THE GLOBE. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1881. DELAYING LOCAL INDUSTRY.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2173, 11 February 1881, Page 2

THE GLOBE. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1881. DELAYING LOCAL INDUSTRY.

Some time back the members of the Lyttelton Harbor Board with a commendable desire to foster and encourage the progress and growth of local industries, passed a resolution that samples of the clay being dredged from the inner harbor in Lyttelton should be forwarded to our principal pottery makers. It was thought, by those competent to express an opinion, that the clay would be admirably adapted for mixing with other kinds and producing fine pottery. Seeing that the supply is practically inexhaustible, and that instead of conveying it to Camp Bay and there depositing it, that the clay might he utilised, it is hard to understand why no further steps have been taken by the Board in the matter. The resolution was duly carried, it is true, hut the practical result has not yet (though some weeks have elapsed) followed. That this is so is to he regretted for more reasons than one. If the clay, as is supposed, should he of such excellent quality, the delay has caused ns te waste a large quantity of an article capable of being turned to useful account, because the work of the dredge has been going on all the time. Enquiries made into this matter show that none of the pottery works have yet been supplied with the samples, and we should like to know why. The supply, as directed by the Board, would be a very easy matter to accomplish by the Harbor Board officials, and now that public attention has been directed to it, we hope no further time will he lost, but that the experiment, which for aught we know, may be fraught with great results, as far as the development of local resources is concerned will at once be carried out.