China and Porcelain Ware.

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.