THE AGRICULTURAL INTEREST.

Dunstan Times, Issue 523, 26 April 1872, Page 3

THE AGRICULTURAL INTEREST.

—o—vl 1 X [COMMUNIGATKD.] ' '■> V‘ In my 'last communication on the industrial condition of the country, agriculture was considered simply in its physical aspect, in the effects and results of the: alaptation of the, enterprise, skill, and labor of a. great producing interest, in supplying the various products of the soil in the quantity and of the description required by the public. lit tha present communication this subject will be considered in its economical relations—as to its influence on the present condition an I future well-being of the agricultural classes, and ou the progress an I prosperity of the country.. The conclusion drawn from the facts and arguments adduced iq a previous letter was that agricultural production generally had attained a development nearly alequate’to the necessities of the country ; and that, in Otago and Canterbury, besides wool and other paslor.il products, there was a large quantity of grain and dairy products availaide for exportation. Theflocal product!ok s of each province are already checking the inter-provincial, trale. Even the North Island, in which cultivation is the least advanced, will soon raise agricultural pro dues sufficient forits own population, and, consequently, dispense with the importation of grain from the Southern Provinces or elsewhere. And in all provinces, the population of the interior, supplied by the local produce of their vicinity, will no longer require the coutributions of the older settlements or the sea-beard, and the direction generally of the trade in colonial produce will be determined outside. It would appear that exportation has become an inevitable necessity *1 the '] time and an essential condition of future progress. Under these circumstances, it is apparent that the Colony has arrived at a critical period in its industrial progress. It readilyaccessible and remunerative markets do not exist outside the colony for the.productions of its existing agriculture, it is clear that, unless there he a change in the description of the crops cultivate 1, the extension of settlement will be at once arrested.' ■ That ths markets do exist in England an I other countries of Europe for the surplus grain or other produce of the country is true ; but the point to determine is whether the value of colmial pro luce in those markets'fwould be equivalent to the cost of production, pins freight, merchants’ profits, &o. This question, depending as it does, on a variety of circumstances, can only be decided properly in a practical way, namely by experiment. The result of the experiment now being made in Christchurch for shipping grain for the English ■ market will- tend to determine the punts in question; and is, in consequence of its general relation to the future of the Colony, of more than merely local and temporary interest and importance.

In the meantime it may be remarked that the “depression” which has for several years paralysed the energies of the Colony still prevails. The clouds which cast a lurid gloom over the brightness of the future still overhangs the domicile of the ■dairyman and the fields of the cultivator, though it no longer obstructs the sunshine of the happily circumstanced wool-grower. This section of the agricultural community was the first to lehfcer the shadow, and, in accordance with laws and phenomena of occult,atior, is natura’ly the first to emerge from its darkening influence^

To-drap the metaphor, the excess of supp’y of agricultural produce in the principal markets of the Colony has produced its usual elects on its money value, and occasion ;1 a general fall of prices; and consequently re luced the incomes and diminished the resources of the agricultural classes, f I’ho p-icc of wool is, of course, not affected hy variations iu the value of other ..produce In the local markets ; but it is affected by like causes, 'that influence values in the home markets to which it is exported. During the continuance of the civil war in America, high prices for wool prevailed in the English markets, on accouut of the de fluency of the. Cot toll -supply [and the ex-, tan led use ani ..substitution of wool in place of cotteu in some descriptions of cloth fabrics The cessation of the war anu renew el prospect of future abundant cotton supply, limit d the demand for wool, apd its market value was reduced accordingly.

Tims the complaints of flock-owners and cultivators have a common cause. It is a question of prices whether in the Homo or 0 denial market. It is a revivication of the oil cry of 11 agricultural distress, ” which for nearly a century occupied at intervals the attention of the British Parliament, anil the philosophic cogitations of Burke and Chatham.and other stars of the political firmament, hub all efforts failed, notwithstanding, many experiments and recommendations—to devise remedies for the evils complained of, and the question was at last abandoned rhat the, remedy was beyond the powers of Parliament, or the province of legislation. That the prudential conduct, economic industry, and equitable commercial, intercourse of -the industrial classes, combined with those changing conditions, which variation of seasons, discoveries in arts, . and improved mechanical inventions occasionally tend to remove from time to, tipio- any temporary disadvantages, and clears away the gloom that had enveloped for. a moment the pros-. pects of the future. . • rfv When the reduction in ,the price of wool above referred to took place in 1863, it was confidently stated, and generally jbeUeyed that this was the principal cans? of the unfavorable ..change, th'U in the circumstances and condition of thecolony—of the scarcity, of employment, ■ the decay of trade, the cessation of progressive in-, crease, soon followed by decline of the pubBo tev-une, &C. Butifthis was the real, or principal binse of 'the evils then com■plaiaed c 4 the converse must hold good,

™ g - f ■ 1 ■«?=? I and the present flourishing condition of the pastoral iii'tereat must dissipate the clouds that have obscured the sun of prosperity. Experience, however, does not warrant the opinion that the circumstances above referred to, have much influence on the general condition of the country—certainly not so much as has been generally supposed —though they may be all-important to a few individuals and to some localities. The incomes of this class of producers must, of course, vary from time to time, in accordance with the fluctuations of the market-value of the! rprodnoe ; but, it is not probable that prices will fall permanently below the remunerative point. For, although there is a continually-increasing produce, in all parts of the world there is a correspondently increased consumption ; a consumption which in tin future is likely to increase in a ratio greater than the increase of supply. Wool may be considered a “ natural product” of the soil, which only requires the labor of gathering. In new countries where sheep are kept ou the natural produce of uncultivated laud, the labor and expenses of management bear only a small proportion to the value of the produce, and consequently the profits on the invested capital’ are disproportionately high. In the circumstances and conditions under which this branch of business is carried on in the British Colonies, it affords—without exception—a more certain and remunerative investment for capital than any other department of productive industry. But the several wool-producing Colonies do not reap all the benefits of this fayprable circumstance under the existing system of tenure, not only on account of the insecurity to which they are exposed by political changes, but because a large proportion of the capital employed is foreign, i.e,, not domestic j and its refund with interest and profits are not retained to improve, enrich and beautify the lulls and the valleys of the country that creates it.- '- ■ ; ; ■ i AGRICOLA.