THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1880.

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3683, 14 October 1880, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1880.

It is admitted on all hands that New Zealand has outrun the constable, that her national debt is already almost too heavy for her to bear, that the raising of additional loans is entirely out of the question. As it will take several years before the colony can give all her population employment, now that the expenditure of borrowed money is practically at an end, it behoves our Legislators to carefully consider and adopt the best means of making this transition period—admittedly a period of depression—as light as possible. No one with any knowledge of the subject doubts for one moment but that the vast natural resources of the colony will enable it eventually to surmount all its difficulties, but it behoves the State at once to take steps to turn to good account these undeveloped riches. Labor in this colony will be about equally divided into the agricultural and mechanical classes. It is bo now in a measure, but as years roll on the existence of the two great divisions of the lords of labor will become more apparent. In the Southern portion of the colony agricultural development baa been fairly attended to, but in the North vast wastes of rich sail are as yet unsubdued by the hand of the husbandman. Far better would it be for the colony, rather than have all this land lying idle, to give it away free provided the selectors would agree to cultivate at once. Pealing with the lands of the North has always been a difficult matter in consequence of the conservatism of those having a voice in the disposal of the land, and consequently the march of settlement and civilization has been checked and frequently turned to some other part of the colony. The day for this kind of thing is, we trust, now over, as we believe that every thoughtful colonist sees plainly that if our bark is to weather the present storm, the agricultural resources of the country must be developed to the utmost, and indeed be made the bridge to bear her over' the stream of depression. We were very muoh gratified at a letter from the pen of Mr John Lamb, which appeared in the Auckland Herald a few days back, referring in laudatory terms to the action of the Waste Lands Board in handing over the Te Aroha to Messrs Grant and Foster. In one part of his letter Mr Lamb says:—

This i* a Btep in the right direction, and I should like to sea more bucli arrangements made, so as to bring a larger area of our waste lands under cuhjration. We have good farmers already in thW country, but we require more of them for the province of Auckland, no that we would be enabled to grow our own breadstuff's, and s*ve the enormous drain which goes en every dsy from the province for the payment of breadstuff* which, we should raise ourselves, and this can only be done by widening the area for cultivation. Again, Mr Lamb remarks :■— Were it so, the province of Auckland would be the premier province, and there would be no cry out for the want of work. America has overcome all her diEoulties by the enormous export of grain. This year's crop is estimated at 60,000,000 bushels of wheat. Her exports fur exceed her imports, and it should be so with ue< But what is the result ? During the last six years wo have imported to the amount of £48,233,946, and exported £34,656,617, leaviug a balance against the country of £11,677,322. No doubt a large amount of capital is imported which may be set against the deficiency, but our aim should be a surplus in our favour, and this we should not rest satisfied with until we accomplish it. Mr Lamb's letter, though referring only to the province of Auckland, may for the purposes of this article be given an extended sense, and made io apply to the whole of the colony, and the argument Mr Lamb wishes to illustrate and strengthen is precisely identical with our own—Let there be no faltering until every acre of tillable ground throughout the length and breadth of the colony is turned into good account, To avert our diffi culties that must be soul of the future land policy of New Zealand! And how we come to the second part of our subject, the disposal of the mechanical portion of our population. The flood-tide of immigration has brought to our shores artizans of every description, and many, though hero several yoaru, hare not yet be«n

" shaken into their places." New Zealand is a country abounding in mineral wealth, and other natural resources, and what folly it seems that a day should be delayed by our legislators from holding out encouragement to pick up the treatures laying at their feet. Tlie appointment of the Colonial Industries Commission last session was a step in the right direction, but we are afraid Government do not fully appreciate the necessity of at once devising means for supplying perhaps one-third of our male population with work congenial to (heir taste, and giving them scope for exercising their ingenuity. The colony in its present state needs a lot of "forcing," and every industry and manufacture should be as carefully nurtured and strengthened by the Government as though it was a little hot-house plant. A year or two of this kind of tending would enable our local industries to weather tho storms of infancy, and in return incalculably benefit the colony at large, and assist her through her financial difficulties.