Preliminary.

In considering the resources of New Zealand I shall first refer to a subject to which I have previously directed attention—the necessity for a thorough investigation into the resources of the Colony and the want of a systematic arrangement of the information already collected. Although several excellent sketches have appeared, a comprehensive treatise on the Economic Geology and Botany of New Zealand, like Buller's "Book of Birds," or Hector's "Grasses," has never been attempted, and the large amount of valuable information we have on the subject is so mixed up with the general literature of the country as to be comparatively useless.

I believe the want will now be supplied through the labors of the Mines, Forests, and Agricultural Departments.

Natural Amenities:

Scenery.—The first and by no means the least of the resources of New Zealand is its natural amenities. Someone has said that we cannot discount climate. As an abstract proposition this is probably correct, but in actual practice it is nearly as fallacious as the assertion that we could not grow our own wheat. Although they cannot well be included in the schedule to a Loan Bill, fine scenery and blue skies are valuable collateral security, with fertile plains and rich mines in the money market. Grand mountains, rivers, and lakes, are tangible assets in a nation's balance sheet; and in some countries they are, indirectly, the main source of revenue. Even in Great Britain with all its wealth they are the direct and sole support of large and populous districts. According to Mulhall 947,500 travellers went to Switzerland in 1879, and they left there £5,800,000.

Although the tourist traffic is only in its infancy, it is beginning to affect the commerce of the country. The geysers of the North and the glaciers of the South are page 37 already contributing their quota to the dividends of the Union Company, and the main stay of the Wakatipu district is the scenery of the Lake. As there is nothing in the Southern Seas to compete with her scenery, New Zealand must always be the recreation ground of Australasia; and the healing waters of the North Island have appropriately been called "the World's Bethesda." The protective policy of the Victorians may keep our oats and potatoes out of their market, but it cannot keep the money in their own country when the commodities to be bought are the health-giving pleasures of the Hot Springs and the mountains. It is impossible to estimate the possibilities of the tourists traffic of New Zealand. We are really only breaking ground in the matter. Although the Colony has suffered incalculable loss in the Terraces, there are still innumerable attractions to be unfolded. Some of the finest scenery in both, islands has only been seen by a few explorers.

Climate.—The climatic endowments are greatly enhanced by their diversity. Taken in connection with her other varied resources this makes New Zealand what may be termed a self-contained country. We grow maize and oranges in the north, and barley and turnips in the south; grapes in the interior of Otago, and red currants on the sea-board. The diversity of climate is attributable to the configuration and geographical position of the islands—a long narrow strip lying north and south close to the tropics, but separated from this and other heat centres by unbroken seas that modify the temperature. There is no country in the world of so small a size that extends over so many degrees of latitude.

Water.—Another natural endowment in New Zealand, which is not appraised at its proper value, is the abundant supply of water everywhere obtainable. In all probability there is not a single spot in either island that is ten miles from a permanent water supply, and the places where the distance is even half as much are few and far between. In addition to its ordinary uses page 38 pure water is indispensable for many manufacturing purposes. And if the predictions of scientific men, with reference to electricity, come true, of which there is now little doubt, we have in our swift flowing rivers, what Dr. Johnson would call, a "potentiality" of wealth. Scientists assure us that the motive power of the future is electricity, to be engendered by the forces now running to waste in every stream, and distributed to the consumer like gas or water. There is more inherent power in the Waitaki River alone than in all the engines of all the steamers that trade in New Zealand waters. What a vista of industrial activity is opened up when we consider the "world of waters" that flows from the Southern Alps, and the possibility of converting these giant forces into useful mechanical agents. We might even go so far as to predict that, instead of destroying the fertile land on its banks, the Waimakariri will some day be trained to plough them.

Minerals.

Gold and Silver.—Coming now to less ethereal resources, we have first to deal with those under the earth, and of these the most important hitherto has been gold. As shown in our historical sketch, gold-mining made one great effort to advance the colonization of New Zealand, and having fulfilled its mission sank into comparative insignificance. The country has now been well prospected, consequently there is little chance of further discoveries of alluvial diggings of an extensive character. The ordinary river workings are rapidly coming to an end, but the hydraulic workings in gravel and cement terraces will last many years, and quartz-mining is supposed to be only in its infancy. Although not very rich the quartz reefs of New Zealand are numerous and large—a small quantity of gold permeates a large body of stone. The extension of the industry is therefore dependent to a great extent on improved appliances for cheapening production. We cannot, however, calculate on any material increase on the present yield of gold; page 39 the decrease in alluvial diggings will balance any increase that may take place in quartz-mining, for the alluvial mines are still yielding more than one-half of the gold obtained in the Colony.

Nearly all the silver hitherto exported from New Zealand has been extracted from the Thames gold, which contains 30 per cent. of silver as an alloy. There is a well-defined lode of silver ore in Collingwood, but it is not supposed to be very rich. Silver has also been found combined with lead and other minerals in Nelson and Westland.

Coal.—Until the predicted revolution in mechanical science takes place coal will, of course, be one of the most important minerals in the Colony, so it is satisfactory to know that, from a Colonial point of view the supply is practically inexhaustible. Coal of various kinds occurs all over the country at short intervals—the geological maps are bristling with black marks indicative of its presence. Instead of being a boon this super-abundance of fuel has hitherto been a real difficulty and cause of expense, not only to the Colony as a whole, but to private individuals, for the industry is being developed in all directions much in advance of our requirements.

The portions of the Collingwood, Buller, and Grey Coalfields that have been surveyed are estimated to contain 200,000,000 tons of the best bituminous coal, a quantity equal to the present consumption of the Colony for nearly 400 years, assuming that nothing but this class of coal was burned. The area of the Kaitangata and Tokomairiro field, which yields the best class of non-bituminous coal, is about 60 square miles, and the estimated quantity, 768,000,000 tons. With the exception of the Collingwood field, which has water communication, all those just mentioned are opened up by railways. They are all in accessible situations, and, except at the Grey, nearly all the coal is procurable without sinking. Railways have also been constructed into other extensive coalfields in Auckland, Canterbury and Otago. For example: the Night-caps field, in page 40 Southland, estimated to contain 100,000,000 tons of the Kaitangata class of coal; and the Green Island field, with much the same quantity of brown coal.

Extensive coalfields that have not been opened out are also known to exist in the Mokau, Wangapeka, Upper Buller, Clarence and Paringa districts. Including the Westport and Greymouth fields there are altogether about 1250 square miles of coal-bearing formation in the country traversed by the Midland Railway.

Oil Shales and Oil.—Lighting comes naturally after fuel, and to provide it nature has supplied us with the raw materials in the form of oil shales and mineral oils. Shales have been discovered in Auckland, Nelson and Otago. They are of good quality, and the deposits are believed to be of considerable extent. In addition to oils of various kinds these shales are rich in gas. I have no doubt the deposits at Orepuki will be utilised for this purpose when fully opened out, as the railway is now running into the district. The mineral oils have been found in Taranaki and Auckland, some of them are of excellent quality, and, according to present prospects a good supply seems to be forthcoming from the Poverty Bay wells.

Iron.—In conjunction with coal, the most important mineral to have in any country is iron, and New Zealand seems to be well supplied. Iron ores of various kinds have been found all over the country; but the information with reference to them is not very complete, no attempt having been made to work any of them, except the iron sand. The extent of some of the deposits has, however, been ascertained. The quantity of hæmatite ore, exposed at the Parapara River, in Nelson, is estimated at about 53,000,000 tons, and there is another bed in the same locality 60 feet thick. Veins of somewhat similar ore, 6 feet thick, occur in Canterbury and the Wakatipu district.

Hæmatite is also found at Paringa and other places in South Westland.

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Black band and clay ironstone, which are the ores most easily reduced by the old methods, have been discovered at various places in both islands.

In most cases coal and lime, the materials required in smelting iron, are found in close proximity to the ores.

Copper.—Copper has been found all over the Colony, from Auckland to Otago, but more particularly in Nelson, which is veritably the home of minerals. Copper mines have been opened at various times and places, but as yet the industry is not established on a satisfactory basis.

Lead.—On a recent visit to the West Coast I was shewn a splendid sample of lead ore from Mount Rangitoto, similar in every respect to what I had seen worked at Home. It was looked upon merely as a matrix in which silver was found and considered of little value. This is reversing the order of things. In England, the occurrence of silver in lead ore is considered incidental, the latter being the more important metal. Lead ore is well dispersed throughout the Colony, but the extent of the deposits is unknown.

Tin and Zinc.—Tin has been discovered in Otago and at Reefton; but the samples hitherto obtained have been very small. Zinc occurs in Auckland, Nelson, and Westland.

Minor Metals.—Among less important metalic ores discoveries have been made of platinum, mercury, nickel, cobalt, manganese, chrome, antimony, and scheelite. The four latter are worked to a small extent.

In many cases small specimens only of the minerals have been found, which of course gives no clue to the extent of the deposits, but it is reasonable to assume therefrom that deposits exist. There must be a stock where the sample comes from.

Clays.—Coming nearer the surface of the earth we find clays, building stones, roofing slate, lime, and other building materials. Clays of all kinds are very plentiful page 42 throughout New Zealand, and there seems to be a variety for every purpose, from common bricks and tiles to chinaware and tobacco pipes.

Building Stone.—Building stone is also everywhere present in large quantities and of all kinds. The hard-stones are represented by granite in Nelson and the Sounds, and volcanic rocks near Dunedin, Christchurch, and Auckland. One of the best and easiest worked is the well-known Port Chalmers stone, the supply of which is practically unlimited. Freestones are also plentiful and well dispersed, particularly in the South Island. The white granular variety, of which the Oamaru stone is the type, occurs in immense quantities right across Southland, and all along the front range from the Kakanui to North Canterbury. They are all remarkable for uniformity of colour and consistency, and the Mount Somers and Southland varieties are probably the best, being comparatively hard and impervious. A particularly fine stone of this class is found at Pox's River, on the West Coast.

Marble.—Marble of various colours and consistency has been discovered all over the South Island, and in several places in the North Island. Small specimens of statuary marble have been found on the West Coast, but no regular deposit. Many of the best of the commoner kinds occur in accessible situations, notably at Caswell Sound, where a quarry has been opened, and in several places in Nelson, Canterbury, and Otago. There is a large hill of marble at the head of the Maruia Plain.

Slate.—Roofing slate, equal in quality to Welsh, is found in the Kakanui Range, commencing at Otepopo, and running inland for a great distance. The deposits cover an immense area, but it is not clear that a large proportion of marketable slates can be obtained readily, the rock on the surface being considerably shattered.

Limes.—Limestone, suitable for burning, is almost as plentiful and widely dispersed as clay and building stone, but the hydraulic varieties which make the best page 43 mortar are not so common. The best and largest deposits occur in Auckland, and on the Otago Peninsula, Chalk the principal ingredient in Portland cement is found in large quantities at Oxford, and again in the Kaikoura mountains.

Minor Minerals.—Among the minor non-metalic minerals used in manufactures and the arts, which have been found in New Zealand, are plumbago, sulphur, gypsum, magnesia, alum, flint, felspar, asbestos, meerschaum, and talc.

Vegetable Resources.

Gums.— Kauri gum is classed indifferently as a vegetable and mineral product. It is difficult to estimate the extent of our resources in this article, but I am informed that there is little chance of the supply giving out for many years to come. Gum-digging will probably last as long as alluvial gold-mining.

It is not generally known that retinite, a fossil resin or gum of a somewhat similar character, occurs in considerable quantities in some of the lignite beds of the Middle Island. I have no doubt it could be utilised in the manufacture of varnishes, but its special properties and commercial value have not been determined. The lignite beds on the Maniototo Plain are believed to contain large deposits of retinite,

Timber.—Coming now to the ordinary vegetable resources of the Colony, we have first to deal with timber, the most important material in any new country. The total area of bush land of all kinds in New Zealand is variously estimated at from 15,000,000 to 20,000,000 acres, but the different kinds and qualities of timber have not yet been definitely classified.

Unfortunately the forests are not well dispersed throughout the Colony. Large portions of the North Island, and the whole of the West Coast of the South Island, have too much bush, while the eastern side of page 44 the South Island, north of the Clutha, has far too little. The great bulk of the settlement is in the latter area, consequently the timber supply is not convenient to the market. This is the principal reason why our forest resources have not been utilised to the fullest extent. It is easier to get ironbark for spokes from New South Wales than rata from the West Coast, although the latter is more suitable; and jarrah sleepers from Western Australia can sometimes be landed at Lyttelton and Port Chalmers at an advance of 20 per cent, on the cost of totara or matai from Southland or Wellington. When we consider the relative values of the timbers the balance is greatly in favour of the imported article—jarrah being one of the best timbers in the world for sleepers. These anomalies will of course rectify themselves as industries develop, and communication is further improved.

New Zealand has no extensive supply of large hardwood timber of special strength, like the gums of Australia and Tasmania, but she has what is more valuable, a great quantity of the pines and other softwoods that are most required for building purposes—and there are few countries in which such a variety of timber occurs. The other Australasian colonies near us are very deficient in this respect. New Zealand has ten pines that yield sawing timber, six of them being large trees.

The supplies of the various kinds of timber in the Colony are well proportioned to our wants, but, for the reason already given, many special kinds are still unused. We have for several years produced all our own building timbers, and had a surplus to export, but considerable quantities of hardwoods and furniture woods are still imported. There is no substitute for the Australian gums for long timbers of special strength, but the ordinary hardwoods imported for the use of the wheelwright, carriage builder, and implement maker, might well be superseded by the native article. Kowhai and rata are much stronger and quite as straight-grained page 45 as English oak and ash. And in the matter of furniture woods, beyond the fact that cedar is easier worked, there is no point in which the imported materials can be compared with the home products. New Zealand is particularly rich in ornamental woods, and some of the best have never been utilised.

As in the case of many other colonial products, the fashion is to deprecate New Zealand timbers. There is no real ground for doing so—class for class they compare favourably with timbers of other countries. Their faults and failures are not so much due to inherent defects as to improper treatment and ignorance of the relative qualities of the different kinds. Instead of using well-dried heart-wood from mature trees, felled at the proper season, we put into our houses wet sap-wood from young trees, that are felled when most convenient; often in their juiciest state. And, without a single enquiry into its suitableness, timber is constantly used in positions for which it was never intended by nature.

Minor Forest Products.—As a minor forest product I have already referred to the fungus found on the trees in the North Island and exported to China. We have little information as to the extent of our resources in this commodity; they are believed to be considerable; and, being a growth which replenishes itself, the industry will undoubtedly be permanent.

Five or six of the native trees furnish bark rich in tannin, which is gradually coming into use. Being easily obtained, the bark principally used is that of the red birch (Fagus fusca). It is, however, not so good as that of the kamai, a smaller tree, very plentiful in Southland and on the West Coast.

Many of the New Zealand plants furnish dye-stuffs of various colours. The Maoris were well acquainted with their properties, and used them extensively, but the settlers have hitherto done little with them. Neither have we made any attempt to utilise the extracts, turpentine, creosote, tar, pitch, resin, and other similar products of our forests.

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Phormium.—The problem of cultivating the native hemp profitably has not yet been solved. Until this is done there can be little advance in the industries connected with this product, for the natural supply is rapidly decreasing. Phormium thrives best in good land, consequently it vanishes on the approach of agriculture.

Land.

Pastoral.—The pastoral lands of New Zealand are estimated at 27,000,000 acres, nearly all of which have been turned to account in growing wool and mutton; 2,671,885 acres, chiefly in the fern and bush lands of the North Island have been surface sown with English grasses, but the remainder is in its natural state. Whether the productiveness of the tussock lands can be materially increased by similar treatment seems an open question, for little surface sowing is done in the South Island.

Arable.—The arable lands comprise about 16,000,000 acres, of which 3,997,035 had been cultivated and broken up in 1886.

In the mild climate of New Zealand every acre of land over which the plough can pass will grow crops, no matter what the altitude may be. Our food-producing resources are therefore enormous. Instead of having to depend on other countries for our supply of wheat, as alleged by the great English economist already referred to, we could supply the whole of England with the staff of life from about half our agricultural lands.

Capabilities.—The pasture lands of the United Kingdom amount to about 23,000,000 acres, and the arable lands to 24,000,000, the aggregate being 4,000,000 more than the pastoral and agricultural lands of New Zealand. But taking the superiority of our climate into consideration, we could in all probability produce as much food of all kinds as Great Britain and Ireland if our resources page 47 were fully developed. That is, we might feed 20,000,000 or 25,000,000 human beings instead of the mere handful of people that constitute the population of the Colony.

As already indicated, the value of our lands is greatly enhanced by the diversity of climate. In addition to the grain and root crops of the Old Country sub-tropical plants of all kinds grow luxuriantly in New Zealand. Grapes, oranges, lemons, citrons, melons, and almonds have long been common fruits. Olive and corkwood trees are growing well in the North, and proposals have been made to the Government to commence a tea plantation. Tobacco manufactured from leaf grown in the Colony has been smoked for years, and we are planting mulberry trees for our future silk manufactures.

General.

This concludes the second division of my subject—a sketch of the industrial resources of New Zealand. At the risk of being included in Anthony Trollope's category of "colonial blowers," I think you will agree in the conclusion that we have in this far-off isle of the sea the makings of a good little country. We might even be justified in saying that Nature has written on more than one page the promise given to a country with far fewer resources, "I will make of thee a great nation."