THE MAORI MESSENGER. Auckland, June 20, 1850,

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume 2, Issue 39, 20 June 1850, Page 2

THE MAORI MESSENGER. Auckland, June 20, 1850,

The demands for produce of all kinds for the Californian market has caused a general rise in prices, and instead of our farmers finding any difficulty in effecting sales, as has sometimes been the case at this season of the year, it is buyers who are now unable to do business. Unfortunately, from a variety of causes, cultivation was not much extended last year in this settlement, so that from this circumstance, and the augmentation of consumers by immigration, the surplus quantity of produce is not so great ns it otherwise would have bpen. l'Vom the ' large demand 100, which existed last year for barley, there was more of this grain grown in the lato season than in any former year. Wheat may be quoted at 4s. to 4s. 6d. per bushel, barley at 45., potatoes £'l a ton. These prices are all linn. Onions for exportation have been selling at 4d. per lb., and are now difficult to be obtained at that price. Dairy produce is also high, butter Is. 2d., cheese, Is. The retail prices of butcher's meat are unchanged—heef and mutton sd. a lb., poik 4d., but a decline would take place if beasls could be more readily driven in from their pastures, and a road lo the Wairau is in this, as well as in many other respects, an important object to us. Altogether, the prospects of agriculture in New Zealand have not for a long period been so encouraging as at the present moment. We have repeatedly urged our Maori readers to extend their tillage, and to enlarge their cultivations; because it was quite clear to us that what with the number of settlers flocking from England to New Zealand, what with the demand for our produce from California, that the fields of both natives and sottiers would be found unequal to supply the calls that would be made. From tho above extract, which we copy from that very intelligent paper, the " Nelson Examiner,'* it is clear that our conclusions were correct. It is satisfactory to know that there is so ready a market for the agricultural products of the country i and it is doubly satisfactory to think that there is abundant and fertile land for the hand of industry to cause to teem with the choicest food both for man and beast. Let not, we ititrent you, the existing seed time £as3 in idleness. Be active, be alert! — iet the plough and tho harrow he seen, in earnest rivalry. Subdue the land hefore you, until it shall become a garden of natural wealth and loveliness, a source of equal enjoyment and riches. Plant and sow, —sow and plant, so that your store of fruits and grains may render you their increase a thousand fold. Now is the time to profit by opportunity. If you neglect it you may lose the command of that rich market which the wants of California and the favourable position and great natural fertility of New Zealand have thrust upon you for acceptance. Lest it should be said by any—in reply to our urgent incitements to a steady and active pursuit of native rural industry—we have neither plough with which to break ground, horses or cattle lo draw a plough, or harrows to pulverize the soil, wc deem it proper to point out and to inculcate the adoption of another mode —one, which will not only amply repay the labourers, but will speedily enable them to acquire sufficient capital to purchase ploughs, horses, and all the other essential articles required by the extensive farmer. The system to which we allude i 3 that description of culture known as spade husbandry—a system ad-

mirably suited to anew country, since no other method is so jicculiarly applicable in extirpation nf the brush, ten tree, tussock grass, and other various indigenous plants which the plough soinelimes merely scarifies. Of the profits of spado husbandry, even where land is of high value, and every improved implement of ngi'iculture of easy attainment, we have the most incontestihle proofs. If, then, the returns are of superior amount in an old and praitical country, how much more profitable must they not be in a new and inexperienced one ? and how especially do they not merit the most earnest attention of such us may be possessed of the soil and yet be without eat lie or implements to (ill it? Wo tianscrjue, by way of'illustration, the following passage, slightly altered, from that valuable work " Chambers' Information lor the People :" "It is, we believe, an iiidisputuhli! fact, that a garden produces heavier crops, space for space, than a field under ordinary culture with the plough. In regard to dill'ereiiee of produce an experiment was tried in Scoiland cxpresslv to ascertain that point. A Weld wus taken which had been cropped with beans the proj ceding year, and the previous year with 'oats. Two ridges were dug with the , spade, and two ridges were turned up , with the plough, in alternate belts, and the whole was sown on the same day. , I'art of the ploughed and part of the dug ] was sown broadcast; the other parts of , both were drilled with the garden hoe. | The whole was reaped the same day, ] an I being thrashed out, the result was j that the dug land sown broadcast yioldeil , fifty-live bushels in the same space as | that which had been ploughed and sown x broadcast yielded forty-two, leaving a sa- i poriority of thirteen bushels in favour of . tho dug lanil. Again, from the plot ( which Itad been <uig and drilled there | were twenty and a, quar.'er bushels t reaped, whilst from that which had been i ploughed nnd drilled there were only i twelve and a quarter bushels. The ad- t ditional grain produced was not the only j beneficial result gained by digging ; for t in this instance there was also a great 1 deal nf straw, nnd the land was much \ more free of weed--, and more easily eul- > tivated in tho following year.'' i

Nothing can be more convincing, It must satisfy every one that they who have bunds and me \vi ling t» use them, enn do so here much to their own individual advniiingo ami to the great immediate advancement of the country at huge. And with the bright and encouraging fact staring them in the face that a ready nud remunerative market is open to absorb the fruits of their industry. Of this fact, there cannot be a question Let the most sceptical look nt the list of coasting vessels daily arriving in Auckland—let them consider the amount of Native produce conveyed and at onto disposed of by these vessels. Let them remember, besides, that to . Wellington, Nelson, and Otago an extensive coasting trade-'is likewise carried on. Let them look, too, at the manifests of the cargoes of the large ships freighted to California ; —nml, then, we think they must be fully satisfied Hmt the Agricultural prosperity of New .Zealand is such as to deserve the utmost Agricultural industry of its Native and European population.

Yesterday,—siiK'o the above was written, —the Auckland brig, arrived from San Francisco, whence she sailed on the s)tli of April. Her report is that potatoes, carrots, onions, turnips, and every kind of vegetable was in great demand and at high prices. Timber is said to have been poured into California from every quarter of the world, and to have, consequently, fallen greatly in price.

We feel much pleasure in laying before our renders the following despatch from Lord Grey to His Excellency the Gover-nor-in-Chief, with reference to the non-introiliiction of Exiles to these Islands. This gratifying intelligence will doubtless be read with deep interest by the Native population of New Zealand. Downing-strcet, 27tli November, 1549. g IU x have tlic honour to acknowledge your despatch No St, of the 7th July lost, accompanied bv petitions to Her Majesty irom the European Inhabitants ot the district of Auckland, and aho from various Natives, against the introduction ot Exile*, or Convicts with tickets of leave into New Zealand. I have to inform you that the«e petitions have been duly laid before the Queen. I am enabled to slate that the wishes of tlio are anliciratcd, for as you will have-reamed from my other Despatch, No. 77, of the 20th instant, there is no intention of sending any Convicts to New Zealand. I have, &c, &e. GnEV. Governor Sir George Grey, &c. &c. &c. Native Secretary's Office, 4th June, 18.00 My Friends —Intelligence has been received (mm England «'f the arrival of tin; Governor's despatches, which convoyed the petitions of the Europeans and Maories of Auckland to the Quei'ii, thnt she would not allow the Exiles to be located here. These lelteis have been laid beforo the Queen by Lord Grey. Lord Grey slates that the wishes of the Europeans and the M.iories have been already anticipated by his letters ol the 20th January, 1549, saying that theto is no intention of sending any Exiles to New Zealand. From your Friend, (Signed) C. A. Dillon, Civil Secretary