PROPOSED AGRICULTURAL CONFERENCE.

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 2, Issue 63, 16 March 1868, Page 65

PROPOSED AGRICULTURAL CONFERENCE.

(Prom the Otago Witness, 29th February.)' -gg The importance; of the: proposed- Conference of .delegates ;from the various Agricultural and Pastoral Societies, appointed to take = place ,on the 7th of April, can scarcely be over-rated. For some time back, all practical men have felt a difficulty in devising plans for profitably cultivating the land. This was, a crisis in the history of the Colony that, in the natural progression of events, was sure, sooner or later, to arise. It was inevitable that a period must come when the supply : would equal the demand, for both agricultural and pastoral produce... Ithas been the case in every Colony in which an abnormal stimulus has been given to production and the influx of population, through the discovery of gold. California has passed through it,’ New South Wales and Victoria have also gone through the • ordeal, and how Otago has to ,battle , with the difficulty. But. other causes than the progression of events haye ; been at. work, to give a stimulus to ipastoral pursuits.; Colonies are naturally l producers of raw mate :

rial. The land,.unoccupied for; ages! presents;.the" fairest field: for industry and the investment of capital. There is neither population- nor material al hand-for the prosecution of- manufactures. The wool produced must! therefore, Be sent to a country where it can be qujckly arid readilyrionvertec into clotting,,hr other material,anc distributed throughout the world. Were progress uninterrupted by wars and rumors of wars; could Com ! merce go on -expanding naturally/, t< supply the world’s wants, in proportioi 1 to the extention of the ineansi of <om munication, prices would not be liable l to sudden and great differences. Bu : it is riot so. The American war, b;

its disturbing effect on the suW)s3 , «hffi cotton, had a marked influence ofraSM 1 price of wool. . Combined with other i causes,.it raised and maintained the : price for some years, and thus gave an < undue stimulus to production. More i than probably, prices would have been 1 sustained much longer had not the i European troubles followed so closely 1 on the cessation of the American war. s Et would be going over ground fre- i quently trodden to trace minutely the I course of events. Difficulty followed i difficulty; fear, panic, extensive fail- i ures, and bad trade. To these adverse : influences the present depressed state : of the wool market is chiefly owing. < It is under such circumstances that the Conference will have to meet, and to discuss the hindrances that now present themselves to profitable and extended pastoral and agricultural pursuits. There are already indications on the. part of the runholders that they do not intend to let things take their course, but that, by improved methods of preparing wool for export, they will endeavour to retain the past rate of profits, although the prices of wool exported under the old system are so much lower. This is the right spirit in which to meet the difficulty ; and, if successful, when, in the course of events, manufacturing and commercial activity are resumed in the Old World, not only will the Colony have been saved from the evils attendant upon low prices, but it will reap the benefit of the additional value given to its produce by those improvements. There is another feature connected with the production of wool which augurs well for the future of New Zealand : the Provincial Government offers a bonus for the introduction into Otago of the woollen manufacture. This is deci-

dedly the right course. A bonus differs widely from the folly of a protective duty. It is a fixed and definite sum paid-for securing a specified benefit. The’, tax falls equally upon every individual in the community in proportion to his payments to the revenue, and eve*y penny of the money goes directly into the pockets of those whom it was intended to benefit, m return for the advantage reaped by the Province from their enterprise ; and when the manufacture becomes so firmly established as to need no further help, the assistance is withdrawn. We look forward hopefully to the future of the pastoral interest. > The agricultural interest has also beeii. depressed. It is by no means certain that different crops from those customarily raised could not with advantage be produced. It is very certain that the methods hitherto followed have been most primitive, and thatthere isgreatroom for improvement It is with all such subjects that the Conference will have to deal. Indifference to communicate with each other has marked both the agricultural and pastoral classes. It is to be hoped that the result of the Conference will ' be to show the advantage of association.