Appendix.

Statistics.

New Zealand Average Produce Crops, 1877-78.

1877			1878
	Acreage.	Bushels.	Acreage.	Bushels
Wheat	141,614	28 ½	243,406	26 ½
Oats	150,718	31	190,344	31
Barley	27,679	28 ¾	22,713	25 ½
		Tons.		Tons.
Hay	49,760	1 ¼	45,090	1 ¼
Potatoes	16,204	5 ¼	17,564	50 ½

The following article appeared in the Otago Daily Times, Friday, September 5, 1879 :—

If New Zealand has one advantage which places it ahead of all the Australasian Colonies as a field of settlement, it is its climate, which, in conjunction with its enormous areas of rich agricultural land, preeminently fits it for the growth of cereals. No doubt each Colony of the group can boast of areas as extensive as our own, and for the sake of comparison we may admit they are equally rich in soil. But their climate, compared to ours, is a fatal defect, and consequently we find that we are outstripping them in the production of grain. The farmer in Victoria can never calculate the quantity of grain he will produce till it is actually in his corn sacks. If his crop escapes the wire-worm in its earlier stages, or the caterpillar when coming into ear, and he has the promise of an abundant yield for his toil, a burning sirocco may in a few hours thresh page 9 out nearly all his grain, and he is left with nothing but a hope that next year he may escape with better fortune. In Adelaide the yield to the acre of a few bushels of superior grain does not promise that South Australia will be the granary of the world. New South Wales and Queensland produce little but maize, and the area of Tasmania confines its production to home requirements; and so it is, that New Zealand alone of the group, gives promise of yielding a large and ever-increasing surplus for exportation. Narrowing the grain-producing portion of New Zealand to its proper limits, we may define the land from Amberley to the Bluff as the only truly agricultural country in Australasia. A large portion of this land is already alienated from the Crown, and if we are to look to a considerable increase in settlement, it must be by the dispersion of lands which have been already sold, and to which the means of transport arc already afforded. The rapid progress made by Oamaru and Timaru before the construction of railways, was due to their ports, which, bad as they were, enabled their farmers to export grain. As the railway was extended from Christchurch, the whole of the lands in the vicinity were sold and settled. In the South, railways were not pushed on with the same rapidity, although more required, and consequently population has not increased in the same ratio that it has in the North, and this from no inferiority of soil or climate, but because eight months ago, the country beyond the Clutha was cut off from Dunedin. Few now who travel to Invercargill have any idea of the extent and capabilities of the country they pass by. "Going South" is the expression, and it is not generally known that Gore, is in about the same parallel of latitude as Mosgiel, and that it is, the centre of an agricultural district unequalled in extent and fertility in the Australasian Colonies. There are no doubt other districts equally fertile, but there is no district which has half the area of uniformly good land. Stretching far beyond Edendale to the south, it extends to Tapanui in the east, and to the north, far beyond Lumsden to the shores of Te Anau Lake. In its immediate neighbourhood, on the eastern banks of the Mataura, the land is already settled and cultivated, and a few years, will, we hope, give it the home-like appearance which attracts the eye in the Taieri and older settled districts. On the western side of the Mataura the land is still unsettled, but is now available, as the New Zealand Agricultural Company are cutting up their estate for sale on deferred payments, and the New Zealand Land Company are also putting theirs into market on the same principle. If the southern portion of New Zealand is to increase in wealth and population—for there can be no true wealth without population—it can only be by the settlement of lands which have hitherto lain in a comparatively unproductive state, whether as Crown lands or as large estates, and the bulk of good land has long since been sold. We have within the last few months annexed a new district, and have a large field for settlement—thanks to the page 10 connecting link of railway which we so long wanted. When the tide of settlement once sets in to a district, it flows on uninterruptedly, and we look during the next few years to progress in the South, as rapid and permanent as was made in the Oamaru and Timaru districts a few years ago. We are advised of a large influx to our shores of emigrants from Great Britain—men with more or less capital, who intend to throw in their lot with us. No doubt some of them, with recruits drawn from our settled districts, will in a few years, assisted by the easy terms of payment offered both by individuals and the State—as every settler requires a great deal of his capital to improve his land—build up on the banks of the Mataura, settlements, with thriving towns, and form a district which will, we take leave to say, equal any in the Old Country.

The following is from the Southland Times of September the 18th, 1879:—

The recent land sales on account of the Now Zealand Agricultural Company demand more than passing notice, because, firstly, the Company has fully redeemed the promise made of unreserved sale; and, secondly, that the terms offered by the Company are singularly favourable to the promotion of settlement. Nothing could be fairer or more liberal, singularly liberal in fact, than the conditions of the first day's sale—absolutely no reserve, and payments to extend over a period of ten years at the purchaser's option, and bearing only a light rate of interest. To the man of limited means the opportunity thus presented of acquiring a substantial freehold lacks a parallel. Even the very favourable terms offered at the June sale of land by the New Zealand and Australian Land Company, were not so liberal, and where there are two such Companies, both holding extensively, not waiting to be "burst up," but inviting purchase, on the most tempting terms, we do not think there is much room for complaint, on the score of monopoly or the lack of opportunity to the bona fide settler, to possess himself of a home-stead. To expatiate upon the quality of a great deal of the land held by the above companies would be supererogatory on our part. Better land is not to be met with in any part of Australasia, or so suitable in all respects for fanning on a moderate scale. And all this land will be disposed of in the long run for the purposes of bonâ fide settlement; and if the process, should involve, the introduction of a substantial yeoman class of settlers from Britain, the companies will have done well for the colony, and will have fairly earned whatever meed of profit may fall to their share. The reputation of the land of the Mataura and the Waimea Plains will yet resound throughout the Colonies. The term ever-verdant may be applied to it, whilst its fertility is next to inexhaustible.