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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 75

General Products and Industries

General Products and Industries.

Timber.—The vast forests of kauri and other valuable trees have given this district the foremost place for production and export of timber. There are many safe and sheltered harbours for shipping, while streams and rivers without number form convenient highways for conveying logs to the mills or ports. Some idea of the page 23 extent of this industry may be given by quoting from the official returns made at the time of the last census. There were then forty-nine steam saw-mills situated in various parte of the district, with engines of a total of some 2,000 horse power. These mills employed over a thousand men, and produced yearly some 80,000,000ft. of sawn timber, valued at £301,328; of timber resawn into flooring, skirting, &c., some 21,000,000ft., valued at upwards of £91,000, not to mention posts and rails, mouldings, sashes, and doors. Besides this output, in the remoter parts of the district large quantities of timber are hand-sawn. The durable puriri is converted into railway-sleepers, for which there is a great demand, and the totara is largely sought after for telegraph-posts and wharf-piles.

Kauri-gum.—The most unique production of this portion of the colony is kauri-gum, obtained for the most part from the country north of Auckland. It is formed by the hardening of the exuded turpentine from the kauri tree, and is dug out of ground from which the forest has been burnt off. The Royal Commission lately appointed elicited the fact that in 1893 the procuring of the gum gave employment to no less than 6,897 persons. Last year 7,126 tons were exported, valued at £431,323. The kauri-gum is extensively used in the manufacture of varnish, and also for glazing calico. Nearly two-thirds of the varnishes in the market are produced from this gum. The average earnings of a digger may be taken as from £1 7s. to £1 108. per week.

Flax (Phormium tenax).—An industry, which is for the present in a languishing condition, is the conversion of the broad leaves of the Phormium tenax into marketable flax suitable for the manufacture of rope, twine, mate, mattresses, and numerous other articles. The flax-mills are scattered over different parts of the district, as near rail-or water-carriage as possible, and employ about eighty men and boys, whilst the local rope-and-twine works give work to some forty more.

Gold.—This district has in the past produced large quantities of gold, but the area over which auriferous quartz-reefs have been discovered is limited to the Counties of Coromandel, Thames, Ohinemuri, and a small portion of Piako. In 1896 the output of this neighbourhood was 35 per cent, of all the gold produced in New Zealand, the quantity (92,346oz.) entered for duty for exportation having been valued at £350,355. From 1878 to 1892 the Thames Goldfield alone produced some 600,000 oz. Now that the area over which auriferous quartz-reefs have been discovered has increased, a much larger output may be expected in the future. The total estimated value of the gold was £358,317 for 1896-1897, against £378,107 in the previous year. All the gold won was obtained by battery amalgamation, and the bullion by the cyanide process. There is a large amount of English capital being expended in developing new discoveries in out-districts away from the goldfield, but it will be some time yet before these discoveries have reached their full development. At the Thames there is a School of Mines, well attended and showing good results.

Coal.—Coal is found in most parts of this district, and is being worked with more or less success at Kawakawa, Hikurangi, Kamo, and Ngunguru, to the north of Auckland; whilst in the south there are three mines at Huntly, all turning out a good household coal. The total output of all the miues in 1896 was upwards of 139,000 tons.

Fruit.—The climate of the Auckland District is well adapted for the growth of the orange, lemon, vine, and olive, as also for the fruits of England, America, and Japan. The subtropical kinds flourish about Hokianga, in the north; those of the temperate regions, in the Waikato and neighbourhood. Now that the problem of how to land fruit in good condition in the London market has been solved, orchard planting is rapidly progressing, and it has been found that, the culture of the hard varieties of the apple will repay export to England. Of late years a demand has set in for the poor clay-land that used to contain gum, as it is admirably suited for fruit-growing. Orchards are now planted in neighbourhoods where the soil has lain idle for years, for it has been proved that apples grown on this poor soil keep longer than those grown on richer land. More attention is being just now paid to stone fruits, for which there is always a steady local market, than to apples, which have page 24 of late years been heavily handicapped by blight. The fruit industry in Auckland is yet in its infancy, and is capable of great extension. At present peaches are the only fruit canned, though there is also a good deal done in the way of drying fruits and vegetables by the process of evaporation.

Fishing.—The sea and harbours abound in fish. At least eighteen different varieties, suitable for the table, are caught with little labour, and settlers living near the sea-coast, or any one of the many harbours and tidal rivers, can always obtain enough for all necessities. At present the canning industry is confined to mullet, of which there is a large amount exported, and an equal quantity used for home consumption. The rock-oyster is found over a large area on these coasts, and large quantities are sent both to the southern ports of the colony and also to Australia.