The Evening Star. THURSDAY, JULY 23, 1874.

Evening Star, Issue 3562, 23 July 1874, Page 2

The Evening Star. THURSDAY, JULY 23, 1874.

T.HE annual meeting of Parliament is very apt to be regarded as having little bearing upon the well-being of the country, excepting in what is usually understood by the word “ policy a terra which is too often only another name for “party spirit.” But other purposes are effected than determining whose opinions shall or shall not be adopted, and who shall or shall not have the direction of public business. Much information is usually laid before the House on the products, trade, and progress of the country that is really more valuable than the report of the speech made by Mr A, or the reasons that induced Mr B to change his mind, however' important it may be to know, through the utterances of honorable members, whether they are wise enough to be entrusted with the interests of their constituents. Those printed papers too often lie neglected on the table, unread either by members or the public. We have before us several containing interesting details. They are very formal, as all parliamentary documents are; we will therefore, as opportunity serves, strip them of their diplomatic dress, and give a short account of what they tell us. The first to hand is on the exportation of fungus to China. Many of our readers will recollect the curiosity excited by state-

ments in the public journals of a Chinaman buying up certain fungi and exporting them to China. From the accounts received of his purchases, he did not appear to be very particular as to their nature. We all know that only certain species, which we term “ mushrooms,” can be eaten with safety ; but it was said he bought up toadstools too. The conclusion arrived at was that the Chinese could digest what would kill an Englishman, most probably because they had discovered the means of neutralising the poisonous qualities of the plant. At any rate, nobody admired their taste, and many were disposed to think John bad made a sorry bargain. The singular character of the export attracted the attention of the Customs Department, and on the 4th March, 1872, Mr Seed, Secretary and Inspector of Customs, addressed a letter to Mr Townsend, Customs officer in charge at New Plymouth, asking particulars concerning an article which formed a very considerable item on the list of exports from the Province of Taranaki. Mr Townsend, in reply, said that the demand arose with a Chinese dealer named Chow Cheng, who advertised for and first bought “ the material but the merchants and traders of the place, finding on inquiry of correspondents in Sydney and elsewhere, where Chinese merchants reside, that any quantity of the product could be disposed of in China, entered into trade competition with Mr Chow Cheng, and bought fungi both of sett’ers and Maoris. The price paid in Taranaki was 2d to 2£d per lb, and up to March 15, 1873, 145 bales, each containing 4531b, had been exported* The whole quantity, therefore, was about 66,2501b. The bulk of it was brought to Dunedin for shipment to China. This was the extent of Mr Townsend’s knowledge. He could not ascertain the Chinese port to which it was consigned, nor the purpose for which it was useful \ the idea was, it was a “ dye.” Before Mr Townsend’s report reached Mr Seed, Mr Chilman, Collector of New Plymouth, Dn the 3rd December, 1872, sent him a sample by post from New Plymouth, on which Mr Seed, on the '26 th March, 1873, called the attention of the Commissioner of Customs to the new trade. He informed him that seventy bales were exported from Wellington by one of the steamers, and he thought it quite possible the real value might be much greater than the price given for it. He therefore suggested that it would be advisable the Colonial Secretary should communicate with the Government in Hong Kong to ascertain its market value, and the uses to which it is applied. He remarked that <e at present a few Chinamen have a monopoly of the article, and it may be they are obtaining it at much less than its real value.” Acting upon this suggestion, the Hon. William Fox, under date March 28, 1873, wrote to the Colonial Secretary at Hong Kong, sending a sample of the fungus to him. He stated that it “grows on the trunks of trees in the forests of this country that the few persons who bought it enjoyed a monopoly • and that in New Zealand the use to which it was applied was unknowns he therefore requested to be informed of its value in China, and what it was wanted for, with any other particulars that the Colonial Secretary might be in possession of. Under date 11th June, 1873, Mr Cecil Clementi Smith, Acting Colonial Secretary at Hong Kong, replied. He said; “ I have the honor to inform vou that this fungus is much prized by the Chinese community as a medicine, administered in the shape of a decoction, to purify the blood. It is also used on Fast Days. A mixture of vermicelli, beancurd, and this fungus, is boiled and eaten instead of animal food. The sample which accompanied your letter is considered a very good one. The ordinary price of the article is from 1 1 to 20 taels per pecul wholesale, and 1 mace 5 .candareens to 2 mace per catty retail—that is to say, about 10|d per pound. I may add that a superior kind of the same fungus is produced in the Chinese Province of Tze-Ghunan and YunNan, which is sold at the rate of thirty dollars per pecul.” The pecul is a measure of weight equal to about 1331b5; but as we do not measure values here by maces and candareens, unless we can reduce them to English standards we shall still be in the dark to a certain extent. We may therefore observe that the “ mace ”is a coin equal in value to 8d in English money j the candareen is worth about four-fifths of a penny, and the dollar 4s Bd. We leave our readers to estimate the profit Mr Chow Cheng has been realising through his superior knowledge, as well as to ascertain for themselves whether the forests of the South Island produce a fungus similar in species and equal in value to those of Taranaki.