AGRICULTURAL, COMMERCIAL, AND MARITIME REPORT.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume VI, Issue 5, 15 March 1859, Page 5

AGRICULTURAL, COMMERCIAL, AND MARITIME REPORT.

From the Ist to the 15th March. Our Native readers will perceive, by our present Shipping Report, that the Produce and the Coasting trades are in the most unsatisfactory condition. For some months past, we have drawn attention to the diminished supplies of wheat and other grains from our own coasts, and to the heavy importations of those commodities from foreign markets. By reference to the present report, wc find 890 bushels of wheat have come from the coast, whilst upwards of 5000 bushels have arrived from Australia; and if

we follow up our inquiries we arrive at the fact that, with a diminished export of native, and an extensive import of foreign grain, from £12,000 to £14,000 have already been lost to Native Farmers within ten or twelve months. This is a matter for their immediate and very serious consideration'. Already there is a railing off in the employment of coasting vessels, many of which can barely obtain half a cargo, so lhat if ships awl lands are suffered to become unproductive the long existing and mutually beneficial commerce carried an between the Europeans and the Natives must be destroyed, for without produce to exchange, or money to pay for European goods, the traffic must quicklv decline. Alluding to the large importation of wheal by the schooner Adeona, the Auckland Register, of the 14th instant, writes as follows : "This importation is another and a pregnant example of the effects of the embargo laid by the Natives upon the export of their produce, and may serve to- convince them of the fact that they cannot coerce the Auckland Millers to purchase inferior wheat at fictitious prices. It is much to be regretted that such a state of things should exist, but it is to be hoped that the remedy thus applied may carry a speedy cure along with it. The Natives, when they find their wheat is left in slack with no other consumers except the rats—when they see their own vessels and those of the Europeans lying inactive from the prevention of that trade which their own folly obstructs—when they behold a falling off, if not a stoppage, of the supplies upon which they have been so long I taught to count—when they arc made to perceive the mischief they have inflicted upon the Country at large and upon themselves as individuals—may be disposed to consult the common interests of .the colony both, by bringing forward the produce at present and for some time past so greatly withheld, and by taxing their industry in the further production of larger and more varied supplies. In a recent number, tha Sydney Herald has quietly ridiculed the pretensions of New Zealand to be regarded as the Granary of the Australian Colonies. The hit is a very fair one, especially as regards the Province of Auckland, where the Farming of both Europeans and Natives is susceptible of great enlargement and improvement. We hope the present opportunity of procuring a valuable change of seed wheat will be taken full advantage of.

by both races, and that we shall not soon again be called to remark upon the disgrace ol' a pre-eminently Agricultural Country being reduced to the necessity —from whatever cause —of drawing its Agricultural supplies from a foreign shore." !t is well that our Native readers should hear what is said of New Zealand and its products in countries which have hitherto been consumers. The Sydney Herald of the IBlh February, writes very fully of the present condition and future prospects of this country —we quote, however, but one extract in reference to the diminished and diminishing exports of grain. On this the Herald remarks: "New Zealand is often talked of as the granary of Australia, and its beautiful clinsa:e, fertile lands, and frequent harbours, are lauded as especially adapted to secure for it a pre-eminence in that respect. But these expeciations have never been realised. The agricultural export from New Zealand to Australia is very small comparatively, and j does not promise to expand; on the con-j trary, for the last two years, it has faMen oIT from what it was in dßso. The value of all the bran, flour, barley, wheat, maize, and oats exported in 4857 only amounted to £32,5*25. This compared with Australia to Victoria, which has reached nearly half-a million sterling in value in one year, does not quite exhibit New Zealand as vindicating its title to the granary of Australia." Did we not well know that the exports of New Zealand can be easily and immensely enlarged, we should not have thought it necessary to draw the Native attention to the subject. They are now however aware that their diminished industry is attracting the consideration of foreign buyers, at the same time that it is seriously affecting their own individual interests and those of the country at large. The arrivals have been the schooner William Pope. 58 tons, Captain Ferns, from Sydney, in ballast; the schooner Gazelle, 212 tons, Capt. Cunningham, from Sydney, with goods, and 2 passengers; the brig Gertrude, 119 tons, Cafct. Dunning, from Sydney, with goods, and i passenger; the brigantine Spray, 106 ions, Capt. Anderson, from Sydney, withj;oods, and 5 passengers; the ship John Scott,. 655 tons, Captain Harrison, from London, ivitira general .cargo of merchandize, and 160 passengers, amongst whom were the Bishop of Wellington (lately Archdeacon of Waitemaia) and his family; the schooner Adeona, 11-5 tons, Captain

Welsh, from Adelaide, with 4 542 bag - ; wheat, and 1 passenger; Lhe steam ship While Swan, 550 tons, Capt. Celltim, from the Soulh, with 248 shenp, from Napier, sundry merchandize, and 55 passengers. The departures are lhe schooner Pegasus, 45 tons. Captain Brier, for Lytlelton, with 26,000 feet sawn timber, 6 tons firewood, 2 tons potatoes, 10 cwt. onions, 5 tons coals; lhe ship Harwood, 46i lons> Captain Forsyth, for London; with 88,866 lbs. wool, 210.1 tons kaur i gum, 70 tons copper ore, 8| ions flax, 9 tuns oil, 202 hides, sundry merchandize, and 36 passengers; the schooner Eliezer, 56 tons, Captain Kean. foi Napier, with 825 pieces timber, 4000 shingles, sundry merchandize, and 8 passengers; the brig Gertrude, il9 tons, Captain Dunning, for Sydney, with 1 passenger, 2 tuns humpback oil, 5. tons kauri gum, 650 lbs. wool; the brigantine Spray, 106 tons, Captain Anderson, for Sydney, with 4 passengers, 14h ions kauri gum, 500 lbs. wool, 108 hides, .sundries; the schooner Gazelle, 212 tons, Captain Cunningham, for Sydney, with 40 tons potatoes, 50 bushels apples, 5818 lbs. cheese, sundry merchandize, and 19 passengers. There arrived coastwise, 58 vessels of 758 tons, wilh 152 passengers, 890 bushels wheat, 100 bushels oats, 1901 bushels apples, iO7 bushels peaches, 12 packages fruit, 11 kits melons, 20 lbs. grapes, 5 tons potatoes, 6 tons bark, 1 ton flax, 55 tons kauri gum, 1 cwt. onions, 200 lbs. butler, 17 cwt. salt pork, 4 horses, 7 head of cattle, 220 sheep, 1800 lbs. wool, 50 boats limbers, 27 rickers, 2 boats, 22,000 feet sawn timber, 26,000 shingles, 207 tons firewood, 2 cwt. hams, \ tin honey. The departures, coastwise, have been 57 vessels of 855 tons, with 88, passengers, and the usual trading cargoes. The subjoined are the Market Prices Current corrected to dale:— Bread Stuffs. Flour, fine, 20*. per ton. Flour, second quality, . . 16J. per ton. Flour, of native manufacture, from 12i to 16 Biscuit at from . . 225. to 265. per cwt. Bread per loaf of 2lbs 6d. Bran ...... Is Sd. per bl. Groceries. Tea .... 91. to 9 .10s. per chest Sugar . . . . sd. to 7d. per lb. Coffee .... iOd. per lb. Riee .... 24. to pec lb.