THE WEEK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 207, 1 September 1877, Page 2

THE WEEK.

From the prevailing dulness, social, commercial, and, I thiuk I may add, political, notwithstanding that Parliament is iv session, I have during the past week sought refuge in the study of some of the statistical tables published under the authority of the Government of the coloriy. Not very attractive reading, 1 think I hear some of you say, and to a certain extent I admit this, still they do afford, besides information, some little amusement, for I am disposed to regard the blue book before me as a mirror in which we may see the reflection of our necessities, our tastes, and, I may add, of some of our follies. As an illustration of my meaning, I will quote a few extracts from the tabular statement of the imports and exports of New Zealand, accompanying them with a few remarks that have suggested themselves to my mind while perusing them. To begin with, we learn that farming is making such advances in the colony that it was found necessary to import during the year 1876, agricultural implements and machinery to the value of £80,000, and with these aids to manual labor we hare found ourselves in a position to export 218,000 bushels of barley, 1,263,000 of oats, aud 686,000 of wheat, the total value of these being £337,842. To be sure we have also imported a limited amount of the same description of produce, but the quantity is so small as to be scarcely worth mentioning. We imported over £100,000 worth of sacks aud baies for our grain and wool, thereby showing how great are our requirements in this direction, and afc the same time our want of self-reliance in not making them for ourselves when we have fche raw material in abundance. Ou the commoner soit'of clothing which comes nnder the heading of "apparel and slops" we expended £180,000, while our wonieukind, iv the laudable desire to please the sterner sex by their appearance, laid out uearly £50,000 upou silks and millinery. Evidently we like to appear iv public with our hair and boots smooth and polished, for on brushes and combs we spent £1500, and on blacking £3800, while boots and shoes ;in addition to those made in the colony ran away with £135,000. Some of these were no doubt good serviceable watertights, as in addition to those who require to be strongly shod in the pursuance of their agricultural and pastoral avocations there must be a lot of miners at work in doing battle with the natural conformation of our hills and mountains, as for such purposes there was required blasting powder to the value of £16,500, dynamite of £1300, and lithofracteur of £3000. We can't have been idle when all these forces have been required to assist us in our work. To a moderate extent we appear to be fond of literature, as we imported over £88,000 worth of books. The next item that catches my eye on the list is one that shows thafc not only have we plenty of children to look after, but that we like to see them enjoying the fresh air in a luxurious style, as we provided perambulators for them to the tune of nearly £1400, while to stop then crying and so to ensure a certain amount of quietness in our homes, we have bribed them with lollies to the extent of £23,000. Notwithstanding the recognised salubrity of the climate of New Zealand we cannot be entirely free from ailments, as is shown by the fact that; £43,000 worth of drugs have been required to keen us iv good health. What our farmers' wives havo been I about it is difficult to say, for they have actually driven us into the Melbourne market to buy eggs, £788 of our money having gone across the water as their purchase money. Our waters teem with fish, but we don't seeni to care about always having them fresh, but rather prefer them preserved and salted, and so ou these articles of food we have expended over £36,000. We occasionally feed our pigs on peacbes, and very frequently leave hundredweights of cherries to rot on the trees rather than be at the bother of picking them, but we don't mind sending £17 o_o a year out of fche country in the purchase of bottled and dried fruits. I said Jfchafc in this volume of statistics mighfc be found a record of our follies. I think one single quotation will bear me out in this statement, and should be euough to put us to shame. We all know thafc in various parts of the colony and on the West Coast of this island in particular, there are coal fields of vast extent easily worked, and by no means difficult to bring into communication with a seaport, and yet we arc content to allow close upon a quarter of a million of money for coals to go out of the colony to enrich other countries where they recognise the advantage of turning their natural products to a-count. Some of the districts in the colony, especially Nelson, are remarkably well adapted for the cultivation of hops, and yet to England, Australia, and America we remitted £27,000 as the purchase money of that which we might so easily raise here. I alluded before to the enormous quantities of fruit we can and do grow here, but notwithstanding this £36,000 worth of jams and jellies were imported from elsewhere, Tasmania supplying nearly two-thirds of the quantity, 1 rdiuary needles must surely be succumbing to the sewing machine for upon these useful little articles no le.s than £11,000 were spent during tho last year. The soothing weed 13 in demand in our midst, as is pretty clearly shown by the fact that we purchased over £9000 worth of tobacco pipes, and spent no less than £85,000 upon the wherewithal to fill them besfdps burning £26,000 worth of cigars! Tobacco in another shape also found purchasers, aa more than a ton of snuff was imported to tickle the noses of those who still adhere to the now old-fashioned habit. But I shall exceed my space if I touch upon the little points of interest thafc this particular bluebook supplies, so that I must have done with our imports as speedily as possible, but there is one particular item that I cannot pass by unnoticed. It is that of drink, and jf Mr Fox and the Good Templars draw conclusions {a support of thei? principles from the facts revealed by these statistical returns, who shall say that they haye not good and sufficient grounds for so doing ? To begin with beer. Numerous as are the breweries in the colony, and vast as is the quantity of beer they turn out annually, the supply was not equal to tho demand, to meet which 247,000 gallons were imported from elsewhere. But we seem to be even fonder of spirits than of beer, as the following figures will pretty conclusively prove. During 1876 there were cleared from the bonded warebouses ior home consumption 287,000 gallons of br»ndy, 132,000 of whisky, 83 000 of geueva, 76,000 of pm, and 19,000 of gin besides 30,000 gallons of New' Zealand mann-

facture, amounting ih all to over 600-000 gallons, or a trifle over 14 gallons for every man, woman, and child, in the colony. *Besides this, those who have weaker stomachs or heads sipped their wine to the extent of 168,000 gallons. The cost of all this liquor is not given, but the duty alone on it amounted to £387,132 ! It must not be supposed, however, thafc our partiality for liquids is confined to intoxicating drinks. On the contrary, there must be a good many of us who like a cup of tea seeing thafc we imported more than two and a half millions of pounds weight during the year 1876 ; to satisfy our appetite for coffee 220,0i;01b3 were required, aud, although we do not care quite so much for cocoa and chocolate, it is evident that there are those among us who do not despise this particular beverage, or it would not have been necessary to introduce 55,0001bs of it into the colony. I have said so much about our imports that I have left but little space for any reference to the exports of the colony. I must, however, mention that in addition to the grain we sent to England and Australia, the quantity andvalue of which are stated above, we also exported gold to the value of £1,269,000, and £3,396,000 worth of wool, so that we evidently do something towards earning our living. One other item there is which I cannot pass over. It is unimportant but suggestive. . I find that to the Isles of the Pacific we sent one case of Bath bricks. This seems to show that although the . natives of these parts are not particular as to the precise nature of their animal food, they, at all events, like to dissect and carve it with polished knives. I hope ray little summary of the uninviting-looking tables before me will not have proved altogether uninteresting. About Jones. He appears to be one of those unfortunate men who in a totally unexpected manner have greatnesa thrust upon them, and are scarcely equal to bearing the burden wifch becoming dignity. The publisher of a paper, someone has written an objectionable article in it, for which Jones is deemed responsible, and all of a sudden he springs into notoriety. The wires during the past week have been ringing with the name of Jones ; Parliament talked Jones for. eight hours ; fche Wellington papers teem with references to Jones ; and now the Supreme Court is to be called upou to deal with Jones. The House tried to sit upon Jones, and fetched him all the way from Oamaru for the purpose, but when they had caught him they were at a loss to know what to do with him, and so their dignity was still further outraged by their being compelled to admit that they were powerless to defend it when assailed. Despite so high an authority as bhakspeare, I am inclined to thiuk that after all there is something— a good deal— iv a name. For instance, if Jones' name had been anything else but Jones, I don't believe there would have been half the number of newspaper paragraphs written about this affair. Taken in connection with the singular scrape in which he has become involved, there is something peculiarly provocative of fun in the unhappy name of Jones. Eight pounds a month. This does not strike one as being a very munificent salary for a servant holding a responsible position, but it seems that it is quite sufficient for the chief officer of a ship worth, say, £15,000, containing a cargo valued at between £40,000 and £50,000, and carrying some sixty souls. Ninety-six pounds a year and his keep, or about half as much again as is paid to a steady bullock driver, was the liberal salary received by Mr Baillie, the first mate of the Queen Bee. This is the inducement held out to youngsters to go to sea. By the time they are forty or fifty years of age they may look forward to receiving £8 a month and their grub. Truly it is a glorious service is that of Old England's Mercantile Marine. F.