THE STATE OF NEW CALEDONIA.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 1960, 9 April 1885, Page 2

THE STATE OF NEW CALEDONIA.

. a The Neo CaUdonien draws a very gloomy picture of tho condition of the colony, which it asserts, is • less advanced than it was ten years ago, and the expectations of progress and prosperity which were then entertained have all been dissipated. Nothing remains but doubt and apprehension, which, it is to be feared, may be changed Jito frightful certainties. The year 1884 was a disastrous one, and an unprecedented drought has filled up the eup of the community's misfortunes. The mines are being dosed one after another, Operations have ceased in those of cobalt and antimony, leaving numbers of liberated-oonviots without employment and without food; tho coppor mines in the north have been abandoned, depriving that district of an important souroe of well-being; and when the nickelmines cease working there will be from £7OOO to £BOOO a month withdrawn from ■ circulation.. Agriculture is at its last gasp, The decree of August 10, abolishing free immigration, dealt it a heavy blow, and the .drought promises to complete its ruin,. The cultivation of maize and haricots is no lqnger remunerative, coffee planting cannot be pursued for the. want of suitable labour, and growing is ■ impracticable for the same reason, As to cattle breeding and grazing, which ten years ago were a fortune to the country, are now its ruin. Production has far outstripped consumption. Stock has fallen so low in price that boiling down has been resorted to; pigs are being fed on the carcases of sheep, and,'in the absence of. feed and water, a mortality has broken out among cattle which threatens to become dangerous to the public health, Should the crisis continue, it is alleged, the graziers will be sdad to give away their herds to be disembarrassed of them j or, a time may come when they will be obliged to burn them,' In short, the outlook is described as being a gloomy one for the farmer, the miner, the grazier, the planter and the trader.; and it is declared that the only remedy for this disastrous state of things is tho annexation of the New Hebrides,

Great uneasiness is being occasioned by the mortality in cattle, resulting from the drought, "It is increasing daily. One settler in Kone is losing 12 head per day, and between Ouameni and Noumea the putrifying carcasses are extremely numerous,' Numbers of flies feeding on them become venomous, and many cases have occurred in which human beings bitten by them have sustained serious if not fatal injuries, In one place the Government has found.it necessary tq pay a settler £1 a head to burn his cattle ; this ia'a higher, price than they are soiling at. Unless preventive measures of- tljis kind are promptly adopted, it is feared an epidemic will break out.