THE Marlborough Express. SATURDAY, JULY 10, 1869.

Marlborough Express, Volume IV, Issue 183, 10 July 1869, Page 2

THE Marlborough Express.

SATURDAY, JULY 10, 1869.

“ Givit me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all other liberties.’ Milton.

When we look back into the early history of the United States, and mark the conduct of those patriotic men—and women .too — who first declared for Liberty and'ttndependance ; the personal sacrifices they made rather than use duty-paying,goods, and the energy they displayed in providing for their own wants—we are compelled to draw comparisons between them and the colonists of Hew Zealand, which are far from favorable to the latter. The country that sends n.way all its money for the necessaries of life, while it seeks to produce nothing for itself, must soon become bankrupt. Such has been the practice in these Colonies for years. The sheep-owners have absorbed all the land they could possibly got hold of, and so long as woolgrowing was considered profitable. Hew Zealand, and this Island especially, was hut little better than a huge sheep-walk, exporting Wool, and importing everything else. Our farmers have acted much inthesame way until within the last few years ; no attention was paid to the rotation of crops, or the rearing of fat stock; hams, bacon, and cheese were imported into this country from sixteen thousand miles away, and sold at enormous prices. We exported wheat occasionally, but imported flour continually, and many scores of acres have been exhausted until they would scarcely grow weeds ; while the straw which ought to have been trodden by cattle and pigs into manure, was burnt where it was threshed. Wages were high, wool was deal’, and so squatters and storekeepers made large foi tunes, but what in the meantime has become of our working population 1 The abnormal condition of the labor market speedily produced its results in extravagant living, and expensive habits. We have not time just now to seek for the exact figures, but we know that enormous sums have been expended in such luxuries as working men in England would hardly dream of. If only half the money that has been spent on sardines, pickles, bottled fruits, jams and confectionery, had been applied to the developement of Local Manufactures, hundreds of working men who are almost hopelessly in debt, might have been thriving and independent. We have said nothing about the curse of drunkenness and gambling—these need no . comment from us. But it was not by such practices as these that the American liepublic was built up. The hour of distress, the time of depression has come, and all classes in Hew Zealand are more or less affected thereby.

Let us then take counsel together, and see how best we can remedy the present state of things. We have repeatedly ui'ged on the attention of our readers the importance of establishing Local Manufactures by means of Cooperative Companies. We believe that such enterprises would be most readily got up and fostered to a use-

ful end by capital subscribed in small sums j if the shares are low in pi’ice, let those who have the most money to spare take more of them. What a fine field for exertion) lies before us in the manufacture of Woollen goods ! Does it not seem the height of absurdity that before a man in New Zealand can get a blanket, or a flannel shirt, or a yard of cloth, the material —I although growing at his door—must travel 32,000 miles before he can wear it. What a useless expenditure of labour, time, and money ! It is folly to say we cannot compete with the old country j the difference in wages here and in England is more than counterbalanced by the numerous expenses incurred in the shape of freight, commission, insurance, and Customs duty, to say nothing of the waste and injury of the material in so much screwing and knocking about. We earnestly hope that some steps will be taken to establish Woollen Manufactures in our midst, and to provide by such means for the present comfort and welfare of our working population.