The patience with which you have listened to my long attempt to lay before you the past, present, and future of the Industries of New Zealand is a proof that you do not consider the subject a dry one. We might even go further and find a ray of sentiment amid the details of facts and figures, processes and plans which the question involves, for in pointing out new fields of industry we are contributing a mite to the prosperity of our adopted country. Sentiment claims as its special habitat the breezy down and fragrant meadow—

"The sheltered cot and cultivated farm,

Where health and plenty cheer the labouring swain."

Lowing herds and bleating flocks are sweet music, but so also is the din of busy labour—the sough of steam and the clank of looms. They may not murmur peace and plenty, but they tell of active brains and lissom fingers that are building up a state which may eventually hold its own in the Council of Nations—

"There's glory in the shuttle's song,
There's triumph in the anvil's stroke,
There's merit in the grave and strong
"Who dig the mine, or fell the oak."