COLONIAL MANUFACTURES.

Dunstan Times, Issue 529, 7 June 1872, Page 2

COLONIAL MANUFACTURES.

The branch of industry, which—in duo order of sequence—has the next claim to attention is that of manufactures. This is a question of great importance to the Colony, in its hearing on the future ; but in the general and merely political review of the industrial economy country, now under consideration,;.a few observations on the condition and prospects of the most necessary and useful manufactures avill be sufficient. The causes pointed out in a former communication as tending to restrict agricultural development, viz : —the diversion o labor and capital to other pursuits—are operating in a great‘degree against the domestication and extension of manufacturing industry. The evidence appended to the Report of the Committee of the Legislative Assembly, on Colonial Industries, furnishes some useful information on the present condition of manufactures within the Colony. This Report contains, First, the opinion of scientific and well informed persons on the general question of the capabilities of the country, and the development of its ro sources ; from which the conclusion is dc - duced that “ Nearly all the articles and commodities at present imported from England, Australia, or America, might ho produced and manufactured within the Colony and thatjtbe local establishment of the various industries—by' increasing the demand for labor, would foster immigra. Tim, and promote the prosperity of the country. Secondly—We have the evidence of persons practically engaged in various important manufactures already established in the Colony—woolen cloth manufacturers, engineers and iron founders, inalstoqp,! brewers, and distillers, milleis, lea hj manufacturers, soap boilers, &c. —the general tenor of whose evidence tends to confirm the “ scientific ” opinions above nientinued, at least in regard to abstract possibilities ; but also yoints out practical difficulties which obstruct the progress of locally established manufactures. There is a general concurrence of opinion in the evidence of these “ practical ” persons, as to the inadequacy of the local capital—fixed and circulating for economical production, and that the scarcity and high price of labor, especially' of “ skilled ” labor, entails disadvantages on the local manufacturer which disqualify him from obtaining a proper remuneration for bis cntei'prise and investments, in the face of unrestricted importations ; and Protection, Government Loans, and also its special patronage is suggested, as necessary conditions for the improvement and permanent establishment of various important manufactures. I The Committee on review of the evi- | deuce and in accordance wbh the suggestions and statements of thr parties examined, conclude in their Report, that •‘there 1 are many industrial pursuits peculiarly | adapted to the Colony, xvliich might be inj troducod with advan age, and if a temporary protection xvtrc afforded, “ would become self supporting, and cease to require the fostering aid of protective duties. ” Amongst these the Committee mention—tweeds, cloths, and coarse woolen goods, ropes and cordage, soap, starch, leather, malt. They also recommend that the production of the, following articles be encouraged by the oiler of a Bom*, instead of protective duties, viz.—glass-bottles, paper woolpacks, and coni sacks, scrim cloth, and beet-root sugar. The general conclusion to bo derived from this Report with its appended evidence is, that manufacturing industry within the Colony is yet in -an embryonic state, not sufficiently developed for self subsistence ; and that except to supply some local necessities, or some peculiar requirement, the domestication and extended development of manufacturing industry will be retarded, by the difficulties of the position of the local manufacturer in respect to labor and capital ; which, in the present circumstances of the Colony', more than counterbalance the advantages of natural resources and proximity' of markets, &<•, For the removal of some of tlu> Realties and impediments now cxistii ,se-u the establishment of various local industries, as disclosed by the evidence of the “ scientific and practical ” persons examined, the Committee recommend, “ with a view to develop the manufacture of tine flannel and cloths, still extensively followed by small fanners in Wales and Yorkshire, the Committee suggest that it would ho desirable to introduce small colonies of Welshmen and Yorkshiremeu acquainted with these processes, the Colony playing their passages, and afterwards granting them farms in fee simple, subject only to their manufacturing certain specified “ quantities of flannel or cloth.” If the Committee had considered the previous question—How many of this class of persons are already in the Colony, and in what occupation are they' engaged ? they would probably l ave modified the above conclusion. En jMwant, I ask, Why do not the Census Statistics furnish information on such a point as this. The presumption is that there are already a considerable number of this class of persons within the colony, following a variety of oecupations more profitable to themselves and probably more beneficial to the country than those in which they have been educated ; and that the very' last tiling they would think of resorting to, will he the resumption within the Colony of these pristine avocations. And in acting thus they are obeying one of the great economic laws of civilised communities, and carrying into effect one of the best established principles of political economy, viz.: —that, when a country can procure commodities ; from abroad cheaper than at homo, it is the general interest that they should be in--1 ported, and the industry of the country he

directed into other channels to produce articles in exchange. But, supposing these “Welshmen” and « Yorkshiremen” settled and happy on their “fee-simple” farms in the “ small colonies” to be established. Supposing further, that they press 3ssed the machinery and apparatus required for manufacturing ; how are they to he supplied with materials? Would the great wool growers care to supply, such petty customers ? Would they advance the raw material on credit, and thus being virtually partners in the trade, bec( me lords of these manufacturing communities? By what means would the products of those manufactories find their way to market and be made available for the supply of the immediate necessities of the manufacturer. The report itself shows that the capital is wanting, by which alone such a system could he sustained. There are, it is true, some parts of the United Kingdom, where agriculture aiid manufactures are in some degree associated; aud also there are some descriptions of fine and fancy cloths that can bo manufactured by theiaiid-loomjbetter than by machinery; but, as a rule, the factory system has superseded the domestic in the manufacture, of textile fabrics, aud the question arises why ajsystem which is becoming efffte in the older civilization should be revived and established here ? But the whole scheme is impracticable, because the conditions under which it is pro scouted in the old country do not exist here and cannot readily he created. The small farmers” and hand loom weavers at home are only the employ’cs of the great manufacturing and merchant capitalists who supply them with materials in a state of preparedness, fit for immediate use, andwho repurchase, or pay for the labor of manufacture of the article produced. All the machinery the capital, the merchant manufacturer, the steady domesticated habits, and moderate expectations of a class reared aud trained to the manual operations of cloth manufacturing, are wanting in this,country. Besides, this system is objectionable on physiological grounds ; "and in this respect is in some measure impracticable. Those who practise it do so only at certain seasons being employedjiu the winter in manufac tilling, and in summer in the labours of the field, and those different labors, simultaneously prosecuted, are incompatible with each other. Further, the rude energy of the'ploughman and digger disqualifies him for the nicety of manipulation, which manufacturing processes require ; and, on the other hand, the greater delicacy of organisation and intellectual perspicuity, which give to the human baud its more perfect mechanical endowments, aud is essential to artistic skill, incapacitates the artizan for coarser labor, which requires chiefly animal energy —physical force. The idea of the Committo is illusory. The conditions on which alone the scheme could be successful, have no existence in the colony. It is a mere Ignis fatuus —the “ baseless fabric of (Committee) vision.” I agree thus far with the Committee, that the localization of various manufactures is a thing to he desired, and have shown in a previous letter that this will eventually he a necessary condition of agricultural extension ; hut this can only be effected slowly, gradually, and by the private enterprize of the community, moulding the circumstances of the times, and' creating the conditions for the introduction and growth of more elaborate handicrafts and mechanical operations, and not by the forcing system of special settlements, protective tariffs, bonuses, loans, land-grants, or immigration schemes, or other policy of the Government. AGRICOLA.