Agricultural. AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2251, 11 December 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

Agricultural. AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION.

The following letter, sigued "John M'Laohlan," appears in the Chriatchurch Press : — There is a proverb, that " Small beginnings have great endings," sometimes, and I will not be surprised if the speeches delivered at the luncheon on the show ground last week prove the adage. The president told us about New Zealand's capabilities as a producing country compared with other lands he had seen, and but for our unfortunate financial position might have been a paradise. However, it is re-assuring when men in his position suggest other remedies than loans for the distress Although it is hard to accept the increase of population theory in the face of a great want of employment for those that are here, yet the introduction of men with capital, who are willing to settle on the land ami give employment to the labour that is already here could not be otherwise than beneficial to the colony. Mr Grigg was exceedingly explicit in telling us as farmer* that we could not got rich living upon one another, but only by establishing the balance of trade in our favour, ri/., raising 1 export-* of more value than our imports, and, as a means to that end, I think he very wisely took note of our ability to produce dairy products to greater advantage than any other country we know of. There is a great deal of settlement going on on the West coast of the North Ibland, the land there be-iug most suitable for graziug and dairying. A large production of butter and cheese may be expected in excess of our own requirements, or evfin what Australia can take from us. The balance over will represent health in proportion to the skill and care employed in the manufacture. I noticed in your" leading article on Friday you called the attention of the association to the fact that the English dairymen were availing themselves of the Canadians to teach th«m how to improve their product*. Well, when tho oldest cheei>e and butter producing districts in England and Scotland are not above takinga lesson from the Canadians, I think we ought to go and do likewise, for notwithstanding the fact that there are individuals in New Zealand who are able to make butter or cheese as near perfection as may be, yet there are a large number of people engaged in dairying who have not the knowledge, from no fault of their own, but simply that they are farmers from force of circumstances, being unable to fiud employment at their trades or callings. And hence the rubbish they make out of good milk is sold for butter or.cheese. Unless we keep up with the style and quality of European dairymen, we will be handicapped out of the race. But to return to the speeches. Sir Julius among other things said the wool interests alone had produced £95,000,000 sterling, and he put the question thus— Is it the case that those who have had the risk and the trouble of all this production of wool have also had a fair share of the prooeeds ? Echo answered, No. But the query is a suggestive one, especially coming from Sir Juliu*, who, I suppose, never tfave the matter a thought before, always having taken it for granted that a* prudent people we would wtick to some of the money. He further tolls us of the great progress of agriculture ; that in ten years it nearly trebled, and congratulated the At-sociation on the result of —what ? of cultivating three times as much Lindas we did in 1876, and not any better oil' after all. He gave us some interehtinjr figures concerning the costs of laying down wbeit in England, und it is important, I will quote him correctly: — "I hive lately been studying the report of the American Agricultural Bureau, where it was shown th it the cost of laying down wheat from America in England was 5s O^.d per bushel, and from India 4s OUI, and that he was told the cost from New Zealand was slightly under 4s ; but did not think New Zealand could compete with India or America." I suppose Mr Grigg will be considered an equal authority with Sir Julius on matters agricultural, and he aays : —There is no country that can produce wheat to more advantage than New Zealand. As it is of the greatest importance to us to know what is the lowest coat of production in India, which is our greatest rival with wheat. I hope Sir Julius will repeat the figures, or confirm the statement, which seems too good to be true.

A Kkknch lady, on her arrival in this country, would cat only such dishes as aho was acquainted with, and, being on one occasion preyed to partake of a dish new to her, hho politely replied, thinking she was expressing hervelf in admirable Kngli*h, "No, I thank you; I eat only my acquaintances." Mystkkious Robbery in Paris.— A Paris money-changer has juat been mysteriously robbed of money, bonds, and diamonds, He had sent, vh! Dieppe and Newhaven, to a London firm some chests containing bonds of a value of 300,000 francs, 50,000 francs in gold, and some diamonds estimated to be worth another 50,000 francs, making a total of 400,000 francs, or £16,000. They have gone. How, when, where, is not known. This very romantic case will give a line chance to both English and French Leco(js, if any of the race survive, for no one knows whether the chests were spirited away iv France, or in England, or during the passage from Dieppe to Newhaven. "They disappeared 'like so many vanishing ladies, and that is all. After all £16,000 is a bagatelle compared with the enormous sums which must be carried to and fro almost daily between England and the Continent— if not in ipecie, in jewels, for crowned heads say. But you may carry £20,000 worth of diamonds in the heel of your boot, and fool the octroi and the robber at the same time. But gold— as in the case of the money-changer of the Rue Quatro Sep« tembrc— is a very troublesome burden.