THE MAORI MESSENGER. Auckland, January 16. 1851.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume 3, Issue 54, 16 January 1851, Page 2

THE MAORI MESSENGER. Auckland, January 16. 1851.

Any country to be great or wealthy must be a producing country; its inhabitants must have something to export to enable them to pay for the commodities which they import. In this way the commerce of the world is sustained; and those nations nre ever the most great, the most wealthy, and the most powerful, whose people are (lie most industrious and most skilful in finding out and supplying the necessities of the world at large. It is to no superiority of soil or climate that the people of England arc indebted for the prominent position which they occupy. On the contrary, the soil of England is, naturally, comparatively poor, its climate but indillcreat; still) notwithstanding these del'eils, untiring perseverance, a determination to conquer all difficulties, a patient observation of the character and varying qualities of the land, aided by a natural intelligence and a mutual desire to excel, have made the country of England not only the garden of the world, but its people the greatest providers for the manifold necessities of civilized ninn. The climate of New Zealand Is infinitely superior to that of England ; the fertility of its soil is also superior. It is blest with the finest harbours, the most beautiful rivers, magnificent forests, and seas teeming with fish, many of them of great commercial value. Nature has done much, very much, to render New Zealand a great and a wealthy country, and it therefore behoves man to profit by the fortunate position in which Providence has placed him. The native is a keen, a shrewd and an intelligent race, always ready to be instructed ; and it is with that aim that we have ever been solicitous to impress upon the native mind the first and only sources of England's greatness —Agriculture; and to incite our readers to improve the tillage of their soils—to lay down their lands ill grass, to prosecute dairy farming, to augment their herds of cattle, to propagate sheep, so that New Zealand may be not only independent of Australia for supplies of flour and food, but become the largo exporter of those very commodities which here may be produced in the largest quantities and of the finest qualities. The means of acquiring au export is always an anxious subject with young and aspiring communities. In New

Zealand, hitherto, with the trifling exception of native flax, timber, and whule oil, there lias been almost no export. The imports, on the other hand, have been many niul expensive; and these not merely of commodities which New Zealand cannot produce, but olso of articles which she can very readily supply. To Great Britain she must long continue to be indebted for c'oths, calicoes, ironmongeries, and other manufactures ; to China for tea ; to Manila, the East Indies, and otlser count lies for sugar, coflee, rice and other articles; but she is under no necessity to depend upon either Van Diemen's Land or New South Wales for wheat or maize, for flour, cattle, sheep, or horses. All these she should herself rear, since by such production not only is the cost price retained in this country, but the possessors have something to sell instead of something to buy. Let the natives recollect that sheep are not only excellent food to eat, but that their fleece is of much value in the London market - that it is the wool of sheep which has rendered New S mth Wales and Van Diemeifs Land so rich niv.l so prosperous. Let them learn that New Zealand is quite as favorable a country for sheep-farming as either of the others, the brush once cleared—a thousand acres will maintain ten times the number of sheep which those of the Austraian colonicj can do. Let them bethink them —especially such of them as Imve visiled Sydney ami Hobart Town—of the vast number of great ships which flock to those parts every yepr to purchase wool; let litem con ider the large sums paid by those ship? for their supplies of food; and, above all, let them be assured that if New Zealand grew the wo 1 (which she might easily do), that Auckland would also bo frequented by many and large ships; let the natives, we say, consider all iliese things, and they will we think, perceive the great riches they may derive from the extensive propagation of slu-ep. There is another source of wealth to which we wou'd likewise direct their attention. AVe are quite aware of their predilection for Shark fishing, but we would Iniii have them follow it out not merely as sport, but as a means of enabling them to establish nn exportable source of commerce. The people of China are a luxurious race, and especially fond of soups. In preparing their soups they use very great quantities of shark fun. Hy the extract which we copy from nn English p.iper it wi'.l be s/en how the native lishcrmen of India capture the slmrk and how by tin? sale <jf its litis to the Chinese, they acquire considerable yearly gain*- Sharks litis have, in small quantities, been occasionally sent from New Zealand to China, but the supply has been trifling, irregular, and not to be depended on, so that nothing like a trade in the article could be carried on. If, however, the natives were to establish shark fisheries, there can be no doubt that the fins would he readily purchased by the merchants of Auckland, and of Wellington, and that a traffic of much benefit to liotU natives and settlers might be speedily organized. The matter is one well worth the patitnt and attentive consHeiation of the tribes, and that they may see how productive it is elsewhere, we direct their attention to the following statements. ''Shark Fisiiino at Kvirhaciiek. •' There are twelve large boats, with crews of twelve men each, constantly employed in the shark fishing nt Kurracliee. The value of the fins sent to Bombay varies from to js!800 a-year. Of this a portion only passes directly into the hands of the fishermen, each boat earning, perhaps, £l2O annually or £lO for each man. From this, is to be deducted the cost of material and other charges. Shark fins sell in China at about six pounds per cwt. In the market of Macassar the ordinary price is from two pounds ten to three pounds per cwt. One boat will sometimes capture at a draught as many as a hundred sharks of ditTerent sizes; sometimes tliey will be a week, sometimes a month, without securing a single fish. The fishermen are very averse to revealing the amount of their captures : inquiries of this sort are supposed by them to be made exclusively for taxation. The great basking shark, or mhor, is always harpooned ; it is found floating or asleep near the surface of_, the

water, and is then struck with a harpoon eight feet long. The fisli once struck i 8 allowed to run till tir. d, and is tlien pulled in and beaten with clubs till stunned. A large hook is now hooked into iis eyes or nostrils, or wherever it can be got mcst easily attached, and by this the shark is towed on shore: several boats are requisite for towing. The mlior Is often Forty, sometimes sixty, feet in length; the mouth is occasionally four feet wide. All other varieties of shark are caught in nets. The nets are made of strong English whip cord, the niesli about six inches, they nre generally six I'eet wide, and j from six to eight hundred fathoms, or | from three quarters to nearly ft mile in length. On the one side are floats of wood, about four feet in length, at intervals of six feet; on the other, pieces of j stone. The nets are sunk in deep water f-oni 80 to lSOftet, well out to sea: they one day and taken out the next, bo tlmt they nre down two or three times a week, a< cording to the state of the w<ather and success of the fishing. The lesser sharks are occasionally found dead,—the larger ones much exhausted. On being taken home, the fins are cut oIT and dried on the sands in the sun ; the flesh is cut up in long stripes and salted for food, and the liver is taken out and crushed down for oil. The largest fishery at any given port is probably that of Kurrachee, which aflonls nearly one-third of the wholf»; but the shark fishery is conilu- ted along all the Bombay coast." Here is a fishery worthy of the enterprize cf the iritivc New Zealander. One in which sport anil profit may be largely combined. It may be conducted much less expensively here than at Bombay where the cost of the net must be very great. Here native skill and native flax can readily prepare nets of any dimensions and the crews of native canoes, who have long been emplcycd against the shark, may learn a fortunate less-11 from the facts we have furnished.