AGRICULTURAL, COMMERCIAL, AND MARITIME REPORT.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume IV, Issue 4, 15 July 1857, Page 6

AGRICULTURAL, COMMERCIAL, AND MARITIME REPORT.

From the Ist to the 15th July. A steady rise was taking place in New Zealand produce at the date of last advices from Australia. Wheat and flour advancing slowly, but* oatt, maize, barley, hay and potatoes continuing in great demand at extremely satisfactory rates. Tire prospects* for the ensuing season's crop are of the most encouraging kind; so much so, that we- Heartily hope bothf-the Native and the European farmers will put forth their best*energies to plant to the utmost extent, so that they may be Fii a position to profit by Che* remunerative markets thnt are likely to be open to them. From our private sources of ihformruidn, we learn that a very considerable quantity of land in Australia is likely to be thrown out of cultivation; agricultural pursuits not paying in the remote interior. It we consider the uncertainty attending the seasons, the frequency of winter- floods which are almost invariably succeeded by summer droughts-,—and arid* to these the heavy cost of inland carriage to market, we can readily perceive why, with the equafclc seasons we &ere enjoy, and with the rarcimd unexampled facilities of water carriage, the Auckland agriculturists should be able to grow grain profitably at half the remunerative rate of Australia, The seed time is still before us, and it will be our own fault if we da not lake advantage of it. The letter from the Waikato chfefs, printed in onr last paper, has afibrded us very sincere pleasure. We rejoice that the anxiety we have expressed, during the last nine years and the many examples we have adduced to show the wealth that is ceriain lo be acquired by the breeding of sheep and growth of wool, together with the breeding and feeding of cattle, is at length about to produce a result equally beneficial to the landed proprietors of the Waikato as to New Zealand in general. The system of dividing and apportioning land lo individuals of the tribes is one which cannot be too widely followed. Waste land is of no value. Without money, it is impossible to turn it to account. And the man that has a thousand acres of waste land, would very quickly become a far richer and more influential person-by selling a portion of that land and applying the money to the cultivation and cropping of the remainder. There is noih-

rug so much calculated to enrich the native proprietary as causing ihe fern and the tee tree to make way for meadow pastures febeep and cattle will be found to be sources of immediate and increasing wealth, and they will be the forerunners of a practical system of agriculture which must eventually render New Zealand the granary of-the i>ouin Pacific. Our native friends are extensive mill owners. Mills are, no doubt, very desirable for grinding wheat for their-own use' but native manufactured flour is not available as an article of export; it finds no sale in the Australian markets. Wheat, on ike contrary, does. It will alwavs fetch its full market value in Auckland, not only for exportation, but for manufacturing into flour A new steam mill has just been erected on the Queen Street Wharf, which is probably the most complete and perfect of any ftour mill in this part of the world. It has cost something like 15,000/. It will work seven pairs of stones, and the proprietors, Messrs. Thornton Firth and Smith, propose to manufacture flour upon an extensive scale for export to Australia. This is ihe true way to promote the prosperity of New Zealand-io attract ships, trade, and money to our shores. The native farmers cannot grow too largely to enable such establishments to carry out their beneficial undertakings. There have been but two arrivals from foreign ports since our last,-theschoouer Gazelle, 212 tons, Jones, from China (via Sydney \vith teas, sugars, sundry merchandise, and S passengers; -and the cutter Surprise, 50 tons Lraund, from Melbourne, in ballast. Ihe departures have been the barque S™ - to f' Lcwis ' for Portsmouth,! with fto(Admiralty spars, 550 tons kauri gum, 28 tons tanekaha bark, and 4 passengers ;-the schooner Emily Allison, 99 tons, Collins, for Melbourne, with 220 bushels tfats,22o bushels wlieat, 20 tons poiates 40 2 -tons kauri gum, 4 passengers; —brie Sarah, 12! tons, Firth, for Sydney, with 88! tons potatoes, 44 tons kauri gum, 50 hides, i lo bales wool, 1 bag onions, 1 keg butter i case bacon, 1797 feet sawn timber, sundries, 12 passengers; brig Gertrude, (!) 118 tons Dunning, for Sydney, with 80 tons f • tOnS onions ' doo ° bushels " a i'* u " dnes > 5 Passengers ; ship HarkabaUa!i. ' StCpheas > for Shanghai, in vessels «r m^| ,S \ Coastwi . s ?' have been 19 vessels of 051 tons, with g- passengers,

3730 bushels wheat, 800 bushels maize, 250 bushels oats, 100 bushels barley, 3-2 bushels beans, 32 bushels tares, 17 bushels apples, 14 bushels grass seeds, 20 tons potatoes, 20 cwt. onions, 32 cwt. bacon and haras, 55 cwt. salt pork, 8827 lbs. butter, 10 cwt. flax, 12 dozen eggs, 5 pigs, 210 sheep, 5 tuns humpback oil, 12 casks oil, 5 cwt. leather, tons kauri gum, 1850 posts and rails, 100 tons firewood. The departures, coastwise, were 17 vessels of 523 tons, with 36 passengers and the customory supplies of goods.

The following are the Market Prices Current corrected to date. Bread Stuffs. Flour, fine, iSI. per ton. Flour, second quality, . . 16*. per ton. Biscuit (prices unsteady) at from 20s.to25s.per cwt. Bread per loaf of 21bs. . . sd. Bran is. 6d. perbl. Beef and Mutton from . . sd. to 6d. per lb. Pork (fresh and salt) . . sd. to6d.dilto Farm Produce. Wheat, (scarce) ' 6s. Od. per bushel Maize • . • 6s. 6d. to 7s. 6d. per bushel Oats . . • . 7s. to 7s. 6d. per bushel Potatoes . . . s*. 10s. to 6J. per ton Onions .... 2d. to 2id. per lb. Hay (pleniiful) . . U. to s*.~per tou. Live Stock. Sheep from . . 17s. to 255. a head. Dairy Cows . . 91. to 12*. each. Calves from . • 255. to 40s. each. Groceries. Tea .... 6*. to6*,los. per chest. Sugar .... oid. to sd. per lb. Coffee . . . . lOd. per lb. Rice . . . . 2d. to 2£ per lb. Soap .... 555. per cwt. Candles . . . . lOd. per lb. Tobacco . . . . 2s. 6d. to ss. per lb. Dairy Produce, Butter .... 2s. lb. Eggs . . , . Is. 61. perdoz. Poultry . . . . ss. 6d. per couple Ducks . . . . ss. to 6s. per couple. Geese .... ss. to 6s. 6d. each. Turkies . . . . 7s. to Ss. 6d. each. Hams and Bacon . lOd. to lid. per lb.