The Waikato Times. SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 1878.

Waikato Times, Volume XI, Issue 906, 13 April 1878, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 1878.

u, _ - Equal and exactTjiistice to all men, Of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political. * # * * * Here shall the Press the People's right maintain, , . Unawed by influence' and- unbribed by gain.

We are glad to learn that the suggestion thrown out some time since to the Government, by MrR JR. Hunt, that the natives should be encouraged in the growth of linseed and hops is likely to receive practical application, and at once. The Native Department has taken the matter in hand, and is preparing a pamphlet on the growth of linseed. The information contained in it will be derived from the experiences of Captain James Ptiinciman, and the late Mr W. T. Bassett, both of which gentlemen have had considerable practical experience on the subject. The treatise on hops will be republished from the columns of the < Warnings,' in which it appeared some time ago. The natives have already shown themselves proficient in the growth of hops, but where they failed was in the after preparation of.them for the market. To remidy a recurrence of this .the Government intend to procure the services of a practical hop curer from Nelson, to teach the natives the mechanical preparation of the hop after it is gathered and harvested. Both hops and liuseed are crops that are specially adapted for Maori cultivation, requiting as they do, a large amount of labour at special times, the linseed in keeping the land free from weeds, and the hops during the picking season, for if allowed to pass a certaiu stage of ripeness the hops are apt, ■ with the slightest wind, to pick j themselves and be no more seen. | The hop picking, which would be a difficult matter in the case of a European settler, with whom labor, and especially the labor of women and children, is as a rule not procurable at all, presents no difficulty in the case of the native growers. Where the natives failed heretofore was in the after preparation of the hops. The brewers tried them but found them unsuitable, not having

! been properly dried and cured. This however, as we have said, will be easily remedied under the supervision and teaching of a practical and experienced hop-curer. That the Maoris will take up the matter we have little doubt. They have sense enough to see the advantage of doing so. At the price realisable for hops in Auckland it will pay them far better to grow hops than wheat. There is a protective duty on hops in New Zealand to the extentof threepence per lb, and it may be fairly calculated that Colonial grown hops will realise fully one shilling and fivepence per lb in Auckland. If properly cured they will always commaud the market, as for freshness and flavour they far surpass the best imported hops from Kent. I

In the case of linseed, the Maori has also a favourable opportunity of realising a higher acreage return than he can obtain from the growth of any other crop. Line will produce, the quality and richness of the land being equal in both cases, as heavy a crop of seed as wheat will yield arid will command a much higher prico per bushel. That it is a scourging crop to the land there is no doubt > but that matters little to the Maori with unlimited land at his command, and whose usual pactice it is to take a patch in hand, ran it. out, aud then turn to a new piece of virgin land for future operations. The : culture of line for seed will, pay in the present/and lead to still greater advantages in the future, j for its growth once established with the object of saying the seed alone,

its cultivation for the production of e a matter of time, %Hqstlms""'aja *industry may be esta.will employ the time of Ojfen, %omon, and children, and yieljpa far>\ larger average return than ;the of the plant merely fipVthe purpose of the s'eed. , ; latter will, ho\vpiy quite well enough to commence with. And here, too, as in the case of the hops, there is a ready market for the .crop when grown. The Auckland Oil Crushing Company will take all the linseed that the natives can grow. At present, their operalioDS are confined to crushing the cobra for the production of cocoa-nut oil; but tey posaes*. the necessiry plant for dealing with linseed also. For the matter of that, we do not see but that a local company might, easily, be formed, either at Alexandra of Newcastle, for erecting a small mill for the manufacture of. oil from linseed, and of linseed cake for cattle from the refuse. This, however; by the way, for what is more to tho purpose in the present stage of* affairs, is that suGh a company, with a plant in full ''working order, is actually now engaged in the manufacture of oil- in Auckland. The Government are, we understand, prepared to furnish the Maoris with the seed necessary for commencing the enterprise, and probably would • not refuse .assistance towards the erection of a small mill also. Money so spent would be most profitably laid out. It.would be practically educating the natives in civilisation, and every field of linseed grown; every hop yard permanently laid clown, and curing house built would be so many material guarantees of peacefu'ness and law abiding order.