ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 557, 16 August 1851, Page 2

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of the New Zealander. Sir, — The quantity of virtuous indignation expressed by tbe Southern Cross this morning, with regard to certain anonymous advertisements which lately appeared in your columns, has induced me to read them with more attention than they perhaps deser\e. I quite agree in the principle which the Southern Cross lays down on this subject, and consider with it that the practice is highly reprehensible, especially in a small community :— but, I confess, I cannot see any- - thing in these advertisements which implies any sar-^ casm on the Amateur Dramatic Society as a body, of which, I infer, the writer of the paragiaph in the Croia is a member. Not being behind ihe scenes, I can only otter an opinion on the subject, but it appears to me that the wit or humour, or whatever else you please, involved in these acU erti&ements (always supposing they possessed it), had us application in the first instance to some missing article that had been" found ;*' in the second place, to a satirical allusion to certain subjects winch have been dished up in all shapes, but with the same nauseating flavor in the columns of tbe Sontliei n Croa, foi the labt six months. This, however, is a matter which I have neither the wish nur the right to ailju.it; still, I think, that when the Ciobi waxea indignant at idle people attempting a joke or throwing out a peisonal allusion, it would be well to remember that its own columns aie always open to, and very often well supplied with, jibes and jeers, or something woi ,p } at othei«. Does the Cross never admit of " peisonalitios?" lotheieno "personality" in its abuse of almost evpiy one connected uith the Government, from Sir George Grey himself, down to the unfortunate signal-man at Mount Victoria? Were there no • ' personalities" in an editorial dispute not long ago, when the Class displayed powpis which even Mr. Pott, of the Ealanswill Gazelle, might have envied? 1 have said, Sir, that 1 condemn the mode of warfare piiit,ued in ihe udveiti&ements of which jourcontcni' porary complains; Us centre of them is just, though it procepds Jrom the Ciois; but it occurs to me that even from them the Cio» may take a lesson and a warning ; they show that people aie getting tired of that Jou:.m! ;' tired alike of its steieotyped abuse of all in authomy and of its stereotyped toadyism, ranging iiom "i\hs. AJaM m's aupp^s" to the " Gallant Black Ciifl's;" of its anogance and vulgarity; of Us never ending harping on subjects in which, it the public ever felt an intne&t, the Cute* hailong since extinguished it, 1 am, Sir, youis, &c, SI'LCIA'JO*. August lJth ; 13 jl.

To the Editor of the Nr.\v Zealandeii. Sir, In my last letter I stated the gross returns which might be expected from one acre of Kind planted with NeW Zealand flax, and the laigenessof tho amount may have staitled some from their propnety, ns it" they had discovcied hi their fields one of thobe aunfeious veins which seom to permeate so large a portion of these southern regions Cut it is no less tiue than sut prising that a peilect mine of wealth nxists> in tins eountiy, which only requnes energy and industry to make it unfold its tieasines and produce comfort and prospentv amongst our population : as \us so olocjuently and ably stated by Mr. Abraham, in his lecent loctura on our colonial resources. 1 slated th.it seven tons of flax fibre was a moderate estimate of what one acre of land would pioduce; and that, valued at ,£l» per ton, yivus the sioss amount of £YIG. Now, as it will icu/iiie the pioduoe of about nine acios to sujiply a one hor^e-power dressing mill, the leturnsm.'y bo viuwed under tho follow m» 6Uteinent: — Cn.

Nett profit on the produce of nine acres of Land, £016 ™ ° Extraordinary as this statement of profit may appear. I have no doubt such letuvns might be realized by parties going jadiciously and zealously to work. Tbe charges are stated rather above than below what are likely to be incuried. The want hitherto of a simple and efficient apparatus for piepanng the flax has, of course, been the cause why no one has thought of cultivating the plant. Th.it desideiatutn, however, being now supplied, suiely oui colonists will bestir themselves to engage in a business so likely to piomote their own and advance the pro^penty of our adopted country. To look for supplies of the raw material from the natives may do very woll whilst preparations are being made for systematic cultivation ; but to deppnd on them to meet the demands of a regular business would only lead to disappointment and annoyance. One day is too cold for them to work, another clay they aie going to a ftast, a third they are hshing, and a fourth they have a tangi, whilst on some fine morniug they will surprise you by an ovei whelming mass of Ilauikeke, and try your patience by a noisy and lengthened hmeio on the favor they have conferred upon you by fetching such a supply. No ! the only way to make natives work to most advantage, both for themselves and others, is to shew an independence of them, — as every oae knows who has had to deal w ith them ; and by cultivating the flax as I have suggested, they would theiehy be brought to their true and proper pobition, not of matters in tbe business, but of sereanh. — I am, &.c. ? M. Whvthw. Waikato Heads August, 1851.

By Pioduce of nine acres of land, yielding as pe. estimate, 7 ton« hbie per acie, at £18 per ton, £1134 0 Dn. To Interest on value of land, say at £j pei acio, £ 410 0 Cost of ploughing planting-, &c, say £5 per acre. I3ut as tins is only inclined tho first year, charge annually say £1 per acre, 9 0 0 Cost of cutting preen fia^, which will be about 5.) tons per acre, or m .ill 3 15 tons, at ss. per ton, 78 15 0 Cost of carriage to Mill, stripping and prepaung leaves, at ss. per ton,.. 78 15 0 Cost of dressing with a one-horse power, and t machines, producing 4 cwt. per day, at £i per ton,.. 252 0 0 Interest on value of Machinery, tear and wear of do., Insurance, say 10s. per ton, 31 10 0 Carnage to Market, and contingencies, saj £1 per ton, 63 0 0 517 10 0 0