New Zealand Mail. PUBLISHED WEEKLY. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1871. THE WEEK.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 44, 25 November 1871, Page 11

New Zealand Mail. PUBLISHED WEEKLY. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1871. THE WEEK.

You can’t help those who won’t help themselves. This is a netv version of an old proverb which is just now well worth attending to by the people of Wellington, of the Hutt, and of the Wairarapa. Everybody is aware, not only here but in every other part of the colony, of the services rendered by the Ministry to this province relative to the Wellington and Masterton railway. Everybody has been informed, through the press, of the exertions made by Mr Fitzlierbert, Mr Bunny, and others, to secure the sanction of the House to this great and promising undertaking. Nobody, however, is aware what the people of Wellington, the Hutt, and the Wairarapa have themselves done in the matter. It is true that a large meeting was held to oppose alike the railway, Ministry, and the Brogden contract, but we have not heard of any meetings being held in this iirovince to support the one or to promote the other. Nothing has been done by the people themselves to facilitate the commencement of the railway, or to Bhow that they are able to appreciate the advantages of having such a gentleman as Mr Brogden amongst them. No end of meetings have been held in Canterbury and other provinces to promote the construction of railways ; but we are not aware of any movement of the kind having taken place in this province. When the landowners, interested in a railway line in Otago, heard that delay would be likely to take place in its commencement, they held a meeting and resolved to make a free gift of the land required for the line sooner than wait any longer. Has any such meeting been held here, of any such purport, or for any such purpose P If not, would not such meetings be desirable ?

The evidence taken before the Colonial Industries Committee of the past session haa reference to fewer subjects than those which were embraced by the Industries Committee’s report of last year, but it is of a more practical character and far more interesting and complete. From the evidence given by Mr Krull, it would appear that there will be no difficulty whatever of obtaining from Germany the requisite amount of capital, skill, and labor to establish the beet sugar manufacture in New Zealand. He is of opinion that 200 men with their wives and children, and the necessary plant, could be obtained from Saxony,, if the Government would undertake to pay their passages, and grant 3000 acres of land of a suitable quality, and at a fair price, on which to try the experiment. These immigrant’s, besides beet-root would grow chicory and carroway seeds, make their own starch, grow their own flax, spin it by hand, and probably manufacture it into cloth. He considers the present duty on imported sugar would be a sufficient protection j that capital to any amount could be found at Berlin, where also can be obtained the machinery necessary for carrying out the industry. We are inclined to look most favorably on Mr Krull’s proposal, because it provides the capital and labor, as well as the raw material: as experience should have taught us that, without the two former, a magnificent country and abundant natural resources cannot be made available. We want population, and with population colonial industries will spring up of their own accord, and without any arti*

fical aid from the Government. Population would also afford a home market for our farm and dairy produce, increase the colonial revenue, and supply goods and passenger traffic for our railways. Mr Krull’s scheme would Bupply the population, the capital, and the industry, and all these are required to make a manufacture or a oountry flourish. We feel a strong temptation to say something in this portion of our journal relative to the New Zealand fisheries ; but were we to commence the subject in an editorial note, like Iho present, it wonld be sure to swell into a leading article. We cannot forbear, however, from making one or two short extracts from a memorandum submitted to the Industries Committee by Mr John Munro. He says that there is an inexhaustible source of national wealth around the shores of New Zealand ; and that though he is of opinion that our mineral wealth is nothing now to what it will hereafter become, yet he believes that the fisheries of this country will surpass it in extent, permanency, and stability. “But,” says he, “ allow me at the same time submissively to submit that New Zealand must and will assume a different political aspect in its present regime ere that prosperous day will come about.” Nor does he condemn our extravagant governmental machinery alone ; for his remarks, had they been rendered in his native Gaelic, instead of in quaint and broken English, with reference to the industrious habits of the colonists, would have been equally as much to the purpose. We gather that he has more faith in the fish than in the men of the country, and he fears that before fisheries can be rendered permanent a change must take place in the habits of the people in general. We shall have something more to say on New Zealand fisheries is a future issue ; but from an experience extending over a long period of time, we are persuaded that there is but litt]Q use in editors of newspapers drawing public attention to the vast natural riches lying within and on the shores of these islands until the habits of the people are altered, and more people are induced to come to and to settle in the country. We find from the evidence of Dr Hector that the extent of coal at the Brummer coalmine may be estimated at about 4,000,000 tons. The average thickness of the seam is sixteen feet of good clean coal. This coal could be shipped at 8s per ton, screened, and it is one of the purest bitumenous coal ever known. About six months ago Mr O’Conner and party, in searching for coal between Mount Roohforfc and the Buller River, discovered a coal seam four feet thick within a mile of the latter, and a place which offered no difficulty in the way of working. Mr O’Conner pointed out that there was a great quantity of clay suitable for the manufacture of fire bricks in the Buller district. But what is wanted is brickmakers ; the capital to employ them; and facilities for taking the product to a remunerative market. The “ Hobart Town Mercury” draws attention to the scheme of railways and roads submitted to Parliament by the Government of New Zealand, in order to show the people of Tasmania what another colony is doing, and with the hope that Tasmania will follow its example. It regrets that the activity displayed here contrasts so greatly with that displayed there. It approves of the bold scheme which had been announced by Mr Yogel of stretching the borrowing powers of the colony, and initiating a very large scheme of reproductive improvements, depending for their success upon the opening up of the country and the introduction of settle s. It observes that “ this example should at least induce our Government to consider whether it is not within their power, while amply satisfying the Northern economists by retrenchment, to devise some reproductive plan for the con* struction of roads, so as to benefit the country generally.” The following remarks are also applicable to New Zealand: —“With so feverish a demand for land in Victoria—for land on which to settle j with crowds of emigrants from Ireland for Americu by every opportu-nity-tempted mainly by the hope that ther* an industrious man may expect to be able in the evening of his life to sit under his own fig-tree, and see his children grow up around him, without the perpetual fear haunting him of the possible pressure of a middleman, or rent-seeking bailiff—with these things going on, we say, it is hard to believe that Tusinania can be following a proper course when we find her Crown lunds unsought for, and some of the fairest spots in creation left in solitude.” The remedy suggested is the bridging of the rivers, the construction of roads, the formation of railways, and in fact the same means for opening the country for settlement as thos# recommended by the Government of New Zealand.