in that we must, as I repeatedly, and alas! in vain urged last year prior to the election, all make common cause, and take an active part, even at this eleventh hour, in first educating aright public opinion; and then in returning such a reform phalanx of representatives to Parliament as will insure fruit, not thorns—general prosperity, not class legislation.
All must be wise men, who will insure the constitutional reforms needed, financial economy (including sweeping retrenchment), fair legislation (involving of course justice for all classes and persons alike), and wealth production.
It is only thus that confidence amongst capitalists can be restored, and immigration promoted: and thus the exodus stopped. For Capital is now so frightened that it can only be reassured by placing in power men whom it can trust.
Indeed, "The Sydney Morning Herald" says (see " "It may be profitless to speculate on what the end of all this will be. That it will frighten capital from investment in the Colony will probably be scarcely questioned by those who are forwarding this legislation. It is obvious that no person having all the rest of the world before him from which to; choose would deliberately invest in real property, whether by purchase or mortgage, or other interest, where, it is plainly declared, such investment will be burthened with exceptional and even prohibitive burthens; and it must be that the party promoting such taxation believe that this capital can be done without, and that their individual interests can be better served by the compulsory expropriation of landowners, and the partition of their lands among the smaller holders. This is the objective point at which such legislation aires, and the results have no doubt been weighed by those who are determined to carry it through. It is a daring venture, such as no other colony has hitherto attempted. It has been generally accepted that imported capital has been the very life-blood of colonial enterprise, and that when it was withdrawn or when doubt or distrust made capital shrink within itself, industries and development and enterprise of every kind languished The party now in power in New Zealand propose to teach a different lesson to the conies; and the colonies will be content to wait and learn."The New Zealand Herald" of
So the "Australasian Insurance and Banking Record" for "Legislation of this character must tend to drive capital away from New Zealand, for, if one impost is made retrospective, what security have debenture-holders that they may not find their interest further clipped? As to the relations between companies and their British debenture-holders, it cannot be believed for an instant that, unless the contract expresses that the debenture interest is subject to New Zealand taxation, the deductions authorised by the New Zealand Government will be made. The English law courts, if appealed to, would have something to say upon the subject which would overthrow the permission given by the New Zealand Government to companies to deduct the tax, "whether coupons tor such interest have been issued with such debentures or not. If the deduction could be made, it would be pro tanto an act of repudiation. In view of the new taxation described it is idle to deny that the principle of repudiation has been recognised in New Zealand. From the attempted taxation of existing debenture-holders in companies by a retrospective provision, to an attempt to tax interest payable to public creditor, the step is easy and consistent."
My facts, arguments, and conclusions are all now before my readers.
It is clear that the cause of the exodus is ignorant apathy, and that its cure is intelligent vigour.
But I have written of all this in full detail, over and over again in "The Political Situation" ("New Zealand Herald,"
The New Zealand Herald" of
In concluding, I can pen nothing more pertinent to the present situation than what I wrote in "The Auckland Star" of November 15 last, just before the election:—
"No, the crisis involving increased suffering, the consciousness of the insidious advance of despair—must first come. "The pudding must yet be found to have fewer plums, and more suet. "As time glides on it will make us wiser and sadder. "Then, but "Then, but "Then, but not till then, we shall, like Bassanio in the play, turn from the specious casket, which contains only the death's head and the fool's head, and fix on the plain leaden chest which contains the treasure. "Then, but "Meantime, I stand alone, but not ashamed, confident that although sound principles may be borne down for a time by senseless clamour, yet that they are strong with the strength and immortal with the immortality of truth; and that, however they may be flouted for the present, they will assuredly find appreciation at no distant date."not till then, we shall realise the folly of ignoring truth.not till then, we shall recognise that the loss of moral sanity must sooner or later entail disintegration and decay.not till then, after the invitable pain and patience, the present angels and demons of the multitude will change places.
Democracy, in its truest principle, is not fulfilling the expectation of its early years. It must be so, so long as we prefer apathy, dishonesty, and humbug to effort, honesty, and truth—a fool's paradise—a paradise of castles in the air—not a paradise of facts.
Indeed, in any event, I fear we have sown in folly too long for our days of sorrow to be yet over; and that a much greater term of suffering must yet transpire before our sin of selfish apathy can be expected to be wiped away.
But, of course, our time of delivery will come; if we meantime cultivate sound judgment and sane action; and, above and beyond all, if we are most careful to lose no opportunity to—
Fling Out the Flag of Truth.
Wilsons and Horton, General Printers, Queen and Wyndham Streets, Auckland
Mr. J. Aitken Connell (candidate for Eden) addressed the Electors of the Mount Eden district in Waite's Hall on Friday evening, July 22. The night was exceedingly inclement, but, despite this fact, some seventy or eighty electors were present.
Mr. R. Udy was called to the chair. He said: I must thank you, gentlemen, for the honour you have conferred on me in asking me to take the chair to night, and, as you have come to hear Mr. Connell, and not me air my views, I will content myself with reading the advertisement convening the meeting, and then ask Mr. Connell to address you. (Mr. Udy then read the advertisement convening the meeting.) Mr. Connell will now occupy your time and attention.
Mr. Connell, who was received with applause, spoke as follows Mr. Chairman and gentlemen,—It is a singular misfortune that appears always to attend me, that when I intend to make a good speech the fates are against me. The weather to night is of such an extraordinary character that I can only feel intensely gratified at so many of you turning out to hear me. I said myself, before leaving home, that to-night I would not attend to hear the Duke of Wellington make a speech Therefore I thank you first of all for your attendance this evening. It is not often, gentlemen, that I speak from notes, but as our business this evening is connected specially with protective duties, I shall be compelled to depart from my custom of speaking entirely extempore. I am here to speak on the subjects of protective duties and the encouragement of native industries, and I shall therefore be obliged to resort to notes for the purpose of giving you a few figures which, I think, you will find suggestive and interesting on those subjects.
Before proceeding to deal with protective duties, however, I shall offer some remarks on the serious nature of the crisis in which we find the colony, and which is of such a character a to have caused me, as an old colonial, the gravest uneasiness. I have seen manynen lately placed in power who have displyed nothing but incapacity and ignoranc in the direction of the legislation and to the public affairs of the colony, and these have now been brought to such a pass that it behoves every man who loves New Zealand to ask himself this question, "What can I do to bring about a better state of affairs?' Although I have always taken an ardent interest in the public affairs of the colony, I have not hitherto been able to see my way to enter the House of Representatives, nor I think, under ordinary circumstances, should I have contemplated doing so now, but the situation is so serious that I have cast overboard every other consideration and jumped into the breach, with the desire to do what I can to bring about a better state of affairs. I do not suppose that. I can do much, but it is my day to offer to do what I can. It has appeared to me that the men who have lately been putting themselves forward as the statesmen of New Zealand are not only incapable but even so ignorant that they do not know the very A B C of political science, making such havoc with legislation, introducing so many visionary schemes and generally so seriously prejudicing the business and c edit of the colony, that I have come to the conclusion that men of business capacity possessing common sense and a decent education, are the class of persons which we must seek to choose our new Legislature from, and that we must have a large infusion of sounder and better blood than is to be found in the members of the present Government, or indeed of any other party.
Now, gentlemen, in coming to this important subject of protective duties, permit me to say that it has always been my habit and custom, when I am approaching any subject of large concern, to look first of all at the
When we look at the shipping trade of the two colonies we find that the tonnage in and out in Victoria in
In order to find out which of the two populations is living under the easier conditions, we turn to the consumption of luxuries, and we find that the consumption of these per head is much greater in New South Wales than in Victoria in all the following articles: Tea, sugar, currants and raisins, spirits, beer, and particularly tobacco, which latter article affords us a very curious illustration. In Victoria the consumption of tobacco per head was only 35½
ad valorem tariff. I need not trouble you with the very large amount of information which is published in my letters to the "New Zealand Herald," written shortly after I made these discoveries in March last. But, as I have told you, the value of the articles manufactured by the protected operatives was £2,116,785, and taking the average of duty on these goods as 15 per cent, ad valorem, we find that this protection results in an annual loss of £276,102 to the revenue. You will observe that this loss of a quarter of a million sterling to the revenue means that the settlers of the colony have had to pay that amount in order to protect the 7931 operatives, being an average of £34 16s 3d per head. Now, I want you to exercise your minds and to try and realise what this means Put it in this way. Suppose you and I are free operatives or free men standing on our two feet in this beautiful colony, and that somehow I am able to make enough with my two hands to live upon. You do not hear me say to you, "Give me £34 16s 3d every year to enable me to live." (Laughter.) You would think me insane if I did so. If I were insane enough to do so you would say, "No; I have got enough difficulty to live myself. You had better find work and live by your own exertions." Or suppose that were we all engaged in those enterprises which all real colonists engage in to earn a living, and that 7931 men came in ships to our shores and said, "Now, look here, you are paying for your coats at the rate of £1 apiece, and for other things in proportion. We are going to propose great advantage to you. We want you
But, I am going to show you many ways of encouraging native industries which are not flying in the face of common sense or of the laws of nature, but are rather in conformity with both I lay it down as a sound principle that every country should produce, and can only profitably produce, those things for the product of which it has special advantages If another country has a greater advantage than ourselves for producing a certain article, it is wisdom on our part rather to cease production of it and give in exchange for it other things that we can produce more advantageously. If we look at this magnificent colony—for I say it is the most magnificent country in the world (applause)—what do we see? I am not one of your croakers who are inclined to sited own and shed tears over the position of the colony I do not intend to follow the example of these men who are whining about our prospects. We have a population which is not equaled by any other population in the world, and we have a climate not equalled by any other climate in the world Our soil for productiveness is not to be equalled anywhere. We have, too, the most valuable minerals in the world, and if, with all these advantages in our favour, we cannot make a living in it, we should be shot through the head as hopeless incapables, and he sooner we are shot the better. (Laughter and applause) We have grand forces in this country, both in the way of natural resources and a magnificent population, but we want high intelligence to direct them. We want knowledge how to take advantage of our enormous resources, and how to turn them to the best account. I will show you industries that do want encouragement, and to encourage which will prove a source of profit and of power to us. Take one. There are the minerals of New Zealand. In the Coromandel peninsula alone we have a
If I am returned to Parliament, my effect should be to encourage and develop or true native industries, and that in a fashion different altogether from that which has hitherto been tried. (Loud applause.) Evn at present we can take the rough ore ad send it to England to be treated scientically in the old country with profit. Its an absolute disgrace to the public men of
Why do we not take up the production of olive oil? We might have millions made by the production of olive oil, in the province of Auckland. But it is a difficult thing to introduce. It is all very well to tell you that you can make a lot of money by the growing of olives. It is all very well to publish a little information about this or that, but those who see below the surface find out how difficult it is to change the habits of the people. The Englishman derives his habits from a long ancestry, and it is very difficult to get him out of the grooves of his agriculture. Although this part of the colony is not so well adapted for rye, oats, wheat, as for other products, yet the settlers stick to these products and will not attempt anything new. The reason is that they cannot, for you cannot shove into a man ideas which he has never understood, nor can you change his habits easily. But if he sees the thing done before his eyes—sees the profits made in other directions — then it is quite another story. You will then bring to bear upon him arguments that he cannot resist, and in this way you will change the habits of the people. If there was in this colony, as there should be, a Minister of Agriculture, and I had command of the portfolio, I should press the House to grant me a sum of money tor experiments in olive culture and vine growing. I should send home to Europe and bring out men who really understood their business, and demonstrate practically before the very eyes of the people of the colony what our true native industries could, if prosecuted, accomplish. I say in regard to olive culture and wine growing, that there is not the slightest use in talking to Hodge. (Laughter.) I do not mean Billy Hodge. (Renewed laughter.) I mean the typical Hodge of England and of the colonies. It is no use talking to him, and telling him what he can do with olives, or that he can produce a large cask of wine more profitably than bags of wheat. He has no knowledge of these things and properly enough declines to try them. But you could go and bring out to the country the men who have the knowledge and ask them to give us ocular demonstration. A little money might be spent in a way that would be advantageous to the province of Auckland and to the colony at large upon those industries.
Then take silk. It cannot be produced unless you have mulberry trees. It would be a very simple thing to give a bonus for a few years for the settlers to plant mulberry trees. In a few years you might have enough food for introducing silkworms to New Zealand on a large scale. We talk a great deal about silk, but we do not move a finger to do anything practical. Take beetroot. It is difficult to get our farmers to try new products and new methods, but by showing them the commercial success that would attend this industry we might have a large manufacture of beet sugar in New Zealand. There are other industries that might be enumerated. For instance, in the southern part of the colony, which I know the best, there is no portion of the world which can grow potatoes like those produced in the district around Oamaru and from there to Kakanui. I have seen them sold as low as 25s a ton, and from the potatoes grown there, we might make all the starch that is needed in the world, if we had only intelligence brought to bear, and things gone about in a proper way. That would not be by imposing protective duties. I would put the thing plainly. I would seek, in suitable cases, to demonstrate by experiment that the thing could be done, and done well, and for the encouragement of those who embarked in certain industries, where such a course would be properly applicable, I would recommend Parliament to allow five or even ten per cent, for a limited number of years on the capital invested.
Then we should know at once and exactly what we had to pay for them, but with these confounded protective duties, one can never know when they will be taken off. Then take salmon, for I know a great deal about fish and a little about salmon. If the introduction of salmon were gone properly about, and we took no denial of the matter, going in for salmon just as I am going in for the Eden seat (laughter)—determined to succeed—if we bend all our energies to accomplish our purpose, we will have the salmon just in the same way as I am going to have the Eden seat. (Renewed laughter.) I might go on multiplying lines in which, without forfeiting our self-respect as colonial hands, we could go and do good work in this grand colony without turning ourselves into manufacturing slaves, and having the vice, misery and degradation of those towns where men are herded together in factories, a thing which as a colonist I utterly hate to contemplate.
Let us take another subject, for I want tonight to give you a comprehensive idea in a few words of my general views on politics. You will have noticed that I issued to you, at the very start of my campaign, an address in which I stated my political faith. I will just say a few words with regard to some of the more important points on which you may wish information. Before we leave the subject of the land and native industries I will just say a word about railway reform. You will see that I insist upon and intend to ardently support a trial of Vaile's railway system. (Applause.) That system I have studied very carefully, and whilst I am a very cautious man — and a practical man, although I say it yet I am perfectly satisfied that there is a really good prospect of success in applying Vaile's system to the passenger traffic of the railways, and that it must have a trial Even if it did show a loss, that loss at the very outside, even if there were no increase of traffic, and an increase is certain, would not exceed about £22,000 by applying it for twelve months to the Auckland section. Some of the other parts of the colony might say, if we did have a loss, that it was an unfair thing for Auckland to have the advantage of cheap fares at the expense of the colony. But I say "No" for several reasons. It is absolutely necessary, in order to set it at rest, that the experiment must be of a kind to thoroughly test the system in every possible way. In the second place, if any part of the colony has a right to any benefit resulting from the trial of the system, I say it is the part of the colony in which lives the man who discovered the system, and who has spent so many years of his life in advocating it against immense difficulties—that is the district above all others in which it should be tried. (Applause.) Then again, the whole Auckland system of lines is so cut off from other lines, that no other main line offers the same advantages for the purpose of the trial. Here it can be tried without en tailing confusion on any of the traffic of the Main Trunk lines. There is a suggestion which I intend to make with regard to this system if you send me to Wellington, as I fully believe you will. In addition to giving twelve months' trial of the system in Auckland, I would, in order to improve its chances, give to every settler who was induced during the twelve months to build a house outside of Auckland, or to settle on a farm, the right for himself, his wife, and his children, to travel for life on the railway at Vaile's rates. That will at once show whether that system will encourage, as Mr Vaile contends it will, and as I believe it will, people to build in the suburbs, and farmers to take up land further away. And the loss to the country would be nil, for you will find that the additional traffic induced by Vaile's rates will go to make up additional revenue, because people will be encouraged to build in the country who would not do so but for that system. It is a reasonable suggestion, and commends itself to my mind, and will give Mr Vaile something like a fair chance, because we want to see, not what his system will do for a year if applied under unfair conditions, but what it will do if we adopt it altogether.
Now, with regard to retrenchment, it is a very difficult subject, for when you come to cross-examine me you will have to leave on one side questions as to the particular items of retrenchment I will support. I have distinctly made up my mind in connection with this election, that for me to do you any true service whatever, it will be wise not to actually pledge myself to specific items of retrenchment, nor to promise positively to vote for any special particular thing. If I did the result would be that I should go to Wellington with both my hands tied, and I might find that I had hastily and stupidly promised you something which on careful examination I should perceive to be disadvantageous to the colony. I declare to you, gentlemen, that I will never tell you anything which I do not believe, and I trust you will see that I am a man to keep my word. If you come to the conclusion that I am a trustworthy and able representative you will send me to Parliament. If you should say that you do not want me to go in that way, but you must have a man who promises this and that, then you will send
With regard to this important question of the increase of the taxation of the country I will read to you what appeared on the subject in my published address (reads): A vigorous opposition to all increase in the aggregate of the taxation of the colony until every other possible expedient has been exhausted. More particularly to the imposition of any additional taxation usually termed protective duties." Now, that is exactly the position I take up. I never make promises unless I know I can perform them, and I am not quite sure that it is possible to avoid additional taxation. I believe myself that most likely we shall be able to do it. I shall strive ardently to make both ends meet, without levying a sixpence of additional taxation, but I cannot place myself in a ridiculous and improper position by pledging myself to a course which it may be found impossible to carry out. The form which the legislation of the country has taken of late years, has inevitably entailed a large increase in the taxation of the colony, and until defective legislation is attacked and remedied it will be impossible to reduce expenditure beyond a certain point. Take the Education Act. It is framed on certain line.; it provides for certain officers, boards, &c.. and for certain things to be done which all involve expenditure on certain lines, and we cannot touch it until we approach it on a sound practical basis. That can be only done by legislation. This is only one out of many things. It is impossible to attack that vast mass in a single session, and therefore the reduction of expenditure to the lowest point cannot be achieved in one session. It may take two or three. As regards the Civil Service, as a matter of fact the salaries of the New Zealand civil servants are upon the whole less than those of officers in the other colonies of the same standing, but as a temporary measure, and in order to secure immediate retrenchment, which the country demands, I consider that from the Governor downwards, including the Ministers of the Crown and members of the House, there should be a substantial reduction in all emoluments—say, a reduction of ten per cent. There are many other large immediate savings which could be made by a Government determined upon retrenchment, but the permanent and most important reductions require heavy work in the nature of amended legislation, which, as I have said, necessarily takes considerable time.
Now I will give you another instance. There is the position of the land policy of
Star the other day, in which he states that Mr Connell is indeed a stranger in Auckland, but that if he wants a seat he could more easily gain that honour in Otago. Now, in reference to this question of land settlement, I wish you to mark that if you send me to Parliament it will be one of my first objects to endeavour to get rid of a lot of ignorant newspaper editors like Ballance, and lawyers like Stout—men who have got a lot of dangerous ideas into their heads, and who know as little about land as that candlestick. It is men like these who have made a mess of the legislation of the colony. But the moment we have got true colonists into power you will see a very different Act from the one you have now got. You may imagine the utter incapacity of these men when I tell you that at this moment the magnificent land revenue of New Zealand is absolutely and utterly thrown away. The mere expense of administering the Land and Survey Departments has more than eaten up the whole of the land revenue of New Zealand. I ask you, are you desirous of our affairs being placed in the hands of practical men, or are you content to allow this mismanagement of the country to be continued under the theoretical ideas of a lot of men who know nothing about the practical settlement and work of the colony?
With regard to the subject of the native land laws, I do not know that I need trespass much on your time tonight, as I propose to devote a special evening to the treatment of that subject, which is one of very great importance an importance scarcely realised by those who do not understand the state of the law affecting the aboriginal population. It has caused me the gravest anxiety for the fate of the North Island. The manner in which these aboriginals are pampered up by Stout and Ballance, making of them a kind of black aristocracy, is perfectly ridiculous. Why, at this moment not one of them need pay his debts unless he likes, while the white man must. The white man is placed under the heel of the Maori. It is a disgraceful state of things, and, if returned to Parliament, I will do what in me lies to put things on a better footing. (Applause.)
With regard to the borrowing policy of the colony, the words of my election address are:—"The curtailment of the borrowing policy, with a view to its total abolition at the earliest practicable date." It is impossible for us in a moment to cease the construction of the lines of railway which have nearly reached the paying point, but I shall determinedly oppose one sixpence being spent, either in the province of Auckland, or in Otago or elsewhere, upon railways which we cannot afford. You have all heard of the great Otago Central line. I happen to know every inch of the country traversed by that. Otago Central line. I am an old surveyor, and I have had my theodolite on the top of every mountain that commands a view of any part of the country to be tapped by that line, and I know the elevation of every plain that is near it. I was in Otago when that line was projected, and when, five, six, or seven yean ago, they got up a great demonstration in Dunedin—my own town—for the vigorous prosecution of it. I went on the platforn to oppose it, and I was the only man in Dunedin who dared to raise a voice against the Otago Central. I won't say that I was mobbed, but I was derided as a rash individual, and as a man who was prepared to foul his own nest. However, I maintained that the line ought not to be carried beyond the Taieri lake and that there operations ought to cease for the next 20 or 25 years. The report of my speech was not all put in the newspapers. It did not suit them. I toll them the elevations of these plains—Maniototo and others, showed them that the greater part of the land was not suitable for cereals, and positively declared that the Otago Central would not be a paying line it were carried out as proposed, close to Lake Hawea. I still oppose it going past the Taieri lake. Similarly, I do not intend to promise you a single sixpence being spent in the Eden district. I shall oppose thin kind of expenditure just as much in Auckland as in Otago, and in Otago just as much as in Auckland. We cannot afford that kind of thing. We have been driving four-in hand with expenditure in all our districts
With regard to education, I may say at once that I am an ardent believer in education and I go the length of saying, that of all our branches of education, I will never touch the universities. My theory is that the university is the salvation of a country. We must have men able to go below the surface, and to tell us in times like these where the truth lies, and we cannot do that unless we have well educated men trained in our universities. We must have efficient moans of transmitting and preserving knowledge. Our secondary schools might be made more efficient than they are, and might be reduced to uniformity, the same as the primary schools They ought to be put on a sound basis, a uniform basis like the primary schools, and I think the giving scholarships to the best and most promising pupils of the primary schools might be continued and extended. I should also increase the number of secondary school pupils by admitting free such persons as the sons of clergymen who can ill afford the expense. I would never consent to shut up the secondary schools. With regard to the primary schools, I do not believe in impairing their efficiency. If parents can allow their children to stay at school until they pass the fifth or sixth standards, it is to the advantage of the colony to allow them to do so. The cost wisely falls upon the taxpayer, for if the cost fell upon the parents, in many cases the children would not be educated. The bachelor need not quarrel with the system because he has to contribute a little to the cost of educating other people's children. I know that when I was a bachelor I found it easier by a good deal to live with 10s a week than I have since found it to do with £1,000 a year and a big family. The salvation of every man in the colony depends upon the conservation of the intelligence of the whole population. But, gentlemen, I hold that there is no necessity, particularly in our large towns. I do not say that it is applicable to the country districts, where the number of scholars is small; I do not think it would be at all applicable in such cases; but in the large towns I say it is perfectly ridiculous to provide State nurseries for the large number of very young children who are admitted to our schools. I affirm that we have done quite enough when we allow children who are seven years of age into our public schools, lam well acquainted with physiology as applied to children, and I say that no child would derive any disadvantage from being kept from school, from an educational point of view, while he was a day under seven years of age. I have never had any of my own children taught until they were seven. If this principle were carried out in our largo towns it would relieve the congestion of school accommodation, and enable a saving to be made in expenditure. Then, again, it has occurred to me that we might do something like this: There is no doubt that the making of the consolidated revenue bear the entire weight of education encourages the local bodies to say, "Let us get as much as we can." That is the principle which, at all hazards, we must check. Our object should rather be to try to make them do with as little as can be done with consistently with efficiency, and therefore I think it would be advisable, instead of making the cost of school buildings, etc., fall entirely on the consolidated revenue, we should have a small local rate, which could be collected without expense, by simply adding it to the ordinary municipal or road board rate. Though small, it would be sufficient to check the spirit, that I have alluded to, and would tend to render us more economical.
With regard to this principle of Local Option, gentlemen, I tell you frankly and at once, that I am a staunch teetotaller, though I claim not to be a bigoted teetataller, and I am also a thorough believer in the Local Option principle. I maintain that we have here in cur own district, a strong, distinct feeling on this subject. There is a great deal more in this district sentiment or district feeling, or call it what you may, than some people imagine. Districts become gregarious as districts. We have not only a national feeling and an inter provincial feeling, but also a kind of district feeling. Take our Eden district, tor instance. There is not a single public house in it, and I most earneastly hope that there never will be. (Applause.) I, for one, although l am not formally connected with the temperance organisation, shall use every effort that I can, so that no public house shall ever come into Eden, and I say that it would be an intolerable thing if the people of this district, with that strong local feeling amongst them, should not have full
With regard to politics, I am a loyal adherent to the principles of the good old Liberal party of England. You know that the extreme Radicals or Visionaries, as I have called them, always try to get those on the opposite side of the House from them made out to be Tories, and they attempt to attach this word to them in the hope and with the object of doing them harm. Now I say emphatically that I am the natural opponent of the extreme Radical, because, in my opinion, he is not a practical common sense man, but I say that I am not a greater opponent of the extreme Radical than I am of the Tory. The principles of my life, derived from close study and observation, are the principles of the great historic Liberal party of England and which the Radicals have been utterly false to. Those principles are the preservation and extension of the liberties of the people with a jealous watchfulness over the exercise of the executive power or of the prerogatives of the Crown: not the passing of laws to charge so much for labour, or to hinder any mans freedom of action so long as he does nothing that is injurious to his neighbour. These are the true principles of Liberalism, and to these I shall ever adhere. The party to which I belong is a distinct party in New Zealand. We call ourselves the Commonsense Colonial Party. We embrace within our ranks the real colonials of New Zealand. All the real agriculturists of the country belong to our party. They do not belong to the newspaper editor or lawyer party. I need not say, therefore, that I am a determined opponent of the present Government. If there is any strength in this hand of mine I intend to clap it on the throat of the present Government and assist to cast them out of office.
Mr. Connell resumed his seat amidst great applause.
The Chairman: Gentlemen, you have heard Mr. Connell's address, and as he has stated in his advertisement that he would be prepared to answer questions I shall invite you now to put them one by one.
Mr Archibald: Mr Connell has not stated the amount of public money spent in New South Wales and Victoria.
Mr Connell: In what way? Do you mean upon railways?
Mr Archibald: I mean the whole of the borrowed money spent in each colony.
Mr Connell: Yes, I can give you that. I may mention one fact which will show you pretty well what is being spent by the two colonies upon public works. The aggregate number of miles of railways opened by Victoria in twenty years is 797, while New South Wales in the same time opened 693 miles of railways. An impression has got abroad that New South Wales has made an immense number more railways than Victoria, but this is not the case. She has constructed really less. With regard to money raised on loans and land sales—-(to Mr Archibald:) Will that suit you?
Mr Archibald: Yes.
Mr Connell: The amount from
Another Elector: Did you include minerals amongst the products of the two countries?
Mr Connell: I can tell you that the gold which Victoria produced in 20 years was of the value of £85,819,216, and that during the same period she produced wool to the value of £67.891,880. In those 20 years New South Wales produced gold to a value of only £15,763,365. and wool to a value of £110,530,781, so that the value of the gold and wool raised in Victoria was larger than the value of gold and wool raised in New South Wales. I may tell you that this valuable work from which I quote contains an immense amount of information which, however, I shall not trouble you by reading. It was written by Edward Pulsford, and published in Sydney. I telegraphed over to Sydney for 500 copies of it for the purpose of enabling me to circulate them amongst you gentlemen, 100 copies are here to-night and you can have copies at the published price, sixpence. The work contains a mass of information such as ought to convert you all into ardent free traders.
Mr Archibald: We want to make our own coats and shoes.
Mr Connell: Allow me tell you a story about making your own things. I believe that I may tell you that if I want a thing I am not above making it myself if I cannot do better. In the old days I was once very hard up for a pair of trousers - there were no tailors in those regions where I was living—and I had to start and make myself a pair of "breeks." (Laughter.) I was rather puzzled about it; still as I have said, I am an old colonial, and an old colonial must be prepared for any emergency. I bought the stuff, and my good old mother had taught me how to sew and stitch in view of possible contingencies when I arrived in New Zealand. And so I sewed on with great labour until I found that I had gone wrong by sewing two backs together instead of a back and a front. (Laughter.) So when I was just congratulating myself that I had managed to finish the job I found that they would not go on, and I had to take and rip those trousers up and sew them all over again. Now that is an instance of the consequences of wanting to make our own coats and trousers. It would pay me better to get someone else, who could do it better and cheaper than I myself could, to do the work for me.
Mr Archibald: But the money remained in your pocket.
Mr. Connell: I should just like to say a word about this, for it is just these statements that mislead the working classes. We would need to live a long time here before we could dig up sovereigns or pound notes. It is absolutely absurd to think or say, that by importing these things we send the money out of the country. That is perfectly foolish. You do not send a copper away. You cannot do it in that way. You must give those from whom you purchase abroad, not a something in the shape of a sovereign (that only represents the standard of value), but the man who gives us boots and shoes wants a something in exchange, and what we send in exchange is a bag of flour or something of that sort, which we can produce more easily than make boots. And those who talk of keeping the money in the country, only show their ignorance of the subject they are talking about. (Applause.)
At this stage, written questions began to be handed up to the platform, and Mr. Connell addressed himself to the answering of them.
Question: If you kick out all the bootmakers of Auckland, what will you do for boots?
Mr. Connell: Well, I'll tell you what I do. I went into Stevens's the other morning and said, "Stevens, I want a pair of boots." He replied, "I suppose as the elections are now on you will have a pair of local manufacture?" I said, "No, unless they will suit. I want a light pair, but not so light that they won't keep out the wet and the mud, for I have a lot of electioneering matters to attend to, and besides I am in a hurry. And I must have a nice-looking pair for I have to address the electors." (Laughter.) Oh! Mr. Cranwell, you need not look at these I have on now, for they are not the ones [bought from Stevens. (Renewed laughter.) He produced a pair of local manufacture. I looked at them and said, "No, they won't suit this individual. They are far too heavy." Then he produced an English pair. But they would not suit either. I wanted a pair that would keep out water and mud, that were light and nice, and I did not care where they were made. At last I asked if he had any French boots, and he produced then a pair which happened to suit me exactly. I did not care that (snapping his fingers) who made the boots. As an old colonial hand (laughter) I wanted a boot that pleased me, and I wanted it as cheap as I could get it.
Question: If Mr. Connell is elected would he vote to reduce the Governor's salary to £5000? Answer yes or no.
Mr. Connell: I absolutely refuse to answer yes or no to any question on demand. My opinion of the Governor's salary is that we cannot afford it and that we ought largely to reduce it. I won't pledge myself to reduce it to any particular figure, but it will be reduced if I can manage it, and very considerably too.
Question: If returned to Parliament will you sanction payment of members in the Upper House?
Mr. Connell: I am inclined to think that if we took the salary entirely away a large number of members are not well enough off to do without the salary. I should be in favour of having it cut down very considerably—at the outside say to £100 a year.
Question: If elected would you be in favour of making such reductions in the present railway tariff as would enable settlers to send their produce to town at a reasonable rate?
Mr. Connell: The subject of a goods tariff is a very, very difficult one. My own feeling with regard to a large number of articles, particularly fruit, which at the present time is a bountiful gift of nature to us, but is simply wasted—these articles, I say—things like fruit, vegetables, butter, eggs, and similar products of a perishable nature might be carried at nominal rates, but with regard to heavy traffic, such as grain, etc., I am afraid that anything like heavy reductions would result in such a loss that taxation would have to be imposed to make up the deficiency, and that you would not stand. No one living in New Zealand recognises the importance of cheap rates more than I do. We want, however, sufficient intelligence' brought to bear upon our railways to make them work at the lowest practicable rates.
Question: What would the Frenchman take from us in return for your boots?
Mr Connell: That is a very good question. The Frenchman would certainly get some thing in exchange for his boots. In the first place it is most improbable that we would deal directly with the Frenchman. The transactions might go through a large number of hands. We give in exchange for the cheap nice things that are made for us at a distance some thing of equivalent value. We provide grain, wool, gold, gum. and so on. and these pay for our imports. We may deal with England, which deals with the Frenchman, or we may deal with Australia which deals with England, which in turn deals with the Frenchman, and so it goes to the Frenchman in the end.
Question: Would Mr. Connell kindly explain his views on the currency question?
Mr. Connell: I will decline to do so because I have not sufficiently studied the subject to be master of it to my own satisfaction. I never give opinions on any matter until I think I have mastered it.
Question: Do you not think that the great scarcity of gold has brought things down?
Mr. Connell: Most certainly the appreciation of gold has a good deal to do with low prices, but what is killing us as a community is the fact that we are ignorantly throwing £276,000 a year to protect industries which cannot hold out by their own efforts, and it is now proposed to throw away £500,000 by increased protective duties which yield no no revenue.
Question: Are you in favour of Bible instruction being given in public schools, and if so, whom do you consider the proper person to give such instruction?
Mr. Connell: It was scarcely necessary to ask me that. I am well known as one of the most ardent advocates of the Bible-in-schools that is in New Zealand. There is certainly not a more ardent one. With regard to the persons who should read the Bible, my ideas are these. Passages of Scripture might be selected by the Minister of Education and submitted for the approval of the heads of the Anglican, Presbyterian, and Wesleyan churches, or better probably these might select and the Minister approve, I think most will agree that that would be the easiest manner of selecting the passages of Scripture. When they were selected I will tell you what I would do if I were Minister of Education—(laughter), and more unlikely things have happened (renewed laughter.) I would forward a circular to the teachers of New Zealand, directing their attention to the fact that the Legislature had decided that portions of Scripture should be read in the public schools, and pointing out that the portions selected must be read with reverence and decency. I should add "no comments on the portions read are permitted, and if you should find any inconvenience or difficulty in carrying out the instructions contained in this circular send in your resignation."
An Elector: You will never get the ministers of religion to agree any more than you will the doctors.
Question: What effect would it have on the country schools of the colony if you raise the school ago to seven years?
Mr. Connell: I have already stated that I would not be in favour of raising the school age for the country districts because it might be the means of practically shutting up their schools.
Question: What effect would it have on the community if Mr. Vaile's scheme took people from their occupation?
Mr Connell: I think the effect of the reduced fares would be that everyone would travel a good deal more than they do now. I myself should probably travel ten or twelve times more than I do at present.
Question: What effect for the land-sharks would Vaile's scheme have on the value of the land? Whether would it benefit most the land-owners, or the people settled on the land?
Mr. Connell: The man who goes to-settle on the land ought to be the owner of it.
An Elector: He would have to buy it.
Mr Council: Yes, by paying the market price of the land. The general effect of the adoption of Vaile's scheme would naturally be a rise in the value of country properties, and, without any person having to pay for the increased value, all the people who travel would get the advantage as well as landowners. I am one of those people who are determinedly opposed to this setting of class against class. There is no rich man in New Zealand that can say I ever fawned upon him. I have told them many unpleasant truths. There is no poor man that. I ever oppressed. It is degrading to our public life to see these attempts made to set class against class. I know no such distinctions as rich men and poor men, and I say that it is a weak thing to be envious of a man because he has property. We all should like to have property ourselves, if only we could have it honestly, and this attempt to set all the men in the colony who have little or less against those who have much or more, is abominable. While not a rich man myself, I think this attempt to turn the various classes of the community against each other as enemies, instead of combining all classes as one compact colony, is a disgrace to society, and I never will be a party to it.
The Chairman: I think this (producing a fragment of paper) must be part of the last question—"Would it not be better for them to attend to their work and pay their portion of the loss on its working, if any?"
Mr Connell: I confess that question is not exactly clear to my mind.
An Elector: If Vaile's system were adopted fares would be so cheap that everyone would travel and not work.
Mr Connell: Look here: it is even cheaper than Vaile's system to lie on the sofa and smoke a pipe. But you cannot get your food that way, and no amount of travelling on Vaile's system is going to get your breakfast. (Laughter and applause.)
Question: What is your opinion on Woman's Suffrage?
Mr Connell: My opinion has been already given, that it is devilment. (Laughter.) And allow me to recommend those of you who are married men to have nothing to do with it. I fully stated my views on this question in my address to the women of Auckland.
Question: Do you believe in the Eight Hours Bill?
Mr. Connell: I do not believe in the Eight Hours Bill, it is simply Radical claptrap, and if I can throw every Radical fad out of the House, I will do it.
An Elector: You won't have the chance.
Mr. Connell: Won't I, though?
Question: If a school-teacher were a Free-thinker, is it in your opinion desirable that he should read Scripture to children?
Mr. Connell: I do not care whether the man is a Free-thinker or an Idolator, so long as he is an able man, and does not bring anything immoral into the school, and so long as he reads the Scripture. I believe in the operation of the pure Scripture upon the minds of the children, without explanation of a single word.
Question: What is the state of the country where they grow the olives, in a wages point of view?
Mr. Connell (taking up and opening a book): Well, here is something about olives. Listen to this. [Here Mr Connell read a long extract showing the large profits to be made out of olive culture, with other information bearing upon the subject.] Imagine how a farmer with a lot of children could utilise this industry. It would be nice light employment for the youngsters. Such labour is suitable for them, and I am not one of those who think children should do nothing. All my children do something, and it is the worst thing in the world to keep them idle.
Question: Why should we spend money in fostering olive culture, etc.?
Mr. Connell: Because once we have brought that knowledge to the colony we can start 50,000 people with it, who will make a living without our assistance. We only give them the knowledge by which they will produce great wealth to the country. On the other hand, in the case of those protected industries like boot manufactures, etc., we have to keep giving £34 10s 3d a head to every operative per annum without end.
An Elector: What shall we do with our leather then?
Mr. Connell: Why, export it; send it where it can be manufactured more cheaply.
Question: What is the rate of wages where the silk industry is carried on?
Mr. Connell: The wages are very much lower than in New Zealand. There is something, however, in the atmosphere of New Zealand so favourable to the silkworm that there is not a climate in the world to compete with it in that respect. In France or China, if there is a difference during the twenty four eours of even I think under ten (possibly five) degrees in certain seasons of the year in the temperature, it kills the worm. In New Zealand, however, there may be a difference of forty degrees, and all the worm does is to knock its tail about a little and seem as if he liked it. (Laughter.) In the south of France and in Italy the population of course are very backward, and you may see them in some parts of Europe to this day ploughing the ground by means of an old stick drawn by a bullock. They live in a state of degradation, but if they are able to do well with the silk industry we ought to be able to do better. They have
Mr Archibald: With regard to tea and sugar, are you in favour of duties on tea and sugar, rather than allow exemptions under the Property Tax?
Mr Connell: If there should be any additional taxation required, it is these very two sources I would go for—tea and sugar and the £500 exemption. This principle of saying that the men who have saved money are to be exempted altogether, is unsound. We ought all to be in it.
Mr Cranwell: Would you be in favour of an Income Tax in preference to a Properly Tax?
Mr Connell: Theoretically, I consider the Income Tax preferable to the Property Tax, and even practically, so far as I am concerned, and if the thing could be done by the mere passing of a bill without putting us to any loss, I would be found supporting it. But the position is this: The Property Tax has been imposed by law, and an enormous amount of machinery has been erected and set in motion at very large expense for its working. Now, if you by a sudden turn of the wheel—by some resolution, bring in an Income Tax, that would mean, for the first year, an entire waste of this vast expenditure, and with this loss to make up we should have to face the new tax. But I say we have fifty things to do in Wellington that we shall not be able to undertake for want of time, and therefore, while these other more important things remain to do, I would not replace the Property Tax, although I know it is doing injury. Stout's graduated Property Tax is perfect nonsense. I would rather lower the tax and do away with the exemptions. The tax is ruining the country to my certain knowledge. I have advices in my own office from gentlemen, saying they prefer taking their money away to other places. The effect we will feel very soon.
Mr Shepherd: How would you find employment for the people of the colony?
Mr Connell: I think I have stated my views pretty fully on the wages question to the unemployed. You will shortly see an address of mine to the unemployed which has been upon my business paper every day for five or six days. That address is now completed and in the hands of the printer at the present moment. When it comes out you will see in full my views on the unemployed. They did not give me a fair chance at the Opera House (laughter), to tell them all this. They howled at me with rather strong voices. (Renewed laughter.) I managed to deal with two out of the four classes of the unemployed, and when I had got so far I thought I had had enough of it. (Laughter.) I was dealing with the hardest parts of the subject first, and if they had waited for a little they would have found the rest easier for them. Generally speaking, I recognise that a great deal of distress and trial has fallen upon the working classes by reason of the ridiculous idea that you can keep wages up by resolutions of the unemployed, or by a bill; but you cannot do it. It is by a law of nature that the unemployed are being thrown out every day, and the only cure for it is a fall of wages, which must be recognised as an inevitable necessity. And once that has taken place they will be re absorbed almost immediately, and there will be an immediate tendency again to a rise. In the meantime, a Urge amount of the distress, where it is acute, will be met by the colonists, but as for admitting that the Government is bound to find work for the unemployed, I will never admit it. The unemployed may take this individual and tear him in pieces, but I will never admit it.
Mr. Shepherd: How can you, as a freetrader, account for the fact that the Government of a freetrade colony like New South Wales recently found employment for 300 or 400?
Mr. Connell: It is not my business to justify the New South Wales Government; I have to justify myself. If they do anything: so foolish as to admit the claim of large bodies of the unemployed to work at the expense of the taxpayers, I should question their political sense.
Mr. Shepherd: Can you explain the telegraphed report in to-night's Star that Sir Henry Parkes, at Orange, declared
Mr. Connell: I would agree with Sir Henry Parkes as to the advisability, theoretically, of removing every particle of duty applied to protected articles, such as boots and shoes, clothing, and so on. That is my theory, and what I would do if I were a free man. I will tell you what stops me. It is not because I am afraid of losing your votes, but because I do not think it right. A large number of men have engaged in various industries on the faith of a 15 per cent, duty, and because we find that already too heavy I will never consent to their being raised one per cent. But men have been induced to engage in these artificial industries which were never contemplated by the laws of nature, and therefore I am hindered by my sense of right from getting back all the money I would like to. The duties must be taken off if we can reduce them at all, only very gradually and after considerable notice.
Mr. Shepherd: Though you are a freetrader you would give bonuses of from 5 to 10 per cent?
Mr Connell: There is nothing inconsistent there with free-trade, which merely means that there shall be no tariff restrictions between the commerce of countries, but is is quite competent for us to spend millions if we choose to do so, to find out our best industries.
Mr. Shepherd: Mow do you propose to raise the money to pay these bonuses?
Mr. Connell: I would raise it as part of the ordinary revenue of the country. If you wish me to expound to you all the sources of revenue, I can do it, because I have it are my fingers' ends, but I think the hour is rather late. (Laughter and applause.)
Mr. Shepherd: How do you propose to raise the two millions of revenue which would be lost by throwing open the ports?
Mr. Connell: In the first place, I stated that I did not intend to throw open the ports, and in addition I said that the articles not produced in the country are the articles to be taxed. I would put a tax for revenue purposes on the things we cannot produce in New Zealand, because then every halfpenny of the tax results in revenue, but I absolutely refuse to tax things, making them dearer to me without producing any revenue at all.
Mr Shepherd: And you would raise the price of tea and sugar?
Mr Connell: No. If we submit to a tax of 3d on tea, and 1d on sugar, we raise a quarter of a million sterling on these two lines. You will see the importance of is; And I do not think it would be a serious hardship to any working man in the colony. If tea were 1s 11d instead of 1s 8d, and sugar 3½d instead of 2½d, he would just use a little less, and we would get a quarter of a million, instead of disorganising the country and ruining trade by meddling extensively with the tariff upon a large number of articles. I put this merely as an illustration. I do not think additional taxation ought to be required, but if it is required, I should advocate say a 1d or 1½d on tea, and ½d on sugar, most probably in preference to an increase of property tax or protective duties.
Mr Shepherd: Why should you not prefer putting the tax on clothing, instead of on tea which cannot be manufactured here?
Mr Connell: I will give you an illustration. A man comes up to me with some beautiful cloth of local manufacture, and asks me to patronise him. He tells me that the price of a suit will be £7. I see another man who has English cloth, and who offers to make me a suit of it, also for £7. If they are equally good, nine men out of ten will go at once for the colonial manufacture. With me, if they are exactly the same money and quality, I would always go for the English article, for the simple reason that there is 15 per cent, duty on the English goods, which makes 21s for the suit, and that 21s goes to swell the Government revenue. But, mark you, if I buy the Mosgiel suit, the Government docs not get the 21s, and some fine morning a man bangs at my door and asks me for 21s in the shape of a property tax, or some other tax He says to me, "If you had bought that English suit, 21s would have come to us. We can't do without it, and you must stump up." (Loud applause.)
Mr Shepherd: That is a very good argument of Mr Connell's. At the same time while he says 21s pays duty, the other £5 19s goes out of the country.
Mr Connell: That is paid away.
Mr Shepherd: It goes to England.
Mr Connell: Not at all; that is a total fallacy.
The Chairman: What would become of the man who made the colonial tweed if people like Mr Connell would only buy the English article?
Mr Connell: I will tell you. Instead of shutting himself up in a miserable place weaving tweed, he would go out and grow olives, or follow mining or some other true native industry.
Mr Cranwell: Does your observation not lead you to see that competition reduces prices?
Mr Connell: That is a very favourite argument with manufacturers, but it is not a fact. They always come and say, "Oh, we want just a little encouragement; put on a duty for a few years so that we may get a start." But take cloth; there has been a duty of 15 per cent, on it for ten years past, and I tell you for a positive fact that the profits made in consequence of that
Mr. Cranwell: Are they making the same profits now?
Mr. Connell: They are not making the same gigantic profits, but as I have already said the 15 per cent, duty is still lost to the colony. No man has a right to say to me "Protect me." I would naturally reply to him, "Why should I? Go away and make your own living, and don't come begging to me."
By way of answer to a further question by Mr. Shepherd, Mr. Connell read some interesting extracts on protection as a cure for depression, from a book by George Baden Powell, who, he said, was one of the highest authorities in England on the question of Protection as a cure for depression, particularly as applied to the colonies.
Mr. Connell (to Mr. Shepherd): If you like I will lend you the book. It is worth reading, and would be certain to convert you to sound economical ideas on the subject of protective duties. (Laughter.)
The Chairman: As the questions seem now to have finished, I have two jokes here which I have reserved to the last. I think we may be satisfied with one of them.
The Chairman then turned towards Mr. Connell with a slip of paper in his hand, and read out, "How is the old mane?" (Roars of laughter.)
Mr. Connell: Allow me to say that I reply to that question with the greatest pleasure. The old mare which I have ridden for over eleven years is very jolly, and so am I. (Laughter and applause.)
Mr. Shepherd: I beg to rise to propose a vote of thanks to Mr. Connell for his address. We have all enjoyed it. It was very interesting and instructive, and although I do not agree with Mr. Connell on the points of Protection and Free-trade, still I must admit that he has a good deal of commonsense opinions in his nut. Whether be is elected or not, is a point that will remain for the ballot-box to decide. I do not wish to propose a vote of confidence, as I have no desire that Mr. Connell should go away feeling that the meeting is against him.
Mr Connell: Oh, don't spare me.
Mr. Archibald: I beg to second the resolution. I have had very great pleasure in hearing Mr. Connell to-night. In fact he is a better man than I thought he was, I must confess I cannot, however, agree with his views.
Mr Abbott: Mr Connell has proved himself tonight to be so good a man, that I think he has fully earned our faith and confidence, and I fancy that this will be the result of his contest for Eden. Of course there have been some melancholy scenes associated with Mr Connell's candidature in the past, but I am pretty sure that he will gain your esteem and confidence. I will now test the feeling of this meeting by moving an amendment to the proposed vote of thanks. I therefore beg to move, "That this meeting tenders Mr Connell a vote of thanks and confidence." I Applause.)
Mr B. Carbines: I beg to second the amendment.
The Chairman then called for the usual show of hands and announced the result to be, for the amendment, 18; for the motion, 20. He therefore declared the vote of thanks carried.
Mr Connell: I beg to move a vote of thanks to the Chairman for the impartial and satisfactory manner in which he has carried out his duties.
The vote was passed and the assemblage dispersed.
H. Brett, Star Office, Shortland and Fort-streets, Auckland.
The natural development of the colonies has often engaged the attention of statisticians. There is some difficulty in so grouping the statistics as to show, not merely the growth of the colony, hut the lines along which it has progressed. I propose to show the increase in population, in wealth, and in well-being of New Zealand, and also to point out how colonization has advanced in these Islands. Twenty years is a fair period to take for purposes of comparison and contrast. It is especially suitable in the case of New Zealand, as, twenty years ago, the gold fever had begun to cool, and colonists were looking for other sources than gold-mines for the production of wealth.
It would be out of place to sketch the earlier progress of the colony, but it may be here briefly stated that New Zealand has passed through what might be termed distinct economic eras. In the earliest days it was looked upon as the seat of the whale-fishery in the Pacific, and in its harbours were to be found whalers from America, from Tasmania, from New South Wales, and from England, all prosecuting their calling. Shortly after the whale-fishing came pushing traders, who bartered goods with the Maoris, and usually looked upon Sydney as their head-quarters. Then there were in these periods the planting of missions, and the beginning by the Maoris of a rude form of agriculture. The next economic era saw New Zealand, from the small settlements that had been founded by the New Zealand Company and various associations, rapidly produce
Pastoral pursuits also became of importance. At the same time as the goldfields of Victoria were started, enterprising colonists from Australia visited New Zealand, and took up large areas of waste lands of the Crown, mostly in the South Island, for pastoral purposes. This might fairly be termed the pastoral era.
Then came the opening of the goldfields in Otago in
I propose to view the progress that New Zealand has made, under the following heads:—
To begin first with the population, New Zealand had a population, at the end of
As to the religions of the people, the census of
There can hardly be said to he any place noted for a particular religious belief. The original constitution of
Canterbury was Anglican; of Otago and Southland, Presbyterian; and of New Plymouth, Nonconformist: but that has been altered by the subsequent colonization of the country. There is, however, a larger proportion of Presbyterians in Otago and Southland than in any other part of the colony, and in Canterbury perhaps there is a larger proportion of Anglicans.
In
The test of the popularity of the churches can hardly be determined by the number of marriages performed by the clergymen. The Anglican Church still insists upon marriages being in the church, and so does the Roman Catholic, while the Presbyterian body allow their clergymen to perform the marriage ceremony in private houses. Marriages are also performed by Registrars, and these have, in late years, greatly increased. It may be noted that in
Still, dealing with the population of the colony, it may
The marriage-rate is the lowest in all the Australasian Colonies. In the other colonics the rates were as follows for
The deaths recorded were 5,740, the rate being 10.39 per 1,000 of the mean population. Only once in the twenty years has the rate been so low—viz., 10.13 per 1,000 in
The death-rate in New Zealand is considerably below that of the other Australasian Colonies, and much lower than in England, the rates for the last eight years being as follows:—
The occupations of the population show the different avenues in which people are now seeking employment:—
I now come to the education of the people, and that may be tested in two or three ways. In arriving at the education of the people by an enumeration of those who are returned as able to read, or to read and write, we are apt to be misled by the statistics. First, the ages of the population have to be considered. It is impossible to make a correct comparison, as the census returns of
If the ages were tabulated—if those under and over fifteen were taken in the two years—the proportions would be:—
The reason why there was such a high percentage of those who could read and write in
This state of things has been greatly changed during twenty years. The family-life has grown, and the numbers of young people relatively to old have increased, as the following table will show:—
The most satisfactory thing in the statistics is the fact recorded that our young people are more advanced than their elders in education. This will be seen when it is stated that, of persons between 15 and 20 years of age, 97.48 per cent, were able to both read and write. After 20 years of age there is a slight decrease. Between 20 and 25 it was 96.75, and so on:—
The test by the number of those who married and were able to sign the register can be seen by the following proportions in every 100 marriages of those who signed by marks:—
It will be noticed that there has been a gradual decrease of those who cannot write their names in the marriage register.
In
In
The total expenditure on education was as follows:—
These amounts did not include school fees, nor, in Otago, the school rates: the sums are merely the votes and expenditure out of the general provincial revenue.
The provision for secondary education, even so far back as
We have now also a New Zealand University, which is purely an examining body; it confers degrees, but it has no teachers in its employment. The teaching part of the University work is done by affiliated institutions. At present they are as follows: The Otago University at Dunedin, the Canterbury College in Christchurch, the Auckland Uni-
The expenditure on University education in
The expenditure on secondary education was £71,517: the attendance being—roll number, 2,577; daily average, 2,351.
The expenditure on primary education was £363,316, inclusive of £49,679 on buildings: the attendance being—roll number, 96,840; daily average, 75,391.
The morals of the people are usually tested in the following ways: (1) By the amount of police protection they require; (2) by the criminals sentenced in the Courts; and (3) by the number of illegitimate births. In
The other test is the number of offenders found guilty in the Courts. Crimes may be classed under two heads: what may be termed petty offences, and grave offences—offences dealt with by Magistrates and by the Supreme Court. A Magistrate can only deal with simple assaults and petty larcenies, breaches of by-laws, and other mere police offences; whilst the Supreme Court deals with graver questions of theft, and all the higher crimes, felonies, and misdemeanours. Taking the statistics of the two years, it will be seen that in
There has been a gradual decrease in the number of offences against the person. There were only 871 in
Including offences dealt with summarily, and also in the higher Courts, compared with the other colonies New Zealand stands the lowest in the criminal record, being, for offences against the person and against property, 3.71 per 1,000, whilst in Victoria there were 3.86; South Australia,
The children committed under the industrial-school system are of three classes: Children who themselves have done wrong, children who were in destitute circumstances, or whose parents have either done wrong or neglected them. The total number committed under the Act in
It may also be noticed that, though crime has decreased, a great number of those who are in our gaols are what may be termed "habitual criminals" or "habitual drunkards." In
The low percentage of the New Zealand born population is, no doubt, partially accounted for by the fact of all the young children having been born in the colony. At the same time it is believed that the people in the colony are, compared with the people born elsewhere, less criminal. This, no doubt, may be accounted for by education, by surroundings, and by greater material comfort. As to illegitimacy—the third test that is applied to the morals of a community—the following are the statistics: The number of illegitimate births registered in
There seems, however, to be an increase of illegitimate births in New Zealand as the colony grows older, and as the population gets more dense in the larger towns. The religions of the prisoners for the year
It will be necessary now to note the provision that has been made during the past twenty years for those things that tend to increase the happiness of the people—providing for their social enjoyment and intellectual life. We have libraries in every village. In Auckland there are a museum and a public library, as well as an art gallery. Wellington has a large library, a very fine museum, and a library of scientific works connected with the Scientific Institute. In Christchurch there is a magnificent museum—better, indeed, than either the one in Melbourne or in Sydney. It has also a large public library. In Dunedin there are a very fine museum and an art society, which holds exhibitions of pictures once a year. Art societies are formed also in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch. There are a University library, an Otago Institute library, principally for scientific works, and a large athenaeum library—all in Dunedin. Invereargill has a handsome athenaeum building. A test of the desire for information amongst colonists may be obtained by a comparison of the newspapers published in New Zealand, and the books and literature imported, as well as the newspapers posted. The value of books imported in
The trade of the colony has undergone many changes in twenty years. The character of the shipping has been entirely altered. Up to
The number of ships and tonnage do not seem to have so largely increased, considering our exports and other
In
The shipping outwards consisted of 872 vessels, of 534,242 tons, viz.:—
One thing these tables show is that our English ships had, after landing their goods, to go to Australia, "to Guam," to South America, or elsewhere, seeking freight; now our exports are so near our imports that we can send our vessels away loaded and not in ballast.
In
In
It may be well to give a table showing the exports and imports during the last twenty years, and earlier (see table in Appendix No. 1).
It will be observed that the imports have not increased so largely as might have been expected; but this can easily be explained: First, local manufactures have wonderfully increased; and, second, the price of commodities imported
The increase of our imports and exports will be seen by a diagram (see Appendix No. 3), which has been prepared by Mr. W. N. Blair, Assistant-Engineer-in-Chief of the colony. One observation may be made on the diagram. The imports show a great variation, jumping up to high figures after the discovery of gold and after the beginning of our railway-making in
I intend further on to speak of the development of the manufacturing industries. Bearing on this question, it is interesting to note how the population has increased, especially about the larger centres, since
The countries with which New Zealand is doing trade appear from the following figures, which show the total value of the imports in
This table points out that for a considerable time after the gold rush we depended in no small degree on Australian merchants. Now we import directly, and only get from
In
Attention has also been paid to a kind of mining different to that which existed in
The production of copper, had it not been for its great fall in price, would no doubt have been considerable; but, even with the fall that has taken place, attention is being paid in one or two districts to copper-mining. The utilization of the large quantities of iron-sand in the colony has been often tried, and is still in process of experimentation. The main development during the past twenty years has been in the production of coal. New Zealand is peculiarly situated in reference to coal; there is hardly a district in the colony which has not brown coalmines. Indeed, beginning at the ranges west of Christ-church and going to the Bluff, you can scarcely travel twenty miles without finding a brown coal-mine: the brown coal is distributed over such a large area of the South Island. In the Provincial District of Auckland, too, from the Bay of Islands down to the Waikato, there are large deposits of brown coal, some of a very superior quality; and these have been and are being worked. In the Mokau River there is a large coal deposit, and coal has been reported from the Wanganui River. The produce of the coal-mines in
On the west coast of the Middle Island there are enormous deposits, thousands of acres of carboniferous land, with seams of more than twenty feet in depth, of the finest steam coal in the world. There is also magnificent gas coal at Greymouth. The area of the coalfields of Westport and Grey may be said to amount to 129,000 acres; and, as the great drawback hitherto has been the want of proper harbour accommodation for vessels to take
There is also great probability that attention will be paid to other mineral developments in New Zealand—viz., silver, shale, copper, tin, and other minerals. The region of Collingwood, in the north-west of Nelson, and the whole region of Westland, and the west part of Otago, west of Wakatipu, may be termed mineral regions, which, through their inaccessibility, and being mainly timber-lands, can hardly be said to have been prospected, and the Thames and Te Aroha Districts in Auckland are mineral, with gold, silver, and lead in abundance.
I now come to the pastoral development. It has been mentioned that this cannot now be termed the pastoral era of New Zealand, and yet New Zealand largely depends upon its pastoral productions. In
The agricultural development may be tested in two "ways: (1) by the area of land alienated from the Crown; and (2) by the area brought under cultivation. The area of land alienated in
Then it may be tested by its products. In
Agriculture is now seeking other outlets: orchards are being planted, tobacco is now produced, and linseed is grown.
Treating the forests as a branch of agriculture, it may be noted that the export of timber has largely increased, as the following table, giving the value of the timber exported, will show:—
A Forest Department has just been started, and attention is to be directed to the conserving and properly utilizing of the existing forests, and to the creating of new forests. The area of forest lands is about 20,000,000 acres; and of this area about 9,000,000 acres contain useful timber trees.
A large amount of planting has been done, and 5,804 acres planted have been subsidized or aided by Government; and, in addition to this, in the Lake and Maniototo Counties large quantities of trees are raised for distribution in the treeless districts of Otago. There have been almost no manufactures of forest products, save timberware; a little charcoal has been produced, but it is so small as not worth recording. The same danger that has threatened other countries in the treatment of the forests has been felt in New Zealand. Valuable forests necessary for the maintenance of an equable climate have been destroyed to make way for the farmer or stock-raiser. It is hoped that the evils that have resulted in other countries from such a course of procedure will be sufficient to ensure attention being paid to tree-planting, and to make forest preservation more popular in the colony than it has yet been.
The manufactures that are first started in a colony are those that are immediately necessary to the colonist in his new surroundings. The bush saw-pit and the blacksmith's forge are the pioneer industries: these are necessary for his house and for the settlement. After them come industries dependent on natural products, which are not so easily obtainable from foreign countries. Soap-boiling from tallow comes early; and after a few years the brewery, even when the malt has to be imported; then tanning leather from hides; but not till a long time after the tannery does the boot factory appear, and the stearine-candle works are quite recent. As New Zealand has magnificent timber, one would expect to find woodware factories early. In reality, however, the cheap timber of America, and even lumber from Norway and the Baltic, were importod up to a late period. At the present time local timbers are being so much utilized that there is little timber imported, and that which we receive is mainly the harder woods of Australia. Fur-
In
I have mentioned that a tannery is an early industry in a colony; we still, however, have to import the finer kinds of leather, and a considerable quantity of ladies' and children's shoes. The imports of leather, boots, shoes, and saddlery in
Gas is required for lighting our towns, and, following the manufacture of gas, we have had manufactories established for the making of gas, lead, and composition-pipes, gas chandeliers, and all kinds of gas fittings. We have several firms also who make all kinds of brass-work, work needed for breweries, distilleries, and other purposes; and these turn out brass-work equal to any that can be imported.
Of recent years some attention has been paid to the export of meat and fish in a preserved state; several companies have been started for this purpose, and it is expected that this year the export of canned fish will be considerable, although still large quantities are imported from America. The export of tinned meat has increased; and, no doubt, with the development of orchards the export of preserved fruit will be soon noted in our Customs returns. Some attention has been paid to the planting of olives and oranges, and in the north of Auckland there will be a considerable amount of tropical and subtropical fruits produced. A little has been done for the rearing of silk-
In our agricultural industries, too, we have seen considerable development during recent years in the production of cheese and butter for export. In
There are other small industries which it may not be necessary to state—brush factories, &c. One sugar refinery has been established in Auckland. Sugar is brought from the Pacific Islands for the purpose of refining, and the refinery is a large and a very complete one. It may be noted that in Auckland there has been a larger development of
The advantage that New Zealand will have in her manufacturing industries are—(1) her climate—she has neither an excess of heat nor cold; (2) her large coal deposits; and (3) never-failing water supplies in almost any part of the colony.
The material well-being of the colonists may be tested in various ways. One test is the increase in wealth. The mere amount of money deposited in banks is no criterion of the increase of wealth, because the wealth of the colony may not be in circulation. It can be shown by the increase in the number of houses, and the different kind of houses now in existence compared with what were in existence in
The value of the personal property in New Zealand that is liable to taxation amounts to £40,000,000; but if the £500 exemption were included the amount would be £53,000,000. The total value of real property held by colonists is £75,000,000; and it is calculated that the
Building societies are very popular, and friendly societies are widely diffused. There are fifteen friendly societies, with 18,818 members, in the colony, with funds amounting to £255,371 16s. 11d.; and there are forty-seven building societies. There are various societies also for lending money, and which receive money on loan and deposit, performing the function, in fact, of a deposit bank. I have not been able to obtain complete statistics of this class, but I estimate the capital invested in these to be £500,000.
As showing also the things that have been done for the material well-being of the people, one may take the length of railways. In
Then, another test of the conveniences of civilized life is the length of telegraph-lines and the number of telephones used. The total number of miles on which telegraphs are laid is 4,264, and the number of miles of wires is 10,474. There are telephone-exchanges in the following cities: Auckland, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch, Oamaru, Dunedin, and Invereargill, and there are telephone-stations in other places. The total number of telephones used is 1,961. The postal and telegraph revenue amounts to €284,245. The number of letters carried in the year
In viâ Port Chalmers and Lyttelton as far as Wellington, from thence returning to Melbourne. In versâ, and almost daily communication with the principal New Zealand ports. In addition, there is a monthly service between Auckland and Fiji; and in the latter colony one of the company's boats plies regularly between the different islands of the group. During the summer months supplementary services are run over all the company's lines, and special excursions are made to the West Coast Sounds. In
There is also now direct fortnightly communication between Great Britain and the colony by the splendid steamers belonging to the New Zealand Shipping Company and the Shaw-Savill and Albion Company.
It may be noticed also that, with the increase in the wealth of the population, the possibilities of living in comfort have been greatly increased in another way. The prices of provisions have fallen since
Then, the number of miles of streets and main roads made is very considerable; in fact, it may be said that throughout the length and breadth of the colony there are roads constructed. Of course, as settlement increases, new roads have to be made; and in the bush districts they are very expensive.
The number of incorporated towns where gas is used is twenty-seven. The number of towns incorporated is sixty-nine, and the number of town districts, which are smaller incorporations, corresponding, in fact, with villages, is forty-nine. The number of miles of postal routes is 527, and the annual number of miles travelled with mails is 3,295,901.
Another test is the amount of money-order work done. The number of money orders has increased from 16,592 in
The revenue of the colony has been considerably augmented:
The expenditure has been increased by the fact that large sums have been borrowed for the prosecution of public works. New Zealand has also been placed in a position different from most other colonies, by having had a large war expenditure. The total public debt is €30,649,099, but, of this amount, large sums have been expended in public works, which are now returning considerable interest. The average interest on all the railways opened for traffic was in
No doubt, as the colony increases in wealth, this rate will be considerably increased.
I might, before concluding, point out what different ideas of well-being people in the colony have had. In the early days, when the settlers first landed, few of them were able to obtain even a weatherboard house—a house of sawn timber, with a brick chimney, was not only a great rarity but almost unknown. They had to live in what were called "whares," or huts made of flax or daub. That era has now passed. Even in the farthest outlying settlements a settler is almost able at once to live in a well-built cottage, and it is not long till he demands all the accessories of civilization—roads, postal services, &c.; and as soon as a small township is started it has its own local organ or newspaper.
As to the future, it is difficult to predict in what particular line development may proceed. I have no doubt
I have attempted in this paper to point out, briefly, what the colony has done in twenty years, believing that, by making such a contrast, people outside the colony especially will be better able to gauge our prospects for the future, and also appreciate what our colonizing efforts have been. Many things that it would have been interesting to notice I have had to omit. I have not touched upon our form of Government nor our mode of Government, nor have I referred to the many things of convenience that we possess, as well as many departures that we have taken both in our legislation and in our govermental administration. To have mentioned all these would have made the paper unnecessarily long.
Note.—The Statistical Department has prepared a series of diagrams showing—
I append these to my notes, believing they will probably more clearly show than the figures I have given the progress of the colony. To some of the diagrams I have not thought it necessary to make any special reference.
Table showing Total Values of Imports and Exports, from the Year
Table showing the Average Prices of Provisions and Live Stock in New Zealand in
The General Arrangement is the same as in the body of the Catalogue.
The Errata are noted in numbers corresponding with those referred to.
And All Additions are numbered consecutively with those of the Province or Country to which they belong.
His Honor the Superintendent of Otago.
Major John Larkins Cheese Richardson, M.H.R., M.P.C., The Honorable the Postmaster General.
Honorary Treasurer: Thomas Dick, Esq.
Honorary Secretary: Alfred Eccles, Esq.
Secretary: H. P. Morse, Esq.
Abbreviations.—Des., Designer or Modeller; Inv., Inventor; Imp., Importer; Pat., Patentee; Manu., Manufacturer; Prod., Producer Poa., Possessor; Del., Artist.
Ireland Brothers, manu.—1 Side Sole Leather, 2 Sides Black
Harness Leather, 1 Side Brown Harness Leather, 1 Side Bridle Harness Leather, 2 Waxed Calf Skins, 2 Kips, 2 Grain Kips, 1 Hogskin, 2 Brown Basils, 2 Sides Brown Bridle Leather, 1 Bag Leather, and 1 6in. Double Mill Belt; 2 Sides Grained Calfskin.
90 Geological, Mineralogical, and Fossil Specimens from North Island, New Zealand.
All the Maori Specimens, i.e. New Zealand, were collected by the exhibitor.
Chairman.—His Honor Mr. Justice Johnston.
Hon. Secretary—J. Woodward, Esq.
See Cereal Court.
For Wool, see Wool Court.
Hohepa Tamaihengia, Ngatitoa Chief at Porirua.—Light Green Stone, 'Mere Pounamu.'
The Native name of this Stone is called 'Taluramon,' and formerly belonged to Ngaitahu tribe. In an engagement between the Ngaitahu and Ngatitoa tribes, 'To Puoho,' a great Chief of the Ngatitoa, and uncle to 'Hohepa Tamaihengia,' took it from a Ngaitahu Native named 'Maru,' whose life 'Te Puoho' saved, but used the Mere in killing some of 'Maru's' people. Another engagement took place at Te Aunui, between the Ngaitahu and Ngatitoas, when 'To Puoho' was killed by a gun-shot, and the Ngaitahu retook the 'Mere Taturamoa'; and several years afterwards 'Haeieroa,' a
Hohepa Tamaihengia, Ngatitoa Chief, at Porirua—The 'Waliaika.' 'Peruperu' is the name of the other long war club, and has been used in many engagements. The canoe and club have been made for more than thirty years. The canoe was made for great chiefs' sons to paddle in at their pleasure.
The mats have been made within the last few years.
Waitaoro.—1 Green Stone, 'Mere Pounamu.'
Green Stone, 'Mere Pounamu.'—The Native name is 'Kokopu.' 'Toheroa' was the owner of this stone, but it was taken from the Ngatiapa tribe by 'Toheroa's' son in an engagement between the Ngatitoa and Ngatiapas. Young 'Tohcroa' requested that the man from whom the 'Mere' was taken should be killed; but old 'Toheroa' interceded, and saved the man's life, and kept him for a slave. It has been used in several engagements: and many a Native has been killed by it. There is a small flaw in it, which was done in breaking a Maori's skull. It has been broken, but cemented together again—therefore requires delicate handling.
The mats have been made within the last few years.
Oriwia 'Te Hurumutu,' daughter of Te Pehi, a great Chief of the Ngatitoa tribe.
Green Stone Mere, Native name, 'Uru.' Belonged to Pehi, one of the great Chiefs of the Ngatitoa tribe, and was presented to him by one of the Chiefs of Ngaitahu Tainaiharanui, as a decoy for him to go into the Pah of Ngaitahu, which he did, and they wilfully murdered him. The Mere was left to Te Hiko O te Rangi, son of Te Pehi, who kept it until his death, and Oriwia, sister to Te Hiki O te Rangi, has it now.
This Mere has been used in several engagements, and many a man's life has been taken with it.
Oriwia 'Te Hurumutu,' daughter of Te Pehi, a great Chief of the Ngatitoa tribe.
Whalebone Mere, bears the name of 'Tupuniorangi.' Was also Pehi's, and has been used in several engagements, it was brought from Waikato, and belonged originally to Te Waharoa, father of the present William Thompson Tarapipipi Te Waharoa, leader of the King Movement. It was taken from Te Waharoa, Chief of the Ngatihana tribe, in an engagement between them and the Ngatitoa tribe, who wore the conquerors. Old Te Waharoa fled to save his life. This Mere has been used to take many a man's life.
The mats have been made within the last, few years.
Wise, A.—Prow of Maori Canoe (old).
This trophy was taken from the Ngatiawas in an engagement upwards of thirty years ago. The broken part on the edge was broken by a collision in a race of war canoes before the whole of the carving had been completed.
Davis, John, Otaki, Wellington.—No 13. Flax, as Prepared for making Fishing Lines.
1 Piece Hinau Bark, used in dying flax.
Davis, John, Otaki, Wellington.—No 14. Flax, as Prepared for Threads for Mats.
1 Coil Tow, being refuse of Flax from the Hacklers, suitable for mattrasses, stuffing sofas, chairs, &c., &c.
Pro. Government, Nelson.—Particulars of Horse Bridge of timber, Amuri, Waiau-ua River. Extreme length of roadway, 320 feet consisting of 32 panels of 10 feet each. Breadth of bridge, 7£ feet; height of roadway from water level, 120 feet; span of arch between main sills, 160 feet; height of main sills above water level, 20 feet; rise of highest floods, about 15 feet; quantity of timber in bridge, 30,550 feet; quantity of ironwork, about 11201bs.
Note.—All the material was prepared at or near Nelson, shipped to Lyttelton, and thence to Saltwater Creek, from where it was carted to the site, a distance of 60 miles. Total cost of bridge, £2,200; or about £'6 18s per lineal foot
21 Webbley, Joseph, Nelson—Cloths, manufactured by exhibibitor from Nelson wools.
Elliott, Charles, Nelson.—"Stud Book," containing Pedigrees of Race Horses from first introduction of the Horse into the Colony, compiled by Exhibitor.
"Haast's Report" of the Topographical and Geological Exploration of the Western District of the Province of Nelson, by Julius Haast, Esq., M.D.
Brittan, W. G., pos.—Specimens of Building Stone from the Halswell Quarries, W. G. Brittan, Esq., Proprietor.
Halswell Quarries are situated about seven miles from Ciristchurch, on the West side of Banks' Peninsula, and will shorty be connected with the town by a branch line of the Little liver Tramway, when stone can be obtained in Christchurch at about 14s per cubic yard. The stone is used extensively for rubble waling. The New Council Chamber and Wesleyan Church are princpally built of it. Quantity unlimited.
Ellis, N. and A., Contractors, Christchurch.—Specimen of Stone from the "Grey Stone Quarries," Banks' Peninsula.
1 Column, Turned and partly Polished, 5 ft 6 inches long.
3 Cubes, Worked in various was. The Quarries are about seven miles from Christchurch, in hilly country. Exists in abundance in dykes about 17 ft wide. It is used for Ashlar work of all kinds, bridge building, steps, sills, heads, pavement, kerbing, rubble, &c., &c. It has been in use in Christchurch for about six years, in nearly all the stone buildings in the town, also for foundations for wooden buildings, and does not seem the least worn or affected by the weather. The greater part of the Bank of Australasia is built of it, also Victoria Bridge, &c., principally as Ashlar. Price at the quarry, 2s 6d per foot cube. Delivered at Christchurch Quay (for shipment) 3s 9d per foot cube. The size at which blocks can be most readily procured is from one to fifteen cubic feet. It is possible to get blocks containing 200 cubic feet.
The Lyttelton and Christchurch Railway was projected in
Under this contract, Messrs. Smith and Knight sunk shafts at each end of the tunnel, and drove trial headings into the hill, but the progress of the work was so slow, and its cost so great, that in
The result of Messrs. Smith and Knight's experiments was certainly very discouraging. The south (afterwards No. 2) shaft was sunk for a great part of its depth through basaltic rock of the hardest description, and the heading traversed the same material. The north (afterwards No. 3) shaft was sunk through more favorable ground, but the heading had not proceeded many yards before the basaltic rock was again struck, and found to extend upwards for a great thickness. Under these circumstances it is not to be wondered at that Messrs. Smith and Knight's agents should have declined to proceed with a contract which appeared likely to prove ruinous to their principals.
The Provincial Engineer, however, took a much more favorable view of the matter; he pointed out that the hill to be bored through consisted of a series of lava streams, dipping at a tolerably regular inclination from the crater at Lyttelton towards the Plains, and that as the tunnel was laid out at a uniform gradient, falling in the opposite direction from the Plains towards Lyttelton, the several lava streams would be intersected in such a way as to give a fair proportion of favorable ground alternating with the hard rock, which, when exposed to view in the neighboring hills, occupied the lower part only of each lava stream.
This opinion was confirmed by the Provincial Geologist, Dr. Julius Haast, who, after a careful geological survey of the Port Hills, made an elaborate report on the subject, containing an approximate estimate of the character of the ground to be passed through, founded on a careful measurement of the thickness and dip of the lava streams exposed to view in the sides of the crater.
Fortified by these professional opinions, the Superintendent of the Province, W. H. Moorhouse, Esq., declined to enter into further negociations with Messrs. Smith and Knight, whose agents accordingly returned to England.
The Provincial Engineer then proposed at once to open out the ends of the tunnel with the labor available in the Colony, and to advertise for tenders for the remainder of the work; but the Provincial Council were unwilling to sanction any expenditure, except upon the guarantee of a definite contract for the whole work—and several months' delay occurred, during which time the trial headings were slowly carried on by the working party sent out by Messrs. Smith and Knight.
In
The plan adopted by the contractors was to mine the whole work from a wide bottom heading.
To expedite the work, three additional shafts were sunk, one close to each front, and one in the clay cutting at the north end of the tunnel, whilst at the same time a gullet was driven up the cutting to meet the heading.
Although the ground proved very wet in places, rendering it necessary to close pole a length of 7 chains through clay and sand, this plan was perfectly successful, and the timbering remained in good order until the commencement of the brick lining, at the end of the following year.
The works were at first carried on under great disadvantages. The Otago gold fever broke out soon after the commencement of the works, and a great number of the men employed left for the new gold field. The profitable nature of the trade between Melbourne and Dunedin made it for a time difficult to induce shipowners to take freight to Canterbury from Melbourne, whence all the plant and material for the work had to be procured, whilst the wreck of one of the mail steamers deranged the postal communications, and lastly, the amount of water met with at the Lyttelton end of the tunnel was so great that the inner heading had to be abandoned until the completion of the drive from the beach gave a natural drainage for the work.
From the date of the opening out of the ends of the tunnel, the work has speedily progressed, although at the Lyttelton end the miners have been much hindered by the amount of water met with, which occasionally pours down from the roof and sides in such quantities as to render it difficult to proceed with the work. At the Heathcote end the amount of water met with is not sufficient to create any serious difficulty beyond the cost of pumping, which is continued day and night without intermission. During the earlier stages of the work, the ventilation was very imperfect, and delay occurred from the necessity of allowing the smoke to clear after blasting before the men could resume their work; this has since been completely remedied by the system of ventilation adopted after the opening of the ends of the tunnel.
The work is carried on by means of a bottom heading, 11 feet square, the top being blown down in two lifts upon a timber stage, through openings in which the waggons are loaded. The ventilation is effected by using the two trial shafts as upcast shafts, an air course being boarded off at the roof of the. tunnel for some distance from the bottom of each shaft.
At the north end the chimney of a forge is let into the shaft, which gives sufficient heat to ensure a steady draft; at the south end a furnace is employed for the same purpose. At both ends the ventilation may be said to be perfect, the smoke clearing away so rapidly that no time is lost by the men after firing.
The south end of the tunnel passes for three chains through a mass of clay and boulders, overlying the solid rock. At the north end the tunnel is excavated for several chains through sandy loam. These portions of the work have been lined with brick work in Portland cement on stone foundations, carried up with large blocks of hard rock from a depth of five feet below rail level, excepting where they rest upon the solid rock.
Both the tunnel fronts ore built of stone, the first stone of the north tunnel front having been laid with great ceremony by Mrs Moorhouse on the
The rock in the interior of the tunnel consists of a series of lava streams and beds of tufa, intersected at intervals by vertical dykes of phonolite. The lava streams generally consist of scoria, overlying a Coarse pink trachyte, which passes with imperceptible gradations through shades of grey, purple, and blue, into a black, finely-grained dolorite, intensely hard and tough: the lightest and softest rock being at the top, and the blackest and densest at the bottom of each lava stream.
The progress made has been very various, but at present averages somewhat more than 22 yards per month at each face. The total distance driven up to the present date is a little over 1800 yards, the greater part of which has been taken out to the full size, except at the Heathcote end, where the floor is for the present kept above the permanent level, for the greater facility thus given of draining the works.
In
The remainder of the line to Christ church is laid out as a single line; but the land has been purchased sufficiently wide to admit of a second line being laid down whenever required by the traffic.
It was at first intended that the portion of the Railway between Christ-church and the Heathcote Valley should not be proceeded with until the tunnel was nearly completed. So many advantages, however, appeared to be offered by the opening of the Railway at an earlier date, that it was determined by the Government to construct at once the line from Christchuren to Heathcote Valley, and to connect it with the navigation by a short branch from the main line to a wharf on the Heathcote River, near the old Heatlcoto Ferry.
The line from Christchurch to Ferrymead, a distance of rather more has four miles, was accordingly put in hand in
The accommodation at the Ferrymead Station comprises a wharf 330 feet long, provided with a steam travelling crane, a steam hoist, and four Derrick cranes; a goods shed, built of timber and corrugated iron; passenger-platform with stone walls, and booking-office; waiting and refreshment rooms, built of timber on brick foundations. Five lines of rails are laid through the Station connected by traversers.
At the Christchurch Station, the accommodation consists of a passenger-platform 300 feet long, with brick walls and stone coping; booking-office, with waiting and refreshment rooms, and Station-master's residence; engine-shed, for two engines, with store-rooms and workshop; tank-house and tank, with reservoir, well supplied from an artesian well, with a small steam-engine to lift the water to the tank; carriage-shed, for four carriages; import-shed, 201 feet long, by 42 feet wide, with offices for the use of the accountant, the Customs Department, and the goods-traffic Manager; guaging-shed, 32 fret by 30 feet, for wines and spirits; and export-shed, 98 feet by 42 feet, for grain and wool.
These buildings have been erected in a substantial manner on brick and stone foundations. The booking-offices are weatherboarded; the other buildings are covered with corrugated iron.
The Christchurch station is furnished with two weighbridges, five cranes, and three traversers. Ample accommodation and yard room are also provided for the coal and timber traffie.
The Custom House and Telegraph Office, built of brick with stone dressings, have recently been erected at the entrance of the Christchurch station.
With some trifling exceptions, the whole of the station works have been constructed by Messrs. Holmes and Co.
The rolling stock comprises two six-wheeled tank engines by Slaughter and Co., two first-class, two second-class and one composite passenger carriages, and seventy trucks.
The line between Christchurch and Ferrymead is being worked by Messrs. Holmes and Co., under a lease for a term of three years, commencing from
The rental being at the rate of—
Upon the cost of the line and rolling stock, with an additional 5 per cent upon its value during the last year of the term, for the depreciation of the latter.
The total amount of traffic carried on the line from
The Provincial Government of Canterbury obtained an Act in
The whole of the works have been carried on from their commencement under the management of the late Provincial Engineer, Mr Edward Dobson, who has recently resigned the management of the Public Works, in order to be able to give his undivided attention to the tunnel.
Specimen of Permanent Way as laid down between Ferrymead and Christchurch Stations:—
Exhibited by Messrs G. Holmes and Co.
The above exhibited by E. Dobson, C.E., Engineer of the Lyttelton and Christchurch Railwar.
Plan of Christchurch and its neighborhood, with a Report made to the Municipal Council of Christchurch on the Drainage of the City.—Exhibited by E, Dobson. C.E.
No provision has yet been made for the drainage of the town of Christ church, beyond forming side gutters in the leading streets. The use of cesspools is disallowed by the City Council, and the closets are furnished with metal soil-pans, which are emptied periodically.
The water supply is abundant, and is derived chiefly from artesian wells, sunk to a depth of about 60 feet below high-water mark, the water rising to a tolerably uniform height of about 24 feet above high water.
The object aimed at in the plan here exhibited has been to provide an improved outlet for the surface drainage of the south-east portion of the town, which is low and swampy; and to carry the house drainage and sewerage of the city into the Avon and Heathcote Rivers, by a system of pipe sewers, discharging their contents below the town, and flushed from the artesian wells through the water-closets, the rainfall being carried off by the open street gutters, without entering the pipe drains.
This quarry was opened early in
The stone forms a vertical dyke or reef, about 20 feet in thickness, which appears to extend nearly in a straight direction for several miles; although, on account of its position, there are but few points at which it could be profitably worked.
At Mr Thompson's quarry, the reef rises out of the steep hill side like a wall, to the height of about 30 feet, this extent of face giving unusual facilities of working the quarry; whilst the manner in which the stone thus exposed has resisted for centuries the attacks of the weather, is a test of its durability.
The stone is at present carted from the quarry into Christchurch, a distance of five miles, along a well-metalled road; but on the completion of the Lyttelton and Christchurch Railway, it will probably be worth while to connect the quarry with the Railway by a tramway about a mile in length, so as to bring it into direct communication by rail with the capital.
The quarry workings are situated on a steep, rocky hill side, at a great height above the public road; the stone being lowered in trucks down an inclined tramway, the loaded truck in its descent drawing up the empty one.
The ordinary plan of a double road was inapplicable in the present case, as the nature of the ground did not admit of a sufficiently wide track being levelled, except at a very great cost; the same line is therefore travelled by the ascending and descending trucks, having a turnout in the centre furnished with a crossing point of peculiar construction, which causes the rope to fall into a groove, to allow trucks to pass over without touching it. No switches are required, the junctions being constructed with cast-iron plates, which guide the wheels of the meeting truck into the left hand road, whilst those of the passing truck rise over the crossing rail by an inclined plane. The tramway is formed with wooden rails, keyed into stone blocks. Through the turnout, the rails are bolted down to wooden sleepers, and the curves are protected with wrought-iron cage rails screwed to the wooden rails. This construction forms a very strong and secure road at a moderate cost, and, for sharp curves, is superior to the ordinary contractor's rail, with only half the weight of iron.
Blocks of any size, up to 15 feet in length, can be obtained if required; but there has as yet been little demand for very large sizes.
The stone has been used in the buildings at the Railway Terminus in Christchurch; at the new Custom House; the College Buildings; and in many private erections; and the owner has recently taken a contract to supply the whole of the stone required for the foundations for that part of the Cathedral about to be commenced. The present selling price at the quarry is—for blocks seappled to dimensions not exceeding the ordinary sizes, two shillings per cubic foot; for rubble, six shillings per cubic yard.
Drawings, showing the construction of the tramway.
The above exhibited by E. Dobson, C.E., under whose directions the tramway has been constructed.
The above exhibited by Mr John Anderson, of Christchurch, from whom the castings may be obtained.
Nine Specimens of stone, numbered respectively 1, 2, and 3, exhibited by Mr Fred. Thompson, of Christchurch, owner of the "Bridle Path Quarry."
Photograph of the Iron Swing Bridge over the River Heathcote on the Line of the (Sumner) Road, Canterbury.
This Bridge was built for the Government by Messrs George Holmes and Co., from a design by Mr E. Dobson, late Provincial Engineer of the Canterbury Province. It has two openings of 31 feet each. The bridge can be readily opened for the passage of vessels by a single person m 33 seconds.
The cost of the work, including the approaches, was between five and six thousand pounds. The bridge was opened for traffic,
The tolls are let at the rate of £900 per annum.
Exhibited by E. Dobson, C.E.
Wilkinson, T. M., Princes-st., Dunedin.—Drugs and Chemicals, consisting of various Barks, Gums and Roots, imported by T. M. W.
Specimens of Crystals and Minerals, Perfumery, manfactured by T. M. W.
Alpenny, Mrs., Princes-st., Dunedin, pos.—One Kneading Machine, One Spinning Wheel, such as used in Scotland for Wool and Flax.
Reels and Cards for same.
Paterson, T., C.E., for the Provincial Government.—Mdel of Bridge over River Clutha, at Cromwell Township, Kawarau Juction, on line of the Main Road from Dunedin to the Lake and Western districts of Otago. Bridge designed by T. Paterson, C.E.
Modelled by Paul Thomas, Dunedin. Scale of model haf inch to the foot.
Piers and Abutments built of Ashlar Masonry, set in Cment. Main Girders of Baltic and American Timber. Bracing and banking principally of Native Timber. Bridge designed of subcient strength to be available for Railway traffic, if necessary.
Peterson, T., C.E., for the Provincial Government—Model of Gentle Annie Bridge, on Main Road from Dunedin to the Lake and Western Districts of Otago. Bridge designed by T. Paterson, C.E., Modelled by Paul Thomas, Dunedin. Scale of Model 1-24th or half inch = 1 toot. Total length, 100 feet; clear span, 80 feet; width between handrails, 14 feet; depth of girders. 10 feet; depth from roadway to bed of stream, 51 feet; ditto, ditto, to highest water-level, 31 feet. Abutments, ashlar and rubble masonry, set partly in cement and partly in native lime discovered in the vicinity of the Bridge. Main Girders constructed of Baltic and American timber; cross-bearers, bracing, and roadway principally of native timber.
Bridge designed of sufficient strength to carry a railway, if required.
Beverley, Arthur. Dinedin, inv.—Two Vibrating Barometers and Thermometers.
One Gravity Barometer, in glass shade.
One Self adjusting Mercurial and Metallic Thermometer.
Price and Paine, Queenstown, art.—Photographs of Queenstown and vicinity.
Photographs of Arrow Town and vicinity.
Photograph—Head of Lake.
Pyke, Vincent, Secretary of Gold fields.—Detailed Map of the Province, shewing the various Goldfields, drawn by W. F. Browne.
Detailed Map of the Wakatipu Goldfield, compiled and drawn by Messrs. Wright and Miller.
Detailed Map of the Tuapeka Goldfield, compiled by J. Drummond.
Geological Maps of Victoria.
5 Maps of the Mining Districts of Victoria.
Hector, James, M.D., F.G.S., &c., Geologist of the Province of Otago, for the Provincial Government of Otago, New Zealand.
Rocks, Minerals, Fossils, Birds, Woods, Dried Plants, Plans, Sections, Drawings, and other objects arranged principally to illustrate the Geology and Natural History of Otago, in 15 cases and a wall shelf. Total numbers of objects exhibited under separate labels:—
Staff:—Assistant-Surveyor, T. R. Hackett; Draughtsman and Botanical Collector, John Buchanan; Laboratory Assistant, Win. Skey.
Meteorological Observer, Richard B. Gore.
Indicates number of Specimen Case E.—Specimens illustrative of the Geology of Northern Europe, as bearing on that of Otago. Presented to the Museum by of Perth, accompanied with the following descriptive synopsis. " This collection, consisting of 479 specimens, principally from "the following localities,—Scotland, Island of Arran (which may "be considered a Geological Epitome of Scotland), Edinburgh, "Arthur's Scat, Carlton Hill, Pentland, &c., Perth, Sidlaw and "Grampians, Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands, Norway, "Sweden, Denmark, Germany (the Hartz), &c., comprising the "following Rocks. "I. Volcanic Roeks.—( "II. Plutonic Rocks.—Granite and Syenite. "III. Metamorphic Rocks.—Mica, Clay, Chlorite and other "Slates, including the Gold Bearing Slates of Scotland, Quartzite, "Quartz, Conglomerates, Granular Limestone, &c. "IV. Mineral Veins and Voinstones. Ores of Iron, Copper, "Manganese, Chrome, &c., Spars of Baryta, Lime, Quartz, &c. "V. Fossiliferous Rocks, 1, Recent Marl and Shell Clay. Siliceous, Sulphurous, and Calcareous Spring Deposits. 2, Tertiary. "Foraminiferous Limestone of France, Lignites of Iceland and "Germany. 3, Secondary, (Casks A B C D,—A general Geological Collection from Otago, the arrangement of which is mainly Geographical where it does not interfere with the following Geological sequence:—
Dinornis Isphantopus, exhibited by Mr. Payne (see No. 979 of the Catalogue), whh was found when trenching a garden in the town of Oamaru. This big measures six feet in length, and the height of the complete skelete must have been eleven-and-a-half feet. In the alluvial deposits the Basin-like valleys of the interior of the province, Moa Borns are very abundant, many fine specimens having been contribute to the collection by W. D. Murison, Esq., from the Maniototo Plans. From a similar deposit in the Manuherika Plains, the most perfect skeleton of a Moa that has perhaps yet been obtained, was discovered in a) Glacier Deposits, Moraines, Silts, or Loes. (b) Basin Deposits, Siliceous cements with leaves 5; Silicified Woods 7; Gravels 6; Clays 4; Bottom Cement with Gold 3; Bottom Cement without visible Gold 10—West Taieri, Manuherikia Plains, Idaburn Valley, Shot-over. Kaolin Deposits 1; Lignites 8; Fossil Resin, Fossil Wood, Plastic Clay. This Lignite Bearing Formation is met with in all deep hollows on the surface of the Schistose rocks, where it has originally accumulated; and from its position, been protected from the later denudation, at the the time of the formation of the Newer Pleistocene Drifts.
a) Hutchinson's Quarryb) Maruwcnuac) Awomokod) Caversham and Green Islande) Waikouaiti and Hampdenf) Shag Valley and Round Hillg) Waireka Sandstone, with teeth, tusks and bones.
a) Laminated Sandy Beds of Shale, with Plants and Tentaculites—Roger's Run, Upper Mararoa, source of Greenstone River, Kahiku Ranges, Robin Son's Saddle Waitaki River, Dome Mountain. 64. (b) Diorite and Aphauite Slates, with Breccia Beds and Mineral Ground—Greenstone River, Eyre Mounts, Nuggets, Waituki. 10. (c) Indurated Sane
a) Upper, Argillaceous, Arenaceous, and Calcareous, jointed and cleaved with little or no Quartz in Laminæ. Saddle Hill, Silver Stream, and up to the Maniototo Plains; Woolshed. and up to Gabriel's Gully; Wakatipu Lake and Moke Creek. 50.b) Contorted Ripple Slates, Micaceous, Chloritic. Actinolite, and Pyritous Sehists. Hough Ridge, Dunstan, Queenstown, Shotover. 93.a) Clay Slates, Mica Schists, Quartzite and newer Gneiss—probably a more highly metamorphosed state of the rocks, group XI. Mount Aspiring and Central Ranges, part of West Coast and the Bluff. 48. (b) Crystalline Rocks of the West Coast, Syenitic Gneiss, Statuary Marble, Gneiss with Garnets, Feldspathic and Micaceous Gneiss. 100.Dr. Lauder Lindsay,a.) Ancient or Trappean, Basalt and "Greenstone, Freestone and Claystone, Amagdaloid and Porphyry "Pitchstone, Tuffas or Ash beds, Breccia and Conglomerate, &c.
b.) Modern Lava, Scoria, Trachyte, Obsidian, Pumice, TufTas, &c.a) Chalk, (b) Oolite, (c) Lias, (d) New "Red Sandstone. 4, Primary, (a) Magnesian Limestone; (b) "Carboniferous Sandstone—" Black Band," Ironstones, Shales, and "other rocks which accompany coal, Fossil Coniferœ, Mountain "Limestone and its Fossils, (c) Old Red Sandstone and its Conglomerates. (d) Silurian, Graptolite, and other Slates.Note.—"The foregoing include many rocks and substances used as, 1st, "Building—Sandstones, Flagstones, Limestones, Basalts, Granites, "Slates; 2nd, Sculpture and the Decorative Arts—Marbles, Serpen-"tines, Granites, Porphyries, Fossiliferous Limestones, Breccias, "Alabaster; 3rd, Road Making—Basalts and Greenstones; 4th, "Various Manufactures—Fuller's Earth, Baryta, Chrome, Plumbago, "Gypsum, Iceland Spar, Pipeclay; 5th, Metallurgy—Metalic Ores "and their Fluxes; 6th, Fuels—Coals and Lignites; 7th, Manure—"Limestone, Chalk, and Marl; 8th, Jewellery—Jasper & Agate, &c."
Do. Red and Brown)
lmanite
Kakanui Ms? Moke
Creek.
Do. (amorphous)
Tungstate of Lead.
The above are prepared from Scheelite obtained from the neighbourhood of the Wakatipu Lake. Nos. 704, 705, 706, and 707 are used as mordants. Nos. 702 and 714 are used as pigments. Nos. 709 710, and 713 are supposed to be the new forms of the Binoxide of Tungsten.
Permanganic Acid.
These are prepared from an Ore of Manganese procured in the Kawarau Gorge, and are used in various processes of dyeing.
The Following hist of the Trees and Shrubs found in the Province is intended to indicate the uses to which they may be applied, and to illustrate this Collection.
Drimys axillaris, a very handsome small tree, and more especially so when growing in the open, and at an altitude of 1000 feet. The foliage then becomes dense and reddish colored. Whole plant-aromatic and stimulant. Wood very ornamental in Cabinet Work. This is the Pepper Tree of the Colonists, Native name, Horo Pito.
Melicytus ramiflorus, an angular stemmed tree, ornamental, and nourishing as food for cattle. Native name, Mahoe or Hinau-ini.
Pittosporum tenuifolium, (Black Mapau), a very ormmental shrub tree when grown in the open, but when in bush, either straggling or drawn up to a long bare stem with sparse foliage. It exudes a gum resin, which has not been examined.
Pittosporum Euyenioides (White Mapau).—A very ornamental tree, more especially when in flower. Whole plant of a pale color, forming a striking contrast to the last, which is very lark. It also exudes a gum resin. The wood of some of the trees of this genus is adapted for wood engraving.
Plagianthus Betulinas (Ribbon Wood).—A large tree, highly ornamental, especially when in flower. The bark, which is thick and fibrous, might be employed in the manufactune of ropes or paper, but no quantity of it could be procured. (See Specimens in Case L.) This tree is already cultivated in England.
Playianthus Lyallii.—An ornamental shrub tree. Bark thick and fibrous. The wood is also fibrous, and the whole might be used for paper making, if the expense of procuring it was not too great. (See Case L.)
Hoheria populnea.—Another of this family; also called Ribbon Wood, round Dunedin. Bark fibrous. Whole tree ornamental, especially when in flower. Wood splits freely for shingles, but not durable.
Aristotelia racemosa (Moka).—A very handsome, quick-groing shrub-tree. Wood very light and white in color, and might be applied to the same purposes as that of the Lime Tree in Britain. Its fruit is eaten.
Pennantia corymbosa.—This is one of three distinct trees called Ribbon Woods by the settlers. When in flower they are highly ornamental, being covered with white blossom. A specimen of Ribbon Wood was the only timber from Otago shewn in the Exhibition of
Coriaria rucifolia, the Tree Tutu.—It. is an ornamental shrub, with poisonous seeds and loaves, probably on account of their containing an alkaloid similar to strychnine. It has medicinal properties, and has been used in epilepsy with supposed success. The whole plant is very astringent, and might be used for tanning leather. Tanuate of Quinine, prepared from this plant, is exhibited in Case M 2. The wood, though soft, is beautifully marked in the grain, and might be introduced with effect in light cabinet work.
Discaria Australis, To-Mafon-kaurow.—If properly trained this shrub would form a handsome hedge that would be stronger than white thorn.
Carmichellia flagelliformis.—This species, and also one or two others of this curious leafless genus of leguminous plants would be highly ornamental in shrubberies. Some of them that have th habit of the common Broom, and abound with succulent twigs, are greedily eaten by horses, and might perhaps be introduced among furze copse as hill fodder.
Sophora grandiflora (Kohwai).—a splendid tree, with Laburnum-like flowers. There is a variety on the West Coast, Sophora Microphylla, with weeping branches and sparse flowers. Its wood valuable for fencing, being highly durable. It is also adapted for cabinet work.
Fuchsia excorticata. A very crooked, but ornamental tree. The wood might be used as a dye stuff, if rasped up and bled in the usual way, and by using iron as a mordant, various shades of purple may be produced, even to a dense black, that makes good writing ink. Its juice, which is astringent and agreeable, might perhaps yield an extract that would be useful in bowel complaints. Its fruit is pleasant, and forms the favorite food of the wood pigeon.
Metrosideros lucida et robusta (Rata Tree).—A very ornamental tree, more especially when in flower, when the whole tree is covered with dark crimson flowers. The timber of this tree is very valuable as a cabinet wood, and can be procured in quantity from the West Coast. It is also likely to come into demand for all purposes where durability and strength are required, such as for beams and knees in ship building, bridges and the like.
Leptospermum ericoides.—A highly ornamental tree, more especially when less than twenty years old. It is largely used at present for fuel and fencing. The old timber, from its dark colored markings, might be used with advantage in cabinet work, and its great durability might recommend it for many other purposes. (Manuka.)
Leptospermum scoparinm.—A highly ornamental shrub, sometimes large enough to be called a tree; bark, papery. Both
Leptospermœ are known commonly as Manukas, and one of the species has been tested for its strength as a building timber, and found to bear a greater transverse strain than any of the Australian or other New Zealand woods.
Carpodetus Serratus (White Mapau).—A very ornamental shrub tree, with variegated leaves and largo white flowers, in panicles. The flat spreading character of its branches gives it a singular beauty. The wood of this tree is tough, and might be used in the manufacture of handles of agricultural implements.
Weinmannia racemosa (Karmai).—An ornamental timber tree, with handsome flowers. Its wood is close-grained and heavy, but rather brittle. This wood may, however, become useful for building purposes, being very similar to the wood of Acer pseudo-Platanus and Fagus Sylvatica, both British trees, and might be used for the same purposes,—such as plane making and other joiner's tools, block cutting for paper and calico printing, besides various kinds of turnery and wood engraving.
Panax simplex.—Ornamental shrub tree; leaves slightly aromatic when bruised.
Panax Edgerleyi.—Ornamental tree; leaves very fragant.
Panax Colensoi.—An ornamental tree; branches often umbellate; exudes a gum insoluble in cold water, very similar to gum arabic, and may be used for adhesive purposes. This tree in the neighbourhood of Dunedin has large trifoliate leaves, which are eaten by cattle.
Schœffleria diyitata.—An ornamental shrub tree, very common on the West Coast of Otago Province.
Panax crassifolia, Grass tree or Lancewood.—An ornamental tree, with umbellate branches It has a singular but graceful appearance in the young state, having long reflexed leaves with serrated edges. The wood is close-grained and tough, and if kept dry might be used in building.
Coprosma lucida.—An ornamental shrub tree. Wood close-grained and yellow; might be used in turnery. Also, Coprosma linear ifolia (yellow wood.)
Corokia cotoneaster.—A beautiful shrub, with dark foliage and yellow flowers.
Olearia Colensoi.—A. very ornamental shrub tree, often found at the altitude of from 3000 to 4000 feet.
Olearia operina.—A remarkable and highly ornamental shrub tree, with the leaves arranged in star facsicles, centered by large white flowers. It is limited to the sea side on the West Coast.
Olearia nitkla,—An ornamental shrub tree, very showy in flower, found also at considerable altitudes. Wood close-grained, with yellow markings.
Olearia Cunninghamii.—An ornamental shrub tree, found abundantly on the West Coast with very showy flowers.
Olearia Dentata.—An ornamental shrub tree, Var: a. oblongifolio. Var: B. linearifolio. The first attains a considerable size in the vicinity of Dunedin, often 18 inches in diameter. Wood close-grained, and well marked for cabinet work. Both would make strong hedges if trimmed. They resemble the holly in the leaves.
Olearia mammularfolia,—A very ornamental shrub, leaves small, round, closely set.
Olearia virgata.—An ornamental shrub, leaves small, linear, and in fasicles.
Olearia moschata.—An ornamental shrub, leaves small ovate, smells of musk.
Olearia Forsteri.—An ornamental shrub tree, flowers few, wood close-grained, with yellow markings, fit for cabinet work.
Olearia avicennifolia.—An ornamental shrub tree, flowers numerous, wood close-grained, with yellow markings, which render it desirable for cabinet work.
Olearia Hectori.—A very ornamental shrub tree.
Cassinia leptophylla.—An ornamental, hardy, and evergreen shrub, leaves heath-like; the flowers supply an abundance of nectar for bees.
Cassinia Vanvillierm.—An ornamental shrub, with larger cariacious leaves than last; useful also for bees.
Senecio rotund ijolius.—An ornamental shrub tree, leaves 3 to 7 inches long, thick and leathery; flowers in corymbs.
Senecio elœagnifolius.—An ornamental shrub tree, leaves elliptico-oblongis; flowers in racemes.
Senccio sciadophilus.—A climbling shrub, rumbling habit.
Cyathodes Acerosa—An ornamental, heath-like shrub; has two varieties, with white and red berries.
Dracophyllum longifolium.—An ornamental shrub tree, with long grassy leaves. There are several species of this not easily distinguished. The one in the vicinity of Dunedin attains a diameter of ten to twelve inches. Wood is white marked, with satiny specks, and is adapted for Cabinet work.
Myrsine Urviltea (Red Mapau).—An ornamental tree. Wood useful for rails in fencing—deep red—useful for cabinet work. Juices very astringent.
Veronica elliptica.—An ornamental shrub tree, East and West Coast. Slim stems, sometimes eight to ten inches diameter. There are one or two un-named species of the genus that would make beautiful additions to the gardens, from their singula? leafless like appearance, the leaves being closely imbricated. As all these species are sub-Alpines they would probably stand the British climate.
V. salicifolia or New Zealand Willow.—Is introduced at home. It is very hardy and ornamental. It is used by the Maoris as tonic and purgative.
Myoporum laeteum.—An ornamental shrub tree, which from its speedy growth is useful as a shelter. It grows best near the sea. (Kaiou).
Fagus Menziesii.—The Red Birch is a lofty timber tree, one of the most valuable in Now Zealand, attaining a diameter of two to three feet, yielding boards long enough for any purpose. It is durable and adapted for cabinet work. It is also well adapted for masts and oars, and perhaps no tree in New Zealand, except the Dammara or Kauri Pine, can be applied to so many useful purposes. It is the only wood likely to be used for Coopers' work in the country, excepting the Fagus Solandri.
Fagus fusca; or, Black Birch, is one of the largest timber trees in New Zealand; often attaining a diamete: of twelve feet. Wood, clear grained, splits freely, and may be as generally useful as the last.
Libocedrus Bidiwellii—Cedar, a very ornamental tree; its wood light and clear grained, but only adapted for inside work, as it is not durable when exposed to the weather.
Fagus Solandri; or, White Birch, is a large ornamental timber tree, attaining a diameter of from three to live feet. Wood white, straight, tough, not durable under exposure—this wood is well adapted for Cooper's work.
Podocarpus ferruginea; or, Mutai, is a large, ornamental, and useful timber tree, attaining a diameter of three to four feet. Wood close grained, hard, reddish, very durable; unequalled for barn or granary floors, useful also in bridges and fencing.
Podocarpus spicata, or Miro, is a large timber tree, wood white, tough, durable. (These last two are all called Black Pine in Otago.)
Podocarpus Totara.—One of the largest timber trees in New Zealand, attaining a diameter of 10 feet; wood clean-grained, and well adapted for carpenters' work; it splits freely, and is durable as fencing and shingles.
Podocarpus Dacrydiordes. or White Pine.—A large timber tree, attaining a diameter of 3 to 4 feet; wood, white, tough, and useless, unless it could be applied to making hoops. This is the Kahi-katea.
Dacrydium Cupressinum (Red Pine, or Rimu).—A. large timber tree, attaining a diameter of 3 to 4 feet. Wood clear grained, reddish; useful for all building purposes. The wood of old trees is highly ornamental for cabinet work.
The juices of these Pines are agreeable to drink, and can be manufactured into spruce beer. (See Captain Cook's Voyage.)
Dacrydium Colensoi (Yellow Pine).—This is a very ornamental little tree, and curious from having two kinds of leaves on the branches.
Phylloclades Alpinus.—A small tree; very ornamental. Bark used for dyeing red.
Rhipogonum scandens.—A climbing shrub, reaching the tops of trees; very ornamental when in fruit, from the contrast of the bright red berries with the dark foliage and black stems. The stems are used when split for the manufacture of strong briskets. The root has been used in the same manner as sarsaparilla.
Phormium tenax.—Two varieties of this plant exist in Otago,—one with dark red flowers, and triangular erect capsules, strong, broad, erect leaves; the other with smaller flowers, inside petals greenish, capsules round, 4 inches by 1 inch, twisted drooping leaves, narrower, finer fibre, drooping. Whatever may be the success in the invention of means to prepare the fibre for the marfufacturer, it ought to be always borne in mind that the supply of the
The gum of the flax is used for the same purposes as gum arabic. The root is purgative, and said to have the properties of sarsaparilla.
Cordyline Australis (Ti or Cabbage Tree).—A monocotyledo-nous tree, attaining a diameter of one to three feet, very ornamental, whole plant fibrous, and might be made into paper. The juice of the roots and stems contain a small amount of sugar, and have been used for procuring alcohol.
Cordyline indivisa.—A West Coast tree. The fibre of the trunk is used by the Maories in the manufacture of mats.
Among the grasses in the genera Tritieum, Agrostio Arunds and Danthonea, are several species well adapted for paper making. They are abundantly spread over the grassy hills of Otago, at altitudes over 1000 feet. If the article should become one of export, the cost of conveyance to Port would be heavy, unless means could be applied up-country to compress it into bales. At some future time, however, machinery could be erected where water power is convenient, and the manufacture of an inferior description of paper could be carried on in the country.
There are four arborescent ferns in the neighborhood of Dunedin, and one other on the West Coast, the Cyathea medullaris or edible tree fern of the Maories (Cyathea dealbata) known by the milk-white color of the back of the fronds; the Cyathea Smithii, agreen smooth-fronded fern, sometimes found forked in two stems; the Dicfcsonia squar-rosa, a dark fern with blackish strips and rachis, it is often gregarious; the Dicksonia antarctica, a dark green fern sometimes forking in the stems. These five are all very ornamental, and might grow in the open air of Britain if planted in dark woods.
Illustration of the Dyes produceable from the Natural Family of Lichens.
Patent Sheet Wood, used as a Substitute for Paper.
Illustrations of the Introduction of New Materials from the Vegetable World into various Arts or Manufactures.
Illustration of the Use of Vegetable Fibre as a Substitute for Common (Turkey) Sponge.
Illustrations of the Adulterations of Drugs (Glycerine).
Illustrative of the Corrosive Action of Waters on Lead. All kinds of waters, hard and soft, are now proved to exert a destructive influence on lead, becoming themselves contaminated with the products of its conversion. Hence the use of lead as a material for the conveyance and storage of water is now universally being given up.
Illustrations of Engine-Boiler Deposits, the frequent Cause of Explosions, and of the Corrosion or Destruction of Boilers for Steam Engines of every kind.
Illustrations of the Introduction of New Material (vegetable fibre) in the Manufacture of Carpeting and Matting.
Illustration of the Handwork Woollen Manufactures of Iceland.
Illustrations (on yarns) of the Production of Dyes from the Common Weeds or Wild Flowers of Scotland.
Illustrations of Icelandic Costumes (Shoes).
Illustrations (on Straw Paper) of Nithography (Printing with Tin instead of Type or Block).
Illustration of Substitutes for Tin-foil—Tin-foil Paper.
Illustrations of Icelandic Typography.
Illustration of the Manufacture of Cambric Stuffs from New Vegetable Fibres.
Illustration of the Manufacture of Meerschaum, Germany.
With reference to Illustrations of Paper and Paper Materials, Dr. Lindsay remarks:—"Inasmuch as the same vegetable fibres "which are capable of conversion into paper are, under certain "circumstances, equally capable of manufacture into textile "fabrics and cordage,—this suite of specimens includes a variety of "fibres which are, or might be used, in different parts of the "world alike in the manufacture of paper, textile fabrics, and cordage.
"1. Various Curiosities of paper manufacture—e. g.: (a) Papers "made in competition for the Times Prize of £1000, from Garden Hollyhock, Brackcn Fern, &c. (b) Papers made from waste materials: "Leather Cuttings, Wood Shavings, Splint, Fern, Beetroot Refuse, "Hopbine, &c. (c) Papers made from common British weeds or "plants: Broom, Green Clover, Hay, &c. (d) Papers made in "various British possessions or colonies, from indigenous fibre or "material—instance: Manilla Hemp, American Aloe, Plaintain,
c) Modern substitutes for rag-made paper: Straw Esparto, Flax" Papers.
"2. Stages in the Paper Manufacture, as illustrated by common "rag and straw made papers.
"1. The fibres of many common British garden plants, trees or "weeds: Hollyhock, Marsh Mallow, Jerusalem Artichoke, Horse "Radish, Nettle, Lime Tree, Elm Bark, Scotch Fir, Sweet Pea, &c.
"2. The produce of plants, shrubs, or trees abundant in the "East and West Indies, and other British possessions:—(a) Fibres" — Jute, American Aloe, Common Aloe, Plaintain and "Banana, Manilla Hemp, Sunn Hemp, Pine Apple, Adam's Nee-die, Rhuá, or China Grass; Moorra, or Marool; Nuda", or Yercuia; Neilgherry Nettle, Coir, Dragon tree. (b) Cottons of "India and North America.
"While many of the foregoing articles are already rendered "available (though perhaps not to the extent of which they are "capable) in the manfactnre of textile fobrics, cordage, or paper, "many others, probably equally valuable, are not yet utilied"
Shepherd, Thomas, Auckland, breeder—Case containing Fleece Leicester Wool
Sample of same Fleece on Card, shewing length of staple, 13 inches
Rich, F. D., breeder, Shag Valley—Fleece, Ram, Merino 10½ lb
Fleece, Ewe (with twin lambs at foot), Merino. Took Champion Prize, Oamaru,
Fleece, Leicester Ram. Took Second Prize, New Zealand Exhibition, Dunedin,
One Case, containing Fifty-five Specimens Merino Wool, and Thirteen Photographs of Mount Eden Flock
Bred Wools
"Dalwood" White Wine, vintage,
"Dalwood" Red Wine, vintage
"Bukkulla" White Wine, vintage
"Buck Kulla" Bed Wine, vintage
Lindeman, Henry John, M.D., Cawarra, N.S.W.—
"Cayrnrra" Hock, vintage
"Cawarra" Hock, vintage
Ebsworth, O. B., Sydney, manu.—Tweeds manufactured from colonial wools:—
212 and 354. Undycd from New Zealand skin, and New South Wales black wools.
98. From New Zealand and Queensland fleece wools.
276. From New Zealand fleece and skin, and New South Wales fleece wools.
80 and 424. From New Zealand and New South Wales fleece wools.
392. Swanskin from New South Wales fleece wools.
182 and 366. From New South Wales flcece wools.
417, 421, 377, 386, and 423. From New South Wales and Queensland fleece wool.
280. From New South Wales, and Victorian, fleece wools.
333, 334 and 336. From New South Wales, Victorian, and Queensland fleece wools.
373. Indigo fast color from New South Wales, and Queensland fleece wools.
Davis, F. C., Adelaide—
1. Dessert Fruits in Syrup: Mulbe r, Plans, Apricot, Morella Cherry, and Pear.
2. Preserved Fruits: Greengage, Damsons, Apricot, Apple Morella Cherry, Gooseberry, Mulberry, Rhubarb
Hill, Walter, Director of Botanical Gardens, Brisbane:—
Arrowroot from Canna Edulis—Purple arrowroot, market price, 7d. per lb.
Arrowroot from Marantha Arundinacea—White arrowroot, market price, 7d. per lb.
Samples Jam
Preserves made of Citron, Bitter Orange, Loqaat, Lime, and Two Samples of Sugar from Cane
Hope, Hon. Louis, Cleveland, prod, and manu.:—
Two samples of sugar from the ribbon cane. The yield per acre of this cane was three tons, and the market price 5d per lb.
Hill, Walter, Director Botanical Gardens, Brisbane.—Samples of Sea Island, Egyptian, and New Orleans Cotton
Samples of Rosewood, Sandal Wood and Broad leaved Cherry Tree (one face of each polished)
Gillon, John, Hobart Town, Mason—Specimens of Building Stone from Kangaroo Point, which has been used in most of the recent public buildings in Hobart Town and Melbourne, and which, at the water's edge, can be supplied in large size and quantity at——per cube foot.
A Grindstone from same quarry.
Specimen of Hydraulic Limestone, from a spur of Mount Wellington, known as "Hall's Saddle," easily procurable in large quantity.
Backhouse, R., Hobart Town.—Specimen of English Flax, grown in Tasmania.
Specimen of so-called Native Flax.
Boyd, James Croil, Civil Commandant, Port Arthur.—Specimens of Stringy Bark (Eucalyptus gigantea), 1. Figured Blue Gum (Eucalyptus globulus), 2. Slab of Blackwood (Acacia Melanoxylon). Figured Blackwood, 2. Figured Myrtle (Fagus Cunninghamii), 2. Native Box (Buxsaria spinosa), 2. Prickly Box (variety of do), 2. Native Laurel (Anopterus glandulosus), 2. Pinkwood (Beyeria Viscosa), 2. Figured Muskwood (Eurybia Argophylla), 3. Root of Sassafras (Alherosperma Moschata). Honeysuckle Wood (Banktia Australia). Tasmanian Ironwood (Notelœa Ligustrina).
A wheel felloe of Blue Gum.
Crowther, W. L., Dr., Hobart Town.—From Dr Crowther's Timber Establishment at Oyster Cove.
Green cut Section of a Swamp Gum Spar (Eucalyptus Viminalis). A Plank of this tree is in the Garden of the Royal Horticultural Society, 230 ft long, for Botanical Illustration.
Green cut Section of Stringy Bark Spar — (Eucalyptus gigantea), for ditto.
Green cut Section of Blue Gum Spar—(Eucalyptus Globulus), for ditto.
Two Railway Sleepers, of Stringy Bark, which have lain four years in log, out of Doors.
Two Railway Sleepers, of Blue Gum, roughly seasoned, four years in log, out of Doors.
Two Specimens of Ship's Planking of Blue Gum, seasoned as the foregoing.
The following eight specimens illustrative of the durability of Tasmanian woods, viz.:—
Two pieces of Peppermint Wood (Eucalyptus Amygdolina), from the stump of a tree felled 17 years ago, and since left in the ground.
Four pieces of Peppermint Wood, from a stump which has been so left in the ground 32 years.
A Peppermint Wood Post, charred, which has stood in "Burnt Island" 38 years.
Part of a Blue Gum Sleeper, from the Old Court-house of Hobart Town, which has been in use above 45 years.
Wattle Staves, 4 feet 6 inches long. Ditto, 2 feet 6 inches long.
Six Boat Knees of She-oak (Casuarina Quadrivalvis).
Two Boat Knees of He-oak (Casuarina Suberosa.).
A Boat Knee of Honeysuckle Wood (Banksia Australis).
Four pieces of figured Musk Wood, polished (Eurybia Argophylld).
Specimen of Dog Wood (Bedfordia Salicina. D. C.)
A Carved piece of Native Laurel Tree (Anopterus Glanlulosus Lab.)
Wattle Staves for Casks. Pair of Macquarie Harbor Pirn Boat Sculls, price £1. Stringy Bark Flooring Boards, forming the Table.
Miller, C. H., Hobart Town, Boat Builder—Specimens of Boat Planking of Macquarie Harbor Pine (Dacrydium Franklinii).
Boat Ribs, and Long Boat. Timbers of Blackwood (Acacia Melanoxylon). Boat Knees of She-oak (Casuarina Quadrivalvis), and Pinkwood (Beyseria Viscosa).
Oldham, Thos., Hobart Town, Timber Merchant—Beam of Curly Blue Gum, 9ft, × 6in. × 6 in. (Eucalyptus Globulus), for testing.
A Pair of Dray Wheels of Blue Gum, price £10.
Clarke, A. and J., Engineers, Hobart Town.—A Wool Press on the screw principle, with box of Huon Pine.
A Wool Press on the rack and pinion principle, with box of Kauri Pine. Price, £90 or £80, in Hobart Town.
Clifford, Photographer, Hobart Town.—A large Panoramic View of Hobart Town (price 15s.) Ten Views in Tasmania, 10
A Revolving Stereoscope, for exhibiting 100 Views (price, 90s.)
Stationery.—(Bookbinding, see books in Class 29.
Walch and Sons, J., Hobart Town, manu.—1. A Ten-Quire Super Royal Ledger, hand-made paper, ruled for 1, 2, and 3 accounts; with vellum divisions, paged; bound royal calf, double Russia boards, with loose red basii cover, and loose index bound red basil.
Two Six-Quire Demy Books, ruled for Cash-book or Journal, bound lull Persian, under bands.
The principal timber trees of Tasmania, such as the Blue Gum, Stringy Bark, White Gum, or Gum-topped Stringy Bark, Swamp Gum, and Peppermint Tree, furnish a hard, close-grained and strong timber, which is used in ship-building and house-building, and generally for all the purposes to which Oak is applied in England. Huon Pine is very durable, and is employed for boat-building, for which it is peculiarly adapted, and for house-fittings, &c. Blackwood makes excellent naves and spokes, cask staves, &c. Native Myrtle is valuable for house-fittings. Swamp Gum yields the finest palings and other split-stuff in the world. Sassafras affords timber for house-fittings, bench-screws, lasts, &c. Celery-topped Pine is chiefly used for masts and ship's spars. The different kinds of timber in the following list are arranged according to their value. The diameter of the trees is measured at the height of 4 feet from the ground.
Blue Gum.—(Eucalyptus Globulus, Lab.)—The common name is derived from the bluish-grey color of the young plants. Diameter, 5 to 30 feet; average of those felled for use, 6 feet. Height, 150 to 350 feet; sp. gray. about .945 to 1,655. Abundant in the southern and south-western parts of the Island. Cut for house-building, it sells at 8s. to 10s. per superficial feet—for shipbuilding, at 12s. to 14s.
Stringy-Bark.—(Eucalyptus gigantea, Hook. fils.)—Common name taken from the coarse fibrous bark. Diameter, 4 to 24 feet; average of those sawn, about feet. Height, 150 to 300 feet Sp. gray., about '905. Abundant everywhere upon hilly ground. Price, the same as that of Blue Gum.
Swamp Gum.—White Gum.—(Eucalyptus viminalis, Lab.—Common names from its growing to perfection in humid situatons—and from its gigantic white trunk. Diameter, 4 to 18 feet; average, aboiut 5½ feet. Height, 150 to 300 feet: sp. gray, about '885. Growing in foretsts with other kinds of ucalyptus, in rather humid localities. A small variey called the Manna
Gum-topped Stringy-Bark, sometimes called White Gum.—(Eucalyptus gigantea, var.)—A tree resembling the Blue Gum in foliage, with rough bark, similar to Stringy-Bark, towards the stem. It has been found recently that this wood possesses nearly all the properties of strength, solidity, and durability of the Blue Gum—whilst being straight-grained, it is much easier to work. It is very abundant about D'Entrecnsteaux Channel. An old plank from the Hcbart Town Wharf, which has been twenty years in use, may be seen in the Trophy. Price, about the same as Blue Gum.
Peppermint Tree.—(Eucalyptus amygdalina, Lab)—Common name from the odor of the leaves Diameter, 3 to 8 feet; average, about 4 feet. Height, 100 to 150 feet; sp. gray., about .895. The Peppermint Tree abounds throughout the Island, on gravelly and other poor soil. Price, about the same as that of Swamp Gum.
Huon Pine.—(Dacrydium Franklinii, Hook, fil.—So called because it was first discovered on the banks of the Huon River. Diameter, 3 to 8 feet; average, about 4½ feet. Height, 50 to 120 feet; sp. gray., about .650. Abundant in portions of the south-western part of the Island. Price, about 16s. per 100 superficial feet, in the log.
Blackwood.—(Acacia melanoxylon, Br.)—So called from the dark-brown color of the mature wood, which becomes black when washed with lime-water. In moist, shaded localities, the tree grows rapidly, and the wood is of a much lighter color. Hence this variety is called "Lightwood," (in Hobart Town,) to distinguish it from the other. Diameter, 1½ to 4 feet; average, about 2¼ feet. Height, 60 to 130 feet. Sp. grav., about 885. Found throughout the Island, but not abundantly in any one locality. Price, about 12s. to 14s. per 100 feet superficial, in the log.
Native Myrtle.—(Fagus Cunninghamii, Hook.)—Common name from the fancied resemblance of its dark-green leaves to those of the myrtle. Diameter, 2 to 9 feet; average, about 3½ feet. Height, 60 to 180 feet. Sp. grav., about .795. The Native Myrtle exists in great abundance throughout the western half of the island, growing in forests to a great size, in humid situations. Price, about 16s. per 100 feet superficial, in the log.
Celery-Topped Pine.—(Phillocladus rhomboidalis, Rich.)—So called from the fancied similarity in form of the uppor part of the branchlets to celery. Diameter, 1¼ to 2 feet; average, about 1½ feet. Height, 60 to 150 feet. Sp. grav, about .655. Rather common in damp forests in the southern parts of the Island, and in some sub-alpine localities.
The different kinds of wood included in the following list are all in constant use for cabinet and fancy work. They are arranged according to their value. The finest specimens of Native Myrtle, Musk-wood, Huon Pine, and Blackwood, exhibit qualities of the highest excellence, both in tint and variety of venation.
Native Myrtle.—(Fagus Cunninghamii, Hook.)
Musk-wood.—(Eurybia argophylla, Cass.)—Named from the musky odor of the plant. Diameter, 6 to 15 inches—the butt enlarging towards the ground to H and even feet. Height, 15 to 30 feet. Sp. grav., about 685. Abundant throughout the Island in damp localities.
Huon Pine.—(Dacrydium Franklinii, Hook, fils.)
Blackwood.—(Acacia melanoxylon, Br.)—
She-Oak.—(Casuarinaquadrivalvis, Lab.)—a portion of the common name is evidently derived from the resemblance of the markings to those of oak. Diameter, 1 to 1½ foot. Height, 20 to 30 feet. Sp. grav., about .846. Very common on dry stony hills, excepting in the north-western districts.
He-Oak.—(Casuarina suberosa, Otto.)—Diameter, 9 to 15 inches. Height, 20 to 25 feet. Sp. grav., about .855. Common on stony hills.
Honeysuckle Tree.—(Banksia Australis, Br.)—Named from the large quantity of honey in the flowers. Diameter, 1½ to 2½ feet. Height, 20 to 40 feet. Sp. grav., about .645. Abundant on sandy soil.
Dogwood.—(Bedfordia salicina, D.C.)—Diameter, 6 to 16 inches. Height, 15 to 25 feet. Sp. grav., about '985 Common of small size, but rare of large proportions.
Native Laurel.—(Anopterus glandulosus, Lab.)—So named from its laurel-like leaves. Diameter, 6 to 10 inches. Height, 15 to 22 feet. Sp.grav. about .675. Tolerably abundant in some sub-alpine localities.
Blue Gum.—(Eucalyptus globulus, Lab.)—Curly-grained variety.
Peppermint.—(Eucalyptus amyqdalina, Lab.—Some specimens of this timber have a fine wavy marking.
Silver Wattle.—(Acacia dealbata, Lindl.)—So called from the whiteness of the trunk, and the silvery green of the foliage. Used for cask staves and treenails. Diameter, 1½ to 2½ feet. Height, 60 to 120 feet. Sp. grav., about .965. Very common.
Iron Wood (Tasmanian).—Notelcea ligustrina, Vent.)—An exceedingly hard, close-grained wood, used for mallets, sheaves of blocks, turnery, &c, Diameter, 9 to 18 inches. Height, 20 to 35 feet. Sp. grav., about .965. Not uncommon.
Swamp Tea-tree.—(Melaleuca eriœfolia, Sm.)—So called, probably because the leaves of an allied plant (Leptospermum lanigerum, Sm.) with similar bark, are said to have been used as a substitute for tea. Diameter, 9 to 20 inches. Height, 20 to 60 feet. Sp. grav., about '824. Used for turnery chiefly.
Native Cherry.—(Exocarpus cupressiformis, Lab.)—So named because the color of the fruit is similar to that of a Kentish cherry. Diameter, 9 to 15 inches. Height, 20 to 30 feet. Sp. grav., about .785. Used for tool handles, spokes, gun-stocks, &c.
Whitewood.—Pittosporum bicolor, Hook.)—Wood white. Diameter, 8 to 13 inches. Height, 20 to 35 feet. Sp. grav., about .875. Used in in turnery. Probably fit for wood engraving.
Native Box.—(Bursaria spinosa, Cav.)—The leaves are somewhat like those of the English Box. Diameter, 8 to 12 inches. Height, 15 to 25. Sp. grav., about .825 Used for turnery.
Pink Wood.—(Beyeria viscosa, Lab.)—Groton viscosum.)—Diameter, 6 to 10 inches. Height, 10 to 25 feet. Sp. grav., about .815. Used for sheaves of blocks, and for turnery.
Native Pear.—(Hakea lissospenna, Br.)—The woody seed-vessel is
Tonga Bean Wood.—(Alyxia buxifolia, Br.)—The odor is similar to that of the Tonga Bean (Dipteryx odorata). A straggling sea-side shrub, 3 to 5 inches in diameter.
Native Box.—(Bursaria spinosa, Cav.)—The scent is pleasant, but fleeting.
Simmonds, P. L., London, 8, Winchester-street, S.W.—Collection of Agricultural and Oil Seeds of Commerce. Presented to Commissioners
Collection of Commercial Cottons, and other Vegetable and Animal Substances used in Manufactures
Cosens, William Fred., London.—Samples, Sherry
Silva and Cosens, London.—Samples, Port
India Rubber, Gutta Percha, and Telegraph Works Company (Limited), late Silver's India Rubber Works and Telegraph Cable Company Works, near Victoria (London) Docks. Mr Alexander R. Hay, agent, Dunedin
Particulars of Exhibits—mechanical.
Vulcanised India Rubber Valves for Marine and Land Engines, prepared specially for tropical climates.
Vulcanised India Rubber in Sheet for Cutting out Valves, Washers, &c.
India Rubber and Canvas Steam Packing for Stuffing Boxes, Pistons, and Slide Valves for Marine and Land Engines. Its superiority over the Spun Yarn and Tallow formerly used consists in "its wearing capabilities being six times greater, its requiring no drawing, the wear being gradual until all is exhausted; economy in the employment of labour, the packing being always ready for use; economy in the use of tallow, by at least three-fourths; considerably reduced friction, as by the great elasticity of the packing a slight pressure serves to keep he bearing surfaces in contact with the piston rods, &c."
India Rubber Washers for Steam Joints, Manholes, &c.
Vulcanised India Rubber, and Canvas and India Rubber, for heavy pressure, steam, &c.
Vulcanised India Rubber and Canvas Delivery Hose for Fire Engines, Locomotives, Pumps. &c.
Vulcanised India Rubber for Suction purposes.
Machine Bands or Belting for Driving Machinery.
Shand, Mason and Co, London.—Patent Vertical Steam Fire Engine.
This Engine is the same as those in use in the London Fire Brigade; it will throw 300 gallons per minute, through a jet 1½ inch diameter, to a height of 170 feet. Steam sufficient to work the engine can be raised in from nine to twelve minutes.
Morton and Co., Francis, Naylor-street, Liverpool, S. Braith waite, Esq, C.E., Nelson, and at Exhibition Building, Agent.—Examples: Models and Drawings of Patent Strained Wire Cable Fences, Agricultural Iron Buildings and Roofs, Railway Sheds and Telegraph Poles, in Iron.
Model of Iron Church, handsomely got up.
Model of Landowner's Country House.
Model of Iron Cottage, with Five Rooms, suitable for Servant Bailiff, Shepherd, or Emigrant.
Model of Iron, Wool, Grain or General Goods Store.
Model of Railway Carriage Shed, for double line of rails.
Model of Dock Wharf, or General Shed, covered with iron tiles.
Model of Double Roof for Farm Yard, Open Wool Store, or for general purposes.
Model of Lightning Conductor.
Model of Cast-iron Gates.
System of Patent Strained Wire Fences.—The "Patent Winding Straining Pillar," made of cast-iron or in galvanized-hammored iron, is complete in itself; will stretch and keep tight any wire, entirely superseding the necessity for any separate straining tackle; being self-acting, it will strain 400 or 500 in one stretch, round the sharpest curves or angles, and over the most irregular ground, with the greatest ease and efficiency—making the erection of all kinds of wire fences simple, expeditious, and economical, both for permanent and removable fences. These patented improvements are a saving of two-thirds of the labor of erection alone.
The Galvanized Wire Cable Strands will be found generally cheaper than plain wire fencing; they can be taken down without injury, and used again as oiten as required; made in long lengths of 500 or 1000 yards; are much more easily fixed than plain wire, and much stronger, and never become bent or broken.
These fences have stood the test of sixteen years wear on all the principal railways in England, Scotland, and Ireland.
This system of fencing was introduced into New Zealand by Mr Braithwaite, of Nelson, three years ago, and is now extensively adopted both in the Nelson and Marlborough Provinces, with great success.
Catalogues of prices, and every information, can be obtained of A. S. Braithwaite, Esq., agent for Messrs. Francis Morton and Co. (limited), at the Exhibition.
Galvanized Oval Pillar, 7 lines.
Galvanized Oval Standards, 5, 6, 7, and 8 lines
Cast-iron Winding Pillar.
Neat Coils of No. 0 0, No. 0—No. 1 and No. 2 Fencing Stands.
Neat Coils of No. 0, 0, close laid Railway Signal Cords
Examples of Bar Iron, Stundards 1¼ × 1¼, l½ × 1¼ l½ × 3/8
Bar Iron, Standards with Galvanised Earth Plates
Samples of Solid Wire, Black and Galvanised, 3, 4, 5, 6
Ditto also of Telegraph Wire
Ditto of Galvanised Netting
Ditto of Wire Ropes and Sash Cords
Ditto of Dry Hair Felts
Ditto of Asphalted Roofing Felts
Case of Corrugated Galvanised Plates
Examples of Painted Plates, with our Mineral Paint
Iron Telegraph Pole
Machine Bands or Belting, of various strength, for Portable Engines, Steam Ploughing, Thrashing Machines, Chaff Cutters, Malt or Bean Mills, &c.
The above in Rolls of 300 feet, or in Bands made endless of any length.
The Vulcanised India Rubber and Canvas Driving Bands or Belting are not affected by heat or cold, and are admirably adapted for out-door work, or in exposed places.
Foster, John and Son, Black Dike Mills, Bradford, Yorkshire, manu.—Various Specimens, illustrating the Mohair and Alpaca Manufacture:—
Mohair, or Goats' Wool, grown in Angora, Asia Minor
Black, brown, fawn and grey Alpaca Wool, grown in Peru
Combed Mohair Tops, in three qualities
Mohair Noils out of same
Combed Alpaca Tops, in medium quality, of black, brown, fawn white, and grey
Do do, in fine quality of white and grey Alpaca Noils out of same
Yarns.—Mohair, Mohair weft, Alpaca wefts, Mohair and Alpaca Pyrenees (in two shades), Mottled Alpaca (in three shades); Paper Tubes containing weft, as exported ready for the weaver's use
Finished Goods.—Mohairs, Alpaca Lustres, &e. Small portion of violet and white Mohair Leno, from a dress selected by the Bradford Committee for presentation to the Princess Alexandra, on her marriage,
Stanford, Edward, Geographical Establishment and London School Library, 6, Charing Cross, London.—Now School Maps of Europe, Holy Land and Australasia, price, on rollers, varnished, 13s each.
Stanford's Library Maps of Australasia and South America, on rollers, varnished, £3.
Stanford's New Map of Nelson and Marlborough, price, in sheets, 7s. 6d.
Green, James, 35, Upper Thames-street, London.—Obtained Prize Medal, International Exhibition,
Fine Cut and Engraved Table Glass, of every descriptor Two Hanging Candle Chandeliers, and two pairs Chimneypiece Lustres
Dinner Services
Dessert Services
Toilet Services
Made up in Services for sale. Also samples of Common Cut and Pressed Glass
Davies, William, Otake, Wellington, exhibits flax in the following stages of manufacture:—
First, (248)—As scraped with mussel shell, or iron hoop, by Maories, for sale to rope-makers.
Second—The three hacklings done by settlers, (249, 260, 251,) when it is ready for rope-making.
Third—Samples of tether rope and clothes lines.
Fourth—Samples (261), flax prepared by exhibitor for making fishing lines.
Fifth—Sample (262—3), refuse flax, used for mattresses, &c.
Specimen of Hinau Bark.
The following samples of flax, prepared by the Maories, illustrate the several stages of its preparation for sale, and for making into their own garments, or mats.
A.—Sample (248), flax scraped with mussel shell, or iron hoop
B.—Sample (252), flax prepared for their coarse outside garments, or mats, for rainy days, &c.
C.—Sample (253), shews flax prior to its being dyed for the better class of clothing, or mats.
D.—Sample (254), shows flax stained by immersion in water with Hinau Bark, leaving it a brown colour.
E.—Sample (255), flax stained first as above, and then immersed in mud, which leaves it jet black.
F.—Sample (256), flax prepared as above for making into rough mats.
G—Samples (257, 258, 259), flax prepared for making up with the coarse flax (No. 252) for inside of clothing, or mats, to wear next the skin, or the better class of mat, which vary in quality, according to the amount of washing and pounding they have been subjected to
H.—Sample (260), shows flax in next stage of preparation, as rubbed by hand.
I.—Sample (262), flax made into threads after going through the above stages, and as ready for their weaving.
Provincial Government of Nelson—Index plan of the Province of Nelson.
Maps of the West Coast, Grey and Buller Goldfields.
Plan of horse bridge of timber, over Pelorus River, designed by John Blackett, Esq., erected by W. Akerstein, contractor.
Plan of cart bridge over Maitau River, designed by John Blackett, Esq., executed by J. Ilenry, contractor.
Rochfort, James, are hitect, Nelson.—Plans and elevations of a Government House.
Plans of New Post Office, Nelson.
Design for a Church
Smith, Mrs E., Blenheim—Lamp Mats.
Samples of Flax.
Grotto Baskets, composed of Shells and Seaweed.
Haast, Julius, Ph. D., F.G.S., &c., Geologist of the Province of Canterbury, for the Provincial Government of Canterbury, N.Z. Specimens of Rocks, Minerals, Fossils, Dried-plants, Maps, Sections, &c., collected by exhibitor for the Provincial Government. The Rocks and Minerals are arranged geographically. Among the specimens are the following Ores and Minerals which occur in the Province, viz.:—
a, Carboniferous anthracitic and bituminous coal, River Kowui, Mount Harper, Clent Hills, &c.
b, Secondary coal, bituminous, River Grey, West Coast.
c, Tertiary brown coal and lignite in Tertiary formations, all over the Province, Malvern Hills, Mount Somers, Rakaia, Coal Creek, Rangitata, Northern Hinds, River Potts, Ashburton, Tenawai, &c.
Selenite, in crystals on the surface of tertiary shale, Tenawai, &c.
Calcite (calcareous spar), in cavities of volcanic and in veins of sedimentary and metamorphic rocks, abundant all over the Province.
Travertine, deposited from water having carbonate of lime in solution, Weka Pass.
Marble, Malvern Hills.
Stalactite Caves of Mount Somers, &c.
Stalagmite, Caves of Mount Somers, &c.
Arragonite, lining fissures and cavities of volcanic rocks, Banks' Peninsula.
Dolomite (Magnesian limestone), Malvern Hills, interstratified with augitic greenstone.
Quartz, in veins, in Metamorphic and Palæozoic rocks, all over the Province. This mineral occurs also in the following varieties:—
Rock Crystal, in amygdaloidal Trap, lining geodes, and cavities, Malvern Hills, Mount Somers, &c.
Amethyst, in amygdaloidal Trap, lining geodes, and cavities, Malvern Hills, Mount Somers, &c.
Milky Quartz, in Granites, West Coast.
Prase, small deposits in quartzose porphyritic Trachyte, Gawler's Downs.
Chalcedony, in mammillary and botryoidal forms in amygdaloidal trap and quartzose trachytes, Malvern Hills, Cent Hills, Mount Somers, &c.
Chrysoprase, filling cavities, ditto, ditto.
Cornelian, in small geodes and filling cavities, ditto, ditto.
Agate, in geodes, often of very large size, ditto, ditto
Flint, filling cavities in the rocks, ditto, ditto.
Aventurine, ditto, ditto.
Onyx. Some horizontally arranged chalcedonies i different colors showing a tendency to become onyx and sardoyx, ditto, ditto.
Plasma, filling fissures in tertiary quartzose tracytes, and occurring principally in Gawler's Downs.
Heliotrope, in tertiary quartzose trachytes in small pieces, Snowy Peak, Malvern Hills.
Jasper, in different varieties, Malvern Hills, and elsewhere.
Basanite, in different varieties, Malvern Hills, and elsewhere.
Chert, in different varieties, Malvern Hills, and elsewhere.
Lydian Stone, in different varieties, Malvern Hills, and elsewhere.
Silicified Wood (petrified), in creeks in many localities where siliceous rocks are decomposing.
Ferruginous Quartz, Gawler's Downs.
Semi-opal, filling small cavities in quartzose porphyritic trachyte, Malvern Hills and Mount Somers.
Opal, ditto, ditto
Quartz, in pseudomorphs, imitative crystals of calcite, Snowy Peak, Malvern Hills, Gorge of Rakaia, Clent Hills, &c.
Hyalite, in small masses lining cavities, Snowy Peak, Malvern Hills.
Apophylile, in amygdaloids, Rangitata.
Ichtkyophthalmite (zeolite), in felsite porphyry, Rangitata, Turn-again-Point.
Serpentine, in veins, Mount Cook Range, and some other localities in the Alps.
Diallage, in Gabbro, Mount Torlesse Range and Upper Rakaia.
Delessite, in amygdaloids, Rangitata and Malvern Hills, &c.
Chlorite, in lamina?, metamorphic schists, West Coast.
Nephrite (greenstone of the Maories), in rolled pieces on the beach of the West Coast.
Augite, in trachydolerites and in fine twin crystals imbedded in agglomeratic tufa, Banks' Peninsula.
Hornblende, in basaltic and doleritic rocks, Banks' Peninsula, Malvern Hills, Timaru, &c.
Hypersthene, in hypersthenic Malvern Hills.
Actinolite, in metamorphic schist.
Chrysolite, in srains of basaltic rocks, Banks' Peninsula.
Bole, filling cavities in lava streams, Banks' Peninsula.
Pimelite, filling cavities in amygdoloidal rocks, Malvern Hills, Clent Hills, &c.
Palagonite, in angular fragments in palagonite tufas, Harper's Hills, near Selwyn, and Two Brothers, Ashburton. Another variety changing insensibly into a
Pitchopal, inclosing leaves and stalks silicified, occurs in the same localities.
Heulatulite (Zeolite), in amygdaloidal traps, associated with felsite porphyries, Turn-again-Point, Rangitata.
Stilbite (Zeolite), in amygdaloidal traps, associated with felsite porphyries, Turn-again-Point, Rangitata.
Natrolite, filling cavities in volcanic rocks, Banks' Peninsula.
Mesotype, in needles, in fissures of volcanic rocks, Banks' Peninsula.
Chabasite, in trachytes, in fissures of volcanic rocks, Banks' Peninsula.
Orthoclase (potash felspar), in granites and other crystalline rocks at the West Coast, &c.
Sanidine, or glassy felspar in trachytes and trachy-dolerites, Banks' Peninsula, and quartzose porphyritic trachytes, Malvern Hills.
Obsidian, on the sides of trachytic dykes (solbands), Banks Peninsula.
Pitchstone, associated with quartzose porphyritic trachytes Snowy Peak, Mount Somers.
Albite, in dioritic porphyries, River Wilkin and Makarora Ranges.
Oligoclase (soda felspar), in quartzose porpliyritic trachytes, Mount Misery, Malvern Hills.
Labradorite, felspar in lava streams, Banks' Peninsula.
Saussurite, in Gabbro, Mount Torlesse.
Garnet (Almandine), in quartzose porpliyritic trachytes and pitchstones, Malyorn Hills and Mount Somers.
Pistacite, in diorite, Mount Torlesse Range.
Potash Mica (muscovite), in granites and schists, West Coast.
Magnesia Mica (Rubellan), in volcanic rocks, Banks' Peninsula
Pearl Mica (Margarite), in gneiss and metamorphic schists, West Coast.
Tourmaline, in granite, Mosquito Hill, West Coast.
Marcasite (white iron pyrites) in clays and tertiary rocks, in many localities.
Pyrites, as mundic in older palaeozoic rocks as well as in brown coal and shale, ditto.
Mispikel, in diorites, Malvern Hills.
Clay Iron, in tertiary associated with brown coal and lignite.
Sand Iron Ore, in tertiary associated with brown coal and lignite.
llmenite, titanifcrous magnetic iron ore, in grains in melaphyres, Clent Hills.
Magnetic Iron Ore, in grains and dolerite, Malvern Hills.
Green Larlh, in amygdoloidal trap, Malvern Hills, Ashburton, Rangitata, &c.
Spathic Iron (carbonate of iron), found in large boulders coated with black psilomelane, near the sources of the river Kowai, Mount Torlesse, is one of the finest iron ores in existence.
Sphœrosiderite, in small crystals, or lining cavities of volcanic rocks, Banks' Peninsula, Malvern Hills.
Vicianite, coating cavities in melapliyres, Clent Hills.
Hausmannite (red oxyde of manganese), coating joints in rocks and in rolled pieces in River Selwyn.
Psilomelane, in veins, Upper Waimakariri.
Glaucolite (green sand), as small grains in the pepperstones middle tertiary series, Malvern Hills, Coal Creek, Rangitata, Weka-Pass, Ashburlon, &c.
Copper Pyrites, in grains imbedded in quartzose schists, Moor-house Range, &c.
Green Carbonate of Copper, in a rolled piece, from Mount Somers range, River Stour.
Gold, south-eastern part of the Province near Waitaki, and south-western near Lake Wanaka, and western side of the main range generally.
Retinite in brown coal (fossil gum).
contains Volcanic zone of Malvern Hills, older quartzose trachytic series No. 261 to 307
Amongst them some remarkably beautiful porphyritic trachytes with red garnets, as for instance Nos. 262, 263, 268.
Amongst the quartz varieties filling fissures or cavities in these rocks very interesting specimens of helitrope, chalcedony, jasper, rock crystal, &c.; also, some remarkable pseudomorphes of quartz, imitative of calcareous spar and casts; the former is well shown in No 286, the latter by No. 305 and others.
Trachytic tufas and younger doleritic series,
Malvern Hills No. 311 to 332
The Palagonite tufas, 319, 320, 321, are very remarkable, being the first—if we except those from the Galopagas Islands—which have been found in the southern hemisphere.
Small doleritie crater, N E. corner of Malvern
Hills No. 333 to 336
the lava of which exhibits a well developed crystalline structure.
Older volcanic zone of Mount Somers, No. 337—363, quartzose trachytes, pitchstones and tufas belonging to them. Although closely resembling the older Malvern Hill beds in their mineralogical composition, they show some remarkable features; among the tufas, No.350—ribboned tufa—is very beautiful.
Older volcanic zone of Gawler's Downs, resembling the foregoing is its principal constituents. Some interesting siliceous deposits occur here, which have inappropriately been called horastone por-
Porpliyritic zone, Rangitati, 388 to 396. Age, probably secondary, and showing the true felsitic structure.
contains some of the rocks of the isolated volcanic system of Banks' Peninsula, No. 406 to 478. The specimens exhibited show at once that this zone consists not only of various centres of eruption, but also that the mineral constituents of the rocks are very varied. The oldest system by which the Calderas, the present harbours of that peninsula are formed, consist mostly of dendritic lavas, whilst the dykes by which they are traversed, are trachytic or trachy-doleritic. The tunnel collection in cases 9, 10, 11, will give an accurate insight into their character. In subsequent eruptions, by which the highest summits of the peninsula were firmed, andesitic, or trachy-doleritic lavas, are prominent, of whicl, No. 457 shows the principal characteristics. Of the subsequent quirtzose trachytic zone, No. 469 is a good specimen, whilst No. 468, shows the mineralogical character of a doberitic lava stream. In Lytelton harbour the latest eruptions were of a basaltic character, of which No. 462 is a specimen.
The same case contains also a collection of some of the bidding and ornamental stones of the Province, of which several art exhibited elsewhere in larger blocks by the owners of the quarries.
contains Fossils. In order to have this collection more complete, some fossils of other parts of New Zealand have been added, so as to give, as far as our present knowledge extends, a tolerably accurate insight into the character of the palœontohgy o New Zealand.
Palœozoic fossils collected in Canterbury, No. 1 to 16. Annelides and tracks of annelides from beds of high ago and undeter minable.
Silurian fossils, No. 17 to 22, from Mount Arthur, Nelson according to Professor Fred. McCoy identical with silurian fossils o Victoria.
Plant-beds, palœozoic (Devonian), No. 23 to 40, from Canter bury, still at present undescribed.
Spirifera-beds, upper Devonian or lower carboniferous, Canterbury, No. 41 to 111; some of them identical with Victorian fossils, spirifera lineata is a leading fossil.
Plant-beds, carboniferous or great oolitic, No. 112 to 145. The discussion as to the age of these beds, which have several species in common with those in New South Wales, is not yet closed, Professor McCoy still adhering to his opinion that they are of the great oolitic age, whilst from stratigraphical evidence many other geologists pronounce them of an age as far back as the carboniferous period. Amongst the species peculiar to New Zealand the Camptopteris Nova; Zelandiæ is remarkable for its beauty.
Richmond sandstone—Trias Nelson, No. 146 to 150. These fossils confined hitherto to one locality in Nelson, have since been found in the S. E. part of Otago, by Dr Hector.
Great Oolitic, Amuri, No. 146 to 159.—The fossils of this zone ore also identical with similar beds in Australia; beds of the same are in the Waipara, Canterbury, contain the Plesiosaurus Austidis, Owen, the specimen No. 159—teeth and vertebra; of saurians belong to the same period.
Cretaceous fossils, Northern Island, No. 100 to 162. The be-lemnites Aucklandicus, 160, is characteristic of this zone.
Grey coal measures, No. 163 to 188—(younger cretaceous?) The fossils hitherto collected in these important coal measures have not been yet sufficiently examined to determine their exact age.
Fifteen glass frames containing 200 botanical specimens of Alpine and Sub-Alpine vegetation of Canterbury. The examination of the interior of the Canterbury province has brought to light various and beautiful new forms, illustrating the botany of the province, very interesting even to an unscientific visitor.
Amongst the Ranunculæ, R. Lyallii and Haastii deserve especial notice.
Amongst the Umbelliferæ, the Ligusticum Hastii and L. piliferum.
Amongst the Composite, the Cehnisia coriacea, C. petiolata and Haastia recurva.
Amongst the Cruciferæ, the Notathlaspi rosulatum.
Amongst the Scrophularineæ, the Veronica Haastii and Veronica epacridea.
Amongst the Boragineæ, the Exarrhena, Macranthal, and many others too numerous to be particuarly specified.
Collection of New Zealand Birds, prepared and exhibited by Walter L. Buller, Esq, R.M., F.L.S.
The following is a List of the Species, viz.—
Hieracidea Novœ Zelandiœ. — Karewarawa-tara of the Natives, and Sparrow Hawk of the Colonists.Hieracidea brunnea. — New Zealand Falcon. Karearea, Kaiaia, Karewarewa of the Natives.Circus Gouldii. — New Zealand Harrier. Kahu of the Natives.Athene Novœ Zealandiœ.—New Zealand Owl. More-pork of the Colonists. Ruru, Koukou, Peho of the Natives.Prostkemadera Novœ Zealandiœ.—Parson Bird of the Colonists. Tui Koko of the Natives.Anthornis melanura.—Mocking Bird of the Colonists. Kori-mako, Makomako, Kohimako, Titimako, Kopara of the Natives.Pogotiornis cincta (male).—Hihipaka of the Natives.Pogonomis cincta (female).—Hihimatakiore of the Natives.Mohoua albicilla.—Popokate of the Natives. (North Island Species.)Mohotia ochrocephala.—Popokatea of the Natives. (South Island Species.)Gerygone flavicentris.—Riroriro, Piripiri, Pihipihi of the Natives.Zosterops .—Tauhou, Kanohi-movhiti, Popo-rohe of the Natives. Blight Bird of the Colonists.Petroica macrocephala (female). — Ngirungiru of the Natives.Creadion carunculatus.—Tieke, Purourou, Tiekerere of the Natives. Saddle Back of the Colonists.Platycercus auriceps.—Northern Parrakeet. Kakariki of the Natives.Platycercus pacificus.—Southern Parrakeet. Kakariki of the Natives.Nestor meridionalis. — Whistling Parrot. Kaka of the Natives.Eudynamys taitensis.—Long Tailed Cuckoo. Koekoea, Koheperoa of the Natives.Chrysococcyx lucidus.—Shining Cuckoo. Warauroa, Pipiwarauroa of the Natives.Carpopliaga Novœ Zealandiœ.—Wood Pigeon. Kereru, Kuku, Kukupa of the Natives.Apteryx Mantellii.—Kiwi of the Natives. (The range of this species is confined to the North Island).Charadrius xanthoclieilus.—New Zealand Dottrel. Tuturi-whatu of the Natives.Botaurus poicilopterus.—New Zealand Bittern. Matuku, or Matuku-hurepo of the Natives.Limosa Novœ Zealandiœ.—New Zealand Plover. Kuaka of the Natives.Spatula variegata—Spoon Bill Dack of the Colonists. Wetawetangu of the Natives.Podiceps rufipectus. — Little Grebe. Weiweia of the Natives.Spheniscus minor. — Rock Penguin. Korora of the Natives.Eudyptes pachyrhynchus.—Yellow Crested Penguin. Tawaki of the Natives.Procellaria Allanlica.—Young? (Obtained on the West Coast of the Wellington Province.)Procellaria Cookii.—The Natives apply the name Titi indiscriminately to this and several other species of Petrel.Rhipidura flabellifera).Mohoua albicilla).
Creadion Cinereus (Buller.)—"Tieke" of the Natives.—(A new-South Island species).
Hector James, M.D., Provincial Geologist, tweenty-fwehects containing all the known Ferns of Otago.
Pteris aquilina, Linn., var. esculenta.
Pteris incisa, Thunberg.
Nephrodium hispidum, Hook. fil.
Nephrodium decompositum, Br.
Hypolejns millefolium, Hook. fil.
Pellaea rotundifolia, Forst.
Adiantum Cunninghamii, Hook. fil.
Cheilanthes tenuifolia Swartz.
Pteris scaberula, A Rich.
Lomaria elongata, Blume.
Lomaria lanceolata, Springel.
Lomaria nigra, Colenso.
Lomaria alpina, Springel.
Lomaria Banksii, Hook. fil.
Lomaria fluviatilis, Springel.
Lomaria membranacea, Colenso.
Lomaria vulcanica, Blume.
Leptopteris superba, Hook.
Leptopteris hymenophylloides, Presl.
Crystopteris fragilis, Bernhardi.
Davallia Novæ Zealandiæ Col.
Lindsaa trichomanoides, Dryander.
Botrychium circutarium, Swartz.
Schizaea bifida, Swartz.
Ophioglossum vulgatum, Linn.
Hymenophyllum tunbridgense, Smith.
Hymenophyllum unilaterale, Willd.
Hymenophyllum minimum, A. Rich.
Hymenophyllum multifidum, Swartz.
Hymenophyllum rarum, Br.
Hymenophyllum bivalve Swartz.
Hymenophyllum dilatatum, Swartz.
Hymenophyllum pulcherrimum, Col.
Hymenophyllum crispatum, Wallich.
Hymenophyllum polyanthos, Swartz.
Hymenophyllum demissum, Swartz.
Hymenophyllum scabrum, A. Rich.
Hymenophyllum flabellatum, Labill.
Hymenophyllum aeruginosum, Carmichael.
Hymenophyllum Lyalli, Hook. fil.
Trichomanes reniforme, Forst.
Trichomanes strictum, Menz.
Trichomanes Colensoi, Hook, fil.
Trichomanes venosum, Br.
Trichomanes Malingii, Hook.
Gleichenia Cunninghamii, Heward.
Gleichenia dicarpa, Br. vr. B. alpina.
Aspidium coriaccum, Swartz.
Aspidium aculatcum, Swartz var. vestitura, Hook.
Polypodium pennigerans, Forst.
Polypodium rugulosum, Labill.
Polypodium Billardieri, Br.
Aspidium Richardi, Hook.
Aspidium cystostegia, Hook fil.
Polypodium Grammitidis, Br.
Polypodium rupestre, Br.
Asplenium obtusatum, Forst, var. B. oblignum.
Asplenium Trichomanes, Linn.
Asplenium flabellifolium, Cavan.
Asplenium bulbiferum, Forst, var. y tripinnata.
Asplenium bulbiferum, Forst.
Asplenium flaccidum, Forst.
Asplenium Hookerianum, Col.
Asplenium Richardi, Hook. fil.
1 to 3 Scalaria lyrata Zitt.—Oamaru.
4 to 5 Cyprina—Oamaru.
6 to 7 Natica globosa (new species)—Oamaru.
8 to 9 Cyprina, sp.—Oamaru.
10 to 11 Cardium, sp.—Oamaru.
12 to 13 Cyprina, sp.—Oamaru.
14 to 15 Natica solida D'Orb.
1 a, b, Dentalium giganteum D'Orb.—Waitaki Sandstones.
Dentalium Mantelli Zitt.
2 a b Waldhemia gravida Zitt., Oamaru.
4 a b Tapes, sp. do.
5 Turritclla, sp. do.
6 a b Ancellaria, do.
8 Balanus, sp. do.
9 a b c Cathaphyllum, sp. do.
10 a b Turbo ornatus (new species), do.
1, 2 & 6 Pecten Hochstetteri, Zitt.
3 a b Pecten rudis, D'Orb.
4 Pecten Striatula, (new species).
5 Pecten
7 Pecten Triphooki, Zitt.
8 Mya.
1 Pecopteris.
2 Sphcnopteris.
3 Asplinium.
4 Pecoptcris.
Caking Coal, Pakaudau, Nelson, Wanganui, Grey River, Buller River.
With several samples from Australia, Europe, and America for comparison, with 35 Analyses made in Laboratory of Department.
Coprosma lueida, Forst.
Plagianthus Lyallii, Hook. fil.
Heliophyllum Colensoi, Hook. fil. new species.
Heliophyllum rubrum, Hook. fil. new species.
Heliophyllum clavigerum, Hook. fil.
Forstera sedifoliu, Lin. fil.
Hectorolla cæspitosa, Hook. fil. new species.
Myosotus pulvinarus, Hook. fil. new species.
Colobanthus acicularis, Hook. fil. new species.
Donatia Novæ Zealandiæ, Hook. fil.
Abrotanella inconspicua, Hook. fil. new species.
Raoulia grandiflora, Hook. fil.
Plantago lanigera, Hook. fil. new species.
Veronica Hectorii, Hook. fil. new species.
Claytonia Australasica, Hook. fil.
Myosotis Hectorii, Hook. fil. new species.
Ourisia cacopitosa, Hook. fil. new species.
Celinisia Hectorii, Hook. fil. new species.
Celinisia sessiliflora, Hook. fil. new species.
Brachycome Sinclairii, var. y. Hook. fil. now species.
Senecio cassinioides, Hook. fil. new species.
Ranunculus pachyrrhizus, Hook. fil. now species.
Ourisia glandulosa, Hook. fil. now species.
Ligusticum imbricatum, Hook. fil. new species.
Braza Novæ Zealandiæ, Hook. fil. new species.
Calder, Hugh, Caversham, pos.—One sample of Stone from Wycliffe Bay, well adapted for building purposes.
One sample Limestone, from Arden Bay.
One sample Stone, Wycliffe Bay.
Commissioners New Zealand Exhibition.—Hydraulic Machine, for testing the Strength of Material.
Machine for Testing the Strength of Timber, &c.
Commissioners of New Zealand Exhibition, pos.—
Model Hart's Amalgamator.
Do Tyrolese Amalgamator.
Do Hart's Puddling Cylinder.
Do Common Puddling Mill.
Do Section of common Puddling Mill.
Model of a Stone-breaking Machine.
Commissioners for New Zealand Exhibition—
Obelisk, representing the whole of the gold exported from New Zealand up to 31st December last, comprising 1,814,026 ounce troy, of the value of £6,250,000 sterling, of which
cubic feet of solid gold.
Baker, J. H., Invercargill, for Provincial Government, pos.—Model of Railway Station.
Map of Southland Hundreds, engraved by T. Wyld, 457, Strand, London.
Edwards, Rev. E. G., Dunedin, pos.—Gold bearing conglomerate from "Hamilton's" diggings.
Australian Agricultural Company, New South Wales, pos.—Samples of Coal. J. L. and C. Burke, agents, Dunedin.
One case, exhibited by Mr J. A. Smith, Napier, contains specimens of New Zealand Flax dressed and manufactured.
Also Three Specimens of Flax of New Zealand growth—Linum Perenne, or Perennial Flax.
Yellow Kowhaic. A substitute for Quassia.
Extract from Circular published by the Chamber of Commerce for the Worsted District. "Address of the Wool Supply Association of the Bradford and Halifax Chamber of Commerce to all parties interested in the growth of Colonial Wools":—
"The Wool (the increase of which they desire to promote) should have a staple of from four to seven inches long, according to its fineness, and should, as far as possible, be uniform in quality throughout its whole length, bright and lustrous in appearance, or soft and kind to the touch, of good spinning properties, free from burrs or other vegetable fibre. It should also be well washed before it is clipped, or where this is not practicable care should be taken that it be not cotted or felted in drying. It is most desirable to retain the whole natural length of the staple by only clipping the lambs or sheep once during the season's growth, unless local causes render it absolutely necessary to do so oftener.
"It is also very desirable that a proper classification of Wool should be made in packing, and that the packing should be thoroughly trustworthy and fair.
"An improvement is already manifested in the Wool of some countries, and the Association believe that it might be made general if proper care were taken in the selection of breeding sheep, particularly of the rams, and, where necessary, by the introduction of new blood."
Remarks on New Zealand Wools:—
"Large supplies of this Wool have already come to England, and we believe the country is peculiarly adapted to produce the long Combing Wools required, front its soil and climate, and an unlimited market is open here for such Wools."
The numbers referred to are the Catalogue numbers in the body of the Catalogue.
The Fine Arts having separate numbers are noted by FA before the number; and, for reference to Appendix, Ap. is given before the number, the page being also given.
The surplus stores under this Class at the India Museum being too incomplete to furnish a representative Collection of the Mineral Resources of India, no specimens have been forwarded.
The mean of eight analyses of Indian wheats gave the following results:—
An analysis of Indian maize gave the following results:—
The mean of two analyses of this grain gives:—
The mean of three analyses is as follows:—
The following is the composition shown by an analysis of this nllet:—
The mean of two analyses gives:—
This is the favourite food-grain of the people; but, except in Arracan, and a few other districts, in which it constitutes the chief and almost only article cultivated, its use is confined to the richer classes throughout the country.
The mean of four analyses of Indian rice:—
Pulses occupy an important position in the food vocabulary of the people of India. They are eaten with, and supply to rice and some other cereals, the nitrogenous or "flesh-forming" material in which these are defective.
Of this Tribe, Gram (Cicer arietinum), or chick pea, occupies an important position. It is largely used by the people, and constitutes, besides, the great horse-food of Northern and Western India. It can be used for this purpose for a length of time without causing "heating," or the other deleterious effects ordinarily produced by the too exclusive employment of peas and beans.
The mean of five analyses:—
This pea is a particular favourite. When husked and split, it constutes the kind of "dhol" which, when procurable, most commonly enters, withice, into the formation of the vegetable curry of the Hindoo.
The mean of three analyses:—
Cultivated in many parts, but not generally held in high repute.
Of an unlmsked sample from Calcutta:—
Of a husked sample from Bombay:—
Beans are largely cultivated and employed similarly to the foregoing. Lablab vulgaris and Doliehos sinensis are those chiefly used as articles of human food. Of the first mentioned, the Lablab, there are a number of varieties, all of them favourites.
Results of analyses of two varieties from Bombay:—
Extensively cultivated. There are three varieties, white, brown, and black.
Cultivated in many parts to the north of India. This is the sain as the well-known Chinese bean, which constitutes such a large article trade between the northern and southern ports of China. Of all vegetable sultances, it is richer in nitrogenous or "flesh-forming" matter than any yet discovered.
The mean of three analyses is given:—
Of the Phaseoli, the P. radiatus is one of the principal favourites, although it is doubtful if any of these are in such general repute as some of the preceding.
It is extensively cultivated in Oude. When split, it forms one of the "Dâls" and ground into flour is used for bread by natives. It is also sometimes used mixed up with wheaten flour. Bullocks, sheep, goats, and many of the native cavalry horses are fed on it. Two varieties are cultivated, white and black.
An exhibition of teas from localities other than the well-known ones in China possesses more than ordinary interest. The cultivation of the tea plant is being rapidly extended in India, a district exceeding 1,000 miles in length being more or less adapted to its growth. The production of tea in Assam has taken very firm root, and is spreading with almost unexampled rapidity. But this cultivation is not confined to Assam; the Government of India having succeeded, through the able agency of Dr. Jameson, in introducing it into Dhera Dhoon, Kumaon, Gurhwal, and Kangra. As the result of this, private enterprise—as represented by a number of individuals and several companies—is now engaged in extending its cultivation in the districts in question. Of what is being done, a very good notion is conveyed by the samples displayed.
The above five samples were produced by the Assam Tea Company.
This Company has been established since
A number of new plantations have been started in this district. Already upwards of fifty are said to exist, and some thousands of acres are under cultivation.
The first trial of the tea plant at Darjeeling was made in
Both in Kumaon and Gurwhal, and the Dherah Dhoon, Government plantations, as well as those of individuals and companies, are to be found. In the year
This important berry is being extensively cultivated in the highlands of Southern India, and large tracts of country are available for the extension of its growth.
The Date Palm (Elate sylvestris) furnishes almost the whole of the sugar exported in such considerable quantities from Calcutta. No good samples of this product were available for the present collection, or procurable in time for shipment.
This is the form in which opium is prepared in India for the Chinese markets.
The narcotic properties of hemp becomes concentrated in a resinous juice, which in certain seasons and in tropical countries exudes, and concretes on the leaves, slender stems, and flowers. This constitutes the base of all the hem preparations, to which all the powers of the drug are attributable. In Central India, the hemp resin, called churrus, is collected during the hot season in the following manner:—Men clad in leathern dresses run through the hemp fields, brushing through the plants with all possible violence; the soft resin adheres to the leather, and is subsequently scraped off and kneaded into balls, which sell at from five to six rupees the seer, or about 5s. to 6s. per pound. A still finer kind, the momeca or waxen churrus, is collected by the hand in Nepaul, and sells for nearly double the price of the ordinary kind. Dr. M'Kinnon says: "In Nepaul, the leathern attire is dispensed with, and the resin is collected on the skin of naked coolies." In Persia the churrus is obtained by pressing the resinous plant on coarse cloths, and then scraping it from these and melting it in a pot with a little warm water. Mirza considers the churrus of Herat the most powerful of all the varieties of the drug. The hemp resin, when pure, is of a blackish grey colour, with a fragrant narcotic odour, and a slightly warm, bitterish, acrid taste.
The Areca palm, which supplies the betel nut, is known by the Malay name Pinang, whence also the name of the island Penang, which is now the chief emporium of the trade. There are various kinds in use, and the mode of preparation also differs. The three ingredients of the betel nut, as commonly used, are, the sliced nut, the leaf of the betel pepper in which the nut is rolled, and chunam or powdered lime, which is smeared over the leaf. Prof. Johnston calculated that they are chewed by at least fifty millions of the human race.
The following woollen substances are used in the Punjab:—
The best kind is produced in the semi-Chinese Provinces of Turfan Kicnar, and exported
Pashun, or shawl wool, properly so called, being a downy substance, found next the skin and below the thick hair of the Thibetan goat. It is of three colours: white, drab, and dark lavender (Tûsha).viâ Yarkand to Kashmere. All the finest shawls are made of this wool, but as the Maharajah of Kashmere keeps a strong monopoly of the article, the Punjab shawl-weavers cannot procure it, and have to be concent with an inferior kind of Pashum produced at Châthân, and exported viâ Leh to Umritzur, Nûrpûr, Loodianah, Jelalpûr, and other shawl-weaving towis of the Punjab. The price of White Pashum in Kashmere is for unclcaned, 3s. to 4s. per lb.; ditto cleaned, 6s. to 7s. per lb. Of Tûsha ditto, uncleaned, 2s to 3s. a lb.; cleaned, from 5s to 7s.The fleece of the Dumba sheep of Kabul and Peshawur.—This is sometimes called Kabuli Pashum. It is used in the manufacture of the finer sorts of chogas, an outer-robe or cloak with sleeves, worn by Affghans and other Mahomedans of the Western frontier.Wahab Shâhi, or Kirmani Wool.—The wool of a sheep found in Kirman, a tract of country in the south of Persia, by the Persian Gulf. It is used for the manufacture of a spurious kind of shawl cloth, and for adulterating the texture of Kashmere shawls. Specimens of this wool will be found in the collection.The hair of a goat common in Kabul and Peshawur, called Pat, from which a texture called Pattu is made.The woolly hair of the camel.—From this a coarser kind of choga is made.The wool of the country sheep of the Plains.—Regarding the production of wool in the Himalayan or Sub-Himalayan portion of the Punjab, the last year's Revenue Report states that "there can be no doubt that the valleys of the Sutlej, Ravee, Chandrabaga (or Chenab), Namisukh, and other tributaries of the Indus, supply grazing grounds not to be surpassed in richness and suitableness in any part of the world. The population inhabiting them are chiefly pastoral, but owing to sloth and ignorance the wool they produce is but small in quantity, full of dirt, and ill-cared for in every way." The government of the Punjab have made efforts to improve the breed by the importation of Merino rams, but hitherto with little success. However, a truss of Merino wool produced at Huzara, a hill district to the north-west of the Punjab, and sent to England in
An enumeration of the silk-producing moths of India, by Frederic Moore, Esq., will be found in the "Technologist," vol. ii. p. 410.
The seed pod of various genera of plants supply a material which, from its appearance, is called "silk cotton." It is deficient in strength, and difficult to spin, on account of the smoothness of the individual fibres.
There are two species of Calotropis—one the Mûdar (Calotropis gigantea), the other the Ak (C. Hamiltonii), which produce this floss in great abundance. One or other of these grow luxuriantly in all parts of the country; and should the material, as now expected, prove of commercial value, it could be furnished at a cheap rate in large quantities. Hitherto its chief use has been for stuffing pillows.
In the arrangement of this important division, the following classification, founded on the capability of the different fibres to fulfil certain functions, has been adopted.
Of all Indian fibres, the one which at present attracts most attention in this country is that of the Rhea. As soon as arrangements have been effected for its production, along with that of other species of nettle which abound in various parts of India, it is anticipated that fibres from this class of plants will eventually
Although botanically a different species, the fibre of this plant is almost identical with that furnished by the Rhea. It flourishes at Darjeeling and other places in the north of India. Its commercial value is the same as that of Rhea.
This nettle abounds in the Nilgiri Hills and also in some other parts of the country. It furnishes a fibre of such a nature that the term "vegetable wool" has been applied to it.
Have also been referred to under the head of Silk Cottons. The stems of these two species furnish a valuable fibre, which is, however, very difficult of extraction.
This excellent fibre is the produce of a creeper which grows abundantly on
There are two species which afford this well-known article of commerce, viz., Corchorus olitorius and C. capsularis. Both are largely cultivated.
This fibre is very similar to jute in appearance; but it is considered to be intrinsically so superior that it is worth from £5 to £6 more per ton, and it has accordingly been placed next to that fibre, in order to attract to it the attention which it deserves.
This plant furnishes a portion of the so-called "brown hemp," exported from Bombay. It is readily cultivated, and, with more attention to its preparation, is calculated to compete with jute.
Commonly cultivated in gardens for the sake of its leaves, which are eaten in salads. Worthy of extended cultivation on account of its fibre.
It is cultivated in many parts of India for the sake of the "Bhang" or intoxicating resin of its leaves, but as yet only occasionally for its fibre.
This plant furnishes the vast proportion of the so-called hemps exported from India.
This division embraces the fibres furnished by the leaves and stems of endogenous plants.
This plant supplies the only fibre of the group which is at all likely to be employed for spinning by machinery. Its fibres are fine and very divisible. 733. Pine apple, Ananassa sativa, valued at £30 per ton, Madras.
This plant supplies a fibre in point of strength and other qualities well calculated, when properly prepared, to compete with the "Manilla hemp" of the Philippine Islands.
Although neither of these plants is indigenous, both are now cultivated in many parts of the country. After suitable preparation, the agave fibre is usually employed for the manufacture, amongst other things, of an imitation "horsehair" cloth.
This plant, although not yet cultivated for economic purposes, produces fibre of very considerable value when properly prepared.
Universally cultivated for its fruit. Its leaves afford a fibre suited for certain purposes. Ordinarily it is inferior to Manilla hemp (Musa textilis) in point of strength.
The leaves of this plant furnish a fibre which can be turned to account for the manufacture of paper and some common purposes. It is, however, in every respect inferior to those in this group above entered.
This well-known material is furnished by the fibrous envelope of the nut of the cocoa palm (Cocos nucifera). It is exported from India in considerable quantities.
This fibre is considered superior to all others yet made use of for the nanufacture of artificial bristles for brushes, imitation horse-hair for stuffing and such like purposes.
This grass supplies a strong good fibre, which is beginning to attract attention in this country, and is now being exported from Kurachi, in Sinde.
The foregoing are only a selection from some of the most important and valuable of Indian Fibres. A very large number of fibrous plants are indigenous to the peninsula, and of these a great many that are at present unknown in commerce are utilized by the natives.
Photographs of articles of Indian manufacture in the Indian Museum, London. Photographed under the direction of the Reporter on the products of India, by William Griggs, India Museum.
A Frame containing:—
Photograph of Hindu Temple, Benares, N.W. Provinces.
This model, carved in sandalwood, and mounted in silver, was presented to the Indian Department of the Exhibition of
Photograph of Minaret, carved in blackwood, from Ahmedabad, Bombay.
Photograph of a Mahomedan Pulpit in the Mosque of Mahafiz Khan, Ahmedabad, Bombay.
This mosque was built in the reign of Mahomed Begarha (in the latter half of the 15th century), by Vazir Jamálúd-deen. The entrance to the temple is mean, and the court yard is paved with sandstone, but the coup'd'œil of the mosque is magnificent. This is the only masjid in Ahmedabad unimpaired by time and uninjured by man.
A Frame containing:—
Two Photographs, one of a Glove Box, and another of the lid of the same, carved in sandalwood, Mysore, Madras.
Photograph of a Card Tray, carved in wood, foliage pattern, Seharunpore, N.W. Provinces.
Photograph of a Carving in Ivory, Berhampore. Hindu mythological subject, representing the goddess Durga and the lion; Rama with attendants; Ganesa, the god of wisdom; Saraswati, wife of Brahma, &c.
A frame containing:—
Photograph of Flower Vase, elaborately carved in blackwood, Madras,
Photograph of Teacaddy and Stand, richly carved in black-wood, Madras.
Photograph of large oval Screen, carved in ebony, Madras.
Photograph of a Prie-dieu Chair, carved in ebony, Bombay.
The Madras and Bombay carvings in wood are remarkable for boldness in design and execution. The employment of native skill in the ornamentation of European articles of furniture was largely illustrated at the Exhibitions of
One Frame of Photographs, viz.:—
Two Specimens of Carving in Soapstone, from Agra, N.W. Provinces.
Mosaic Work. A Chess Table Top, of Marble, inlaid with carnelians in colours, lapis lazuli, &c. Agra, N.W. Provinces. Four Specimens of Painted Pottery.
No. 1, from Patna, Bengal.
No. 2, 3, from Amroha, N.W. Provinces.
No. 4, from Kotah.
Patna and Amroha are both celebrated for the production of pottery. In the report furnished with specimens of this manufacture from the last-named locality to the Exhibition of
One Frame containing:—
Three Photographs. Front, back, and end views of a Cabinet of sandalwood, elaborately carved. Mysore, Madras.
One Frame of Photographs, viz.:—
Portfolio of Inlaid Work, and Glove Box of carved sandalwood, with inlaid edges. Bombay.
Glove Box of carved ivory and inlaid work. Bombay.
Glove Box and Card Basket, of porcupine quills. Vizagapatam, Madras.
Card Basket of ivory and sandalwood. Bombay.
Inlaid Work.
This kind of work is slated to have been originally introduced from Persia into Scind, and thence to Bombay, where there are at the present time about fifty manufacturers. The materials employed are thin slips or rods of ivory, tin, sappan wood, ebony, and dyed horn. These, arranged so as to form the different patterns, are bound together in lengths, from the ends of which sections are cut off as required.
One frame containing 2 Photographs, viz.:—
Arms and Armour (Nos. 1 to 15).
Inlaid with gold.
Agricultural Implements:—
These Photographs have boon selected from an extensive series (upwards of 800 different subjects), the originals of which were taken in various parts of India, by order of Government. The whole are now in the course of reproduction at the India Museum, with a view to their publication.
The muslins of Dacca were formerly unrivalled for fineness of texture. The spinning of the very fine thread is executed with marvellous dexterity. The operation is usually performed by young women, who can only work while the dew is on the ground during the early part of the morning. The demand for these extremely beautiful fibres was in past times principally to supply the royal wardrobe of Delhi. From their wonderful fineness these fabrics have been called "abrowan" or running water, "shabnam," evening dew, &c.
The specimens exhibited are chiefly from the Punjab, where silk fabrics form an important trade item. Mr. Davis, the Secretary to the Punjab Government, estimates the annual value at nearly £200,000. Silk manufacture is carried on extensively at Umritsur, and still more so at Lahore and Mooltan. The raw material is principally obtained from the countries north of India, from Bukhara, and other localities lying between the Caspian and the N.E. frontier, and is sent through Umritsur to all parts of India. The manufacture of silk is however largely carried on in other parts of the country,
The subjoined remarks on the manufacture of Cashmere shawls were furnished in the report by the Central Committee for the Punjab, Lahore, to the Exhibition of This is now by far the most important manufacture in the Punjaub: but thirty years ago it was almost entirely confined to Cashmere. At the period alluded to, a terrible famine visited Cashmere; and, in consequence, numbers of the shawl-weavers emigrated to the Punjab, and settled in Umritsur, Nurpûr, Dinangar, Tilaknath, Jelalpûr, and Loodianah, in all of which places the manufacture continues to flourish. The best shawls of Punjab manufacture are manufactured at Umritsur, which is also an emporium of the shawl trade. But none of the shawls made in the Punjab can compete with the best shawls made in Cashmere itself; first, because the Punjab manufacturers are unable to obtain the finest species of wool; and, secondly, by reason of the inferiority of the dyeing, the excellence of which in Cashmere is attributed to some chemical peculiarity in the water there. On receipt of the raw pashum or shawl-wool, the first operation is that of cleaning it: this is done generally by women; the best kind is cleaned with lime and water, but ordinarily the wool is cleaned by being shaken up with flour. The next operation is that of
Shawls of the former class are woven into separate pieces, which are, when required, sewn together with such precision that the sewing is imperceptible. These are the most highly prized of the two. In worked shawls, the pattern is worked with the needle upon a piece of plain pashumeea or shawl cloth. A woven shawl made at Cashmere of the best materials, and weighing 7 lbs., will cost in Cashmere as much as £300; of this amount, the cost of the material, including thread, is £30, the wages of labour £100, miscellaneous expenses £50, duty £70. Besides shawls, various other articles of dress, such as chogas, or outer robes, ladies' opera-cloaks, smoking caps, gloves, &c., are made of pashumcea. Latterly great complaints have been made by European firms of the adulteration of the texture of Cashmere shawls; and there is no doubt that such adulteration is practised, especially by mixing up Kirmanee wool with real pashum. In order to provide some guarantee against this, it has been proposed that a guild or company of respectable traders should be formed, who should be empowered to affix on all genuine shawls a trade-mark, which should be a guarantee to the public that the material of the shawl is genuine pashum, especially as the Indian Penal Code provides a punishment for those who counterfeit or falsify trade-marks, or knowingly sell goods marked with counterfeit or false trade-marks. At Delhi shawls are made up of pashumeca, worked with silk, and embroidered with gold lace. A very delicate shawl is made of the wool of a sheep found in the neighbourhood of Ladak and Kûlu: the best wool is procurable in a village near Rampûr, on the Sutlej; hence the fabric is called "Rampûr chudder." Other woollen manufacturers in the Punjab are Peshawur chogas, made of the wool of the Damba sheep, and of camel's hair, and chogas made of Patti, or the hair of the Cabul goat.
A rug, woollen, small, Shahpore.
These two rugs are woven of a Persian pattern.
The subjoined remarks on the manufacture of carpets and rugs in India are extracted from the catalogue of the Indian Department of the Exhibition of
The chief places in which carpets are manufactured, are Lahore, Bareilly, Jubbulpore, Gorruckpore, Mirzapore, Rungpore, and Benares, in the Presidencies of Bengal, the North-West Provinces, and the Punjab, and at Masulipatam in the Madras Presidency.
At Lahore, Mecrut, and Bareilly, the manufacture is solely carried on by prisoners in the jails; but as it has only been commenced since the introduction of the new prison discipline, the annual production is limited; so far, however, as quality is concerned, the carpets are excellent. They can be made there of any size and pattern, the average price being from seven to nine shillings per square yard. The great drawback to the exportation of carpets from the above places is the heavy expense of inland transport, which, however, will remedy itself as soon as the three great lines of railway, now in the course of construction, have been completed.
At Jubbulpore, the manufacture of carpets, rugs, and suttringees (cotton carpts), has been regularly carried on for years; chiefly in jails, whore Thugs and other prisoners are extensively employed upon them. The Jubbulpore carpets are considered of extremely good texture, and are remarkable for their cheapness. The annual consumption, though large, is limited to a comparatively small area. The nearest place to which they are at present conveyed is
When the railway from Jubbulpore to Bombay is completed, the cost of bringing these carpets to Bombay will be reduced to about 20 per cent, on the cost price, so that a carpet costing at Jubbulpore £10 will be capable of being landed in London for £14 at the outside. The Jubbulpore School of Industry, as it is called, receives direct orders for any amount of carpets, and their fixed prices are as follows:—
At present, however, the places which supply the greater portion of India, as well as the export demand, are Mirzapore and Benares. There is no specific price per yard, as carpets, both at Mirzapore and Benares, are generally sold at so much a piece. The Mirzapore carpets are noted for excellent staple and durability of wear, but are dearer than those from Jubbulpore, though for purposes of export they are cheaper, as the place is situated on the Ganges, and has, therefore, the advantages of easy transport to Calcutta. When the railways come into full operation, the carpets of Mirzapore and Benares will be, in all probability, superseded by those of Meerut, Bareilly, Lahore, and Jubbulpore. The manufacture of carpets is also carried on at Gorruckpore; they are, therefore, more expensive than those of the neighbouring districts of Mirzapore and Benares. In the Madras Presidency, Masulipatam is the chief seat of the manufacture. The trade is carried on to a considerable extent, and entirely by natives, who, as in Bengal, combine it with agricultural undertakings adapted to the season of the year.
The above remarks apply exclusively to carpets not less than 10 feet square.
The manufacture of rugs is very extensive, and comprises many localities. At Peshawur, Bareilly, Shahpore, Scalcote, and Sirsa, the manufacture is entirely confined to the jails. The places, however, where a regular manufacture and trade are carried on, arc, Benares, Mirzapore, Allahabad, and Gorruckpore in Bengal; North Arcot, Tanjore, Ellore, and Malabar in the Madras Presidency; and also at Mysore, as well as Shikarpor, Khyrpore, and Hyderabad in Sind. Those of Bengal commend themselves by extraordinary cheapness; they are extensively used throughout India, and also somewhat largely exported. In point of texture and workmanship, however, the rugs of Ellore,
The employment of rugs throughout India is most extensive, as every native who can afford to purchase one uses it to sit upon and smoke his hookah. It is impossible to form an estimate of the annual value of this manufacture, as only the small portion exported is entered in the official records, and as no steps have hitherto been taken to ascertain the local trade. The rugs made in Bengal vary in length from 3 to 3½ feet; their average width being 1¾ feet, and their value from £1 to £1 10s. The rags from Ellore, Tanjore, and Mysore are made of various sizes, and are valued from £2 to £4 each; those from Shikarpore and Khyrpore as well as from Hyderabad (Sind) are of a higher texture, but excellent workmanship; their width is generally uniform, but in length and consequent cost they vary from £2 to £5 each.
The finest articles of this description, however, are the silk rugs from Tanjore and Mysore, the blending of colours and workmanship being excellent. They are made of all sizes, even up to squares of ten feet; but being too costly for general adoption, this manufacture is very limited.
These fabrics, which are entirely made of cotton, may be considered a cheap substitute for woollen carpets. They are used by every one, European or native, throughout India, and the annual manufacture is consequently very considerable, especially in Bengal, where they form a large and important branch of inland trade. They are of all sizes, from that of the largest carpet to the smallest rag, but generally of one and the same pattern throughout India, the only difference being the colour. Blue and white, and red and white, stripes constitute the prevalent patterns, but in some one colour of darker and lighter hues is employed. In Meerat, Bareilly, and Patna, new patterns have of late been tried with considerable success, but, though preferred by the Europeans? are not by natives, who like the striped patterns because they wear better in daily use, and do not lose the freshness of colour by washing. The principal localities where suttringees are manufactured are Agra, Bareilly, Patna, Shahabad, Beerbhoom, and Burdwan. Those manufactured at Agra are considered the best, and the value of its annual production about £10,000. In Shahabad, the quantity manufactured last year was nearly £7,000; and the same may be assumed to have been produced in the other places above-mentioned. Suttringees vary in price according to size and quality. The small ones are valued from 3s. to 15s., and the larger ones (carpet size) from £1 10s. to £4, the price in many cases being regulated by weight.
The internal trade in mats is very extensive, as they are in universal use by both Europeans and natives, and are therefore made of kinds and varieties to suit everybody's taste and means. Europeans use only the better kinds of mats, and almost exclusively for the covering of floors in their houses, but natives employ them for a variety of other purposes, such as to sleep upon, smoke, &c. Every Mahomedan, however poor, after having performed the prescribed ablutions, spreads a small mat before him, while saying his prayers. The Hindoo uses it as a sort of table-cloth; in many a poor hut it constitutes the only piece of furniture perceptible.
Though mats are made in almost every part of India, the finest kinds are manufactured at Midnapore, near Calcutta. These are only manufactured to special order, but can be made of any size required. The price varies according to the size of the border, which is coloured either red or black. But besides these extremely fine mats, a description is manufactured, of which considerable numbers are exported to Madras, Bombay, Mauritius, and South Australia; these are much cheaper, and a good strong mat, about 20 feet square, may be had for £4 if plain, and £5 10s. with a black or red border. The mats next in point of fineness are those from Jessore, also in the vicinity of Calcutta, and called Sittulputtee; these, however, are never made, if Indian, of the size of an entire room-floor, but only in the shape of rugs, and have invariably a red border, sometimes also a red-flowered centre. They are generally made about 4 to 5 feet long and 2 broad, and cost from £2 to £3 each. At Hooghly, near Calcutta, an inferior kind of small mat is made, of which very large quantities are exported by the emigrants to Mauritius and Demerara, and lately several shipments have been made to New South Wales. The largest variety of small mats is, however, made in the Madras Presidency; North Arcot, and the whole of the Malabar coast, are celebrated for these handsome fabrics. There are at least 200 varieties of design and colouring, the price varying from 3s. to £3 per mat, according to quality and length. All mats in India are made by a special caste, who devote themselves exclusively to that description of manufacture. There are no statistical records to show the number and value of mats annually manufactured, but if it be considered that everybody, high or low, rich or poor, uses some kind of mat, it can easily be imagined that a very large number of people must be employed in making mats to supply the demand, not only of the immense local population, but also that for export. Exhibition Catalogue,
1 piece Chintz, Madras.
This is used by Mahomedans as a prayer cloth at meals.
Note. Under Class 27 (Clothing) will also be found many articles which, though being strictly garments, are admirable examples of loom embroidery.
1 "Choga," or jacket, of brocadc or "kincob," Delhi, Punjab.
Usually worn by natives of rank.
1 Umbrella, large, of silk, Sattara, Bombay.
(The handle conceals a long dagger.)
The undermentioned articles, although not all strictly belonging to this class, are chiefly remarkable as furnishing evidence of skill and fertility in decorative design.
Box, square, painted, for betel-nut, from Singapore.
(This box contains five brass vessels.)
The utensils, both of clay and metal in domestic use by the natives of India are remarkable for their admirable symmetry and classical forms. The metallic vessels are often elaborately engraved.
In Class 14 (Photography) will be found Photographic copies of various articles in the India Museum; amongst others, of specimens of native carvings in wood. As the articles themselves could not be spared from the Museum, it was thought that photographic copies of certain specimens would afford a fair idea of the sculptural skill possessed by the natives of India.
W. Trounce, Printer, Cursitor-Street, Chancery-Lane, London.
In reply to the queries contained in your note of the 26th ult., I will most gladly give you my views on the subject of emigration to North America, and especially as to the possibility of landed proprietors making Settlements of poor people in such a manner as would afford a fair prospect of having the expenses incurred in conveying these people out and settling them on land repaid by the people themselves. I have no objection to your publishing my letter. To give my views, however, as you request, with "as full explanation as I am able" or as I would wish, would be impossible within the compass of such a paper as it would be convenient for you to publish, or as I could prepare within the time that would make it available for your purpose. The circumstances, the views, and the character of the persons desirous to emigrate, as well as the views and circumstances of the persons disposed to aid them, are likely to be too various; and the modifications by which a plan of emigration or colonization might be made to adapt itself to varying conditions, are too numerous to be treated of at large in a brief and hasty paper. My aim therefore will be, to give you broad circumstances and general views. But for sake of clearness and distinctness, I will endeavour to do this by suggesting such a scheme as I conceive would be applicable to what I suppose to be the probable circumstances of the particular estate which you manage; giving you at the same time, as I go along, a full explanation of the circumstances and reasons which lead me to the suggesting of each arrangement that I propose. Thus you will have all the facilities for taking my scheme to pieces, and reconstructing it according to your own judgment, to suit any other set of circumstances different from those to which I have endeavoured to adapt it.
You are aware, that although I made a tour in Upper Canada some years ago, my personal knowledge is mostly of the United
I would have extended my last year's tour into Canada, but that I had reason to feel assured that Canada did not afford the same facilities for establishing a desirable system of colonization as the Western States. The government price of land is higher in Canada than in the States: this government price is not uniform, but varies with circumstances; and this must needs produce to the emigrant, perplexity, disappointment, and delay. The land in Canada is very heavily timbered; there is no prairie, Land naturally clear of timber.exemplary taxation in the United States than in Canada; therefore, in the States speculators are discouraged from holding such lands over for inordinately long periods, and industrious settlors are not as liable, as in Canada, to have their locations removed from the centres of population and from market by intervening wildernesses. I may add, that the great body of my countrymen who are disposed to emigrate, are more anxious to settle in the States than in Canada. For all these reasons my attention was directed to the Western States, and such information as I possess relates chiefly to them.
You ask me—
"
First—Can our emigration be carried to any considerable extent by the absorption of our labourers into the ordinary labour market of the United States and the Canadas? and if so, to what probable extent in each of those countries, at what probable cost per family, and under what class of agency—keeping in mind that the emigrant is not merely to be thrown on shore, but that he must be placed in a permanent position of earning a livelihood? The emigrants may be considered as belonging to two classes:—
Your first question relates wholly to a scheme of helping your emigrants to find employment as labourers in the existing lalour market; your second relates to a scheme of establishing the same emigrants as farmers on lands of their own, or ultimately to become their own,—in fact, to a scheme of Settlements.
I shall consider these schemes in order, having first made a few observations on the character and the comparative expensivenes of the two.
There can be no doubt as to which scheme would be none acceptable to the emigrants. In the ordinary course of emigration, emigrants proceed, for the most part, on the invitation of friends previously settled in the new country. They go direct to the place where their friends are settled, and from them receive both "aid and comfort." With them they find both the associations of their old home, and the information, direction, and assistance that helps them to success in their new home. The few who do, in the ordinary course of emigration, proceed to America wholly destitute of this advantage, and possessing but small means, enter on their enterprise as a bold adventure, obscured with uncertainty, involving therefore considerable risk, and requiring some courage to face it. Your emigrants would, of course, proceed without the advantage I have named (the invitation of friends ready to receive them on their arrival), and what they would want from yon—besides the means of conveying those who were unable to convey themselves—would be, that you should reduce their enterprise to a certainty—in a word, that you should become their ensurer. How much more perfectly, how much more satisfactorily, and with how much clearer demonstration to them you could do this, by having land, the means of tilling it, and a temporary support provided for them, than by referring them to the general labour market of the country, even with all the aid and direction you could provide for them, does not need to be insisted on.
A project of settlements, therefore, would be infinitely more satisfactory to your emigrants, than any plan that would leave them to the chances of employment. It would also, no doubt, be more satisfactory to yourself, as it would enable you to see at a view the progress of your settlers, to see the good you had done, and to estimate it. All this is plain—perhaps plain enough to amount to a truism; but it may not be equally obvious, that under certain circumstances—and these the most likely to be the prevailing circumstances of your scheme—the plan of settlements would also be the cheaper one to you. If the families could all pay the whole amount of their own expenses out, the cheapest way in which you could befriend them would certainly be, to help them to find employment
To proceed then to the direct answering of Your First Question—as to the extent to which emigrant labourers can be absorbed "in the labour market of the States and Canada?" 1 will say nothing of Canada, because, as to Canada, there is abundant information before the public from persons who have had better opportunities of judging than I have had. I believe that the amount of emigration which Canada is capable of absorbing each year is generally estimated at 50,000 persons, which would comprise, I suppose, ten or twelve thousand labourers. As to the capacity of the United States, it, of course, greatly exceeds the capacity of Canada. The population of the two Canadas approaches two millions; that of the United States is supposed to be now rather over than under twenty millions. You may safely take the capacity of the United States to exceed that of Canada in proportion as its population of twenty millions exceeds the two millions of Canada. I feel certain that half a million of European emigrants arriving each year would, if they were well distributed, meet a ready demand for their labour in the States. The industrial expansion of such a population as twenty millions, in a country that is practically boundless in extent, and of immense fertility, must be capable of absorbing far more than any amount of emigrant labour that is at all likely to arrive from Europe in any one year. The emigrants arrived from Europe in the ports of the United States last year (a year unparalleled for the amount of its emigration), I have lately seen stated in an American paper at two hundred and thirty-three thousand; I know that, notwithstanding this large emigration, the demand for labour everywhere throughout the United States last year was very great. The emigrants arrived in the port of New York alone were about one hundred thousand. Notwithstanding this immense number of emigrants arrived in New York, that city and the region immediately around it absorbed all the able-bodied labourers who chose to remain there. The Irish Emigrant Association were anxious to push the emigrants on into the country, but Mr. Dillon, the president of that association, assured me, in July last, that they found great difficulty in doing this, owing to the great demand for labour, and the high wages (a dollar, and a dollar and a quarter a day) which then prevailed in the city. This great demand, of course, would not last after winter had set in. Throughout the State of New York, European labourers, newly arrived, got twelve or fifteen dollars a month and their board and lodging, hiring for the summer months only; or hiring for the whole year, eight and ten dollars a
The best way of assisting your emigrants who were seeking their support from the ordinary labour market of the country would be, to have an intelligent, zealous, and well-paid agent in one of the western cities of the union—say Detroit, Milwaukie, or Chicago, (I would be disposed to say Chicago), to whom they should all proceed, and who would direct them 011 their arrival, and distribute them to the points where they were likely to find a market for their labour. About £150 a year would probably command the services of a good agent, to conduct such a business on a large scale; but if the right man could be had it would be a very mistaken economy to stickle about twenty or fifty pounds. 1 say a western city for these reasons:—In the first place, the demand for labour is generally greater in the west than in the east. In the second place, it would be much easier for you to take care of the family, while the father travelled through the country in search of employment, in a western city or its neighbourhood, than in New York or its neighbourhood. In the third place, land is cheaper in the west, and labourers rise faster to the condition of fanners, than in the cast, therefore it would be better for your emigrants to be there. And, fourthly, an emigrant and his family, travelling by way of Quebec, could reach a western city as cheaply, or even more cheaply, than they could reach New York, going to New York direct. The passenger law of the United States, in limiting the number of passengers that ships shall carry, and determining the space that shall be given to them, makes no distinction between children and adults. But by the British law two children under fourteen years of age count only as one statute adult. Consequently in ships sailing to any port of the United States children are charged full price, to Quebec they are only charged half price. A family, therefore, can reach a western city of the States, travelling by way of Quebec, for as small a sum, or, if the family be large and young, smaller than they could reach New York, sailing for New York direct.
The expense of conveyance to Quebec during the approaching season (including provisions), can scarcely I think be estimated at less than £5 10s. per statute adult. The emigration and the consequent-demand for passages will be as great as it was last year; and although provisions will be lower, the enactments of the new passenger act, requiring a superintendent of emigrants to be carried and paid or by the ship, and requiring a certain space to be devoted
The duties of your agent should be, to make himself acquainted with the several localities around him where labourers would have the best prospect of finding remunerative employment, to receive your emigrants as they arrived, and to direct and forward them to the localities where he had previously ascertained that labour was most in request. In some years this would be a very easy task, as your labourers would sometimes be employed on the spot as fast as they arrived. In other years it would require exertion, as your agent should see not only that your emigrants found employment from day to day during the summer months, but also that they were likely to be employed and have a home for their families during the succeeding winter. It often happens, even in the western cities, that labourers who have lingered on in them during the summer months, finding at that season a fair amount of employment, are thrown almost wholly idle in winter. When winter arrives, they find themselves in a place where lodging is dear, and firewood dear, and their earnings almost nothing, and they consequently suffer great distress, and are no small burden on the benevolence of the citizens. Your agent should, therefore, as much as he could, forward them into the circumjacent country, to the employment of farmers, if possible. They would find many farmers who could give them a log hut for their families; when winter came then they would have their lodging provided for, their firewood for the cutting, and provisions so cheap that the smallest earnings would support their families.
This brings me to speak of the families. It is this circumstance of "the families" that made the emigration of the last year so disastrous. In former years' emigration flowed according to its natural course; one member of a family went out first, then other members of the family or the whole family in a body went out to him. He was there to receive them, to direct them, to hunt up employment for them, or to have it bespoken for them before they arrived, in fact, in every way to aid and befriend them. Almost every family that left Ireland left it bound for some particular point, it might be in the far interior of the remotest State. Disregarding every other point they made for that. They had a letter with them, received from their pioneer friend. Speak to the head
going to America," or anymore means than would carry them ashore. Landlords "shovelled out" whole families; and the most liberal thought they had made a generous provision for them when they took care that one pound per family should be given to them on landing, about enough to support them in the lowest lodging-house ashore for two days!! The guarded emigration, the emigration that was promoted by friends already settled in the new country, went for the most part to the States where these friends were settled. Of the amount of emigration thus promoted to the States, you may judge by the fact now well known as ascertained and made public by Jacob Harvey of New York, that in the first six months of last year 800,000 dollars had been forwarded in small drafts by the labouring Irish in the States to their friends at home, through bouses in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. But there is a still greater fact behind. When I was in New York at the close of November last, Mr. Harvey was collecting his materials for a similar account for the second six months of the same year. He had then nearly ascertained the amount forwarded from the four principal cities (taking in Baltimore), within the five months then just passed. He showed me the amounts remitted from each city up to that time; and on the supposition that the remittances would continue to go forward in December as they were going then, he estimated that the amount forwarded in the second six months of the year, would amount to no less a sum than one million and four hundred thousand dollars!! These immense sums are supposed to have been forwarded mostly for the purpose of aiding friends to emigrate, and from this we may estimate the amount of emigration (promoted by transatlantic friends, and therefore well directed and well provided for,) that has taken place to the States in the past year, and is likely to take place in the present year. There can be no doubt but a very considerable amount of emigration similarly directed and similarly provided for took place last year to Canada; but Canada was also almost the sole recipient of the emigration that was wholly undirected and wholly unprovided for. A family comprising a number of children could be conveyed to Canada for little more than half the price that it could be conveyed to the States. The price for even
all who were swarming with helpless families, and who, therefore, had "shovelled" themselves out, or had been "shovelled out" by others;—all these went to Canada. A more helpless spectacle can scarcely be imagined than a man thrown ashore in America with a family of a wife and young children, and, as was frequently the case, infirm old people, without money, without friends, and without knowing where he is going to. What can he do with these encumbrances? He must tramp about, and tramp considerable distances too, if he would find employment; but he cannot take these with him, and if he leaves them behind him he leaves them to perish. In Canada the natural consequences have occurred—one-fourth of all the emigrants in this past year (such are the latest accounts), the Montreal Emigrant Committee state that "full one-fourth" of all the past year's emigrants to Canada, have already perished. Such are only the necessary results of poor emigrants going out or being sent out without provision made for them, without money, and far the most disastrous condition of all, with a weak, helpless family, hung as a millstone about their necks. I dwell upon this matter of "the family," because it is really the most serious, and has been the most unappreciated circumstance connected with emigration. Suppose a man even to have reached some part of the interior of the country where labour, say farm-labour, is most in request;—still it is not every farmer that is prepared to take a labourer on the instant, and the labourer must travel in quest of the farmer who is. What is he to do then if he has a family at his heels, unable to walk with him, and he unable to leave them behind and pay for their keep while he traverses the country? Take an illustration. I was myself interested last summer in procuring employment for five young men who were steerage passengers in the ship I sailed in. I procured them letters to a part of the country about three hundred miles from New York, where farm hands were very much in request. They went up there. The farmer to whom they had the letters had no employment that he could give them at that moment, but he gave them a recommendation on to another farmer about fifteen miles distant. This second farmer was likewise unprepared to employ them, but he recommended them to another place twenty miles further distant. In going to this latter place they met a person on the way who employed three of them at high wages; and on arriving the other two found employment, also at high wages (fifteen dollars a month). But how would they have fared if they had had families at their heels, who could not have tramped with them? Nor is this the only difficulty which the family entails. Among three farmers who might be prepared to employ a single man, taking him into their family, there might not be found one who would be able to give a labourer a house to shelter his wife and children. What shall we say, then, of the calamitous condition of the poor emigrant who is cast ashore at Quebec or New York at a time of excessive emigration, without money, and with a helpless family encumbering him?
If any one doubts that a period of some duration, long or short, must needs elapse before emigrants arrived as total strangers in any new country can all find themselves finally settled, no matter how great, how positively avid, may be the demand for employment in the new country, the doubter will do well to read the evidence of Mrs. Chisholm, of New South Wales, given before the Lords' "Colonization Committee" of last session. The public is pretty generally aware, that so pressing is the necessity for additional labourers, both male and female, in the Australian colonies, that the whole of the fund raised by the sale of the public lands is devoted to importing emigrants from Great Britain and Ireland into these colonies, passage free. The passage of each adult emigrant costs the colony about £18. The emigrants are selected by the Commissioners of Emigration, in London, and those Commissioners have adopted the strictest rules against taking any family of which the parents are more than forty years of age, or which comprises more than three children under ten years of age. It is thus effectually provided that these emigrant families exhibit, on their arrival in Australia, the greatest possible amount of physical ability, and the least possible amount of physical helplessness. But, they arrive without any friends settled in the country before them, and ready to receive and direct them; the consequence is, that even in those colonics, where the demand for labour is so eager, and such sums are paid to introduce emigrants into them, the men who arrive there with even the small and easily managed families that are admitted by the Emigration Commissioners, are frequently unemployed for weeks, and often subject to the most serious distress. Even when the single men and women will be engaged 011 board ship, before they land, by persons going out in boats, the encumbered men—the men with families—will be for weeks without employment, on account of the inconveniences attendant upon employing persons so encumbered. Mrs. Chisholm, with a singular benevolence and devotedness, has given her exertions for years to the task of distributing and finding employment for the newly-arrived emigrants. She first began with interesting herself on behalf of unprotected single females, and afterwards took up the case of families; with these latter she has made journeys of three hundred miles into the interior in quest of employment. Nor has this been a matter of a casual glut of emigration. Mrs. Chisholm has been engaged in those good offices for six years—in her own words, she has "had six years' hard work." Mrs. Chisholm's evidence is so illustrative of the time that it takes to distribute emigrants who arrive in a new country without any friends before them, or any fixed destination in that country—of the gradual character of the process, even when labour is in the greatest demand—and of the peculiar disadvantages which those emigrants labour under who are encumbered with families of young children, that I will ask you to publish along with this letter the following portion of Mrs. Chisholm's evidence:—
Did you find any difficulty in placing those young women?—Not in the country, but they were not so suitable to Sydney. They were country girls generally speaking.
How long was it before you disposed of this first venture?—Almost immediately.
Did you then return to Sydney?—Yes; I returned to Sydney, having made arrangements for the establishment of country depots, which I supplied on the principles stated in that paper; besides, I got married" families to promise shelter and protection to such young females as might require it.
Did you subsequently conduct other emigrants into the country?—I did. But I ought to mention that the number of emigrant families that were in Sydney unprovided for induced the emigration agent to entreat his Excellency to permit the families, to have shelter in the emigration barracks, where they might receive food and lodging until provided for. There was an excess of labourers in Sydney at the time they were required in the interior.
How was the excess of labourers in Sydney supported; was it supported at the public expense?—They were supported at the expense of government.
Did the course you took not only provide for these persons happily for themselves, but put an end to public expense altogether?—Yes; in providing for families I undertook journeys of 300 miles into the interior with them; indeed, the further I went the more satisfactory the settlement, the men receiving from £18 to £30 per annum, with double rations.
Was there any aid given to you by the public in taking those emigrants up the country?—When the public had an opportunity of judging of the effects of my system they came forward, and enabled me to go on; the government, to assist me in my exertions, contributed altogether in various ways to the amount of about £100.
How was it possible for you to conduct these operations with such inadequate means?—I met with great assistance from the Country Committees. The squatters and settlers were always willing to give me conveyance for the people. I never wanted for provisions of any kind; the country people always supplied them. A gentleman who was examined before your lordships the other day, Mr. William Bradley, a native of the colony, called upon me, and told me that he approved of my views, and that if I required any thing in carrying my country plan into operation I might draw upon him for money, provisions, horses, or indeed any thing that I required. I had no necessity to draw upon him for a sixpence, the people met my efforts so readily; but it was a great comfort for me at the time to be thus supported.
Was the same liberality of disposition manifested on the part of others of the colonists and settlers?—Oh, yes, indeed. I never was put to any expense in removing the people except what was unavoidable; at public inns the females were sheltered, and I was provisioned myself without any charge; my personal expenses at inns during my seven years' service amounted only to £1 18s. 6d. My efforts, however, were in various ways attended with considerable loss to myself; absence from home increased my family expenditure, and the clerical expense fell heavy upon me; in fact, in carrying on this work the pecuniary anxiety and risk were very great. With the permission of your lordships I will mention one impediment in the way of forwarding emigrants as engaged servants into the interior; numbers of the masters were afraid if they advanced the money for their conveyance by the steamers, &c., they would never reach their stations. I met this difficulty,—advanced the money, confiding in the good feeling of the man that he would keep to his agreement, and in the principle of the master that he would repay me. It is most gratifying to me to state, that although in hundreds of cases the masters were then strangers to me, I only lost throughout £16 by casualties. Some nights I have paid as much as £40 for steamers and land conveyance.
Can you state to the committee how many emigrants from first to last you have been the means of settling with families?—About 11,000 souls.
Your first expedition with this good object was for the protection of females?—Yes.
On your return to Sydney were you induced to carry your efforts further?—Yes. In fact, I was enabled by the aid of committees and benevolent good people to establish a system of protection throughout the country.
Was it limited altogether to females, or were you enabled to assist any male emigrants to procure settlements?—All were included. My object was to establish a system of country dispersion, and to remove crowds from Sydney.
Did you find an anxiety on the part of the settlers to procure the services of well-conducted young women?—An extreme anxiety. The demand for females was very great.
Did you find that that anxiety was increased by the very circumstance of the supply that you afforded?—Yes, being much more convenient; parties for the sake of one servant would never go to Sydney. It is by conveying emigrants into the interior that you give them a fair opportunity of getting fair wages for their services.
What wages did they generally get?—I encouraged them not to seek high wages, particularly females, as protection was the principal thing. The wages for them were from £9 to £16.
Were these the money wages independently of the house-accommodation and the rations?—Yes; female servants are not rationed, but they are boarded and lodged as members of the family.
How many of those expeditions did you make in the colony?—I really could not say.
For how many years were you engaged in these good offices?—Upwards of six years. I had six years' hard work.
What was the largest number that you ever took into the interior at any one time?—The largest number that left Sydney at one time was 147 souls; but from voluntary accessions on the road they increased in number.
Had you any protection of police or military during your progress through the colony?—I never required any thing of the kind. If I wanted any aid on the road I had only to ask for it. Even the proprietors of the public mails showed such a good feeling that they used to allow me, if any of the party knocked up, to put them on the public mail, which was a very expensive conveyance, Provisions were also conveyed for them by the coaches without charge to me.
Were there any instances of insubordination during your journeys?—I never met with but one, and that was one of a very trilling character, and I was enabled in a very short time to overcome it.
Were you enabled to do so by your own influence and authority, without any auxiliary aid?—Entirely by my own influence.
Were those selected bodies of emigrants, or did you extend your services to the whole class?—My exertions were not restricted to any class. If any persons wanted work I was ready to seek it for them.
Did those emigrants consist exclusively of the natives of one part of the United Kingdom, or were they English, Irish, and Scotch mixed indiscriminately?—I made no difference; the good of the whole was my object. I also included in the parties any ticket-of-leave men, Emancipatists,—any persons that wanted work that would go into the country. My object was, to remove them into the country to lessen the city population. I had English, Irish, and Scotch,—Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Catholics, Orangemen, and Repealers,—and I never found any difficulty beyond such difficulties as must always be expected in a work of the kind.
What was the longest time you ever knew any persons to remain on your hands before you got them a situation?—Besides Sydney engagements I have made sixty country engagements in a day independent of the bounty homes. All the emigrants in two ships (not burdened with families of young children) have been engaged in a day in Sydney; but these rapid boardship engagements must not be taken as a fair criterion of the demand for labour. I found them frequently add to my labours by the numbers thrown out of employment in Sydney; but in the interior there is a great and absorbing demand. My object was always to strike off out of the regular road, and to go amongst the farms to provide for the people; so that it would take three weeks to get to a place where they were wanted; but I never left any parties at those situations to be provided for.
What was the longest period that elapsed from the time that any person first applied to you to get a place till the time that you procured a situation?—It was done very quickly. If a person arrived seeking any particular employment, it would be difficult to find it in Sydney; but if a person was willing to work as a farm labourer, or as a shepherd, there was no difficulty; he had only to wait till I could find it convenient cither to go with him or to make the necessary arrangements.
What was about the longest time that you required for this purpose?—Taking the longest journey, perhaps it would be five weeks; and at least three weeks of that time were passed on the road.
In the efforts made by yourself you have stated your experience of the different classes of the English, Irish, and Scotch. Did you find any particular difficulty in dealing with the Irish emigrants as compared with the others?—Not the slightest difficulty in any way.
There was no greater insubordination or disposition to turbulence on the part of the Irish as compared with any other class of people?—Not at all; indeed I could manage the Irish best. I found them always exceedingly good-tempered. It latterly became a point with me first to explain to two or three sensible Irishmen the line that I intended to take. I endeavoured to give them hope; and having succeeded in that, I used to let them loose amongst the others, if I may so express myself; and by that means confidence would spread without much direct influence from me. If I had taken the Scotch or English first I should have had more difficulty. I tried all ways, and I have stated the one that I found most successful.
Such is the slow process of distributing emigrants who have no friends to receive them, even in a colony where emigrants are so much needed, that £18 a head is paid for introducing them, and though the emigrants are so selected as to be wholly unencumbered with infirm age, and very little encumbered with weak childhood. What else then could happen in Canada, where families were shovelled ashore in sweltering heaps of age, decrepitude, weak womanhood, helpless infancy, poverty, nakedness, and sickness, but what has happened, and the consequences of which are thus described by the Montreal Emigrant Committee—
"Probably in no year since the conquest has Canada presented such fearful scenes of destitution and suffering. Destitution and suffering, however, have not been the only companions to the poor immigrant while on the billowy Atlantic, nor when landed upon our shores. Death has come in for its share in the great drama; and of the one hundred thousand, or thereabouts, of souls, who left the British isles to seek a home in this western world,
full one quarter of the whole have been swept from existence.
one unbroken chain of graves, where repose fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, in one commingled heap, without a tear bedewing the soil, or a stone to mark the spot. Twenty thousand and upward have gone down to their graves—and the whole appears, to one not immediately interested, like a tale that is told."
If any one, after the experience of the past year, again undertakes to send out families without any provision for them on their arrival, or with the provision that some agents of proprietors have boasted of as peculiarly ample and liberal, of a pound a family, that is 2s. 6d. or 3s. a head (it is the large families that have been shovelled out), given to them on their arrival, what less will he be guilty of than wilful murder. Last year men acted without a full knowledge of the consequences—this year all men are warned.
What then should you do for the families of your emigrants? There are two ways in which you might act. You might either induce one man of each family to go out first, and when in a few months he had found employment and provided a home for the family, you might then send the family out to him. In such case you should, of course, undertake to see that the family suffered no want during the absence of the party (probably the father of the family) who went out. This course could scarcely be adopted but in the case of large families who could spare one male member to go as pioneer, and still leave a male capable of helping and protecting the family on their passage out afterwards. Git—what would probably be the best course—you might make provision, wherever you had located your agent, for taking ample care of the families, while the father, and other members capable of labour, sought employment, and provided a home for them. This need not be a matter of great expense; you might cither have a few houses taken in the city, or you might have a farm near the city with buildings cheap and slight, but comfortable, which in summer would receive your emigrant's families; while in winter they would serve the multitudinous purposes for which buildings are desirable on a farm in a country where the winters are so long and so severe as in North America. You can still get prairie land for three dollars an acre within six or seven miles of Chicago, a city of 16,000 inhabitants. You could have a farm of a few hundred acres very cheap, and the buildings would not be very expensive. Your emigrant families would be furnished with flour, Indian meal, potatoes, milk, butter, beef, pork, and mutton at first cost from your farm, while the men would be unencumbered and at liberty to disperse themselves through the country in quest of employment and permanent homes, which there is no possible doubt that they would every one of them find in any average year, within a reasonable distance, and say within one or two weeks' time at most. Your agent should then forward the family to the place where the father had settled himself. Such a plan as this, while it would be cheap in itself, would secure your emigrants against all reverses and contingencies of bad years, so
It might be desirable that when one of your ships was expected, an agent should go down to the seaport to conduct the people up. This course would save imposition and delay, but it would itself be a matter of some cost. Probably the arrangements of the government emigration agents in Canada may become sufficiently broad and perfect to make this cost unnecessary hereafter. I have known this course adopted by an emigration association in the west, and it might become necessary for you; still it might possibly be obviated, independently of the government agencies, by arrangements with some respectable forwarding house.
I have heard it objected by parties in Ireland, that if you formed an establishment, of the sort I have described, supporting the families in it, they would hang on, and remain a lingering burden to you. But this objection is altogether based upon views of Irish society, not American. People might linger 011 with you in such an establishment in Ireland, where they could not earn by working out of it as good a subsistence as you afforded them in it in idleness; but in America, where men and women, boys and girls, can all earn by working, good eating, good drinking, good clothing, and money besides, with respectability into the bargain, the objection I am now noticing would never occur to any one.
As to the cost of this plan, you can easily estimate it yourself by the following materials. Your farm, with the necessary fences, buildings, and stock, would cost you, say from £700 to £1,000, according to the scale on which you proceeded. This might at any time be sold for about the price it cost you, more or less. It would more than pay its own expenses for the working of it, and besides the sum I have named above, a couple of hundred pounds of capital would work it. If you preferred renting a farm, you could adopt that course. It would save you from making any outlay of capital for purchasing, and the farm should pay its own rent. You could rent a few houses in the city; but I conceive the farm would be far the most economical in the end, besides being more comfortable and healthful for your emigrants. Then if any pinch came, the farm would be a most valuable resource. The father of the family would, in a very large proportion of cases, find work on the spot immediately on arriving; in which cases, of course, your expenses with him would be nothing; and with his family they would not continue for more than, say a week or so. In other cases, the father might have to travel through the country to seek work. You should, in such cases, give him two or three dollars for his expenses. To support the family well, during his absence,
Such would be the cost of this plan—independent of the expense of conveying the family from Ireland to the place at which you had located your agent. Thirty shillings a family would probably more than cover the cost, agency included, if the thing were done upon a large scale. This would be the sole cost, if the families could pay the whole expense of their own conveyance to your Agency. This cost of conveyance, I have already stated, would range, according to the size of the family and other circumstances, from twenty to forty, or even forty-five pounds. From what you state of the class of families who are desirous to emigrate from the estate you are interested in, it appears that some few families would be able to pay all their own expenses to the western city. In the case of such families, if they were willing to emigrate merely as labourers, your outlay would, 011 the plan I have stated, be quite inconsiderable; but, in the great majority of cases, it appears that you should pay either all or a great portion of the cost of the people's conveyance out. From what you state, I conclude that you should, probably, 011 an average of the families, advance £20 or £25 per family for the cost of conveying them alone. For a large number of families you see this would amount to an enormous sum. I can imagine circumstances and arrangements under which the families, even after being settled as mere labourers, would repay you a considerable portion of this cost; but, unless your circumstances were singularly favourable, and your arrangements singularly perfect, you must, under any scheme of leaving your emigrants to seek employment in the general lauour market, submit to make your outlay as a total loss. If you had to help the emigration of, say, a thousand families such as you describe, and had to assist them with the sum I have supposed towards the cost of their conveyance, the circumstances should be singularly favourable under which you should lose less than from twenty-two to twenty-seven thousand pounds; yet, I do not say that it is at all impossible but that by making part of the sum a present to the people, and part of it a loan, and adopting other well-contrived arrangements, the loan part might be repaid with tolerable punctuality, affected as the people would be with a lively gratitude for the care you had taken of them. In this case your loss might be reduced to from twelve to seventeen thousand pounds 011 the number of families that I have named. There is no doubt but the people could repay you if they chose to do so.
In order to get back, however, any portion of your expenditure from people who had been scattered abroad as labourers, the circumstances should be so favourable, and the contrivances so well adjusted, that I think we must say, on the whole, that in any ordinary case it would be a very bad speculation to count on the return of any portion of such an expenditure.
I now come to your second and most important query, which introduces the question of
I entertain no doubt but that landed proprietors could establish in the North-Western States of the American Union, "special" colonies for the settlement of their own surplus population in a way "that would ultimately refund the whole expense incurred" for the class of emigrants indicated in your note; that is, labouring families who are absolutely indigent, and the small farming class who possess a capital of £20 or £30.
In order to speak with clearness upon this subject, I must first give you some general account of the country in which I would contemplate the formation of your settlements. The country I have in view is the country bordering upon Lake Michigan: that is, the western part of the State of Michigan lying on the east side of that lake, the north part of the state of Illinois lying on the south side of the lake, and the territory of Wisconsin, lying on the west side of the lake. A very large proportion of the lands in the regions I have just named consists of Prairie land (that is, open meadows without any timber,) interspersed with timbered lands; and lands covered with thinly scattered timber, principally oak, which latter lands are called "Oak-Openings." Old country men on their first arrival in America are very awkward and ineffective in using the axe; and save in very rare cases, never become as expert at it as the natives of the new countries. They are therefore very badly adapted upon their first introduction to America, to enter upon heavily timbered lands and commence the hewing of farms out of the dense forest. It is true they learn to do tolerably well in time; and if you would carry them out, place them even upon heavily timbered farms, giving them a year's provision and all the other necessaries for starting, they could get along and do very well for themselves; but they would get along so slowly that if you had to require repayment of the outlay you had incurred upon them the debt would be stale and obsolete, and therefore difficult, nay, impossible to collect, before they had acquired the ability to commence the repayment of it. The advantage then of a country of prairie and of oak-openings for a settlement consisting of old country men (and especially when poor people, the expense of whose passage out you must pay, are to be settled and they are expected to repay the outlay incurred in settling them,) is obvious.
I wish to observe that besides prairie and oak-opening there is timbered land of all various degrees of density, from lightly timbered to the heaviest timbered; and just in proportion as the timber is light or heavy, so is the task of clearing it easy or difficult—tolerably suited to men fresh from the old country, or utterly unfit for them.
The leading characteristics of the Prairie, the Oak-Opening, and the Timbered Lands may be stated as follows:—
The Prairies are open meadows, sometimes quite level, some-
Prairie for the production of crops, it only needs to be plougled. This is done with a very large plough, called a breaking plough, hat turns over a furrow-slice of from twenty to thirty inches wide. The plough is drawn by three or four yoke of good oxen. Such a team ploughs from one and a-half to two English acres per day. Tow new settlers are able to furnish team enough to break up their own land, and accordingly settlers generally hire this work to be done for them. There are persons, particularly in the southern parts of Illinois, who make it a regular business to have a great number of oxen to break up land for hire. They will come up north one, two, and three hundred miles to take jobs of breaking. Their cattle, while travelling or working, have no other support than the grass of the prairie. The price for breaking prairie is pretty uniformly from one and a-half to two dollars per English acre. The prairie should be broken up while the grass is still succulent, so that when the sod is turned over, it will heat and rot well. Settlers generally wish to have their breaking finished by the 10th of June, as after that season there is danger that the weather may set in dry, and the grass become hard and wiry, so that the sod will not rot well through the whole year afterwards. But in wet summers the breaking goes on with advantage frequently to the middle of August, and it may generally go on to the middle of July. When the breaking is done in good time, the sod heats and rots thoroughly.
You will observe that there is a great deal of the work of cattle connected with the making and the occupation of a prairie farm: a heavy team of cattle is needed to break it up; and unless it be very favourably situated, immediately contiguous or adjacent to woodland, house logs, fire-wood, and fencing timber have all to be hauled from a distance of probably some miles. This should be kept in mind, in order to strike a fair balance in your comparative estimate between prairie and timbered land, as to the advantages they respectively offer for a settlement.
This rapid view of the characteristics of the prairie country would be very imperfect if I did not add that, for nine or ten months of the year the roads over the prairies are excellent, and this with scarcely any making. Every one is aware of the excellence of the roads in North America during the winter when they are covered with snow; but the roads over the prairies are excellent also in the summer; in fact at all times when they are dry—and they are dry, I may say, throughout the whole spring, summer, and autumn, except for two or three weeks in early spring, and two or three weeks in late autumn. Not that rain does not fall copiously in summer, but it falls—not as in this climate, in continuous drizzles —but for the most part in heavy bursts of thunder-showers. These showers last for a few hours; the water which thus falls for a great part runs off the beaten roads; and for the rest, a few hours', certainly, a day's, hot sun dries it up and restores the roads to their usual condition. This ready drying-up cannot take place in the timbered country, where the roads are covered in from sun and air by an impenetrable forest. For the carrying of produce these roads are, when dry, almost as good as Macadamised roads; and for rapid travelling in a light vehicle, they are better, because they are less jarring to the vehicle, and they are easy and springy to the horse's foot. They are thus good in the new prairie country without any trouble of making, save to rudely bridge over the running streams (with timber), and to ditch the low spots, raising the road towards the centre. This last operation is performed with a plough and a horse-scraper. These roads are so good, that one horse with a four-
The Oak-Openings are lauds covered with a thinly scattered growth of small oak trees. They are very easily cleared of their timber, of which they furnish on each farm not much more than the settler requires for building his log-buildings, for fire-wood, and for fencing. They are more difficult to plough for the first time than the prairie, because the plough has to cut the roots of brushwood which grows among the scattered trees, but once broken up they are very easily tilled, being generally a sandy soil. They give the very best quality of wheat, and good crops of all kind, but without the use of plaster of Paris (gypsum) it is very difficult to get any grass (whether meadow or pasture) at all from them. The new settler however does not suffer much from this deficiency, as there are always low marshy grounds to be found at no great distance, and these are very grassy. In the oak-opening country the roads are good for the same reason that they are good in the prairie country—the sun and air have free access to them.
The Timbered Lands, once they are cleared, are not only good for cultivated crops, but are also excellent grass lands, yielding both meadow and pasture of superior quality; so that the settler may have his rich meadow and grazing lands snug within the fences of his home farm. They are also generally better watered than the other lands; but the labour of clearing them is immense. Lands that are heavily timbered cost ten dollars an acre to clear, and some lands may cost twelve or fifteen dollars—labour being, say, at a dollar a day. The timber so perfectly shades the earth that neither grass nor brushwood grows under it, and consequently when the timber is cut down and burnt away it is not always necessary even to plough for the first crop, but the seed may be sown at once on the ground and covered in with the harrow. In timbered lands the settler of course has his building logs, his fencing timber, and his fire-wood upon the spot without hauling from a distance. You will observe then that in timbered land the settler, although very slowly and laboriously, creates almost every thing for himself with his axe, needing the help of cattle less than in cither prairie or oak-openings. This is an important point, to which I may draw your attention again. There is another fact of the first importance, viz., that timbered lands (and these not very heavily timbered), being less
Of all these kinds of land it is plain that to an old country man prairie is the best suited and the most attractive. Any quantity of prairie land may be broken up and taken into cultivation at an inconsiderable expense—6s. or 8s. British per English acre—an expense no greater than it requires to turn our own pasture or meadow lauds to tillage. Once broken up the land is tilled with an ease that is quite surprising to the old country man, so mellow and friable is it. But the great charm of its after-culture is, that it is as free and unencumbered from that grievous eyesore and great discouragement and perplexity to old country farmers in America, stumps, as if it had been familiar with the plough for centuries. Passing through the newest prairie country the finished style of the tillage presents to you everywhere the aspect of English farming. The farms are large and ample; the fields are regular, clean, and smooth; the plough furrows run a quarter or half a mile in length (the length of the forty or the eighty acre lot) as straight as an arrow flight. Cultivation extends itself so rapidly that even the sweep of the cradle-scythe is unable to cope with the great breadth of the harvests, and reaping machines have come into general use; nor after the first few years does any one think of threshing out his great crops of grain otherwise than with the threshing machine. The whole aspect of the newly-settled prairie country is in strong contrast with that of the newly-settled timbered country. In the one you have spacious fields, clean and perfect tillage, with an open country and excellent roads, to see where you will, and to go where you will. In the timbered land, on the contrary, you have small irregular fields full of unsightly stumps and still encumbered with numerous heavy logs, not giving straight passage to the plough in any direction for twenty yards together, closely walled in with walls of massive forest that seem to bid defiance to further progress; the whole presenting to the eye a most cheerless aspect of painful labour, choked and overwhelmed with the difficulties of the task it has undertaken. The roads are indescribably bad, closed in on either side, and arched overhead with forest which excludes both sun and air. Even when the stumps have been with infinite labour and enormous expense dug out, these roads are one mass of deep tenacious mud, varied with sloughs and waterholes, and this even after considerable lapses of dry weather; the water cannot sink, for the subsoil is a stiff clay, poached by the feet of cattle and the wheels of vehicles; it cannot dry off, for neither the sun nor air can reach it. After some years, indeed, when the timber is cleared away at either side, the face of things is altered, and then these clay roads of the
There is, however, one leading inducement that might, under some circumstances, determine you to give a preference to timbered land. I have glanced at it above; I will state it here more particularly. It is this:—The prairie lands and the oak-opening lands being so evidently the more desirable for new settlers, have been much more run upon than the timbered lands; and the consequence is, that timbered lands, and some of them too not to say heavily timbered, are neglected and left behind in very desirable situations, while prairie lands and oak-openings for forty or fifty miles behind them and farther from the lake, have been eagerly bought up. Thus it will sometimes happen that timbered lands at government price may offer so near to a good market as to make it matter well worthy of consideration whether you should not choose such lands for your settlement, especially if they can be had, as I have said, not heavily timbered.
Still the prairie lands, or the oak-opening lands, are evidently the lands for old country men, even where they have to be taken at some circumstances of disadvantage, unless indeed the disparity of circumstances be quite overwhelming.
Prairie lands with sufficient timbered land in their neighbourhood to meet the wants of the settler can still be had at the government price of one and a quarter dollar an acre, at distances from Lake Michigan of from fifty to eighty miles, with roads leading to the lake ports for the most part through a prairie and oak-opening country, and for the rest through a timbered country pretty well settled and opened. Any quantity of prairie only can still be had within thirty or thirty-five miles of the city of Chicago (a port on the lake) at the government price, but without timbered land. The prairies are very large there, and timbered land is scarce, having long since been bought up by speculators; but these speculators will sell their timbered land at from four to seven dollars per acre, so that you could procure your large tracts of farming lands in this favourable situation at the government price, and the comparatively small quantity of timbered land that you would require to have attached to it at the advanced price I have named. To procure in large quantities, such as you would need for a settlement, prairie lands with a sufficiency of timbered land attached to them, all at the government price, you must go from sixty to eighty miles from the lake. Timbered land you could still procure at the government price in any quantity you need desire in either Michigan or Wisconsin, at distances of ten, fifteen, and twenty miles from the lake—or from
might be selected that was not so heavily timbered as to preclude a tolerable progress even among old country settlers.
Oak-openings may be had under much the same circumstances of distance from the lake ports as prairie land with timbered land attached.
Such is the choice of land that would be open to you in the United States.
Having made this explanation I now come to your question—could self-paying settlements be established for the class of emigrants indicated in your letter in a way that would ultimately refund the whole expense incurred?
You say your emigrants would, some of them, be wholly destitute, while others would possess £20 or £30 of capital. I take it that those who would possess no capital would form the majority of your emigrants, and that any scheme you would adopt must therefore have this class principally in view. I also take it for granted, that those who would possess so large an amount of capital as to be able to pay the whole of their own expenses of conveyance to your settlement would be but a small proportion of the whole. All would, of course, belong to a hardworking class, used to farm labour.
Your emigrants, then, could be very conveniently divided into three classes:—First, those who could pay the whole of their own expenses to your place of settlement; £30 would do this for a small family, £42 for quite a large one. Secondly, those who could pay about half their own expenses to your place of settlement; £15 would do this for a small family, £21 for quite a large one. And thirdly, those who could pay no part of their own expenses, but would require that you should pay all.
The tiling you desire, could, I am confident, be accomplished for all the three classes, but it should be by adopting a very different arrangement with each.
Now in dealing with these different classes of emigrants you will meet a difficulty at the outset. If you take out any parties who have no means, and whose whole expense of passage, &c., you must therefore bear, (and your emigrants will consist mainly of this class,) those who have means will deny that they have them, in order that they too may be taken out at your cost, and you will soon find your whole emigration reduced to one class—those who have nothing, or profess to have nothing. The remedy for this seems obvious enough—that you should give some superior advantages to those who will pay their own passage out, and proportionate advantages to those who will pay a part of their own passage. But these advantages will cost you money, and consequently you will find yourself involved in this anomaly, that it will cost you on the whole about as much to establish those who pay their own passage out as those whose whole expenses you bear from the beginning. This anomaly I believe you will have to submit to; but you will complain less of this necessity for establishing a certain class of your emigrants in rather a superior way, when you consider the matter a little. It is true, that if you had to deal only with that
But if you established all your settlers in a very poor way, they would not only have to endure many hardships but in order to get on at all they would be called upon to make numerous shifts. Of these shifts old country people freshly arrived are totally ignorant. They would have to learn them as they would have to make them, and would therefore find them infinitely painful, perplexing, and harassing. Your emigration would thus be greatly discouraged, and it is not at all unlikely that you would find it stop up pretty much where it had commenced—the accounts sent home by your first settlers would be so coloured with disappointment and despondency. Perhaps after all, therefore, you will account it rather fortunate that circumstances should have indicated to you a particular class of your settlers whom it will be expedient and just that you should start with greater advantages than the rest. The condition of these settlers will give its character to your settlement, and by the accounts received from them the opinions entertained of your settlement by intending emigrants at home will be regulated. If the other settlers are slower to prosper it will be understood that they arrived out in your debt for their passage, and that they cannot be expected all at once to overtake those who went out at their own expense. Other advantages also would arise from the presence of this better class of settlers which I will speak of more at large again.
The general outline of the plan that I would suggest would be this: To move out your emigrants, not all at once, but gradually, year by year, through several years, say seven or eight years. To purchase, the first year, a large tract of prairie, with its due proportion of timbered land, in quantity perhaps twice as much as you would need for the immediate occupation of your emigrants of the first and second years, and afterwards to make new purchases as you Blight need them. To settle your emigrant families each upon, say, forty acres of land, which you would give them at the same price that you paid for it yourself, and to reserve the adjoining forty acres, with a right to the emigrant to purchase it at any time within, say three years, at a fixed and reasonable advance in price. To break up, or help to break up, a quantity of land for each of your emigrant families, and do such other work for them as they could not advantageously do for themselves. To give them such assistance towards building their log-houses (sawed timber, shingles, glass, carpenters' work, &c.,) as it would not be within their own power to procure. To supply them with a plough, working cattle, a cow, pigs, a few sheep, seed, and provisions for a year. To charge them with all your expenditure, and a moderate interest on it. To require this debt to be repaid to you in a fixed number of yearly instalments—four, or at most five, yearly instalments; and to use these instalments for the settlement of new families, until all the families you were disposed to assist had emigrated. To give your settlers
You should, of course, have an agent resident in your settlement.
I beg you to observe, particularly, that the Leading Principle of any plan that I would suggest, would always be this—to make your settlers repay you in a few yearly instalments, And to use these Instalments from Year to Year, for the Establishment of New Settlers. It cannot be expected that a landed proprietor could command the sum which would be necessary to convey out and to settle all at once, in a tolerable way, any very large number of families; but by settling in a sufficient manner, a moderate number of families in the first year, and then using the instalments repaid by them to establish new batches—and so with each successive batch—you will be surprised to see how rapidly the work accumulates. In a few years you can thus establish a greater number of settlers than you will probably think it possible to settle by these means, until you have gone into the arithmetical calculation. The work grows like compound interest. But of this again.
It should be made perfectly plain to the settlers from the beginning that they were not expected to pay you any thing but the money which you had directly advanced for them, and the interest which you would be obliged to pay for it yourself. This would leave you without any direct profits in your dealings with your emigrants to cover the expenses of agency and casualties. But whenever a settlement is effected in any new district, the land immediately adjoining becomes, at once, by the mere fact of there being a settlement there, worth from two to three times the government price. Your unsettled lands are thus at once enhanced in value; some of these you may sell at an advanced price to strangers—others, as I have suggested, you can sell at an advanced price to your own settlers. This advance of price will produce a fund sufficient to cover the cost of agencies, and those numerous incidental losses that must occur from the deaths of some parties indebted—the continued sickness of other parties, the assistance that you will find it well and expedient to give towards schools, roads, doctors, and the support of clergymen, &c., &c. Thus it will be unnecessary for you to make any direct charge upon your settlers, or to make any immediate profit on your transactions with them. Any such charges or profits, however well founded and reasonable in themselves, might grow into abuse; with a people not indisposed to suspicion, they would certainly be liable to be misconstrued, and set down as extortions and oppressions, and they might thus become the source of a discontent that would mar the success of the best-intended enterprise.
As to the amount and the cost of the outfit that you must supply to your settlers, this question is most materially affected by your having one very poor class of settlers to deal with. I have already explained that it will be your best policy—indeed a necessary policy —to expend on your settlers who can pay their own expenses of
If, indeed, you were dealing only with families all of whom would pay their own expenses out, the case would be widely different. Twenty pounds would set them a going in some kind of way: after some years they could begin to repay you; and it would not greatly endanger the ultimate collection of so small a debt to let it lie over for a few years. On the other hand, it would require an outfit of from £55 to £75 to enable them to commence making you repayments immediately (this is a greater after-outfit than I have stated to be necessary for a similar purpose in the case
The prairie land is particularly well suited to the more liberal system of expenditure: since for an additional outlay of 6s. or 8s. British per acre, you can break up any quantity of additional land for your settlers which they can thenceforth work with a facility that we are totally unused to in this country. In timbered land the expenditure of an additional hundred dollars (£21) would only increase the profitable acreage of your settler's farm by ten acres, encumbered with stumps—100 dollars would clear about so many. In prairie land the same sum would add fifty, or perhaps sixty-five acres, clear, smooth, and unobstructed, to the land under the plough —100 dollars would break up that quantity; and up to the point at which the settler's family would find full occupation in the cultivation of the land broken up, it would evidently be your policy to break up the greatest surface possible, because the consequence would be so to accelerate the repayments as to make your capital revolve faster, and actually to enable you, with a smaller capital, ultimately to establish, in a better way, a greater number of settlers.
The more I have thought over this matter, the more I feel satisfied that the point to which you should direct whatever increased liberality you might be disposed to exercise on behalf of your settlers, should be the breaking up an increased quantity of land for them—thus placing them in possession of farms largely productive, from the start. In corresponding, some time since, with your brother, on this subject, I made some estimates; without making any difference in the sums of the estimates I made for him, I would now so far alter the items, as to include the breaking up of more land for the settlers, and to economize at other points.
Now, to proceed to details:—and, first, as to the First Class of settlers—those who would pay the whole of their own expenses to the place of settlement. This class I would deal with and outfit as follows:—
I would have them come on to the settlement in May. My general arrangements would be such as to make it easy for me to provide a temporary shelter for the families, while they were building their own log-houses. Towards the building of those log-houses I would help each family to the amount of about thirty dollars each, furnishing them to that amount with boards, shingles, nails, carpenters' work, and the superintendence of a skilful American axe-man, employed in overseeing the work of, say, every ten or fifteen of them, &c. I would give each family forty acres of land at the cost price, with the right of having the forty adjoining it at some very moderate advance on the cost price (say, one dollar an acre) in the second year—providing that at the end of the first year they' had paid up, say, one-fourth of their whole debt. I would break up
The following is my estimate for establishing a family in the manner just described:—
Three hundred and forty-five dollars make seventy-one pounds seventeen shillings and eight pence. As some small additional items would no doubt he still found requisite, let us say seventy-five pounds for each family. Now, a family established in the manner above estimated for could easily pay off the whole debt, with interest, in four yearly instalments. The settler and his family would arrive at your settlement early in May (say, of the year
I will now inquire what would be their ability to make you this repayment by examining into their condition at this time—the close of their first year, or rather the close of their first fifteen or seventeen months after their arrival out. Their crop consists of twenty acres of wheat, eighteen acres of Indian corn, two acres of potatoes, and if the family be as I have said industrious and strong-handed, of whatever spring crop they may have planted in such part of the forty acre lot newly taken in, as they may have broken up that (their second) year. Now the wheat may average any thing from fifteen to thirty-five or forty bushels per acre; we will take it at the moderate rate of eighteen bushels per acre. The amount of the Indian corn crop depends not only on the soil but in a great measure upon the latitude in which your farm is situated; if it be further south than 40°, the crop may vary from thirty-five to seventy, or even on rich bottom lands, 100 bushels per acre; north of 40°, up say to 45°, it may vary from twenty-five to forty bushels per acre. We will estimate the produce at the moderate rate of thirty-five bushels per acre. Your settler's crop, then, harvested at the end of fifteen or seventeen months after his arrival out, should be as follows:—
The probability of his having an additional crop upon land newly taken in that year, I will leave out of account.
Out of the crop stated above your settler ought to be able to spare you, say, 200 bushels of wheat and 300 bushels of Indian corn, which at very low prices would be worth, 200 bushels of wheat at forty-five cents per bushel—ninety dollars; 300 bushels of Indian corn at eighteen cents per bushel—forty-eight dollars; in all, 138 dollars, or £28 10s. Let us say that in round numbers he could pay you £30 out of his first harvest: in each succeeding year his
Once the prairie is broken up a family can manage a great extent of farm, which you may judge of from the following facts:—First, the land requires no manure for many years, which saves all that vast labour of mixing, carting, and spreading manure, that constitutes so large a proportion of the work of an old country farm. Secondly, the land is very clear of weeds for the first few years and very friable, and a single ploughing is generally sufficient in the year, especially as the horse-hoeing among the Indian corn crop serves all the purposes of a fallow. Thirdly, the soil is so mellow that a pair of horses or a pair of oxen plough two English acres in the day as their ordinary work. A pair of smart horses can plough three acres in the day when pushed, and in this mellow soil a smart boy of fourteen or sixteen can hold a plough with as much effect as a man. Fourthly, there is little or no hand-work in the cultivation. The Indian corn, and even the potatoes, are planted in what are called "hills;" that is, light plough furrows are run crossbarred each way across and along the field at four feet apart, and at the points where they intersect each other the Indian corn or the potatoes are planted, so that in the after culture, when the weeds are to be destroyed, the plough runs both ways close up to the plants, throwing the earth towards them, and thus forming "hills;" there is, therefore, little or no hand-weeding, and though there is some hand-hoeing, there is not much even of that, as the plough runs through the hills every way and close up to them. Fifthly, in harvesting, a good cradler, with a cradle-scythe, cuts down three acres of wheat in a day; a less expert cradler cuts in proportion. Sixthly, the wheat once cut, bound up into large sheaves and stooked, after standing thus for about two days is fit either to be carried to the barn or to be threshed and ground into flour, such is the dryness of the atmosphere; and for the same reason in hay making, the grass once cut the hay almost saves itself. From these facts you will see that a single family could cultivate three or four times the quantity of land in America that they could in this country, especially of prairie land unobstructed as it is by stumps. A moderate family, comprising say a father and a couple of boys or even one boy, could manage quite a large farm and raise an immense quantity of produce without any help from without. The crops estimated above are far within their ability to manage and to harvest.
I have estimated the prices of the produce on the supposition that they should be considerably below the rates which were current in the region I allude to in the past autumn of d. per bushel of sixty pounds—or 15s. British per quarter.
I would require a large repayment from the settlors the first year, because I would wish to reduce the tail end of the debt as fast as possible, bringing the balance as far within the limits of the security and at the earliest moment that it could be done. The first year, too, would be the time to press the settler for repayment, because in that year he would still feel himself an Irish labourer, not yet an American farmer, and would not deem it any hardship if, in order to become the owner of a farm and stock, he had to live for a time in a manner that was not yet quite a world removed from that to which, as an Irish labourer, he had been accustomed.
"But," I have heard it said, "in a new country where it is not so easy as in old countries to enforce the obligation of contracts, will the settler keep faith with you? He would clearly be able to make you these payments if he were so inclined, but will he make them?" It is in some measure true that in new countries when a man once parts with his property it is not so easy to compel payment for it from a poor and reluctant creditor as it would be in the old countries, because harsh measures that would strip a poor man of all his means would, in these new countries, be looked on with greater disfavour by the community; but when a man has not parted with his property there is no sentiment incident to new countries any more than to old ones that would countenance any other party in carrying off that property from him. Now, although I have spoken of your giving the settler so much land, ploughing so many acres for him, giving him cattle, a cow, tools, pigs, sheep, provisions, &c., I have done so only for the convenience of using a short phrase in describing the transaction. The fact is, you should not give him any thing until he had paid for it. For the first year he should occupy the land only as your yearly tenant. The land would still be yours; the house you helped him to build would be yours; the breaking-up done upon the land would be yours; ploughs, tools, and cattle would still be yours; and the landlord's proportion of the growing crop would be yours; nay, the very provisions with which from week to week you were supplying him would still be yours,—for as fast as his family consumed them they would be turned into improvements made by his labour on your land. Tenancy, as a permanent thing, is not practised in the Western States; but temporary tenancies, meant to last only for a few years, are almost as common as occupancy accompanying the fee simple. The form of tenancy most common in the Western
on shares. Sometimes the owner of the land hires to the tenant the farm only, in which ease the tenant pays for rent usually one-third of the gross crop. Sometimes he supplies him not only with the farm, but also with seed, working cattle, tools, &c., and in this case the landowner usually receives one-half the gross produce, about equal, you may see, to what I have set down as the first year's payment to be made to you by your settler. Now, although the honourable understanding between you and your settler should be, that the land and all that you put into his hands should be his absolute property, at specified prices, and these first cost prices, when he had paid for them; and that every payment he made to you, under whatever name made, should apply upon the purchase; the written legal contract between you for the first year should be a contract of tenancy, such as is common in the country, under which you should supply to him the land, and break it up for him; furnish him with seed, and also with cattle, implements, sheep, a cow, pigs, &c.; all of which should continue to be your property, and he on the other hand should pay you a certain proportion of the produce of the farm. This sort of tenancy is quite common in the western country; and under it men no more dream of its happening that the tenant should wrong the landlord, which he could do only by carrying off the landlord's cattle or implements, or his share of the crops, than they fear that he should carry off the like property from the landowner's own homestead. At the end of the first year, when the tenant had made his first payment, you should give him to the extent of that payment a bill of sale of the cattle, implements, etc., and at the same time give him a bond for a deed of his farm; that is, a bond conditioned that yon should convey to him the fee simple of his farm when he had paid you the balance of the debt. At the end of the second year, if lie had paid up the instalment of that year, and had meantime been industrious in improving his farm, that farm should be worth more than double the balance then remaining duo. In this case you should at once convey the fee simple to him, taking a mortgage back for the amount still due to you. If he had not been industrious, and if the farm was still but a scanty security, the conveyance should be delayed for another year. Under this arrangement, which any one who is acquainted with the business of the Western States will at once recognize as consisting of the everyday modes of assurance used there in the very common transaction of selling farms to persons who have no ready money to pay for them, but buy them on credit, with the expectation of paying for them out of the produce they raise from them, your settler has no opportunity of making away with your property, nor is he at any time placed under the mischievous delusion that he is a landowner, nor an owner of anything, before that thing is paid for; but lie is constantly kept in mind that he is simply a labourer lately arrived from Ireland, placed by you in circumstances that will enable him, by the exercise of a reasonable share of industry and self-denial, to earn himself a farm. The virtual arrangement between you and him consists in some part of a loose
He certainly can possibly suffer none.
The sum of £75 may seem a large amount to expend for the settlement of each family; but it is not really a large amount when you consider that it is to be repaid back, with interest, in four annual instalments; and that these instalments, continuing to be used for the same purpose as the original sum, multiply, several times, the work of that original sum, within a very moderate number of years. For instance, at £75 per family, £6,000 would settle at first only eighty families; but perhaps you will scarcely expect to find that used as I have suggested above, it will at the end of the sixth year have settled no less than two hundred and forty-nine families. Yet, this is only the result of a simple arithmetical calculation, of which you can satisfy yourself in a few minutes.
Thus—
So far for the first class of settlers.
I now come to consider the second class of settlers—those who could pay, say one-half of the expense of their own conveyance to your place of settlement. This, and the third class, who could pay no portion of the cost of their own conveyance, introduce a new element to be dealt with—viz., the cost of their conveyance. This cost of conveyance has been found the great difficulty in the way of colonizing, on a self-paying system, with poor families, by every person who has given his attention to this subject. This portion of the expenditure is so heavy, and, as respects any direct productiveness, so barren, that it is looked upon as overwhelming alike the ability and the will of the settler to reimburse the capitalist, even though the enhanced value of the adjacent lands accruing from the settle-
But your case is different. In the first place you do not seek to make a commercial profit upon the enterprise, but only to accomplish the operation without loss. And in the next place you should adopt, for families who could not pay their own expenses of conveyance, a plan of emigration widely differing from that ordinarily contemplated—a plan, too, which could not easily be adopted by any but a landed proprietor colonizing with his own tenantry. An Irish landed proprietor stands in quite a different position from an ordinary capitalist in undertaking such an enterprise as this. The proprietor of an estate that is unable to afford employment and support to its population would be very richly repaid for such an enterprise, if he only incurred no direct loss in the transaction. The saving of poor rate and other advantages to be gained at home would constitute an abundant profit indeed. But even the proprietor of an estate would run too great a risk—in fact, would be pretty sure to make total shipwreck of the business—if he took out whole families at once, paying all the expenses of their conveyance to the place of their ultimate location, and landing them at his settlement already from £30 to £45 in his debt for conveyance, with some £60 or £70 more to be expended in establishing them, all of which value was still to be created and extracted from the land by the settler. He must set to work in quite a different manner. If he has to pay the expense of conveying the families, he must take out the members of each family by degrees; and according as the members who have first gone out improve the farm allotted to them—making it a sufficient security for the expense to be incurred in taking out the remaining members of the family—and create and extract from the soil for themselves those items of necessary outfit which the landlord has had to supply to those settlers who pay their own expenses out—he should then send out those members of the family who have been left behind. This requires that the party colonizing should take a certain care of that part of the family which is last to go out; and this, you see,
If you examine the actual nature of the difficulties which stand in the way of any self-paying system of colonizing with parties whose expenses of conveyance you should be compelled to pay, you will see how naturally the mode that I have just indicated, of colonizing with the poorest class of families, presents itself, and how effective it may be made for securing repayment. The improbability of repayment does not arise from any want of the physical elements, so to speak, that would enable and facilitate it; these exist abundantly. The productiveness of labour, and, consequent upon the productiveness of labour, the rate of wages is so high in America, that a poor family removed from this country and either left to the ordinary labour market of America or settled on a farm for themselves, could unquestionably, with great ease and within a very reasonable period, repay the cost of their conveyance out to any parties who had so far befriended them as to advance their expenses. This is abundantly attested by the enormous aggregate of sums (already alluded to) that are sent home by the labouring Irish in America to take out the portions of the family that still remain in this country. If an individual or two of a family can go out and earn and remit the funds necessary for taking out all the rest of the family, a whole family having gone out at once at another party's expense, could certainly earn and repay the sum advanced for conveying them. The question is—are they likely to repay? And this is a question not of honesty merely, but of strong will, of steady purpose, of forbearance, of self-denial. The Irish labourer in America who has left friends behind him whom he wishes to bring out, sticks to the cities where he gets ready money wages; he does not spend these wages, but hoards them—he continues to live in many respects as poorly as he did in Ireland—he wears the old gray coat, and is willing to be laughed at for it—he forbears investing his savings in land—he lets the world pass him, and foregoes all hope of advancing in life until he has accomplished the one sacred object, the rescue of his immediate friends from the misery of Ireland. This is the power that accomplishes that spontaneous emigration of the poor which we see working itself out every day. But of this you cannot avail yourself if you take out whole families at once at your expense. No average parcel of men, whether settled as labourers or as farmers, will either strain themselves to the same incessant labour, or torture themselves with the same painful forbearances and self-imposed inferiorities in order to pay you a bygone debt incurred in the conveyance of their families (especially when you had an object of your own to accomplish in taking them out), as they would do to get these families out if they were still left behind. The settlers, if taken out by whole families at a time, would arrive at your location each from £30 to £45 in your debt, which indebtedness must be still enormously increased by the expenses of establishing them. This overhanging weight, so much of it a dead weight, would kill every energy. They would feel as if they were your bondsmen. Such a debt would be too heavy an encumbrance even on the advantages you offered them; it would be looked on as merely the chain of a long slavery which they
would not drag. They would either in a short time abandon your settlement, or they would enter on your farms to live lazily on them without improving them, and without any resolute intention of ever making you a repayment. Such a plan of colonizing, therefore, you cannot entertain. If you would succeed with families the expense of whose conveyance you should wholly or partly bear, you must observe the natural course by which the spontaneous emigration of the poor works itself out, and imitate it. Send out a portion of the family first, and as their labour, employed upon the farms which they are ultimately to occupy—at the same time that it creates a home and a seat of industry for their family—makes a security to you for the repayment of any advances that you may afterwards make in taking out the family, send the family after them. By doing this you use the same natural affections as a power to aid you in bringing about the emigration of the family that are found to operate so effectually in the emigration that works itself. There is this difference, however, that you would enable your emigrants to do with ease, with certainty, and within a few months—or in the case of the poorest families, within a year—what poor families left to their own resources can do only painfully, with much uncertainty, and after several years. How the portion of the family that remains at home is to be taken care of I will hereafter inquire.
To proceed to details, then, as to those parties whose expenses; of conveyance out you should in part, or in the whole, bear. They constitute two of the classes into which I have divided your emigrants—the second and third: those who could pay half of their own expenses, requiring you to pay the other half; and those who could pay nothing, but would require you to pay all. I would deal with both of these classes on the principle which I have just been endeavouring to explain, but putting a wide difference between them. The first class, who could pay half their own expenses, I would require each to send out in May one male member of the family—such a member as the family could rely on for fidelity to it, (this must almost always be the father)—or, if the family was very large, two. When this member of the family had worked upon his future farm until autumn, you might then send the family out to him; thus all the members of this second class of families would be united again, after a separation of only five or six months. The third, or poorest, class of families you should require to send out in like manner, but at your expense, a male member of the family in the month of May; but, as you would be obliged to bear the whole of the expenses of those families, you could not send the remainder of the family as early as in the case of the second class of families: you might, indeed, in autumn, take out to the father any one or two (if the family were large, and he desired it,) members of the family whom he might designate, but the whole of the family you could not send out to him until the succeeding year; thus the members of this third class of families would not be all united again until after an interval of twelve months. But this would not be the only difference that I would place between the
not money were placed by you in as good a position as themselves, they would deny having the money, and would fling themselves altogether upon you. But under the arrangement that I have suggested, no man who possessed the means of paying the whole expense of his family's conveyance would, for the sake of concealing £17 or £18 of it from your observation, drop himself into the second class, in which he would be separated from his family for six months, especially, when by doing so his outfit on his arrival at the location would be by so much the less advantageous. Nor again, would any man who could pay half the expenses of his family's conveyance conceal his ability to do so, and drop himself into the third class, when the consequence would be, that he would thus separate himself from his family for no less a time than twelve or fourteen months; and that in starting as a farmer he would place himself a full year behind either of the other classes, with disadvantages as to outfit besides.
You will gather from what I have already said, and will see on the face of my estimates by-and-by, that, on the plan I contemplate, you would have to expend about the same sum per family on each of the three classes: those who could pay all, and those who could pay half, and those who could pay none of the expenses of their own conveyance. You will be disposed to ask then, what advantage do you derive from having any class who could pay the whole or any part of their own expenses out 1 Your advantage would be this:—First, your first class of families would take their whole family in a body, leaving you unencumbered with the charge of any portion of the family at home; your second would relieve you from the encumbrance in about five months; while your third would leave you affected with the encumbrance for twelve months. Secondly, your first class of families would make their repayments with more facility and with more rapidity than your second; your second would make them with more rapidity than your third. Thirdly, your first class of families would arrive at your settlements not in your debt at all; your advances to them would include no dead weight, they would all be for property fresh put into their hands and becoming immediately productive: your security, therefore, (independently that you would not part with the legal property in any thing until it was paid for,) would be just so much the more satisfactory. This would be partially true of your second class also, just in proportion as that class had paid its own expenses out. The advances to your third class for the conveyance of their families would, it is true, also be covered by
families arrived out with the very first settlers, and a still greater number before the winter set in. This would be necessary in order that the labourers arriving out without their families should be conveniently lodged, cooked for, and washed for. This necessity would be exactly met by the mode I have suggested for dealing with your first and second class of settlers. I hope you will think then with me, that these advantages conferred on your general system would give you the full benefit of the contribution towards the expense of their own establishment elicited from the first and second class of families, without your insisting that these contributions should be made the means of diminishing your direct outlay upon them.
The details of my proceedings with the Second Class of settlers would be as follows:—The father of the family (or such other male labourer of the family as might be selected by them,) should go out as I have said in May. During the spring and summer they should be employed in helping to break up their own land, in fencing it, in planting potatoes and Indian corn—and such other spring crop as newly broken ground would be fit to yield—to help in the support of their family and their stock during the succeeding winter; also in cutting hay for their cattle. Towards the close of summer they should build their log-houses and prepare for the arrival of their families, the whole of which you should take out to them in the autumn. The latter end of autumn and the whole of the winter they should devote to preparing fencing timber and fencing their land.
My estimate for the conveyance and establishment of these families I give below. It will be seen that for them I propose to break less land than for the first class of families. It would be necessary thus to limit the quantity of land broken for them, because I fear it might prove physically impossible to make arrangements to break up all the land that you might desire to have broken for all your families; and your first class settlers should get the preference and have the greatest quantity broken up for them. Some of your land you should get broken by hired men and teams; but for the breaking of the
It would be very easy to arrange, that as soon as the houses of the first class of settlers were built they should lodge these pioneers of the second class of settlers, and also wash and cook for them (you furnishing such rations as they would need in addition to their own crop,) until their own houses were built and their own families had arrived towards winter.
It may occur to you as a difficulty in these arrangements, that these families who could pay only half their own expenses of conveyance would not always be so large as to admit of being divided in the manner I have suggested. The classification could not of course be always made with mathematical correctness; but I think you would generally find that the families who could pay about half their own expenses would be the large families of your small farmers, so large as to constitute five or six statute adults, whose cost of conveyance, therefore, would amount to from £37 10s. to £46; while the small families of this farmer class, which would constitute only three or four statute adults, and whose conveyance, therefore, would cost only from £22 10s. to £30, would generally be able to eke out the whole amount of their expenses, or nearly the whole amount, and would fall into your first class. Your families, therefore, who could pay a portion of their own expenses out, but would require some large assistance from you to make up the whole amount of their expenses—in fact your second class of families—would generally be large families, who could be conveniently divided in the manner I have suggested.
The pioneer members of these families would of course pay their own expenses out, so that you would have no advances to make for the conveyance of any part of their families until considerable work had been done upon the farm abroad. If the father could take out nearly half of the family when he was going out, so much the better—say himself and a couple of boys under fourteen years of age. These boys would be most useful, and if the family was not such that he could take two boys, a girl would not conic at all amiss.
For each of these families I would, as in the case of the first class,
I think that these families ought to pay you very nearly as fast as the first class families. They would generally be stronger handed than the first, and could manage any quantity of land that you could break up for them. It would be well, therefore, to help them to break up some further quantity of land in the second year, as your best policy would be to help them well forward at the outset, and then to press for early repayments. These families would, at their first wheat harvest, have fifteen acres of wheat and ten acres of Indian corn on the land broken in the first year (not to speak of potatoes, &c., in the newly broken ground), which should produce about 270 bushels of wheat and 350 bushels of Indian corn. They should be quite able to spare you, say 170 bushels of wheat and 200 bushels of Indian corn, which, at the prices I have supposed in the case of the first class settlers, would produce about £25. These families should repay you in four or five years. I would have you press for a large repayment in the first year, that is in the year of the first wheat harvest, as the first repayment would be the important one to secure, and that first harvest being almost altogether of your own creation, it would not be considered hard of you to press for a large share of it. It would be better policy to lighten the after payments than the first payments.
Three hundred and forty-nine dollars is about £73. We will therefore say in round numbers that it costs £75 for establishing each of these families; and let us say that you would be repaid in five yearly instalments, not in four. At this rate £6,000 would have established 243 families,—in round numbers 250—by the end of the seventh year.
Now, as to the Third Class, who are wholly without means to assist themselves. In this class I take it for granted that you would have great numbers of families pressing on you, and you would,
My estimate for this class of settlers is as follows:—
Three hundred and forty-one dollars make seventy one pounds, sterling. We will again leave a margin for small omissions, and say that seventy-five pounds is the cost of carrying out a family of the third class, consisting of seven persons, and establishing them in the manner indicated in the above estimate. As already explained, I have not included in this estimate any charge for furnishing them with working cattle nor a plough; but in the first year I have charged them with twenty-five dollars for the hire of working cattle, and I leave them the harvest, which they begin to reap in a month or six weeks after the arrival of the family, to procure those necessaries. That harvest will consist of ten acres of wheat, producing about one hundred and eighty bushels—five acres of Indian corn, producing about one hundred and seventy-five bushels—and as many acres of potatoes and Indian corn as they choose to plant in the twenty-five acres newly broken in that year. I conceive that those third class families will start in their second year, that is, the year in which the families have arrived out, under as favourable circumstances as the first class families have started in their first year; they should, therefore, be able to pay you in four yearly instalments, commencing at the close of their second year, that is, commencing with their second wheat harvest.
It will be necessary that' you provide the pioneers of the third class families with lodgings, and take care that they have their cooking and washing done for them for the first year, before their own families have arrived, or their houses are built. All this can easily be provided for by arrangement with those families who are already on the spot.
This class of settlers is settled at the same expense as each of the other classes. But it is probable that the number of families in this class will be as numerous as in both the other two classes; and as we have supposed two hundred and fifty families in each of the other two classes, it may be a fair proportion to suppose that this class will include five hundred families. It will be found on calculation, that (although the arrangements both for the outlay and the repayments differ somewhat,) the capital employed for this class of settlers will be returned in about the same time as that employed in settling the second class; and the same amount of capital will establish about the same number of families within the same period, as in the case of the second class. Six thousand pounds, therefore, would establish two hundred and fifty families of this class, at the end of seven years—or twelve thousand pounds would establish in that time five hundred such families. As these families are estimated to include seven members each, five hundred such families would comprise a population of not less than three thousand five hundred persons.
Before I proceed to consider certain points which require to be examined with some care in respect to my proposed mode of dealing with these third class families, 1 wish to make an observation or two which apply equally to all those classes of settlers.
You will observe that I propose to furnish each family with a few sheep. This I deem important, as it will give the women of the families employment in the domestic manufacture of clothing for their families; and the families of all the Irish farmers and country labourers are skilful in making up flannels and friezes.
You will also observe that I propose that you should undertake the breaking up of their land for every family, doing a large proportion of the work with your own cattle, which cattle you afterwards, when the breaking is completed, distribute among your settlers—selling them—for the after-culture and other work connected with their farms. It is evident that the arrangement might be different: you might at once give your settlers each a yoke of oxen, some of them two yoke, and let them club together their cattle to make up the heavy breaking team, and exchange their own work—you furnishing some skilful Americans to work some of their teams, both as a help and an instruction to your settlers, who would not be familiar with that kind of work. This method might be adopted; but as the cost would not vary much, I prefer the other—because I think that this important work would be better done by being in your hands, and when matters are left to the mutual arrangements of poor people, and their mutual exchanges, many arrangements fall through, and almost as much time is lost in looking after and contriving the exchanges as is expended in the work which they are meant to promote.
And now to consider certain important points relating to the plan I have proposed for dealing with your third class settlers, whose whole expenses of conveyance you should bear. Two questions obviously arise:—First, is the plan effectual in creating for you a fair security for your expenditure, according as that expenditure is incurred? Secondly, what is to become of the portions of families left behind when the father or other male member has gone out as pioneer?
As to the first question I will answer it by following the settler and observing how he and you stand from the time you first take him up, until you bring his whole family out to him. You first take himself out at a cost of £7 10s. lie certainly has it in his power to leave you the moment lie has got out, and thus cheat you of the £7 10s.; but his object must be to get out his family, and, until he does get them out, to have them well taken care of at home. If he now leaves you he can not get out his family in many years by his own unaided exertions, and he will lose the benefit of your undertaking to take charge of them at home. If he remains with you and is industrious he can have some of his family out in a few months, and all of them out with him in twelve months. There can be no doubt then that he will remain with you. Towards the end of summer he has fifteen acres of his forty-acre lot broken up, and ten of it sown in wheat; he has a crop of potatoes and some Indian corn; and he has besides earned say thirty or forty dollars in wages from you over and above the cost of his support. If his family at home be such that they could now spare a boy of fourteen or fifteen, or a boy and girl, it would be well that these should be sent out to him towards the close of summer. The advantage of this would be obvious; though for simplicity I have made my calculations above on the supposition of the father being alone throughout the year. During the autumn and winter the father is employed in fencing his farm; by steady work he should be able to have his forty acres fenced in the fall and winter, and also to have his logs
This is altogether independent of the enhanced value which has accrued both to the actual forty-acre farm occupied by this settler and to the adjoining lands from the presence of the large settlement that has come on to them, which cannot be estimated at less than 100 dollars for every family brought in. It is evident then that after you have paid for the conveyance of the settler's family you still stand much better than on equal terms with him; and it is your fault if you do not make such arrangements then and thenceforth as shall make it certain that whatever change afterwards takes place in your mutual position shall only be to make the debt bear a decreasing proportion to the security.
The ordinary wages paid to farm labourers in the United States (and indeed in Canada also) last year was ten and twelve dollars a month for the whole year (that is from £25 to £30 a year) and board and lodging with the farmer's family. You see that this value of labour, hired to make a profit on it, quite consists with the results anticipated above from the labour of a farmer employed upon his own farm.
And now to answer the question: "What is to become of the families, or such portion of the families as are left behind after the pioneer labourers have gone out?" The answer to this is not difficult. There are crowds of unemployed labourers who find nothing profitable to do; and finding nothing profitable to do, can, of course, contribute nothing to the maintenance of the families to which they belong. It may not be mathematically true that any labourer is
all. There are many families comprising two labourers from which no doubt you employ only one labourer, leaving the other unemployed; as to the boys, whose labour in America would be almost as valuable as the men's, I suppose you can seldom employ them at all. These, then, are the families that would exactly suit. Let the unemployed labourer (again, I say, the father, if possible,) go out; and when he has got fairly to work, send out one or two of the boys of his family to him—or even some of the girls, if boys are not to be had. The boys that would be idle and an encumbrance at home would be almost as valuable as the man himself in America, and would greatly increase the amount of improvements made within the year upon the farm. Even the girls that would be an encumbrance in Ireland could either be made directly useful in helping to make a home for the family, or service could be found for them. Thus, although I have only estimated for one of the family going out the first year, it is clear that as much as one-half the family might go out, with advantage to them, and without any too great risk to you, and with the effect of greatly lightening the encumbrance to you at home. It would be only necessary that, with the weaker part of the family which remained at home there should remain some male member or members sufficient to earn them a subsistence, and to give them aid and protection in afterwards going out to join their father. It is obvious that you should positively undertake that the family at home should not be left to want. They should be secured in the possession of their house and their small holding, until the time would come for their joining the father of the family; and they should be made sure of a certain amount of employment, sufficient to subsist them in, at least, as much comfort as they could reasonably expect to have enjoyed if their father had still remained with them. It is obvious from what
You will see that in this plan a great variety of adjustments are practicable. Say that it is not possible to divide a certain family on the precise principle that I have suggested. Well, then, that family has probably another, or several other families, on your estate, related to them, who will be willing, in order to enable their friends to emigrate, to take charge of some of their children until the next year, particularly, if in consideration of their doing so you give them some advantages of employment, or some privilege for that year with regard to the holding of the emigrating family. These children could go out with the families emigrating in the next year, perhaps with the very family that harboured them for that year. This would be an easy arrangement. Again, I would not make my plan so rigid as in all cases with regard to those third class families to refuse to take out more than one person in the first instance. For instance, if a family consisted of a father, mother, and five young children, I would have no hesitation in saying you might take out, in the first instance, the father, mother, and the youngest child, if they could distribute the other children among friends until the succeeding year. You would be quite safe in doing so.
This plan of separating the members of a family, might at first be received with hesitation and disfavour by the labourers; but I feel confident that, wherever, from the general dealings of the landlord and his agent, the people had reason to confide in them as regards their promise in favour of the family left at home, all hesitation would soon disappear. I have frequently been consulted by intending emigrants. Whenever they have had no friends in America, I have always advised them, whatever were their means—(unless indeed these were large enough to make the expenses of staying with their whole family some weeks or months at taverns, while they looked about them, a matter of indifference)—I have always advised them to send out some members of their family a year before the rest, to provide a home to which the body of the family might go straight upon their arrival without incurring either the ruinous expense of taverns or the necessity of making a precipitate and unadvised choice of a farm. I cannot therefore think that to labouring families anxious to emigrate, but able to do nothing to help themselves, and whose whole expenses you should advance, it will be deemed on consideration either a hard or an offensive proposal that you should ask them to do likewise.
For conducting this plan on a large scale, it is evident that you would need a resident agent of a very superior stamp—a man of
at once, without waiting to learn how to do it, while your capital was running to waste and your enterprise to ruin—without in fact acquiring his experience by experimenting at your cost.
The selection of an agent is a point of great importance and no small difficulty. To a proprietor having connexions in America, through whom the ability and integrity of an agent could be vouched to him, the matter would be comparatively easy; but this is an advantage which few proprietors would be found to possess. Still if this enterprise were worth undertaking at all, it will strike you that there are many ways in which this difficulty might be overcome. There are many gentlemen of character, high position, and great business experience in the western country who would undertake the conduct of such an enterprise, and who would probably think four or five hundred pounds a year a sufficient remuneration for conducting it on a very large scale. On this point liberality would certainly be your best policy, if you could once satisfy yourself as to the man.
But a proprietor might even use an old country man as his agent, provided that old country man would take care to associate with him an American of great local experience, familiarly acquainted with the sort of business that would have to be transacted, and generally versed in the dealings common in those new countries. Such men are to be had everywhere in the west, of great intelligence, wonderful practical sagacity and resource, making little show or pretension, and who would act for quite a moderate compensation; not the sort of men to whom you would intrust the sole guidance of your enterprise, but men who would constitute a very perfect supplement to an old country man of general practical ability. One hundred and fifty pounds a year would command the services of a very competent man of this sort. The proprietor might send out as chief agent a person with whoso general ability and trustworthiness he was himself acquainted—perhaps a member of his own family. The principal requisite in such a man, besides general intelligence and integrity, should be that he should know how much he had to learn. A self-sufficient, precipitate man, who had not the modesty of mind to learn, would make your enterprise a ruin from the commencement.
As to the whole amount of capital required to carry out the plan, it is easily calculated from the materials I have already given, when you know the number of families who would desire to emigrate, and whose emigration you would desire to assist. Suppose the number of families to be 1,000, a great number, and comprising a very great population—6,000 or 7,000 persons, (seeing that you should always give the preference to large families,) the capital requisite to be employed in directly establishing 320 of these families in the first year, and the remainder of the thousand in the five or six ensuing years, would be about £24,000. But besides the capital employed in the direct outlay of establishing each family, at £75 per family as above estimated, two other capitals would be necessary. In the first place,
within the truth. (Either of these suppositions would go far to controvert the admission that I made at the commencement of the paper, that such an enterprise as the one I describe could not be made to pay if undertaken as an ordinary commercial enterprise). I do not contemplate, however, that you should employ so large a capital for this purpose, although I am persuaded that the doing so would make the enterprise result in a very large profit. Your object would be, not to make a profit but to effect the colonization without loss, and with the employment of the least possible capital. Probably, then, the employment of £6,000, vested in the purchase of land not immediately occupied by your settlers would serve this purpose; though in all that you declined to invest thus between that sum and £20,000 you would unquestionably throw away an opportunity of immensely profitable investment, created by you, to be picked up by any persons to whom the good luck might befall. Let us say, then, that it would require another capital of £6,000 for investment in this way. Besides the two capitals mentioned, you would require another capital for a farming establishment to be occupied and managed by your agent. I mean that, to conduct in the most effective and economical manner the operation I have described, your agent should have a large farm, with sheds of considerable extent, though rude and cheaply put together, for the winter accommodation of a very large number of cattle; and also barns suited to the extent of the farm, which in summer would give
I have estimated for 1,000 families as a round number convenient for calculation, not that I suppose that upon any, even a very large estate, so many families would be found desirous of emigrating; probably even on the large estate that you manage, 500 families would be as many as would be desirous to go out. About £17,000 would be sufficient capital to establish this latter number in the manner I have been describing. The estimates of expenses and repayments that I have given you are not made at random, nor have they been put together in the closet; they are the result of estimates discussed, conned over, and examined at all points, with great numbers of settlers on the prairies, Irish, American, English and Scotch, as I visited them on their farms, sat with them in their log huts, and walked with them over their fields, or melt and conversed with them at way-side taverns in the interior of the prairie country of Illinois and Wisconsin, when I was travelling through these regions in the months of September and October last, for the special purpose of satisfying myself on these points.
I visited an English settlement about 120 miles in the interior of Wisconsin. What I learned at that settlement thoroughly confirmed the views which I had already conceived—that to furnish your settlers with an incomplete outfit, would be to bring upon yourself the very imminent peril of a complete loss. The settlement that I allude to, Gorseville, situate some thirty-five miles west from Madison, was the effort of an English Temperance Association. It has proved, I regret to say, a failure; but so many causes conspired to make that failure inevitable from the commencement, that it is a wonder that the settlement ever had existence, much more that it should have 120 families to show upon the spot; who are all, I was informed,
fenced. This was done at a cost of 200 dollars, that is, 100 dollars for the land, 50 dollars for the log-house, and 50 dollars for breaking, seeding, harrowing, and fencing five acres of wheat. This gave the settler nothing to help him towards his immediate support
You will scarcely think that the sums I have set down as necessary for conveying families out and establishing them upon farms are exorbitant, when you consider that it has cost other landlords £40 a family merely to convey the families out to Upper Canada, bringing them there to seek employment as labourers, which £40 was of course a total loss; while on the plan I suggest, by expending £75 on each family, you establish the family on a farm and have the £75 repaid so rapidly that the instalments being used for the establishment of new settlers, the £75 will in the course of six or seven years have carried out and established, not one family, but three families. Add to this, that it will ultimately be returned to you with interest.
By referring to the evidence of Mr. Brydone, given before the Committee of the Lords, on "Colonization for Ireland," sitting in and established upon farms near Peterborough, in Upper Canada, in the year
As to the cost of forming settlements in America, there is a general tendency in the popular opinion (that is the opinion that is formed, whether by the literate or illiterate, without sufficient calculation), both in this country and in America, greatly to underrate the amount. In this country even practical men are apt to think, that, the settler once arrived in America, there is little further expense required but to procure him a few acres of land at some very small cost; and they therefore talk as if there were no expense worth considering to be incurred in making settlements save the expense of taking the settlers out. In America, again, converse with even practical men on the subject, and until you direct their attention especially to the point, you will find that they only think of the cost of the after settlement, omitting to take into account the expense of conveyance to America at all. Their habit is to consider the emigrants as already arrived. When stating, in reply to the inquiries of Americans, the horrible sufferings of the poor of this country from the famine of last year, I have constantly been asked," Why don't they come here," the questioners never taking time to reflect that the family that was perishing for want of a shilling to procure them one day's food in Ireland, were scarcely likely to be able to procure £30 or £40 to carry them to Illinois or Wisconsin. Thus the popular (I should rather say the unreflecting), opinion on each side of the Atlantic would reduce the cost of forming settlements to one-half the amount actually required; each set of people leaving out of consideration that half of the expenditure that is farthest removed from their own observation. Another way in which the expenditure necessary for the formation of settlements is made less of by persons giving flying opinions in America is this: they are familiarly aware of the very small amount of ready means with which an individual family of settlers going into a half settled country thinks it necessary to provide themselves. They do not reflect that this settler whom they take as the standard of their estimate, works half his time with persons who have been settled before him, thereby earning himself provisions, the work of cattle, &c., and turning to his use, by a fair exchange of his labour, the capital which he finds realised in the possession of settlers who have preceded him. It does not occur to them that a considerable body of settlers cannot avail them of this means of helping themselves along. A large colony which would procure lands at the upset government price must be taken into the wilderness where no settlers have preceded them, where they will have no neighbours but each other; and they must therefore have, within themselves, all the resources that will be necessary to their progress. Whatever the individual settler going into a partially settled country relics on earning from others, all that, your colonists, going to a totally unsettled neighbourhood, must possess within themselves.
You will observe that in my estimates for your settlers I have not included horses or waggons;—oxen and sleds must serve them for a time. Horses and waggons however would be acquisitions very early made by such of your settlers as would be distinguished by industry, and what the Americans call "shift." But the presence of some few horses and several waggons would, for some purposes, be an almost indispensable necessity in your settlement from the commencement You would of course have a number of horses and waggons at your own agency establishment, and no doubt many persons would be found among your first class settlers who would be possessed of means, some of considerable means, after defraying the expense of their own and their family's conveyance. These parties would of course have horses and waggons from the outset; and for the occasional purposes for which they would be necessary for the other settlers, they would of course be at their command in exchange for labour, which the better circumstanced settlers would stand quite as much in need of for their larger harvests, as their poorer neighbours would need the use of waggons or horses for special occasions.
I wish to call your attention to the peculiar facilities afforded by prairie lands for the immediate provisioning of a settlement. Any quantity of potatoes can be planted the first year, they will he ripe for your settlers in the middle of August, and they will thenceforth supply not only food for your settlers, but food also for pigs and cattle. Notwithstanding the potato disease, the crop will be sufficiently reliable to secure you a large quantity of human food,—and also a large supply of pork, in the first year. The portion of tlie land that is earliest ploughed can also be planted with Indian corn which will produce about half a crop in the first year. Buckwheat will also grow in the newly broken land. Then, as I have already said, the prairie grass not only feeds cattle but fattens them, and also sheep, Hay also is to be had on the prairies for the mowing of it. Thus, in the very first summer, within a few months after your settlers have arrived, you have, of your own produce, potatoes in any quantity; a reasonable quantity of Indian corn and buck wheat; of pork, beef, and mutton, you have all that you may desire to feed; and you have abundance of winter provender prepared for your cattle.
There is an important point to which, in proceeding with a settlement, on a large scale, you should pay especial attention. You should assist your settlers during the first few years to support a clergyman of their own religious persuasion. Your settlers would, I presume, be for the most part Catholic. Their own numbers and their progress in wealth would in a few years make them quite independent of any extraneous assistance towards supporting their clergyman; but for the first two or three years some aid in this way would be peculiarly grateful and valuable to them; and even taking into account your own interests only, such aid would be well bestowed. It could not fail to be advantageous to you to secure a religious and moral influence among your settlers. It would also render your settlement attractive to Irish Catholics already residing in the country. To the Irish Catholics in America, no one attraction towards a place of settlement is so great as the presence there of a
You should also assist for a year or two in the support of schools; in this you would be largely helped by the government school fund of whatever State your settlement would be located in.
Another point to which you should attend would be, to give some encouragement to a medical man well acquainted with the diseases of the western country to settle in your district. Your settlers would arrive so poor that for a time they could offer but slender prospects of emolument to a practitioner; and unless you stepped in to aid them they might at first find themselves totally destitute of medical services.
To meet those public expenditures and the expenses of agency, and also to cover some casual losses from which you could not expect to be exempt, I am confident, as I have already stated, that you would find an ample fund in the sale of reserved lands, whether to strangers or to your own settlers, at a moderate advance upon their first-cost price. Speculations in wild lands are uncertain when the parties purchasing have no power to direct towards them the tide of immigration; but to a party holding in his own hand the sluices of population to direct the current where he will, the speculation becomes a certainty, provided he is content to sell for a moderate advance in price. The price of government land in the United States is so low, (a dollar and a quarter an acre,) that even a considerable advance upon it still leaves the price within the limits of what a settler can well afford to pay, if it were only for the accommodation of having his existing farm enlarged by the addition of land contiguous or nigh to it—leaving altogether out of account the general enhancement that takes place wherever a settlement, with the roads, schools, churches, mills, mechanics' shops, and merchants' stores that pertain to it as the necessary incidents of its growth, exists. A few years would elapse before this fund would begin to be realized—probably two years or three—and the expenses which I have counted that it should meet must at first be paid out of capital. This, you will say, puts the calculations I have made as to what
Especial care should be taken in the selecting of your land. You should first seek a district of good land that was open for entry. You can purchase by quantities as small as lots of eighty acres each. You should carefully exclude from your purchase every eighty-acre lot, that was inferior, either from its general quality, or from having any considerable proportion of its surface taken up by unprofitable land. The whole scheme might most easily be ruined by injudicious selections of land. You might light upon a district presenting a largo unbroken tract of uniform good land, in which case, the district once determined on, the after selection would be matter of little trouble. But you might have to make your selections in a district where it would be necessary to pick and cull a good deal. In the latter case care and time would be required, as the purchasing of any considerable proportion of bad land would involve a loss that no after management could retrieve. It is quite curious to observe the very injudicious selections that are sometimes actually made, even at times when the whole country is open to the selectors to choose from. I have seen a man, who had come into the country with property, ruined by having located himself on the margin of a picturesque lake, where the land was light and unprofitable, while settlers who had come in long after him and located themselves upon other land not over a mile distant—which he had passed over because the scenery was tame, though the soil was fertile and productive—had grown independent and wealthy. The utmost care, then, should be taken in selecting the lands. This might require some considerable time, and you could not count upon making any large settlement in the same year in which you would make your selections. Indeed, independently of any consideration of the season at which you could have your selections complete, you could not bring in any great number of colonists in the same year in which you had made your selection of lands, as you should have some preparations previously made for their reception. It would be desirable, or almost necessary, on many accounts, to have some small settlement made the year previous to that on which any large number of settlers would be brought in.
So far I have spoken of lands that were to be purchased at government price; to procure which, of eligible quality, and in large quantity, you should go to a considerable distance from the
First, you could procure for your settlers lands nearer to a market, by thirty, forty, or fifty miles, than if you had purchased government lands. Secondly, you and your settlers should pay a higher price for your lands, but you would pay it for the most part in instalments, as you received those instalments from your own settlers; and your settlers being so much nearer to a market would receive so much higher a price for their produce that they could easily pay the heavier instalments induced by the higher price of the land. Thirdly, so far as the price of the land was concerned, you need not incur any personal liability in standing between the landowner and the settler, as you would generally find the landowner willing, in selling to you, to look to the improved land as his sole security. Fourthly, in thus dealing with a private landowner you would lose the opportunity of creating a fund to cover expenses and losses by purchasing the lands adjacent to your settlement and selling them when enhanced in value:—But you would have another fund. The landowner would, as I have said, sell to you, on condition of your bringing in a settlement, at a much lower price than he would sell to isolated settlers. He would sell to you for two and a half or three dollars an acre, what he would not sell to the others for less than five dollars; you might, therefore, charge your settlers say one dollar an acre advance upon the price you paid yourself, and they would still and that they got the land cheaper by a dollar than they could procure it from any one else in the neighbourhood. Fifthly, it is plain that this plan would require a smaller capital by about £6,000, on an operation of the extent that I have been calculating on above, than the plan of purchasing
I feel confident that after the nature and object of your operations had become known in the country, there is no conceivable modification of agreement, within reason, into which you would not find capitalists who had invested or were willing to invest their money in lands ready to enter with you. I am confident that you could make such agreements with capitalists as would leave all your own capital free for the establishment of settlers, while the capitalists not only found the whole capital required for the purchase of land but also built mills, brought on artisans, and encouraged the settlement of all those smaller capitalists who are necessary for giving motion to the trade of a district; at the same time of course giving you such advantages as would create a fund for covering your expenses and casualties. This would lead to a still further reduction of the capital which it would be necessary for you to employ; but it would be a sort of thing that you could not find at once ready to your hand;—it would grow up.
The choice between purchasing government lands or dealing with private parties possessing lands nearer to market, should depend on the character of those opportunities of dealing with private parties that might from time to time present themselves. If the desirable opportunities that would sometimes offer could be had always at the moment they were needed, it would be your advantage to deal always with private parties, as you could thus accomplish the same ends by the employment of a much smaller capital.
I would say, then, in recapitulation, that if all the parties who desired to emigrate could pay their own expenses, and were content to settle themselves as labourers your expenses on their account need be very trifling—probably 30s. a family would cover all the expenses you need incur for them. The labour market of the United States is capable of absorbing all the healthy labourers that are at all likely to arrive there from Europe.
But if you are compelled to bear all the expenses of conveyance of the parties to America, the expense is then enormous—not less than £30 or £40 a family; and if they are merely thrown on the labour market, all this must be a dead loss; so that if you would enable a thousand such families to emigrate it must cost you from £30,000 to £40,000, according to the size of the families. If you would settle those parties, however, on farms, and manage in the manner I have suggested, you could recover all your money back again; and although you must expend upon each family about £35 beyond the mere cost of conveyance, still a capital of £33,000 would, not all at once, but in the course of seven or eight years, convey out and settle 1,000 of the largest families, pay its own interest all the time, and in the end be refunded without the loss of one shilling. If you dealt for your land with private landowners, a capital of £27,000 would effect the same operation.
Again, if your emigrants were mixed—some able to pay their own expenses, others not able to pay any—I am confidently of opinion, that having to undertake the whole of the expenses of some parties, you would find that there no longer existed for you the possibility of settling as mere labourers, at a small cost to yourself, those parties who could pay their own expenses. No persons would acknowledge that they had the means of paying their own expenses, if the consequence was to be that they should be placed at a disadvantage as compared with those who could pay no part of their expenses. They would either deny having the means they possessed, or else they would stay at home until they had spent them, and had thus qualified themselves to claim the superior advantages afforded to those who had nothing. If you undertook, therefore, to settle the poorest of your settlers upon farms, you should settle all upon farms. You must settle all as labourers, or you must settle all as farmers; and a mixed emigration, for reasons that I have already explained, would, I believe, require the use of as large a capital as an emigration consisting of the poorest families only.
I will compare, then, the cost of the two modes of settling 1,000 families, mixed as you describe, as labourers or as farmers. They would consist probably of 250 families, who could pay all their own expenses of conveyance; 250 families who could pay one-half of these expenses; and 500 families who could contribute nothing towards these expenses.
To enable them or help them to settle themselves as mere labourers would cost as follows, even supposing that all those who had means would acknowledge that they had them, and would use them to pay or help in paying their expenses.
Thus, to settle 1,000 families such as you describe, merely as labourers, would cost £24,875, which would be all a dead loss; nor is it very likely that even this amount would cover the actual loss; for it is scarcely probable that if you were paying the whole expenses for 500 families, you would find 250 families ready to acknowledge that they needed no assistance from you, and 250 others willing to acknowledge that they could contribute one-half towards paying for themselves.
To settle the same families upon farms within seven or eight years would require, as I have just now stated, the use of a capital of about £33,000, which would all be ultimately repaid with interest. Or, if you found a good opportunity of dealing with private landowners, a capital of £27,000, or even less, would effect the operation.
The advantages, then, of settling emigrants such as you describe yours to be, on farms, according to the plan I propose, is obvious. The great disadvantage of this plan is, that the operation would not be complete for seven or eight years.
But this disadvantage does not exist by any means to the extent
So far I have spoken only of prairie land; but it is possible that a tract of timbered land might be found open for purchase, at government price, sufficiently attractive from its situation to induce you to prefer it to any prairie land that might be offering at the same time. The mention of such a probability may seem strange, after the very decided preference that I have already expressed for the prairie land; but the fact is, that however preferable the prairie land is, per se, in the course of settlement the two species of land find their level, as regards choice, in this way. The prairie land (when it can be had with a due proportion of timbered land near it,) is so desirable, and it is so accessible, that all the very good prairie land has been purchased up for fifty or sixty miles inland from the shore of the lake. The timbered land not being so desirable, and not so accessible, is left behind unpurchased in places within six, ten, and fifteen miles of ports upon the lake, or upon navigable rivers running into the lake; consequently, the choice open to the purchaser at present is not between timbered land and prairie, lying side by side, or in the same district, but between timbered land within ten or fifteen miles of a port, and prairie land fifty or seventy, or even eighty miles distant from it. Supposing the roads between either tract of land and the port to be equally good, the difference in marketable value of produce at the two places would be about 15 cents or 20 cents a bushel, upon wheat,
heavily timbered) so situated that, under all the circumstances of the case, you might prefer it to any tract of prairie then open to you. Your settlers would bring their land under the plough much more slowly; but when it was brought under, and the roads made, it would be a great deal more valuable: the quantity of produce raised by them would be much less—but what they did raise would fetch a higher price. In fact, all the disadvantages of timbered land might be overbalanced by the favourable situation in which you could procure it, added to the superior quality of the land when once cleared. Care should be taken, however, that it was not very heavily timbered: if it was heavily timbered the difficulties of it would overwhelm any set of old country colonists; and, as compared with prairie land, land heavily timbered would, in my opinion, be quite unlit for their occupation, whatever might be its advantages of situation. On timbered land, well chosen, the general result of an operation of settlement would be about the same as I have estimated it on prairie land, though brought about in rather a different way, and with some considerable difference in the circumstances. I will not now enter into these circumstances, nor into any estimates peculiarly applicable to timbered lands, as I feel that this paper has already grown to too great a length.
Permit me to forward to you a letter which I received not long since from the Honourable J. B. Doty, of Milwaukie, lately governor of the territory of Wisconsin. Governor Doty's letter is in reply to one from me asking his opinion as to the possibility of forming a self-paying settlement of families, all of whom would pay the cost of their own conveyance, at least, to the American seaport. You will observe Governor Doty's preference for timbered land; but you will also bear in mind, that the case I put to him "was of families who would pay all their own cost of conveyance, and there was no question to be considered as to obtaining repayment of the large sums that would be expended in carrying them out. If the question were put to him respecting parties for whom you should pay their whole cost of conveyance out, I feel confident that the same reasons which have influenced me would also influence him to a decided preference for the prairie lands.
The mere cost of settling families in any cheap way, so that they could begin to live, was the question to be considered; and Governor Doty conceives that families could be so settled with so small an outfit, and in so cheap a way, that the general enhancement of the lands which you should purchase and reserve for sale at an advanced price would in itself reimburse your expenses, even though the repayments from the settlers should altogether fail. I would suggest, that if you publish this letter of mine, you might very advantageously append to it an extract from Governor Doty's letter. Governor Doty's long acquaintance with the western country, his able, practical mind—which has secured him a high reputation in the United States, as a judge, a delegate to Congress, and, ultimately, governor of the territory of Wisconsin—combined with the special bent of his tastes, which have always inclined him to pay particular attention to matters that are kindred to this question, render him a very high authority on the subject. I have not ceased to regret that, after I had travelled two hundred miles specially to see him and converse with him on this subject, 1 lost the benefit of a personal communication with him, in consequence of a serious attack of fever under which I found him lying, when I reached his residence.
In tracing the plan of colonization suggested in this letter, I feel that I have been very diffuse; but the fact is, I have been anxious to develop as much as possible the reasons of my suggestions, and the elements of all my views, that I might thus furnish you rather with the materials of various plans, than with the rigid outline of any one. No one plan can be suited to all circumstances. You will easily sec from what I have said how great a variety of modifications any plan of emigration is susceptible of; and the views I have suggested, perhaps, more than the actual scheme that I have sketched, may aid you in constructing for yourself such a plan as may best suit all the circumstances of the emigration which you are interested in promoting.
In closing, allow me to say, that I am not one of those who look to systems of emigration as likely by themselves to prove, in any considerable degree, an efficient corrective of the evils of this country. Such systems can plainly be made vastly advantageous to the parties emigrating; and wherever, upon really over-crowded estates, it is desired to procure larger accommodation for men (and not for cattle), emigration can be made the means of serving the parties who remain behind by facilitating such re-arrangement of farms as may be necessary for this purpose. In the case of an individual proprietor, whose estate is not sufficiently extensive to afford the means of living to all the population who now occupy it, it is plainly the only remedy that, as an individual, he can use. Single-handed, he cannot stimulate general trade or manufactures, so as to absorb his people, but he can help them to emigrate. I am anxious that it should not be inferred from this letter that I join in the cry of over-population. Over-population was accounted the great source of evil in Ireland, when she numbered little over two millions of inhabitants. If her present eight millions were reduced back again to two, it would be a remedy for over-population strong enough to
It appears to be your purpose to devise a plan by which one estate may provide a home in this country for its surplus tenantry, and create a fund to repay the costs and charges of their removal. The expense of management in such a case must, of course, fall much heavier upon one estate than if several were united in the object.
To tax the labour of the emigrant to pay the expenses advanced for his removal—unless he is secured employment here—would be useless, for the tax would never be paid. Every emigrant will have as much as lie can do for three or four years after his arrival, to support himself and family by his industry.
The landlord, or capitalist, may secure himself abundantly, I think, by purchasing, in the first instance, a good tract of land, sufficiently large to enable him to keep off those who would purchase adjoining his settlement for the purpose of speculation, and twice the quantity which would be required for the use of his emigrants for two or three years. If twenty acres would be sufficient for one family, with the privilege of taking the adjoining twenty, if unsold in five years, by paying for it, sixteen families might be settled on one section of 640 acres (the section is one mile square). If forty acres should be allotted to each emigrant family, then eight families would occupy one section—the one-half of the section being reserved for sale.
The section would cost, at the minimum government price, eight hundred dollars. If a tract, equal to a whole township (six miles square) be purchased—which I would strongly recommend—there would be thirty-five sections to be paid for; the thirty-sixth section of each township being already given by government for the support of schools.
These thirty-five sections would contain 22,400 acres, and would cost twenty-eight thousand dollars; and with a small log-house on each alternate twenty or forty acre lot, could readily be sold, say in less than ten years, for one hundred thousand dollars, which is less than five dollars an acre.
The agent, however, should at any time sell unoccupied lots at a stated price—say three, four, or five dollars the acre—to actual settlers, whether foreign or American born.
You will readily perceive, therefore, that any gentleman who is willing to invest his capital in this way would, in my judgment, not only be quite sure to obtain repayment for all of his expenditures, but would derive a handsome profit from the investment. His own estate at home would be improved, and a thousand families rendered comparatively independent and happy.
My estimate is made upon the value of this measure to the person making the investment, without reference to the fact whether the emigrant occupies the lot assigned to him or not, or wholly abandons the settlement, and does not repay one cent of the money expended for his passage, &c. The actual value of the land, where the adjoining country is being settled, is sufficient to secure him against this loss; and it would be the same whether one or all of the emigrants sought their own homes on reaching our shores.
I would leave it wholly optional with the emigrant, when he landed in Wisconsin, to take the land provided for him by the landlord, or seek employment and a living elsewhere. I should entertain no fear for their success. Nobody starves here; and there is not one beggar in Wisconsin, in a population of 300,000 souls.
This liberty would, I am sure, be the means of rendering the colonists
Governor Doty proceeds to estimate the expense of settling each family as follows. He supposes the landlord to commence his expenditure on the arrival of the families at New York. He also supposes the settlement to be made on timbered land:—
part),
Transportation to the land selected, for waggon and horses, two and a half dollars per day.
This makes 120 dollars, or about £25 sterling for each family, besides the expense of conveying them and their luggage, from the lake port in Wisconsin to the settlement in the interior—the amount of which would vary with the distance, and the quality of the roads. Probably one pound per family would suffice for this purpose. Thus, Governor Doty estimates that about £26 would convey up from New York, and settle in the manner indicated in his estimate, each family of five souls. He also makes a rough statement of the whole amount of capital he would deem sufficient for settling a thousand such families "during a period of from one to six years but as he does not enter into any of the explanations which would be necessary to show how he arrived at his conclusion; and I have reason to apprehend that, in the haste of writing a private letter, merely intended for my information, and not for publication, he has really set down wrong figures by some mistake, respecting which I have not had time to communicate with him, I omit this passage. From the estimate made for each family, however, and the other statements of the letter, each reader may make for himself an estimate of the whole amount of capital necessary. I may mention that the whole sum estimated by Governor Doty, as necessary for purchasing land, and for conveying from New York and settling the thousand families, within the time stated, is as low as fifty thousand dollars, or about ten thousand five hundred pounds; but, as I have already said, I believe there must be a mistake in these figures.—
The investment would be safe, and after the first year, I think, would pay the interest and all agency charges, and after the third year, a portion of the principal, if required.
I do not think it would be prudent to calculate upon the emigrant paying any portion of his indebtedness before the third year, as he could do no more than improve his land and support his family to that time; and this is one reason why a large tract should be purchased at the commencement of the settlement.
You inquire, in what part of this territory should such a colony be located? I notice your preference of a prairie, over a timbered, country. In the counties of Marquette, Postage, Columbia, and Dane, there is good prairie, from sixty to eighty miles distant from Lake Michigan. Scattered lots, in three or four townships, could be obtained in Four du lac or Winnebago counties. I look particularly, however, to the prairie west and north of Fox lake, and examine the country and plots together. Your own observation here will satisfy you that the lands are being daily entered. It requires almost daily examination at the land offices to determine what and how much remains for sale. There is some prairie land north of Fox (or Neenah) river, and east of Wisconsin river; but it belongs to the Indians, is occupied by them, and it could not be purchased and offered for sale by government under three years. Along the valley of the Neenah, from Winnebago lake, up stream, there is much good land, consisting of prairie and openings; but it is reserved from sale at present by government—the proceeds, when sold, being set apart to be applied towards the improvement of the navigation of that river; and the price of each alternate section which is retained by government, is raised to two and a half dollars per acre. I have no doubt but those who settle on this tract, which is three miles wide, will eventually get the land by pre-emption, at one and a quarter dollar per acre; but in this case the occupant must become the purchaser, and no one can
how the public domain can be appropriated to their own use, and after years of uninterrupted possession, finally pay only the minimum price for the land they want.
The best location, in my opinion, for your people, which can now be made in this territory, is in the townships on the Manitoowac river, and between Lakes Winnebago and Michigan. The country is well watered—not heavily timbered, being timbered with maple, ash, bosswood, oak, &c—lies rolling to the south and east—is broken occasionally with ledges of limestone, and is the best soil for wheat, oats, and potatoes. After thirty years' residence in this part of the country, I do not hesitate to express to you the opinion, that the small farmer, the man who can cultivate but five, ten, twenty, or even forty acres, does so much easier, and with much greater profit in the timber than in the prairies. The man of wealthy who can farm largely—who wants extensive fields and many cattle, undoubtedly does best on the prairie; but a farm in the timber will sell for one-third more than one in the open country, to any man who has lived on a prairie.
You will find that most of the Germans, and also your own countrymen, have chosen the timbered land in this country for their homes. And I have often remarked that the Indians, civilized and uncivilized, have always, in selecting their planting ground, manifested the same preference.
But in this case you are buying land with a view to the interest of the landholder as well as the emigrant—that is, you must make such a choice that the former may be sure to sell again in a reasonable time to reimburse his expenditures. You can readily imagine that land lying within ten or twelve miles of the mouth of a large river, and at its junction with the lake, will be ten-fold more valuable and saleable than if situated from forty to eighty miles inland, away from navigation and a market.
Besides, the emigrant himself would derive great advantages from the proximity of his residence to a small town and landing-place, where he could readily sell every article of produce for cash; and this only a part of a day's walk from his home. The expense and trouble are also saved, of transporting the emigrant, his family, and luggage, a great distance into the interior, to his place of settlement.
There will, undoubtedly, be a public highway much travelled between Manitoowac and Winnebago lake, which would be of great advantage to this settlement, and to this tract of land.
There are now three or four townships of land in that quarter, in which, I think, there have been no purchases made; and as there are no roads leading through them, it is not probable they will attract emigration before next spring.
If the settlement should be made between Lakes Winnebago and Michigan, Manitoowac would be the proper place for the emigrants to land. There are warehouses and a pier there—a lighthouse, and thirty or forty dwellings. If the Fox river country, or the prairie country around Fox lake or Fort Winnebago should be preferred, Green Bay is the best landing; transportation being, by Durham boats, from that town to any place on Winnebago lake, or Neenah or Pauwaugan rivers. This is a cheaper and much more convenient route for emigrants, than any land route or carriage.
There is a beautiful country, almost wholly unoccupied, along the Mississippi, from the mouth of Wisconsin river to Minesota river, as also up the Minesota one hundred and fifty miles. The soil is rich and productive, and the climate healthy. It is capable of receiving and sustaining one-half the population of Ireland. It may be reached by steamboats from New Orleans; and also with boats by way of the Neenah and Wisconsin rivers.
Any further information or explanations which I can give upon the subject of your letter, you may freely command; and I assure you that I remain, &c.,
Dublin: Printed by Alexander Thom, 87, Abbry-street.
It was my intention to publish only the paper on the eight-hour system left with me by the late Major Sir John Richardson; but the question being of considerable moment, and so many attempts having been made to alter the law on the subject, I have modified my intention. In addition, therefore, I publish other valuable records all bearing on the subject, and a lecture delivered by the Rev. Joseph Cook in Tremont Hall, Boston, U.S. The lecturer shows, in forcible language, terrible results from overworking women and children in the factories in the United States of America. In Massachusetts alone, during a period of seven years, 72,700 died in their working period, and for every death there were two lying sick in bed.
The medical testimony shows that a great physiological law is violated when women and children are overworked (and this law of nature will never be repealed), and that it is physically impossible for a woman (or child) to work even in the best regulated factories the same number of hours as man without seriously injuring her constitution.
It is now eight years since the Factory Act of New Zealand was passed into law, and it may safely be said that in every district where the Resident Magistrate has done his duty by appointing an Inspector to see that the provisions of the Act are fulfilled, a favourable change in the comfort, independence, and well-being of those females and children employed in factories and workshops, and the consequent improvement in their social condition and physical health, have taken place.
I may be permitted to add the valuable opinion of one of our best writers on this subject. Benjamin Ward Richardson, M.D., M.A., F.R.S., Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, in his
And now I conclude with what Edmund Burke used to say, that "the object of Government being to make strong men and "strong women, and good citizens, and to educate them, and that "nothing is worth anything in Government unless good men and "good women are the result."
The noble man who has passed away from the horizon of New Zealand, Major Sir John Richardson, with the lofty determination, the chivalric sentiment, to benefit women and children, threw, during this life, the energy of his character into the great factory question of overworking women and children. In a new country the abnormal cruelty does not strike one with the same power "and equality of argument" as it does in older countries. The evil, however, exists, and if not eradicated will have a serious effect on a very important class of the community.
Now, as passing through a weird rocky glen—where the rent fissures in the rocks, the armless trunks of giants of the forest, the dwarfed herbage, proclaim that Nature has in some freak desired to teach man the lesson of dissolution—one discovers a jewel of price, a diamond which sheds a radiance around, colouring with its reflected rays the objects in its immediate vicinity, sanctifying and hallowing them with its own beauty; so occasionally one finds some specimen of the human race who appears to have belonged to the "Round Table," to have breathed the same air with Arthur, the great King, and by some metempsychosis, which, by our finite intelligence cannot be understood, has re-visited the world for the good of women and children. Such a specimen was Sir John Richardson.
Life ebbing away, on the banks of the great river, within a short time of his death the "Major" left with his friend, Mr. Bradshaw, the author of "Bradshaw's Factory Act," the little brochure he had written during life. It was the "Major's" intention to publish it in pamphlet form and distribute it free. To the great loss of the country he was gathered into the harvest of the just before he could publish it himself, and leaving the manuscript with Mr. Bradshaw, his wish is now complied with by him.
Though I have specially addressed this little pamphlet to the fathers and mothers of families, as to those primarily concerned in the well-being of the rising generation, I would ask the kind indulgence of the public generally, and particularly of those given to the consideration of social and economic questions, to what I shall bring before them. I lay no claim to originality of thought, nor to depth of research, I only ask that what I have gathered may be fairly weighed, and that if it produces the conviction that the cause is a good one, it may be followed by earnest and hearty co-operation.
Mr. Mundella, a member of the Imperial Parliament, himself a factory man, who had once worked in a cotton-mill, and who has nineteen-twentieths of his money invested in English industries, has rightly remarked that "in times past no legislation had provoked so much bitter hostility, and so much personal acrimony, as factory legislation." "Within the last 40 or 50 years," he says, "it had arrayed against it some of the most illustrious statesmen and political economists of Great Britain, including Lord Brougham, Lord Macaulay, Sir James Graham, Mr. Cobden, Mr. Roebuck, and Mr. Mill; but all, or nearly all of them lived to see the error of their ways, and they generously and magnanimously acknowledged their error." Mr. Disraeli, speaking in Glasgow, little more than two years ago, observed that, "though originally opposed to the principle of the Factory Acts, he was obliged to confess that nothing had conferred a greater blessing on the people of England." Even John Stuart Mill, who had written more strongly against restrictions on the employment of women and young persons, and yet, excelled by none in the courage to declare his opinions, said not a word, when, as a member for Westminster, the Factory Act, and the Workshops Act,
No less emphatic was the testimony of the late Mr. Cobden, who, speaking of the print works, "was so satisfied that
Should we need additional evidence we shall find it in the speech of Mr. Macdonald, a member of the British Parliament, who "had passed his life in the ranks of the working men," and who, while declaring that working men were quite capable of legislating for themselves, both in regard to wages and to hours of labour, accused an opponent of being "willing to hand women and children over to the tender mercies of combination, rather than accept a proposal to give them legislative protection."
Until the year ad libitum, and human ingenuity, prompted by greed, and deaf to human suffering, devised a complicated system of relieving and shifting hands, moving about the labourers in the factory so as to puzzle the inspectors and elude prosecution;" and it was not till
To know anything of the deep degradation and fearful condition of the working classes formerly employed in factories, we must go back to the year
Were I to confine myself to such vague generalities, unsupported by illustrations, it is to be feared that the public mind
If we regard the subject from a physical point of view let the Earl of Shaftesbury, formerly Lord Ashley, speak. "Well can I recollect," he says, in the earlier period of this movement, "waiting at the factory gates to see the children come out, and a set of sad dejected creatures they were; but, now, it is far different, and you may perceive in them health, elasticity, and joy. In Bradford especially, the proofs of long and cruel toil were most remarkable. The crippled and distorted forms might be numbered by hundreds, perhaps by thousands. The sight was piteous, the deformities incredible; but now there is scarcely a crippled child in the town. Under these circumstances and in the presence of facts it is idle to say that Parliamentary inquiry and protective legislation were an interference with personal liberty. I pause not to inquire whether all this good might not otherwise have been effected. We know that the evil existed, and that legislation has removed it."
Mr. Baker, speaking of a period prior to the passing of the Act of
About the time when the Roman Catholic Emancipation Bill had been carried, and the Reform Bill had become law, self-taught and thoughtful men among the industrial classes threw their weight into the Liberal scale, and, as a just reward, yet an unsolicited one, they received the staunch and energetic support of the Liberal party when vital social questions affecting these classes, originating among themselves, came under consideration, and though the disinterested and unflagging labours of Ashley, Morpeth, Fierden, Sadler, Ostler, the Peels, Hobhouse, and others are ever to be held in grateful remembrance, "the credit of this arduous conflict, ending as it triumphantly did, belongs, in the sacrifices it called forth, as well as in the blessings it has brought to the community, to the working men of England." Similar in its support by the working men concerned, was The Inspection of Mines Act, previously to
It is an interesting study to watch the progress of these legislative enactments—a progress sturdily resisted, energetically pursued, and thoroughly successful, because based upon the unalterable laws of truth and justice.
By the legislation of
In
In
In
The wise provisions of this wise Act justly entitled it to be designated by the Earl of Shaftesbury, at a meeting held at Belfast, when addressing the Irish operatives, as "the greatest charter of their liberties." It limits the employment of children after
There are those who more or less readily acknowledge that legislative protection is needed in behalf of children and young persons, yet who strenuously oppose extending this protection to adult women. This is the crucial point of the whole question, and requires more direct attention. It is a fact beyond all doubt, that of the 4,500,000 of persons employed in textile factories, 74 per cent, were women and children; indeed, practically speaking the factories in England were being more and more worked by women and children. When the Health of Women Bill was before Parliament and carried in the House of Commons by a majority of 216, Mr. Cross asserted that the manufacturers from Yorkshire and Lancashire gave an unanimous testimony "that the strain upon women was at present too great." It was an accepted fact that the monotony of the work, combined with the long hours and the created intensified physical labour owing to the improved machinery and vastly increased speed, so wore out the women, that the work of the last hour of the day was not to be compared to that of the earlier hours; and that more bad work accumulated during the last half-hour or hour than during the whole of the day. Mr. Brassey well observed that" by employing the labour of the weak, the immature, and those of tender age—that is, women and children—there arises a large amount of misery, mortality, and destruction of family life;" and it is confidently affirmed that the "mortality of children is
If we needed a practical argument to enfore the necessity of restricting the hours of labour, we find it in the recorded fact that, during the cotton famine of
Nor need we confine our attention to what we see and hear in the Old Country, for what is the experience of France on this question? France has a declining population, both in numbers and physique, because "they have worked their children and young women without restriction." In Belgium, too, children were admitted to the mills at the age of eight, and the effect, both physically and morally, on the people was manifest; and, moreover, in both cases a strong feeling was growing up in favour of a law for regulating the labour of women and children.
It has been idly said, that protective legislation for women would cause them to be thrust out of the factories, with no alternatives but prostitution or starvation, but there is not the
Mr. Broadhurst declares his conviction that "the reduction of the number of hours of labour always led to the improvement of wages, and that the improvement of the condition of working men had led to the withdrawal of married women from work, and consequently of raising wages of women generally." Miss Simcox, representing the London Society of Shirt and Collar Makers, observes, "That working women were uniformly of opinion that what had been done hitherto had been very valuable to them." It has been represented that interference with the age at which children may enter the factories will tend to their running wild in the streets: to which it is answered, that the new Education Act provides a remedy, and that when they do enter, it is in the vigour of unimpaired health, and not as the cripples of former times, of whom it was said that "such were their crooked shapes that they were like a mass of crooked alphabets."
It has been said as an argument against the restriction of labour, that short hours bring with them short wages; but it is replied by Mr. Mason, that there is no fear of ruin by the adoption of 56 hours a week in the cotton trade; but the Bill of
Nor is there any fear in the reduction of labour ruining trade, for Mr. Baxter, himself a foreign merchant, declares that trade
One of the prevailing cries is that the employment of women will interfere with the labour of men, but it is to be observed that women are not to be debarred from the free exercise of their powers of mind and body. They have a natural right to provide a living for themselves or their families, if married. There are many women, who are orphans or widows, who, of necessity, become bread winners, having perhaps relations depending on them; to such as these, common justice demands that we should not cripple their means of subsistence. Driven, by the introduction of machinery and large manufactures, from those home employments, so suitable in more primitive times, they are obliged to go outside the family circle to get that work which was once ready to hand, or to enter into new lines of labour, the old familiar ones being in some measure closed to them. It is with them not a matter of choice, but of obedience to the iron law of necessity; and it is a righteous rule, to allow both men and women to work at what they choose, and what they are best fitted to do. In the presence of such an unanswerable argument I dare not stop to inquire what may be the effect on man's labour market—nor is it needful that I should do so, for the matter is in process of adjustment. It may be an inevitable result that by shortening the hours of labour for women, it becomes in some measure, and to some trades, necessary to substitute men for women, for the work of both is so inextricably mixed that the shortening of the hours of woman's work, involves the shortening of man's or the woman loses a portion of her working time, by the necessity under the conditions of the Act, of becoming a "half-timer" on the same footing as children. We may lament such a state of things, but the moral, mental, and physical necessity for legislation is so urgent that we must not expect a great gain without an occasional hardship in exceptional cases. These disturbances will adjust themselves in time, and men and women, as a general rule, will fall into their respective grooves. Such is the objection brought forward by those who ostensibly desire to allow woman a certain amount of liberty, but who
It has been urged that legislative protection in some trades and employments and not in others is unequal and unjust, and that there are classes, like house servants, who are wrought right through the week, early and late, knowing no holidays, no family hearth, no rest. We acknowledge the melancholy fact, and we give it due weight, but it must not be allowed to interfere with the scant meed of rest of those poor married women, who, where there is no protection, work all day for the mill-owner, and late in the night for their husbands and children, to the great moral and physical injury of themselves and offspring.
I think I have said sufficient to justify the position I have assumed, and I may conclude in the words of an eminent statesman and philanthropist:—"By legislation you have ordained justice and exhibited sympathy with the best interests of the labourer, the surest and happiest mode of all government. By legislation you have given to the working-class the full power to exercise for themselves and for the public welfare all the physical and moral energies that God has bestowed on them; and by legislation you have given them to assist and maintain their rights, and it will be their own fault, not ours, if they do not, with these abundant and mighty blessings, become a wise and understanding people."
When the future reader of English history dwells with glowing pride on the noble struggles of those noble men who resolved, come what might, that their sister islanders, so long in bondage, should be emancipated; when they read how, at the expense of millions of gold and years of earnest pleadings and exhausting labours, others of the untitled nobility proclaimed liberty to the slave, and the opening of the prison doors to their fellow-men, there is many a name will spontaneously arise in grateful remembrance; but the records of generous chivalry would be incomplete did they not read of those heroic deeds of that earnest band which stayed not till they had freed from a scarcely less horrid bondage, the women and children of their native land—their brothers and sisters in the flesh. Priceless as
To all to whom these Presents shall come, and to Charles Knight, of Wellington, in the Colony of New Zealand, Auditor-General; Alfred Rowland Chetham Strode, of Dunedin, in the said Colony, Esquire; the Hon. William Hunter Reynolds, of Dunedin aforesaid; James Fulton, Esquire; and James Benn Bradshaw, of the same place, Esquire, greeting:
Whereas it has been represented to me that it would be desirable if an inquiry were made into the operation of an Act passed by the General Assembly of the Colony in the year
Now, therefore, know ye that I, George Augustus Constantine, Marquis of Normanby, Governor of the Colony of New Zealand, having full trust and confidence in your ability and integrity, in pursuance and exercise of all powers and authorities enabling me in this behalf, and by and with the advice and consent of the Executive Council of the said Colony, do hereby appoint you the said
Charles Knight,Alfred Rowland Chetham Strode,William Hunter Reynolds,James Fulton, andJames Benn Bradshaw
to be Commissioners, by all lawful ways and means, and subject to these presents, to examine and inquire into the several matters hereinafter set forth:—
And I do hereby authorize and empower you, before you shall enter upon the subject-matter of this inquiry, to appoint one of your number to be Chairman at meetings to be held by you under these presents; and, in case of the illness or absence of such Chairman from any meeting, then that you may appoint any one of your number to be Chairman at such meeting:
And I do hereby declare that the powers and authorities hereby given to you the said Commissioners may be exercised by any three of you sitting and acting together:
And I do hereby further authorize and empower you the said Commissioners as aforesaid, by all lawful ways and means, to examine and inquire into every matter and thing touching and concerning the premises in such manner, and at such time or times and at such place or places within the Provincial District of Otago as you may appoint or determine: Provided that any such inquiry may be adjourned by you from time to time, or from place to place, but so that no such adjournment shall be for a longer period than ten days at any one time, nor to any place without the limits of the said district.
And I do hereby also authorize and empower you to have before you and examine, on oath or otherwise, as may be allowed by law, any Inspector appointed under the said Acts or any of them, and all such other person or persons whom you shall judge capable of affording you any information touching or concerning the said inquiry or any part thereof, then and there to produce any books, reports, or papers relating to the subject-matter of the inquiry held under these presents or any part thereof:
And I do hereby require you, within two calendar months from the date of these presents, or as much sooner as the same can conveniently be done (using all diligence, to certify to me under your hands and seals your several proceedings, and your opinion touching the premises, and stating therein what measures (if any) it would, in your opinion, be desirable to adopt in respect thereof, or of any matter or thing arising out of or connected with the said inquiry:
And, lastly, I do hereby declare that this Commission is and is intended to be issued subject to the provisions of "The Commissioners' Powers Act,
Given under the hand of His Excellency the Most Honorable George Augustus Constantine, Marquis of Normanby, Earl of Mulgrave, Viscount Normanby, and Baron Mulgrave of Mulgrave, all in the County of York, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom; and Baron Mulgrave of New Ross, in the County of Wexford, in the Peerage of Ireland; a Member of Her Majesty's Most Honorable Privy Council; Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George; Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over Her Majesty's Colony of New Zealand and its Dependencies, and Vice-Admiral of the same; and issued under the Seal of the said Colony, at the Government House at Auckland, this eighteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
The Commissioners appointed by His Excellency the Governor to inquire into the operations of an Act entitled "The Employment
That the several Acts referred to are necessary, and have mainly accomplished the wise purposes for which they were enacted.
According to the testimony of the adult women, the law has worked a favourable change in the comfort, independence, and well-being of females employed in the Dunedin factories and workshops. Some of the women who have for years been employed in Dunedin expressed their gratitude for the protection which the Legislature had secured for them by the limitation of the hours of labour, and for the consequent improvement in their social condition and physical health.
The investigation shows that women cannot combine together as workmen do in their trades union, to protect themselves and limit the hours of labour. In the case of married women compelled to work in factories for the support of their families, it is especially necessary that the Legislature should step in to do for women what trades union effect for workmen and others.
The Acts, as far as the limitation of labour is concerned, take a middle course between those antagonistic forces termed "meddling legislation" and "freedom of labour," and secures the interests of the public, which are so vitally concerned in the health and social condition of women.
The Commissioners are unanimous in the opinion that an alteration of the Act which would make the limitation a weekly one of fifty-four hours instead of a daily one of eight hours, would certainly defeat the objects of the Legislature.
The investigation shows, however, that the law is not effectively carried out in many cases, owing to the insufficient inspection of the workshops. The Commissioners are unanimous in the opinion that the indifference or repugnance which is sometimes shown to carry out the provisions of the Acts limiting the hours of labour can only be guarded against by a thorough system of inspection. There are no difficulties in the way of securing the non-violation of the law in this particular. Any person having the right of entry into a workshop can, with perfect facility, determine whether children, young persons, and women are engaged in work beyond the hours fixed by law.
The investigation was extended to the sanitary arrangements of the workshops. It will be seen from the reports of the Inspectors of Nuisances that the conveniences for the workpeople require consideration.
Two of the workshops inspected by the Commissioners were
In another and extensive establishment the foul air, heated by furnaces below, vitiates the atmosphere of the crowded rooms above. The Commissioners would earnestly recommend that, at least, the cubic contents of the workrooms should be proportioned, by law, to the number of persons employed in them; and that, generally, the sanitary arrangements should be made satisfactory to the Medical Officers of the Boards of Health.
The Commissioners find that the violators of the law have had their offences practically condoned by mere nominal fines. This tends to render the law a dead-letter where the employers choose to set it at defiance. It should be guarded against by making the minimum penalty forty shillings for breach of the provisions of the Act.
In respect of the registration of notices, provided by the eighth section of the Act of
The recommendation of Inspector Connell, that more stringent measures should be enacted for the regulation of the employment of girls in private houses, does not meet with the concurrence of the Commissioners. The interpretation of "workroom" by clause 4 of the Act of
In reply to your communication under date Wellington, 17th ultimo, addressed to us, and requesting information regarding local industries or manufactures, together with any suggestions that may occur to us in connection with the same, we, as representing the woollen factories in the Otago District, beg respectfully to submit for your consideration as follows:—
ad valorem—upon woollen goods, as we consider this a fair enough set-off against—(1) The high rate of colonial interest; (2) the high rate of colonial wages; (3) the cost of bringing out to the Colony the necessary machinery, dye stuffs, and other articles necessary in carrying on the business of a woollen factory.
In submitting the above for your consideration, we may, in conclusion, state that, in the event of your desiring to see any of us personally during your visit to Dunedin, we shall be happy to attend, on your giving us the necessary notice of time and place.—We have, &c.,
On the 17th of May the Commission visited the Mosgiel Factory, situated on the Taieri Plain, about twelve miles from Dunedin, accompanied by Mr. Morrison, manager for the Company. They found the mills in full working, and inspected the various processes in the manufacture from the raw material of woollen tweeds, rugs, shawls, blankets, flannels, hosiery and yarns. The number of persons employed was forty, earning wages from £1
The Commission next visited the Roslyn Mill, recently erected by Messrs. Ross and Glendining, at an outlay of about £40,000, for the manufacture of blankets and flannels. These works appeared to be perfect in all their arrangements, and the comfort and well-being of the work-people are as liberally provided for as at Mosgiel. The Commissioners found the prescribed notices under the Factories Act posted conspicuously, and all the requirements of the Act most strictly carried out, except in so far as the law may be held to be evaded by giving the work-people a half-holiday on Saturday, and distributing the time thus lost after hours on the other days of the week. The Commissioners examined several of the work-people on the question of legal hours; but here they found them unanimous in the feeling that they already worked quite long enough, and that the law, by forbidding them to work more than eight hours a day, whether they wished it or not, afforded them a valuable protection. They spoke in the highest terms of their employers and their condition in the factory, and stated that they desired no change, even for the sake of gaining more money. One of them, an intelligent middle-aged married woman, dwelt strongly on the advantage of the eight-hours system in enabling persons in her situation to attend to the care of their homes, and at the same time to earn fair wages by factory-work. A girl of seventeen spoke in the same strain of the value to her of her leisure, and stated that, although she would work longer hours if her companions in the
The Commissioners then visited the Kaikorai Mill, in which some £20,000 has been invested. This mill was established about six years ago on a limited scale, and the arrangements are not nearly so perfect as at Roslyn and Mosgiel. The rooms were hot and close, and the Commissioners recognized from what they saw there that, even with the best intentions on the part of employers, the lot of persons in woollen factories might easily become a hard one. The Commissioners selected an elderly woman of long experience as a factory-weaver, both in England and in New Zealand, and examined her as to the question of hours. She unhesitatingly declared in favour of the law as it stands, and expressed in emphatic terms her conviction that if the hours were lengthened the rate of wages would be lowered. She also urged that eight hours a day was enough work for anybody; and that, although she and others of her class might be tempted to work longer for the sake of earning more, it would be much better for them to be prevented by law from doing so. She stated that she felt sure that this was the feeling of the work-people generally, and that any alteration of the law could not but act injuriously to them.
Extract from Commissioners' Report.
The Commission were much gratified by the result of their inquiries as to the condition of the woollen industry, which will be seen by the evidence to be well established, and to require no artificial assistance of any kind. The only grievance which the woollen manufacturers complain of is the operation of the Employment of Females Acts. The Commission took great pains to investigate that matter; but, after giving it careful consideration, they are unable to recommend any alteration of the law in so far as it affects the length of the hours' of work. They are satisfied that the Act affords a substantial and valuable protection to female and youthful operatives; and, though they recognise both that the local manufacturers are placed at some disadvantage by it as against manufacturers in countries where no such law exists, and also that in the woollen factories now in existence no serious evils would be likely to arise under the present excellent management from a repeal of it, they nevertheless consider that the well-being of an industrious and comparatively helpless class of the community is so effectually secured by it that they have no hesitation in deciding as they have done. They would point out that the condition of factory hands as a class in the future, or in other trades even at present, cannot be judged of by the condition of those employed to-day in liberally-conducted establishments such as are described in the notes of their inquiry at Dunedin.
Your daughter is not at the looms, but her grand-daughter may be. Pace thoughtfully to and fro in the city slums, for your descendants may live there. In a republic, without the law of primogeniture or any artificial rank, personal position depends on personal effort. In America the children of Lazarus may rise to the position of Dives, and those of Dives may sink to the level of Lazarus; and, therefore, in America, neither Lazarus nor Dives can understand himself until the two have changed eyes. Under republican institutions the interests of the rich man are every man's interests, and the interests of the poor man are every man's also. Such is the mobility of American society that the cause of the working-girl is the cause of the parlour on Fifth Avenue; the cause of the poorest shop-boy is the cause of the millionaire; the cause of the woman behind the whirring wheels of trade, labouring under unspeakable circumstances and bringing into the world offspring tired from birth, is the cause of the most luxurious household that to-day kneels about any family altar on Beacon Street, or of late lifted up thanksgiving in any happy New England home.
I did not see the battle of Gettysburg, but I have seen the rank grass above the graves of those who fell there. I keep on my table a couple of paper-weights brought from what is called the wheat-field at Gettysburg, where men were found killed with the bayonet—a rare occurrence even in a great battle. My most vivid impressions of the carnage at Gettysburg came from the heavy growths I have seen above burial trenches in the meadows and from what I read there on the tombstones. We have all heard how a three-miles front of Artillery cannonaded another three-miles front, and how the rebel battle line, four miles long, charged on foot across the fruitful plain, and sunk great parts of it into the earth on the passage. Where the graves lie thickest we must take our position, if we would understand what Gettysburg was; and so, if in the carnage—for there is no other word to describe what is taking place—if, in the carnage occurring among young women and middle-aged women along an industrial battle line extending from St. Petersburg to San Francisco, to say
What are some of the rank grasses above the graves? What are some of the inscriptions on the tombstones of female operative populations?
Then here is a report by Mr. Mundella, introducing Von Plener's history of English factory legislation. P. 116.
Well, but this is France, you say. Facts like these, you think, can be gathered only from Europe. But I hold in my hand a report of your Massachusetts Bureau of Health, and I find in it an able document on the political economy of manufacturing towns, written by Dr. Edward Jarvis, of this commonwealth.
I shall trouble you to listen while I read the inscription on this Massachusetts tombstone. Or, rather, it is not a tombstone; it is only what I saw at Gettysburg again and again—a rude, frail, memorial tablet simply, and the word "unknown" written across it. Who can tell the names of those beneath this burial
A million nine hundred thousand years of labour lost in Massachusetts between Fifth Report of Mass Board of Health.
Does the earth rise and fall above this slaughter-trench?
Would you have me suggest what I would have done? There has lately been called into Heaven a brave physician from this city, who dared discuss Sex in Education. See Prof. E. H. Clarke's remarkable monograph on that subject, Boston, See Dr. Ames's suggestive work with this title, Boston,
Dr. Clarke writes: "There is an establishment in Boston, owned and carried on by a man, in which ten or a dozen girls are constantly employed. Each of them is given and is required to take a vacation of three days every four weeks. It is scarcely necessary to say that their sanitary condition is exceptionally good and that the aggregate total amount of work which the owner obtains is greater than that when persistent attendanae and labour are required."
This, in brief, is what I want, and what the medical experts want; what your Board of Health wants, and what I believe the Supreme Powers want and ultimately will have. Until they
Standing yet at the side of these heaving sods on the wide industrial battle-field, I beg you to follow me along a line of propositions intended to emphasize the seriousness which comes to us as we study the rising and falling of this burial surface.
1. The mortality among girls increases between fourteen and eighteen, and among men between twenty-one and twenty-six.
This is a law for the two sexes wholly aside from any result of their occupations. How strong are your daughters to be when they go into this industrial contest? They are a part of a battle-front extending all the way from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific Seas. It appears that they must march out upon the Gettysburg charge at about the time when their strength is most uncertain. The mortality of young persons of the female sex increases between fourteen and eighteen, when boys are toughest. In the yet sparsely-settled United States you have two hundred thousand girls under fifteen in this battle-front. You have two million females in your industries, and of these two hundred thousand are girls. Most of this number ought to be called children. By a child I mean any one under fourteen; by a young person any one between fourteen and eighteen; by a woman a female over eighteen. Experts of the first rank tell us that a great physiological law is violated in the age at which we admit girls who are children to work behind the looms. There is no prospect that this violated natural law will be repealed. In almost entire disregard of notorious physiological facts, you are sending girls more frequently than boys into many forms of manufactures. You require almost the same amount of physical strain from each, and often pay the girl not more than half of what you pay the boy. Is there any meanness in that? I have an indignation that cannot be expressed when I think of the physical limitations of woman, and of the manner in which she is obliged, when standing alone in the world, to strain all her strength to obtain half a man gets for the same labour.
2. The strength of the female is to that of the male as 16 to 26.
That is Dr. Draper's opinion. "Human Physiology," p. 546.
3. The change of insects from the primary to the perfect or imago state is not a greater one than occurs in both sexes between the ages of twelve and sixteen, but earlier in most cases with the female than the male.
At the side of these burial-trenches you will allow me to mention, although I may not discuss, certain natural laws holy as the fire of Sinai.
4. By fixed natural law there exists on the part of woman, as there does not on the part of man, a necessity or need of a periodic rest.
5. On the part of the married woman, it is evident that the laws of health forbid, at certain definite periods, severe mental or physical labour.
6. As those laws of health for the two sexes differ and are not likely to be repealed, it is the wisdom of legislation to make its enactments coincide with those of the Supreme Powers.
And now what would I have?
7. As in France, a council of salubrity, so public discussion in this country, and commissions of inquiry, and advice of experts, and all the light we can obtain from every quarter, and not merely mediæval custom, should determine what employments are suited to women.
8. No woman should be engaged in employment unsuited to her sex and declared to be so by the council of salubrity.
9. No girl under fifteen should be employed in any of the occupations thus permitted to women.
10. Undoubtedly the human race would be the gainer if we did not employ a girl under eighteen in factory labour, unless by special permission from a surgeon.
11. In all employments opened to woman or considered advisable for her she should be permitted a periodic absence, without pecuniary loss.
Thank God that, without my uncovering this slaughter-trench, you understand what is beneath its surface. This proposition has been officially defended by your Massachusetts Labour Bureau, which has made a series of investigations of unequalled value as to the special effects of certain forms of employment on female health. See Report for
12. Additional vacations should be the right of women em-
13. Sanitary supervision of all large factories should, he furnished at the expense of the proprietors.
14. You must allow me to say, and to expand the proposition in a subsequent lecture, that in crowded rooms, where conversation is not interrupted by the noise of machinery, there may be a foul or a clean system of factory management; and that the mingling of the sexes, under careless overseers, and the filling of these rooms with profanity, and, possibly, with obscene conversation, from morning to night is not calculated to improve the moral condition of factory operative populations, containing, it may be, in time to come, your daughters and mine.
15. Married women should not be employed in factories without surgical certificates of fitness for the occupation.
There is a proverb in England to the effect that whoever among the female operatives can manage four looms at once is likely to be wed. "Hoo's a four-loomer, hoo's like to be wed," say the operatives on the banks of those canals in Manchester. I suppose that the concentration of attention required in the women who operate some of our most skilful machines is one source of the breaking down of the female constitution. The physicians tell us that this close mental application at work is exceedingly inimical to female health, especially when the labour must be performed standing. The printer at the case, if a male, stands easily and becomes accustomed to his position; but go into your printing offices and ask whether the sexes are physically equal in the ability to face the compositor's toil. Woman must be seated when she sets type. The general experience is that a woman cannot bear to stand at a machine as long as a man. Even in the schoolroom, speaking to her pupils, the female teacher does well to be seated most of the time. There are deep reasons, not to be discussed here, for giving a periodic rest to female operatives who must have brain in their finger-tips. She who sets the types the most swiftly, or she who manages the telegraph most skilfully may not need more mental concentration than she who manages four looms and is like to be wed. There must be no mistakes in her physical manipulations. There is penalty at once if a single thread breaks. I have seen at Lawrence and at Lowell machines so perfect that if a single thread is broken out of the multitudinous threads they spin they stop, like sensitive things of life, until the thread is mended. She who is a four-loomer must have her mind upon every thread, and this ten or twelve hours a day, and day after day.
Perhaps the summer day is hot, and she is at work under the roof. Perhaps the winter day is cold, and she must live in a
It is said that for every one that dies prematurely there are two sick most of the time. If you take the records I have read to you on these tombstones of the dead ones who have gone under the sod, and multiply their numbers by two, you will obtain the records of the sick ones who lie on the couches of languishing more or less often. I speak, I think, wholly within bounds when I say that the tossing of this earth above the slaughter-trench is not the whole horror. The tossing of the coverlids on beds of pain is another portion of the evil; but the largest horror of all is the coming into the world of populations not capable of sustaining the burdens likely to be put upon them from the very outset. The rising and falling of the coverlids which are spread over the already sick limbs of unborn generations are what sicken me most. I am horrified by this heaving surface of earth above the trench; I am horrified by these sick-beds; but when I think that the citizen is taxed before he is born, and of what Edmund Burke used to say about the object of government being to make strong men and strong women, and good citizens, and to educate them, and that nothing is worth anything in government unless good men and good women are the result; when I think of the effect of these factory abuses upon factory populations, once become hereditary, I look up to Almighty God, and pray Him in the name of His own most holy laws to fasten our eyes upon the slaughter of the innocents. The aged, you say, are not to be pitied, but even the mediaeval baron had pity for his aged and infirm retainers. Middle age, you think, can take care of itself; but what of the unborn, and those that are to come in a long
Where is the old spirit of New England that looked forward and founded institutions for generations not yet visible on the verge of coming time? Webster's eyes were always fastened on the responsibility of the present to the future. Advance, coming generations! was his perpetual salutation to the ages before him. Where are his successors? Where are the men who, looking on the abuses in industrial populations, dare so reform them as to be able to gaze into the face of God and say: Advance, future generations to better conditions than heathendom gave you and to better than the Old World allowed you. Advance to circumstances in which socialism can seem only a nightmare. Advance to such treatment that you shall yourselves be convinced that Dives and Lazarus, God's hand on the shoulder of the one and His hand on the shoulder of the other, have at last in the history of industry been brought face to face, and, to the profit of both, have changed eyes.
Printed at the "Daily Times" Office, Dowling Street, Dunedin.
Fellow Colonists—
As the elected head of this Province, specially charged to watch over and protect its interests, I deem it due, both to you and to myself, to give expression to a few thoughts as regards the present political situation.
I desire to do so as briefly as possible, and as an earnest man speaking to earnest men.
I am deeply impressed with the conviction that we have reached a crisis in the political history of New Zealand, upon our right action with regard to which now, depends the future of the Colony for good or for evil.
I assume that you are all aware of the fact that a majority of your representatives in the Colonial Parliament have decided that your Provincial Legislature is to be abolished, and that but for the strenuous efforts of a minority this abolition would have been an accomplished fact, without any reference whatever to your wishes or opinions on the subject. As it is, the operation of the Act has been postponed until after the prorogation of the next Session of the new Parliament. So that the people of New Zealand may, at the approaching elections, have a voice in the matter.
What I now earnestly desire is, that the people of Otago would calmly and deliberately consider for themselves the effect which the abolition of the Province is likely to have upon their own interests. To my mind that effect cannot fail to be very
It cannot, I presume, be denied that, considering the extent of its territory, the short period of its existence, and the comparatively small handful of its population, the progress of Otago hitherto has been perfectly marvellous, all the more so looking at the fact that it has contributed upwards of two millions of money to the Colonial chest, in respect of which there has not been one single sixpence of value received. Just fancy to yourselves what this sum might have accomplished had it been expended in developing the resources of the Province.
Nothing can more forcibly illustrate the progress of Otago, which a quarter of a century ago was an unpeopled wilderness, than the fact that of the thirty-two colonies of Great Britain no less than twenty-eight are inferior to this Province in respect of the amount of its public revenue and the extent of its commerce.
In my opinion the only thing which has prevented the still further progress of Otago has been the abstraction of its revenue by the Colony, and the action of the Colonial Legislature, by which the Province has been deprived of the power of carrying on immigration and public works on its own account, both of which I maintain in the nature of things could have been more satisfactorily conducted by the Provincial than by the General Executive. As a striking example of the contrast between the two systems, we need only revert to the fact that under General administration, the cost to the Colony on immigration has been upwards of £21 10s. a head for each statute adult, while under the system so successfully carried on for years by the Provincial Government, the total cost did not exceed £15 10s. per adult, the quality of the immigration comparing favorably with that of the former. There was nothing to have prevented the whole of the recent immigration into this Province from having been conducted on the same terms, had the Province been allowed tomorrow for the purpose as the Colony did.
How far our past progress is to be attributed to the action of the local Legislature is a question upon which opinions may differ; there can, I apprehend, be no difference of opinion, however, as to the fact that this progress has been in no degree attributable to the action of the Colonial Parliament; and yet it is now proposed to part with the one, and to place the administration of affairs entirely in the hand of the other.
One great argument—indeed, I may say the only argument —which has been adduced in favor of abolishing the Provincial legislature, is the alleged saving of public expenditure which would be effected thereby. This is an argument, however, which might be much more forcibly applied towards the abolition of the Colonial Legislature, as at present constituted. The Provincial Legislature and Executive of Otago (which could fulfil all the functions of the Colonial Legislature and Executive without any additional charge) costs one shilling and sixpence per head on the population of the Province, while the Colonial Parliament and Executive cost two shillings and ninepence per head.
As regards the whole Colony, the total cost of the nice Provincial Councils and Executives is under £32,000 a year, while the annual expense of the General Assembly and Colonial Executive is over £50,000. If you add to this £250,000 of annual departmental and other charges—which would disappear along with the General Assembly—you will be able to judge as to where the greatest saving might be effected. I may say that the foregoing figures represent expenditure in respect of services which might be dispensed with without detriment to the public interest; they do not include anything connected with the Immigration and Public Works Departments, in both of which there would be a material reduction were these matters left to the Provinces.
I repeat that the Abolition Bill, if carried into operation, must be disastrous to the interests of this Province in various ways. I shall only allude to one or two facts, which will serve amply to bear out this opinion. We will take first and foremost the teritorial revenue, which, although de jure Colonial revenue,
de facto the revenue of the Province, and appropriated by the Provincial Council towards roads and bridges, the erection of schools, subsidising local Road Boards, &c.
Under the Abolition Bill the annual interest upon the Provincial debt becomes the first charge on the land revenue to the extent of £90,000. The residue, if any, goes into the Colonial Treasury, to be appropriated by the General Assembly. I say the residue if any, because it is quite possible that there may be no residue, inasmuch as in the event of our railways not paying more than working expenses, the interest on their cost is legally chargeable on the Land Fund. Assuming, however, that there will be a residue, you may be quite certain that very little, if any thereof, will find its way back to you—the Colonial horse-leech must first be satisfied. Although it is likely that the railways in this Province will yield sufficient to cover both interest and working expenses, yet there are political lines in New Zealand with regard to which it is to be feared that such will not be the case; and so surely as any portion of our Laud Fund goes into the common purse, just as surely will it be applied towards deficiencies in every part of the Colony. The probability is that railways in Otago will be a source of revenue, which, under Provincial administration, would be expended wholly within the Province, but which, under the proposed new order of things, will not be so expended.
In fact, it was broadly stated from the Ministerial bench during the late Session, that whatever surplus may be derived from remunerative railways should be devoted towards making up the deficiency of those which may not pay, in whatever part of the Colony they may be situated, and this will undoubtedly be one of the practical results if the Abolition Bill comes into operation. I regard this declaration as a gross breach of that fundamental principle which was laid down when the Public Works policy was agreed to, namely, that each Province should be charged with the cost of its railways; on no other condition would I and others have assented to the policy. As it is, it only shows the folly of relying upon the stability and good faith of Colonial Legislature
Reverting to the abstraction from the Province of its Land Revenue, I look upon it, that unjust and injurious as this will be, the blotting out of the Provincial Council, as exercising a watchful eye upon the administration of the Waste Lands will be more detrimental still, and will probably result in the public estate falling into the hands of the few instead of the many, and in the indiscriminate renewal of the pastoral leases without reference to the requirements of settlement, or to their real value.
There is nothing that I deprecate more than setting class against class. I have always regarded the pastoral interest as one of the greatest and most important in the Province, and can see no necessary antagonism between it and any other. I regret, therefore, to think that the abolition of the Provincial Legislature is in a great measure supported by this interest, in the hope that it is likely to get a renewal of leases on better terms under Colonial than under Provincial administration.
In the course of the next few years, nearly the whole of the pastoral leases throughout the Province expire. Should the administration continue in the hands of the Province, the pastoral tenants will be greatly multiplied in number, and, instead of run-holders, will become thriving and wealthy sheep formers, living on their estates and employing a large amount of labor; a consummation which will add greatly to the public revenue, and will tend to elevate the position of the Province both politically and socially;
Now, let us glance at the other reasons which are adduced in favor of the proposed constitutional change. It is said that several of the Provinces are bankrupt; that they are unable to carry on any longer; that is to say, they are unable for want of means to perform those primary functions of government which have hitherto devolved on them, viz., the protection of life and property, the education of the people, &c., &c.
If, however, the Provinces are unable to carry on these functions without funds, how is the Colonial Government to carry
I deny that there is any necessity for the Provinces being unable to perform their functions, but I will tell you why some of them are unable to do so. It is simply because the public revenue, a large proportion of which used to be devoted towards the necessary purposes of government, has been gradually more and more withheld from the Provinces, and absorbed by the Colonial Parliament, until at length all that is left is 15s. a head capitation allowance; that is to say, the people of Otago, out of the £5 contributed annually to the Colonial chest by each man, woman, and child, receives in return the magnificent sum of 15s., wherewith to pay the interest on the Provincial debt, to maintain the absolutely necessary public departments, and to carry on the greater portion of the real government of the country. It will readily be seen that but for its land fund, of which it is now to be deprived, Otago would have been in no better position than the poorest of its neighbours.
I repeat that if any of the Provinces have been left high and dry, it is in consequence of the lion's share of the revenue having been absorbed by the Colonial Parliament, and applied to what? Not towards the paramount purposes of Government—not to the settlement and occupation of the Colony—but to the maintenance of a Legislature at Wellington, and of a Colonial establishment upon a scale of extravagance, unparalleled, I believe, in any other country in the world similarly situated.
The Colonial expenditure has from the outset been assuming
Talk of Provincial extravagance—the thing pales into insignificance compared with that of the Colony. Depend upon it, unless we retrace our steps, the day of reckoning will come sooner or later, and it is not by hugging the chain which binds us, and rushing still further into the arms of Centralism that this day is to be evaded. It can only be met in one of two ways—either the taxation of the Colony must be increased, or the unnecessary and unwarrantable expenditure must be reduced. Of this latter, I feel convinced that there is not the slightest hope, so long as the two islands are mixed up, and unequally yoked together in one Legislature as at present—a Legislature which assumes to itself the conduct and control of the whole of the parish business throughout the Colony, instead of confining its attention to those few subjects which concern New Zealand as a whole.
It may be said, why not apply the pruning-knife and cut down the unproductive expenditure? And no doubt this would seem to be the natural solution of the difficulty. Long experience, however, has convinced me that this cannot or will not be done, and that the only practical remedy is to cut down the tree and plant afresh—and this leads to the real point to which in my humble opinion, the attention of every elector should be directed at the forthcoming election. I should vote for no candidate, howover personally acceptable, unless I could thoroughly rely upon his strenuously advocating and supporting such measures as shall substantially secure—
It seems to me that the foregoing proposals embody a general principle of action, which if determined upon by a majority of the representatives of the people will produce such a reform as must lead to the existing taxation being beneficially expended or greatly reduced, and be conducive to the happiness and prosperity of the people of both Islands. It will be observed that I have not touched the question as to the number of Provinces in each Island; as this does not materially affect the chief object to be attained—namely, financial reform and retrenchment; at the same time there are grave and important considerations which would have to be taken into account in discussing the point as to the number of Provinces. My own opinion leans strongly towards at least two Provinces in each Island; I do not think that for years to come anything less will be satisfactory, either on the ground of economy or efficiency.
Provincial Councils, even in the false position in which they have been placed hitherto, have been important schools for the nurture of political life, and for political training, and as such (apart from all other benefits) they have been worth infinitely more to New Zealand than they have cost. How much more valuable would they be in these respects if placed on a proper footing and in a position of supremacy, each in its own sphere.
It would be easy to show as regards your own Provincial Council, that with all [its faults, it is just as capable—aye and more so—of making laws and of dealing with the affairs of Otago as is the General Assembly at "Wellington. In the case of the latter it may well be said
'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view.
It surely stands to reason that forty-six men, all of whom are elected by yourselves, assembled within the Province, can deal far more satisfactorily with your interests than can eighty-four
Another great argument which is urged in favor of the proposed change is, that it will secure a greater amount of justice to outlying districts, that is to say, it will confer upon Otago what it already to a great extent possesses, and which every district which so desires it may possess to-morrow—viz., Road Boards with power to rate themselves. Hitherto these Road Boards have been subsidised by the Province out of its land fund. Under the proposed new regime they are to be subsidised out of taxes to be extracted from the pockets of the ratepayers, in other words they are to be subsidised out of moneys contributed by the people themselves. And this is the great boon for which we are invited to part with those institutions under which the Province has flourished so remarkably, just as if this boon could not be obtained if necessary under the existing system.
I know of few things which have been more beneficial to this Province than the liberal subsidies which during the past ten years have been received by the District Road Boards and Municipalities at the hands of the Provincial Government. It is true that since
Depend upon it, inadequate as it may have been towards their requirements, the outlying districts of Otago have had vastly more money expended within them by the Provincial Council than they are ever likely to have at the hands of the General Assembly. I would say more, that but for the enormous drain upon the resources of the Province which has gone to uphold the lavish expenditure of the Colonial Parliament, the outlying
One of the crimes with which your Provincial Council was most loudly charged in the Assembly was that its sole aim had been to aggrandize Dunedin at the expense of the Province. Never was there a more reckless and unfounded charge. It would be no difficult matter to show that considering the extent of its population, Dunedin has had no more than very scant justice at the hands of the Provincial Council. It is much to be regretted that there are those among us who, while they exhibit an unfounded jealousy towards Dunedin, have no objection to aggrandize Wellington, to any extent, at the expense of Otago.
I have long been convinced that if there is to be any genuine diffusion of local administrative power throughout the Colony, such diffusion will have to emanate from Provincial Legislatures. I do not anticipate that any practical measure in this direction is likely to proceed from Centralism as it exists in this Colony.
The Provincial Council of Otago has done much in the way of extending power of local administration. It has already placed upon the Statute Book an Ordinance whereby, if the people desire it, County Boards may be constituted at any time, with full power to administer all local matters; an Ordinance which confers far greater powers, and makes much more liberal provision
By virtue of a Colonial statute, a fixed proportion of the land revenue has to be set aside as an endowment for these County Boards, whenever they are brought into existence. As it is, however, none have taken advantage of this Ordinance, from which it may be presumed that the people deem themselves better off as they are; an opinion in which I do not think that they are very far wrong. The Provincial Council has created and endowed all over the Province, Municipalities, Road Boards, School Boards, Harbor Boards, Athenæums; in short, its maxim has been to decentralise administrative power in every direction, and in this it has afforded a striking contrast to the Colonial Parliament, whose principle of action has been, centralise—centralise—centralise—so much so, that if not checked now, it will shortly become impossible to move in any part of New Zealand without the authority of the Governor in Council, which means practically, an irresponsible bureaucracy at Wellington.
That your Provincial Council is faultless and may not be improved, it is not for me to allege. Let it be what it may, it is an embodiment of the popular will; a transcript of yourselves; and if it acts indiscreetly, the remedy is in your own hands. All I would say further is, that if you sweep it away, you will commit an act which you yourselves will yet bitterly regret; an act which posterity will mourn over and deplore. What would England, Ireland, and Scotland give now to have what we are asked to throw away—their local parliaments to deal with local affairs?
You may rest assured that political privileges are not so easily acquired that they should be lightly disposed of, and that nothing but the most culpable indifference as to the responsibilities which devolve upon them, will account for the people of this Colony parting with one iota of the powers and privileges which they now possess, or permitting themselves to be led by those who are influenced by a morbid love of change for its own sake.
One word more in conclusion. I have endeavored very imperfectly to point out that Otago, which has been the milch cow of the Colony, has nothing to gain, but everything to lose should the Abolition Bill be carried into operation—that the Colonial Parliament has from first to last been the wet blanket upon progress—that the resources of the Province are every day disappearing more and more in the maelstrom of Colonial finance—that the bane of the Colony has been the gradual growth of a grasping and improvident Centralism, repugnant to the genius of free institutions, and totally unsuited to the peculiar circumstances of New Zealand. You might as well attempt to build a pyramid, commencing at the apex, as to build up a great nation in New Zealand by means of one Central Government at "Wellington.
I cannot disguise from myself the fact that, could we divest ourselves of the idea of the unity of New Zealand, the true remedy for the existing evils, in as far as Otago is concerned, would be that the Province should be erected into an independent Colony. Even were the people unanimous on this point, however, there are difficulties in the way which would take much time to surmount. As it is, therefore, the practical remedy at this moment is to send to the new Parliament men who will spare the country from that plethora of Government with which it has for years been scourged — men who will see to it, that the General Assembly shall take the shape of a simple and inexpensive federal Council, dealing only with a very few subjects; and that the two islands, and the various Provinces in each, shall be separate, distinct, and independent as regards the disposal and control of their respective revenues and the management of their local affairs. Of course there must needs be an equitable adjustment, as between the Provinces, as to the payment of existing Colonial liabilities, which adjustment would have to be regulated by the federal Legislature.
Finally, I trust it may not be deemed out of place to point out, in reference to the approaching election, that if there should be more than one anti-Centralist candidate for the same seat, the
Mills, Dick and Co., Steam Printers, Stafford Street, Dunedin.
By the solicitations of many friends, I have been induced to publish the following lecture, and as the subject treats much on the yet undeveloped resources of the Otway district, the same may be read, I trust, with feelings of interesting pleasure.
I have added as an appendix, a brief, yet truthful description of Port Campbell; its geographical position, its natural resources, &c., &c.; which, I trust, as a new and liberal land bill is shortly coming into operation, may prove beneficial to those who may have the good fortune to select land in its vicinity.
Many of my readers and patrons are well aware that about two years since, I compiled a work treating on the resources of the Western District, and numbers of the most respectable portion of our community subscribed to its publication. I obtained at the time of my canvass, over 500 signatures for the book, and received in advance money to the amount of between £50 and £60.
The money so received in my canvass was exhausted in expenses, necessarily incurred in my travels through the entire Western District, and I may further add, more than double the amount out of my own pocket.
At the time of my arrival in Melbourne, I was introduced by the worthy member for Warrnambool (Mr. Plummer), to Mr. Grant, President of the Board of Lands and Survey; with a view (as I thought) of getting the Government to assist me in publishing the work: such, however, could not be done, as assisting me in my publication would act as a precedent to others similar circumstanced, and the Government might have too much of such matters.
Mr. Grant at the time introduced me to Mr. Skene, and recommended that I should have given me a map of the
I then arranged with Messrs. Heath and Cordell, of Flinders-lane, Melbourne, for its publication. Their terms were that I was to pay them the sum of £50 to go on with the work. Since which time I have tried my hardest to realise that sum in every honourable way I could think of, but up to the present without success. I can truly say there is no man on earth feels his present position more deeply and keenly than myself, or could have tried harder for the successful accomplishment of his project; repeatedly promised assistance by one, and then by another, which has always ended in disappointment, nearly driving me to despair. For next to my God, my wife, and family, the publication of my book is closest to my heart; for on the production of that, in a great measure, rests my off springs' happiness. A few months, or a very few years at most, will call me to my long home; and I should not like to leave this world without fulfilling the promise I have made to those who have subscribed their names and money to my work.
Trusting that I may have an extensive sale for the publication throughout the Western District—the charge being one shilling, small in itself, though collectively sufficient, I trust, to place me in a position to publish "My Book and Why I Wrote it." If such should be the result, it will be gratefully received and acknowledged by
The dubious world may cast their doubts on me,
May be vindictive—slanderous, and unkind;
I fear not them, 'tis all I want to be,
Known by but men of nobleness of mind.
The subject on which I am about to address you this evening, namely, the natural resources of Western Victoria, how they are to be developed, and how permanent and lasting settlement can be obtained, by the construction of speedy modes of transit, passing through or near to the fertile virgin soil of this portion of our colony, I trust will prove a matter interesting in itself and form the groundwork for onward progression.
In reference to the vast and varied resources that the Western District of Victoria possesses, it must be readily admitted, even by those who hold no interest whatever in this part of our colony, that in fertility of soil, adaptability for the growth of all kinds of cereals and esculents to the highest state of perfection, it stands pre-eminently over that of any other portion of Victoria, and I might also conscientiously say, to that of any other in the Australian colonies. Extensive areas of virgin soil lie dormant, which were evidently ordained to yield their increase, through man's industry, and thereby furnish homes for thousands of this race.
I shall, ladies and gentlemen, when I arrive at that part of my lecture which treats on the beneficial results obtained by a thorough and proper system of farming, endeavour to explain how a similar good will be sure to manifest itself on vast areas of land that now lie idle in the fertile district I am about to describe.
Geelong being situated on the eastern limits of the Western District, and Portland on the far west, I shall endeavour to describe the intervening space between the two seaports. The distance between Geelong and Portland is about 200 miles. Leaving Geelong in a westerly direction, the line of traffic passes through Ceres, Winchelsea, Birregurra, Colac, Camperdown, Teerang, Warrnambool,
It would be almost superfluous to describe the nature of the soil and the country near Geelong. I will therefore describe a country now isolated, but which shall yet furnish homes for many families, and the immense natural resources it possesses, which when developed will certainly add materially to the wealth of the Western District. One article of export available will be the timber of the pencil-wood, valuable for its superior adaptabilities as a material for furniture making.
The portion of the country I am about to describe is situated on the west slope of the Dividing Range in the Cape Otway district, from which, near to the debouche of the river Gellibrand, a road has recently been cut in the direction of Camperdown. There are also two other lines of road in course of formation, one of which is from Colac, and has been surveyed, and one from Warrnambool, already completed as far as Curdies River. For the natural resources of this vast extensive and isolated peninsular of the Western District, Geelong in the course of time must eventually become a chief outlet. The resources of this now wild and uninhabited country are many and various. It possesses gold, although not yet found in payable quantities for the individual miner; yet to my idea at the present time there exists in the localities where gold has been found sufficient
I will now return from the eastern side of the River Gellibrand to three miles on its western, describing the character of the soil from the river to Glenample Station, which is situate at that distance. I will then endeavour to describe the character of the country in a north-easterly direction to the spot where gold in small quantities has been obtained by myself. At the same time I shall endeavour to show how paying results may attend the investment of capital, to work the thinly-distributed auriferous drifts, which are known to exist in the locality.
The soil from where the Gellibrand debouches to the sea is of fair and good quality all the way in the direction to the station. It is well adapted for agriculture, and is not over heavily timbered. The principal trees the soil gives birth to are the she-oak, lightwood, and small gums. The soil is well adapted for the growth of English grasses. Several patches of self-sown clover on the bank near the river by
But as I must take my leave from Glenample, and proceed on my journey to the diggings, a description of the intervening country may prove interesting. The distance from the station to the auriferous region being about twelve miles.
For the first three miles some very fair land is passed on each side of the track, well adapted for farming purposes, and at that distance a rather extensive open area is met with, giving birth to the grass-tree in quantities, so thick that they resemble a plantation of beet-root in the regularity of their growth. The soil is of a light sandy formation. The grass-tree interspersed with small heather, bearing flowers of beautiful colour and form, greatly relieving the monotony that would otherwise exist. The soil is considered of an unproductive character by some persons, and by others to be highly adapted for the cultivation and growth of all kinds of cereals and esculents, that contain in themselves a superabundance of saccharine matter. It is a well-known fact that the grass-tree indigenous to our soil possesses a great amount of saccharine substance, and it is therefore very natural to suppose that it derives its virtue from the soil, consequently it may be presumed that the soil which gives birth to the grass-tree and furnishes the saccharine matter it contains, is also adapted to furnish that substance to other plants, such as the sugar-beet, sorghum saccharatum, or barley. In reference to the latter cereal, the light soils in the north-east portion of the county of Norfolk in the old country produce the very best of barley adapted for
Many open areas of grass-tree are passed on the journey, here and there intercepted by narrow belts of undulating timbered country,. stringy-bark predominating. On the summit of one of these grass-tree planes, and at an elevation, I should suppose, of about 500 feet above the sea level, a most beautiful view of coast and mountain scenery presents itself. The Latrobe Range of the Moonlight head country stands out in bold relief, while looking a little to the north of the range the barren peaks of the treeless hills, with their covering of the water-worn quartz pebbles, gives in perspective the appearance of some old deserted city lying in ruins.
About six miles from Glenample the timbered country is met with. It is not approached in the ordinary manner of ascending a range, but the reverse; you descend—
When I first entered one of these deep ravines a peculiar kind of awe-stricken feeling seemed to take full possession of my mind. Looking up at one of those giant trees, with a barrel of at least 100 feet before it gave out a branch, and to its very top, a distance of 300 feet, I would ask myself the question whether it would not fall before I reached the bottom. Such is the steepness of these singularly formed chasms, that were a tree felled so that it would fall on the opposite range, a distance of some 400 or 500 feet would be saved by walking across its barrel. The density of the
Some of the surface soils on the table or higher lands from the gullies consist of a light pink loam substance, and when a fire has been made on its surface for a few consecutive days, the soil partially melts and forms into clinkers, resembling discoloured thin glass in a molten state. The gully from whence I obtained the sample of gold is about twelve miles from Glenample station, and runs nearly north and south. The depth of sinking was eleven feet, the first two through rich surface loam, about five feet of a yellow and red mottled clay, and about four feet of quartz pebble drift, intermixed with burnt cement and quartz boulders resting on a kind of pipeclay bottom The gold appears to be thinly distributed amongst the drift, or what is termed wash-dirt, not resting on the clay. The width of the auriferous strata is about a chain, the colour of gold obtainable on each extremity. In the centre of the auriferous strata the gold seems to be more plentiful. A small gutter of about three feet in width, and where some fair sized quartz boulders rested on the sin-face, is the spot where I obtained forty small pieces of the precious metal out of the washing of about a shovelful of dirt. I should certainly have followed this gutter up had I been prepared to do so, for I do firmly believe that paying gold exists in the range from whence the gold obtained seems to have proceeded.
In reference to this gold producing locality, I believe that if sufficient capital was invested in the construction of a dam, say a quarter of a mile up the creek, and sluicing carried out on an extensive scale, so that many hundreds of loads of drift could be washed in a day, it would handsomely pay, the drift requiring no puddling. I am perfectly well aware that Mr. Selwyn has pronounced against this locality as a paying gold-field. The science of geology is both useful and noble, but where the opinions of geologists have turned out wrong those of the practical miner have been right, to illustrate which, I will mention results of practice against theory:—Mr. Parker, manager of the Perseverance Company at Moyston, asserts the deeper the quartz reef is found the better the stone, and he is of opinion that the present claim will go down to the depth of 2,000 feet with paying results. Mr. Hutton, of the Southern Cross Company at Moyston, asserts that the lead at the present depth of the claim—thirty-three feet—is four times the amount that it was at the water level. I have mentioned the names of these gentlemen in order to show that the theory of geologists is not at all times right; and in reference to a paying gold-field being found in the Cape Otway Ranges, I hope and trust their theory will also prove incorrect. According to the geological report on the formation of the Otway district, the whole area is occupied by rocks of secondary formation. Now at the spot where I obtained the sample of gold, the quartz boulders rest on a kind of pipeclay, covered over with three or four feet of strata, consisting of quartz-pebble drift. Geologists assert that the quartz boulders were at one time a portion of the Silurian rock or quartz reef, and that such silurian rock is the matrix of the gold. I should like to know where, and at what distance that reef exists. It is contrary to all reason to suppose the quartz boulders found in the Otway ranges did at any time belong to a portion of the silurian rocks of the established gold-fields of the colony. It strikes me very forcibly that the reefs, of which they at
Mr. Delbridge, who is manager for the New St. George's Company, Pleasant Creek, after stating the lasting resources of auriferous reefs in that district says:—"I believe the theory of geologists has been entirely wrong in reference to auriferous gold deposits, the deeper the quartz reef is found in most cases the better is the stone."
Mr. Williams, an interested shareholder of Pleasant Creek, asserts as follows:—I do not believe in the theory of geologists in reference to not obtaining paying stone below a certain level, the deeper the auriferous stone is found in most cases the more prolific is its resources." Mr. Taylor, manager of the North Star Company, Moyston, is of the same opinion.
Admitting that rocks of mezoic origin occupy the Cape Otway country, may there not be fissures in places where the silurian rock might be found to exist? Might not the rock of secondary formation stand out in bold relief on each side of the gully or ravine, and might not the intervening space be occupied by the silurian rock? If there are no silurian rocks in the vicinity where the small sample of gold has been obtained, then that gold must have been produced through the agency of the carboniferous sandstone, which is at direct defiance with the principles of geology.
I know very well that the head of the Geological department will be much offended at my remarks made in reference to the possibility of paying gold being found in the Otway Ranges; but all I can tell the gentleman if he is so, he must endeavour to get pleased again. I remember well when the geological survey party, which consisted of a field officer, an overseer, two workmen, and a cook, together with three packhorses, were sent out to thoroughly survey the Cape Otway country. Mr. Wilkinson, a young man possessing abilities which no doubt highly qualify him for such
There is no doubt that mines of wealth lie buried in this isolated spot, which in due course of time will be developed. Gold has been found; a malachite specimen has been sent from this part to Melbourne; precious stones, also; kerosene shale of an ordinary kind has been met with; small seams of coal have been seen; sulphuric acid oozing from the crevices of the calcareous rocks; water strongly impregnated with alum; areas of surface soil which no doubt by its melting properties, is adapted for glass-making purposes; and last, not least, exists an almost unlimited supply of beautiful timber, studding the banks of the tortuous Gellibrand for scores of miles, growing luxuriously in its wildness, the wood of which, when converted into furniture would grace the drawing-room of Her Majesty at Buckingham Palace. There appear to be two distinct varieties of the pencil-wood tree (for such it is named by the bushmen). It undoubtedly belongs to the order of lightwood, only much superior. The lightwood tree timber, when dry is heavy, while that of the pencil-wood is comparatively light. The pencil-wood tree is timber to the very smallest branch, and every particle of the tree is available to be converted into articles of use. The kind growing near to the river bed resembles in appearance the elm of the old country, giving out limbs at a few feet distant from the surface as large as the trunk itself, with very many of them. The average dimensions of this kind would be from two feet six inches to four feet in diameter, and taking into consideration the number of limbs in most cases as thick as the barrel itself, the value of timber in one of these trees could not be anything short of £200, that is, when landed in the Geelong or Melbourne markets. The other kind of pencil-wood grows on the flats
Another kind of small wood, called by the natives wooloojong, and by the bushmen stinking box, is very useful for tool-handle purposes. Mr. Wilkinson, the gentleman before referred to, having had the misfortune in his early set-out to break the handle of the American axe, it was replaced by a handle made from the wooloojong, which was necessarily in use for the whole time the party was in the Ranges, and when leaving for Melbourne, I was shown the article, which appeared to be perfectly sound, and had evidently done more service than the picks and shovels had.
I could dwell on the vast and varied resources and what artificial means might be employed to convert each into its intended use, and could tell you that every main gully possesses streams of beautifully pure and limpid water, in most cases stocked with small specimens of the finny tribe of the trout variety. The water resources afford ample power for the working of mills in almost any number. It would occupy your time too long. I will, therefore, for the present, conclude my brief description of this uninhabited portion of our country by stating, in reference to the resources of the River Gellibrand, the following:—
I must now reluctantly leave this isolated spot and endeavour to describe briefly the agricultural areas that a line of railroad to the Far West would either directly pass through or near to. Colac possesses an extensive agricultural area, but being situated at such great distance from a port for the shipment of produce, farming pursuits are not followed up with the spirit that they would be if railway construction afforded easier access to Geelong on the one hand and to Warrnambool on the other. Leaving Colac, and proceeding in the direction of Camperdown, good agricultural areas are met with, with the exception of that part of the road known as the Stony Rises. In Camperdown, and everywhere in its vicinity, land of first-class quality is met with, and tens of thousands of acres will, no doubt, be cultivated when a speedy mode of transit is established. All the way to Terang, and from that place to Mortlake, agricultural areas exist able to furnish employment for thousands of men. The road to Warrnambool is one vast agricultural area, although now principally occupied by timber indigenous to the soil. Warrnambool and its vicinity speaks for itself, as to the fertility of its surrounding soil, and the happy and beneficial results attending its settlement —the value of its exports for the past year being over £170,000, accruing chiefly from the produce of agriculture in its vicinity. At Woodford and Tower Hill—where as good and productive 'a soil as any, in the world exists—thousands of extra acres would be cultivated were there a speedy mode of transit established. Belfast and its surrounding country is highly productive, inasmuch that the value of her exports were last year over £170,000, and being only eighteen miles distant from the port of Warrnambool, speaks for itself what immense wealth is contained in the surface of the soil by which it is surrounded. At Yambuk is another agricultural area, twelve miles from Belfast, where there are many thousands of acres of first-class land. A few miles from Yambuk, in the direction of Portland, the soil becomes poor, but when arriving within
To give some idea of the productive character of the soil in the Western District, I will briefly mention the capabilities of one farm, the property of Mr. A. C. Kell, situated in the parish of Koroit, containing an area of 200 acres. A sixty-five acre paddock, cultivated with wheat, yielded 60 bushels to the acre, or nearly 4,000 bushels in the gross; an eight-acre paddock on the same estate, planted with the potato, yielded 100 tons, exclusive of small ones; another paddock, planted with mangold wurtzel, yielded the extraordinary crop of forty tons to the acre—these crops are exclusive of peas, beans, &c., which are annually grown on the farm. Of course, these extraordinary yields are not produced by the mere slovenly way of sowing and reaping without paying due attention to the adaptabilities of the soil for the growth of the various crops, or without proper manuring. Mr. Kell keeps on his farm 100 sheep of the Cotswold breed, the lambs bred from them the first year were 120 in number, which were sold when six months old for the sum of ten
Distant from Warrnambool to the east, 36 miles—from Curdies Inlet to the east, 6 miles—from the river Gellibrand to the west, 11 miles—from Terang to the north a little west as the crow flies, 35 miles—and from Camperdown about the same distance.
The Port consists of a small narrow indentation of the sea, between two calcareous cliffs of about 150 to 200 yards apart, with a bold bluff headland on its western side. From both western and eastern headlands, a broken reef runs to the south, seaward, a distance of from ¾ of a mile to a mile. Across the entrance or passage is a sunken reef with not more in some places than from 10 to 12 feet of water at low tide; the sea continually breaks over the entrance when the wind blows fresh from the south east, south or south west, but the water is perfectly smooth when the wind blows from off the land. The space inside is very small and in its present position cannot be considered a safe place for a vessel to put in.
From the beach, and at a distance of not more than 150 yards, is a creek containing a depth of from 12 to 20 feet of water, sufficient to always float a large number of ordinary coasting vessels, while the natural facilities and position of the back ground are such that no impediment is presented for making Port Campbell as splendid and safe a little harbour as possibly could be desired, and at comparatively little cost.
Stone for building purposes and lime-stone abound—good spring water, and some of the finest soil that can be met with in any other part of our colony in its vicinity. I am informed by undoubted authority and by men possessing a practical knowledge of the fertilising capabilities of soil, that within a distance of seven miles of the Port there is sufficient space for the establishment of fifty 200 acre farms on as good a land as our colony can boast of, which will be occupied as soon as ever the law of the land allows them to take possession. The country in the interior from the Port presents an almost impenetrable aspect, from the dense growth of the scrub and underwood, yet when penetrated sufficiently far, a fine timbered country with gums growing perfectly straight from 50 to an 100 feet in height, without a branch, and being from 2 to 3 feet in
Timber suitable for building and fencing purposes is to be met with in abundance, and the only drawback to the success of intending settlers is the want of a safe harbour for the outlet of their produce, which if accomplished would not only benefit those who may live in its immediate vicinity, but would eventually cause to be utilised the vast timber resources which now abound in the vicinity of the river Gellibrand, and would also cause permanent occupation of all lands worth cultivating situated between the towns of Terang and Camperdown and the southern sea-board.
Space will not admit of my entering into detail of a further description of this part of the country, but brief as my statement is, it is nothing but the truth.
There is nothing more evident to the observer of current events than the reaction which has set in amongst English communities against the policy of free-trade and in favor of the policy of protection. Outside of England and her dependencies the sophisms of the free-trade theorist never had much countenance or support, for the reason that, whatever value they might have, it was a value due to the position and condition of England herself, and could alone be reaped by her, and only so long as and to the extent which those conditions continued. That England is rapidly awakening, and her colonies more rapidly still, to the fact that the theory is a fallacy and its longer practice folly, resulting in commercial disaster and social ruin, every passing event goes to prove. The frightful condition into which the agricultural, manufacturing and mining industries in the United Kingdom have fallen, with the consequent widespread distress which affects the community generally, together with the many royal commissions which have been appointed to inquire into the causes, and suggest cures for these evils, bear testimony to the absolute and complete failure of the free-trade policy to justify the faith of its advocates, or to accomplish the predictions of its prophets. The discredit into which this doctrine has fallen is still more marked in our self governing colonies. Canada, some years since, finally shook herself free from the incubus which it imposed. New Zealand, after some years of dallying and temporising with the question, is now about to free itself from the burden which its want of decision has hitherto laid upon it; and the recent elections in South Australia and New South Wales give unmistakable evidence of the rapid growth of the protectionist party. The colony in which this heresy dies hardest, and where the commission agent makes the strongest efforts to maintain his position and profits, is New South Wales. Owing to the political apathy which for years has characterised that community, and the complete ignorance of the people of the facts underlying the controversy, the agent of the foreigner has succeeded up till now in persuading the electors that it is better to employ people on the other side of the world than it is to employ their next door neighbors and themselves. The incidents of the late election, however, leave no room for doubt about the ultimate result of the contest. A cause which has to depend upon the ignorance of its opponents and the misrepresentations of its friends is doomed, and its defeat is only a matter of time.
During the recent elections, the free-trade party in Sydney issued a varied assortment of leaflets intended for the mystification of the electors, and in the absence of effectual contradiction from the other side, doubtless to a certain extent they answered their purpose. These squibs, for the most part, were of the dullest and dreariest character, being nothing more than a repetition of the old platitudes of the Cobden Club, which have been refuted over and over again in the experience of every protectionist country, and which have long failed to be noticed on this side of the Murray. Interspersed, however, amongst these forcible feeble
In order that the full significance of the figures and facts which will be submitted may be fully realised and appreciated, it may be as well to set out the relative position of the two communities 20 years since, when this country first started upon its present course. New South Wales had, and has, a territory four times as large as ours, and has consequently natural resources for pastoral and agricultural enterprise four times as great as our own. Irrespective, therefore, of any fiscal policy, presumably it must eventually surpass us in the quantity and value of its pastoral and agricultural products. Our neighbor also enjoyed the advantages of a settled population, the growth of 80 years of colonisation, while we had the nomadic and unemployed population consequent upon the working out of oar alluvial gold diggings, from which population the land was shut out by our then existing laud laws. On the other side of the Murray, too, they have had one enormous advantage over us which of if self should have ensured them the manufacturing and commercial supremacy, regardless of any and every fiscal system; and that is the possession of developed and payable coal fields. Then, situated as Sydney, the capital, is, on the shores of a bay, which necessitates water travelling, it was inevitable that the establishment of iron works, ship building yards and docks, engine and machine works should take place, if only in the first instance for the purpose of effecting repairs. It must not be forgotten, either, that the long distance which that colony was from England, reckoned by time, during the 80 years it had been established, bad been practically a great protection to all those industries associated with the supplying of the daily wants of the people in the way of dress and food, which perforce secure a footing in every community irrespective of a tariff, but which can be either aided or hindered in their development most materially by fiscal legislation. If only one half were true which free-traders say about the superior growth of manufactures under the benign influence of their favored nostrum, all such manufactures should have made it impossible for any outsider to compete with them in the Sydney market, or approach them as commercial or manufacturing rivals. It may also be remembered with advantage that the government of that colony had been during the 80 years, as it still is, in the hands of that section of the community which firmly believes that no people know what is good for themselves in the shape of legislation, and that Providence has confined that knowledge in every country to a favored few, who, always in a spirit of pure benevolence, undertake the task of government, and thereby secure the best possible for every country. Joined to these favoring conditions it must not be forgotten that New South Wales has had whatever
Keeping these circumstances in view our purpose is to make as concise and complete an analysis and comparison of the relative position of the two colonies as the material at command will allow. Commerce being looked upon as the strong point of our rival's position, and the extension of external trade being regarded by all free-traders as the chief indication of a nation's prosperity, that department will first engage our attention. It is necessary to point out in connection with the figures in this department two facts, which make it impossible to obtain a really reliable and accurate statement of the case. The one is that there is nothing to warrant us placing any confidence in the accuracy of the figures supplied by the Customs department in New South Wales. Every importer and trader gives in whatever figures he chooses as the value of his goods, and as he has no inducement to under value, as is the case in Victoria, it is to be presumed that in most cases goods are overvalued rather than under-valued. With us, in consequence of our high ad valorem duties, the presumption is all the other way. The other fact is that a large portion of our Victorian trade is not included in our imports and exports at all, but is classed under a separate heading of transhipments in a great many instances without even the values being given. Bearing these facts in mind, the following is the state of the case as regards external trade:—
From this table we find that New South Wales had the advantage of us to the extent of £3,087,724. Taking the figures as they stand, and before proceeding to analyse the items which go to make them up, what is there, under the circumstances, to boast of in such a result? We have adopted a policy which aims at restricting our imports in favor of our own productions. New South Wales has adopted the opposite policy, and at the end of 20 years of success in supplying our own wants we are £3,000,000 behind in the total volume of our foreign commerce. Before the establishment of our various manufacturing and agricultural industries our staple product, gold, was declining, and has continued to decline, notwithstanding which we have maintained and continued to improve our foreign trade. At that same time the staple product of New South Wales was wool; that product was increasing, and has continued to increase ever since, and yet, with such an advantage to depend upon, the excess that is boasted of is only £3,000,000. and that se far as exports go is entirely due to a product which has not the remotest connection with the fiscal policy of either country
The most important proofs which the records of trade can afford of the progress of any community is the extent and growth of an export trade in its own productions. All that a country does in the way of receiving and passing on the goods of other countries cannot add much to the wealth of a community, although it may build up a few fortunes by commissions to middlemen. The comparison upon the foregoing basis gives a result highly satisfactory to Victoria, and by no means complimentary to New South Wales:—
This comparison shows an excess in favor of New South Wales of only £892,789. One of the leaflets to which we have referred told the electors that "under free-trade men follow the most profitable occupations," and that "under free-trade labor and capital is employed in developing the resources of our country and yet, after a hundred years of such blessings, of such a policy, with four times the territory to operate upon, and all the other advantages already enumerated, the value of products for export only exceed those of protectionist Victoria by the sum of £892,789. The only resource which has really been at all developed in New South Wales is the pastoral, and, as everybody knows, it has been Victorian energy and
That the total value of New South Wales' exports is largely made up of and determined by the value of the year's clip of wool will be clear from the following statement for the past five years:—
This table shows that wool constitutes a long way more than one-half of the total export of its own products; that in each year of the five, except in
Further it will be found by a comparison of these figures with those given in the previous table for New South Wales that, leaving the item wool out of both accounts, our exported products exceed those of New South Wales by over £2,000,000 per annum, notwithstanding their coalfields and superior resources, developed scientifically under the policy of free-trade.
There is one other aspect of this foreign trade question which it is important to examine before we pass on to the remaining departments of national industry, and that is the view it presents from an intercolonial standpoint. Ten years ago, in
The next branch of industry which it is proposed to examine is the pastoral. Here again every advantage of the situation was, and is, with our competitor. This is the special industry in which capital is said to find profitable employment, rather than in the forced and feeble industries fostered by a protective tariff. On the other hand, we in this country, having given so much time, attention and capital to the establishment of manufactures, may be presumed to have neglected the more primitive calling of sheep and cattle breeding. A comparison of the figures connected with this industry will show, however, that Victoria is not so very far behind New South Wales even in this direction; and that, taking the difference in the area of the two countries into consideration, we are very much in advance. For the purpose of this comparison the stock in each country has been computed at its money value
From these figures it is easily seen that during these 10 years of special devotion to the development of this industry the value of its product has decreased in New South Wales by £3,591,865; while with us in Victoria, where we have been devoting, it is said, our labor and capital to unprofitable manufactures, this self-same pasteral industry has so prospered as to increase the value of its stock by £1,420,552. So that, whereas New South Wales was ahead of us in this investment to the extent of £13,457,120 in
The first thing which is evident from these figures is that our exports of these manufactured: articles are far larger than those of New South. Wales; whereas, according to all the assertions of the free-traders, the reverse should be the-case. The next piece of evidence which they supply, and it is very conclusive as to the value of our policy, is that our exports from those industries depending upon protection are increasing very largely. If we leave out preserved meats and tallow from the calculation we-find that our exports of the remaining items-have increased during the 10 years by £228,338, while those of New South Wales have decreased by £37,292. The value of our exports of these articles having been in
Having thus shown that, even in the two departments of enterprise where Victoria might reasonably have expected to be left hopelessly behind by its rival, its policy has enabled it to more than maintain its position as a whole, and, take a long lead in those sections where that policy could possibly make itself felt, on another occasion our examination of the remaining brunches of industry and investment will be undertaken.
The industry which ranks next to the pastoral in the stages of civilisation and industrial development is the agricultural. It occupies, too, a kind of half-way position between the primitive calling of a shepherd or cowherd, which are altogether independent of fiscal surroundings, and that of the skilled workman in the highly organised and well managed factory which has been brought into existence only by the aid of a protective tariff. It is fitting, therefore, that before entering upon the investigation and comparison of the manufacturing progress of the two communities we should subject their agricultural conditions to a similar scrutiny. Here, too, it must be observed, that all such conditions were and have been vastly in favor of New South Wales. A climate and soil suitable for the growth of anything from oats, which flourish in Scotland, to sugar cane, which finds its home in the tropics; together with all the other advantages already enumerated, to which may be added a market created for the produce in this country by the enormous influx of people to the gold diggings, all of whom had to be fed, and all of whom were far too busy searching for gold to have any time or thought to spare for the growing of grain, gave that country such a chance as nothing should have destroyed. Under these circumstances would it be anything to wonder at or boast of if New South Wales had maintained and increased its lead as an agricultural country; and would it have been any argument in favor of free-trade or against protection if, even with the assistance of the latter policy, we had failed to catch up to our rival in that direction? No reasonable person, knowing the facts of the case, could possibly maintain so absurd a position as an answer in the affirmative to these queries would impose. When it is shown, as it is proposed to do, that, so far from New South Wales having kept the premier position, the tables have been exactly reversed, and that New South Wales has for very many years been dependent upon Victoria for a large portion of its supply of agricultural produce, we shall have conclusively proved the advantages of our policy to the farmer as well as to the manufacturer.
The following schedule sets out the progress during the last 20 years which each country has made in this industry, showing the acreage under cultivation, the quantity of corn and root crops raised and the value of the produce exported:—
These figures tell their own tale and hardly need comment; but in view of the persistent misrepresentation of free-traders it may be as well to emphasise two or three of the facts which, by these figures, are established. The agricultural year ending on
Every one of these articles, with the exception of hay and chaff, is protected to the extent of from 20 to 25 per cent, or more; notwithstanding which, after supplying our own requirements, we have secured and are constantly increasing a foreign trade in them, as these figures clearly prove. We have not the data from which to ascertain what was the value of these products exported from New South Wales in the year
This fact needs no further comment, the figures which reveal it may safely be left to tell their own tale concerning the respective fiscal policies under which they have been worked out.
The next fact which we purpose placing beyond dispute is, that concurrently with the building up of this export trade in these products of our energy and skill, backed by our tariff, we are now practically supplying all we ourselves consume of these necessaries or luxuries of life, while the people of New South Wales are still dependent upon us and other sources to supplement their own imperfect efforts to provide for themselves. The following is a statement of our imports of the same list of articles of agricultural produce which the
These figures show at a glance the rapidity and extent to which we are ceasing to depend upon others for the supply of anything that our soil will produce. The largest items in this list which we now import are maize, hops and wine, and there are reasons or prejudices which will long operate to prevent us from being entirely self-dependent for these, more especially in the matter of wine. If the figures in this table be taken, however, in connection with those dealing with exports, we shall see even more clearly and conclusively the enormous strides we have made in this department during our 20 years of protection. In
In
Our population has increased during the 20 years to 991,869 on
Had the year
In order to ascertain and compare the relative position of New South Wales in this respect we shall have to make use of the figures for
Treating these figures in the same manner as we have done with our own the account stands thus:
Dealing in the same way with the figures for
We thus ascertain that, so far from New South Wales being in the position, as Victoria is, to supply all the home requirements, with nearly a million pounds' worth to export into the bargain, that country needs to import nearly three times as much in
There is no necessity to enlarge further upon the facts which the statistical records of the two countries place at our disposal in relation to this industry; enough has been said to convince any impartial and intelligent student of the subject that New South Wales, clogged and weighted with its unworkable free-trade theory, lags far behind in the race with its energetic, vigorous and protected competitor. Of course there are some in this community who will attempt to explain away these facts and figures; and who will labor hard to prove that it is a sign of progress that New South Wales has to buy bread, butter and vegetables from Victoria, and that it is very foolish of Victorians to suppose they are any better off because they have a surplus of such goods to sell. Superior persons of this class, who consider it a point of honor to swear by a theory for ever once they have adopted it, in spite of the facts which they see every day disproving their theory, it would be a thankless task to attempt to convince; but plain practical individuals, who are not bound in free-trade fetters, or who are not free-trade mad, may be confidently invited to the consideration of the question as it has been presented, with the conviction that the more they investigate the subject, analyse the figures, and compare the records, the more they will be convinced that this country adopted a wise course, and took one great step along the road of national progress, when it adopted a protective tariff.
The next department of industrial enterprise in order of development is the manufacturing, and it now remains for us to submit it to the same test as in previous articles the commercial, pastoral and agricultural interests have undergone. Most persons, at any rate on this side of the Murray, whether writers or speakers, admit that in this branch of industry Victoria has secured a very great advantage, and content themselves, while acknowledging a fact which they cannot deny, with sneering at our factories as "hothouse growths," "forced establishments," "State supported institutions," or anything else, according to their capacity for deceiving themselves with phrases. The exigencies of the late keen election contest in New South Wales would appear to have emboldened the scribblers for the Free-trade Association of that country to take a loftier flight; and, scorning facts, they have taken to fiction, and have even ventured upon prophecy. In one of the leaflets issued by this precious association, and to which reference has already been made, the ignorance of the people of that country is so far imposed upon, and we may add relied upon, that they are told "Free-trade New South Wales is overtaking protected Victoria in manufacturing industry every year." The readers of this romanti:
Coming now to the assertion which we have quoted above, namely, that New South Wales is overtaking Victoria in manufactures every year, it will only be necessary to compare the figures relating to these industries for the past decade to show how utterly without foundation is this statement. In this connection we are sorry to have again to complain of the very meagre information which the records of New South Wales afford respecting its manufactories, and the consequent difficulty there is in getting ad exact common basis of comparison. This will be manifest to our readers as we proceed; but taking such material as is at our disposal, the result will leave no doubt as to the relative position of the two countries.
The first point of comparison which would occur to 19 out of 20 persons engaged in studying the subject would be the number of factories possessed by each. Turning to the records for this information, we find in each a tabulated statement, headed " Manufactories, works," &c., and purporting to set out the numbers and descriptions of such establishments for 10 or 11 years. The number of such works, &c., given by New South Wales in its return, is 9727 for the year
The absurdity of including such a list of agricultural implements in a schedule purporting to be a return of manufactories is so evident, that to state the facts as they appear in this grossly fraudulent official document is sufficient. It may, perhaps, be reported that in the Victorian schedule 201 chaff cutting and corn crushing works are included. This is very true, but the compiler of our statistics is careful to point out in a footnote the distinction between such works, which employ 870 bands, and are worked by machinery of 1211 horse power and simple farm implements. Mr. Hayter says:—"They must not be confounded with chaff-cutting and corn-crushing machines in use on farms, which numbered 18,421 in
Our friends over the border would appear latterly to have themselves realised the ridiculous nature of the proceeding, but have lacked the courage to discard the schedule altogether, for during the last few years they have published a supplementary schedule, from which these items are excluded, but in which absurdities almost as great, but not so manifest, or so easily exposed, are included. This second list declares the number of factories in New South Wales to be 3463, and the number of hands employed to be 40,698, and there the information ends. It is clear to anyone who makes the study of these statistics his business or his pleasure, that the authorities in New South Wales are determined that nothing shall be done, so far as they are concerned, to furnish real reliable data upon which to base a comparison of our respective progress in this department of enterprise. When we turn to our own schedules a very different state of things is discovered. It is true the number of manufactories is only 2828, being 635 less than New South Wales claims; but then we have a large amount of information respecting our factories, which New South Wales studiously withholds, which information proves that what we call factories are such in reality, not, as in the case with our neighbor, mere shops employing two or three hands. To commence with, our statistician heads his schedule with the following announcement:—"The works and manufactories, &c., respecting which information is given in this table, are all of an extensive character, except in cases where industries of an uncommon or interesting nature might appear to call for notice. Every bootmaker's, tailor's, dresmaker's, carpenter's, cooper's, blacksmith's, baker's or confectioner's shop may, in a certain sense, be called a manufactory, but no attempt has been made to enumerate such places." Then we are told that the number of hands employed in
In order rightly to appreciate the immense progress this country has made in these industries since the adoption of the policy of protection, it is necessary to compare the figures of
This statement represents a condition of progress truly wonderful, and when New South Wales can produce such a record its Free-trade Association will be justified in telling the people that its policy is proving equal to if not superior to our own. Until similar results can be shown, assertions such as those made during the recent electoral contest are nothing less than deliberate falsehoods published for the purpose of bamboozling the electors to continue to support a policy by which the free-trade commission agent, yclept a merchant, makes a fortune, and foreign workmen obtain employment at the expense of those very electors and their families, who in their ignorance are thus imposed upon. The remarkable and gratifying increase which the above statement shows, not only in the number, but more particularly in the size and importance of our manufactories, is almost entirely due to our protective policy. This is easily seen by a glance at the character of the factories making up the 803 in existence before the adoption of that policy. They were just of the character which from the necessities of any civilised community must be established. They were chiefly connected with the supply of food and drink and the various branches of the building trade, and included in the total of 803 there were 80 breweries, 118 grain and flour mills, 63 cordial manufactories, 180 brick yards &c., 86 saw mills, 56 metal works, 14 boat building yards, 107 tanneries and other primitive works connected with the pastoral industry, and last, but not least, 63 corn-crushing and chaff-cutting machines, which in those early days used to be included by our statist in the schedule of manufactories, a practice long since discarded, but as we have pointed out still adhered to by our friend on the other side. These numbers added together give a total of 767, leaving exactly 36 to represent the small struggling attempts at finding employment for our population at the trades to which they had been used and educated. The difference between those 36 infant industries and those now included in the above statement turning out goods to the value of £24,000,000 represents what protection has done for the colony, and what our people owe to those who, through bitter opposition, malignant abuse and persistent misrepresentation, initiated and still support the system.
There is one other way of looking at this question or basing a comparison, and that is from the side of foreign trade. As this is the favorite aspect from which to view everything, according to our free-trade opponents, it will repay presentation in this instance. In order that full justice may be done to New South Wales, the industries selected for comparison are those which from necessity had been established in that country, and which could, if any could, have flourished and progressed without the aid of a protective tariff. If there were any truth in the assertion that our rival is overtaking us as a manufacturing country, there would be sure and unmistakable proof of the fact in the statistics of its foreign trade in its own products. As it is during the last 10 years that this advance is declared to have been made by New South Wales, our comparison is confined to that period. The following statements show what have been the exports of its own products in half a dozen lines by each country for the years
The only line in the above list which shows any increase in the decade is machinery, and that is so small as not to be worth mentioning. The only line which approaches to a respectable trade is boots and shoes, and that is stagnant and declining, for the reason that the trade in rough coarse boots which New South Wales can alone make under its tariff has been all secured, and cannot be increased. On the whole there is a considerable falling off during the period, and it shows conclusively that, so far from advancing, these industries are being gradually destroyed by the competition of Victoria and other countries. Turning now to our own exports in these articles of our own produce, a very different state of things is to be observed:—
Will anyone, comparing these figures with those given for New South Wales, venture to assert that our industries with this large and steadily increasing foreign trade in their products, are being outstripped by their rivals across the border with their beggarly and declining exports as above shown? It is possible that some fanatic may be found foolish enough to go even that length, but no one capable of forming an unbiassed opinion will believe the statement. It will hardly be credited that New South Wales claims to have 974 factories engaged in the above six industries, employing 12,183 hands; while we only claim to have 604, employing 18,687 hands, and machinery worked by 2616 horse power. The difference between the two classes of establishments could not well be more clearly defined than it is by this one illustration alone of their relative foreign trade. It may be said, however, that New South Wales-consumes the products of these industries itself, and therefore has none left to export, while Victoria, after sending so much of its own product abroad, has to depend upon foreign supplies for its own use. This would be a clear way out of the difficulty in which the above facts and figures place our free-trade authorities if it were true. Unfortunately, however, for them, the reverse of all this is the truth. Let us take the first item on the list to prove our assertion, and it will serve the same purpose for every manufacturing industry we have. As New South Wales only cultivates about one-third the area which Victoria does, we may safely calculate that one-third the quantity of agricultural implements will satisfy its requirements. Further, as New South Wales claims to have 75 agricultural implement factories, while Victoria claims only 55, a very natural inference would be that New South.
Deducting the total exports from the imports in the case of New South Wales, for the first and last years in the table, we find that the extent to which foreign supplies had to supplement the output of its own 75 factories was £14,917 in
From these figures we see that not only is our rival increasingly our best customer, but that the goods we make ourselves are preferred to those which are made elsewhere. This particular line has been thus followed out, not because of its own special importance, but because it serves as an illustration for all others. Taking, therefore, the six lines included in the schedule with which we set out, and subjecting them each to the same process of analysis, the following result is attained:—In
The foregoing statistical comparisons and illustrations disprove all the wild assertions which our free-trade critics in the plenitude of conscious infallibility dignify by the sounding name of "axioms," refute their so called scientific arguments, and show by practical resvlts the folly of being led by "doctrinaires" and being beguiled by "authorities," instead of depending upon the teachings of common sense and the invincible logic of figures and facts. In our next we propose to deal with the accumulations of the people in both countries, and so bring the earnings of the industrial class to test the benefits which a community may derive from fostering its native industries.
It not unfrequently happens that when our free-trade opponents are driven into a corner by the refutation of all their other arguments, they fly for comfort and consolation to the rate of wages, coupled with the cost of living, said to obtain in New South Wales on the one hand and in Victoria on the
Apart, however, from these temporary derangements of the labor market, from whatever causes arising, and apart also from any partial variations in the price of commodities, and the consequent cost of living, there can be no manner of doubt but that the people of Victoria are better off than those of New South Wales, and that the condition of what is called the working classes is far better in this country than it is in that. If it were true that the mechanic in New South Wales earned more money, and had to spend less than his con frère in Victoria, the result would be that the one would get richer in a much shorter time than the other. The infallible test, therefore, to apply to this issue is that which the savings of the people afford. It is much to be regretted that here, too, the statistics of New South Wales are very deficient and defective. There are only five forms of accumulation upon which a comparison can be made. These are ratable property, bank deposits, bank capital and reserves, and savings bank deposits. Of these five there are two which are of no use for the purpose as they stand, from the fact (hat a large proportion of the banks doing business in both countries and sending in their returns to both Governments are foreign institutions, and the capital and reserves they have are mostly foreign, and are included in their returns for both countries, and therefore have nothing to do with the accumulations of either. For this reason both these items are left out of the comparison. In the following statement, too, the capital value of the ratable property in Sydney has been reduced by one-half of the amount at which it appears in the records. In order to institute the comparison upon an equal basis it was necessary to do this or to multiply the capital value of Melbourne property by two, for the reason that while in both cities the capital value is based upon the annual value, it is not calculated by the same method. In Sydney the annual value is multiplied by 20, while in Melbourne it is multiplied by 10 only. It is not necessary in this connection to discuss or determine which of these calculations is the more correct, or whether a medium measure would not be better than either, it is enough to explain the ground upon which it was requisite to make the adjustment referred to. The account as between the two countries, therefore, stands thus:—
These figures show conclusively, not only which country has the larger amount of accumulated wealth invested in these three favorite channels, but also which country is adding to its store most rapidly—the increase for Victoria being £44,732,622 in the five years, as against £28,624,000 for New South Wales, an excess in favor of this country of £16,108,622, equal to £3,221,724 per annum. Thus, it is clearly demonstrated that we in this country are accumulating wealth in these three investments alone faster than our neighbors by the sum of £3,221,724, and that while they have, during the past five years, increased their wealth in these directions by £5,724,800 a year, we have increased ours at the rate of £8,946,524 a year. It may, perhaps, be said that our greater accumulations are due to our larger population; and that, while our gross amount gives us the greater figures,
It is almost beyond our imagination the jubilation and exultation there would have been in free-trade circles and free-trade journals if only the results which protectionist Victoria can show had been matched or surpassed in any other of the surrounding communities, more especially New South Wales. What a life the poor protectionists of Victoria would have led, and would now be leading, if only the facts and figures had been reversed: and that free-trade New South Wales could show the value of its manufactures to be £24,000,000 per annum, and the savings of its people as much superior to ours as the above illustrations show ours are actually superior to theirs.
It is unfortunate for New South Wales that while Victoria keeps a record of the savings of its people and the accumulations of their capital in many other directions, it has no further information to afford upon this important subject than that above given. The following schedule sets forth the various additional modes of investment favored by Victorians, with the amount of their accumulations in each, for the years
These figures show that while the increase in these accumulations was, in round numbers, £2,500,000 during the 10 years from employes of these same manufacturing industries. This table, therefore, affords additional and unquestionable proof that the department of
Taking the figures from the last two schedules and adding them together and introducing the year
From this final statement is ascertained the astonishing and highly satisfactory fact that in 15 years this country has added to its capital by savings in the above investments alone the magnificent sum of £94,923,309. What stronger or clearer proof is needed of the superiority of a policy which seeks to build up an internal trade in its own products and manufactures in preference to fostering a commission business in the products of foreigners? None surely, unless by those who "being convinced against their will remain of the same opinion still." It would be impossible to produce a more complete proof of the success of such a policy having such an object in view than the industrial enterprises of this country afford.
The facts, which have been placed beyond a doubt by the analysis of the statistics of the two countries which is now brought to a conclusion, may be summarised thus:—
Judged by these practical results, therefore, direct and indirect, Victoria and the policy of protection come triumphantly through the ordeal, and New South Wales adds another to the many illustrations of the national folly of being guided by "theorists," and the danger of leaving the shaping of a country's career to those sections of its community who, having no ideas of their own, are content to follow such monitors.
The President, Mr. G. G. Stead, in moving the adoption of the report and balance sheet, said:—I purpose availing myself of the retiring President's customary privilege of reviewing the trade and position of the Colony. The Committee's report having fully dealt with the work of the Chamber and with our local trade, I will not traverse the same ground again, but, so far as I conveniently can, will confine my remarks to the following subjects:—
No thoughtful observer of the state of commerce throughout the world during the years l. worth of British manufactures and products that have been exported from the United Kingdom to British possessions during the past thirty years? Who but the British trader has received the 296,000,000l. worth of Australian and New Zealand gold that has been laboriously dug out of the bowels of the earth during the same thirty years and sent to England to pay for British manufactures? Only a few years ago, namely in the quinquennial period ending l., out of which 60,000,000l. worth, representing 25.5 per cent, of the whole, went to her colonial and other possessions. But, while the annual average exports to all countries for the quinquennial period ending l., the annual average exports to her colonies and other possessions had risen to 81,000,000l., or 34.6 per cent, of the whole. The colonies and other British possessions have supplied, and are still supplying, the masses in the United Kingdom with cheap meat, bread, sugar, coffee, and other articles of food, as well as with cheap wool for clothing; and, had it not been for the enterprise mainly of colonists in raising these articles of necessity in such profusion as to bring them within the reach of all, the life of the working classes in Great Britain would ere now have become all but unbearable. Are not these facts sufficient to show that the colonies have been a mine of wealth to the British public? And yet large-hearted public writers appear to think that they are doing good work in warning the said British public to beware of us. Isolated as we he from the great centres of thought and action, we are no doubt prone to shut ourselves up in our own insular ideas and to ignore the necessity for getting outside of them, and reaching a standpoint from which "to see ourselves as others see us." Bearing this in mind, though foreign criticism may seem to us sometimes to present distorted views of our condition and surroundings, we ought not to shrink from the duty of ascertaining whether it has not in reality thrown a new and clearer light on existing facts. But what are the facts, more especially with regard to the position of our own colony? It is true that we have not advanced "by leaps and bounds "during the past five years; yet it has been a period of comparative unprogression rather than of actual retrogression, as will be manifest from certain figures which I shall adduce, and which
In following up the contention that we have not actually gone backwards, I purpose comparing our positions with that of some other countries, for, so long as our material and social well-being is intimately bound up with the progress and position of other nations upon whom, directly or indirectly, we have to rely as customers for our goods, so long will their prosperity or adversity be of vital importance to us.
Commencing with population, we obtain the following figures from the census returns of New Zealand:—
We here have an increase of 96,264 persons, or within a fraction of 20 per cent., in the five years, and when it is remembered that the times have not been such as to attract immigrants, the increase may be considered fairly encouraging. In Aubstralia and Tasmania the population increased from 2,252,490 in
Referring to the sheep returns, we find that a considerable increase is taking place in our flocks, as shown by these figures;—
This increase in our flocks is eminently satisfactory, and it bears a most favourable comparison with the progress made by our neighbours, as well as with that of every other country. In
Whilst on this subject, some reference to the production of wool may be permissible, and an examination of the figures giving the respective shipments of wool from Australia, the Argentine Republic, and New Zealand, and the comparative values of wool per sheep from the Argentine Republic and New Zealand, is still further reassuring, as showing the rapid increase in our production and the advantages we possess over our South American competitors. The following figures give the exports of wool from the countries named for the years specified, ending 31st December:—
The official figures of the number of sheep in New Zealand in
These figures show that there has been the marvellous increase in our production of wool of 26,770,568 lbs., or over 43 per cent., within the five years, and this increase is the more encouraging in that it is partly owing to the average clip having improved from 5.33 lbs. per sheep in d. for New Zealand, we may reasonably infer that our farmers must enjoy far greater natural advantages than their congeners in South America. If also we estimate the expenses of selling New Zealand wool in London at the extreme rate of 1½d per lb., and the clip at 6 lb.,
s. 9d. per sheep, whereas, deducting only 1d. per lb. for expenses on the River Plate wool, there is left 4½d. per lb. for 3.8 lbs., or only a fraction over 1s. 5d. per sheep.
In further considering the colony's progress, we cannot do better than examine the agricultural statistics, showing the land in cultivation and sown with grasses in
Thus, while the total extent of land under cultivation and broken up for crop in
A reference to the returns from our coal-mines also reveals a rapid and sure progress, year by year, in this important industry. Here are a few figures extracted from various official sources, which may prove interesting:—
This important industry is evidently expanding so rapidly that the day cannot be far distant when the West Coast coal will rank as one of our most valuable exports. The bituminous coal of Greymouth is now fully recognised as one of the finest in the world for gas-making, and that from her twin sister Westport is equally sought after for steam purposes. Perhaps it is not commonly known that one ton of Greymouth coal can be depended upon to yield 12,000 ft. of 16½-cand le-power gas, while the very best Newcastle coal will only yield 9,000 ft. to 9,500 ft. per ton, and the residuals from the Greymouth are the more valuable. These facts are gradually being recognised in Australia, and it is gratifying to know that the Ballarat Gas Company has contracted with the Brunner mine for all its present requirements, and that Hong Kong has recently ordered 8,000 tons of West Coast coal. Any one giving a little consideration to the study of mineralogy must come to the conclusion that New Zealand possesses an important and valuable asset in her coal-mines, and when the harbour works on the West Coast are sufficiently advanced to give security to ocean-going ships, we shall doubtless see a gigantic coal trade established to Australia and the East.
Another cheering feature in our statistical position is the rapid development in the exports of manufactures and minor products, as shown in the following table compiled from the official Gazette:—
Statement showing the comparative value of the exports to various countries, of the principal manufactures and a few of the minor products of New Zealand, for years
An increase of over 400 per cent, within five years in twenty articles of comparatively minor importance, though dealing with such proportionately large figures, is hard to parallel in the history of commerce.
Whilst on the subject of manufactures, I cannot refrain from enlarging to some extent upon the importance of our woollen industry. It may safely be predicted that the country which has the most varied industries is likely, all other things being equal, to be the most prosperous. It is, therefore, pleasing to observe the strides this country is making in manufacturing pursuits No doubt there is a great deal to be done in this direction before we can aspire to be classed as a manufacturing country, but the progress that has recently been made in woollen and other industries is most cheering. When a
l. Five of these mills use colonial coal, rope, twine, and belting, and all of them use home-made soap, thus finding employment indirectly for a further number of hands. Some of them are now turning out splendid fabrics, and the estimate in which these are held in countries beyond our own waters is shown by the steady growth of the exports of New Zealand tweeds, blankets, and other woollens. It is perhaps not too much to say that it was in making woollen goods England started upon her long career of manufacturing supremacy, and the following statistics give some idea of the strides she has made in this pursuit:—
These figures establish the great economy of labour effected by improved machinery, and the consequent reduction in the cost of the manufactured article to the consumer, even after allowing for increased remuneration to the factory hands.; It is said that the climate of New Zealand is more: suitable for dyeing wools than that of any other country in the world, and consequently a better colour can be given to the highest qualities of tweeds and fancy coatings. If this is correct, it opens up a vista of prosperity for our woollen j mills, the magnitude of which we cannot at pre-I sent pretend to estimate.
The progress of the merchant shipping of a country is often accepted as a test and measure of its commercial importance and development, as, ceteris paribus, that country is usually most presperous and progressive which has the largest dealings with the rest of the world. It must be evident that a command of the means of economical transportation of commodities from its own to other ports, will, oilier things being equal, give the country possessing such means a decided advantage in the race for wealth. The following summary, collated from Mr. Giffen's and Sir T. Fairer's reports, as well as from the trade and Customs returns of the shipping in New Zealand and other countries, is, therefore, of interest, as it shows that, with the solitary exception of Great Britain, New Zealand owns the largest steam: fleet per capita of any country in the world.
The rapid increase of the merchant shipping of New Zealand, in both steam and sailing vessels, is mainly due to the enterprise of the New Zealand Shipping and Union Steamship Companies, and they can fairly boast that, both in point of equipment and speed, their favourite passenger steamers will compare with those of the most celebrated lines. We are, however, in need of a cargo-carrying service that can be worked at a minimum of cost, to convey our bulky products, such as wheat and frozen meat, to the markets of the world. As giving some idea of the economy of the present time, it may be mentioned that towards the latter part of l. 10s. per ton. They were also offering at a relatively low cost a class of steel steamers fitted with triple expansion
As the volume of a country's correspondence may also be considered as a measure to some extent of its commercial activity, the following figures will serve further to illustrate the expansion of our commerce:—
To come now to consider our present position. There can be no doubt that our progress has been much retarded by the serious fall in the price-level of our wool and wheat in European markets, and we have not made that headway which our previous experience has accustomed us to look for as a matter of course. We find ourselves with a foreign debt, on l., the interest upon which has to be paid in gold, notwithstanding that its purchasing power as compared with our products has appreciated from 25 to 40 per cent, since the bulk of the money was borrowed. And it is here that a finger of warning should be held up, as until there is some certainty of a substantial advance in the foreign values of our leading products, and consequently an expansion in the value of our exports, it is absolutely necessary that our legislators should—to use the words of the Premier—"taper off" our future borrowings, or we may find that we have moulded a concrete debt difficult to liquidate. So long as our borrowings are strictly confined to really reproductive works, there is not much to fear, but we cannot disguise the fact that in the past—the irretrievable past—enormous sums of money have been squandered for which we get no return, and no thoughtful observer can regard the results otherwise than with great concern. We in New Zealand are not, however, alone in having incurred a heavy public burden, as is shown by the striking increase of the national debts of the world during the past thirty odd years. In per capita in New Zealand has, however, slightly decreased of late, as on l., or 50l. 4s. 9d. per head, while on l., thus reducing the ratio to 54l. 15s. 11d per head. At the same time there is little doubt that foremost in the future troubles of New Zealand will be the question of borrowing, .as there are masses in this country who, reckless of the after consequences, demand the expenditure of borrowed money, simply that labour may be paid for at a fictitious value, and would-be popular legislators are too apt to pander to this pressure, in order to curry favour with a certain class of voters. The present has, however, been aptly termed the "age of hope," and doubtless it is this feeling that animates and encourages us to believe that without the aid of "heroic remedies," but with ordinary prudence and self-denial, the recuperative powers of New Zealand are sufficiently great to enable us to put our finances on a solid footing, if we only make the effort to do so. The recent property-tax assessment returns strengthen this opinion, as, notwithstanding the many reverses we have suffered during the past four or five years, there is still a balance in our favour on the past three years' operations. The misfortune is that the balance is not nearly so much as it should be, considering the large sums of public and private money which have been spent in improving our "real estate" in the interval. The following figures, however, may perhaps encourage many of us to renew our efforts:—
The serious complaints that have been made of both trade and agricultural depression during the past five years are not reflected in the above figures as much as might have been expected. On the contrary, they show a total increase of not less than 6,650,000i. in the rateable value of our town and country properties during the past three years; and, when we remember that the valuations are practically assessed by the owners rather than by the assessors, we may reasonably infer that, as a whole, they have not been overstated.
Again, upon examination of the published banking returns, we find that there were in Australia and New Zealand on l., their total assets to
l., of which 13,941,060l. was represented by coin and bullion, and their liabilities to 92,506,003l., 86,577,371l. of which consisted of deposits. On l., so that they have increased by the enormous sum of 27,644,208l., or some 46.9 per cent, within five years. These figures show the strength of the chief financial institutions in Australia and New Zealand, and also that there must have been a considerable accretion to the wealth of the colonies as a whole during the five years under review. Of the six banks doing business in New Zealand, three are practically branches, with colonial headquarters in Australia, so that it is impossible to say with accuracy how much of the 22 millions of proprietary capital is allocated to or owned by New Zealand. The official returns for this colony show, however, that deposits in Banks of Issue have increased from 9,293,497l. on l. on l. It is true this increase is only a trifle over 14 per cent., but none the less it is an actual increase of nearly one and a-half millions, and should help to show that our present position is very far from being desperate. In Great Britain the deposits, including those in the Bank of England, were 512,000,000l. in l. on l.; in New Zealand, 18l.; in the United Kingdom, 15l. Passing to the Savings Bank returns in New Zealand we find that the deposits advanced from 903,765l. in l. on
In considering the position of New Zealand, we cannot well omit reference to its railways. On
This fact, however, may have led to our being reproached by certain English capitalists for having built railways in the hope that people would come here to use them, rather than for the purpose of supplying the wants of an existing population.
As further evidence of the soundness of New Zealand's position, the following figures indicate that the volume of our foreign trade, unlike that of other exporting countries, has steadily increased, iu spite of the heavy fall in prices.
The visible improvement in the general industrial situation of America, and the signs of a revival of trade in Great Britain, lead to the hope that we shall before long see an expansion both in the volume and value of our trade. If we have been able to hold our own so well in the struggle for material advancement, or even make a little headway during a time of commercial quietude, it is not unnatural to expect that we shall move onwards more rapidly when the turn of the tide sets in.
Whilst considering our position I cannot refrain from a passing reference to the value of our timber industry. It is often alleged that our forests are being so fast depleted, that in the immediate future the supply will be imperilled. But the experience of the world scarcely supports this view, as, according to estimates that have been made, the whole area annually felled is only nineteen millions of acres, and may be increased to forty millions before reaching the annual average increase in the growth of forest trees in exporting countries. Hence, as the area of forest trees in New Zealand in proportion to that which is annually felled is probably equal to the area in the majority of most timber-exporting countries, we are entitled to infer that, with no material increase on our present consumption, we need not be much alarmed about impairing our capital in trees.
In concluding the consideration of our present position, it is a consolation to feel that, whatever may be said about the condition of the commercial and agricultural industries, New Zealand has at least been able to maintain the great bulk of its industrial classes in a higher degree of comfort than any other country. There can be little doubt that the increased consideration which of late years has been given throughout the civilised world to the study of the social sciences, has had the effect of reducing the percentage of abject poverty in it. At the same time we must admit that so far we have been unable to remove entirely this blot upon modern civilisation. In New Zealand, as elsewhere, a certain amount of destitution, more or less severe, appears inevitable, but any impartial observer who has travelled must come to the conclusion that the percentage is very much less in this country than in any other, and that as a matter of fact gaunt hunger is
In considering our future prospects, we should not lose sight of the opinion of eminent economists that the price of meat and dairy products has risen nearly 50 per cent, within the past thirty-five years, and that as the supply is not keeping pace with the general increase of population and wealth, prices of these products, in comparison with those of most other commodities, must continue to rise. Now, as the meat and dairy products of New Zealand are far greater than she can consume, any such rise in price must be to her advantage, especially as prices of nearly all the articles she imports in exchange have a falling tendency. Again, our great staple—wool—after falling to a point lower than has been known in the present generation, has revived considerably, and, although it may not regain its old level, unless indeed there be a general "boom" in trade throughout the world, yet the latest advices all indicate that prices are at least approaching a rate that will leave our producers a profit.
Our coalfields, as may be gathered from my previous remarks, are on the eve of being developed in a manner that very few are aware of. There is reason to believe that the coal resources of New Zealand, as compared with its area, are infinitely superior to those of most other countries, except possibly England, and consequently we may take it for granted that in this respect we are at least as well equipped for the industrial contest as other countries, and as likely to be able to take a good place therein.
With the introduction of the most recent scientific appliances for crushing and smelting gold, there is every possibility of our increasing its present rate of production to a very considerable extent. With crude and faulty appliances our goldfields have already yielded some 42,327,907l. sterling up to
As an agricultural country we stand alone amongst the Australian colonies in the productiveness of our soil, as the following figures demonstrate:—
Consequently, with natural resources which, taken as a whole, are unequalled by those of any other country, it will indeed be our own fault if we do not succeed.
In looking to the future, however, it will be well for us to bear in mind that the want of scientific knowledge is one of our weakest points, as there can be no doubt that we are scarcely abreast of the times in this respect. It is scarcely necessary to point out how advisable it is for every one in this age of progress to acquire scientific knowledge, for on what nowadays does efficiency in the production, preparation, and distribution of commodities depend but on the best use of methods fitted to their respective characters, and an adequate acquaintance with their physical, chemical, or vital properties, as the case may be—that is, it depends on science. In this country, where minerals are so plentiful, a knowledge of mineralogy, for example, is of great advantage. And a large amount of capital has undoubtedly been sunk in hopelessly unprofitable gold and coal mining ventures through want of this knowledge, which, with it, might have been most profitably employed in these very pursuits. Even the farmer, in draining his land, manuring his crops, or feeding his stock to advantage, owes a debt to science. In short, just as fast as productive processes become more scientific, which competition inevitably tends to make them, so fast must scientific knowledge grow necessary to every one. The advantages of production on a large scale, as distinguished from a small one, are generally admitted. Mill shows that, "as a general rule,
The general principles that apply to manufacturing operations on a large scale apply also, though perhaps in a modified degree, to agricultural and pastoral pursuits. An illustration of the advantages of turning out farm products on a large scale is supplied by some of the cheese factories in England. One of these, for instance, in Cheshire, converts into cheese the milk from 500 cows, and the dairy is worked by only two men and two women, with an extra man to look after about 150 pigs, which are kept to consume the whey. Thus not only is labour saved, but a more uniform quality of cheese is secured. At present in New Zealand we lie under the disadvantage of having too limited a population to produce many articles that can be profitably manufactured only on a large scale. Hence we are compelled to confine our industrial undertakings mainly to such as can be successfully carried on with small establishments. As it is generally admitted that countries which have acquired any great degree of pre-eminence in the economy of manufactures have invariably substituted large for small factories, to enable them to reduce cost of production to a minimum, we must materially increase our population if we are ever to become a great manufacturing country. The difference between a great and a small production of any commodity, whether raw or manufactured, often represents the difference between profit and loss.
The undeniable relative depression of trade that is still unfortunately more or less experienced, makes us too apt to forget the lessons of the past, and, while exaggerating present evils, refuse to recognise that they are simply counterparts of what have happened before, and have ultimately proved self-corrective. When we see nothing but improvement behind us, why should we expect nothing but deterioration before us? Within the past thirty-five years the colony has made remarkable and continuous progress in all the essential elements of prosperity. The earnings of labour have increased absolutely and relatively, the cost of living has been generally reduced; education has been provided for the poorest; the incidence of taxation has been adjusted so as to press least heavily on the lowest incomes, and comforts and conveniences that were unknown in Europe only a century ago, except to the wealthiest, have now been brought within the reach of all. It is true that the struggle for success becomes keener and more severe, and in order to secure a fair share of the benefits which are to be obtained in the present age, men are required to be more competent, better skilled, and more alert than formerly. But, notwithstanding this increasing difficulty in maintaining a good place in the contest, there is certainly far less absolute destitution in the world now than in former days, and we may rest assured that, in spite of temporary deflections from the onward march of improvement, there is a steady and congruous increase in wealth and prosperity in which we must fully participate. If, basing our anticipations upon the past thirty-five years' experience, we were—paraphrasing what Macaulay wrote half a century ago—to prophesy that in another thirty-five years New Zealand will have a population of five millions better fed, clad, lodged, and educated than the average well-to-do classes of to-day, that scientific cultivation, rich as a flower garden, will cover a great portion of these is lands; that our debt, vast as it seems to us now, will appear to our children a trifling encumbrance; we might be deemed visionary. But when we consider what this young colony has already achieved, and bear in mind that it is inhabited by a tirelessly progressive people, who have the courage and endurance, the ambition and the determination, to succeed—for these are the qualities characteristic of emigrants—why should we not anticipate that progress at least equal to that of the past is destined to continue in the future?
Gentlemen,—My term of office now ends, and, although many of you, wearied with the length of my recent addresses, will doubtless give a sigh of relief, yet 1 would fain hope that our discussions, however incomplete they may have been, have not been quite without profit or entirely devoid of interest. I beg to move the adoption of the report and balance sheet.
The following letter and enclosures, which will be read with interest, have been laid on the table of the Chamber of Commerce for the information of members:—
"Sir,—I have the honour, by direction of the Colonial Treasurer, to enclose herewith statements giving statistical information asked for in your letters of 4th June and 21st July last, and at the same time to express regret that it was not found possible to send you the figures at an early date. There is an immense amount of labour involved in compiling both the Census and the Property Tax Returns, which cannot be done in a month or two, and even now, as you will observe, some of the figures given are only estimated. It is thought, however, you may rely upon them as being pretty nearly accurate. The gold export and general import and export returns are not included, as they are published quarterly in the Gazette, in which probably you have already seen them. It is hoped the information is not supplied too late for your purpose.
Note.—No. 3 is exclusive of Native Lands beyond five miles of any road suitable for horse traffic, and of all railways, telegraphs, and public works.
The total amount of personal property has not yet been ascertained.
(Exclusive of stock belonging to Natives.)
This, added to the estimated cost of opened lines, l., gives the following estimated value of lines opened to
Since l., the value of which may be taken at least at 1,500,000l.; this is included in the 2,250,000l. North Island, as above. The above estimates are for unsold Crown Lands, and do not include education reserves, endowments for high schools, universities, hospitals, harbours, municipalities, and other public purposes, the total value of which will be at least two or three millions more.
The President, Mr. A. Kate, said—
Gentlemen,—In rising to move the adoption of the annual report and balance-sheet, I realise that the events of the past year have fully borne out the hopeful and well-grounded anticipations which specially characterised the address of my predecessor in office, and which made at the time such a favourable impression on the public. Owing probably to the desire of demonstrating that our returning prosperity was an indisputable fact, greater attention and more publicity have, in the interim, been given to statistical returns, rendering it somewhat difficult to bring before you fresh figures and views that will be of use and interest; still the importance of the subject must be my excuse for possible tediousness while I seek to prove that the colony has made steady and decided progress, and emerged from that depression which has clogged the wheels of her trade for so long.
The wonderful increase that has taken place in the volume of our exports has been one of the most noticeable features of the year ending 30th June, and is worthy of more than passing notice. The following table will indicate clearly the steady progression in the values of the total exports from New Zealand over the corresponding quarters of
Equalling a net increase of 1,773,953l, on the year, and nearly 2,000,000l. over the records of any year previous to
If we further analyse these figures, we are at once struck with the extraordinary expansion of the trade in the following exports:—Wool, grain, flax, and frozen meat, which I propose to deal with seriatim.
Some apprehension has been felt that, owing to disastrous snowstorms in the spring of the last year, more severely experienced in the Mackenzie country, and increased attention which our farmers have given to cropping, the returns for the present year (i.e., ending June) would show less favourably than usual, but the contrary is the case, as the increase of 4,699,641 lbs. in weight, and of 302,402l. in value, abundantly testify, to which must be added the 4,079,563 lbs. consumed in New Zealand mills, an increase of 100 per cent, on previous returns.
The incentive to breed crossbred sheep to meet the demands of the frozen mutton trade has happily resulted in the growers finding their
Our pastures being eminently suited to the raising of crossbreds, New Zealand wool growers have a decided advantage over our Australian neighbours. This is shown conclusively in a comparison of shipments to London from Victoria with those from New Zealand, for three years taken at random, since the commencement of the frozen meat industry:—
The steady advance on the one hand, and equally steady decline on the other, is most marked, and buyers from America, Europe, and Australia, in their eagerness to overtake the increasing demand for this particular class of wool, have noted the change, and by their attendance at our local sales have materially helped to improve values.
The advantage is not likely to be a transient one, as, according to the Australasian, by a recent ruling of the United States Customs authorities as regards the classification of worsted goods, it has been decided that worsted goods will be hereafter classified as woollens, and pay duty on the higher scale, though worsted yarns will continue to come in at the old rate. The natural effect will be to stimulate the demand for very fine crossbred wools, which should be very satisfactory news to New Zealand growers.
It may not be out of place here to note that the requirements of the United States are likely to become enormous, and in view of the well-authenticated facts that the wool production there has about reached its maximum, that the consumption per head in the States is the largest in the world, their requirements for wool being more than is now being produced in the whole of Australasia in two years, it follows that that country's probable necessities are of the deepest moment in the consideration of our wool trade. So far the wool imported into the States for the enormous carpet trade has consisted chiefly of East Indian and Russian varieties, but inquiries have reached both Melbourne and New Zealand markets as to the possibilities of buyers being able to effect purchases of the rough, coarse crossbred wools carpet manufacturers require. Members will at once see what an important factor this is in the consideration of the increased cultivation of crossbred sheep; not only do they make the most profitable "freezers," but their wool is likely to find a ready outlet at remunerative prices.
The sanguine predictions enunciated a year since, as to the speedy and decided improvement in the values of our cereals, have been more than amply verified, due to a singular combination of circumstances. The disastrous weather experienced in England being followed by an equally unfortunate season in Australia, but from exactly opposite causes, provided us with profitable markets for some months. For a time it looked as though our colony must be the only granary from which Australia would naturally draw her supplies, and for a short period shipments were effected to Sydney at increasingly advancing prices, but it was our misfortune to exceed the level of rates at which Californian, as well as Indian, holders of wheat could I operate to advantage; notwithstanding this, the colony secured a steady and continuous benefit from the circumstances that caused the outside markets to advance, as the remarkable increase in the volume of wheat exports during each quarter as compared with the quarters of
Thus it will be seen possible markets have been steadily taken advantage of with very beneficial results. It is very interesting to note the proportion of wheat exported to the United Kingdom and Australia respectively compared with last year.
Showing a wonderful expansion in this trade, especially to Australia, as, while the ratio of increase to the United Kingdom has advanced nearly times, the increase to Australia exceeds 18½ times; or, if we take the value, we find about the same proportionate advance as in the quantity sent away to the United Kingdom, but to Australia the value exported is fully 25 times more than went forward in
It is generally admitted that the United States have about reached the maximum limit of the quantity of wheat they will annually have available for export to foreign countries; hence with the increasing population of Australia, the comparatively contracted areas in which wheat growing can be prosecuted to payable advantage, considered with the uncertainties and variableness of its climate, we may reasonably look for frequent periods when we shall have large outlets in that direction, at prices more payable than will pro-
The statistics just issued by Mr. Hayter, the Victorian Government Statist, verify a statement made in this Chamber six months since, that the total gross produce of the white crops of the whole of Australia for
In this connection it is interesting to note the mean average produce per acre of oats, barley, and potatoes in the Australasian colonies from
The fact is observed in the "Victorian Year Book" that "the average produce of wheat, oats, barley, and potatoes, is much the highest in New Zealand," and were we to add the mean for
The efforts of colonists sixteen years ago to I establish this industry having resulted in much serious loss and disappointment, the manufacture was abandoned by all but a few enthusiasts, and shipments fell off to slender proportions. As the public attention has been much directed to the improvement of this industry, a table of the exports since
A new impetus was given to this trade by the scarcity of Manila hemp in the European and American markets, and consequent advance in the prices. This was quickly followed by large orders received in New Zealand from the United States, for binder-twine purposes. These have
l., and there is every reason to believe that the demand will strengthen as the quality becomes better known and appreciated. Since the adoption of twine for binding up has become so general, considerable trade has been done in the colony in the manufacture of fibre into twine, resulting so favourably that it seems hardly reasonable to continue to import twine that can be as well made here.
This trade has continued to develope in a most satisfactory and pleasing way, and to fully respond to the most sanguine expectations of those who, at the initiation of the industry, had the courage of their opinions to take vigorous and ably-conceived measures to push the enterprise in face of considerable opposition and scepticism, as the following table of yearly exports eloquently proves:—
Considerable attention has naturally been directed in ascertaining to what extent this heavy drain on our flocks has affected their numerical strength. From the sheep returns for the whole colony, which are not available till fully a year after "the date to which they are compiled, we find the total number of sheep given on
The following are the latest sheep returns brought down to
It will be observed that there is a decrease in the flocks south of the Rangitata. This is mainly due to the heavy losses occasioned by the severe snowstorm of last spring. The pleasing side of these returns lies in the fact that North Canterbury flocks have not suffered by the weather, nor from the demand for " freezers," for we are proud of the position that North Canterbury crossbred mutton occupies to-day in the London market as being par excellence the choicest and most palatable of any frozen meat imported into the Old Country from any part of the world, and it is therefore a matter of congratulation that we have not as yet overstrained this important source of supply; and it is to be hoped that North Canterbury will long retain its premier position, which, can only be done by a strict and observant oversight on the part of those who have the selection of the sheep for the slaughter pens, so that none go forward but what are in the pink of condition. The exports of frozen meat for the colony for the first six months of the present year are 342,941 cwt., of the value of 342,398l., and satisfactory as the increase is, it would have been far greater but for the calamitous fire at the Belfast Freezing Works in December last, which, taking a low estimate, has probably diminished the number of carcases exported by fully 100,000. Taking into account the exceptional prices which have ruled in London, this possibly represents a loss of profit of 50,000l. to the district. Though the loss is so great, the accident has resulted in far more commodious and capacious stores, as well as extra engine power, being erected, with a possible annual working capacity of nearly 400,000 carcases. As a further outcome, largo works have been erected on the South line of railway at Islington, with a present working capacity of 200,000 carcases, but with accommodation for 600,000 carcases per annum, provided additional steam power be supplied; therefore the measures taken by the shipping companies to provide extra carrying capacity are well timed, so that the immediate future of this thriving industry has been thoughtfully and wisely provided for. The boom that occurred in the Home market in May-June, due to the sudden contraction of Continental supplies and the sharp advance in prices, and speedy clearance of all stocks held, indicate that the barrier of prejudice against meat frozen is gradually and surely being broken down. The long-wished-for time has come that sales are able to be made on a cost, freight, and insurance basis, whereby growers' and shippers' actual liability for loss, when once the meat is aboard and insured, ceases. Already large transactions have been completed on this basis. These facts tend to show the day is not far distant—nay, may we not say has arrived?—when this valuable commodity will be recognised as a very important factor in the meat supplies of the Old Country, as witness the reported sudden leap in prices, owing to the stoppage of supplies through the London docks strike. Time will not permit me to more than briefly refer to one or two more of the many other products which have all conduced to make up such a grand list of exports, bearing out what was well said in a leader in the Argus last year," that the immediate prosperity of New Zealand will not be from her rich coalbeds nor from her goldfields, but from
has contributed its quota to the increase, in the value of exports of butter to the extent of 56,178l., though cheese shows a slight decline, the season having opened well, but afterwards becoming disappointing. On 1st July there were 38 dairy factories in New Zealand, with a paid-up capital of 32,341l., and a capacity daily of 53,353 gallons. Of these factories 30 are situated in the South Island, and, being mostly fitted up with the best and latest appliances, will, I trust, continue to turn out that uniformity of colour and quality that must be strictly adhered to if we wish to retain our hold on the London and Australian markets.
(including old stocks) show an increase in export quality of 56,380 bushels, but prices have not been so favourable to growers as last year.
The ever increasing demand, extending over the past ten years, is well worth passing notice, as, while in l. The wealth of our rapidly decreasing forests is such as warrants the utmost watchfulness on the part of the Government, to take such measures as will prevent or mitigate needless devastation and destruction. A pleasing feature is the opening of a direct trade with England.
Turning to
the continuous development of our coal-mines has added materially to our exports, and lessened our imports for home consumption, as the following comparison figures indicate:—
The decrease in imports, and the large increase in exports are healthy signs, and with the encomiums lately passed on the quality of some of our West Coast coal, every encouragement and facility should be given to enlarge and increase the output.
The gold-mines yielded for the year ending 31st March last, 208,902 ozs., as against 191,961 ozs. for the previous year, being an increase of 16,948 ozs., and with the improved system of hydraulic sluicing, together with the encouraging prospects of working the vast extent of alluvial beaches and river-beds known to exist in the colony, ground hitherto considered Valueless will be worked, probably, to the decided advantage of future yearly returns.
This has been a year remarkable for the extraordinary increase in the exports over the imports, and though in the abstract some make it a matter of argument whether this necessarily implies substantial progress, yet I am of the opinion, expressed some months back in the Melbourne Argus, that "without accepting the dogma of the balance of trade in its old restricted sense, we yet think that, where countries which are heavily indebted to other countries export more than they import, they are in a fair way." If this is a truism, then the colony has prospered indeed.
As the subject of reciprocal Customs tariffs is likely to engage the serious deliberations of the Australasian colonies in the near future, it may interest you to note the respective totals of interchange of commodities between the United Kingdom, United States, and the colonies with New Zealand for the past year:—
It is perhaps just as well to draw attention to the fact that the imports from Victoria and New South Wales probably include large transhipments from India and China, and should be duly allowed for. Shipping companies will probably recognise this full well. The total imports into New Zealand of 5,941,900l., show a decrease of 303,615l., probably due to the reduction in expenditure on material for public works, the stoppage of the inflow of borrowed capital, the policy of importers restricting orders to within measurable limits of prospective sales, and to the increased production stimulated by a more protective tariff. Generally, there has been a marked absence of the forced and cutting trade usually the outcome of overburdened stocks, and a noticeable presence of a steady and profitable turnover on the business carried through. The high freights that have ruled on merchandise from London to New Zealand have added materially to the landed cost, and though the present rates are somewhat lower, yet they are much higher than obtain to Australia, and our shipping companies will do well to consider the advisability of a reduction before any of the regular trade is diverted to arrive through other channels than by direct vessels. The latest returns in bankruptcies show for the colony 155 less failures than were recorded a year since. As far as Canterbury is concerned, the number of insolvents has continued steadily to decrease. In this connection it is pleasing to observe that the Bankruptcy Bill now before the House embodies many of the clauses that have been persistently advocated by this Chamber, showing
l., as against 2,407,775l., or 26l. Is. per head—all figures that exceed any previous records, showing that to a number of colonists their earnings over their expenses have been decidedly to their advantage. It is worthy of remark that 62,831 persons, or nearly three-fourths of the whole of the depositors, had sums not exceeding 20l. to their credit, leading to the conclusion that the late term of depression the colony has experienced has been such as to affect the profits of the previously rich and well-to-do members of the community in a far larger proportion than it has affected the well-being and employment of the working classes, and though these have, without question, had more or less of hard times, yet the full force and the bitterest experience has been borne by capital, and not so much by labour. Though our population, at the end of
I have surely said enough, gentlemen, without further amplification, to satisfy the most captious critic that the year reviewed has been one of tangible progress and material realisation of the hopeful views so ardently put forth by this Chamber. As colonists, we feel like the individual who has emerged from difficulties that threatened for a somewhat prolonged unhappy period to engulf him, but who, all the time, was in a state of absolute solvency, without being confident enough to feel fully assured of it. We realise now that, with the finances of the colony clearly understood, and under the control of a master-hand; with natural resources and many reproductive works in excess of any possible national liabilities; with palpable evidences of renewed trust exhibited in the highest financial circles of the world; and with the financial burdens of personal responsibilities amongst our wool kings, our tillers of the soil, and our traders, considerably lightened by the receipt of better returns for their labours than they have ever as a whole in one year experienced before, we may well take a fresh and determined start, thus profiting by an experience only too dearly bought. Lot us avoid the blunders that have marred the colony's progress, and have taken so long to rectify, and have led to the fair name of this most beautiful and most productive of colonies being for so many years traduced by her detractors, and too lightly esteemed by many of those who, having received permanent and pecuniary benefit, have given too much credence to the cry of " wolf," and remained all too long absent from our shores. Granting the period reviewed has been exceptionally favourable to almost every interest, "what has happened may well happen again," and in any case our country has come out triumphantly though a very severe ordeal. So great is our growing importance, and so many are the links that bind us to the various centres of active business life, that we can ill afford to be cut off from all communication, as occurred but recently; and we should do all in our power to hasten the time when, by a duplicate cable to Australia, or, better still, by a direct lino to Honolulu, thence to Vancouver, we should relegate to a remote contingency the risk of a repetition of entire severance from the outer world, so painfully experienced a fortnight since.
I sometimes fear that the energy, foresight, and earnestness of purpose that must have been in our fore fathers and early settlers are woefully lacking in these latter days, otherwise the absence, or apparent absence, of deep interest in enterprising movements of a national or provincial character would not be so pronounced—e. g., the apathy shown by Canterbury in the coming New Zealand Exhibition, which of all the provinces has reaped the most benefit from the year it has been my good fortune to review. Yet how backward our people are, with a few noteworthy exceptions, in showing their thankfulness and joy by liberally contributing of their increased gains to make a splendid—no, a true and real—display of the wealth which is concentrated in so many forms around us, and which, properly represented, could not fail to be indeed splendid and striking to a degree, and might so advertise us that we should speedily have an influx of moneyed and practical immigrants, who, through their personal exertions, would fill our granaries and increase our manufactures tenfold. Having had twelve years' experience of Australia, and nearly six of New Zealand, I say without hesitation that this country will, in no distant future, owing to the conditions within its borders, come to the front with permanent prosperity. Would that words of mine could energise each member into freshness of interest and real conscious belief in facts which are so patent and indisputable, so that this highly-favoured province of ours may not have its progress retarded, but, on the contrary, be pushed ahead by intelligent and active co-operation, and our highest civic, political, commercial, agricultural, and industrial positions filled by the best men, with the greatest gifts, devoted to the advancement and development of this grand and magnificent province of Canterbury. It affords me much pleasure in moving the adoption of the report and balance-sheet.
London: Printed by William Clowes and Son's, Limited, Stamford Street and Charing Cross.
[The notes printed in small typo do not form part of the Order in Council.]
1. As far as practicable, the work of the Public School Inspectors shall be so arranged as to provide for two visits to every public school in every year, one visit for purposes of general inspection, and the other visit for the purpose of examination according to the standards hereinafter prescribed.
2. At every standard examination of a public school, all scholars in fair attendance shall be expected to pass one standard. No scholar shall be examined in a standard which he has already passed. A scholar who has failed to pass a standard at any annual examination may, at the discretion of the teacher, be presented at the next annual examination, either for the standard which he failed to pass, or for a higher standard; and at any annual examination a scholar may, at the teacher's discretion, be presented for a standard higher than the next to that which he last passed.( It is assumed that all the children that are to be presented in the same standard at next examination are being taught in the same class. As soon as it becomes apparent that a child is for any reason unable to keep pace with the class that is to be presented in the standard next above that which he has passed, he should be placed in the next lower class. At the examination the reason for his being so placed should be stated; as, that he has been ill, or irregular in his attendance, or that it has been found that he was not as well grounded in the work of the standard last passed as he appeared to be, or that his mental power is below the average. Such a child should be examined with the lower class to which it has been found necessary to remove him; his name, however, being carefully distinguished in the examination schedule from the names of those that are formally presented, and his success not being counted as a formal pass.
3. In all cases the scholars presented for any standard must be prepared to show proficiency in the work also of the lower standards.
4. As soon as possible after the examination of a school the head-teacher shall be furnished, in such manner as shall
In the note on Regulation 2 it is explained that the re-examination here forbidden is re-examination with a view to a formal pass. A form of "Standard Certificate" has been prepared, and the several Boards have been supplied with copies for issue to head-teachers. The "Public School Register of Admission, Progress, and Withdrawal," provides for the registering of every scholar's passes during his stay in any school, and of his status (as determined by standards) at the time of his admission to any other school to which he may be removed.
5. An annual return shall be made by each Public School Inspector, showing, with respect to each public school subject to his inspection, the number of children who have passed from a lower to a higher standard in the year.( Additional value may be given to this return by making it include a statement of the average ages at which the different standards respectively are passed in the schools of the district to which it relates, and of the number of failures, as well as the number of passes, for each standard. Such information will supply the data for a comparison of the educational state of different districts (except so far as the comparison is affected by the different methods of examination followed by different Inspectors), and afford the best means of exposing defects in the gradation of the standards.
6. The standards shall not be understood to prescribe to the teacher the precise order in which the different parts of any subject shall be taught, but as representing the minimum of attainments of which the Inspector will expect evidence at each stage of a scholar's progress.( Teachers should always remember that the standards represent "the minimum of attainments of which the Inspector will require evidence at each stage." Children ought not to be presented even for the First Standard until the teacher is satisfied that they can pass it with case. The process known as "cram" applied to one standard will render further "cram" necessary for the next and the next; and in this way the pupil will be continually harassed throughout his whole school-course, without acquiring any substantial knowledge, and will probably suffer both in health and in character, and lose all interest in learning of every kind. The candidate who is fit to pass ought to be able to regard the examination without dread, and to look forward to it as a pleasant opportunity of showing what he can really do. Every educated man knows, in a comparatively vague way, a great deal more than he could exhibit precise knowledge of at an examination; and the standards are not meant to be used as a rack, to extort from children a broken utterance of the last facts and ideas that have begun to take hold of their memory and intelligence. They are not sent to school to pass in the standards, but to be educated. If they are being educated, a certain portion of their knowledge at each stage of their progress will settle down and become definite and solid—just as their bones harden—and the standard examinations are designed to ascertain the degree in which this process is taking place.
The reading is to be Reading(intelligent. A monotonous utterance of words in the order in which they appear on the printed page is not reading. The sentence is the unit of thought, and of reading. The pupil must be able to recognise the thought expressed in a sentence, as he would if he heard the writer utter it, and to express the thought with his own voice as if he were reporting what lie had heard. Until he can do this he does not know what a book is, and has no sufficient conception of the use of the arts of writing and reading; and unless he be taught to do this, with intonation and emphasis suited to the thought, he will acquire a bad habit of stringing words together without regard to their meaning, and a false manner of which it may be impossible to break him. Most teachers err in allowing children to read books that are above their comprehension. If a child of eight years old can read with propriety a composition that he can understand, it may be said that he has learnt to read; and as his knowledge of things and terms is enlarged he will, under proper guidance, be able to apply to new and more difficult matter the power that he has already acquired.
Spelling.—Easy words of one syllable.
Writing.—The small letters and the ten figures, on slate, at dictation.
The arithmetic for Standard I. deals only with small quantities, such as can be presented to the children's view in concrete forms, and be brought within the range of their understanding. The addition by twos, threes, fours, and fives, up to 100, can be illustrated by the ball-frame. It should be so taught as to lead to a knowledge of our system of reckoning by tens. The multiplication table (not required beyond "five times" for this standard) may be illustrated in the same way. The children should be made to see that it represents the addition of equal numbers, and expresses the results in so many tens and so many units. Of course the multiplication table must be learnt; but it will be easier and more interesting if the pupil understands what it means. The understanding of the principle of reckoning by tens will render the learning of addition and multiplication an intelligent process.Arithmetic(Advice to Young Teachers.—If the ball frame has 144 balls, use only ten rows of ten balls each. To illustrate the addition of the numbers 3, 4, 2, 5, 3, 5, proceed in some such way as the following:—Write the numbers on the black-board. Show three balls and four balls on the top wire. Have them counted separately (three and four), and then put them together and have them counted (seven). Show two more on the same row, and let the children count again (nine). Now, taking up the next number (5), show that of the first row of ten one only is left, and make up the number by setting aside four from the next wire. Have the whole (14) counted, and explain that fourteen is ten and four, and that it is also four and ten. Show three more on the second wire, and have the seventeen counted and recognised as ten and seven, and also as seven and ten. Finish the exercise by showing that for the last number (5) you must use the three remaining on the second wire, together with two from the next below, and that when all are counted there are twenty-two, that is two tens and two units, or two units and two tens. In the same way, if you are teaching the "four-times" table, show four balls, and a second four; and when you come to three fours let the children see that you must go beyond the first row of ten and take two from the next, so that three fours amount to ten and two or two and ten, that is, to twelve; and so on. To illustrate notation beyond two places use loose beads for units, beads made into strings of ten each for tens, and mats of ten strings each for hundreds; or let the units be represented by small squares of paper or card-board, the tons by strips of ten small squares each, and the hundreds by large squares of ten strips (one hundred small squares) each. Then if 117, 117, and 117 are to be added together, the sum may be written on the black-board as an ordinary addition sum, and at the same time the three numbers may be represented on the table by three groups of beads, each group consisting of one "mat," one "string," and seven loose beads. Putting all the beads together, the teacher will first have the loose beads counted, and twenty of them exchanged for two strings. There will then be three mats, five strings, and one loose bead, and the sum worked out in the ordinary way will give the corresponding result, 351. The operation can then be varied by working, as a multiplication sum, 117 multiplied by 3. The pupils should be accustomed from a very early stage to deal with concrete problems, such as the following:—1. A boy has sixteen marbles given him; he buys twenty-four, and wins fifteen: how many has he altogether? 2. A man has three houses; he lets one for £106 a-year, another for £92, and the third for £65: how much does the yearly rent of the three houses come to? 3. There is a school with 196 "boys," 189 "girls," and 217 "infants:" how many are there in the school?Note.—The numeration must be applied to the addition and multiplication, and the multiplication known to be a compendious method of addition.]
For remarks on object-lessons, &c., see note following upon section 9.Object-lessons, Singing, Disciplinary Exercises, &c.(
The reading lessons of this standard will generally contain some words that the children do not use in their own conversation. On this account "definition" is here conjoined with reading. It is, of course, not intended that the children shall learn by rote the meanings of words as given in a dictionary, or logical definitions framed by the teacher. It is, however, expected that, as a result of careful instruction, they will be able to show, in their own way, that they know what the words mean.Reading and Definition(
Spelling.—Easy words of two syllables.
The copy-books presented for inspection ought, to contain evidence of the teacher's careful supervision of the writing done in the school. Such evidence will be afforded by corrections of errors, and by consequent improvement, as well as by the general conformity of the pupils' writing to the style of the head-lines. If the writing is not taught and superintended, the slope of the letters, the points at which up-strokes begin and end, the connections of the letters, and even the spelling of the words, will generally betray the teacher's neglect. The small round-hand of Vere Foster's copy-books is better adapted than a larger character to the size of a young child's hand. It will be found advantageous to make all the children in a class write the same copy at the same time. The blank space that will be left in the copy-book of an absentee will not be wasted, for it will serve as a memorial of his absence, and an inducement to regular attendance. Whatever style of writing may be preferred by the school authorities, that style should be carefully studied and analyzed, and exhibited in all its minute peculiarities, so that every pupil should know exactly what he has to do when he begins to form any letter; and the independent writing of the children (in exercise-books, for example,) should for a long time be in strict accordance with the copy-book model. When they can write well according to strict rules, they may be trusted to develop sufficient originality to make their handwriting individual and characteristic. One of the advantages of Vere Foster's system is the definiteness of the rules for the formation of letters, arising, out of the plan of making the writing of each word continuous from end to end. "Writing should be taught with as much system as any other branch of instruction. The main points, to be attended to are, that learners should have Transcription is introduced at this stage, while dictation is deferred to Standard III., because of the serious danger which attaches to the dictation exercise used prematurely. If a child writes incorrectly, his visual memory is affected by his error. When he is set to write out a passage from a book, he has a correct model before him, and he has it doubly impressed upon him—by reading and by writing. Moreover, transcription is an exercise which, because it affords no excuse for mistakes, allows the teacher to demand Writing(Vide "Instructions for Vere Foster's Writing Copy Books," printed on the back of No. 2 of the series. The following is an extract from the instructions:—good models set before them; that they should have abundant practice, with a will to learn; but, above all, it is necessary that teachers should exercise a watchful and zealous supervision during the lesson, pointing out and correcting mistakes, and writing a letter or word here and there; all will be of little avail without this supervision. Well-chosen printed head-lines should be used in all cases, except when the teacher is an excellent writer, arid has time to set the copies carefully. The black-board should be used freely by the teacher to describe the forms of the letters. The most useful style of penmanship is that which can be both easily read and rapidly written. The round style, in which the letter o for instance is a perfect circle, and all the other letters are in proportion to it, can be most easily read; the pointed or ladies' angular style can be most rapidly written. . . . The style of these books is a compromise between round and angular. One style is preserved throughout the entire series, because, if the styles differed in the different books, the pupil would be puzzled which form of letter to adopt as the right one. The distinguishing characteristics 01 this series are as follows:—(1.) Combination, in the greatest possible degree, of legibility with rapidity. The formation of all the letters, and notably of the letters a, d, g, q, are adapted to this end. (2.) The writing of each word is continuous from end to end. (3.) Exclusion of large-hand, on the Continental and American principles, and in accordance with the suggestions of a great number of successful teachers, because it is believed to be the most difficult of acquirement, and to be unnecessary for the purpose of teaching current-hand, which is the sole object here proposed. Considering how brief is the period during which most children can remain at school, it is sheer waste of time to set them to copy large-hand."precision, and has on that account a high educational value. And it has the further merit of making the child familiar with the use of punctuation marks and capital letters, before he is quite capable of receiving definite instruction with regard to them.
A pupil that has mastered the notation to three places, will find very little difficulty in understanding that thousands, tens of thousands, and hundreds of thousands, stand related to each other in a second group of three figures, exactly as units, tens, and hundreds stand related in the first group. He can then proceed intelligently with the addition of six columns of figures, which he ought not to be expected to do while his knowledge of notation is confined to what is prescribed for the First Standard. Subtraction has been placed after multiplication, because of the relation in which the latter process stands to addition. The method of long division in the process of dividing by numbers less than twelve is recommended, because it exhibits the whole process of which the method of short division suppresses a part, and because it prepares the way for learning to divide by higher numbers. "Problems" instead of set sums should be very frequently given for this and all the standards.Arithmetic(
As a first lesson in geography, a plan of the gallery or group of seats occupied by the class at the time may be drawn and explained, each child being required to identify his own seat as shown on the plan. This may be followed by lessons on plans of the school, the approaches, and the neighbourhood, and on a map of the district. The pupils should be taught to observe the daily course of the sun, and be made practically acquainted with the direction of the cardinal points, and with the bearings of conspicuous objects as seen from the school-house. They will then be prepared to understand the map of New Zealand, with which should be associated descriptions and pictures of mountain, lake, plain, sea, &c. The teacher should show on the map the stages of a journey by railway or coach, and the course of a coasting steamer calling at several ports; and he should endeavour to impress the idea of distance by referring to the time occupied in the voyage or journey, and in the several stages. The map of the World may be made interesting by short general descriptions of the peoples and animals of different regions, and by stories of travel, voyage, and shipwreck. The children will thus obtain incidentally a knowledge of the great outlines of continents and oceans, and will learn to look upon the map (in addition to which a globe should be used) as representing the earth's surface in the same way as a plan represents a school-room; they will also have some conception of the scale to which the map is drawn. Such teaching as is here indicated would render the use of any text-book of geography unnecessary for this standard.Geography(
Other Subjects.—As prescribed in Regulation 9.
Reading and Definition.—Easy reading book, to be read fluently and intelligently, with knowledge of the meanings of the words, and with due regard to the distinction of paragraphs, as well as of sentences.
Spelling.—From the same book; knowledge of words having the same or nearly the same sound, but differing in meaning; dictation of easy sentences from the reading book of a lower standard.
Writing.—Longer words and sentences, not larger than round-hand; transcription from the reading book of Standard III., with due regard to punctuation and quotation marks.
The reason for the preference given to the English system of numeration of numbers exceeding hundreds of millions is as follows: If Arithmetic(m stand for 1 million, then on this method m2 = 1 billion, m3 = 1 trillion, and so on, and the significant syllables (bi(l), tri(l), &c.) correspond to the successive powers (second power, third power, &c.) of m. In the French system, according to which a billion is a thousand million, and a trillion a thousand billion, the significant syllables do not indicate a symmetrical relation of numbers. Numeration of such high numbers is not of sufficient practical value to warrant the expenditure of much time in teaching it. Long multiplication of money is postponed to the Fourth Standard because of its cumbrousness.
The grammar for this standard is contained within a very narrow compass, and requires no text-book; but, thoroughly acquired, it, will be a solid foundation for future work. The starting-point for the teaching of grammar is the fact that, in a complete English sentence of two words, one word is a name or does duty for a name, and the other tells something about that which is named. The first step is to lead the pupil to observe the difference between the functions of these two words respectively. It is not necessary at the beginning to use the words "subject" and "predicate indeed, it is not necessary to name the two classes at all at first; but if they are to be named it would be better to call them "name" and "tale" than to employ the technical terms of logical analysis. But it is necessary for the teacher to have a very definite knowledge of the difference of function, and to guide the children to the discovery of it. When the sentence consists of more than two words it should be divided as before into subject and predicate, and then the special function of the noun as the most substantial part of the subject will come into view, and also the special function of the verb as the most essential part of the predicate. The simplest form of the completion of the predicate will show the noun in a new relation as standing for the object. After that the adjective will claim attention, as connected either with the subject or the predicate, and then the article in similar connection (unless it be thought better to postpone it until the pronouns are recognised). It only remains to complete the grammar of this standard by showing the use of the pronoun to perform the same function in a sentence as a noun or adjective. As soon as it is perceived that the peculiarity of the pronoun is that its appropriateness varies as the speaker and the speech vary, while the noun and the adjective are names and descriptive words always applicable to the things named and described, whoever may be the speaker, it is also perceived that the adjective pronoun has equal right to recognition with the substantive pronoun, and that the rejection of the adjective pronoun by some recent grammarians is a result of hasty analysis. Considering how very few of the scholars stay long enough at school to pass a standard higher than the fourth, they ought to receive some careful instruction in composition before they are presented to be examined in Standard III. The art of composition does not "come by nature." On the other hand, its acquisition may be promoted by indirect means as well as by direct teaching. Very much depends upon the power of intelligent reading—reading by sentences, as explained in the notes on Standard I. A further step will be gained by attending to the requirement for the reading of Standard III.,—reading " with due regard to the distinction of paragraphs, as well as of sentences." Just as in Standard I. the sentence is to be recognised as a unit, so in Standard III. the paragraph is to be studied in its unity, and in its relation to the unity of the composition of which it forms a part. The pupil must be led to the apprehension of a reading lesson as a whole, and helped to trace the course of thought in it, and to see how and why each group of closely related sentences is bound together in a paragraph, and separated from the groups that precede and follow. The instruction in grammar sketched in the preceding note should be interspersed with exercises in the formation of sentences, on the model of whatever sentences are discussed in the grammar lesson. When an object-lesson has been given, and while the outline of it remains on the black-board, the children should be taught how to form sentences from the words in which the outline is written. [An Otago teacher, who has been very successful in teaching composition, has a book in the press illustrative of this method.] The transcription prescribed for Standard III. will be helpful, if "due regard to punctuation and quotation marks" be paid, as the regulation requires. Oral history lessons, also, can be utilised in the same way as object-lessons. Finally, the pupils should be set to write their own account of any event that is exciting general or local interest, and of anything they have opportunity of observing or taking part in.Grammar(and Composition(
It is, perhaps, unnecessary to say that the geography required for this standard does not include all possible knowledge with regard to the places and objects specified. Questions as to population, commerce, and political relations, or as to the heights of mountains and length of rivers, go beyond the design of the regulation. Of the places and objects indicated the children are expected to know the names, and that one is a town, another a country, and so on; they should also know the position of each on the map. Every school should have a good map of the Road Board District, or other local division, in which it is situated.Geography(
The best text-book for English history for this standard would be a small collection of good pictures of historical scenes, well selected and arranged; each picture being accompanied by an abstract—like the analysis at the head of a chapter—giving the principal names and topics related to the scene. Every lesson should be oral, and the picture and abstract will furnish the pupil with matter for an exercise in composition that will servo to fix the lesson in his memory. [A well-known publishing firm in Great Britain has been asked to take into consideration the publication of such a text-book as is here described.] It will be observed that the history for Standard III. is planned to give a "bird's-eye view" of the subject, preparatory to further study.English History(
Other Subjects.—As prescribed in Regulation 9.
The notes on the reading of the preceding standards should be remembered here. It is of great importance to use an easy reading-book. Nothing can be more absurd than to put the "Sixth Royal Reader" into the hands of children who have only passed Standard III.; it is better adapted to the purposes of a youth's mutual improvement society. If a class has become too familiar with the fourth book of any modern series, then the fourth book of another series should be introduced. The great secret of success is to give the children something that they can be made to understand thoroughly, and to read with proper expression and natural emphasis. Poetry of a high order is beyond them; so is oratory; and so are sustained explanations of the facts of physical science. A teacher ought not to expect his pupils to pass in Standard IV. unless, from a book fairly within the compass of their intelligence, they can read with such distinctness and propriety that an Inspector who had never seen the book could readily follow the sense of the passage by simply listening to them. This degree of proficiency can never be attained under a teacher that allows each child to mumble and drawl so as not to be heard by the rest of the class; nor under one that allows the slow utterance of a string of words, helped out by the spelling of a word here and there, to go by the name of reading.Reading(and Definition.—An easy book of prose and verse.
Spelling and Dictation suited to this stage, as represented by the reading book in use; the dictation to exhibit a knowledge of the use of capitals and of punctuation, but (at inspection) to be confined to prose.
Writing.—Good copies in a hand not larger than round-hand, and transcription of poetry.
Fractions and proportion have been reserved for Standard V., in order that the many pupils that will leave as soon as they have passed Standard IV. may learn to make up accounts and to make out bills. Without some knowledge of fractions, however, the pupil will be poorly furnished for a business life, and, indeed, will not be able to comply with the requirements of this standard with respect to the rule called "practice." It will be found useful to divide a sheet of cartridge-paper, or the black-board, into halves, quarters, eighths, &c., by parallel and diagonal lines, in order to illustrate the simpler eases of fractions and aliquot parts. The method should extend to twelfths, sixteenths, twentieths, and twenty-fourths, so as to bear upon tables of money, weights, and measures. A teacher who knows that proportion is the soul of arithmetic, and that an equation of fractions is a form of a statement of proportion, will be able to anticipate much of the work of the two higher standards, and so secure more intelligent work in this lower one. Head-teachers might well devote a part of their own time to the Fourth Standard arithmetic class, if a subordinate cannot be trusted to do full justice to it in this direction. The pupils should have abundant exercise in "problems."Arithmetic(
The notes on grammar and composition for Standard III. apply also, in some respects, to the same subjects for Standard IV. Great attention should be paid to the proper forms of letter-writing and addresses. As to the formal grammar, children presented in this standard should be able to parse any easy sentence, assigning every word to its proper "part of speech," and giving the inflexions of the nouns, adjectives, and pronouns. They should also be able to give the plural and possessive forms of any noun or pronoun proposed by the Inspector, the remaining cases of the pronoun, the comparative and superlative of any adjective of the positive degree, and the feminine form corresponding to a word denoting masculine gender, and vice versa. Teachers will not err if they regard composition as of more practical value than formal grammar.Grammar and Composition(
As in Standard III., "knowledge of. . .countries,. . .capitals,. . .seas, rivers," &c., does not mean exhaustive knowledge, but appreciative knowledge of the Geography(map. "Geography of Australia in outline" means appreciative knowledge of the leading features exhibited on the map of Australia. All the mathematical geography that is required can be taught in a very few oral lessons with suitable illustration. [Professor Bickerton, of Christchurch, has lately designed a simple model, which can be made for a shilling or two, and is all that is needed for the illustration of this subject. A wire, carrying a ball to represent the earth, is fitted into a brass ring (as a diameter of the circle) so that the ball revolves freely and can be made to spin on its axis. The ring is suspended in a vertical plane by two parallel cords attached to hooks in the ceiling, and forms a conical pendulum that can be made to revolve round a lighted candle or lamp. The lamp or candle represents the sun, the motion of the pendulum in a circle or ellipse represents the earth's orbit, and the wire being placed at a suitable angle, the ball rotates upon it in such a way as to illustrate the phenomena of day and night; while, the direction of the axis remaining constant, the phenomena of the seasons are also represented. A half-turn given to the ring, so as to twist the parallel cords, shows what is the effect of the precession of the equinoxes in half of the cycle of twenty-five or twenty-six thousand years.]
Particular attention is directed to the notice in the regulation that in the examinations in history English History("precise dates will not be required." The words of the Order in Council are " the leading events of the period [1066 a.d. to 1485 a.d.] known in connection with the reigns and centuries to which they belong, and in their own character."a.d. to 1485 a.d., and the leading events of the period known in connection with the reigns and centuries to which they belong, and in their own character. [Precise dates will not be required, though a knowledge of them may assist in referring each event to the proper reign.]
Elementary Science, &c.—See Regulation 9.
The intention of the scheme for Standard V. will be for the most part abundantly clear to the teacher that has carefully read the notes on the four preceding standards.
Reading and Definition.—A book of general information, not necessarily excluding matter such as that prescribed for Standard IV.
Spelling and Dictation suited to this stage.
Writing.—Small-hand copies in a strict formal style, and text-hand; transcription of verse in complicated metres, and of prose exhibiting the niceties of punctuation.
By "the easier cases of vulgar fractions" is meant cases that do not involve very complex fractional expressions. A knowledge of leading principles applied to simple problems satisfies the requirements of the standard in this respect.Arithmetic(
Grammar and Composition.—Inflexions of the verb; the parsing (with inflexions) of all the words in any easy sentence; a short essay or letter on a familiar subject, or the rendering of the sense of a passage of easy verse into good prose; analysis of a simple sentence.
"Knowledge of places of Geography(political, historical, and commercial importance" does not mean full knowledge of the political, historical, and commercial importance of such places, but the knowledge that such places are important, and the ability to point them out on the map; and that the form of words quoted was adopted for the purpose of discouraging the useless labour of committing to memory mere lists of mountains, rivers, and obscure places, and to confine within narrow limits the possible demands of exacting teachers and examiners.
In history (as in Standard IV.) "English History(precise dales will not be required."a.d. to 1714 a.d. treated as the former period is treated in Standard IV.
Elementary Science, &c.—See Regulation 9.
Pupils that have passed Standard V. ought to be much less dependent upon oral instruction than those in the lower classes, and more able to derive benefit from the use of text-books. Brief explanations and general supervision of work will be demanded of the teacher, and it will be his duty to direct the scholars in making abstracts and tabular statements of the matter presented for their study in the books that they use. In small schools the Sixth Standard class (if there be one) will often have to be treated as almost independent students, working strictly according to the time-table, having their exercises corrected out of school-hours, and receiving occasional advice and direction, without monopolising a teacher's time. Their reading may be kept up and improved by taking them for this purpose in the same class with the Fifth Standard pupils, and using in the class alternately the reading books of the two Standards V. and VI. In a large school the routine work of Standard VI. may be done in great part under the eye of a junior teacher, while the head-master teaches a lower class, or superintends the instruction given by his subordinates.
Heading.—A book containing extracts from general literature.
Spelling and Dictation suited to this stage.
Writing.—The copying of tabulated matter, showing bold head-lines, and marking distinctions such as in letterpress require varieties of type (e.g., the copying of these printed standards, or of a catalogue showing division into groups).
Under the heading "arithmetic," "other commercial rules" means discount, commisxmission, insurance, stocks, partnership, and all rules of a similar character.Arithmetic(
Grammar and Composition.—Complete parsing (including syntax) of simple and compound sentences; prefixes and affixes, and a few of the more important Latin and Greek roots, illustrated by a part of the reading book: essay or letter; analysis of easy complex sentences.
"Knowledge of places" has the same restricted meaning here as in Standard V.Geography(
Attention is again directed to the fact that in history, for these standards, "precise dates are not required." The term" social economy" is wider than "political economy," and at the same time less pretentious. It is used here to indicate very elementary knowledge on such subjects as government, law, citizenship, labour, capital, barter, money, and banking.English history.—The succession of Houses and Sovereigns, and the leading events of each reign, from the earliest times to the present (precise dates not required); also the elements of social economy.(
Elementary Science, &c.—See Regulation 9.
8. In the application of any standard to the case of an individual scholar, marked deficiency in all or most of the subjects, or serious failure in any two subjects, shall be reckoned as failure for that standard; but serious failure in any one subject alone shall not be so reckoned, if it appear to be due to some individual peculiarity, and be not common to a large proportion of the class under examination( This regulation has been sometimes understood to amount to a recommendation to Inspectors to be generally lenient in judging of a child's fitness to pass. This is a misunderstanding. The latter half of the regulation (which has partly determined the form of the other half) is designed to enable Inspectors to avoid the infliction of injustice in peculiar cases. A child whose articulation is imperfect ought not to be kept back in his general studies because, his utterance not keeping pace with his intelligence, he cannot read as well as those that are in other respects not superior to him. It is the opinion of many that literary genius is often associated with a partial incapacity for receiving mathematical truth. Perhaps the opinion owes its origin to a grave defect in the early education of the persons from whose cases the induction has been made. But, in case the experience of an Inspector should ever be such as to sustain the opinion, the regulation allows him to permit a child exceptionally clever in other respects, but manifestly unable to grasp the relations of number, to advance from one class to another according to his general fitness, notwithstanding his special defect. With such exceptions no good can come of passing the pupils too easily; and the rule is, therefore, that serious failure in one subject or manifest weakness in most subjects involves failure for the standard. At the same time it would be palpably absurd to demand a degree of excellence, proportioned to the possible best, beyond what reasonable examiners look for when they are dealing with adult students. Allowance must always be made for the excitement attendant on examination, and no candidate is ever expected to do all his work perfectly.
9. Although the scholars will be allowed to pass the standards as defined in Regulation 7, the Inspector will inquire, and, if necessary, report as to the kind and amount of instruction in other subjects in the case of each class, as follows( Teachers are not at liberty to regard these subjects as purely optional. None are to be omitted except as the result of actual necessity, of which the Inspector must be the judge. In the next regulation (10), needlework is prescribed as compulsory for girls in every school in which there is a female teacher. No teacher can have any excuse for neglecting drill, or omitting to take all necessary pains to secure a knowledge of the subject-matter of the reading lessons. In some small schools singing and drawing cannot be taught, because there is no one able to teach them; but where any one of the teachers is competent these subjects ought not to be neglected. And in such schools even a competent master may be permitted to use his discretion as to whether he will in the end do more justice to his pupils by including a little knowledge of physical laws in his programme or omitting it. The drill, however simple, ought always to be very precise; otherwise it must be pernicious as professing to be what it is not. As performed in some schools, it must actually stand in the way of children that are trying to learn to distinguish the right hand or foot from the left.
The proper use of "object-lessons" appears to be often misunderstood, and the method followed in some books intended to assist teachers in preparing such lessons fosters misconception. The object-lesson is not to be regarded chiefly as an opportunity for imparting information, employing the object simply as a material text awakening interest by appealing to the senses. Nor is the lesson to be used simply for the purpose of teaching the scientific names of the qualities of objects. The true end of an object-lesson is to call into play the faculty of observation, and help the children to discover how much they know or can ascertain for themselves as to the form, qualities, uses, and relations of visible objects; and to accustom them to arrange such knowledge in some reasonable order, and to express it in appropriate language. As an addition to this, but only as an addition, it is useful to supply them with more precise and accurate terms than they are accustomed to use, and with useful information beyond their own knowledge. The method here indicated, with a necessary change in the proportion observed between the matter supplied by the pupils and that which the teacher must furnish, should be followed in those lessons by which in the standard course the object-lessons are continued under other names, as "Knowledge of Common Things" and "Elementary Science."Object(and Natural History Lessons.—A syllabus of the year's work done to be given to the Inspector, who will examine the class upon some object selected from the syllabus.
Knowledge of the Subject-matter of the Reading Lessons.
Repetition of Easy Verses.—Syllabus and test as for object-lessons.
Singing.—A sufficient number of easy and suitable songs in correct time and tune, and at a proper pitch.
Disciplinary Exercises or Drill.
Needlework.—See Regulation 10.
Drawing.—See Regulation 11.
Object-lessons, and Lesson is in Natural History and on Manufactures.—A syllabus, as in Standard I.
Knowledge of Subject-matter of Reading Lessons.
Repetition of Verses.—Syllabus showing progress.
Singing.—Songs as before; the places of the notes on the stave, or the symbol used for each note in the notation adopted; to sing the major diatonic scale and the successive notes of the common chord in all keys.
School Drill.
Needlework and Drawing.—See Regulations 10 and 11.
Knowledge of Common Things.—A syllabus as for object-lessons in the former standards.
The Subject-matter of the Heading Lessons.
Repetition of Verses.—Syllabus showing progress.
Singing.—Easy exercises on the common chord, and the interval of a second in common time and in 2/4 time, not involving the use of clotted notes; use of the signs p., f, cres., dim., rail., and their equivalents; songs as before, or in common with the upper part of the school.
Drill.
Needlework and Drawing.—See Regulations 10 and 11.
Elementary Science.—See Regulation 12.
Recitation.—A list of pieces learnt, and one piece (or more) specially prepared for the examination.
Singing.—Easy exercises on the chords of the dominant and sub-dominant, and in the intervals prescribed for Standard III.; exercises in triple time; use of dotted notes; melodies, rounds, and part songs in common with the higher standards. [Note.—It will suffice if this class take the air of the songs, while the other parts are sung by the more advanced classes, and it may be useful to let older scholars lead the parts in a round.]
Drill.
Needlework and Drawing.—See Regulations 10 and 11.
Elementary Science.—See Regulation 12.
Recitation.—Of a higher order than for Standard IV.
Singing.—More difficult exercises in time and tune; strict attention to expression marks.
Drill.
Needlework and Drawing.—See Regulations 10 and 11.
10. All the girls in every public school in which there is a female teacher shall learn needlework, and if the Inspector is satisfied that the instruction in this subject is thoroughly systematic and efficient, he may reduce the minimum number of marks for passing the standards by 10 per cent, in favour of the girls as compared with the boys. The classes for needlework shall be approximately the same as those for the standards, but such changes of children from one class to another in this subject may be made as shall be found necessary to insure the passing of every child through the different stages in the order here stated.
First.—Threading needles and hemming. (Illustration of work: Strips of calico or a plain pocket-handkerchief.)
Second.—The foregoing, and felling, and fixing a hem. (Illustration: A child's pinafore.)
Third.—The foregoing, and stitching, sewing on strings, and fixing all work up to this stage. (A pillow-case, or woman's plain shift, without bands or gathers.)
Fourth.—The foregoing, and button-holing, sewing on buttons, stroking, setting in gathers, plain darning, and fixing. (A plain day or night shirt.)
Fifth.—The foregoing, and whipping, a tuck run, sewing on frill, and gathering. (A night-dress with frills.)
Sixth.—Cutting out any plain garment and fixing it for a junior class; darning stockings (fine and coarse) in worsted or cotton; grafting; darning line linen or calico; patching the same; darning and patching fine diaper.
If Knitting is learnt it shall be in the following order: A strip of plain knitting; knitted muffatees, ribbed; a plain-knitted child's sock; a long-ribbed stocking.
11. The order of instruction in drawing( The department has published two numbers of a series of drawing-books, from designs by Mr. D. C. Hutton, of the School of Art at Dunedin.
[Note.—Solid models for Standard IV. can be made by any carpenter: cost in London, 24s.; in New Zealand, 30s. Tate's Practical Geometry (price, 1s.) is a good text-book for Standard V., and J. C. Dicksee's Perspective (4s.) for Standard VI.]
12. The teaching of elementary science for Standards IV., V., and VI., shall embrace elementary physics, a small part of elementary chemistry, elementary mechanics, and elementary physiology; and shall be sufficient for and applied to the purposes of illustrating the laws of health, the structure and operation of the simpler machines and philosophical instruments, the simpler processes of agriculture, and the classification of animals and plants. The head-teacher of each school shall prepare a syllabus showing the distribution of these subjects over a three-years' course, having regard to the amount and order of the information contained in the reading books used in the school. The Inspector will see that the syllabus is sufficient, and examine each class in that part of the work with which the class has been engaged during the year. The syllabus shall present a suitable arrangement of the matter contained in the follow-
The inclusion of this modicum of knowledge of science in the primary-school course is no now thing. Before the end of the first half of this century, lessons on the subjects specified in Regulation 12 were contained in the reading books used in common schools in Ireland, and in the schools established by the British and Foreign School Society. Thus, the programme of the "Daily Lesson Book, No. IV.," issued by the Society just named, included "a complete course of lessons on the various branches of Natural Philosophy," and "a systematic course of Natural History,"—in addition to an outline of English history, a short course of general history, (ancient and modern), and miscellaneous lessons on government, commerce, &c.; and the book was published at the low price of 1s. 6d. to promote its use in "schools for the poor." If the teacher will ascertain the scope of the lessons in physical and natural science contained in that book, and then familiarize himself with the more modern methods of stating scientific facts, as he will find them in the "Science Primers" referred to in the note at the end of Regulation 12, he will have no difficulty in understanding what is required of him by that regulation; and he will probably be stirred with the desire to impart to his pupils as much as he can of what he himself has acquired in this department of knowledge. Nor need he fear that these subjects, if intelligently taught, with abundant homely illustration, will prove uninteresting to his pupils, or be beyond their understanding. Professor Huxley, and several other witnesses before (he Scientific Instruction Commission, expressed their decided opinion that a knowledge of the principles of science could be profitably imparted to very young children; and the Report of that Commission asserts that "there can be no good reason why such elementary scientific education as has long been given in the primary schools of Germany and Switzerland should not be bestowed upon English children." (To-day the Native children of Samoa use a hand-book of natural philosophy in their own language in their schools.) The Science and Art Department in Great Britain encourages, in every possible way, the teaching of science in primary schools. The mere learning of the words of a text-book is of scarcely any use. The "schoolmaster" must be a "teacher" (a much nobler name) before he can do any work that deserves to be called education. Whatever facts can be observed by the children, and by them reduced to a law, they must be led so to observe and reduce. Where the "Science Primer "says "suppose we have a tumbler half-full of water," and "if the water is emptied out, the tumbler feels much lighter than it was before," the teacher must drop the "if" and "suppose." Exhibition of facts, and of the operation of laws, must take the place of mere talking about them. Why should a teacher be content to talk about the pendulum, when with a string and a stone he can make one, and can make another with a string and a cork, and vary his experiments by altering the length of the strings? If the children see these things they will come to think about them, and, thinking, to appreciate the simple laws of gravitation and momentum, which can be illustrated by experiments that cost nothing. The department has in preparation a hand-book for teachers, designed to show how much can be experimentally taught with very simple and inexpensive apparatus. With five pounds' worth of appliances (and with much less, if necessary,) a good teacher can easily give a course of lessons, every one of which his pupils will regard as a Friday afternoon treat to finish the week's work with. No exercise will do more to develop and strengthen the faculties that make a man a good teacher, and none will do more to quicken the general intelligence of the scholars. In its reaction on the work done in other departments it will be found to pay. Let the teacher who does not know where to begin think how much he can do with a bowl of water, a tumbler or two, and a bent glass tube. He has the The parts of the programme enclosed in square brackets are such as cannot be taught by a teacher who has not made considerable progress in his own study of science, or are not suitable for classes in which boys and girls are taught together.solid bowl and tumblers and tube, the liquid water, and a supply of gas ready to hand in the atmosphere. By inverting a tumbler, to illustrate the diving-bell, he can exhibit the air as exerting and resisting pressure. He can use muscular force to put the matter in motion, and can show how the force of gravity tends to move it. He can exhibit matter and force in contrast, and he can show the properties the possession of which by solids, liquids, and gases, in common, renders it suitable to designate them all by the common term, "matter." He can illustrate the principle of the barometer, the syphon, the pump, and the water-press. (A penholder wrapped round with cotton-wool will answer for a piston.) With a stone, a cork, and a sponge, he can illustrate specific gravity, and capillarity. Water itself can exist in the three conditions, solid, liquid, and gaseous, and the formation of ice and of steam are familiar illustrations of the laws of heat. The material for many lessons has been already suggested, and when this is exhausted the teacher may consider how he can best convey some definite idea of the chemical composition of water, and of the electric current by which it can be decomposed. As soon as the conception of chemical combination and action has been formed in the pupils' minds they will be capable of receiving instruction as to the laws of respiration, the necessity of fresh air and of cleanliness, &c. There are some subjects in the programme that, cannot, from their very nature, be taught experimentally in schools. The elementary physiology, and the classification of plants and animals, can be well illustrated by diagrams and pictures. But, as a rule, whatever can be taught by such ocular demonstration as is within reasonably easy reach ought to be so taught. (See Tyndall's suggestions for experiments with a magnet and darning-needles.)
Conditions of matter—solid, liquid, gaseous; force—gravitation, heat, chemical affinity, electricity, magnetism; properties of solids—compactness, porousness, comparative hardness, brittleness, toughness, &c.; forms of bodies; inertia of rest and motion; comparative density and specific gravity; centre of gravity; acceleration; the mechanical powers; pressure of liquids and gases; pumps, barometers, hydraulic press, &c.
Vibrations; velocity of sound and light; reflection, refraction, &c.; the magnifying glass and the prism; heat—expansion, convection, conduction, radiation; thermometer; ventilation; steam; mechanical mixture and chemical combination; [oxygen; hydrogen; nitrogen; chlorine; carbon; sulphur; phosphorus; lime; iron;] composition of water and of air; combustion; [acid and alkali].
[Characteristics of saccharoids; of oils and fats; of fermentation products; of albuminoids; frictional and voltaic electricity; the electric machine; the battery; currents;] the build of the human body, and names and positions of internal parts; constituents of blood, muscle, bone, and connective tissue; alimentation; circulation; respiration; [the kidneys and their secretion;] animal heat; organs of sense; principal divisions of the animal kingdom, and of the vegetable kingdom.
[Note.—The extent of the knowledge indicated by this programme is intended to be not greater than the ground covered by the ten popular lectures contained in Parts II., III., IV., V., and VI., of "Science made Easy," by Thomas Twining, price 1s. each part, published by Chapman and Hall, London. The "Science Primers," entitled respectively "Introductory," "Chemistry," "Physics," "Physiology," "Botany," price 1s. each, published by Macmillan and Co., will be useful to teachers, but they go beyond the programme. "Health in the House," by Mrs. Buckton, price 2s., published by Longmans, is a very useful illustration of the application of elementary science to the practical concerns of common life; and Johnston's "Catechism of Agricultural Chemistry," price 1s., published by Blackwood and Sons, should be studied, especially by teachers of country schools.]
13. Standard IV., as defined in these Regulations, shall be the standard of education prescribed under "The Education Act,
14. These Regulations( The standard regulations are primarily regulations affecting the examination of schools. No attempt, however, is made to fetter the Inspector in his choice of what he may deem the best method of ascertaining whether a pupil presented for examination has fairly reached the proposed standard or not. He is free to set written questions, or to examine orally. He may set long papers or short ones, according to circumstances. Inexperienced observers (some teachers among the number) are prone to think that uniformity of method is a necessary means of making just comparisons. But the expert examiner knows that there are many different ways of arriving at fair decisions. A short and easy paper, for example, may be just as difficult as a longer paper composed of far more difficult questions; because, in the longer paper a good candidate's chance of meeting with a large proportion of questions that he cannot deal with at all is much less than in the shorter one. In many cases it is impossible to judge from the papers alone whether an examiner is unduly severe or the contrary; because so much depends on the standard of excellence that he has in his mind when he is assigning marks for the work done. Any interpretation of these regulations is altogether mistaken which does not recognize that they are designed to discourage the mere learning of lessons, particularly of lessons that are not understood; to promote a kind of instruction calculated to cultivate the intelligence of children, so that they shall not be set to do work that has no meaning for them; and, generally, to call for the fullest exercise of the proper functions of the teacher, and throw the onus of the pupils' education on him rather than on them. No suggestion is offered in the regulations as to the average age at which the pupils should be expected to pass the several standards. As, however, the school age is from five to fifteen, and the age to which the "compulsory attendance clauses" apply is from seven to thirteen, the age of ten years is the mean age contemplated by the Act; and therefore Standard III. ought to be such as children may be expected to pass at ten years old. There is reason to believe that Standard III. is well adapted to that age. A teacher in a country school in Otago, having forty-one pupils and no assistant, presented twenty-four for examination in The subjects of instruction included in these regulations are those prescribed by "The Education Act,
By Authority: George Didsbury, Government Printer, Wellington.
[In the Petition of Walter L. Buller, of Wellington, Barrister-at-law, alleging an unsatisfied claim of £500 against the late Provincial Government of Wellington, and praying the House to make provision for the same.]
Q. The Chairman.—You state a distinct promise was made by Dr. Featherston, Superintendent, that when these negotiations were complete you would receive £500 in addition to your salary?
A. Yes. If the negotiations were successful, there was to be a bonus on the conclusion of the sale of the block. 1 commenced on that understanding the negotiations which lasted over several years. The shortest way of putting my case is to shew what Dr. Featherston said on the
Sir,—I feel it my duty to bring once more under the notice of the Provincial Government of Wellington the special services rendered to the Province by Mr. Walter Buller, in the acquisition of Native Lands, and to request that you will do me the favour to have this letter, with its enclosure, printed and laid before the Council at its next Session.
What the nature and value of Mr. Buller's services generally were, I have endeavoured to show in the enclosed Statement. But I desire here more particularly to point out that these services extended over a continuous period of six years; that for a large portion of that time they were voluntarily and cheerfully given, without any fee or reward; that during the three years that Mr. Buller's time was wholly devoted to the purchase of the Rangitikei-Manawatu Block he received nothing
The final judgment of the Lands Court, after repeated hearings, confirmed the validity of the purchase in every respect, an award of only 6200 acres being made to the non-sellers.
The Province is now in quiet and undisturbed possession of a magnificent estate, and is reaping the full benefit of the Rangitikei-Manawatu purchase.
Under these circumstances I feel quite sure that the Council, if the subject be fairly brought before it, will not refuse to take into favourable consideration claims which have been so frequently and so fully acknowledged.
As far back as
"After long and weary negotiations and many disappointments, I am happy at last to announce to you that a Memorandum of Agreement for the sale of the Upper Manawatu Block has been duly signed, that all the owners have, after repeated runangas, agreed to the terms, and that the final Deed of Purchase is being prepared * * * It would be both ungenerous and unfair if I did not take this the earliest opportunity of publicly acknowledging the invaluable services
Mr. Buller neither asked nor received any remuneration from the Province for the services rendered on that occassion. He shortly afterwards negotiated the purchase, on very favourable terms, of the Paretao and the adjoining Block in the Lower Manawatu—both important acquisitions, as the land was urgently required for the Government township of Foxton.
Towards the end of
Mr. Buller, having afterwards been removed to Wanganui as Resident Magistrate, was applied to again in s. per diem to cover all travelling expenses, but with the understanding that, when the purchase was completed, the Council would be asked to vote him an honorarium.
The Superintendent, in announcing the successful purchase to the Provincial Council in
"I need not say that you are mainly indebted to Mr. Walter Buller (whose services it will be my duty on a future occasion to bring under your special consideration) for the successful issue of these long, difficult, and delicate negotiations."
The purchase-money was paid over to the natives in
"I venture again to express a hope that the Council will (knowing how much the successful issue of these long-pending negotiations is due to Mr. Buller) bestow upon him a substantial recognition of his valuable services."
The Government accordingly placed a sum of £500 on the Estimates. The following Report of what ensued is taken from the 'Wanganui Chronicle' of that date. * * *
Further complications having afterwards arisen in the district, Mr. Buller was called upon to assist the Provincial Government in proving their title to the Block in the Native-Lands Court. He assisted Mr. Fox as Counsel for the Crown at Otaki, and the Attorney-General in Wellington, during sittings of the Court extending altogether over a period of nearly three months. Mr. Buller prepared lengthy briefs, and got up the whole of the evidence at those protracted hearings. He was afterwards entrusted with the management of the surveys in the District; and the Hon. Mr. Fox, in his place in the House of Representatives on the
The Honourable the Premier, in a letter to Dr. Featherston, dated
"The Government have also to request that you will convey to Mr. Walter Buller, R.M., who has assisted you through the whole of this transaction, its sense of the able manner in which he appears to have fulfilled the difficult and arduous duties entrusted to him."
A month later (December 4th) the Provincial Secretary, Mr. Halcombe, wrote as follows to Mr. Buller:—
"We had fully intended to bring on the grant to you this Session; but the unfortunate news of the stoppage of the survey, the conflict about the exclusion of the volunteers, and the extreme poverty of the Province, all rendered the present an inopportune time for such a proposal. We therefore deferred the matter, but with the full intention of bringing it forward next Session."
The Session, however, of
In the Session of
which ensued is taken from the ' Wellington Independent' of that date.
On the Council going into Committee on Mr. Pearce's motion,—
The Provincial Treasurer, after explaining the views of the Government, said, "he thought that, considering the long time that had already elapsed in dealing with this matter, it would be the wiser course to delay it a little longer. The Government had no wish to act in a hostile spirit; on the contrary, they were desirous to act as liberally as might be. In order to prevent the motion being finally disposed of, he would move that the Chairman should leave the Chair."
Mr. Pearce thought the course taken by the Government was not a bold one, was in fact timid. They first admitted the valuable nature of Mr. Buller's services and the substantial claim he had upon the Province, and yet they wished to indefinitely postpone the question on the ground that the Government could not then afford it. Procrastination in this instance amounted almost to repudiation. The Council had over and over again admitted the claim of Mr. Buller. It was not a gratuity that was asked for, but the fulfilment of a promise made by the Superintendent and sanctioned by the Council. * * *
Mr. Pearce's motion was ultimately lost by a majority of one, the Government voting against it.
The implied promise on the part of the Government to bring it forward on a subsequent occasion has never been redeemed, and Mr. Buller is still without any substantial recognition of his services.
The Chairman.—Dr. Buller stated to the Committee that a promise had been made to him of £500 in consequence of the success which attended his negotiations for land in the Manawatu Block and that this money has not been paid, and petitions the House that it should be paid. The Committee wish to ascertain the particulars.
Q. Have you any personal knowledge of the matter?
A. Yes, I have much knowledge on the subject. I was connected officially and personally as a Minister of the Crown with all the transactions from the commencement to the termination, and had also personal information from Dr. Featherston from time to time, for whom I acted personally as Counsel for the Crown in the trial before the Land Court
Q. Who made the promise of £500?
A. It was made specifically by Dr. Featherston as Superintendent of the Province, not as Land Purchase Commissioner, but as Superintendent of the Province. There is evidence of that in this document (the printed statement put in by Dr. Buller). The claims of Dr. Buller were brought before the Provincial Council after Dr. Featherston ceased to be Superintendent, or while he was absent in England. The matter was postponed, but the claim appears to have been recognised by the Provincial Executive. I may say in general terms, referring to contents of the printed statement before mentioned, that except as to what occurred in the Provincial Council, I entirely confirm every word contained in it.
Q. Yes, but before there can be any legal claim against the Provincial Government it must be concurred in by the Council. Was that done?
A. Possibly Dr. Buller's claim would break down if taken on a legal basis. I look upon the claim in an equitable point of view. It was acknowledged on all sides in the Council that Dr. Buller had such a claim.
Q. Mr. Richmond.—It was never put upon the Provincial Estimates?
A. Yes, it was, and all the provincial authorities, the Provincial Secretary, the Provincial Treasurer, and Solicitor in the Council—they all admitted the merits of the claim, though it was not convenient at that moment to settle the matter, and it was virtually put off to a more convenient season.
Q. The Chairman.—When was this promise made?
A. Before Dr. Buller entered upon his duties, when he was transferred from the Resident Magistracy of Wanganui to the office he held under Dr. Featherston—from an easy position to an arduous one. * * *
Q. What was the reason he had not got this money paid as had been promised?
A. For this reason; the purchase could not be said to be completed with certainty till well on in
Q. What was the reason the vote was struck out?
A. It was lost by one vote.
Q. That motion was rejected?
A. Yes, but on grounds which did not in the least affect the claim. The members of the Provincial Government all spoke in favour of the claim in the debate in the Council. You will find that the whole of the expressions of opinion were in favour of the substantial merits of the claim. * * *
Q. The Hon. Mr. Gisborne made a very serious charge against Dr. Buller—in fact of cheating?
A. Against which Dr. Buller completely vindicated himself. Dr. Buller was for seventeen years in the public service, and had worked laboriously during that time. He had for seventeen years worked in various capacities as Clerk, Resident Magistrate, Land Commissioner, &c. He had never more than two months leave of absence in seventeen years, but he was entitled to a long leave of absence according to the rules of the service. It was simply what he was entitled to after such service, and had nothing to do with the Manawatu purchase. I know that when he went home objection was taken to his earning money as Dr. Featherston's secretary while he was on leave, and the matter was talked about, and his qualifying for the Bar was also remarked upon. But he might, during his leave, have gone on the Continent or amused himself in any way he liked. He chose, however, to be industrious, and rendered good services to Dr. Featherston in return for the salary he received. I repeat, that neither his leave of absence, nor his salary as secretary to Dr. Featherston in England, had anything to do with the Manawatu purchase, and were in no respect given as a reward for his negotiating it. * * *
Q. Was Dr. Buller to have the £500 whether the Government could produce any title or not?
A. Of course it was implied that a good title would be obtained.
Q. Did he get the signatures?
A. The block under negotiation, included about 250,000 acres of land. The title was vested in five tribes resident at and about the block, and as far as Hawke's Bay and Wanganui river. There were
* * * * *
Q. On what ground was Mr. Pearce's proposal refused in
A. On two or three grounds. I was the person who chiefly moved
Q. Mr. Dignan.—Supposing you did remain in office, and the Provincial Council to meet, would you consider yourself bound to bring it forward?
A. Most decidedly. I should have considered I was bound in honor to bring it forward, because I consider the Government was pledged to do so.
Q. Did you think the claim was of such a nature that the Council would sanction it?
A. I have no doubt it would.
Q. Was the award to be in land or cash?
A. The proposal was to give it in cash.
* * * At the time we were absolutely unable to pay
our policemen, and the question was whether or not we should have to throw ourselves into the hands of the General Government. We felt under these circumstances that we had no right to give way to those claims which partook of the nature of a gratuity, and that we had no right to give away any land or money while we were unable to pay our policemen and meet those pressing claims upon us. We felt the matter might just as well be delayed for a year or two, and that the claim would come with better grace from Dr. Buller .when we were actually in bonâ fide possession of the land. Our poverty, and the fact that we were not in quiet and perfect possession of the land, were the reasons why we considered the claim should be delayed.
Q. Did you regard this in the light of a gratuity or a liability?
A. Partly in the one way and partly in the other. Originally it was a gratuity, but as it had been placed on the Estimates and was only delayed, we came to the conclusion that it was a liability. * * *
Q. The Chairman.—Were you aware, when a member of the Government, that any promise was made by Dr. Featherston?
A. Dr. Featherston always led me to believe that he had made a promise to Dr. Buller. * * *
Q. It does not appear that Dr. Buller has completed the peaceable purchase of that block?
A. I don't think that is fair. He bought the land from persons declared by repeated sittings of the Native Lands Court to be the real owners. Others who were declared not to be owners raised questions and a row and had to be bought off. But Dr. Buller bought from the persons who were declared by two special sittings of the Native Lands Court to be the owners.
Q. Had those persons bought off by the Government no claim whatever?
A. So it was decided by the sittings of the Native Lands Court. * *
* * * I have before observed that Dr. Featherston had a very high opinion of Dr. Buller, and the Committee must remember that he had a better opportunity of judging on that point than I had; but this I will say, that to-day reviewing the past and looking at the evidence and memoranda on the subject, I am more convinced than ever, that a more perfect purchase was never made. The province of Wellington was deeply injured; it was defrauded of a large sum of money, but the chief injury lay in the fact that its settlement was seriously retarded. I firmly believe that 10,000 more people would have been in the province of Wellington to-day, had it not been for the action of the General Government with regard to the Manawatu. As to Dr. Buller, I may say at once, I think it is exceedingly hard that a gentleman who had been employed by one high in authority, should suffer from the political differences that arose on that occasion. * * * I think Dr. Buller should be paid, and paid by the Colony only, and if this Committee should see fit to so recommend, I should regard that as a proper though tardy recognition of valuable services. But if the payment is to make a charge upon the Provincial District of Wellington, I will do my utmost to oppose it in Committee of the House, because that would be adding insult to a deeply injured province, and I speak with an accurate knowledge, though I myself was not mixed up with the transactions. * * *
Q. Did the Provincial Council ever recognise this claim of Dr. Buller's?
A. I think it would have been carried without a dissentient had a
Q. At any rate, it was rejected whenever it came before the Council, from whatever cause?
A. Yes. But it was not rejected upon its merits. * * *
Q. You consider the claim a good one?
A. As against the Colony.
Q. But not as against the Province?
A. Certainly not.
Mr. Burns.—Is it your impression that when Dr. Featherston made the promise to Dr. Buller, he meant that the Province should pay the £500?
A. Undoubtedly, at the time. But he also intended that the Province should get its just rights as against the Colony.
* * * * *
Q. Then you think if the Provincial Council was now in existence they would vote the money?
A. I think so.
Q. Was not Dr. Buller paid for the work he performed?
A. He never received a penny piece as far as I know. He received nothing from the Province. I do not suppose Dr. Buller, when taken from his duties and placed at the disposal of the Superintendent, was likely to agree to that at a less salary than he got from the General Government. No doubt there was a great deal of labor, and it was not measured as work usually done by going into an office at nine and coming away at five. There was a great deal of night work in Maori whares, holding meetings with natives, &c.
Q. From your knowledge of Provincial matters, you think he is entitled to the money?
A. If I were in the Provincial Council, I would support the claim.
Q. Now, all old claims such as these, have come upon the Colony for settlement. Do you consider the Colony is justified in taking into consideration this claim. Leave of absence was granted Dr. Buller, and
A. Certainly not. There was a liability that should be met by the Provincial Council. If that liability still existed, I do not see why it should not be liquidated now. * * * *
Q. Was it not found necessary for the sake of preserving peace, to give back some of the land?
A. Yes; I believe the sale of the Manawatu-Rangitikei block was completed as fully as one man could complete it. Except for the reason that the peace of the country might be endangered, we could have established our title in the Supreme Court.
Q. What I wanted to know was—Dr. Buller was employed to extinguish the native title to the satisfaction of the Natives and Europeans. Did he do so?
A. Dr. Featherston was employed for the purpose of acquiring the Manawatu-Rangitikei Block. He had Dr. Buller's services assigned to him. I am not prepared to go into the particulars of the title to the land in any shape or form. I am right in saying that the native title was fairly extinguished over the whole block, reserves excepted, and the certificate of title was published in the Gazette. After that, certain claims were put forward. Sir Donald McLean thought it wise in order to preserve the peace of the country to give some of the land back. * *
Q. Mr. Tole.—He claims £500?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you think he has any case?
A. I think he has in liquidation of his services.
Q. Would you state on what grounds?
A. We could be only guided in the matter by Dr. Featherston. * *
James Hughes, Printer, etc., Lambton Quay.
Art. XXII.—Observations on the Breeding Habits of the Eastern Golden Plover (Charadrius fulvus). By C. H. Robson. Communicated by W. L. Buller, C.M.G., Sc.D., F.R.S.
[
Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society,31 .]st October, 1883
This interesting bird is dismissed by our leading naturalists with so few words that one is induced to think that little is known as to its habits, and that a few remarks on them from personal observation may not be uninteresting. Unlike others of the Charadriadæ, the Golden Plover's plumage undergoes little or no change from summer to winter; its habits of flight and feeding are however very similar to those of C. obscurus as described by Dr. Buller; its food is of the same kind, and it likewise resembles that bird in the construction of its nest and the locality chosen for making it. On the 9th of January last a Golden Plover was found sitting on three eggs at the northern end of Portland Island. The nest is a very simple affair, composed of a little grass laid in a slight hollow amongst the driftwood a few yards above high water mark; the egg is large for the bird, being about the size of a pullet's, ovoid, a good deal pointed, in colour of a light greenish yellow with irregular blotches of dark rufous brown, almost black in the larger spots, and varying in size from a pin's head to a shilling, the largest being at the more obtuse end of the egg. When disturbed the bird rose with a harsh rattling cry, but did not seem frightened, and returned to the nest after a few minutes. On the 10th the nest was not visited, it being thought best not to disturb the bird again so soon; and on the 11th, on going to it for a specimen egg, the nest was found deserted and the eggs gone, not a particle of shell remaining.
One gold medal and twenty guineas, one silver medal and ten guineas, and one bronze medal and five guineas will be awarded for essays on the present condition and future prospects of the industrial resources of New Zealand, and the best means of fostering their development.
In judging of the merits of the essays preference will be given to those which are of a practical character, rather than to mere abstract .or theoretical disquisitions. The essays must be sent in to the Secretary of the Exhibition, signed with a motto and accompanied by a sealed envelope containing the author's name and address, on or before the 1st day of
The essays will be submitted to a Board of three persons, to be hereafter appointed, on whose decision respecting the merits of the essays the above prizes will be awarded; provided the essays reach a sufficiently-reserving standard of excellence.
We, having been duly appointed by you to decide on the merits of the several essays sent in under the conditions notified in the Government Gazette of the
"Si sit prudentia" and "Press onward" to be of equal merit, and we recommend that the authors should equally share the first and second prizes;"Nunquam dormio" to be third in merit, and entitled to the third prize.
We beg to enclose the successful essays, and their respective mottoes.
We have, &c.,
In an essay treating of the practical side of the progress and future prospects of New Zealand industries, it is desirable to avoid dwelling to any extent upon the politico-economical or theoretical views which are held in regard to the comparative merits of absolute free-trade and modified protection. The question cannot, however, be avoided altogether; and before practical working suggestions are made, and before a fair retrospect of the past can be taken, the ground must be cleared by laying down certain theoretical lines to work upon.
It is still a fallacy to believe that a country is necessarily the poorer because its imports exceed its exports, or richer because its exports exceed its imports. The doctrine of the economists, stated in its naked simplicity, is still that "the only direct advantage of foreign commerce consists in the imports. A country obtains things which it either could not have produced at all, or which it must have produced at a greater expense of capital and labour than the cost of things which it exports to pay for them." J. S. Mill's "Political Economy," Book II., chapter 17, section 4."caviare to the general," have too frequently disregarded
All this is true to a great extent of a new country with large natural resources, a population increasing by native growth and immigration, and a rising generation from whom employment cannot be withheld without greater dangers to the social fabric
And here it may be well to remark upon the fallacy of the argument that, because—upon a more or less imperfect calculation—New Zealand contains 323,000 people engaged in agriculture to only 11,400 artisans or workers in factories, State encouragement to native industries must necessarily be for the purpose of protecting the latter and keeping them in employment at the expense of the former. Of the 323,000 in question a very large proportion consists of general labourers, having neither interest in the soil nor special knowledge of agriculture. It is a mere accident that such people rank among the farming class, and they are more likely to carry their labour to factories and such-like industries were such in existence for them. New Zealand needs population, and under liberal land laws would be certain to get the kind she requires. Of the mass of men it is probable that a minority alone is fitted to settle on or till the land; local industries and factories would find employment not only for all the surplus labour in the colonies, but for a very much larger number of hands.
The strict enforcement of the laissez faire principle on the part of the Government of New Zealand may encourage low prices for the necessaries of life—though not to the extent which has been supposed—for a few years to come. A judicious fostering of colonial industries, whether as means of producing articles for colonial consumption or for foreign markets, will tend to increase national wealth and the happiness of the individual, by developing profitable employment and encouraging thrift, without interfering unduly with the labour market or the natural ebb and flow of trade, and without affecting to any appreciable degree the prices paid by the consumer.
The object to be aimed at is, that the foreign demand for New Zealand commodities should exceed the New Zealand demand for foreign commodities. However different the conditions of this problem may be in an old country, it can only be solved in a colony by developing every possible form of native industry, and by gradually and judiciously bringing every national resource into play.
We cannot force the consumer to buy domestic commodities in preference to foreign. The consumer is justified in buying
Under this view of the matter the Government of New Zealand would be justified not only in encouraging colonial industries by imposing protective duties temporarily, and where such industries are suitable to the circumstances of the colony—a policy admitted to be defensible—but in doing so by bonuses as well as tariffs. The Government would also be justified in using its influence, on behalf of the nation, in obtaining information from foreign countries regarding particular industries, in establishing a system of technical education in the colony, and in taking steps to open up markets for New Zealand produce, whether in portions of the British Isles which it has not yet reached, in the Islands of the Pacific and the Malay seas, or amongst the teeming millions of the Indian Empire.
If the view already advocated be not conceded, then the Government is not justified in doing anything else but buy in the cheapest and sell in the dearest market, and see that everything is done to encourage and nothing done to hinder its people from doing so also. It would be a violation of free-trade for the State to limit the hours of employment in factories, or do anything else which might tend to restrict production or interfere with the law of supply and demand. It would be equally
The strict doctrine of free-trade may be scientifically correct as a paper theory; but, in a new country, it is a reductio ad absurdum, even although an array of economists may break a lance in its favour. The circumstances of New Zealand require wiser and more generous treatment: a policy which shall seize opportunities and look ahead, and a Government which shall not continue to "let well" so severely "alone" that it ceases in the end to be "well" at all.
Having defined the attitude of the State towards New Zealand industries, the matter can be dealt with in its practical aspects.
It needs no exercise of the imaginative faculties, but simply the ordinary capacity of observation with which the average man is gifted, to recognize the wonderful progress in industries and productive powers which New Zealand has made of late years. It is not necessary to dwell upon the earlier days, when order was emerging from chaos, and when the colonist was too much habituated to the arts of war to cultivate the arts of peace, and when industries and manufactories were not dreamed of amid the struggle for bare existence. For the purposes of this essay it is enough to survey the work of the last ten to fifteen years, during which the export of wool, gold, grain, hides, and tallow has grown to such dimensions that New Zealand ranks among the foremost-producing countries of the world. During that period one entirely new industry in the world's history—the export of frozen meat—has come into existence; and, under somewhat altered conditions, and allowing for the fluctuations of the markets, is destined to assume gigantic proportions in New Zealand. The frozen-meat industry is now as firmly established as the production and export of grain and wool. The raw material is abundant, and the capacity for production immense; but, in the case of all three kinds of produce, the market has been equally depressed. Such times of depression
The value of the export of New Zealand wool in
The growth of new exporting industries deserves fuller consideration than can be given it in the present essay. In
The decline in New Zealand flax was very marked, and must continue as the products of imported civilization supplant the raw material of untilled land. Potted and preserved meats declined by £13,554, partly owing to the trade having been supplanted by the frozen meat, and partly by the remarkably low prices ruling at Home for those choicer and more special potted delicacies which the colony is so well able to produce.
Nor is it only in the exporting industries that the progress of New Zealand has been so marked during the past fifteen years. With the growth of population has come a healthy demand for local industries, and there are districts dotted with factories, some of which, such as those for woollen goods, hold their own with any in the world. In the New Zealand woollen trade one factory has exported goods to Victoria, and sold them at a profit; another has sent a shipment to Glasgow, and a third has sent one to London. There are not wanting signs, even in the present depression and stagnation of capital, that the woollen trade is capable of great extension. Its success in the colony has been greatly due, in the opinion of the manager of one of the largest factories, to the State protection hitherto accorded it. The same authority considers that, if the import duty on apparel and woollens were increased, the New Zealand trade would drive out the imported article, increase the out-put of existing factories, bring into life new ones, lessen the cost of
Nor ought the agricultural implement industry to be passed over in silence. It has been stated that one firm in the South Island pays away in wages £20,000 a year.
The iron and metal trade is another industry of which New Zealand has reason to be proud, for such work as is turned out by Messrs. Burt, of Dunedin, or Messrs. Scott, of Christchurch, need not fear comparison with anything in Birmingham, the metropolis of hardware.
In soap and candles the finest articles are now made; while twenty years ago nothing but tallow dips and common yellow soap were made in the colony.
In leather, boots and shoes, and saddlery the progress has been really startling. From figures quoted by the Hon. Robert Stout in his speech at the closing of the Wellington Exhibition it appears that in
So also with carpets, the manufacture of which in New Zealand is quite of recent date, but is already a flourishing industry, producing articles of sound, durable, and beautiful workmanship, and competing in price with the Home importations.
There are no statistics available to show the number of hands employed, or the value of the land, buildings, machinery, and plant engaged in the manufactories and works of this colony at the present time; nor will such statistics be at the public disposal until after the census has been taken in March next. But between the years
As will be seen when the imports come to be considered, the local industries are remodelling the trade of the colony. On every side there are busy producers with brain and hand, capital and machinery; and that it should be possible to collect together such wonderfully-varied industrial exhibits as those in the Wellington Exhibition of
Although in nearly every civilized country—the remarkable exceptions being America and Germany, great Protectionist countries, where the exports exceed the imports in the one case by twenty millions a year and in the other by four millions—the imports exceed the exports, yet the proportion of excess is but small in progressive countries established upon sound fiscal principles. One would expect to find that in the colonics, as industries develop and production increases, the imports and exports would gradually become equalized, more especially if the conditions and policy prevail which have already been indicated. Accordingly it will be found that in the Australasian Colonies the imports and exports have of late years approximated very nearly to one another. Taking the mean of ten years, from
The value of the articles imported into New Zealand during the year
For the convenience of this essay the articles imported may be divided into three classes:
In Class A (vide Table No. 1) will be found goods the manufacture or production of which is already a settled industry in New Zealand.
In Class B (vide Table No. 2) will be found goods the manufacture or production of which is not yet fully established in New Zealand, or, though possible and desirable to be established, has not yet been initiated.
In Class C will be placed all other articles imported into the colony, including those which are too trifling and unimportant to consider; those which could not possibly be manufactured or produced in the colony; and those which, though possible to be manufactured or produced in the colony, are required by custom or fashion to be imported into it.
It is obviously difficult to draw a sharp dividing line between these classes, but it is believed that it has been fairly attempted in the tables annexed to this essay. Fashion and custom regulate the place of production and manufacture in some cases
The progress which has been made in manufactures and in opening up the industrial resources of the colony can be readily seen from a study of the first class of imports. The total of that class was—in
Agricultural implements decreased from £47,432 to £16,412, or 65 per cent.; wearing apparel, from £263,849 to £197,789, or 25 per cent.; boots and shoes, from £168,383 to £143,840, or 14½ per cent.; carpets, from £41,267 to £28,376, or 31 per cent.; cordage, from 16,615 to £14,236, or 14 per cent.; earthenware, from £42,396 to £24,378, or 41 per cent.; furniture, and upholstery, from £65,571 to £48,079, or 27 per cent.; hardware and ironmongery, from £245,560 to 177,910, or 29 per cent.; jams and jellies, from £18,759 to £10,552, or 43½ per cent.; linseed oil, from £20,436 to £17,350, or 14½ per cent.; picture frames and mouldings, from £3,779 to £3,243, or 14 per cent.; saddlery, from £43,871 to £32,204, or 26 per cent.; sulphuric acid, from £363 to £157, or 57percent.; tinware, from £6,117 to £4,932, or 19 per cent.; tobacco, from £81,705 to £63,851, or 22 per cent.; cigars, from £25,809 to £23,119, or 11 per cent.; twine (not binding, but common), from £9,625 to £7,974, or 17 per cent.; vegetables, from £6,865 to £5,601, or 18 per cent.; woollens, from £100,222 to £75,151, or 25 per cent.'; and blankets, from £29,702 to £25,370, or 15 per cent.
Even after making liberal allowance for the other operating causes already alluded to, and especially for the over-importation of the year
Had manufactures and the development of industrial resources remained at a standstill during the past year the imports should have kept pace with the increase of the population. But, as already remarked, the value of the imports in Class A, instead of being 4 per cent, greater in
In the case of some articles of common consumption included in Class A the result is not so encouraging.
There has been an increased importation of candles to the amount of 65 per cent.; carriages, 36 per cent; coals, 23 per cent.; flour, 62 per cent.; leather, 15 per cent.; pickles, 18 per cent.; railway carriages, 1,050 per cent.; and common soap, 120 per cent.
With the exception, perhaps, of candles, an industry which deserves the protective fostering of the State to a larger extent than it has hitherto received, there is nothing calling for anxiety in any of these articles.
With regard to candles, it is the opinion of the largest firm of New Zealand makers that increased duty on the imported article would cause a larger quantity of the raw material to be used up, and employment to be found for a greater number of hands.
The further opening-up of the colony by trunk railways, which cannot long be delayed, should increase the consumption of New Zealand coal by bringing it to the consumers' doors, and should render certain districts less dependent on a foreign supply.
Carriages are very much governed by fashion, and the date when the colonial article will supersede the Home import must necessarily be remote, though marked progress has been made in this industry in New Zealand.
The complicated laws which govern the distribution of food—laws which are intimately bound up with the low prices of agricultural produce—present the singular anomaly of a grain-produc-
The increased import of leather is an unsatisfactory fact, indicating as it does that, however excellent the tanned article produced in the colony may be, the tide of capital has not yet flowed into this most important industry. There are signs, however, that tanning extract from native woods, especially in the Pelorus Sounds, will become an article of commerce; and that bark-crushing, for which a factory has recently been started at Nelson, will take its place among New Zealand industries.
With regard to railway carriages, the State can directly aid in developing the industry by offering to colonial workmen contracts for building carriages for the railways upon favourable conditions. There is a simplicity and saving of trouble connected with importing railway plant of all kinds, which is refreshing to the official mind; but questions of policy as well as trade—of vivifying the labour market as well as economy in national expenditure—are involved in this matter, and cannot be overlooked in a country which is neither wholly free-trade nor wholly protectionist in its dealings with its own people and the outer world. Both with locomotives and carriages the Public Works Department would do well to liberally encourage colonial industry and the use of colonial material.
The increase in the importation of common soap is of no importance. But a small and fluctuating quantity is imported in any year, the New Zealand article having triumphed over its European and Australian rivals, and practically driven them from the field. With judicious State encouragement, probably in the form of increased import duties, the importation of candles would soon become as insignificant as that of soap; the price paid by the consumer would practically be undisturbed; labour would be employed and capital invested; and the whole colony would receive the benefit in a prosperous people and an elastic revenue.
The increase in the importation of pickles is not in itself a matter of much importance, except for its apparent singularity.
One would have supposed that, of all articles of common consumption, pickles would have been manufactured in the colony. It is possible, however, that, with all the advantages of cheap and abundant raw material, there are certain trade secrets and peculiarities of fashion and custom connected with pickles which colonial manufacturers cannot at present contend against, however excellent the article which they have undoubtedly produced.
Upon the whole retrospect of the imports in Class A, comprising most of the articles of general colonial consumption, there is no reason to alter the note of encouragement and hope which in this essay has already been sounded.
Next has to be considered Class B, which includes articles the manufacture or production of which is not yet a fully established industry, or, though possible or desirable to be established, has not yet been initiated. It will not be possible within this essay to consider how the industry in all these articles can best be developed; but the principal articles will be dealt with at a later stage. Included in this class are sugar, iron, printing paper, silk, and olives, the production of which in this colony, as a commercial transaction, is so remote that a practical essay ought to devote little attention to them. Reference will, however, be made to them further on. Meantime it is well to point out that, while the total of the articles in Class B shows an increase (vide Table No. 2) of 6 per cent, over the previous year, there was actually a falling-off in the imports in this class, excluding sugar, iron, printing paper, silk, and olives, of H per cent. It may be laid down as an established fact that the importation of some of the articles in Class B has received a check from the manufacture of similar articles in the colony, though, from various causes, that manufacture makes little progress. Following on the lines laid down earlier in this essay it will be necessary to show how such industries can receive healthy stimulation.
Reference has already been made to the following industries in the course of this essay, and nothing further need be said about them: Agricultural implements, bacon and hams, boots
It remains to consider certain other prominent industries in detail, with a view to show what, if anything, can be done to foster them in the future.
Amongst the acids imported into New Zealand for manufacturing and other purposes tartaric acid—of which no less than 114,259lb., valued at £9,370, were imported during
Of other acids, it is probable that citric acid, should the culture of lemons and citrons flourish in the colony, can be successfully extracted in New Zealand, instead of being imported.
It seems almost inconceivable that last year 3,518 tons of bonedust, valued at £23,057, should have been imported into the colony for manure, when the unmanufactured product exists here already in such great quantities. The establishment of bonedust mills in all the districts of the colony, on the same principle that boiling-down establishments dot the country, would not involve any great outlay of capital, and would lead to greater care and economy in the collection and storage of bones, and to a good deal of labour being employed. It would be necessary, however, to impose a moderate import duty, and to offer a Government bonus for the production of the first five hundred or one thousand tons. The demand for bonedust increased last year, judging from the imports, by 30 per cent., and the increase is likely to continue.
Something has been done, but not very much, in the colonial manufacture of brushware and brooms. The import is still very large, reaching last year the value of £9,140. The division of labour has been so greatly perfected in this trade, and every branch of it has become so technically and strictly separate, that the State could best aid in promoting the industry at first by obtaining and publishing full information with regard to the trade in all its branches, and by offering a moderate bonus for the first large quantity of brushes or brooms, whether of hair or bristle, manufactured within the colony. In Victoria there were last year ten brush manufactories, employing 162 hands, and having £19,145 sunk in machinery, plant, land, and buildings.
Notwithstanding the continued production of cement—natural, such as the Mahurangi hydraulic lime, and artificial, in imitation of Portland cement—the importation into the colony is immense and increasing. Last year it readied 100,761 barrels, valued at £62,075, as against 74,997 barrels, valued at £52,902, in the previous year. Concrete is fast becoming a favourite building and paving material, and in large towns seems destined to outstrip both brick and stone in supplanting wood for public edifices, and even for dwelling-houses. It is the opinion of those engaged in cement and lime-making in the colony that, as the prejudice in favour of a foreign article over a home article becomes broken down, and as skilled labour is to a greater extent employed in the manufacture, so as to render the strength of the New Zealand article more regular and certain, and not so liable to be affected by atmospheric conditions, there will be less and less need for fostering or protection to the industry. The great desideratum is that the cement should be capable of use without slacking, and without swelling in the setting. No bonus is necessary, but the present import duty should be maintained; and the Public Works Department and local governing bodies should, where practicable, allow New Zealand cement and hydraulic lime to be used, and in some cases should encourage their use in preference to imported Portland cement. That this industry is capable of great things may be inferred from what has been done by Messrs. Wilson, the proprietors of the Mahu-
The difficulties which attend the manufacture of china in the colony are much of the same nature as those referred to in the case of earthenware. It is certain that, although it is quite possible to produce excellent china in the colony, the industry could not be successful at the present time without import duties of a protective character. So strong would be the fashionable prejudice in favour of English-made china for a long time to come that, unless New Zealand-made goods could be offered to the public cheaper than the imported article, the industry would barely struggle into existence. In the opinion of a high practical authority, the time has not yet come for the manufacture of china; certainly not till the present depression and glutted market have passed away. Elaborate and costly machinery would have to be imported from England, together with skilled hands, such as printers, engravers, burnishers, &c. Particular kinds of flint and stone would have to be imported from England, and would have to be prepared; and a similar and equally expensive process would have to be applied to the New Zealand clay. It is doubtful, therefore, whether capital, even with the assistance of State protection, could make out any return out of the china industry. The freight question has been referred to under the head of "Earthenware;" and the difficulty is intensified by the fact that the freight out from Home is cheaper on china goods—which are, as a rule, smaller—than upon the common earthenware. New Zealand china would be too heavily handicapped against its imported rival.
The importation of drugs is very large, 4,525 packages, valued at £35,567, having been brought in last year, an amount very slightly in excess of that of the previous year. Of these; drugs a large number are tinctures and other alcoholic preparations, which could be made up in the colony; but the present
ad valorem duty. The Government could be no loser; the public would gain by the exclusion of inferior drugs; large sums in freight would be avoided; and the qualified colonial manufacturing chemist would stand a show in the competition."
Although this industry has made great strides in New Zealand—and there are few large cities which do not possess earthenware and pottery works—and although the industry has apparently checked the importation from other countries and given employment to a large number of hands, it is still beset with difficulties. The success is, in fact, chiefly at present in the coarser kinds of earthenware; and it is much to be desired that the finer kinds of delf should, be manufactured in the colony. The earthenware makers all give the same reasons for the languishing state of the industry. They ask that the cost of transit of goods in the colony by rail should be reduced; that an extra duty should be placed on imported delf; that facilities should be offered by the Government to induce skilled labourers to come out to the colony; and that the Government should offer a bonus on the first five hundred pounds' worth of
Before leaving the subject of earthenware the suggestion may be made that many of the commoner varieties of clay tobacco pipes, notably the long "churchwarden," might be made in the colony. The pipeclay is found in many places, and the idea is worthy of consideration. A good many hands are employed in Kent and other parts of England in this industry, and the establishments are not always on a large scale. There ought to be no difficulty in making a beginning in New Zealand.
The valuable information given by Mr. J. Mackenzie and Messrs. Thomson Brothers, of Port Chalmers, Mr. James Rutland, of Picton, and Dr. Hector, which is contained in the Parliamentary Paper H.—15, must lead every one to regret that greater progress has not been made in the fish curing and canning industry. Two facts are beyond question: that our New Zealand seas teem with fish of the most suitable kinds, easily procurable; and that an excellent cured and canned article has already been produced, quite equal in cheapness, quality, and flavour to any importation. To encourage this industry the Government, deeming it of the first importance that a valuable food supply so close to our doors should not be neglected, have a bonus now under offer, which fish-curers in several parts of the colony are most anxious to compete for. Dr. Hector's opinion (Vide his memorandum in Parliamentary Paper H.—15a) is that "the natural wealth of the New Zealand fisheries is as yet almost undeveloped, and the efforts in this direction have been very crude, and entered on without the least regard to the knowledge of the subject which is necessary. The establishment of small fishing communities in connection with fish-curing factories is what is required. . . . The most steady and largest outlet for the fisheries industry would be in canning fish for export on a large scale." But, before Dr. Hector's ideas can be realized, and the industry be established on a large scale in the great centres, the experiment of preserving and canning must be made by persons practically acquainted with it, and at places as near as
These industries are becoming firmly established in the colony, though enormous quantities of bottled and preserved
The impediments presented by high freights, over-importation of foreign goods, and scarcity of skilled labour apply to the glass-works industry equally with the manufacture of delf and china. The New Zealand glassworks are very few in number, and have been confined almost entirely hitherto to the manufacture of lamp-glasses and chimneys. Now, however, works are in course of construction at Kaiapoi for the manufacture of bottles, tumblers, medicine and soda-water bottles, besides lamp-glasses and other useful and marketable articles which should find a ready sale in the colony. Experimental trials have resulted in the successful production of articles of all the kinds enumerated. At Kaiapoi and at other places in the colony the requisite glass sands are found in abundance,
At the same time, much must not be hoped from the industry for a long time to come. It would appear that even in Victoria the industry has not fulfilled expectations, or kept pace with the population, inasmuch as last year there were only five works, as against nine existing in a.) are worthy of notice. He says, "The enormous importation of glassware and glass bottles, and the consequent abundant supply of broken glass for re-smelting, has made it almost unnecessary to make the glass from the raw material; but this abounds, of all qualities. The industry is worth the attention of any persons skilled in the trade that desire a fresh outlet, and could bring with them the necessary workmen."
All attempts to successfully establish ironworks have at present failed, and it is to be regretted that the skill and attention displayed upon such a tempting, though impracticable, industry have not been diverted into more useful channels. Bonuses have been offered, and allowed to lapse; and, as there is only one iron furnace at work in the colony, it is not probable
a.), one of the most favourable localities for ironworks yet discovered is at Collingwood, in the Nelson District, where coal seams and iron ore have been found almost side by side. Here, if anywhere, the experiment of ironworks to obtain the bonuses ought to have been practically tested—especially as the yield of the coalmine is easy and abundant—yet nothing has been done.
The enormous quantity of matches imported last year—8,301 packages, valued at £24,635—suggests the idea that something might be done to promote their manufacture within the colony. In England, Sweden, and Germany the industry gives employment to thousands of young and old, though—in London, at any rate—under conditions of low wages and factory life which it might not be possible or desirable to imitate in the colony. The industry is, however, worthy of consideration, especially as sulphur, the groundwork of non-poisonous matches, exists in great quantities; and phosphorus, the groundwork of the poisonous wax matches, could be extracted in sufficient quantities from the bones which form such an extensive article of commerce in a pastoral country. The glue which forms part of matches of all kinds already comes in free of duty, as also do the chemicals used in the manufacture. If, as has been contemplated, the sale of poisonous matches be prohibited, there might, at any rate, be a fair chance of establishing the wood safety-match industry, provided the present import duty were maintained.
With regard to olives, there can be no doubt that, although of slow growth, the plant can be successfully cultivated in the colony. The production of olive oil is a highly important matter, and likely to be more so as woollen factories increase and the demand for the oil, which is used in that manufacture, enlarges. Dr. Hector recommends a systematic importation of olive truncheons, instead of the plant being grown here from eyes and buds. Last year the olive oil imported, free of duty, amounted to 29,077 gallons, valued at £5,467. As the plant matures it would be well to offer a bonus for the first large quantity of olive oil produced in the colony, and to impose the-same import duty as exists in Victoria—6d. per gallon.
In this case a Government bonus of £500 for the first fifty tons will lapse if not claimed before the
The import of salt in
The bonuses offered in
The exceedingly low price at which German starch can be imported into this colony must, for a very long time to come, prevent the manufacture being taken up to any extent in New Zealand, however abundant the raw material. So long as the German article can be imported at 2¾d. per pound, there is no available labour in the colony which would enable
Attention has been called in the Legislature to the large quantity of straw hats imported annually. Last year 566 packages, valued at .£11,365, came into the colony, notwithstanding the fact that straw, of the same nature as and of equal goodness to the Tuscan, .Leghorn, or Dunstable kinds, can be easily enough produced in New Zealand. Those who have seen, the working of this important, pleasing, and healthful industry in the Counties of Bedford, Buckingham, and Herts, and have seen the old people and children plaiting their straw at the cottage doors, afterwards carrying their goods to the "plait" market in the nearest town, cannot but wonder that such an industry has never occurred to the minds of the agricultural classes in New Zealand. Straw hat and bonnet factories, such, as exist in Luton, Dunstable, and St. Albans would follow, and the manufacturer, with abundant raw material, and with sufficient female or boy labour, would soon hold his own with the imported article. The Government could aid the industry, not only by maintaining the present import duty, but by offering a bonus for the first five hundred bonnets or hats, or first thousand yards of straw plait.
The production of sugar in New Zealand has already been referred to as too remote a contingency, considered as a commercial speculation, to be treated practically within this essay. Five Government bonuses, offered between
So largely docs kauri-gum enter into the manufacture of varnish that it is most desirable that an effort should be made to produce within the colony an article which can compete with that which is now so largely imported. Last year the imported varnish was valued at £12,419—a very large sum to send out of the colony for an article that, without much difficulty, could be made within it. In this case, since encouragement would be given to the kauri-gum industry as well as to establishing a new manufacture, the Government would be justified in increasing the import duty, and in offering a bonus for the first five thousand gallons of New Zealand varnish. In Victoria the industry appears to be established. Last year there were three paint-varnish manufactories, employing twenty-two hands, and with machinery, plant, land, and buildings valued at £16,229.
The great extent to which vinegar is used by colonists leads to the reflection that the manufacture should be attached to every large brewery in New Zealand. Vinegar—or "alegar," as it is sometimes termed in Great Britain, when the works are attached to beer-making—has already been made in some considerable-quantity by Messrs. Kempthorne, Prosser, and Co., of Dunedin; but, as 92,133 gallons were imported last year, it is evident that
Briefly summed up, the following are the principal ways in which the industries of New Zealand can be promoted:—
The author of this essay has to acknowledge his obligations to a large number of correspondents in various parts of the colony, who have very kindly and promptly furnished him with information upon colonial industries. For the statistics he is indebted to the Registrar-General's Statistics of the Colony of New Zealand; to the Import, Export, and Shipping Returns for
The hope of reward sweetens labour, but the material reward offered for the successful essay will not be so valuable as the benefit that must result to all those who make themselves sufficiently acquainted with the subject in hand to enable them to write reasonably and at length upon it. I launch this essay believing that the best reward will be found in reducing into a comprehensive form the knowledge acquired in preparing for it. There is no need to detail the various sources of information which have been drawn from in order to describe the industries now existent and which may be expected to shortly exist in these wondrous islands of the Southern Seas; which, in one generation, have risen from almost primeval savagedom to power and civilization. The power of development is the strongest power a people or nation can possess, and the potentialities of New Zealand in this respect is the theme on which I write.
This is unavoidable. We must briefly look back over the lines traversed already in order to realize our position at the present day, and mark the directions in which the surest progress can be made. Within the memory of men who are still
From mere lack of space New Zealand can never attain to greatness from pastoral or agricultural operations alone; but from her mineral wealth, her enormous extent of seaboard compared with her area, from her magnificent harbours, her climate, and moderate fertility of soil a combination has been and is forming which justifies her boast of being the Britain of the South. She is the natural birthplace and training-school of seamen, and of seamen of the very best kind, men able to take their vessels anywhere upon the seas, and gifted with a mercantile shrewdness engendered by constant communication with traders and cultivated by habits of self-control and command of others. In the mosquito fleet of New Zealand there are hundreds of men who are the equal of the adventurous pioneers of old, and who lack but new worlds to explore to attain to equal fame with their forerunners. Allied with our seamen are our shipwrights, who have built the mosquito fleet, and are now turning out moderately-sized steamers in every seaboard city in New Zealand, besides every description of smaller craft. Our runholders and squatters have taken up nearly every acre of Native grassed-land which will support sheep or great cattle, and must be prepared to surely, if slowly, give way to the denser population-supporting industry of agriculture, which in its turn
It will be convenient to divide our subjects into three main heads: First, products; second, the manufacture of products; third, the manufacture of articles for which the material must be imported; fourth, the means of extending these three to the best advantage.
Hard-and-fast rules by which to attain these ends cannot be laid down—the subject is so many-sided, there are so many conflicting interests to consider, and so many debatable political theories involved, that it would be impossible to frame a mere code which would find even moderate acceptance. The answer to the question, "How shall a young and healthy child be developed into a powerful and sagacious man?" would almost answer the question involved in our subject, yet who would lay down an iron rule for this with any hope of finding general
Taking, then, the products in the order in which they are at the present time most important, in a monetary point of view, we treat first of all of
Wool is the principal export of New Zealand, yet it seems to be less a subject for this essay than almost any other product.
This may seem a paradox, but the reason will shortly appear. In
I venture to quote the lines of the American poet Emerson—
There are two great causes tending to make the gold product of New Zealand a peculiarity in itself, and to distinguish it from all other products. The first is that, in the early history of all goldfields—at all events, all goldfields in these colonies—individuals are able to profitably engage in it, and that the cream of the field is gathered by men working almost alone, and with the rudest appliances, having no hope or desire to remain permanently in the country or occupation; and who seek to gather as much as possible in order to convey it to other lands. The second great cause is, that the spirit of speculation is more easily excited in this than in any other occupation; and the market price of scrip and the chances of selling at a profit are the objects of attention, rather than the actual returns from the mines themselves. The first relates almost exclusively to alluvial mining, the second to quartz mining.
What has gold-mining done for New Zealand? It has ruined .thousands of people, and wasted thousands of lives in profitless toil; it has promoted a spirit of restlessness and haste to get rich—so say many. Put the evil it has done first, and then the good. It has brought to our shores the flower of the working population of Australasia and California, if not of the whole world; it has produced a wealth of currency, which has assisted our producers of kind to obtain a better market; it has peopled waste and desolate coasts, which, but for the gold, would have been judged to have been totally uninhabitable, but which will probably be the richest parts of the colony long after the gold has been practically exhausted. From Okarito to Karamea, on the west coast of the Middle Island, there is a bleak, inhospitable coast, without a decent harbour, with hardly a hundred acres in a block of cultivatable land—a tract of country which was almost untrodden by white men twenty years ago, and which, but for the amazing richness of its gold deposits, would be still a terra incognita. There are thirty thousand people settled there now—less, it is true, than formerly, but a people who are now again increasing in numbers and importance—harbours have been made and are being made, coal is being worked out of these harbours, other minerals are being discovered; and, aided by the impetus acquired by gold, the whole district is acquiring an importance second to none in the colony. True it is that coal is taking the foremost place now, which gold formerly occupied; but the coal would not have been developed in this generation but for the population brought by gold. Yet there are towns in New Zealand in which people speak deprecatingly of goldfields, who declare, with the innocence of ignorance, that the colony would be better without them, who lament over the supposed wickedness and disorder which reign there, and who have never heard of "boiling down" being a godsend to sheepowners, because "boiling down" has not had to be resorted to while a goldfield was within driving or carrying distance. Otago can show the same results, and Auckland is now opening up country which would possess no attractiveness were it not for the gold.
Reference has been made to the rude appliances with which the gold-miner works at first, and to his simple mode of extracting the precious metal. The different kinds of mining may be
But great work has been done by the large races constructed by Government, and by private enterprise; and ground that otherwise could not have been tested for years is being profitably worked. To the alluvial miner the best practical aid that can be given is in the form of water and roads; if he has these given him in return for the gold duty, it is not an unjust tax; but, unless it is expended on the particular industry it is raised from, it is as unjust as if sheep-farmers had a poll-tax levied on them, and no others were so inflicted. With the quartz-mining branch roads are the chief aid that can be given. So tardy, sometimes, has been the recognition of the value of a field that ten times the cost of a good road has been spent in packing on horses and parbuckling up river-beds before a chain of dray-road has been constructed; but next to this practical aid, which
The monetary value of the gold exported annually is startling, though it does not come up to that of wool. In
It is impossible to give a practical treatise on gold-mining or on any other industry, but the practical suggestion is contained in the recommendation—roads and water for miners, and instruction and invention in order to prevent loss of gold and waste of labour; rewards for the discovery of new goldfields are now offered; and bonuses for really valuable gold-saving inventions would be of practical value, as the quantity of gold lost by the present imperfect process often represents the difference between success and failure; a thorough revision of the mining laws, which, combined with official lethargy, constantly impede the miner, harass the mining prospector, and involve all in occasional but expensive law-suits; a regular code of mining laws framed on established decisions would be a godsend. As it is, no one knows the view a Warden will take; and, when they have found out the Warden's idea of the law, the District Court too frequently finds the exact contrary, or that some different mode of proceeding should have been instituted. There need be no hurry to exhaust the goldfields: they are not limitless, and will not replenish when once depleted; but the anxiety should be to avoid useless labour and provide against loss of gold. What the people can do to legitimately aid
For the last year the statistics show that there were 12,120 men employed in the colony as miners, at an average wage per man of £76 10s. 5d., reckoned on the gold produced for the same period. Of this number there were 3,443 Chinamen. This appears a very low rate, but it must be remembered that the gold-miners' earnings include cost of machinery, tools, and water for sluicing, and are accordingly considerably reduced. In Great Britain the average earnings of artisans, reckoned in the same way, is only £41 14s. During the year ending the
The gold duty for
The dividends paid in
In the Inangahua the calls made by mining companies amounted to £29,333 6s. 8d., and the dividends to £34,100. The quantity of quartz crushed was 34,349 tons, yielding 23,997oz. of gold, valued at £93,842 7s. 1d. The difference in the figures as to dividends is in the Wardens' and Secretary for Goldfields' reports. These figures, it is supposed, will be sufficient to show the nature of the gold-mining industry as a revenue-and population-supporting one; but for more detailed returns recourse must be had to statistical tables. It will be noticed that the number of Chinese engaged in gold-mining amounts to one-fourth the number of Europeans; and this is a very serious matter, which sooner or later will breed trouble, as ground which was formerly contemptuously left for "a Chinaman to work" is now covetously longed for by the European. Small as the average wages of the gold-miner appear to be, the life has many charms to a working-man; and bare wages earned in one's own claim is infinitely preferable to those earned for an employer.
On the
Here is the mighty force that is to work the greatness of our land. Without it we might struggle nobly, but we could not overcome; with it we can do all that is required to attain our ambition, if that ambition is only set upon what is the true
The demand for coal for steamers is daily increasing. The Westport coal, being most in demand, brings the highest price, yet, so far, the mine ha§ not been profitable to its owners. The causes of this are not far to seek—first, the shallowness of the bar, which prevents large ships being employed; second, the difficulty of working the enormous incline down which the coal is lowered; third, the difficulties in obtaining colliers and the strikes which have taken place. All these causes can be remedied. The harbour loan of £500,000 has been authorized, and £150,000 raised in London at 5 per cent. Extensive works from the designs of Sir John Coode are commenced, increased facilities for lowering coal are being gradually acquired, and, when these two difficulties are overcome, it is to be hoped that
The East and West Coast Railway has been shelved for the present, and has become a question more of party politics than one of political economy. No doubt it will be eventually carried out, when coal carriage by land will vie with water transport. It is a serious question whether carriage of coals by land over such a line will pay; but coal is but one factor in the sum, and the subject of the railway, though hardly to be avoided altogether, is one of such importance, in so many various aspects, that it cannot be treated of fully. It is only a question of time when the railway will be made, hampered by the question on what terms it is to be made. The result cannot fail to be such an union between the East and West Coasts as to make them really one district, each supplying the other with needed staple commodities of life, and each contributing to the other's welfare. At the present time the demand for shipping purposes alone for coal from these mines far exceeds the supply; but, when the mines are fully developed and the coal can be carried in large vessels, the markets open for it are boundless—Australia, New
The aid given by Government to develop this magnificent means of wealth and motive-power to all other industries has been slowly given. Railways have been made, and last year the West-port and Greymouth Harbour Bills were carried; but for ten years the field has been practically neglected, nor was the colony at large awakened to a sense of appreciation of the real importance of these coal deposits. During that time the companies have been impoverished, and more than one has been forced to liquidate.
But, "putting away the things that are behind us," what can be done for the future? The question of a protective duty on coal has been raised and discussed; but this is a, poor help. If we wanted to conserve our stores, as some day we may have to, it might be right from a national point of view; but at present it would be more loss than gain. Direct aid to the companies in the shape of remission of royalties and carriage would meet with much disfavour in the House; and could hardly be carried. Still, the enormous sums invested by the companies have greatly tended to clear the way for future success—to be achieved, perhaps, by those who at present have not a shilling invested; and deserves, if possible, encouragement and recognition. On the other hand, the "shepherding" of coal-mines should be sternly suppressed, and unworked leases cancelled, to be handed over to responsible persons or corporations who could guarantee to work them. The most profitable use for the coal at home will probably be found to be in smelting iron, tin, and copper. New Plymouth has her ironsand, Nelson her copper, and Northern Buller her tin. If, in a small way at first, smelting furnaces were erected near the coal-mines, vessels could bring the ore and carry away metal and coals. The earning of double freight will cheapen the cost of transit, and lay the foundation of larger enterprise. Had this essay been written last year much would have had to be said as to the neglect shown in developing or fostering the coal industry; but, in face of what
The quantities of coal produced from the different mines in the colony are as follows:—
The above twelve returns only include those producing over 10,000 tons per annum. There are ninety-four mines mentioned in the Statistics for
We imported from Newcastle, New South Wales, during the year ending the
By bringing the facts relating to our coal prominently forward, so as to obtain the attention of those possessed of skill and capital, and by this means inducing systematic and scientific working, the coal resources of New Zealand may be assisted in development, and employment found for thousands of honest workers. The Department for Mines has taken steps to have the mineral resources of the colony adequately represented at the forthcoming Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London, and it is believed that much good will result from such an attempt to make our mineral wealth more widely known.
The enormous advantage to the sheep-farmer of having a remunerative market for his carcase-mutton is easily comprehended; and the rapid development of the frozen-meat trade has excited the envy and admiration of our neighbours. In
This will give some idea of the increase since the trade first became established.
To the New Zealand Land Company belongs the credit of first instituting the export of frozen mutton. On the
The New Zealand mutton commands the highest price in the market for frozen meat, and practical proof has been given of the colony's capacity to beat all competition in the production of first-class mutton. There were a good many difficulties to be met with, partly in combatting the reluctance of well-to-do customers to openly prefer imported mutton, and partly in defeating the sharpness of the wholesale dealers in palming off New Zealand mutton as best Welsh and Southdown. But the success of the trial has been so conspicuous and notorious that these difficulties are fast disappearing; but the danger has arisen of a want of reliance to be placed on every shipment, and this has been owing to the failure, or partial failure, of several cargoes. There has been carelessness or accident somewhere—it is difficult to exactly apportion the blame—and not only has heavy monetary loss been incurred, but great damage has been inflicted on the trade generally. As a straw indicates the direction of the wind, so may the following circumstances, which have come under the writer's own knowledge, serve to point out the fault: Sheeps' tongues, tinned, used to be a favourite dish, and they turned out clean, sweet, and so properly cooked that they would peel without the slightest difficulty. Since the firm which supplied them so satisfactorily has been turned into a joint-stock company several tins have been obtained at different times, and they nearly all turned out unsatisfactorily. There were traces of black around the fat; there was a stale flavour about the whole, and the cooking was unequal, some being overdone, some
It is said that the method adopted of freezing is not the best, and that the American process has greater advantages. It is described as consisting of a freezing chamber with double walls, between which is a current of air, and also a supply of asbestos haircloths or other non-conductors. Above the chamber is a reservoir of ice, or some other cooling agent, with an adjacent pump. Cylinders are placed at suitable intervals in the chambers. From the reservoir a pipe runs to the nearest cylinder and enters it at the bottom. Another pipe runs from the top of this cylinder to the bottom of the next, and so on throughout the series. A return pipe connects the cylinder with, the reservoir. The cooling liquid follows the course indicated. From the reservoir it is thrown by gravitation, displacing the warmer liquid therein and forcing it up and over into the bottom of the next cylinder, and so on to the last, whence the pump lifts the warmer liquid back into the ice-reservoir. The cylinders being air-tight, there is no contact with the cooling liquid, and the atmosphere in the freezing chamber may be kept at any temperature. Besides the utmost carefulness in having an efficient freezing-chamber, if is necessary that the sheep should be killed while cool, or "with the bloom on;" and that care should be taken in having the wrappers clean and well made, and that the original form of the carcase should be preserved. On arrival in London a proper receiving store is requisite, in order to obtain a gradual thawing of the mutton, and the removal of any unsightly marks or mildewed appearance.
This trade has sprung up with wonderful suddenness, and has been carried on with a wonderful success: it despises questions of protection or free-trade; it has hardened the price of meat within the colony, but it has not increased it to the regular customer; it only requires a continual supply of material to be not only profitable in itself, but to be the means of prolonging the sheep-farming industry of New Zealand on a large scale to an indefinite extent. Still, the trade requires to be watched with care, as the following extract from a London correspondent's letter will show: "The present state of the frozen-meat market is discouraging in the extreme. Never before has
So far, experiments with beef have not been successful, and the trade can be said to be now confined to mutton. This is, from a general standpoint, to be much regretted, and in some parts of New Zealand, notably in Wanganui, a regular market for surplus large stock would be a godsend: the breeding of cattle there at times is overdone, and is therefore unprofitable. There is a danger of unsuccessful attempts being made to establish meat-freezing factories where circumstances do not
In
Many causes have combined to improve the cattle of this colony, and they will probably compare favourably with any large quantities of cattle in the world for breed. The number in the colony in
This is at present probably the most important manufacture in our colony; but, as there has been comparatively no export of manufactured woollen material, it is difficult to arrive at a correct conclusion as to the actual state of the industry. In ad valorem. In ad valorem upon woollen goods, as we consider this a fair enough set-off against (1) the high rate of colonial interest; (2) the high rate of colonial wages; (3) the cost of bringing out to the colony the necessary machinery, dye-stuffs, and other articles necessary in carrying on the business of a woollen factory. Secondly, we are of opinion that the direction in which your Commission might most materially assist us as woollen manufacturers is by recommending to the Legislature the relaxation of the Employment of Females Act, known as Bradshaw's Act; and we would urge this on your most favourable consideration." They then give reasons at length for being permitted to work their mills longer than eight hours out of the twenty-four. On the whole, it seems they must have been pretty well content then, if this is all they had to complain of. The Factories Act they refer to is still in force, and, while deeply sympathizing with all efforts to make manufactures a success, we can never be forgetful of the overwhelming evil attendant upon working women and children long hours, and the necessity of legislating in order to protect these helpless ones. Not even the establishment of gigantic factories would compensate for the introduction of evils which the English Factories Acts were designed to suppress. In another letter Messrs. Ross and Glendinning urge that coloured yarns used in weaving should be admitted free of duty, as they are a special
It appears, then, that at present the mills in existence are having a speedy sale at profitable prices for all their manufactures; but no doubt their success will lead to the establishment of other mill?—indeed a woollen company has been started lately at Wellington; and that, when they have produced sufficient for home requirements, they will require a larger market; and I hope to show, in the section on trade, how that market is to be obtained. At present it is a matter of great congratulation that this manufacture has been so far a success, and that the goods are so generally admitted to be superior in quality to the imported article of equal price: a strict protective duty would rather tend to impede than assist its legitimate development, and it is not likely to be imposed. We must always bear in mind that to double the cost of necessaries is to perpetuate high wages, to the loss of the employer, without advantage to the labourer. The woollen manufacturers are now turning their attention to the making of clothing, and there cannot be a doubt as to the superiority of their make over ordinary imported goods. Great care is taken as to style, cut, and finish; and it is hard to distinguish some of their goods from tailor-made articles. In boys' suits especially their goods are infinitely superior to what can be ordinarily purchased; and, if the retail buyer could only purchase at a fair advance on factory prices, there would not be a suit of imported goods sold. In order to overcome the difficulty with retail dealers the New Zealand Clothing Factory have retail shops in most towns. But the woollen manufacturers could not do that well, and at the same time sell largely wholesale. Still, the retail dealers should learn, or be taught, that their real interest lies in promoting the sale of New-Zealand-made goods.
The woollen exhibits in the Exhibition command the admiration of all, and the writer's attention was at once taken by the beautiful softness of the material, the good taste displayed in colours and patterns, and the variety of articles manufactured by the New Zealand Clothing Factory. The same remarks apply to the Mosgiel Company's exhibit, where coloured yarns and
Naturally following woollen fabrics, boots and shoes come in. In all the large cities there are boot and shoe factories, and the work turned out, though differing in excellence, is generally most satisfactory. The manufacturers have endeavoured to give a workmanlike finish to their productions, and for neatness and elegance, especially in men's boots, the colonial production compares most favourably with the imported article. Like the woollen manufacture, the boot industry does not appear now to require a higher protective duty, and is rapidly expanding, though in
In
The shoe leathers, bookbinders' leathers, hat leathers, furniture leathers, and manufactured boots and shoes at the; Exhibition are very good, and, so far as it is possible to judge, are equal if not superior to any imported goods. Not having an opportunity of handling or wearing the exhibits, of course appearances were perforce our only guide.
From a population-supporting point of view this industry is the most important in the colony, as the following figures will show: Persons engaged in agricultural and pastoral pursuits, 54,447; in mechanical pursuits, 17,602; in working and dealing in textile fabrics, 11,930; in working and dealing in food and drink, 7,063; in animal and vegetable substances, 4,872; in minerals, 22,710; in undefined labour, 17,822: total, 136,446.
The foregoing figures combine the pastoral and agricultural occupations, and I can get no separate returns. Still, I think it is sufficient for our purpose. Grain is the chief article of export that gives statistical importance to agriculture. In
These returns are truly magnificent, and would lead one naturally to believe that agriculture, especially grain-growing, is the truest and best industry of the colony. But, while it is a
Unfortunately many of the farms in the northern portion of the Auckland Province must be classed as unprofitable, and are only occupied because the owners do not know where else to go to and make a fresh start. After an absence of nearly twenty years I rode the other day from Mahurangi to Mangawai, and the district had actually retrograded from the condition it was in after the first two years of its settlement. There were no roads passable for drays in wet weather, places where former settlers had tried to make homesteads were deserted, the number of settlers had actually decreased, and, were it not for the money circulated by the gum-diggers, and some timber export, the whole country would have been desolate. Near all the towns there are splendid evidences of good farming, carried on in an apparently successful manner, and where dairy produce of all kinds finds a ready sale at remunerative prices. The failures so far have chiefly been where the attempt has been made to
Outside the large grain-growers the most successful farmers are the makers of dairy produce; and evidence is not wanting that systematic improvement in this department is being made. The dairy factories of New Zealand are increasing in number, and the meat-preserving companies are offering inducements to dairy farmers to send their produce to them. Ashburton and other New Zealand cheese is worth £65 a ton in London, while it has fetched as high as £3 11s. 6d. per cwt. At Edendale, Ashburton, Wanganui, Greytown, Carterton, Woodville, and other places cheese factories are in full operation. Butter factories are also springing up, with, so far, satisfactory results. The great aim should be to produce a really first-class article, and allow no temptation of present gain to encourage the export of second-rate goods. The skill and attention this branch of farming is receiving is shown by a perusal of the weekly provincial papers, in which a large space is devoted to the subject, and valuable hints and suggestions constantly thrown out.
Of course successful dairy-farming is, like, other branches, dependent upon means of access to markets or agencies, and it is by opening up the country by railroads and other means of cheap transit that this industry can be encouraged and developed. "Had I not been a helpless cripple," says Sir Julius Vogel, "I would have preached the doctrine of railways from one end of the Island to the other." But railways, politics, and theories are inseparable, and the stern condition against importing such subjects into this essay deters me from following the subject further. Fortunately, however, the struggle is not whether railways shall be made, but merely how they shall be made and financed. One thing seems to be certain, that farming lives where railways or even good roads are, and that it languishes and is avoided where they are not. The proportion of farmers
If the system of only making roads where the present traffic will pay for them is persevered with, farming in many districts where it is at present carried on will languish and fade away. I give one instance. The Karamea Special Settlement, was founded about twelve years ago by Government at a very large expense: men were landed there, supported, and encouraged for years; many of them were quite inexperienced in the work, and many left the district before very long. The residuum have profited by hard experience, and there are at present in the district a number of farmers, who, if they had any opportunity of selling their stuff, would be comparatively prosperous; yet, as a fact, they are absolutely without a road in or out of their settlement, and cannot drive a beast overland to any market. A steamer calls at irregular periods about once a month, and that is all the communication they have with the outer world. There are many settlements in the North Island in just the same condition. Where we have railroads, open land, and
In this trade Auckland has naturally the lead. The magnificent kauri forests, which belong to her alone, give her this supremacy. Dr. Hector states that the forests of New Zealand cover an area of twenty million acres. But the waste that is going on has aroused the anxiety of our statesmen, notwithstanding this enormous supply. The annual report of the Auckland Timber Company for
Besides kauri, the totara, kahikatea, rimu, and silver pine are most valuable for general purposes, Rata makes admirable knees for ship-building, and is too often used for firewood. There are, altogether, about sixty-six different kinds of useful, woods, and about half these are reckoned as adapted for general purposes. The mottled kauri is the most valuable of all, and is getting scarcer every day. We imported in vide report of Royal Commission) .
There is an immense quantity of Woodware manufactured in the colony." The Union Sash and Door Company; as their name implies, produce great quantities of sashes and doors of various kinds, besides mantelpieces and general house-building furniture. The Dunedin Iron and Woodware Company produce more miscellaneous goods with success. Besides these there are woodware steam-mills in every city and town, where timber is turned out in all states, from the rough weatherboard and scantling to the polished table and chiffonier. Furniture-making in the colony has reached a great state of perfection, and the high duty of 17 per cent, ad valorem has given it as much protection as can safely be afforded without declaring for prohibitive duties. The industry is furnishing much employment for lads and youths, many of whom are showing great skill in the work. There is, of course, a desire amongst many well-to-do people to have English furniture, and it is but fair that they should pay for the luxury of indulging their tastes in this respect. This industry will be promoted, along with many others, by finding an outside market, and so proving to New Zealanders that their wares are appreciated by others, and that they need not be at all ashamed of using them themselves. Where that market is I hope to be able to show by-and-by.
Kauri Gum.—In
The indigenous plant, Phormhm tenax, naturally attracted attention to these manufactures. The beautiful flax mats prepared by the Natives were exhibited in London amongst the first trophies of the explorers of New Zealand. Dressed flax, prepared by the Natives, was an article of export for many years; but it has not kept up in quantity, partly because the Natives find other more remunerative employment. Large sums of money have been spent by Europeans in providing flax-dressing machinery, but, as a rule, loss has been the result. In
There has been so much written and said about growing tobacco in the colony that the subject naturally finds a place in this essay, although at present it cannot be said that the attempt to grow and manufacture tobacco has met with very signal success. Yet it seems to have been sufficiently demonstrated that tobacco of the finest quality can be grown in Auckland, and that there is no reason why the whole of the tobacco used in the colony should not be grown in it, unless the revenue steps in and finds, as it did in the distillation of spirits, that the manufacture within the colony entails too great a loss to the revenue. At the present moment the duty on imported tobacco ranks next to that on spirits. The intrinsic worth of the article may be gathered from the fact that a single acre will produce between 1,500lb. and 1,800lb. weight. The duty at present is 3s. 6d. per pound, and in
Comparing this with the duty on spirits, brandy to the value of £77,104 produced in duty £103,774. The total value of spirits was £215,111—duty, £380,326. This is without spirits of wine. The value of the tea imported was £180,301, and the duty (4d.), £73,196. But, although there may be such strong reasons against encouraging the growth of tobacco, these do not weigh equally against the manufacture of the imported leaf; and there are strong hopes of this branch developing into one outlet, at least, for colonial labour, and perhaps favourably affecting the exchanges.
Let us begin by stating the figures represented in this article if the statistics for Hansard. The industry may not rise to prominence for some time; but eventually there is little doubt that it will be an important one in the colony.
Scarcely any country is better supplied by Nature with fish than New Zealand, yet it can hardly be said that the fishery industry is" established on a satisfactory basis. There is a very large importation of preserved fish into the colony both from America and England. In
The following is a list of the various kinds of fish found in the New Zealand market, taken, with some remarks, from the able work of the American Consul, Mr. Griffin, and from Dr. Hector's report: Hapuku, kahawai, red schnapper, schnapper, tarakihi, trumpeter, moki, frost-fish, barracouta, horse mackarel, trevally, kingfish, John-dory, boarfish, warehou, mackarel,. rock cod, gurnet, mullet, sea mullet, wrassy (spotty), butterfish, haddock, red cod, whiting, ling, turbot, brill, flounder, sole, garfish, grayling, smelt, hokopu, minnow, sand-eel, anchovy, pilchard of sardine, sprat, eel (tuna), black-eel, conger-eel, silver-eel, leather jacket, smooth-hound, stingaree, skate.
Of these fish, the hapuku is always a great favourite. It bears a striking resemblance to the celebrated Murray cod, of the rivers of Australia. The hapuku, however, never enters fresh water; but is a deep-sea fish, although often captured near the coast. Its average weight is about 45lb. Specimens have been caught weighing 130lb. The head and shoulders are described as being very delicious. The kahawai, often called the native salmon, afford great sport to anglers. They sometimes weigh between 7lb. and 8lb.; but the meat is dry in the large size. In the early stage of their growth they are spotted like the trout. The schnapper is another very valuable fish. It frequents shallow water, and is caught with hook and line. Its average weight is from 4lb. to 5lb., in some parts running to 10lb. and 15lb. in weight. It is remarkable for its abrupt profile, and the brilliant metallic lustre of its scales. The trumpeter is the best flavoured of all the New Zealand fish, and is very abundant. It is also found in Tasmania and Victoria. The frost-fish is often met with in the market. It is not obtained by fishing, but is found, after cold frosty
Mugil permit), grey mullet: "This mullet excels all other New Zealand fishes in richness, and is now dried and smoked in large quantities for sale in Auckland, where several extensive establishments also exist for tinning this fish. In this form it is highly esteemed, rivalling the American tinned salmon in the market."
The Bill now before the House provides bonuses, namely, for the first 200 tons weight of colonial cured and canned fish, 1d. per pound, and in respect of every extra ton over the first 200 tons, a bonus of id per pound. The Bill also provides for setting apart land-on the coast-line as sites for fishing-vallages; and for conferring certain privileges upon persons entering into the fishing industry; This Act passed, and is now law.
An excellent letter on the subject has just appeared in the New Zealand Mail, from the pen of Mr. A. J. Rutherford, in which he gives returns of the value of the United States fisheries, as under: Oyster fishery, $13,439,000; cod fishery, $4,000,000; Pacific salmon fishery, $3,300,000; whale fishery, $2,636,000; Menhaden fishery, $2,117,000; Alaska, for seal, $1,541,000; mackarel, $1,501,000.
Mr. J. McKenzie, who was commissioned by a Scotch firm of merchants, states "that he found plenty of firm, delicate fish in the Firth of the Thames, near Auckland; northwards he found schnapper, mullet, kahawai, and bream of fine quality. Kaipara Harbour was swarming with the largest and finest mullet in the world. On the coast-line between Kaipara Heads and New Plymouth large shoals of schnapper, mullet, and kahawai are to be found during some portions of the year. Off Kapiti and Main, near Wellington, groper, moki, rock-cod, crayfish, kelp-fish, and butter-fish were found. At Picton Sounds fish
It is proposed to establish fishing stations at Pelorus Sound, Queen Charlotte Sound, and Port Underwood; and certainly no lack of consideration of the important subject of fisheries can be attributed to the Government of the colony. Whether the onsideration has taken a practical form is another matter.
Four species of oysters inhabit the coasts of New Zealand. Of these, the most important is the common rock-oyster, confined almost to the northern half of the North Island. These are largely sent to the southern ports of the colony; and the amount consumed in the district of Auckland would probably not equal that shipped to the southern districts. There have been several Acts passed for the conservation of the oyster fisheries, from
Whaling was, in the early days, an important industry to the colony; but it has so decreased and given way to other branches, and is so unlikely to be revived to any extent, that it does not call for much notice. In
Whitebait is a delicious little fish, found in almost unlimited quantities on .the west coast of the Middle Island, and in some rivers on the East Coast. It was at one time taken in such profusion that it was used for manure. But this, barbaric waste has been stopped, and it is doubted whether the supply is not diminishing. A good deal is sent away by steamers to people residing in the North Island, and an attempt has been made to preserve it, but not with any great success, so far as finding a remunerative sale is concerned. No doubt much information has been collected by the Government upon this important subject of fisheries; and it rests with them, or local governing bodies, to stimulate enterprise by practical assistance, by aiding in the importation of salmon and trout ova, and by providing the necessary skill in promoting its preservation and development. Mr. McKenzie says, in his report, "As a central station for fish-curing and fish-tinning, Stewart Island seems to me to be one of the most suitable places in the world. It commands the best in-shore and off-shore fishing-grounds in the colony. Saw-dust, the proper ingredient for smoking, can be obtained in abundance, for taking it away. There is plenty of timber and water. All that is wanted is population to supply the labour for tinning and curing factories, and a market for the preserved and cured fish. If capital, aided by Government subsidy, will start
Auckland takes the lead in shipping, and it is said that 140 men are regularly employed in the building of wooden steamers, sailing vessels, and boats. The models of the Auckland-built sailing vessels are very beautiful, and it is somewhat surprising that the trade has not extended more than it has done. Wellington has also done good work in building and reconstructing iron steamers: the latest iron steamer built there is the "Maitai," a credit to the colony. The kauri timber of Auckland is well adapted for ship-building, notwithstanding its tendency to shrink all ways after each dressing. There have been eighty-five steamers, altogether, built in the colony, and, with few exceptions, their machinery has been locally made. In
Before long we trust that ships from our colony will no longer be confined to old beaten tracks, but will strike out for ports now seldom or never visited by our ships. In so doing they will extend the trade of our colony in a thousand various
This matter of the trade with Brazil has already called forth several capital papers; and it is sincerely hoped that the practical outcome will be a co-operative combination, in order that a successful opening may be made. Then will the present numbers of our ships and seamen be multiplied, and the demand outside the colony for our goods will stimulate our own appreciation of them. The danger to be avoided is local competition, which may at the outset flood the selected market with New Zealand goods, and cause so discouraging a loss to the shippers as to prevent a continuance of the experiment. This can be easily avoided
But, putting aside the difficulties of annexation—which, from a perusal of the parliamentary papers, appear to be great—and the question of the rights of the natives, a great trade might be developed with the present native possessors of that vast island. They raise large quantities of tropical produce, and have shown themselves willing to exchange their productions for European goods. The products known to exist at present are spices, camphor, gums, sandalwood, ebony, tobacco, sugar, vegetable ivory; besides which, birds of paradise, pearls, tortoiseshells, and other exotic products are to be met with in abundance. There is also evidence of the existence of gold, iron, tin, copper, and other minerals. In the high lands of the interior are plains suitable for breeding cattle and sheep. In exchange for this we
While we have been busy at home it is but natural that we have neglected to look much abroad; but the moment that we can spare time from pressing home calls we should cast our eyes far afield, and throw out our advance posts, to occupy before our neighbours.
Towards Fiji we have looked for some time with annexing eyes. In May this year the Imperial Government declared that they would not entertain the idea; but even since then there are tokens of modification of this view. Looking at the question only in its commercial aspect, and as it affects the development of New Zealand industries, its great importance is apparent. Trade follows the flag, and annexation or federation will become a more burning question than it is at present. The Fijians themselves appear willing and more than willing to join New Zealand; but there has been a feeling with the Home Government to put the drag on her too-enterprising young colonies, and to interpose with difficulties, perhaps to test their sincerity and earnestness. I say nothing about federation with Australia—it is too purely political; but the Fiji and other island trade it is our right to secure, and, if we are in earnest in our endeavours to make ourselves a premier position as traders and manufacturers, we must allow no rival to beat us in the race, but must use all lawful means to secure the prize ourselves. Our trade with Fiji is at present insignificant; it ought to be of first importance. Let us trade with them in everything we deal in. The time would soon come when articles of our own manufacture would take the lead.
Indian Trade.—The opportunity afforded by the Bombay International Exhibition to introduce New Zealand meats and clothing into India is not likely to be neglected. It is proposed to open the Exhibition in Bombay in
The fairest and best way of promoting the manufacture in the colony of various kinds of merchantable commodities is by admitting the raw material duty free. The Customs Act of ad valorem. Again, bookbinders' materials are admitted duty free. Indeed, the following may be taken as a general list of manufacturers' imports admitted free: Aerated-water makers' material, confectioners' material, blindmakers' material, bookbinders' material, bootmakers' material, brassworkers' material, brushmakers' material, carriage-builders' material, dairy utensils, ropemakers' material, copperworkers' material, cotton-clothiers' material, farm implements, hatters' material, saddlers' material, printers'
The above list also points out pretty well what manufactures are established in the colony, and most of these are progressing fairly. Why perambulators should be admitted free, seeing that there are makers in the colony, I cannot explain, except it is to encourage reproductiveness, and take off one of the many burdens of the parents of the occupant of the perambulator. But, with a long list of manufactures which can be made in the colony, the difficulty is to get them known outside the particular district in which they are made. Not long ago I was shown in the South Island a couple of wooden tobacco-pipes made in Auckland. These were of a very superior finish and make, and the price was certainly not more than that of imported articles of the same value. But it cost my friend 3s. 6d. for freight on these two pipes, and I have not seen any others since, though I have no doubt they are on sale in some parts. If the opportunity was taken at this Exhibition time, when people's attention and sympathy are attracted to colonial industries, to vigorously and systematically push the sale of colonial goods, by means of travelling agents, who would combine many lines in their commission, and who would perhaps imitate insurance agents, and give entertaining and instructive lectures upon the necessity for the people supporting colonial industries, much might be done. It is useless to expect importing houses to bother themselves with local manufactures; they may be neutral, but that is as much as we can expect of them, inasmuch as it pays them far better to import direct from large houses at Home rather than to collect from local makers; while the endeavour to be both maker and retailer in a simple shop or store will only be successful as a demonstration of the possibility of making a particular article in the colony, but will not establish it as an industry.
The manufacture of soap has been attended with success in the colony, and has fairly driven out the imported article, except in fancy kinds. Messrs. Kitchen and Son and Messrs. McLeod are, I believe, the largest manufacturers in the colony; and the exhibits of the former firm at the Melbourne, Christchurch, and New Zealand Industrial Exhibition have excited universal admiration. The same outlet for production over home demand is to be found, as for other manufactures, by looking after new markets, as pointed out in the section on trade and shipping. It is estimated that the value of the soap and candles produced in the colony is about £120,000. In
Biscuits.—The total value of plain and fancy biscuits imported in
Beer.—We ought to do a larger export trade in beer than we do; the climate and water of the colony is specially favourable to brewing, and our brewers can turn out an article equal to any beer in the world. That they do not do so always, but rather turn their attention to brewing cheap "swipes," is the fault of the conditions under which they brew. In
Confectionery is largely made in the colony, and fully two-thirds of the total consumed may be said to be of colonial manufacture. In ten years the import of confectionery decreased from £19,178 to £10,190; and this in the face of a largely-increased population, and without the slightest ground for supposing that the "sweet-tooth" of childhood, and of many grown persons, has lost its keenness. In ad valorem.
Jam is now being made extensively in the colony, of good quality, though some manufacturers are accused of mixing pumpkin, turnip, and melons with their jam. Certainly jam
Fruits.—Fruit-growing is an industry for which New Zealand is said to be singularly well adapted. Peaches, apricots, nectarines, plums, melons, and grapes grow luxuriously in the North Island; while apples, pears, and other fruit thrive especially well in the Southern. Yet the retail price of fruit is ridiculously high, and can only be accounted for by the high price of labour, and the demand for a large profit on the part of the retailer. All the reports seem to agree that fruit-growing should prove highly remunerative; and all have to impliedly admit that so far it is not on a satisfactory footing. What is required is systematic cultivation, and proper business arrangements for the disposal of the produce. An irregular supply can never command a profitable market, and a few failures discourage the grower. Fresh fruit preserving, especially peaches, by means of sealed cans, has been established at the Thames; but the article produced cannot yet be said to vie with that of such Californian firms as Cutting and Co., consequently it does not command the same price in the market.
In Aërated Waters and Cordials a large manufacture goes on within the colony, there being seventy-nine factories, employing 228 hands, with an invested capital of £66,900, and making about 650,000 dozen of the various drinks coming under the head of aerated waters and cordials. The value of the aerated water imported in
Linseed, Rape, Canary, and other Oil-producing Seeds.—The growth of linseed would be of great value, and bonuses have
Paints.—A great manufacture of paints is possible to the colony. New Zealand is rich in such requisites as manganese, hematite, copper, ochres, silicates, and kauri gum. Hematite is manufactured at the Thames and Nelson; and is largely used. Our kauri gum comes back to us in the shape of varnish, and might be made at home.
Mimosa Bark.—This is imported largely into the colony, although it could be grown here upon any ordinary soil. There is an unlimited demand for the article in Europe, and the price is increasing. In Victoria mimosa plantations yield a net return of £4 to £5 an acre. The best kinds to grow are the Acacia decurrens, the Acacia pycuantha, and the Acacia saligna. A valuable gum, which has become an article of export from Australia, is obtained from these trees.
Quinine can be grown in open fern-tree gullies to the north of the Auckland Isthmus; and large returns might be looked for from a systematic and careful cultivation of this valuable medicinal plant.
Opium could be grown with profit, and in Victoria careless cultivation has resulted in a profit of £30 an acre. The kinds recommended for this colony are Papaver somnifera and Alpha glabratum. On ordinary soils the plant is of very easy cultivation. It can be sown broadcast and thinned out, or sown in a seed-bed and pricked out. Three or four days after the petals have fallen the capsule is scored with a small knife, and the juice that exudes is scraped off and formed into balls. This is the whole process for preparing the product for market. The Indian exports of opium alone are valued at £13,500,000. The value of Chinese-grown opium is fully equal to that of Indian.
Common Hemlock—Digitalis (Foxglove).—These plants are
Carroway.—This could be easily grown here. It is used in considerable quantities. The same culture that suits common parsley would suffice for the carroway.
Santonine (Worm Medicine), Henbane, Belladonna, Camphor, Laurel and Sassafras Laurel, Liquorice, and Saffron.—These could be all grown and manufactured in the colony. Henbane and belladonna were introduced into Auckland some years ago, and did very well in the gardens. They are of easy culture, especially henbane, as it might be grown by the acre more easily than turnips. The leaves, stems, and seeds of the plant are used. Liquorice is cultivated in Nelson to a small extent. It belongs to the pea family: its cultivation is simple: the root is the portion used. Spanish liquorice is simply the inspissated sap of the root.
Perfumes could be produced from flowers with great advantage, the Oamaru district being admirably suited for the growth of perfume flowers which are not affected by frosts, such as lavender. I understand that the perfumes exhibited by Messrs. Mason, of Auckland, and which" make an elegant appearance, are manufactured from perfumes imported in fat, and distilled in Auckland.
Peruvian Bark (Cinchona Officinalis) could be cultivated in parts of the Auckland Province, and should prove highly remunerative. Some very valuable papers have been written by Mr. Thomas Kirk, F.L.S., on this subject, and on the economic plants which might be cultivated in this colony, from which I have drawn information. Mr. Kirk gives a considerable list of drug-yielding plants suitable for local cultivation, the perusal of which would afford valuable hints to those desiring to add to their profitable crops.
Wattle Bark might be produced with profit in this colony. The wattle flourishes on poor land, and might be grown extensively. The age at which the trees may be stripped with the best advantage has been determined at from five to ten years. The three species from which the bark is derived are the Acacia pycuantha, or the broad-leaf golden-and-green wattle; the Acacia decurrens, or black wattle; and the Acacia dealbata, or silver wattle. The first-named is superior to any other, but is
Cement.—In
Fungus.—This curious article of export deserves passing notice. The export has risen from fifty-eight tons, value £1,927, in Himeola polytricha, easily distinguished from other fungi by its greyish colour outside and reddish-brown interior when dried.
Rabbit-skins.—One of the greatest pests known in the colony—the rabbits—produce an article of export which deserves a place in our list. In
Pottery, Earthenware, Patent Bricks, Tiles, Drain-pipes, Firebricks.—This industry is well-established, and the exhibits in this department at the Exhibition were among the most interesting. Considerable artistic taste has already been shown, but improvement in this respect can be almost boundless. Filters, ornamental jars, tea-pots, flower-pots, cisterns, and mosaic tiles are all exhibited, besides abundance of drain-pipes and coarser wares. Considering the heavy freight on these goods, and the danger of breakage in transit, the colony ought to produce all its own earthenware. Until my visit to the Exhibition I had no knowledge that such things were to be procured of colonial manufacture, and I have no doubt many others were equally ignorant.
The workings in metal were especially noticeable, Messrs. A. and J. Burt's and Messrs. Scott Brothers' exhibits being most attractive. There is a good trade being done now in iron and brass workings, as well as in machinery generally; and in all the large cities there are foundries which reflect credit upon the owners, and are rapidly expanding with an increasing trade. But the complaint is general that the Government railway workshops compete unfairly with private enterprise.
Carriage-making appears to be making good head-way; and, with improved roads and increasing wealth and business development, the trade in carriage-making should prosper exceedingly. The specimens at the Exhibition seemed to be admirable examples of the carriage-builder's art. Wagonette, sulky, spring-trap, and double and single buggy were really equal to anything I have seen in the same lines. Whether the price was also able to compete with foreign makers I was unable learn. Why railway carriages should not be now constructed in the colony is a question which
Paper-making has been established, and rough papers are exhibited. The total value of paper imported was £112,000. Of course much of this will continue to be imported for a long while; but there is printing paper imported to the value of £63,000 which might well be made in the colony, although the fact of its being admitted duty free will militate against the colonial industry being successfully carried on.
Glass.—Two or three glassworks are already established, and make bottles, lamp-glasses, chimneys, &c. The raw material for glass-making abounds, but it has, so far, been found more profitable to collect broken glass for re-smelting. I did not notice any exhibit of glass at the Exhibition, but a company has recently been started at Kaiapoi for the manufacture of glass. The import of glass for
Marble, Slate.—Marble is shown at the Exhibition from Caswell Sound Quarry; and, though it cannot be said to be as fine as Parian, it seems a fairly marketable commodity. Considerable expense has been gone to by the company, and it is to be hoped that the trade will develop into a large and successful one. Slate is to be found in the Kakanui Range, but I am not aware that it has yet been utilized, nor what prospects there are of successfully producing roofing-slates within the colony.
Iron.—So far iron smelting has not been successful, though large sums have been spent, and vast deposits of iron ores exist in the colony. There are very extensive works at Onehunga, but it is too soon to speak positively about them. A large quantity of hematite paint is manufactured from the Parapara hematite ore, and is the most approved paint for covering iron buildings with.
Petroleum.—There seems to be good hope that, before long, this most useful article will be found in payable quantities. In Gisborne works have been going steadily on for a long time; and, though so far no signal success has been met with, there still appears to be good prospect of the shareholders "strikingile" to their own and the colony's advantage.
Lengthy as is the list given and treated of above, it does not cover nearly all the ground that might be gone over, as will be
Some noticeable branches of colonial manufactures, well established, and easily procurable in the colony by those who know where to send for the article required—taken from inspection at the Exhibition, and notes made thereat: Woodware of all kinds, wickerware, turnery; wooden pipes, holders, &c.; confectioners' and carvers' and gilders' moulds; veneers, coopers' ware, billiard balls; medicines, and druggists' goods; pottery—ornamental and otherwise, coal; brass work and ironwork, preserved meat, tallow, neatsfoot oil and trotter oil, lime; soap—common and toilet; candles and oil-cake, blacking, hematite paint, glue, leather of all kinds, bonedust and artificial manures, barbed wire and fixings, farm implements generally of all kinds; cooking-ranges and stoves, steam-engines and pumps; tin-, galvanized, and japanned ware; safes, machine tools, furniture of all kinds, bookbinding and engraving, lithography, wrapping paper, cardboard boxes, violin strings, carriages, buggies, carts, sulkies, &c., harness and leather-work, bricks, lime, cement, rope and cordage, woollen fabrics of all kinds, yarns, boots and shoes, wigs, clothing, taxidermists' goods, jewellery; flour, oatmeal, barley, peas, seeds, and cereals; malt, hops, ham and bacon, biscuits, confectionery; preserved fish, soup, and meats; preserved fruits and jams; sauces, aerated waters, beer, coffee, and spices.
In an address to the New Zealand Manufacturers Association the lecturer points out that, taking our imports roughly at six millions, one and a half millions is for articles which could be produced in New Zealand by merely extending the industries already in existence—that is, for articles which we make ourselves, but do not make enough of; one and a half millions is
Grow wool, grain, and meat for us, and we will send you our manufactures in return!" they cry, in a burst of patriotic and liberal generosity. What could be a fairer exchange than this? But we say," No, though the higher aim may be more difficult at first, and may not be so clear in Cobden-like logic, we prefer the task of creating a compact nation in ourselves, a .heterogeneous whole, which will have a more glorious and in the end more protecting influence than the arcadian simplicity you so strongly recommend." The discussion on federation has done much to open our eyes to our real position among the colonies, and to the really good work that has been done amongst us, and the openings already made in various industries; but, above all, to the natural advantages we possess from our insular position; and how, if we only push on, we shall be able to carry trade ahead of other colonies or nations, not by unfairly driving them out of what legitimately belongs to them, but by
On the other hand the private manufacturer has to contend against insufficiency of capital, trade jealousy, and, above these, with the difficulty of getting his goods into the market. A general trader finds it inconvenient to trade with Auckland for sugar, cement, or hardware, with Dunedin for woollen fabrics, with Wellington for preserved meat; and still more inconvenient to deal with A, a small maker of tinware; B, a small brush
We are now spending half a million a year on education, and he is a bold politician who would dare to advocate a reduction. This is the one sure and certain thing the working-classes have in return for their taxation; and how they value it may be tested by proposing a reduction of the vote. "Education—free, secular, and compulsory" is the system which, after many a fierce conflict, has obtained the support of the many. That some of our fellow-colonists are conscientious enough to refuse to avail themselves of State education, on religious grounds is no objection to the system, though it does credit to those who are willing to pay twice in order to avoid a compromise with their religious convictions. We are training up a generation of thinkers, and we may be certain that a large percentage will be able to show that the opportunities afforded have enabled their natural ability to shine out beyond their fellows. This universal education will undoubtedly tend to make mere unskilled labour scarce; for it must be the veriest dullard in the school-
This, then, is the function of education—to diffuse cultivated intelligence among the masses, so that genius, wherever found, may have its fair chance. The present system may be supplemented more than it is, by instruction in the principles of mechanics and physics, and by paying particular attention to directing the pupils' minds to the study of what has been done before in the way of inventions, arts, and industries; by demanding higher and higher qualifications for the teachers: until the industry of education—which is already highly remunerated in comparison to what it was a few years ago—shall rank among the most elevated occupations in the land.
That nation is in no danger of falling to the rearward which is constantly examining itself, and comparing its progress with that of others. A nation of grumblers is generally a nation of progress. We grumble, but we also exult. "Well, what do you think of the Exhibition?" said I to a friend. "I am proud," said he, "to belong to a colony that can produce such a display of its own industry." The remark was not, perhaps, original—I had heard something like it a good many
A humble suggestion may here be made that a complete catalogue should be printed in large quantities, showing the exhibits, and the judgment passed upon them, the names of exhibitors, and their addresses; and that these catalogues should be distributed throughout the colony, and circulated as largely as possible. This would enable the good effect of the Exhibition to be sustained as long as possible, and probably it would then endure until the time came round for another gathering together of industries. The catalogue should be bound as serviceably as circumstances permitted, and a price fixed which, while securing the Committee from loss, should be low enough to secure a wide demand. Thousands who have been unable to leave their homes would gladly purchase these catalogues, and would avail themselves of the information afforded to aid as far as they could New Zealand industries by purchasing within the colony. People will not buy inferior articles at a high price because they are colonial; but, all other things being equal, I have still faith enough in my fellow-colonists to believe that they will give their own country the preference.
I part with this essay with reluctance, conscious of many defects, and feeling how much better it might have been, considering the greatness of the subject. It is, however, some satisfaction to find, in looking over the pages written, and comparing them with the remarks of His Excellency the Governor at the closing of the Exhibition, that the same idea is conveyed throughout—namely, that not in sudden, desperate efforts to achieve a position as a great manufacturing country, but rather in a constant pressing onward, is the desired end to be achieved; and that the retrospect of the last twenty years gives us the greatest possible encouragement for the future.
Return showing the Number, Tonnage, and Crews of Vessels entered and cleared at New Zealand Ports during the Year
Entered.
Insignificant figures are omitted.
In dealing with the subject selected for the essay I take it that the condition relative to the present position of the industrial resources of the colony means that a brief review of the point at which the various principal industries of New Zealand have arrived—as evidenced by the late Exhibition—will be considered sufficient. At any rate, I purpose dealing with it in this way, as I feel that the matter of fostering the local industries now at work, and of encouraging those which may hereafter be developed, is by far the most important branch of the subject to which the essayist can direct his attention in the hope that good may result therefrom.
Viewed in this light, I will first refer to what cannot but be regarded as the most important of all our industries—namely, the conversion of the raw material of wool into the manufactured articles. No doubt the mineral resources of the country, and the manufactures arising therefrom, must be regarded as very important factors in the sum of prosperity of the colony; but still they are subsidiary to a large extent to that industry which profitably absorbs so large a proportion of our chief staple product.
Beginning in but a small way, the woollen factories of Kaiapoi, Mosgiel, and Roslyn have placed the industry to which
With regard to the manufactured article produced by the woollen companies, what I take to be the greatest test of the present good position of the industry is the fact that not only have they succeeded in almost entirely superseding the imported article in the colony itself, but that a large and increasing trade has sprung up in Australia for the products of the looms at Kaiapoi and elsewhere. One branch of manufacture in which, of late years, great advances' have been made by our local woollen factories has been that of ready-made clothing. This has developed into a most important item in the work of all the factories; indeed it may be said that it now forms the most important branch of local industry comprised under the head of "Woollen Manufactures." In the production of blankets, also, the factories have made marked progress; so much so that their products are now inquired after all over the Australasian Colonics, in preference to those manufactured in England or elsewhere.
Let me here briefly, and without going into statistics too deeply, trace the rise and progress of one of these factories—namely, that of the Kaiapoi Woollen Company. I select this
Thus, I take it, the colony can be fairly congratulated upon the progress made by its chief industry. All who saw the magnificent display made at the Wellington Exhibition by the three principal factories to which reference has been made will, I am sure, agree with me in awarding the palm for importance to the woollen industries of New Zealand. Given the conditions to which I will refer later on, and the future prospects of our woollen industries must be such as to exercise a very important influence on the future prosperity of the colony as a whole.
Next in order I come to the metal industries, and here
In an important branch of this industry the advance made in an almost incredibly short period has been most marked. I refer to the production of agricultural implements, an industry which is daily assuming very large' proportions amongst us, particularly in the southern part of New Zealand. It is not so
But it is not alone in the production of what I may term the more common class of implements—those, I mean, in everyday use—that our colonial manufacturers have beaten the imported article. In the higher branches of the production of agricultural machinery they are rapidly invading the territory at one time exclusively occupied by the Home firms, and gradually but surely forcing them out of the market. This is the more noticeable in the production by a colonial firm—Messrs. Reid and Gray, of Dunedin—of a reaper and binder which has worthily held its own in the trials made as against those manufactured in America and elsewhere. The impetus which would be given to the local industry of the iron trade by the coming into extensive use amongst our farmers of the colonially-made reapers and binders in place of the imported it is almost impossible to over-estimate; and, what is of still greater importance, a very large sum of money which now annually finds its way from the colonies to America would be retained here and spent within our own borders.
Thus it appears to me that the present position of the second of our staple local industries, though not what it ultimately must become, is yet exceedingly satisfactory from two points of view—(1.) That the growth of the industry in our midst has provided employment for a large class of the community, and must, from the large field for expansion which is
The action taken by the Government with reference to the more complete opening up and utilization of the vast coal deposits on the west coast of the Middle Island by the improvement of the harbours will have a very great effect upon the future of all local industries connected with the working of metals, and, indeed, all industries of whatever kind, because there, is no department of human industry into which the use of coal as a means of manufacture does not enter either in a direct or indirect degree.
The industries which provide for the utilization of our timber resources properly claim attention next, and it is most satisfactory to be able to record that much progress has been made therein. It is true that the vandalism which has used for the fire and the commoner purposes of station requirements the finest woods, perhaps, in the world for furniture and ornamental purposes has to a very large extent decimated our forests; but the growth amongst us of industries which encourage the use of our local timbers in the construction of the more elaborate and ornamental articles of furniture has put a stop to this practice. The exhibits at the Wellington Exhibition of furniture and woodwork from various parts of the colony, and more especially the comprehensive exhibit of the Dunedin Woodware Company, showed conclusively that our woods are well adapted for the manufacture of the more luxurious articles of household furnishing and adornment, as well as those in daily use. The whole collection of exhibits at Wellington under the head of wood ware proved that great progress has been made in this as well as the other departments of local industry which I have passed under review. The importation of furniture from England, which at one time used to be largely carried on, has now all but ceased, the only exception being some stray consignments which now and again find their way to the colony, but which, from the unre-
With the institution of the direct steam service a new class of addition to our population has conic amongst us. The class of assisted or free immigrants, who landed with just enough money to pay a few weeks' rent until work was obtained, and in some cases not even possessing that small amount of capital to start with, has disappeared, and instead we are receiving as accessions to our numbers persons who possess a moderate amount of capital, and who are able and willing to expend some portion of it in making their new homes attractive and comfortable. The advent of this class must have the effect of stimulating to a very great extent the development of the industry of which I have been speaking, and this development in its turn will re-act on the general prosperity by the increased labour which will be absorbed, and the consequent addition to the spending power of the community.
The leather-and boot-manufacturing industry, from the great progress made by it, naturally claims some degree of attention. The development in this industry has been remarkably rapid, and large factories, employing an immense number of hands, have sprung up like magic in the various centres of population. The experiments which are in course of progress to test the suitability of some of the barks of our native trees for tanning purposes will, if successful, be the means of introducing a new branch of industry in connection with this one. As to the manufactured article, the display made at the recent Exhibition by Messrs. Lightband, Allan, and Co., the Northern Boot Factory, and others, most emphatically shows that in this is well as in other departments our local industries can well hold their own. The future of the industry under notice cannot but be a most important one, as it supplies all our present wants, and one which grows with the population. If the experiments alluded to are found to answer, then a great reduction in the cost of production of leather will be effected, and a consequent lower price to the purchaser of the manufactured article will no doubt follow. Whilst on the subject of leather, it may be noted that anew industry has been developed recently
I now come to an industry which is of immense importance to the welfare of the community at large, but in respect to which there is, I regret to say, not so much progress to note as with regard to others. I allude to the mining industry. As I shall have to refer more particularly to this question when dealing with the best means of fostering and encouraging the development of our industrial resources, I will not do more than glance at the salient points which present themselves when considering the matter. It seems to me that the mining industry of the colony will, in the future, occupy somewhat the position of the ugly duck in Hans Christian Andersen's fairy story; and that, though we have treated it hitherto with a great deal of neglect, it will yet prove to be the means of largely increasing the prosperity of the colony. Let me here explain that by mining industry I do not mean the mere digging for gold, but rather the development of those vast stores of mineral wealth which are known to exist in various parts of the colony. It is true, as already noticed, that the Government have taken a most important step in the right direction by making such improvements in the coal harbours of the West Coast as will enable the coal deposits there to be utilized to their fullest extent. There can be no doubt that, when these works are completed, the export of coal from New Zealand will be largely increased. As a gas coal there are few to surpass it. This has been conclusively proved by a test recently instituted in comparison with New South Wales coal. The production of gas per ton of the New Zealand coal amounted to 11,928ft.; whilst the same quantity of New South Wales coal only produced 9,000ft. As a steam coal also it will compare favourably with the best Welsh. Thus it may be assumed that, so far as the production of coal is concerned, this branch of industry is making fair progress, and has before it an encouraging future. But when we turn our attention to the vast natural resources of the colony, com-
Another industry which has grown up amongst us during the past few years is that of the export of frozen meat. The natural growth of our flocks pointed to the inevitable necessity, at no distant date, for the provision of a market beyond our local ones, and the discovery of the process now applied to the exportation of frozen mutton to England supplied the means to that end. The present condition of the industry, it is true, is not so bright as could be wished; but, though this is so, it has supplied a means for the disposal of our surplus stock which could not have been so profitably supplied by any other industry. Boiling-down or preserving would not have answered the purpose, neither would they have insured such good pecuniary returns to the flockowners of the colony. The future of the industry depends in a large measure on the colonists themselves. If the present method of shipment and distribution in England be continued then the flockowner cannot expect to see any improvement on present prices, nor will the demand increase; as it undoubtedly would if a different means were adopted of dealing with the carcases after they reach their destination. To enable the meat to reach the thousands of consumers who will only be too glad to have the opportunity of purchasing it, shops for the sale of New Zealand meat and that alone will have to be established in the principal centres of population throughout the United Kingdom. These once established, with a kind of co-operative cold stores belonging to the New Zealand shippers, and working in concert with the shops, and the future success of this industry, which is destined
I have dealt specifically with all the industries which seem to me to call for individual mention. Let me now briefly, before touching upon the subject of the best means of fostering the development of them, group together some which I think deserve at any rate a passing notice. One of these which has during the past made great progress, and to a large extent supplanted the imported article, is the candle and soap manufacturing industry. A means of judging of what has been done in regard to this industry was afforded by the exhibit of Messrs. Kitchen and Co. at the recent Exhibition at Wellington. Those who remember the very crude efforts which were made some years ago in the direction of supplying the market with a better class of candles, so as to do away with the necessity for sending so large a sum of money annually out of the colony for the imported article, will note what a stride has been made, to place the industry in the position in which it now is. The colonial manufacturer is able to turn out an article quite equal to the best, if not superior to some, of the second-class imported brands. All that is wanted to open up for this industry in the future a large and increasing field of operation is the dissipation from the minds of the people the absurd notion that because an article is colonially manufactured, it must of necessity be of that description known as "cheap' and nasty." The demand in both branches of this industry is exceedingly great, and once the colonial article can obtain a footing—as from its quality and price it is bound to do
Another industry which has up to the present achieved a very satisfactory position is that of the manufacture of pickles, jams, and preserves. So rapid has been the success attendant upon the establishment in various parts of the colony of local manufactories, that the importation of these articles may be said practically to have ceased. Only one obstacle at present seems to stand in the way of the growth of the industry to a magnitude yet undreamt of, and that is the difficulty of obtaining the raw material in the shape of vegetables and small fruits. It seems almost inconceivable, in a country like this, where every cottager possesses a piece of garden ground of more or less extent, even in close contiguity to our cities, that this difficulty should exist; but the fact remains that it does do so. Still, in spite of this drawback, the industry has made great strides, and the article produced will bear favourable comparison, alike in price and quality, with those imported. The present position of it is this, that it affords remunerative employment to a large number of persons; it has stimulated the bringing into work of a new industry in the shape of glass-making, and it will also be the means of inculcating on the small-cottager class habits of industry by offering a ready and remunerative market for the produce of their gardens. In the future, when these advantages come to be better understood and more fully recognized and taken advantage of by the people as a whole, there can be no doubt this will be a most important industry, and one which will have a very marked effect upon the mass of the people for good in the direction I have indicated.
The pottery and clay-goods industry is another in which marked progress has been made, and the position of which is now such as to cause a feeling of satisfaction. This result has been aided materially, I may note, by the well-timed liberality of the Minister for Public Works, who has reduced the rates of carriage on the lines between the potteries and the market. Nor alone has the industry achieved a good position as regards the commoner class of goods, such as drain-pipes, flower-pots, &c.; but in the more ornamental branches a marked degree of excellence is displayed. This is especially notable in the production recently by some of the colonial potteries of high-
Though perhaps not a local industry, yet one which will, I think, be of great value to the colony as a whole, I cannot pass over the apiarian industry, which has been so largely and successfully prosecuted in the northern part of the colony. Though only yet in its infancy, it is affording employment to a number of people, and also making remunerative use of land from which perhaps, except in this way, no return would be received. Though only a small item in the sum of our industrial resources, we cannot afford to despise even the day of small things, and I look forward with very great confidence to the apiaries of New Zealand in the future (though not rivalling the larger industries of woollen or iron manufacture) playing no inconsiderable part in the general prosperity of this young and vigorous nation.
A brief mention of one or two industries which have been recently started and I will close this part of my subject. An industry—the only one in the colonies, so far as I can learn—has been started in the Middle Island, which bids fair to be of very great importance, and which would, had it been longer established here, have claimed far more attention than being left so late in the day: I refer to the manufacture of carpets, which, in a small way, it is true, has recently been started by Mr. N. Mitchell, at Canterbury. Of the present position of this addition to our industrial resources one can say but little, as it has not yet got out of its infancy. It may, however, be noted that the articles produced are of excellent quality, and that the patterns are both handsome and artistic. The demand at present, though fairly remunerative, is not by any means what it will be when the industry gets properly started. There is this about it, that it adds yet another to the list of those industries which will ultimately put an end to the necessity which now appears to exist, in some degree at least, for our sending our wool away in the raw state to be manufactured elsewhere, and returned to
I now come to what I consider the most important branch of the subject under consideration—namely, "The best means of fostering the development of the industrial resources of New Zealand." I think the methods by which we can best achieve this end may be placed under three heads—(1) The development, by means of roads, &c., of the large mineral resources of the colony; (2) the encouragement of local industries and productions by the imposition of such import duties on all those articles which can be manufactured in the colony as will afford aid to the local producers, and by a liberal application of the system of bonus for the; starting of new industries; and (3) the education of the people by the encouragement of the formation
Dealing with the first of the three methods which I have indicated, the paramount importance of the vast deposits of mineral wealth which are known to exist in these Islands with regard to our local industries will at once be admitted. We possess all the metals used in manufactures within our own borders, and in abundance; but we have done little or nothing towards their development. Boards have been made and large sums of money expended in opening-up country for purely agricultural or pastoral purposes—both very desirable adjuncts to the settlement and development of the country; but where have we done anything practical towards bringing the vast stores of mineral wealth we possess nearer to the centres of population? Except in the one instance of the construction of harbours on the west coast of the Middle Island, little or nothing has been done. We have deposits of copper, of ironstone, and other valuable minerals lying practically untouched and undeveloped—a magnificent industry starving for the expenditure of a few thousand pounds in opening-up the country and making the regions where the minerals are known to exist accessible. Yet there is scarcely one of our local industries to which I have referred in the first part of this essay but would be benefited by the more thorough development of our mineral resources. In the one article of coal alone the benefit which would accrue to all industries from an increased supply being able to be obtained at a lower rate can scarcely be estimated. And so with reference to the other minerals which we possess. Their development would naturally lead to the establishment of manufactures for the conversion of the raw ore into the article of commerce. Factories would spring up on all sides, employing labour and, above all, turning to profitable use what is now lying useless in the earth. Other and kindred industries would be stimulated by the production locally of machinery and partially manufactured articles for ultimate conversion into the thousand forma used in trade, and thus a most important factor in the work of fostering and developing our industrial resources would be sup-
What would result with regard to other minerals were a policy of development extended to them may be gathered by the consideration of the enormous impetus which the only partially-completed works on the West Coast have given to the coal trade—ran impetus which will be as nothing, compared with what will result when the full extent of the scheme of harbour improvement is carried into effect. Even now we are enabled to go into the Australasian market and not only compete with the Newcastle coal, but realize an increased price per ton when compared therewith. As yet we have but a superficial knowledge of our mineral wealth; but that is sufficient to afford a very good basis for the belief that in its practical development exists one of the principal means of success in the fostering and encouragement of our industrial resources. We have confined our attention in the past too much to the development of the two industries of wool-and wheat-growing. Experience has bitterly taught us that we cannot rely on these alone for the prosperity or future greatness of our community, because it is an admitted fact that the nations achieving the greatest amount of success in the world's history have been those in which manufactures have held the premier position. No country devoted exclusively to the production of wool or of cereals has ever taken a high position among its fellows. With this as our guide, and remembering how intimately and indissolubly the interests and advancement of our local industries are bound up and associated with the development of our mineral resources, this latter, it seems to me, should be the main plank in the platform of any policy having for its object not alone the fostering of those industries which at present exist in our midst, but the encouragement of the foundation of new ones.
Next in importance to the development of our mineral resources as a method of encouraging and fostering local industries comes that which I have indicated under the second head. That is the imposition of duties on all articles that can be manufactured in the colony. This, I take it, would be found to be a very important means of encouragement to the local manufactures, enabling them to get over that period of their
Another important method of stimulating local enterprise in the matter of developing our industrial resources is by means of bonuses offered by the Government for the production of a certain quantity of any locally-manufactured article. Our experience in the past shows that the policy of offering bonuses is a wise and prudent one, and calculated to prove of benefit to the community as a whole. I need hardly point to the example of the Kaiapoi Woollen Factory as an example of this. The bonus comes at the most critical portion of the history of an industry, just when capital for the further development and perfecting of it is most urgently needed, and many of our flourishing industries would not to-day be in existence were it not for the timely assistance thus afforded. The expenditure in the past of a few thousands of pounds from the public purse has been the means of establishing upon a firm basis in our midst industries which have proved of inestimable benefit to the whole colony, and therefore I cannot but regard the system of offering bonuses by the Government in aid of local industries as most valuable in the direction of their fostering and encouragement.
In carrying out this policy it is, however, necessary that a fair amount of liberality should form an essential part of it. Whilst care is taken that the projectors of the local industry
I now come to the third and last branch into which I have divided this portion of the essay. There can be no doubt whatever that the formation of industrial associations in our cities and towns exercises a great influence for good in the direction of fostering the development of the industrial resources of the colony. It is to them that the projector looks for assistance to bring his particular industry under the notice of the public, and it is to them that he looks for advice. By means of papers on various subjects, the holding of exhibitions, and, above all, by the collecting together, as has been done in Christchurch, the nucleus of a permanent exhibition of industrial products, these associations do a large amount of good in the direction of educating the people as to the extent and variety of our industrial resources. The ignorance of the great bulk of the people as to what we really can do for ourselves in the matter of local productions is the great stumbling block in the way of the fuller progress of the local industries already established amongst us, and the growth of others yet to be projected.
I venture to say that to ninety-nine out of every hundred visitors to the Exhibition at Wellington the display of colonial products came upon them as an utter surprise, and that they had no idea that half the articles there exhibited could be and were being produced in the colony. It is this ignorance, coupled with the unreasoning and unaccountable prejudice which exists amongst the great bulk of the people with regard to anything
"Colui Che fece per viltate il gran rifiuto!"
The great refusal branded by Dante as worthy of eternal condemnation, has been imputed to various criminals.
For the English, in modern time, there exists one great refusal, the viltate—or "indelible disgrace"—of which must formally remain with Mr. Gladstone, though he had accomplices who must, in varying degrees, bear with him the shame.
They who called General Gordon to extricate them from embarrassments in Egypt, who pledged themselves to support him both in England and in Egypt; they are the men who, by their "great refusal" to keep faith with him, have earned their place among the infamous in history.
But it seems now that, on the presumption that the public memory is as treacherous as themselves, they or their parasites deem it safe to deny that, in refusing to let Zebehr Pasha go, on Gordon's demand, to Khartoum, Mr. Gladstone and his henchman Lord Granville broke faith with Gordon and disgraced their country.
A brief statement of the facts has, therefore, become necessary. The victim of the Ministry had, in tapis, and I was bound to go if the King asked me, which he now has. I have telegraphed home to ask whether Her Majesty's Government will let me go." Receiving a telegram to the effect that he was permitted to go, Gordon hastened to Brussels, arriving there on the refuses to sanction your going Congo,' which makes all the difference! It now depends on what the King will do. I promised him to go, and go I must unless he will let me off."
On the same evening he wrote again, "I saw the King to-night, and sequence is I have to resign my Commission and go to Congo next month."
It may be remembered that for a time the public were led to believe that Mr. Gladstone's Government would exact the penalty alluded to by Gordon, although, as Gordon had made his final promise to the King, on faith of a telegram purporting to emanate from the Secretary of State, it would have been ungenerous if not unjust to drive from the army on such grounds a man of whom an English General has been heard to say that, not since the days of Hannibal has any commander done such great things under such disadvantages as to means. After an interval of suspense, it was announced that the Government would not proscribe Gordon for keeping faith.
The incident is instructive with regard to the subsequent "great refusal," for it shows that, rather than break faith, Gordon would sacrifice all worldly prospects, even though a deceitful telegram had led to his promise. Also it shows that though so scrupulous in keeping personal faith, he devotedly recognized the paramount claims of his country; and when appealed to by Gladstone and his colleagues in the name of duty he promptly flew to their aid. They, meanwhile, to obtain his help, made unlimited promises; and having bound him to the stake in the name of duty, obstinately refused to perform that which they had promised, and callously looked on while he lingered, starving, until treachery, foreign and domestic, put an end to his earthly sufferings, and sealed the "indelible disgrace" of his betrayers. The hurried manner in which Gordon was called from Brussels to London when the Ministry was in distress, can have been forgotten by none. Summoned suddenly he obeyed as suddenly, and was on his way to Khartoum on the
It is recorded in a volume written by the Rev. Reginald Barnes and a coadjutor Charles George Gordon. (Macmillan & Co. London,
Mr. Gladstone, who was out of town, was communicated with by telegram. Perhaps a cautious man careful for himself might have dictated terms which even so suave a shuffler as Lord Granville might have found it hard to evade.
But Gordon was thinking only of life which might be saved, and of the honour of his country. In such services, both in counsel and in the field, his sagacity was expended, and not for himself.
But though he was not self-seeking, the crisis in which his services were sought was so imminent, that there are ample public records to convict his betrayers.
The destruction of the army under Hicks; the beleaguering of the Egyptian garrisons; and the probability, if not the certainty, that men, women, and children would be ruthlessly massacred under the immediate superintendence of an English Government had pressed upon the public conscience.
To pacify that conscience the Ministry took pains to declare that they gave Gordon a free hand, and guaranteed to him unconditional support in such measures as he might deem necessary. His mission was expressly mentioned in Her Majesty's Speech to Parliament on the
Even if the responsibility of the Ministry for these words were not undoubted, the addresses in both Houses in reply to the Speech would have bound both them and the majorities in the Houses. Each address gave thanks for the information that Her Majesty had despatched General Gordon, and "had permitted him to act in the execution of the measure" of withdrawing from the Soudan.
On the 6th February, Mr. Gladstone told the Commons that Gordon had "full power to take all measures, civil and military, which he may think neecssary."
The Lord Chancellor told the Lords (12th February), "One reason why we have availed ourselves of the services of that heroic man, General Gordon, is because he, with his vast knowledge of the country and great influence over the tribes and chiefs, was better able than any other man to say by what means a policy of conciliation and pacification might succeed in extricating the different scattered garrisons from the dangerous positions in which they were, and withdrawing them," &c. In their distress, the
The "great refusal" which must doom them and their accomplices to the worst malebolge of history, is their obstinate refusal to permit Gordon to act, though they were thus solemnly pledged.
The general condition of Egypt and those Soudanese provinces which may be treated as portions of Egypt, or Egyptian territory, must be borne in mind. In
How he toiled against rapine and slavery; administered justice; overcame in the field; and established a moral supremacy which was a power in the minds of men equal to that which the terror of his military skill inspired, may be gathered from Dr. Birkbeck Hill's book.Colonel Gordon in Central Africa. Fourth Edition. (London: De la Rue & Co.
Whether he could have conferred permanent peace on the country, if financial blunders and European intrigues had not brought about the deposition of Ismail in
While he controlled the Soudan, the English Government were able to make (
Before Gordon appeared there, the most powerful Arab chief had been one Zebehr Pasha, who traced his descent "through forty generations from Abbas, uncle of the prophet,"Contemporary Review,
Zebehr himself, after trading and fighting in the Soudan, routed a powerful chief, captured a city—Mandugba—and secured the allegiance of neighbouring petty sultans, or rulers. Professedly an encourager of commerce, Zebehr, like all other rulers in those regions, was a slave-owner, and his birth, reputation, ability, and success, made him pre-eminent. He pretended Ibid., p. 582.
There is, perhaps, no reason to believe that he was worse in principle than other rulers in the land, but his talent made him more powerful for evil, or for good.
In
Dafir Pasha, then Egyptian governor of Khartoum, sent a Commission to inquire as to the death of Belial, and the result was that Zebehr's excuses were accepted.Colonel Gordon in Central Africa, p. xxxix.
The German traveller, Dr. Schweinfurth, saw and described the horrors of the slave-trade; the position of the slave hunters; and the petty sultans who ruled where slave caravans passed to and fro.
Zebehr was, he said, "surrounded with a Court that was little less than princely in its details" . . . all visitors were conducted into carpeted divans "by richly-dressed slaves."
All the petty sultans were slavers. Zebehr's army was composed of slaves; and we learn from General Gordon's diary, in Dr. B. Hill, p. 351.
Dr. Schweinfurth summed up the matter thus: "An ineradicable propensity to slave-dealing has always shown itself in every Government official, be he Turk or Egyptian."Heart of Africa, vol. i., p. 383.
As regarded complicity with slavery, there was no difference between one Arab and another throughout the Soudan.
The resolution to abandon the territory to the caprices or cruelty of the Arabs was not conceived by the Khedive and his advisers.
Before they appealed for Gordon's help the Gladstone Ministry had compelled the Khedive to agree to abandon the Soudan. They had thus renounced the convention of
Lord Granville's "instructions" to Gordon in London on the 18th January (woe worth the while when such a man could give instructions to such another!) were vague: "You will consider yourself authorized and instructed to perform such other duties
The vagueness of Granville was fortunately corrected by the incisiveness of Gordon, who, while journeying on board ship on the 22nd January, recorded some facts as to the stipulations made with him by the Ministry in London on the 18th:
"My idea is that the restoration of the country should be made to the different petty Sultans who existed at the time of Mehemet Ali's conquest, and whose families still exist. . . . The most difficult question is how and to whom to hand over the arsenals of Khartoum, Dongola, and Kassala, which towns have, so to say, Blue-Book Egypt, No. 7, no old standing families, Khartoum and Kassala having sprung up since Mehemet Ali's conquest."
Colonel Stewart, who had accompanied Gordon from London, and who had previously been employed in the Soudan, independently supported Gordon's views. He wrote(22nd January): "I have carefully read over General Gordon's observations, and cordially agree with what he states. . . . As it is impossible for Her Majesty's Government to foresee all the eventualities that may arise during the evacuation, it seems to me the more judicious course to rely on the discretion of General Gordon and his knowledge of the country. I, of course, understand that General Gordon is going to the Soudan with full powers to make all arrangements as to its evacuation, and that he is in no way to be interfered with by the Cairo Ministers."
Another Blue-Book(No. 6) contains a despatch from Sir Evelyn Baring(25th January) to Gordon, which irrefragably proves that the "abandonment" policy was directly dictated by Mr. Gladstone's Government. " You will bear in mind that the main end
the evacuation of the Soudan. This policy was adopted after very full discussion by the Egyptian Government, on the advice of Her Majesty's Government."
Sir Evelyn proceeded to say, with regard to Gordon's memorandum as to restoring the country, &c.: "In this view the Egyptian Government entirely concur. . . . But the Egyptian Government have the fullest confidence in your judgment, your knowledge of the country, and your comprehension of the general line of policy to be pursued. You are, therefore, given full discretionary power to retain the troops for such reasonable period as you may think necessary. . . . In undertaking the difficult task which now lies before you, you may feel assured that no effort will be wanting on the part of the Cairo authorities, whether English or Egyptian, to afford you all the co-operation and support in their power."
Nor was Lord Granville less effusive. Long after his receipt of Gordon's memorandum he desired Sir Evelyn Baring(Blue-Book No. 12,
"All co-operation and support in their power" was, therefore, pledged to Gordon by Egyptian authorities, with approval of Mr. Gladstone's Government. In the language of the Speech from the Throne, he was "permitted to act." No limitation, as to the local authorities he was to set up in the Soudan, was implied in his sanctioned memorandum, or imposed upon him by the Egyptian or English Ministries. It was undoubted that, whatsoever appointment he might make, his hand was to be strengthened from Egypt and from England.
In Egypt the promises made were loyally respected. On the 26th January the Khedive publicly proclaimed(Blue-Book No. 12, p. 28) that Gordon was to be obeyed in all things; made him Governor-General of the Soudan("by reason of your perfect knowledge of that country"); and charged "all the Mudirs, Governors, Cadis, Ulema, Notables, Merchants, Bedouin Sheiks, and all natives and Bedouins of the Soudan" to obey Gordon, and follow his advice in all things.
On the 29th January, Nubar Pasha wrote to Gordon: "We will do all that you wish."(Ib., p. 79.)
On the 6th of February Gladstone had informed Parliament that Gordon had been appointed "Governor-General of the Soudan For a specimen of the manner in which Lord Granville and Sir C. Dilke respected their faith, personally plighted to Gordon, see the Blue-Book No. 16 of Lord Granville telegraphed forthwith(11th February) that "Her Majesty's Government are of opinion that General Gordon should not at present go beyond Khartoum." The dutiful, but much-thwarted Gordon telegraphed(12th February) that he would not go farther to the south than Khartoum without Sir E. Baring's permission. But how did this supervision and constraint agree with Mr. Gladstone's and with Sir C. Dilke's protestations in Parliament?for the purposes described in the Queen's Speech, with full power to take all measures, civil and military, which he may think necessary."(Hansard, vol. 284, p. 98.) On the 12th February he added "It is no exaggeration, in speaking of General Gordon, to say that he is a hero. . . . It is no exaggeration to say
no less than twenty-nine thousand persons. paying the military service to Egypt. The House will see how vast was the trust placed in the hands of this remarkable person. We cannot exaggerate the importance we attach to it. We were resolved to do nothing which should interfere with this great pacific scheme; the only scheme which promised a satisfactory solution of the Soudanese difficulty, by at once extricating the garrisons, and reconstituting the country upon its old basis, and its local privileges. It was our duty, whatever we might feel as to a particular portion of the garrisons, to beware of interference with Gordon's plans generally, and before we adopted any scheme that should bear that aspect, to ask whether in his judgment there would or would not be such an interference." In another part of the same speech, referring to the Soudan and its inhabitants, Gladstone quoted Gordon as "a man whom I look upon as by far the highest authority on the subject." Two days later(14th February) Mr. Gladstone said—"I have already stated, in the most distinct manner, that substantially Her Majesty's Government are in the strictest way responsible for the action of General Gordon"—and unreservedly reaffirmed that Gordon was entitled to the unquestioning support of the Government:—"The direct action and direct functions in which General Gordon was immediately connected with this Government are, I think, pretty much absorbed in the greater duties of the large mission which he has undertaken under the immediate authority of the Egyptian Government, with the full moral and political responsibility of the British Government." On the 14th February also, another Cabinet minister(one of those who pledged themselves in person to Gordon in London on the 18th January), Sir Charles Dilke, told the House in reply to Mr. Stanhope's questions as to Gordon's instructions—"I reply that General Gordon drafted his own instructions. . . . Believing him to be the highest authority, that he knew more of the conditions, and that he was better able to form a judgment on the subject than anybody else, we asked him to draft his own instructions. We showed that he had the highest confidence which could be placed in any man. General Gordon has had all the support for which he asked. He will have, I make
Sir M. Hicks-Beach having commented upon the dangerous duties thrust upon Gordon, Sir John Lubbock, with fatal prophecy, said "It is impossible not still to feel much anxiety for General Gordon himself, but I believe that danger is greater from treachery behind than from any open foe in front."
In the House of Lords, Lord Cairns, though unprescient of the "treachery behind" which Lord Granville was soon to practise, said, "General Gordon is one of our national treasures, and I do not think Her Majesty's Government had any right rashly to expose our national treasures." Lord Cranbrook also told the Ministry—" You are responsible for the life of Gordon as well as for those agonizing garrisons; and upon you will the country call to redress the wrongs that you have done. It will inevitably hold you responsible for that which is so precious."
Lord Granville, on the 19th February, protested(with how much sincerity his despatch of 22nd February was soon to reveal) "there is no shirking of responsibility in declaring our undiminished confidence in that distinguished officer(Gordon), and that we take the responsibility for anything he does."
Most of the Ministerial protestations of trust in Gordon were made while he was speeding to Khartoum, and keen anxiety existed in England as to the Egyptian garrisons, one of which, at Sinkat, was reported on the 12th February to have been massacred.
"There is no doubt," Mr. Gladstone coolly said on that day, "that the garrison of Sinkat has been cut off, or, as another telegram expresses it, ' cut to pieces.' "
Such was "the present horror of the time," that patriotic persons hoped that even Gladstone's obsequious following might refuse to walk farther with him on a path bedewed with blood; and no one could then foresee that, to stave off their own annihilation, the Ministry would not only sacrifice their own honour, but would in cold blood look on and allow Gordon to perish—starved,
But we must follow him on his road to Khartoum. After writing(on the 22nd January, while travelling) his memorandum about restoring Arab rulers in the Soudan(the plan which Mr. Gladstone told the House was evidently "well-reasoned and considered"), Gordon saw Zebehr at Cairo on the 26th January. Zebehr, in addition to his complaint against being detained by the Khedive at Cairo for so many years, deemed himself ill-treated by Gordon, because Gessi, Gordon's lieutenant, had caused the execution of Zebehr's son Suleiman, who, after armed revolt, was captured, tried by court-martial, and executed in
Scanning the situation, and perhaps even then forced to the conclusion that no capable native government could be established at Khartoum except by the appointment of Zebehr, Gordon saw Zebehr in Cairo. Zebehr denied that he had incited Suleiman to revolt, and asked for the production of the incriminating letter, which, if still existent, was amongst Egyptian archives; but as it could not be produced, the question whether Zebehr had incited his son was not solved, though Zebehr declared that if it could be proved that he incited the revolt he was ready to suffer death; and Gordon admitted that if there had been no such incitement, amends should be made to Zebehr.
The calm outlook of Gordon upon facts and difficulties is shown in Sir E. Baring's report(after the interview) to Lord Granville.
"General Gordon entertains a high opinion of Zebehr Pasha's energy and ability. He possesses great influence in the Soudan, and General Gordon is of opinion that circumstances might arise which would render it desirable that he should be sent back to the Soudan."(Egypt, No. 12,
On his rapid journey from Cairo to Khartoum, Gordon saw many Arabs at Abou Hamed, Berber, and elsewhere, and it cannot be doubted that, as was his wont, he revolved in his mind the contingencies which might follow upon any course adopted.
He arrived at Khartoum on the 18th February, and it was telegraphed, though not by himself, that he met with a wonderful demonstration of welcome on the part of the population. But he was tenax propositi, and no applause shook his prudence. On the day of his arrival, he telegraphed that Zebehr must be sent to him. "He alone has the ability to rule the Soudan, and would be universally accepted by the Soudan."(Egypt, No. 12,
He gave many reasons, but they were very foreign to Lord Granville's frame of mind.
They related to the removal of thousands of fellow-creatures from imminent massacre—to the arrest of disorder—and to the safeguarding of England's honour, which would be imperilled by her insisting on a shameful abandonment of scattered populations to anarchy, which "would be a misfortune and inhuman." In the eyes of the Foreign Secretary this was wildly sentimental. Gordon might think his mission was to save thousands of lives, but Lord Granville knew it only as a manœuvre to prop up a discredited Ministry. What grief it would be to Lord Granville if Gordon should perish Lord Granville himself exhibited when the time arrived, and Mr. Gladstone's feeling was shown by his gay appearance at a theatre while surrounding London was horror-struck at the widespread notices of Gordon's death.
Sir Evelyn Baring forwarded Gordon's telegram, and added(p. 73): "I believe Zebehr Pasha to be the only possible man. He undoubtedly possesses energy and ability, and has great local influence. As regards the slave trade, I discussed the matter with General Gordon when he was in Cairo, and he fully agreed with me in thinking that Zebehr's presence or absence would not affect the question in one way or the other."
Lord Granville, seeking meanwhile perhaps for public opinion, did not answer at once, and when after consideration(p. 95) he replied(22 Feb.), he based his objection entirely on the position in England, and not on that in the Soudan; and he gave no hint of any apprehension on account of Gordon.
"Her Majesty's Government are of opinion that the gravest objections exist to the appointment by their authority of a successor to General Gordon. The necessity does not indeed appear to have yet arisen for going beyond the suggestions It was one of the suggestions in that memorandum that local rulers should be appointed, and Mr. Gladstone had commended it as "a well-reasoned and considered plan." Lord Granville could hardly have been so foolish as not to perceive that if it was right to sanction(as the Ministry had sanctioned) Gordon's proposals, it was all-essential to act upon them promptly.public opinion of this country would not tolerate the appointment of Zebehr Pasha."
Let the reader weigh well the shamefulness of this refusal. Not only to Gordon, but to their Queen and country, the Ministry were breaking faith.
On the 5th February they had publicly and solemnly declared that Gordon had been appointed with power to act.
On the 22nd February—behind the scenes—Lord Granville intercepted Gordon's acts, and for some time concealed the fact.
It was of no avail that Sir E. Baring and Col. Stewart supported Gordon. "I believe(said Sir E. Baring, Egypt, No. 12, Nubar Pasha is strongly in favour of him."
Four clays afterwards Sir Evelyn repeated his advice.(Ib., p. 135.) "I have carefully reconsidered the whole question, and am still of opinion that Zebehr Pasha should be allowed to succeed General Gordon. I do not think that anything would be gained by postponing a decision on this point; on the contrary, I should say that delay would be injurious."
Sir Evelyn's advocacy of keeping faith with Gordon brought upon him a despatch(5th March) which for "bald, unjointed" irrelevance could hardly be surpassed.( On the 22nd February Earl Granville was so exceptionally curious about the garrisons as to ask by telegraph about "the fate of the women and children in Sinkat."(Blue-Book, Egypt, No. 12, p. 96.) The answer, on the same day, "The women of Sinkat were very probably killed . . . the fate of the children is more uncertain . . .," did not avail to prevent the issue of the cold-blooded despatch in the text.Ib., p. 140.) "Her Majesty's Government would be glad to learn how you reconcile your proposal to acquiesce in such an appointment with the prevention or discouragement of slave-hunting and slave-trade, with the policy of complete evacuation, and with the security of Egypt. They would also wish to be informed as to the progress which has been made in the extrication of the garrisons, and the length of time likely to elapse before the whole or the greater part may be withdrawn." The noble lord was in no hurry about saving lives, for he telegraphed: "As Her Majesty's Government require details as to each garrison, your report should be a full one and may be sent by mail.(!) In your telegram now under reply no allusion is made to the proposal that the local chiefs should be consulted as to the future government of the country, and Her Majesty's Government desire to know whether that idea has been abandoned."(This from a man whose colleague had boasted that General Gordon had been permitted to draft his own instructions, and who was present when the permission was given!) Surely the "insolence of office and the spurns that patient merit of the unworthy takes" were never more glaringly exemplified. Sir E. Baring had informed the ignoble Earl some weeks before that Gordon fully agreed with him that Zebehr's appointment would not at all affect the question of slavery. The question of saving the garrisons altogether depended upon the faith kept with Gordon, or the speed with which extrication might be prevented by slaughter, as at
The "patient merit" of Gordon under Granville's "insolence," is seen in a telegram of the 8th March(ib., p. 145), "The sending of Zebehr means the extrication of the Cairo employés from Khartoum, and the garrisons from Sennaar and Kassala. I can see no possible way to do so except through him, who, being a native of the country, can rally the well-affected around him, as they know he will make his home here. . . . I have already said that the Treaty of If you do not send Zebehr you have no chance of getting the garrisons away; this is a heavy argument for sending him. . . . Zebehr is fifty times the Mahdi's match. He is also of good family, well known and fitted to be Sultan. . . ."
Sir E. Baring gallantly(9th March) contended(ib., p. 146) that the employment of Zebehr was "in harmony with the policy of evacuation," and that "as regards slavery it will not affect the question in one way or the other."
It appears, from Sir Henry Gordon's memorandum prefixed to General Gordon's last Journals, that "a Cabinet Minister of high position was from the first in favour of sending Zebehr up, and so indeed was Lord Wolseley." Of course if that Minister had been Gladstone, he was bound, if a man of honour or even of duty, to keep faith with Gordon, and had the power, enjoyed by none of his colleagues, to insist on doing so.
But sinister whispers were heard to the effect that some of the customary supporters of the Ministry were hostile to the saving of the garrisons by means of Zebehr. Perish the garrisons! Perish Gordon! rather than admit that Gordon, Colonel Stewart, and Sir E. Baring knew more about Egyptian affairs than a coterie in London knew. These well-meaning enthusiasts have since furnished a melancholy tribute to Gordon's foresight. He frequently warned them and the Government that unless order should be promptly established in the Soudan, bloodshed, anarchy, famine, and death would ensue. Through Lord Granville's perfidy Gordon was prevented from establishing any settled government, but neither the ignoble Earl nor his accomplices could avert the misery which Gordon predicted; and which, too late, some charitable persons, if not the Earl, have striven to alleviate. Who can be so bold as to deny that if Gordon had pacified the Soudan by the appointment of Zebehr, and had gone to the Congo to aid the King of the Belgians, he might have done more to quench the horrors of slavery than his detractors may now live to see accomplished? And who can deny that during the last five years Gordon's foresight has been proved correct?
For Lord Granville's honour they cared as little as he cared. They were of course within their own rights in opposing the appointment of Zebehr, or of anyone else; but the Ministry being unconditionally pledged to "permit Gordon to act," had no choice but to support him, or to be forsworn. When Gordon telegraphed(3rd March) " how could I look the world in the face if I abandoned(the Khartoumese) and fled? As a gentleman could you advi.se this course?" Sir E. Baring was able to assure the chained hero that Lord Granville had no more desire to extricate him than to save his dependants.(Ib., p. 156.) "On the contrary, as you will have seen from Lord Granville's telegram, the Government is anxious that you should remain." But nothing could induce the Earl and his associates to take the step which, they were advised, might save the garrisons.
(Ib., p. 158.) They would not send Zebehr, but would "agree to any other Mahomedan assistance." To a drowning man they would not give a life-buoy, but would cheerfully load him with any encumbrance.
As danger encircled Khartoum closer and closer, and Gordon notified(9th March) that even "retreat to Berber might not be in his power in a few days," and Baring reported that the telegraph line was interrupted, Earl Granville, indifferent to the dangers of others, declared(p. 162) that "Her Majesty's Government were unable to accept Gordon's proposals," and that if Gordon thought that by staying at Khartoum he could accomplish his task, "he is at liberty to remain there. In the event of his being unable to carry out this suggestion, he should evacuate Khartoum and save that garrison by conducting it himself to Berber without delay."
This the Earl had the insolence to write, though on the 1st March Gordon had telegraphed, on the refusal of Zebehr(p. 152), "I will do my best to carry out my instructions, but I feel conviction I shall be caught in Khartoum."
A conviction that he might be accused of acting foolishly as well as meanly, seems to have found its way to the noble Lord's mind, for he added, "Her Majesty's Government trust that General Gordon will not resign his commission." Lord Granville's despatch rejecting all Gordon's "proposals" and inanely suggesting that Gordon was "at liberty to remain" at Khartoum, but if "unable to carry out this suggestion he should evacuate Khartoum and save that garrison by conducting it himself to Berber without delay," but he must not resign, was dated 13th March. Sir E. Baring sent it forward, but Khartoum was invested before the despatch reached the neighbourhood. The date may be learned from Gordon's Journal, which records the commencement "of our imprisonment"; and Major Kitchener, in his report on the fall of Khartoum, says "the siege" began on the 15th March. If it were not registered in Hansard, could it be credited that on the 3rd April Gladstone told the House:—"General Gordon is under no constraint and under no orders to remain in the Soudan . . . nor is General Gordon in any way hampered in the prosecution of his work"?
Never, surely, since Hotspur was "pestered with a popinjay" at Holmedon can military matters have been descanted upon as by this modern Boyet.
Unhappily, the life of Gordon was in his power; and(at p. 176, ib.) Sir E. Baring reported that he had told Gordon that "the idea of sending Zebehr must be regarded as finally abandoned," and that Gordon "must act as well as he can up to your Lordship's instructions."
But it may be said that although Gordon knew the importance of Zebehr, "a native of the country," Lord Granville may have been ignorant of the facts.
The Blue-Book, No. 13,
The noble Lord's reference to slavery comes within Mr. Burchell's censure as "fudge." All the petty Sultans of the Soudan were equally connected with slavery, and when the Gladstone Ministry compelled the Khedive to resign control of the Soudan, they were, by their own act, re-establishing the control of the slavers.
Blue-Books are preserved, and speeches are made in Parliament by Ministers, in vain, if it is not clear beyond doubt that the Ministry of In Gordon's Journal(17th Sept.), p. 31, we read: "Had Zebehr Pasha been sent up when I asked for him, Berber would in all probability never have fallen, and one might have made a Soudan Government in opposition to the Mahdi. We choose to refuse his coming up because of his antecedents drafted his own instructions,
bound not to interfere with his plans.in re slave trade; granted that we had reason, yet as we take no precaution as to the future of these lands with respect to the slave trade, the above opposition seems absurd. I shall not send up A because he will do this; but I will leave the country to B, who will do exactly the same."
Gordon's demeanour when his betrayers were bringing about not only his destruction, but that which his spirit strove more against—the dishonour of his country and a general massacre of the helpless—was sublime, but painful to contemplate:—
1st March.—"I will do my best to carry out my instructions, but I feel conviction I shall be caught in Khartoum."
4th March.—"My weakness is that of being foreign, and Christian, and peaceful; and it is only by sending Zebehr that prejudice can be removed."
10th March.—"Through the weakness of the Government many have joined the rebels. All news confirms what I have already told you, viz. that we shall before long be blockaded. The utility of Zebehr is greatly diminished, owing to our weakness, which has forced the loyal to join the enemy."(On the 16th March there was much fighting, and Gordon's people were beaten.)
23rd March.—Gordon reports treachery in his camp, and execution of two Pashas, after trial.
29th March.—"Had you sent Zebehr, how different would have been the state of affairs."
9th April.—Baring reports a telegram to 1st April, and that there had been more fighting, Khartoum being attacked, and that Gordon had received no "telegrams from Cairo since 10th March."
17th April.—Baring reports that Zebehr has received a telegram from Gordon, appointing him Sub-Governor, but that Zebehr "will be watched, and his departure will be prevented."
18th April.—Baring repeats that Gordon says that "scarcely a day passes without his inflicting losses on rebels," that with 3,000 Turkish troops the Mahdi might easily be put down, and that Gordon "evidently thinks he is to be abandoned."(Blue-Book, No. 13,
On the 21st April Lord Granville recognizes that "the danger at Berber appears to be imminent," and asks Baring if "any step by negotiation or otherwise can be taken at once to relieve it."
On the 23rd April Granville decides(Blue-Book, No. 13, p. 15) that English troops shall not go to Berber, and no Egyptian troops shall "go alone": that Gordon must " Sir E. Baring duly forwarded the request in one of the few messages which reached Gordon, who, on 31st July, wrote and succeeded in sending messages by way of Massowah, where they arrived on the 25th September. He devoted a postscript to the noble Lord's request. You ask me to state cause and intention in staying at Khartoum, knowing Government intends to abandon Soudan,' and in answer I say I stay at Khartoum because Arabs have shut us up and will not let us out."keep us informed . . . not only as to immediate, but as to any prospective danger at Khar-
he continues at Khartoum, he should state to us the cause and intention with which he so continues."
This heartless telegram was amplified in a despatch of the 1st of May(Blue-Book, No. 20,
Meanwhile, before this cold-blooded repulsiveness could reach Khartoum, the sad conviction that a man might "smile and smile" and have no noble humanity in him, had been forced upon Gordon.
Before quoting his words it is right to mention that efforts were made in April to arouse the Ministry to their duty to England and to their own pledges.
On the 21st April Gladstone, suo more, denied that Gordon was in danger: there were peculiar events near Khartoum—"the general effect being . . . that Gordon is hemmed in—that is to say, that there are bodies of hostile troops in the neighbourhood, forming more or less of a chain around it. I draw a distinction between that and a town being surrounded. . . . It may be the opinion of hon. gentlemen opposite that General Gordon is in imminent danger. In our view that is an entirely erroneous opinion." This was in the Commons.
In the other House Lord Carnarvon was told by Lord Granville on the 22nd April, in a speech which bristled with equivocation: "I have no fear as to the personal safety of General Gordon in Khartoum now." Of course not; the noble Lord had no fear as to the safety of anyone but himself; and Gordon had no fear for himself; but if any other man than Gordon had been in Khartoum it was probable that the streets of Khartoum would have been reeking with the blood of the garrison before Lord Granville declared that he was without fear for Gordon. Lord Carnarvon was indignant at the answers he received but contempt was mingled with his indignation when he spoke to a friend in the House about the refusal of the Government to recoup the King of the Belgians the expense of Gordon's journey from Palestine to Brussels. Gordon, always generous, had no money about him when he started from Jaffa. He drew on Belgium. When the Gladstone Government summoned Gordon to London, and sent him to Egypt, Gordon left his brother, Sir Henry, to arrange for repayment to the King of the Belgians. Sir Henry applied to the Government in the hope that they would enable him to recoup the King, as they had withdrawn Gordon from his service. They declined, and pleaded that they could not make themselves responsible for an indefinite sum. Sir Henry guaranteed that it should not exceed £50. Still they declined, and Sir Henry recouped the King out of General Gordon's army pay, which Sir Henry drew for him.
On the 16th April, Baring received the following telegram from Gordon, and it was in the hands of the Ministry when they equivocated with Parliament on the 21st and 22nd April, "As far as I can understand, the situation is this: you state your intention of not sending any relief up here or to Berber, and you refuse me Zebehr. I consider myself free to act according to circumstances. I shall hold on here as long as I can, and if I can repress the rebellion I shall do so. If I cannot I shall retire to the Equator, and leave you the indelible disgrace of abandoning the garrisons of Sennaar, Kassala, Berber, and Dongola, with the certainty that you will eventually be forced to smash up the Mahdi under great difficulties if you would retain peace in Egypt."(Blue-Book, No. 15,
He offered to send Colonel Stewart and Mr. Power to Berber if possible; but Stewart telegraphed, "I shall follow the fortunes of General Gordon," and Power did the same; adding, "we are quite blocked on the north, east, and west." What Mr. Power would have thought of Mr. Gladstone's asseveration in Parliament that Khartoum was not surrounded, must remain unknown, but may be surmised.
The south was the region in which the Mahdi's friends abounded, and all other directions were "quite blocked"! "Imprisonment" had begun in the middle of March. "Scarcely a day" passed without assaults and skirmishes; and Gordon, reporting the fact on the 8th April, said, "The losses of the rebels are quite unnecessary if we are eventually to succumb."
He telegraphed to Sir Samuel Baker to appeal to moneyed men to advance the means of engaging 3,000 Turkish troops with whom to put an end to the Mahdi, which at that time was not difficult; and he told Sir E. Baring, "It would be the climax of meanness—after I had borrowed money from the people here, had called on them to sell their grain at a low price, &c.—to go and abandon them without using every effort to relieve them, whether those efforts are diplomatically correct or not; and I feel sure, whatever you may feel diplomatically, I have your support—and that of every man professing himself a gentleman—in private."(Blue-Book, No. 15.)
One thing is very clear. Gordon had neither the support of Mr. Gladstone nor of Lord Granville.
Those so-called statesmen, however, intently watched the political barometer in England. If public opinion should demand that they must keep faith with Gordon, they would do so; not as bound in honour, nor for his sake, but for their own. If public opinion should not care more for Gordon and honour than the Ministry cared, then Gordon must die.
When they denied in Parliament in April that Gordon was in danger, they knew they were not telling the truth; but they trusted in the chapter of accidents, and hoped that public opinion would not be hypercritical. With Gordon's and Mr. Power's telegrams in his hand, Mr. Gladstone told the House(21st April), The position of General Gordon is, so far as we know, a "position of security." Still, this immeasurable deception did not leave the Ministry quite easy in their minds.
A colleague of Mr. Gladstone was introduced on the 21st April, by a mutual friend, to a friend of Gordon; and although Gladstone and Granville were then protesting so loudly that Gordon was in no danger it appeared that there was a desire to know if Gordon would avail himself of means to escape if they were offered to him.
The answer was, "Those who think that Gordon would come away to save his own life, while there is anyone in Khartoum, white or black, rich or poor, old or young, to whom he feels that he owes a duty, know nothing of Charles Gordon." The Cabinet Minister replied, "What a wonderful man he must be, when his friends have such confidence in him!"
To do public opinion justice, it must be admitted that there was a general feeling that Gordon was being foully treated; but it is common for ministries to evade justice until time has crystallized into form concurring elements for their condemnation.
The periods, sometimes long, during which no tidings of Gordon reached England will be remembered with grief.
As Gordon had foretold, Berber was in imminent danger, and it fell at the close of the month of May, with the usual slaughter of captives which accompanied the Egyptian exploits of Lord Granville. He, meantime, after his confident misstatements to the House of Lords, became fretful in his despatches, as to how he was to give orders to Gordon. Before Berber fell he was condescending enough(80th April) to suggest that, "In the event of telegraphic communication with Berber being restored, the Governor of that place might be able to send a message through by the agency of the Bishareen or Shaggieh tribes."(Blue-Book, No. 25,
Mr. Gladstone came to his perplexed colleague's aid. Mr. Chaplin had asked, "If the Government still adhere to the
"I adhere to the opinion," said Mr. Gladstone(May 1st), "I have given in this House more than once, that there is no military danger at the present moment besetting Khartoum"; but such catachrestical audacity could deceive no one. Since his message on the "indelible disgrace of abandoning the garrisons," Gordon, and the thousands of dependants to whom he was daily doling out the food he had so strenuously collected, had not been heard of.
Even at Dongola, far down the Nile, between the third and fourth Cataracts, Mr. Egerton reported(12th May) that there was "panic."(Blue-Book, No. 25,
But for the marvellous influence of Gordon over the minds of men, and his inexhaustible ingenuity in devising means of defence, Khartoum would probably have fallen as soon as Berber, Berber fell about the 1st June.(Blue-Book,
In May, Sir M. Hicks-Beach moved, "That this House regrets to find that the course pursued by Her Majesty's Government has not tended to promote the success of General Gordon's mission, and that even such steps as may be necessary to secure his personal safety are still delayed," and the ministerial majority fell to 28, and was believed to have vanished out of doors.
Justice must be done to Mr. Gladstone by stating that he did not adopt the sham plea that the "great refusal" was made with any consideration for Gordon's safety.
Lord Granville's despatch of the 22nd February had assigned the fear of public opinion as the reason.
Mr. Gladstone, on the 12th May, took the same ground.
"General Gordon told us, and gave us his reasons for thinking so, that Zebehr, if inclined to the slave trade, would not be able to pursue it, and would have the strongest possible reason for not attempting to pursue it, in case we allowed him to stay at Khartoum. For my part I thought the arguments and the weight due to General Gordon so great that in my own mind it would have been a great question whether we ought not to have given way to his wish. Yes! but for one consideration. And what was that consideration? Why that we should not have announced that intention forty-eight hours, when a vote would have been passed in this House, not merely to condemn the Government, but. . . ."
Sir John Gorst said he heard with shame the new theory of ministerial responsibility which Lord Granville's despatch had promulgated. "The Prime Minister said in so many words that
While the debate was going on, there rang from the Liberal benches a voice which reflected the real, and not the sham, Liberal feeling of the country.
"The Ministry desire"(said Mr. Joseph Cowen) "to dissociate General Gordon from the garrisons. This is impossible. They sneakingly suggest that he should sacrifice his comrades in captivity and decamp. But they mistake their man. It was the helpless to help, and the hopeless to save, that sent him on his forlorn and chivalrous mission, and he spurns such cowardly counsels. . . . He has been accused of inconsistency. The charge cannot in equity be sustained. He has never faltered in his purpose, though he has varied his plan to the exigencies. All his plans have been rejected. He has been systematically contravened, thwarted, restrained, and trammelled. Not a single request he has made has been complied with, not a solitary proposal has been acted upon. And the Cabinet, after having committed every error the circumstances allowed, are shabby enough to attribute their own failure to their baulked but sedulous and heroic agent."
Sir Charles Dilke, who once boasted that the Ministry had given The Ministry had received from the Adjutant-General, on the 8th April, details of measures for relieving Khartoum by the Nile route and by Suakim, and though the Nile rises at Cairo in the beginning of July, it was not until the 26th August that they resolved to send Wolseley to Egypt, and he reached it two months after the Nile had risen! Mr. Egerton had telegraphed on the 6th August: "The Nile will soon be high, and the time is short within which any river expedition is possible."(Blue-Book, No. 35, p. 6.)carte blanche to Gordon, tried to propitiate public feeling by averring in the House, 13th May, "For the protection of General Gordon we intend to do that which practically can be done."
With inexpressible meanness, Sir C. Dilke insinuated that on the 27th February Gordon's plans were culpably changed. No one knew better than the shuffling baronet knew, that on arriving at Khartoum(18 February) Gordon demanded Zebehr, and that on the 22nd Granville perpetrated the great refusal, Yet Dilke upbraided Gordon for altered conduct, because Gordon, when thus betrayed, took measures to protect Khartoum against the surrounding Arabs.
Lord Granville, beginning to entertain fears for his own position, authorized(17th May) Mr. Egerton to pay money to Zebehr(!) for sending a message to General Gordon, and £400 more if he could obtain Gordon's reply. For a Gordon to employ Zebehr to save more than 25,000 lives was not to be endured; but it was tolerable for a Granville to use him in a ministerial crisis. Zebehr sent letters by a messenger who was reverently received by the Mahdi's Emir commanding at Berber. The messenger travelled safely to Shendy, but was there stopped by the besiegers of Khartoum, and he returned to Cairo in October.(Blue-Book,
On the 17th May, Lord Granville sent a despatch(Egypt, No. 22,
It was feared that public opinion might be sensitive as to the treatment of Gordon. It was stated that Mr. Gladstone's inconstant mind was exercised for many weeks in debating whether an expedition should be sent by the Nile Valley, or from Suakim viâ Berber.
Vainly had Lord Wolseley provided details in the first week in April for men who would not decide until 26th August whether they would adopt the Nile route. Nevertheless, Gladstone himself, when Gordon was dead, made merry with the question, and was not ashamed. "No doubt"(he said in the House in Feb. some months the balance of evidence seemed to be in favour of the Suakim route, difficult as it was. . . . In the meantime, we had no reason to believe that Khartoum was in immediate danger."
This he had the effrontery to tell the House, while Blue-Books gave evidence to the contrary, and his own colleague, speaking in May
Doubtless Gordon had eked out his supplies by occasional cap-
Gordon's last Journal, p. 272.some months was sure to be fatal. Even the Nile was blamed by some ministerial parasites for being low; but we read in Gordon's Journal: "It was not a low Nile—it was an average Nile, only you were too late."
Gloom could not but possess the minds of those who knew the characters of Gordon and of those who were dooming him to starvation and to death. Readers of his Journal will remember the scorn with which he resented the insinuation that an expedition should be sent for his personal relief. Alone—Stewart and the others having descended the river—he writes:
24th September.—"I altogether decline the imputation that the expedition has come to relieve me. It has come to save our national honour in extricating the garrisons, &c., from a position our action in Egypt has placed these garrisons in. I was relief expedition No. 1; they are relief expedition No. 2. As for myself, I could make good my retreat at any moment if I wished. Now realize what would happen if this first expedition was to bolt, and the steamers fell into the hands of the Mahdi: this second relief expedition(for the honour of England engaged in extricating garrisons) would be somewhat hampered."
3rd October.—"I hope I am not going down to history as being the cause of this expedition, for I decline the imputation. The expedition comes up to deliver the garrisons.'"
9th November.—"The people up here would reason thus if I attempted to leave. . . . 'We suffered and are suffering great privations in order to hold the town. . . . Now we can, after our obstinate defence, expect no mercy from the Mahdi, who will avenge on us all the blood which has been spilt around Khartoum. You have taken our money and promised to repay us; all this goes for nought if you quit us; it is your bounden duty to stay by its and to share our fate; if the British Government deserts us, that is no reason for you to do so, after our having stood by you.' I declare positively and once for all, that I will not leave the Soudan until every one who wants to go down is given the chance to do so, unless a government is established which relieves me of the charge. Therefore, if any emissary or letter comes up here ordering me to go down, I will not obey it, but will stay here, and fall
with the town and run all risks" His Journal of 17th September said, " D.V. I will not give up the place except with my life."
So lived and so thought Gordon, doing his duty, just as Gordon's friend told Mr. Gladstone's colleague in April that he would do it. He had already sent Stewart, Power, Herbin, and others away, and wrote, 5th November, "I say in defence of my letting Stewart go, that both he, Power, and Herbin felt our situation here was desperate after the defeat at El Foun—that I had over and over again said it was impossible for me to go; physically impossible, because even my servants would have betrayed me(even if I had felt inclined to leave), and I would die here(even going so far as to have two mines brought to the palace, with which to blow it up, if the place fell)."
A part of the delay of some months, which Gladstone justified, appears to have been occupied in tempting Gordon to share the shame of the Ministry. Mr. Egerton, on the 22nd July, suggests "that £10,000, and even double," might be offered for "bringing out Gordon"(Blue-Book, ib., p. 81) graciously replies, 25th July, that Her Majesty's Government "would not grudge the amount," and would not restrict it, "relying as they do upon Major Kitchener's discretion not to expend more than is necessary . . . for the release of General Gordon."
Within a week of this intimation, Gordon was writing(in a despatch which he sent safely by Massowah to Suakim)—"It is a All the pretences put forward at later dates about the apprehensions of the Ministry lest Gordon's life should be endangered, may be dismissed as false. They were afterthoughts. Lord Granville's despatch, 22nd February, already cited, based the refusal on his estimate of the "public opinion of this country." By the terms of that refusal, the Gladstone Ministry must stand or fall. Zebehr's character, whatever it may be, is not tainted with telling untruth to deceive the House of Commons or the House of Lords, and he told the lady who saw him at Gibraltar(sine qiul non that you send me Zebehr, otherwise my stay here is indefinite"Contemporary Review,
This despatch reached Cairo in September, when Wolseley, after chafing at delay, had arrived in Egypt; but it is significant as showing how "wide as the poles asunder" were the views of the Ministry and of Gordon on points of duty and of honour.
Of course no attention was paid to Gordon. The "great
Earl Granville filled up some of the time by impertinent messages to Gordon. On the 24th July(Blue-Book, No. 32, p. 29) he directed Mr. Egerton to repeat his messages to Gordon of 23rd April and 17th May(asking why he remained at Khartoum, &c.), to tell him that those communications proved the interest taken by Her Majesty's Government in him, and that they desired to hear from him, "so that if danger has arisen or is likely to arise in the manner they have described, they may be in a position to take measures accordingly."
Those who ascribe the greatest blame to Gladstone must admit that this despatch raises Granville's claims to a high pitch.
About this time M. Herbin, French Consul at Khartoum, wrote: "Aucune crainte si ce n'est le manque de vivres(dans deux mois nos vivres seront epuises) . . . mais nous sommes sans nouvelles sûres, et nos moments sont comptés." The gallant Frenchman, like Colonel Stewart and Power, could hardly be persuaded to leave Gordon and essay the descent of the Nile.
When Wolseley furnished in April details of measures for relieving Khartoum, he included an alternative scheme to the long route by the Nile. The route from Suakim to Berber was 245 miles and from Berber to Khartoum the distance was 210 miles. The Nile Valley routes varied from 1,320 miles to 1,750 miles, according to the extent to which land marches were availed of. General Stephenson, who commanded in Egypt, advocated the route by Suakim, and we learn from official documents that, on 14th June, the Government "determined to prepare" for constructing a railway from Suakim to Berber. The character of their determination is shown by the fact that, on the 7th August, they obtained a vote of credit for £300,000, to enable them to take measures "for the relief of General Gordon should they become necessary."(Blue-Book, No. 35, p. 14.)
Mr. Gladstone's "some months" of hesitation, were not completed, however, until the 26th August, when a telegram from the War Office(ib., p. 60), dated midnight, stated that, "after anxious consideration," they had made up their minds, and that, after two months of the Nile inundation had been lost, the some months of the Government backwardness were at an end. Too late was in the minds of all, but not in the actions of Wolseley and his comrades.
Their campaign, so creditable to them, and so damning to the Ministry, proved clearly enough that if Wolseley had been com-
On the 2nd November the sad tidings of the loss of the Abbas steamer, near Merawi, with Colonel Stewart and his companions(18th September), reached Wolseley's people near Korti.
Military authorities have described the campaign; and here it is fitting to deal only with a few facts concerning the victim whose fate, Lord Granville had graciously informed him, was interesting to Her Majesty's Government.
As far as human mismanagement could prevail, that Government had made it impossible for Gordon and Wolseley to meet in the Soudan. But Gordon succeeded in sending a characteristic letter, dated 4th November, to Wolseley(Blue-Book, Egypt, No. 1, It was on the 1st May, after much fighting at Khartoum had been reported, that Gladstone declared that he " adhered to his opinion that there is no military danger at the present moment besetting Khartoum."
Gordon's last Journals tell us(15th November, when heavy firing was being sustained): "I feel quite indifferent, for if not relieved for a month, our food supply fails, and even at the above rate of expenditure of ammunition we have fifty days cartridges. I like to go down with our colours flying."
On the 5th December there were only "737 ardebs of dhoora, 121,300 okes of biscuit in store." On the 10th he wrote: "Truly I
C. G. Gordon."
In addition to the last entry in his Journal, letters of the same date were sent with it to Metammeh. To his sister, he said, "I am quite happy, thank God, and, like Lawrence, I have tried to do my duty." To a military friend(Watson) he wrote: "All is up. I expect a catastrophe in ten days time. It would not have been so if our people had kept me better informed as to their intentions. My adieux to all." Facts are useless to those who do not see that it is almost a certainty that "it would not have been so" if the Ministers who vaunted that they had empowered Gordon to "draft his own instructions," had kept faith and allowed him to have Zebehr.
Starving, like the other ghost-like haunters of Khartoum; "worn to a shadow "(as his Journal tells us) many weeks before the fall of the town—there being left, on the 14th December(for many thousands of persons) only 546 ardebs of dhoora, and 83,525 okes of biscuits, the deserted General, nerved by a courage and endurance which seemed more than mortal, and were, indeed, prompted from on high, sent words of comfort to his sister, and unimpassioned words to an old comrade.
But, among all the inhabitants, heroism could not be looked for; and it was almost certain that the hope of favour from the Mahdi for successful treachery, and of release from the fangs of hunger, would tempt some to betray the General, and those who were too deeply involved in the defence of the city to have any hope of mercy at its fall. Therefore "the catastrophe" was expected. Meanwhile, with his steamers, the General secured scraps of food on the river banks, and an occasional capture of a cow revived hope, though it could not remove famine.
When his last Journal(to 14th December) was taken to Metammeh, he sent by an Arab messenger a brief message(to be carried on to the Commander of the Belief Expedition) which, if seized by the enemy might mislead him, but which the trusty bearer was to explain to Wolseley, in words sadly in unison with the last records in the Journal of the same date(14th December). The written message was—"Khartoum all right. Sir E. Baring telegraphed this to Lord Granville on the
A written letter to Wolseley, dated 14th December, accompanied the Journal and remained with it at Metammeh, so that Wolseley never saw the letter until the result of the "great refusal" was completed. He sent it to England on 10th February. Its terms were: ". . . The state of affairs is such that one cannot foresee further than five to seven days, after which the town may at any time fall. I have done all in my power to hold out, but I own I consider the position extremely critical, almost desperate; and I say this without any feeling of bitterness with respect to Her Majesty's Government, but merely as a matter of fact. Should the town fall, it will be questionable whether it will be worth the while of Her Majesty's Government to continue its expedition, for it is certain that the fall of Khartoum will ensure that of Kassala and Sennaar." The Blue-Book(No. 9,
One more communication from Gordon reached Wolseley's hands, but it was only a fac-simile(lb., p. 141) of the previous note—"Khartoum all right. no verbal message from Gordon. He told Wolseley that the steamers seized cattle and grain, and took them up the river to Khartoum; and Mr. Gladstone had the ineffable meanness to tell the House, in the only despatch was a repetition of that of December 14th), "and represents a state of things in which there was not the smallest reference to a scarcity of provisions."
Such prevarication could deceive no one. No one could imagine
The exact population at Khartoum in
Khasm-el-Mûs described how(before Sir C. Wilson's arrival in January) one steamer, the Mansourah, with captured dhoora, was struck by a cannon-ball, and sunk with her booty. When Khasm-el-Mûs got to Metammeh finally(he wrote), "we had not a day's rations for ourselves or the soldiers."
And yet Gladstone dared to tell the House that a despatch(which had no existence) represented "a state of things at Khartoum in which there was not the smallest reference to a scarcity of provisions "—and, so great is the credulity or so little the honour of some people, that he secured a majority of 14 in the House when Sir Stafford Northcote righteously moved a vote of censure in
We know that all previous despatches showed that by the 14th December supplies would be exhausted. We know from Gordon's Journal that for all practical purposes they were so exhausted.
Let us see what the real state of affairs proved to be so far as the subsequent inquiries by Major Kitchener, of the Staff Intelligence Department, enable us to judge. He had spoken with all refugees from Khartoum whom he had been able to meet, and had special duties in communicating with the tribes from 26th January to
Gordon's position was "weakened" by sending the steamers(with Stewart and) to meet the expeditionary force.
He had already(22nd November) "found it necessary to issue 9,600 lbs. biscuit to the poor," and then wrote, "I am determined, if the town has to fall, the Mahdi shall find precious little to eat in it."
It may be considered(writes Kitchener) "that even on reduced rations the supply in store must have been almost, if not quite, exhausted about
On the 6th January, when he proclaimed freedom for all to leave, Gordon wrote to the Mahdi "requesting him to protect and feed these poor Moslem people as he had done for the last nine months."
About the 18th January there was desperate fighting, and about 200 of the Khartoum garrison were killed. Gordon publicly thanked the troops for their conduct.
"The state of the garrison was then desperate from want of food; all the donkeys, dogs, cats, rats, &c., had been eaten. A small ration of gum was issued daily to the troops, and a sort of bread was made from pounded palm-tree fibres. Gordon held several councils of the leading inhabitants, and on one occasion had the town most rigorously searched for provisions; the result, however, was very poor, only yielding four ardebs of grain through the whole town. This was issued to the troops. Gordon continually visited the posts, and personally encouraged the soldiers to stand firm. It was said during this period that he never slept."
On the night of the 25th January "many of the famished troops left their posts on the fortifications in search of food in the town. Some of the troops were also too weak from want of nourishment to go to their posts." At 3.30 the south front was attacked. "In my opinion, Khartoum fell from sudden assault when the garrison were too exhausted by privations to make proper resistance."
When Gladstone averred in the House, "It was plain that the despatch of 28th December overrides the account of 14th December, and represents a state of things in which there was not the smallest reference to a scarcity of provisions," his object was, if not to tell an untruth, to induce the House to believe a lie.
There was no despatch of 28th December at all. Wolseley's despatch says that the only written document borne by the messenger was dated the 14th December; "a fac-simile," indeed, of the former brief words similarly dated.
And Wolseley's messenger carried no verbal message. Therefore, the 14th December despatch was overridden by no other despatch, and the words reported as used by Gladstone in the House were untrue.
It is perhaps proper to record here what Major Kitchener's careful inquiries elicited as to the fall of Khartoum. He prefaces it by saying that "the last accurate information received about Khartoum is contained in General Gordon's Diary, and dated the
Major Kitchener obtained no proof that the gates were treacherously opened, but shows that Farag Pasha, to whom treachery was generally imputed, was well received by the Mahdi, although three days after the fall of the city, when he failed to discover treasure, Farag "was killed on the public market-place at Omdurman."
"Hassan Bey Balmasawi"(he says), "who commanded at the Mesalamia gate, certainly did not make a proper defence," and Hassan "afterwards took a commission under the Mahdi" and went to Khordofan. Major Kitchener considered there was "very
4,000 persons at least were killed. . . . The Bashi-Bazouks and white regulars numbering 3,327, and the Shaikiyeh irregulars, were mostly all killed in cold blood after they had surrendered and had been disarmed. . . . The women were distributed as slaves amongst the rebel chiefs"(those chiefs whom the Gladstone Ministry exalted in preference to Zebehr). The town was given over to pillage for three days.
The rigid official narrative of Major Kitchener concludes with two brief sentences wrung from his heart by the working out of the "great refusal." "The memorable siege of Khartoum lasted 317 days, and it is not too much to say that such a noble resistance was due to the indomitable resolution and resource of one Englishman. Never was a garrison so nearly rescued, and never was a commander so sincerely lamented."
The gallant Major wrote nobly on a noble theme. But there were one or two of those who had lured Gordon to his doom, who seem not to have shared the Major's feelings. When the tidings of the fall of Khartoum and the consequent moral certainty of the death of Gordon arrived in London at the War Office on Thursday the
On the 7th February the Times reported that a "Cabinet Council was held yesterday," and added, "We are asked to state that Mr. Gladstone came to London on Thursday by the first train after the news of the fall of Khartoum reached him."
On the 9th the Times printed the formal announcement of a Cabinet meeting for that day.
All men knew that Gordon was not a man to be captured alive. Indeed, his telegram to Sir E. Baring of
The particular mode in which the immolation of Gordon was accomplished cannot be said to be known even now; but that he
Some time afterwards Sir F. Milner, speaking at York, alluded to the fact. Some one brought Sir F. Milner's speech to the notice of Mr. Gladstone, who desired his secretary to write "that there was not even a rumour of General Gordon's death at the time alluded to." Sir F. Milner set forth these facts in a letter which appeared in the Morning Post,
He must have doubted whether he was believed, for we find him writing(Times
If this be so, it was useless to summon Mr. Gladstone to a Council on the fall of Khartoum; and if it be improper to call attention to gross behaviour in a public man, it must be indecent in a bystander to call the attention of the police to any crime which he sees committed in the street.
The situation in Egypt was, nevertheless, not calculated to raise the reputation of the Ministry, and to pacify a public which they felt must be sorely offended Mr. Gladstone declared in Parliament(19th February) that "the Government decided that it was their duty to instruct Lord Wolseley to frame his military measures upon the expectation and upon the policy of proceeding to overthrow the power of the Mahdi at Khartoum."
Brave words! But who could trust them in the mouth of the "broker that still breaks the pate of faith"? Had he not used the same words about the Transvaal, and did his conduct in South Africa augur that he would care for England's honour in the North? "Time, the clock-setter," was soon to show him as ready to run from the Mahdi as from the Boers; but not before he had squandered England's blood and treasure.
But here it is proper to show the statements which he and his accomplices put forward in defence of their "great refusal" when challenged by Sir Stafford Northcote.
Gladstone, on 23rd February, reiterated his strange assertion that Gordon "was able to remove himself by going to the South.
. . . Then came the recommendation to send Zebehr, but it was well known that if, when that recommendation was made, we had complied with it, an Address from this House to the Crown would have paralyzed our action. . . ."
We see in newspapers that Mr. Gladstone enchants worshippers by entering tabernacles and reading lessons. If in any such assemblage he should read about the qualities of him who shall dwell in the Supreme Tabernacle:—"He that sweareth unto his neighbour and disappointeth him not, though it were to his own hindrance,"—he would need surpassing vanity to escape qualms of conscience for those who broke their pledges to Gordon.
The friends of Gordon, on the other hand, from the same sentence may derive enduring comfort.
Some points of Gladstone's speech—the choice of the route by the Nile and the "hypothesis of starvation "—have already been touched upon. His obstinate assertion(Hansard, vol. ccxciv., p. 1092) "There is no reason at present to believe that a great effusion of blood attended the occupation of Khartoum," must have jarred upon all humane minds; but though the massacres which Mr. Gladstone minimized as merely an "occupation of Khartoum" involved Gordon's death, he did not venture, in
On the But the telegrams of C. G. Gordon. Macmillan, Hansard these strange words from Gladstone, which certainly cannot be called an answer: "I entirely differ from the hon. gentleman as to the preamble of his question; and as to his request, I cannot comply with it."
As to the mean suggestion that Gordon over-rated his own importance, Gordon gave, by anticipation, the fullest refutation to such a slander when, on the day of his arrival at Khartoum, amid the acclamation of thousands, he telegraphed that Zebehr must be sent thither to enable the work of evacuation to be done.
The other ministers who defended in the House of Commons their abandonment of Gordon, may be briefly dismissed.
Sir Charles Dilke, who had boasted in
Sir W. Harcourt declared(26th February) that he "would not have been a party to sending out Zebehr," and he had the unspeakable meanness(which even Gladstone had not exhibited) of pretending that considerations for Gordon's safety made the refusal necessary. Privileged to say anything, however inhuman, he declared, "If Gordon had been able to hold out a week or ten days longer it is quite certain that Sir H. Stewart's force would have been in Khartoum. I say we were not too late, and I am entitled to say so."
Sir Robert Peel replied that Harcourt had been "good enough to admit that the Government had experienced failures and made some mistakes. Made some mistakes! Why, good God; their hands were deep in blood. They were ankle-deep in it."
The patriotic enthusiasm which despatched the New South Wales contingent to the Soudan, and wafted offers from other Colonies, was acknowledged with effusion by Mr. Gladstone in Parliament on the 20th February. If he had known how largely indignation at his own treachery had actuated many colonists, and that he himself was more than once burned in effigy in Australia at the time, by lovers of their country and admirers of Gordon, it would have required all his power of dissimulation to appear sincere.
A feeble member of the Cabinet, unwarned by the abstinence of his more astute colleagues from disparagement of Gordon, ventured to sneer at the victim of Khartoum.
Lord Kimberley told his brother peers(27th February), "General Gordon was not infallible. . . . He was of opinion that his influence in the Soudan was such that he might be able to accomplish the pacification of the country by his name and by his influence with the tribes. . . . General Gordon, it is impossible not to say, was mistaken If Gordon presumed confidently that the Gladstone Ministry would keep faith with him, no doubt he was mistaken. But such was his sense of duty to his country, that if anyone had warned him that the Ministry would not keep faith and would betray him, it is possible that he would have replied, "If the Ministry be false, what is that to me? They apply to me in the name of my country and I must do my best for its honour." This, at any rate, is what he did, when they betrayed him.
Never was the fable of the living donkey and the dead lion illustrated more completely than by the living lord.
If Gordon was "mistaken in any calculation," it was in supposing that an English Ministry would not wantonly be forsworn; and his prompt demand for Zebehr on his arrival at Khartoum, proves that the Kimberley complaint of Gordon's self-conceit as to his own "name and influence" was as false as unworthy.
What Gladstone was not unblushing enough to do in the Commons House, Lord Granville did without shame in the Lords. With his despatch of
His speech, of course, included praise of Gordon, but his words were to the friends of Gordon offensive, as would be the intrusive presence at a funeral of those by whose machinations the funeral had been caused.
"The noble Earl spoke with justice(said Lord Salisbury) of the sympathy and deep regret with which we all of us have heard of the fall—I might say the sacrifice—of our Christian hero. But these are not the only feelings which have been excited in the breasts of the people of his country. There has not only been sympathy and regret, but bitter and burning indignation. General Gordon has been sacrificed to the squabbles of a Cabinet, and the necessities of Parliamentary tactics."
When, at a later date (
Perhaps his answer was true, and he was not able to comprehend anything noble. His intelligence, however, appears to have staggered strangely. How otherwise can be explained his maundering contention that the Ministry would "have been accomplices in the murder of General Gordon if they had acceded to his demand for Zebehr," and that it would have been "a positive act of treachery" to Gordon, to keep their promises to him?
This modern Boyet, however, who had gambled with the life of Gordon, could " chide the dice in honourable terms," for he added, "when we have destroyed the Mahdi, and are masters of
form the best government that can be formed on the spot." Yet he had, by his share in the great refusal, rejected the advice of Gordon, of Colonel Stewart, of the Khedive, and of Nubar Pasha, as to the best government that could be so formed.
The fate of the garrisons weighed lightly on the noble Earl. Lord Ellenborough asked on the 3rd March how it was proposed to relieve Kassala, and Granville replied pleasantly—"It is outside the scope of our military operations."
Those operations soon culminated in withdrawal, and in what Lord Napier of Magdala could not help calling, in spite of the skill and gallantly of the soldiery, an almost irretrievable blow to the military character of the country.
And so the long tragedy caused by the "great refusal" came to an end in action: but never can be blotted out of the national memory while virtue is held in reverence and hypocrisy is despised among Englishmen. Lord Granville, and others, thought it becoming to simulate in Parliament some sorrow for the death of Gordon; but when the indignation of the country had expended itself without hurling the Ministry from office, and other events having intervened, it seemed safe to smile upon the past, he said, in public, at Shrewsbury(in November), "I can never look back without regret that General Gordon was sent on that mission; but at the same time I cannot, with truth, admit that I feel remorse on the subject." It was wasteful excess in the noble culprit thus to gibbet himself as insensible to shame. His despatches had proved what manner of man he was; and in
Yet, what severer censure could be passed on a man than that he was active in the betrayal of Gordon, and was without remorse when the victim of the great refusal was immolated on the altar of duty, to which the sacrificial priests had sent him, in order that they might prolong, for a brief term, their miserable tenure of office?
The fire which burned in their bosoms was not lit at the source which warmed the breast of Gordon. Duty, the handmaid of right, animated the victim. Self-seeking, the slave of meanness, prompted the officiating ministers.
Time, the redresser of wrong, will guard with reverence the victim as a type of that which is noblest in humanity; and will as surely doom his betrayers to the perpetual scorn of mankind.
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