THE MAORI MESSENGER. Auckland, December 19, 1850.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume 2, Issue 52, 19 December 1850, Page 2

THE MAORI MESSENGER. Auckland, December 19, 1850.

In our anxiety to benefit and instruct the native race, we have repeatedly had occasion not only to direct attention to the various modes of European husbandry, but to impress upon the native mind the extreme importauco of n large and con stantly increasing amount of cultivation. We have laboured hard to convince our native readers that the food produced in New Zealnnd has never hitherto proved equal to the consumption of its inhabitants ; and although native industry has by no means rolaxed, still it is a matter of much regret that the land cropped by no menus keeps pace with the increasing number of mouths which rt quire to be fed. A considerable advance in the price of flour has taken place in the Auckland market since the date of our last publication, to an extent which Ims induced the bakers to raise the price of the twopound loaf of bread from four-pence to four-pence half-penny. Were this difference of price likely to prove advantageous to the Zew Zealand farmer we should be the very last to repine ; but it must be evident that it will be very much the reverse, because the colony being unequal to supply its own particular wants, an importation of foreign flour at higher prices will ensue, and, of course, a heavier drain be made upon the purses of the New Zealand colonists in payment of, the bread which their own soil ought su* | perabundantly to produce. It is most important not only for the comfort but for the prosperity of the

native agriculturist that lio should examine tliis matter carefully, because it is one which greatly affects his welfare in every respect. In England—the richest and the greatest country in the world a good or a bad harvest is a matter of the most anxious consideration to the people ; a good harvest invariably exerts a most beneficial interest upon trade and commerce, became when the bams are full at home there is 110 occasion to send money to purchase food abroad: wlieicas in a bail harvest, when the cornstaoks are small and the price of Hour is high, trade and commerce are depressed, workmen are thrown out of employment, and there is much anxiety and want throughout the land. If the suffering which defective harvests • cause be so injurious to a country so *.irealthy as England, be assured that the insufficiency of production is 110 less detrimental to New Zealand. In England, where almost every available acre of Jand is under tillage, the farmer must be content to reap the produce which is dependent upon the goodness of the season for its quality anil quantity. In New Zca'aml, it is lar otherwise. Our native farniers are possessed of large tracts ol fertile and untouched soil, in which ear of wheat or blade of grass haß never yet been grown. In New Zealand —especially in the Northern part of Now Zealand—the soil and the climate nie most favourable to every kind of agricultural pursuits. The man who sows is sure to reap, and that largely. He has not to contend against the uncertain climate of England. He has not to encounter the frequent droughts and scorching winds of Australia. With liiin seed time and harvest present themselves 111 an equable and almost unvarying course of matchless fecundity j and he needs but to till the laud to gather a rich and plenteous reward. There are many motives to impel the native agriculturist in the onward path of industry. He must have long since perceived the extreme facility with which lie can dispose of every article of produce, and he must feel that by that facility of disposal the natives have been enabled to acquire not only numberless means of domestic comfort, but to become rich in horses and in cattle, and in ships to I transport their produce to market. We repeat that the demand for their produce will far more than keep place wiili their present means of supply. Numbers of European settlers are Hocking to the different settlements both of the Northern and Middle Islands of New Zealand. Four large ships have already sailed for Canterbury, and many more will immediately follow. Others again are about to sail for Auckland, Nelson, Wellington and Tarmaki. Their passengers are possessed of ample means to purchase whatever provisions they require: the question therefore is, will the native farmers permit (heir lauds to remain in a state ot unproductive idleness, or will they convert it to a condition of generous fertility P Will they exchange their corn for the gold and silver of the new comers, or will they allow the husbandmen of Van Diemen's Laud to outsell them on their own shores ? These are points wc!l worthy consideration. They are motives, we trust, every way calculated to arouse the iiulustiial energies of the native race. Let us hope that the flour of Vail Diemen's Land may here speedily become unknown. We have larger and finer lields for the growth of corn, and fine and powerful miils are rapidly arising to grind it. Never then let it be said that those mills lacked employment bccau.s3 the natives lacked industry to supply them with grist.