The Standard. SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 1874.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume II, Issue 120, 10 January 1874, Page 2

The Standard.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 1874.

“ We shall sell to no man justice or right: We shall deny to no man justice or right: We shall defer to no man justice or right.”

We have always been at a loss to know why wine making has not established itself more extensively as a Colonial Industry in New Zealand, and particularly in a district so highly favored as Poverty Bay is, with respect to climate, soil, and situations where vineyards could be planted and projected with success. There are signs, however, of a growing increase of both energy and capital being expended in this direction. A short time since a settler in Auckland brought to the market a sample of champagne which has been pronounced good and palatable. In other provinces in the South Island signs are being made of a steady advance in the cultivation of the grape for wineproducing purposes; and, more recently, we find that, according to the Tvant/anui Herald, a settler in that township (Mr. A. Tod) “has suc‘‘ceeded in producing a very fair •• article.” But in this district the settlers need uQt confine their attention to grapeonly. Peach wine, such as wkg OSjjbirir cellars* for the last arter ot a <_• 'Stury, ranks among the ’.st and most wholesome of light ■«, and cf fruit, th is still a a X. •

abundance, notwithstanding the destruction which has overtaken most of the peach groves during military occupation consequent on native disturbances.

It cannot be said that this is purely a local question, although we are writng now with a special regard to the prosperity of the district of Poverty Bay ; but it is nevertheless a question with which the finance of the colony, and the health and morals of the people are intimately interwoven. As the law' stands now', manufacturers engaged in this pursuit, have a protection in the tariff which imposes a duty on all Australian wines imported into New Zealand. In the attempt to establish a Reciprocity treaty with the A ustralian colonies, already promised, this duty may be removed, but even then we do not see why a lesson may not be learnt from free trade bringing light wine into general use in the colony, which would redound to our profit, and which we quite believe will not be learnt any the sooner through the continuance of a protective tariff. In the last Session of the General Assembly, Mr. C. O’Neill, the member for the Thames, very persistently pressed the removal of this impost on the notice of the Government, and ultimately moved that the opinion of the Attorney General should be obtained as to whether the Australian Colonies Duties Act, recently passed by the Imperial Parliament, gave power to this colony to remit the tax if it chose to do so. The Attorney General considered that the’ Legislature had already the power to abolish this or any other duty; and Mr. Reynolds said the Government would probably bring down some proposition on the subject at the next Session of Parliament. We had written at some length on this interesting subject, but our space is too limited to insert it here. We cannot, however, but remark that if the impost be removed, and we drink the vintages of other lands under our own vine and fig tree, we shall have ourselves only to blame; but that should not deter us from inserting the thin end of the wedge of competition, and so supply our own markets with an article, which can be as satisfactorily produced, and at as reasonable a price as the imported wines from Australia.