SILK AND OLIVE CULTURE. A Disinterested Opinion. (From the " Auckland Star.")

Te Aroha News, Volume 1, Issue 47, 26 April 1884, Page 5

SILK AND OLIVE CULTURE. A Disinterested Opinion. (From the " Auckland Star.")

Hearing 1 that a gentleman had recently arrived in Auckland who had travelled through many of the countries of the Old World where silk and olive culture are staple industries, and that he had devoted some attention particularly to the growth of olives, we deputed one of our reporters to interview him today and elicit what iniormation he could. Our representative was courteously received, but on explaining hi« mission found that the gentleman in question was exceedingly averse to his name appearing in print in connection with the matter. He said that as the data he had obtained had only been gathered in a leisurely sort of way while travelling as a tourist, he did not wish to pose as an authority in opposition to specialists, and neither did he desire to throw cold water upon any of the industrial projects that were now engaging public attention. Upon being assured, however, that his name would not be published, and that his information would be given with the qualifications ho had mentioned, the gentleman made the following statement : —

The Silk Industry. As I have already remarked, my experience with regard to the production of silk was chiefly gained during a tour in Syria and Tunis. In both countries the rearing of the worms and the reeling of the silk from the cocoons are carried on outside the ordinary occupations of the people, and are principally relegated to the children Silk is very largely produced in the district of Syria formerly occupied by Tyre and Sidon, and all over Mount Lebanon. And it must be remembered that this is a country where all the old irrigation works are kept up, and where the mulberry leaves are used to a ,very considerable ext,ent for the purpose *of fattening sheep. During a summer season^ more especially when it is dry, the people twice strip the leaves ,, off the mulberry, trees in> i order to feed their flocks. Of course the .

ability to employ people for such a purpose, as the feeding of sheep implies a very cheap rate of remunerating manual labour. Mulberries, too, enter largely into the diet of the Syrians — in fact, they almost live upon them. In that happy country there is, of course, no National System of Education and no schools, so that the children have nothing else to do than rear the silkworms and reel off the silk. Still with all these advantages in ii f s favour, the industry languishes. The only articles produced" from the silk are ornamental trifles, and pieces of the woven fabric about three-quarters of a yard square for making up into turbans. There is a local demand for these things, and tourists also buy them in order to send home to their friends. In Syria, also, very beautiful dyes are produced, and their use in working up the silk imparts to the latter an exceptional value. The condition of matters in Tunis is much the same. Labour is extremely cheap, and the time given to silk does not interfere with the ordinary avocations of the people It is only produced to meet the home demand, and the margin of profit is very small. The regular wage of the people in both countries ranges from 4£d to 8d per diem. Besides producing silk, they also cultivate olives, oranges, and other fruits, and about Mount Lebanon, vines as well. I resided for some time in Spain, but I did not devote much attention to the silk industry there. I find, however, in the latest edition of "Murray's Handbook for Spain," (the best authority in reference to that country), the statement that at Huetor in Granada " vast quantities of silkworms are reared. The winding the thread is anything but a sweet-smelling job ; but seen from afar, as the peasants prepare the golden tissue in most patriarchal poverty, the poetry and the picturesque are perfect." I know, of course, that the industry is principally carried on by women, and that their wages cannot exceed Is per diem, because the smartest female hands in the Tobacco Factory at Seville only make Ik 3d per diem.

Olive Culture. In relation to the growth of olives, it must first ot all be borne in mind that the olive takes a great length of time to mature, so that in New Zealand this could only be an industry of the future. The tree only begins to bear at the age of. ten years, and it does not reach its prime until it is 30 years old. I do not think that New Zealand is well adapted for the growth of the olive. The northern half of the provincial district of Auckland is the region wherein it is most likely to thrive and flourish, although I am perfectly well aware that olive? have been grown in Wellington. It.s adoption by small settlers as a payable industry, however, Mould be at best a hazardous experiment. In South Australia the extent of country available for the succossful growth of the olive is practically unlimited, and there, too, there are ranges of low hills, adaptable for the terracing that olive culture need?, and yet only a few settlers have embarked in the industry and their experience has not ' stimulated their neighbours to do likewise. Mr Davenport has especially devoted attention to the matter, and although he has achieved a decided success so far as the quality of his olives is concerned, yet he has not found their production to be a very lucrative undertaking. Of course, in British countries the olive does not enter so largely into the necessities of the people as in France, Spain, and Italy. There one sees hardly anything but olives until he ascends to the pine woodi, and olives are as indispensable a part of the food of the people in those countries as salt is a necessity to Englishmen. Thus, olives are most largely Srown for home consumption, and hei'e it is chiefly for their oil that they are valued. The area of ground available in this colony for the successful growth of the olive is, as I have said before, very circumscribed, and the industry is one that I Avould hesitate to recommend settlers with small capital to embark in. It -would be too much like a leap in the dark

Cork, Mops, and Tobacco. There are many other products tha f are entitled to prior attention however Mr Justice Gillies, I think, has satisfactorily demonstrated that the growth of the cork would afford considerable profit. It also grows slowly, but the profit arising from it is more certain than in the case of the olive. Then, too, 1 heard when in Hawke's Bay recently that people there are making fortunes by the growth of hops, and I am assured on the very best authority that the cultivation of the tobacco plant cannot fail to yield a handsome return, more especially as two companies have been formed here for the production of marketable tobacco and cigars. To sum up, I cannot see how sericulture can be rendered a lucrative industry in New Zealand, and the profitable culture of the olive is at best problematical. After some further conversation of a more general character our representative expressed his obligations for the information he had received, and withdrew. We regret that we are debarred from giving the name of our informant, as it would assuredly lend greater weight to his remarks.

Some interesting facts and figures in reference to the progress of Oddfellowship were adduced at the banquet to P.P.G.M. Smith last month. Mr Leahy mentioned the fact that the Manchester Unity is worth t'4,000^.000, while the members number 500,000, while Mr Fleming added that it was the richest friendly soctety in the World. Responding to the toast of the Auckland District, Mr Smith included fifteen lodges numbering 1,200 members, while it had £22,000 invested. "How to Catch a Husband" is the title of a recently published pamphlet. In Hammersmith they say that the best recipe for this catch is to leave the husband alone in the house with the new housemaid, and then drop in on 'em unawares. If there is one time more than another when a woman should be entirely alone, it is when a full line of clothes comes down in the mud. It is proposed (says the " Athenajum ") to erect a monument at Cambridge to Thomas Gray, the poet of the " Elegy in a Country Churchyard." This memorial is to take the form of a marble bust, to be placed in the hall of Pembroke College, opposite to Chantrey's bust of Pitt, and close to the corner where Gray was sitting when his fatal illness attacked him. The "Memoirs" of Heine, written by himself, are about to be published in the " Gartenlaube," though doubts have been , cast by some on the authenticity of the autobiographical MS. Mr George Wright, the wellr known " Congress Secretary " of the British Archaeological Association, has in the press a volume, of "Local, Lays and Legends,", being a selection from some of his scattered compositions in prose and verse. i The old saying, "It never, rains but it pours,", seems suggestive of a baby, who never has pains but it roars, i