UNDEVELOPED RESOURCES.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 18, 27 May 1871, Page 11

UNDEVELOPED RESOURCES.

As moaey makes money, or as railways create traffic, so one industry begets other industries, which, when they have grown up, mutually sustain one another. These remarks may be deemed old and common-place, but sometimes commonplace remarks, like old proverbs, may contain the concentrated experience of ages condensed within the compass of a nutshell. Never mind the shell so that we get the kernel. The old adage, “ the more the merrier,” is strictly true with regard to productive industries. How many industries, for example, does a farmer set agoing; and how mutually dependent are they one upon the other ! But how much more numerous are the industries which are required to be established before that farmer can put his land under cultivation ! It is a fallacy to suppose that agriculture preceded a knowledge of the mechanical arts; for agriculture, worthy of the name, could net have flourished until a great advance had been made in mining, the smelting of metals, and manufactures. The whole of them in truth \v£ re born and brought up together. Without coal and iron, where, in this age of steammachinery, would have been England’s manufactures ? Would she not occupy the same position as Poland or Ireland ? England’s coal mines, though they did not give birth to her manufactures, are the chief means by which they are sustained.

The foregoing remarks have been caused by a reperusal of the evidence taken by the joint committee appointed last session by the two Houses of Parliament to enquire into and report on our colonial industries and resources. Their pertinency to the subject in hand will be better seen in the sequel. In a previous article we showed, by a comparison of the agricultural statistics of this colony with those of Australia, that the natural productiveness of the soil here is superior to that of Australia, while no comparison can be instituted between the grazing capabilities ot the two countries. The evidence above referred to shows that in mineral wealth this colony is not inferior to that of any other country, and that it only requires the application of labor, skill, and capital, with facilities for transport, for its full development. Our quartz reefs have only just commenced to pour forth their wealth; our gold fields, in the absence of a sufficient water supply, are not a hundredth part bo productive as they may become; and our iron-sand, in the absence of capital and machinery, cannot be turned to profitable account. We have not only gold and iron, but copper, chrome, silver, tin, and other minerals, in more or less abundance, saying nothing of marble, lime, and building-stone, which will prove hereafter a source of wealth. But in the present article we shall confine our remarks to our coal fields, which we will show are amongst the most valuable of our undeveloped resources, as they may be made the means by i which numerous other industries may be sustained. The coal found in New Zealand is divided by Dr Hector into two classes : one of these he terms hydrous, and the other anhydrous. The latter, in his opinion are, in many cases, superior as fuel to most of the samples of coal obtained from Australia, or even from many parts of England. In the case of the Grey River coal, and several others, no less than 95 per cent, of the whole coal is combustible, There is a seam of coal, thirteen feet thick, being worked at Kawakawa, near the Bay of Islands, which is anhydrous, and of excellent quality. It has intense heating properties, and is largely used for driving machinery on the Thames gold-field. The want of sufficient capital retards the development of the mine. There are extensive deposits of brown coal in the Waikato, which are remarkably free from sulphur, but not adapted for ocean-

great t in -proportion to. tbeir.heating qu all- >' ties' -i* The 'chief - of “’anhydrous^ cosfw' raw rovereil, are «Rtii« West Crmst nf tlie MicldleJslani. Jp the .opinion 0f... Pr. Hector, the Grey River-coal . is superior toNefivcaffile coal; ! as r ' every part of itr'TOay* be Tendered afailabiej'. slaclt fortping coKe of the highest In ‘fact, better coke can . be made put ,oi Grey Hirer coal'than can be got m any other part of the worlds The supply at present is limited, owing to the difficulty : of transit from-the' mine clown tqjhe mouth of the'Tivei;. .. , however, the Grey Elver coal is.p'oyed .to be, .the coal from; the .Mount' Eocbfort mine, near the Buller. .Eiyer, is,eyen of superior qualityand, it contains a .seam which is, found to be ten feet in thickness. What is.wanted to insure the. Grey and Buller coal being favorably received and preferred for .use by the steamboats on the coast is simply a sufficient supply, which can only be obtained by provid- ; ing better facilities, than, at present exist for transport. , It wbuld .be seen from one of our notes of The Week, in our last. issue, that the .Neispn ,Provincial Council had resolved to afford these facilities, the General Government having consented to provide the means for that purpose. The coal found, in tlje Malvern Hills, in Canterbury, which was tested in the grates of the ..House of Representatives last session, is a non- r caking bituminous,brown coal, apd.suitable for any purpose except the manufacture he,coals, however,. us a rule, \\%ieh are found on the,east side of the Middle Island are adapted more for local supply than for purposes of. export. At Shag. ..Point, about forty miles north, of Dunedin, coal is found in abundance, which is better adapted for gas purposes than any.other, in the cpiony. Besides the above, , coal is found in other parts pf .both islands, a much inferior quality to which is. largely used in locomotives in Europe. * We thus see that, it only. requires capital.and labor to ; turn oui coal mines tn profit able account, not for export, lint for home consumption- Coal mining would become a remunerative industry if the product could; be transported at a elieap rate from the. mines to. oui menu-, factories, wh ichwoul cl .be thereby greatly promoted, : and profitably - extended,.. as we. will,now proceed,to show, v Heid and Gray <- are:, agriculturalimplementan d mac hi ne m akers, carrying, on Rusi ness, at Oam am, in .the province of. .Otago, They-state .that, the high, price, of. poa.l; is a- very, great .drawback to the exteusion of: their; industry.. This; high t price r js owing to the cost of carriage, IPs- the absence of facilities ,for,-.transport.;., coke,, which.costs mMs at,Dunedin, . costing £2 additional landed atOamaru. T hey observe Grey E.iyer coa.l ,is,nearly,.if not quite, . equal< to; opal . .for our purposes,-but it. has, the, same,objep-. tiwr-too liigh- ,,They send implements aneb machines =tp ,Ganter^ ffnryv ;?and"iiwith. > greater -facilities v fpr, transport they could,double their piesent business by* the?,dem AYquld then be. created m tltah prMinCP, d<m? Ho op er an d R o d s an ?,f th e Ne.lso n. b ve\ve\:s, .give similar testimony.:^ J£ hey ppint.put iha importance; of ; obtainingcheap , fuel for .their inclustry, and. observe.,,7 anything .tending to reduce,the,price,.of-coal will, place the trade, in a position ,to supply the manufactured anicle, ; at a: ; lQwer price, i;and r thereby 5 enable an .-export trad 0 j to be entered, on,. w’j th agre ater ©fiance uof success -than at/v present.*: They describe the Collingwood. coal as an fuel for steam, .purposes, and; expressthe opinion that it• could he obtained at Nelson at 20s. per .ton if the company had a littletemporary assistance- afforded;,,fo. them,, by* the -Government. E. «W- 'Mills, . v of • the Xiion .Foundry, .speaks,-, to ;j .the f . same affect. He says.Rthei coal .and, .poke used is imported .from-. England - and Hew. South Wales., hut .both , these, eau be produced in New Zealand ; the .opal pf Greymoutli being, su pen or to the 1 mported j arti cl©.: ? for-. steam;Sinitli,s, j an d ■ poking- purpos.es/ v * From which it. ,bp--comes evidenttho.t <>rTe Z e al would extend other, local .industries iLfit Could he-obtainedinsufficient, quantity, m&M a.10w,-price..r, t ßeth ?pf ffhese. ? im-. diaVQ'.a i su tfi ci ent .5

by the extension of the two ihdustiies_ * above named • ‘"noy heed' ,ithe v fieneff ts'wnich would accrue- to; trade - r and to the colony if the money (for it; is ‘money'and hofpi’bdffce) tvhich we send to Newcastle was expended in New Zea.land. ''What we have said is sufficientto ■ ; p : rt)Ve : that - this 'colony opens an f attractive ; field for ;i the employment of capitaT iV and labor;vwhile : it /.shows-- how , necessary it is- for, the railway, innm-. ■ grationv"and public works policy of the Ministry . being, at the earliest date possible, carried into effect. .*>. ■ •