New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) SATURDAY, JUNE 23, 1877.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5070, 23 June 1877, Page 2

New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) SATURDAY, JUNE 23, 1877.

It was with unqualified satisfaction that a tew days since we announced the fact that a large area is being sown with wheat and other cereals in the vicinity of an inland town, within a short distance of Wellington. Our correspondent also informed us of the intention of some enterprising inhabitants to erect a flourmill in the township referred to. This, also, is a step in the right direction. No doubt the near approach of our railways to completion, and the consequent,facilities for communication with the capital which will thereby be soon opened up, have suggested this movement on the part of proprietors and occupiers of the soil. Up to the present time, enterprises of this nature were prevented, or rendered abortive when attempted, by reason of the expense and difficulties necessarily attendant upon internal communication in a new country like ours, where the means of conveyance existed only on paper. We are now beginning to reap the fruits of that masterpiece of colonial policy which emanated from Sir Julius Vogel and his colleagues. We mean the railway scheme, by means of which our rich agricultural and pastoral lands, together with the extensive forests of timber, will be permeated with roads, and their produce brought within easy distance of market. We are now beginning to understand the wisdom of that policy, and appreciate its importance ; and we are fully convinced that the time is not far distant when largo areas of our land, pre-eminent in its primeval richness, and surcharged with the essential elements of wealth, will bo brought under the plough, and burst forth in the full springtide of plenty and abundance. Until recently the arable lands, especially in the southern portion of the North Island, have been practically “locked up,” Strangers visiting our coasts were struck with the wild beauty of the scenery, the magnificent grandeur of the mountain ranges, and the bold headlands and rockbound coasts, reared like Nature’s bulwarks against the further inroads of the sea. The difficulties which attended the opening up of the interior of this country were of the most gigantic nature ; the very profusion with which Nature had scattered her bounties tended rather to increase them. The number of rivers and perennial streams, of which we have a full share, while they convey the idea of a well-watered and well-drained country, present to the engineer difficulties to be surmounted, and to the Government the expenditure of money when the country has to be newly opened up. These difficulties presented themselves to the Government when the railway policy was inaugurated. Roads had to be made, bridges erected, and railways laid down. There were not wanting those who foretold ruin to the colony by the public debt necessarily incurred to construct these works. Some foresaw nothing but insolvency and national bankruptcy, and they alarmed not a few with their doleful forebodings. But to many it was evident that if the colony were to advance and take that position among the colonies of the Empire for which Nature evidently designed it, we must have internal communication. We are convinced that there are many other localities within the old province of Wellington, which are only awaiting the extension of our railway system, and the opening up of roads and bridges, to engage in similar enterprises to that which we have ,recorded. We have more than once drawn the attention of farmers and landed proprietors to the desirability of devoting some attention to agricultural pursuits. Apart from the direct advantages that must accrue to themselves in producing articles of daily consumption, for which they are sure to find a ready sale at remunerative prices,— prices, indeed, at which fanners elsewhere would realise fortunes, —there are also the indirect advantages to the community in being able to obtain wholesome food at reasonable rates. It is not wise that we should depend upon outside supplies, which are generally more or less depreciated in quality, through no fault of either the growers or the importers, but simply from the fact of the long distances from which they have to be brought. There is another matter which should occupy the attention of land-owners in the vicinity of Wellington, and near the line of railway communication—we refer to the production of vegetables. When these articles have to be imported from a distance, they, as a matter of course, cannot arrive fresh in the market. They are frequently in various stages of decomposition, and more or less unwholesome. Wellington is a growing city; at its present rate of increase its population will have doubled before many years are past. The city will therefore become a large consumer of these necessary articles of food, for which she will be ready and willing to pay the country districts a quid pro quo. Wo trust our people will make an effort in this direction, hold themselves in readiness to supply not only our present wants but our growing requirements. To return to the question of agriculture. The corn-producing capabilities of most of the land in these islands has been so frequently demonstrated as to need no further remarks from us. But there is an evident desire on the part of some proprietors to devote their whole attention to pastoral pursuits, as involving less expense and risk than cultivating the soil. We are not among those who think lightly of these enterprises. From many points of view, they are of vast importance to the growth and general prosperity of the colony. But we would again remind our readers of the experience of the Australian woolgrowcrs, namely, that the continued grazing of sheep on the same land for many years in succession l ends to produce disease in the flocks. The obvious cure for this—or prevention, as the case may bo—is to cultivate a portion of the runs year by year, and thus prevent the inroads of disease, Our farmers, then, will do well to look this matter fairly in the face. Viewed in the light of the present complications in Europe, New Zealand wheat must command a high price for some time to come. Its price in Great Britain just now is from 7s. Cd. to Bs. per bushel. England has hitherto drawn largely upon the south of Russia for her supplies ; but-the war now raging between that Power and Turkey must have the effect of stopping all further supplies from that source. Her ports in the Black Sea are blockaded, and she has only St. Petersburg and the Gulf of Riga by which she can keep up'hor ocean communication with Europe. Moreover, considering the disturbance to her industries consequent upon the war, and the groat demand upon her own resources for the vast armies she has now in the field and. still greater ones shortly to bo equipped, she is not likely to enter into competition with the colonies for the supply of the English market for some time t> cnino. The probability therefore is that wheat will go up in price in the British isles,

and will offer a golden opportunity to the colonial producer, of which we as a colony should not fail to take advantage. As shown by the most reliable statistics, the average jneld of wheat in New Zealand exceeds 30 bushels per acre. This, with wheat at anything over ss. per bushel in the colony, must result in a splendid return to the producers.