NEW VIEW OF EFFECTS OF THE WAR.

Marlborough Express, Volume IV, Issue 183, 10 July 1869, Page 6

NEW VIEW OF EFFECTS OF THE WAR.

The Wanganui Herald says :—The war appears to have given an impetus to all kinds of industry in this district. Before it commenced, there was a slow and certain progress in the accumulation of wealth—which was slow because of the many old prejudices that stood in the way, and which had to be overcome. The war has revolutionised men’s minds—stirring and troubling the stagnant waters, and imparting fresh life and energy. The philosophic historian might, in after times, perceive the new direction which the current of life has taken. Flocks and herds were the only

things that troubled men’s minds ; but the war, by bringing the area of land within very contracted bounds, depressed the value of every kind of stock. The interest on the last mortgage remained unpaid ; the unincumbered crept insensibly into debt, and every one was forced to the conclusion that some fresh industry must be started, or an influx of new settlers would occupy the place of the new, who had commenced the work of colonisation. At this present moment the change is taking place from the old state of things to something that affords hope of brighter prospects. The one boiling-down establishment of an enterprising settler will probably soon be supplemented by others, while the example of Victoria, in preserving meat for the home markets, and creating an important item in the export trade of that Colony, is awakening the attention of the people all over New Zealand. The flax plant, formerly in the way of our pastoral farmers, has suddenly sprung into a staple product, and given an extra value to land. Not only is it now being protected in its swamps, but it is being planted on high and dry land, where it never grew before ; and it has been found that it grows with a liner fibre on moderately dry land, which compensates for the rankness of growth in swampy. It is maintained that the most luxurious crops are grown on swamps that have been thoroughly drained. After years of patient trial, machinery has been discovered to separate the gum from the fibre, without the aid of chemicals, by a simple and eftectual process, leaving the fibre in a state to command an average price of £2O per ton in the Colony. Auckland tested the matter, and, by slow degrees, the demonstration worked out in the North, is extending itself South.