NATIVE INDUSTRIES.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 227, 8 June 1866, Page 2

NATIVE INDUSTRIES.

(to the editor op the southland times. Sir, — Being a new arrival in the colonies, and having in England had considerable experience in malting, but more especially in brewing, I was astounded at the exhorbitant price charged here for ale, and on inquiry, at the still more extravagant price of malt. In England the wholesale price of ale under the different heads of ale — sale ale, table beer, and small beer ranges from two sliillings to four pence the gal., and is retailed at Bd, 6d, and 4d per quart, or 2d or 2-|-d per glass, which brings a wholesome beverage — not to say luxury — within the means of every working man. But there, instead of as in New Zealand, malt being £1 or more per bushel, it is sold retail on an average of 7s 6d per bushel. Now I will ask how is it that here, where there is comparatively no duty, malt cannot be manufactured as cheap as in England ? So far as my colonial experience teaches me, this climate is superior to England for either malting or brewing purposes — the 3011 well adapted for growing barley, which even now sells at remunerative prices, yet the colonists are annually sending out to the " Home country " thousands upon thousands of pounds (which are needed here) for an article of consumption so easily obtained at so much less cost by themselves. lam prepared to prove that if malting barley can be grown at a price of from 5s to 6s per pushel, malt could be made and sold at 9s per bushel, and thereby pay a profit of over 50 per cent. upon the outlay ; beer could then be cold retail at 8d per quart, and that not colonial quality ; but a pure wholesome beverage, superior eren to the the English ale obtained in the colonies. 1 would now suggest that by a party of influential gentlemen, a malting company be form ed, which would at once open a market (which is now closed upon agriculturalists) for the production of good barley — at once a boon and an inducement to the farmer to produce it — thereby causing a greater breadth of land to be brought under cultivation, adding considerably to the resources of the colony, by affording a quantity of labor now not required. Southland, by taking the initiative, having a better climate than most of the Southern colonies to produce these two important articles of consumption, viz., malt and ale, would, instead of exporting money for these articles, become exporters of their own produce, thereby adding considerably to the wealth and importance of their own province. I will only add, I should be happy to answer any questions that may arise upon this subject, and, if necessary, to wield my pen again in its behalf. — lam, &c, J. Stewaet. Invercargill, June 4th, 1866.