The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 23
Summary
Summary.
Briefly summed up, the following are the principal ways in which the industries of New Zealand can be promoted:—
page 34
(1.) | By Government bonuses being offered in certain cases, such as brushware and brooms, olive oil, vinegar, bonedust, straw hats, varnish, tartaric acid, and delf. |
(2.) | By a revision of the Customs tariff in cases where a New Zealand product or manufacture can be promoted without injury to the consumer, and with fair prospect of its success. The import duties should be increased upon apparel, woollens, candles, olive oil, delf, and varnish. A duty should be imposed upon bonedust, fruit-pulp, and salt, which at present are free. It might be well, also, to assimilate the New Zealand tariff to the Victorian by imposing the following duties on articles which at present come in free, and which can, either at once or by degrees, be manufactured or produced in the colony: Cornsacks and flour-bags, 1s. per dozen; bricks (fire), £1 per 1,000; butter, 2d. per lb.; carriage materials, 25 per cent.; casks (empty), 25 per cent.; flour, 2s. per cental; glass bottles, 3d. to 6d. per dozen in some cases, and 6d. per cubic foot in others; glue, 2d. per lb.; honey, 2d. per lb.; potatoes, 10s. per ton; and provisions (salted), 5s. per cwt.; and (preserved), 2d. per lb. |
(3.) | By the Government collecting information as to fresh markets for New Zealand produce and manufactures in various parts of the world. |
(4.) | By the Agent-General reporting periodically upon fluctuations and depressions in particular industries at Home, and upon the prospects of their being introduced into the colony.page 32 |
(5.) | By the agent of the colony in the United States procuring exact and definite information as to how far protection has encouraged American industries, and how long such protection ought to be or have been extended to them. |
(6.) | By establishing a system of technical education in the colony, and especially by the application of the fine arts to those manufactures which suffer by comparison with the imported article through want of beauty or finish. |
(7.) | By sending to England, America, and the Continent of Europe a certain number of artisans yearly, the New Zealand Government defraying all expenses, in order that they may acquire special knowledge of the manufactories of older countries, and impart it to their fellow-colonists on their return. |
(8.) | By endeavouring to secure amongst Government or nominated immigrants a certain proportion of artisans and workmen connected with industries which it may be desirable to introduce or necessary to develop and improve in the colony; and, in some special cases, by directly importing skilled workmen for industries in which there is a growing demand for the finer products. |
(9.) | By the Government using, as far as possible and proper, New Zealand products instead of imported articles for the public works of the colony. |
(10.) | By a more equitable system of freights upon the railway-lines. |
(11.) | By Government advances, upon security of real or personal property, and at a low rate of interest, to persons engaged in developing industries of colonial importance, such as fish-preserving, and especially in eases where a bonus has been offered to stimulate production. |
(12.) | By the community at large recognizing the importance of encouraging colonial industries, and even undergoing slight temporary sacrifices or inconveniences in order to establish a prosperous manufacturing population in their midst. By the colonists of New Zealand page 33 wearing New-Zealand-made clothing, filling their houses with New-Zealand-made furniture, and using New Zealand food and domestic requisites. By rich and poor, old and young combining, in the true spirit of patriotism, to make it fashionable to use the products of their country, and unfashionable to go outside of New Zealand for articles which can be manufactured within it. If he is a true lover of his country who makes two blades of grass to grow where one grew before, then that colonist is none the less a patriot who helps to give employment to two of his fellow-settlers where only one was employed already. If the colonists of New Zealand are actuated by this spirit, the stigma (which has been sometimes cast) that the imported article is cheaper and better than the New Zealand, and that the inhabitants of the "Britain of the South" cannot produce the necessaries and comforts of life, and would not use them if they could produce them, would be speedily removed. |
1884. | 1883. | |
Agricultural implements | £16,412 | £47,432 |
Apparel | 197,789 | 263,849 |
Aerated waters | 2,481 | 2,863 |
Boots and shoes | 143,840 | 168,383 |
Baskets and wickerware | 1,139 | 1,549 |
Biscuits | 1,422 | 1,431 |
Butter | 841 | 653 |
Candles | 74,452 | 45,225 |
Carpets | 28,376 | 41,267 |
Carriages | 8,305 | 6,087 |
Carts and wagons | 1,773 | 1,885 |
Chaff | 2,599 | 2,144 |
Coals | 191,994 | 155,668 |
Coke | 862 | 1,188 |
Cordage | 14,236 | 16,615 |
Earthenware | 24,738 | 42,396 |
Fish—Dried | 8,613 | 7,470 |
Fish—Potted | 42,473 | 43,616 |
Flour | 18,090 | 11,146 |
Furniture | 48,079 | 65,571 |
Hardware and ironmongery | 177,910 | 245,560 |
Hops | 5,081 | 11,155 |
Jams and jellies | 10,552 | 18,759 |
Leather | 75,223 | 65,475 |
Linseed—Grain | 51 | 1,036 |
Linseed—Meal | 143 | 359 |
Linseed—Oil | 17,350 | 20,346 |
Machinery—Agricultural | 81,312 | 86,204 |
Machinery—Steam engines and boilers | 39,347 | 40,364 |
Malt | 467 | 613 |
Meats—Potted and preserved | 1,129 | 1,920 |
Pickles | 6,181 | 5,226 |
Picture frames and mouldings | 3,243 | 3,779 |
Provisions—Preserved and salted | 927 | 719 |
Railway—Carriages | 8,595 | 756 |
Railway—Locomotives | 9,460 | 23,542 |
Railway—Trucks | 1,824 | .. |
Saddlery | 32,204 | 43,871 |
Sauce | 10,898 | 11,315 |
Soap—common | 1,836 | 833 |
Sulphuric acid | 157 | 363 |
Tinware | 4,932 | 6,117 |
Tobacco—Unmanufactured | 1,605 | 81,705 |
Tobacco—Manufactured | 62,246 | 81,705 |
Tobacco—Cigars | 23,119 | 25,809 |
Tobacco—Cigarettes | 7,910 | 8,087 |
Twine—Ordinary | 7,974 | 9,625 |
Vegetables—Fresh | 5,075 | 6,012 |
Vegetables—Preserved | 526 | 853 |
Woollens | 75,151 | 100,222 |
Woollens, Blankets | 25,370 | 29,702 |
Total value | £1,526,312 | £1,776,765 |
Total decrease | £250,453, or 14 per cent. |
1884. | 1883. | |
£ | £ | |
Acid—Tartaric | 9,370 | 9,079 |
Beeswax | 435 | 118 |
Brushware and brooms | 9,140 | 10,759 |
Cement | 62,075 | 52,902 |
China and porcelain ware | 10,617 | 13,127 |
Cartridges | 542 | 419 |
Cartridges—Cases | 1,089 | 674 |
Confectionery | 15,818 | 14,886 |
Drugs | 35,567 | 36,167 |
Glass and glassware | 40,044 | 55,064 |
Glue | 1,494 | 1,899 |
Maize | 27 461 | |
Peas—split | 850 | 1,182 |
Hats—straw | 11,365 | 12,272 |
Honey | 334 | 294 |
Manure—Bonedust | 23,057 | 17,934 |
Matches and vestas | 24,635 | 23,448 |
Maizena and cornflour | 11,575 | 10,285 |
Milk—Preserved | 12,823 | 14,409 |
Mustard | 7,857 | 9,626 |
Pipes—Tobacco | 7,311 | 6,900 |
Salt | 14,990 | 12,389 |
Starch | 6,717 | 6,195 |
Sulphur | 2,543 | 1,876 |
Varnish | 12,794 | 14,761 |
Vinegar | 9,649 | 10,016 |
332,718 | 337,102 | |
Sugar—Raw and refined | 694,598 | 621,376 |
Iron—Pig | 10,945 | 14,357 |
Iron—Bar, bolt, and rod | 65,583 | 65,874 |
Printing paper | .67,840 | 67,242 |
Silk | 8,392 | 12,739 |
Olives—Oil | 5,467 | 5,764 |
Total value | £1,185,543 | £1,124,454 |
Total increase | £61,089, or 6 per cent. |
1884. | £ | £ |
---|---|---|
Total imports | 7,663,888 | |
Class A | 1,526,312 | |
Class B | 1,185,543 | |
2,711,855 | ||
Class C | £4,952,033page 36 | |
1884. | £ | £ |
Total imports | 7,974,038 | |
Class A | 1,776,765 | |
Class B | 1,124,454 | |
2,901,219 | ||
Class C | £5,072,819 |