Untitled

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume XIII, Issue 573, 30 April 1868, Page 3

i ■ —» MANUFACTURING ENTERPRISE IN VICTORIA. (From the Argus, 3rd March.) Tuk month of February, IS6S. will be memorable in the industrial history of Victor! i, from its haring witnessed her first production of machine-made woollen cloth. For many years blankets and other coarse woollen fabrics have been made, in our penal establishments, by hand labor ; but now for the first time wo bare commenced to make cloth for general consumption, and we are pleased at being (able to report favorably of the experiment, Iso far as this, namely that the new VicItoriau cloth is pronounced by competent judges to be of excellent quality, even I though somewhat wanting in beauty of | finish and elegance of patern. The factor) already in operation is at Geelong ; but a Melbourne C oth Company is also making progress with extensive works, of Stoney Creek, so that unless the hopes of the promoters of both enterprises are cruelly disappointed, we shall soon have rival cloth manufactories in full operation, and contending for the favor of the cloth-consum-ing public. And in some other branches of manufacturing industry similar activity is being exhibited. On the south bank o'f the Yarra, a large paper mill is approaching completion, and it is to be expected that Victorian paper will come into the market very soon after Victorian cloth. Within the month a new distillery has commenced operations at Ballarat, another is beiuw built in this city. Of the new meat-pre-serving establishments that have been set up within the past few months, frequent mention has already been made in these columns, as well of numerous new boilingdown houses ; and it is enough to sav here that vast as is our surplus production of beef and mutton, there now seems little cause to fear that any of it will be permitted to go to waste for want of manufacturing skill or commercial enterprise. But it is no new thing for Victoria to have much to boast of in the way of manufacturing activity. The tendency of her people has been to proceed too fast in all such matters, rather than to lag behind, and that the colony has not suffered so much from rash speculation as might reasonably have been feared, is due to the marvellous wealth, and variety of her natural resources. At the end of 1866, which is the latest date which we have olScial information on the subject, there were eighty-six breweries at work in the colony, employing capital to the amount of £266,206 ; Hi Rour-miEs, with a capital of £384,385; and 786 other manufactories of various kinds, whose aggregate! j capital was £1,930,011. And in addition to all this, there was aggricultural machinery in use, at the same ante, to the value of £865,787, and miamg machinery to the value of £2,068,5x7. From these figures some idea can be formed as to the industrial condition of the colony, and as to the extent to which we have succeeded in acclimatizing useful manufactures. As to the mea-urc of success that has attended our manufacturing enterprises, it . mav safelv be a“evtf-d that all that were J - v . ... . . ... I

based on an intelligent conceplion of the wants and the capabili'ies of the country, hare proved profitable to their originators and advantageous to the public. Flourmills were obviously wanted in s country which produced wheat and consumed bread, and tbese bars proved exceeding!* prosperous. Breweries, again, were cleariy necessary to a beer-drinking community

I with plenty of grain at command, and tlies-j having succeeded in producing a beverage suited to our climate and sufficiently acceptable to the palate, have beC(j oil- -iuTOU- cS’-autlsilcu.. fcjOap aud cand;e work?*, tanneries, glue manufaotories, curled hair and cloth manufactories, fellmongeries, brick-fields, potteries, sawmills, &e., were suited to the colony at a comparatively early stage in its career, from an abundance of the raw materials employed in each co-existing with a large jdemand for the huiaueu commodity, whila the amount of labor involved in the manufacturing process was not large. Other colonial manufactories owe their success to quite a different cause. Labor being dear, there is a greater inducement here than in most countries to adopt all kinds of labor-saving machinery aud apparatus, and a great proportion of both has been manufactured on the spot. Consequently, iron-founding, boiler-making, engine-fit-ting, agricultural implement making, and other similar trades, are very extensively carried on in the colony, as well as ropa and chain making, and the many other branches of manufacturing industry whose co operation with those we have mentioned is necessary to the success. The statement already given of the value of the mining and agricultural machinery m use in the country proves how extensive the business must be by which the larger portion of it is produced, and the whole of it kept in repair. Another group of colonial manufactures has sprdng up in more recent times, as the labor became available for them. These comprise furniture-making, the slop clothes and the boot and shoa manufactures, and many others, and sheir proprietors are enabled to compete successfully with foreign producers by their better knowledge of the wants aud tastes of the consuming public. Of the few Victorian manufacturing enterprises that have proved unsuccessful, nearly all were brought into existence by unwise fiscal legislation. A differential spirit duty of four shillings a gallon in favor of the home producer, caused large sums to be invested in distilleries, which have not proved remunerative to the proprietors while they cause a great loss of revenue. A differential duty in favor of home-manufactured tobacco, and the exemption of home-grown tobacco from duty, beguiled several speculators into the tobacco' trade, to their ruin. The cloth manufacture just commenced may or may uot prove a commercial success; if not, the unfortunate speculators will have Parliament to thank for their misfortunes, for it is well known that they entered upon their enterprise under the inducement of a state bounty, which was foolishly promised as a reward for the production of a piece of cloth by a time fixed, which date, by the bye, had long passed before any cloth was manufactured 1 The history of Victorian manufactures illustrates very forcibly the danger of state interference with tlie legitimate course of trade. Very great manufaetturiug progress has been made in the short period of the country’s history, one new branch of business springing up after another, and establishing itself, as soon as circumstances were favorable to its growth, while every attempt to force manufactures or to foster them by means of bounties, or differential duties, or other Government interference, has ended in failure and disappointment in ruin aud disaster.