WHAT WE OWE TO THE WOOL CLIP.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VII, Issue 400, 17 October 1874, Page 5

WHAT WE OWE TO THE WOOL CLIP.

The following article from the " Axfstralasian Sketcher" on the benefits which have resulted to Victoria from the state of the wool market for the past few years applies with equal truth to New Zealand :—: — A truer word was never spoken by Mr. Langton than that he uttered in the course of the debate on the financial statement of Mr. Service, when he assigned wool as tho great material agent of the prosperity this colony has bean enjoying for the last few years. Tho subject Mr. Langton had under consideration was not so much the general prosperity of the country as the prosperity of tho revenue. But a very little reflection shows that in this respect one may very well be taken as the measuro of the other. With this proviso, wo may quote Mr. Langton's remarks as bearing upon our subject. He asked — " What has been the most potent influence during the last two or three year 3 in increasing our rovenue? Tho question may be answered in one word — 'Wool.' We have had an unprecedented succession of good seasons, and at tho same time we havo had a higher price for wool ruling in Europe than has been known for very many years. What is the effect of this 1 Tho effect is to secure a return to this colony of a largo quantity of imports in payment for the wool. They do nofc pay for our wool in coin, because we make coin hero ; it is a product of native industry, and we are sending it away year by year. It would be equivalent to sending coals to Newcastle if the British-purchasers of our wool attempted to pay for the wool in gold. We don't want it ; and if sont out it would havo to be reshipped. To do so would bea wasteful process, and it is not done. They pay us in imports, and so long as there is a likely prospect of the yield of wool being maintained and the high prices to prevail, we must havo large imports." It is evident that the same cause not only gives us large imports. It gives us a condition of general prosperty. It ia worth a little consideration to show how " potent,," in Mr. Langton's words, this influence is. In 18G4 the annual export of wool amounted in value to £3,250,128. In 1868 it had grown to £4,567,182, and in 1873 it amounted to £5,738,638. To see the importance of these figures it is only necessary to remember that the total export of the colony for that year was £15,302,454. That is to say, more than one-third of tho whole export oi the colony^ — our payment for the imports we receive — consisted of wool. Tho gold (exclusive of specie) exported the same year was valued'at £5,108,614 so that the wool was of larger value of the exported product of all of our good-fields and the labour of all of our miners. In addition to this fact, there is the further and very significant one, that while the annual export of gold is steadily diminIslimsfj ihafc of wool lias for sonio years been aa steadily on the increase. Few people will be disposed to deny that the last two or three years have been very prosperous ones, so far as the general community is concerned. The revenue has shown expansion, the taxation of the country, heavy as it is, has been borne without murmur, labour has been highly paid, business has been flourishing, and every symptom ha 3 been exhibited of a time of great prosperity. If the question is asked to what this prosperity has been due, there is no other answer than that given by Mr Langton. It is. due to our wool, to the favourable seasons we have had for the wool clip, to the high prices which the article has commanded, in the markets, which have opened np a demand that has outgrown the growth of the supply. Our mining industry has been in a rather failing condition. The average" earnint-s of those employed at ifc have not diminished, but their number has reduced and tho aggregate return has diminished. Agricultural operations have greatly extended, but it can hardly be said that their result has been so remunerative as account for the "wave of prosperity" that has passod, not only over Victoria, but through the Australian colonies The only condition that explains this effect is the enormous growth of the returns which have been received for the wool clip, and which have given an impetus to the wheels of industry in every department of the community.

The TJps a>t> Downs op Life. — The Bacchus Marsh "Express" (a Victorian journal) relates the following :: — '■ Our eeaders will notice with regret the announcement in another column of the death of Mrs Farmer, or more correctly, Lady Farmer, although herself and husband abandoned the title during their residence in Bacchus Marsh, a3 their circumstances were not iv accordance with it. The deceased was striving to pass an examination as telegraph operator, as the offico at Bacchus Marsh had been promised her, and it was over anxiety to effect this " J oksocT; l>y attending lectures "wllsh auSerixig {ram. a u&x&m eoltL lhat oauaDtl inflammation of the luug3 to bake such a hold of a somewhat weak frame, that Mrs Farmer just lay down after returning from one of these lectures by a teacher of telegraph operations, and never rallied, but died three or four days afterwtirda, leaving four children aged about eight, four, and three yeare, and fourteen months. LTer husband haa suffered for yeava from weakness of sight, and is now all but blind. The case is a sad one, as Sir George ■ Farmer has not an income, although we believe there are family expectations of some value. The " Peerage " supplies the following brief biography :— " Farmer, 3rd Baronet (Great Britain). Created 1780— Sir George Farmer, son of the 2nd baronet, by the daughter of George Farmer Ellis, Esq.. of Youghal, county Cork (she died 1862), Born, 1826 ; married, 1883, the only daughter of Thomas Watson Esq., of Swansea, Glamorganshire ; succseded his father in 1855. The Ist baronet was so created as a tribute to the gallantry of hi 3 father in command of H. M. H. Quebec, which was accidentally blown up daring a contest with a French frigate of much superior force. Residence — In Australia. Heir presumptive, his brother Richard Henry Kenrick, born, i 1841."