The Patea Mail. (Published Wednesdays and Saturdays.) SATURDAY, MARCH 8, 1879.

Patea Mail, Volume IV, Issue 406, 8 March 1879, Page 2

The Patea Mail. (Published Wednesdays and Saturdays.) SATURDAY, MARCH 8, 1879.

Which will ultimately be the loading, colony of the Australasian group is a question that the future must answer. .There is, however, a pleasn”e in trying to snatch secrets from the future, which has produced a plentiful crop of prophets in every age, who have filled the world with their ravings, and who, if remembered at all, are only remembered ns illustrations of human folly and shortsightedness. Yet the punishment of prophesying does not take away the pleasure thereof. We therefore will be among the prophets, will bring, our knowledge from afar, and will declare the buvden of Victoria, New South Wales, and New Zealand. It will go without saying that the race for chief place will lie between these three colonies; for if capacity for supporting population and giving its people material wealth is the test of a country’s prospects, Tasmania is shut out by her limited area. South Australia, Queensland, and Western Australia, by their aridity and tha intense heat of their climates, which is so inimical to the European settler. Before discussing the comparative prospects of the three more important colonies, we will give a table of statistics, which will save our space and- help the reader. Colonies. Area. Population. Millions of 'Acres. N.S. Wales ... 200 ... 600,000 Victoria ..56 ... 820,000 New Zealand ... 67 ... 414,000 Imports and Exports for 1871, per head of Population, Exports, Imports. N.S, Wales ... £22 ... £l9 4s. Victoria - - £2O ... £l:9 10s. New Zealand... £2l ... £ls 17s. The areas under cultivation in each colony in 1871 were — N. S. W., 465.000 acres; Victoria, 1,012,000 acres ; New Zealand, 1,944,000 acres. These facts are very important. They show that the vast extent of N.S. Wales would be a very erroneous datura from which to calcnlata her capacity for sustaining population. With more than three times the area of New Zealand, nearly three times the age, and twice the population, she had under cultivation in 1871 only one acre for - every four and-a-half acres under cultivation as against Now Zealand. This can only be accounted for by the fact that her soil is in the main unsuited for agriculture. The same argument applies, though less forcibly, to Victoria. In 1871 her population was three times that of New Zealand, yet the area she had under cultivation was little more than half of that cultivated in our more favoured colony. If we compare the returns for 1871 with those for 1876, we shall see that New Zealand is not losimg her lead in agriculture. In 1876* 'N.S. W. cultivated 451,000 acres—l4,ooo acres less than in 1871; Victoria cultivated 1,126,000 acres—an increase upon 1871 of 114,000 acres; New.Zealand cultivated 2,377,000 acres—an increase upon 1871 of 433,000 acres. The inference is almost too clear to require pointing ont. It is, that while both N.S. Wales and Victoria may carry enormous herds compared with New Zealand, only a small proportion 6f their surface can be thickly settled by a farming population. This means that they will, as a whole, be thinly peopled, and that they will, even with a thin population, have to be extensive importers of cereals from their more fortunate neighbours, not excepting New Zealand. This latter point may be illustrated by reference to the table of exports and imports above. N.S. Wales is at present able to sell her productions to the extent of £1 per head more than New Zealand can hers; but,, on the other hand, N.S. Wales has to buy the productions of others to the extent of £3 7 &. per head of her people more than New Zealand. This leaves the balance of trade £2 7s. in favour of bur colony. If we institute the same comparison with Victoria, we find we. have the advantage to the extent of £4 19s. per head. We may remark here, that a great error is frequently committed by adding together the exports and imports of a country as the total of its trade, and inferring the country’s wealth therefrom. The error may,. thus; N.S. Wales produces and exports one million pounds worth of wool, arid buys with the money and imports, one million pounds worth of corn. At first sight, we give her credit for trade to the extent of £2,000,000 for this transaction. But really she has done just the same trade as she would have done had she not exported the wool, but had grown the corn- arid eaten it, without adding a penny either to the imports or exports Clearly, then, if New Zealand can grow the corn and the wool too, she has an enormous advantage, while not making as much show of trade. We will show presently that New Zealand can feed herself and her neighbours, and not fall far behind with the wool either. But for the moment, let Us see if onr agricultural land compares, as well in quality as in extent with that of our neighbours. The following table speaks,volumes ■ Wheat.—Bushels per Acre. ’ ■-'••7x874. f ' v 1875. 1876. New South Wales 13.43 ; 12.87 i 14.66 Victoria ‘ 13,58 14.57 715.49 New Zealand 25.61 28.15 31.54 Oats.—Bushels per Acre; •' New South Wales 18.71 16.31- 18.72 Victoria 15.69 15.46 21.22 New Zealand 22.81 35.22 39.34 I The average of wheat in the two Australian colonies is just about 14 bushels '

por acre for the three years • quoted, while in' ‘New Zealand it is very nearly 29 bushels per acre-j-more than double !* This simple fact indicates New.Zeeland as the colony that will carry by far the heaviest population, feed it, and at the same time export food to Melbourne and Sydney. Now, with respect to wool growing, it is known that English grass is not a success iir Australia. ! N.S. Wales makes no return of land sown in grass; Victoria returned only 293.000 acres in 1870, while New Z.-u-' land possessed in the same year 1.770.000 acres of English grass. No. one needs to bo told that this little fact is immensely in onr fhvopr in the matter of wool-growing. It should also be noticed, that when the Australian farmer lets his land rest from cropping, nearly a year is lost while the native grass spreads over it. The New Zealander rests his land in English grass, and during the first year after the crop, it will carry several sheep to the acre. Although New Zealand’s chief advantage lies in her soil, it is not by any means her only one. She has a climate that can be borne by the European without any shook to his constitution, which is more than can be said of any part of Australia. Her geographical configuration secnres a healthy distribution of population. In Victoria, almost all the business is done in one city and one port. The city contains a fourth of the whole population, and is a sink for vice ami poverty. In N.S.Wales the same evil exists. But in New Zealand, we have numerous good harbours and several leading commercial cities In the future, no doubt, our ports and cities will be counted by the score, while single overgrown capitals, where vast wealth and squalid poverty continually stare each other in the face, will continue to curse the Australias. We might go on to speak of our forests, our coal, our iron; we might speculate on the new industries that time will develop—such as fisheries, vineyards, and hop-gardens, but we have already said enough to show that our prophecy will bo pretty safe, if we say that some who read this will live to see New Zealand the premier colony.