Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News. TUESDAY, JUNE 9. 1908. MINING AND AGRICULTURE.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 43335, 9 June 1908, Page 2

Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News.

TUESDAY, JUNE 9. 1908. MINING AND AGRICULTURE.

This above all—to thine own self be true , &nd it must follow as the night the day Thou canst not then be false to any man Shakespeare.

The Minister of Agriculture is quoted in the New Zealand Herald, of June 4th, as saying to a Press representative that “ he would like to see the

New Zealander feel the same pride

in the manufactures of New Zealand as he does in the foodstuffs of this country/ manifest the same enthusiasm for its further development as is being done by the farmer, and give to his manufactures the same monopoly of his market that he has extended to the farmer.”

This sounds very'well, but when reduced to the hard logic of facts there is really nothing in it. To attempt to place the farming industry on a parallel with the other is misleading. The farmer right through, has fought his way to the front rank on his merits, and has not only won for himself a local market for his goods, but also an honourable position in the Home market as well. He has forced and won both markets by the cheapness and quality of his goods, and not through the patriotism or philanthropby ot the buyer either at Home or here.

The manufacturer, on the other hand, is to a great extent dependent upon high protective tariffs for his existence, and the willingness with which the people have submitted to this drain upon their pockets should go some little way to allay any uneasy feeling as to the New Zealanders lack of patriotism in that respect. This nursing process has had little to do with the growth of the farming industry. It is a natural outcome, and vhat little help it has received has by its growth and consequence been forced upon, and not fostered by, the Government and even this too has been well paid for out of its own returns.

We would like to see New Zealand a great manufacturing country, and would willingly give every reasonable support, but to foster it more than is now being done would be to give it an abnormal growth and would but react injuriously to ourselves and be a disaster to the trade as well. - For locally manufactured goods there is little or no outside market, and this state of matters must continue for an indefinate period on account of the cheap labour, extensive machinery equipment, and shipping facilities of the older nations. »To raise the tariff wall still higher cannot be entertained, and would only go to show a direct want of consideration for the interests of the community at large. Still there is yet much that may be done for the improvement of trade and that has for some time past received too little attention. Population is one of our crying needs. The manufacturing industries ; of the country are to a good extent stagnant through the want of it, and their development checked. Large quantities of unreclaimed land all over the 1 North Island are at present being 1 taken up for settlement, and this alone will mean a considerable increase in the demand for labour in all its branches. Had the mining industry received the attention it merits there would be a much wider field still for labour in that connection. We see what a couple of mines have done for Waihi with its population of 6,000. We see also what two mines have done for Karangabake, and yet our Government, so far as the mining industry is concerned seems in as deep a sleep as that of Rip Van Winkle. What we want is a live Minister of Mines, one who can as occasion requires get outside red tape officialism and office routine, and exercise the power that is entrusted to him for the advancement of the mining industry, for the benefit of the workers, and for the good of trade. Geological surveys are necessary and useful if properly applied, but to make them of practical value the mineral belts require exploiting, and this is where work of the practical miner should dovetail in with that of the other. The benefit that would accrue from a well organised work of that sort would be advantageous to all by opening up new fields for labour, and fresh sources of wealth.