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DRUGS, ETC. No. 92. Messrs. Kempthoene, Peossee, and Co., to the Secretary, Chamber of Commerce, Dunedin. Sic,— Dunedin, 14th April, 1880. We beg to acknowledge receipt of your circular of sth inst., with copy of a letter received from Edward. Wakefield, Esq., Chairman of the Eoyal Commission on Local Industries, requesting information regarding the local industries in this district, and asking for suggestions as to existing industries, and also in reference to the establishment of new ones. We have established a factory, at a cost of nearly £7,000, for the manufacture of washing-powder blacking, knife-polish, baking-powder, curry-powder, fluid magnesia, bisulphate of lime, nitrate of silver, chloride of gold, and such chemical and pharmaceutical preparations as it will pay to make in the colony; but, as the factory does not pay us, we would suggest that the articles, which we use largely, in List No. 1 should be admitted duty-free, and that duties should be put upon those articles in List No. 2, as may be considered best by the Commission.

List JSfo. 1. — Duty-free, Articles used in manufacturing by Kempthorne, Prosser, and Co.'s New Zealand Drug Company (Limited). —Bottling-capsules, all sizes; paper, cardboard, and chip boxes, and materials for making the same in any form ; sheet-tin, or stamped tin, for making into boxes; castor-oil (bulk), for bottling; almond-oil (bulk), for bottling; soda crystals or washing-soda, for making into washingpowder ; carbonate of magnesia, carbonate of soda, Kochelle salts, borax, turmeric, cimrosium-seeds, cayenne-pods, celery-seeds, orange-peel (dried), spices, cassia, cloves, ginger, mace, nutmegs (whole), cinnamon, citric acid, tartaric acid, cream of tartar, chirotta, gentian-root, quassia, rhubarb-root, calumba-root, orris-root, cantharides, sarsaparilla-root, senna-leaves (in bales), naphtha, cocoa-beans, Homer's patent bottle-stoppers, empty bottle-caps and fittings. Remarks. —Bottling-capsules, and empty bottle-caps and fittings; paper, cardboard, chip, and wooden turned empty boxes, for packing proprietary articles; empty cardboard boxes, magnoliabound dummies, are now free. The demand at present is too small to induce any one to establish manufactories for making the foregoing articles. Stamped tin is already admitted free for meat-pre-serving and coffee-packing, and therefore should be free for other manufacturers' goods. Homer's patent bottle-stoppers : These are now subject to 15 per cent, duty ad valorem, whereas stoppers for aerated-water bottles, and bottle-stoppers, Hogben's patent, are admitted free for some reason or other. We, being the sole importers of Homer's patent, are made to pay duty upon them, while others get their stoppers in free. Cocoa-beans: The duty is now 3d. per pound—the same as cocoa and chocolate. If this duty was removed, no doubt the manufacture of these articles would be commenced here. We intended ordering plant from Home for this purpose ; but when we found that the raw material was subject to the same duty as the manufactured article, we gave up the idea of manufacturing. List JSfo. 2. We would suggest that duties be levied on the following articles: Blue,now Id.per pound, should be the same as Melbourne, 2d. per pound. Nitrate of silver, 3d. per ounce; Melbourne duty, 6d. per ounce. Chloride of gold, say, 15 per cent. ; Melbourne duty, 20 per cent. Knife polish, now free, say, 15 per cent. Plate-powder, say, 15 per cent. When the duty was on nitrate of silver, chloride of gold, and knife-polish, we imported and erected plant for their manufacture here ; but we had scarcely commenced to make them when the late Government took off the duties previously on them. Blue: The duty of Id. per pound now on is too small to encourage the starting of the manufacture here. Sulphuric Acid Works.—We would suggest to the Eoyal Commission on Local Industries the importance of rendering some assistance by way of bonus to any person or persons who would erect such in the colony. Sulphuric acid is a most important element in many manufacturing industries, such as soap and candle works, aerated waters, artificial manures, dyeing, phosphorus, &c. For artificial manure alone its manufacture would be of immense value to the future agricultural interests of the colony, as it becomes a necessity to keep up the fertility and productiveness of the soil. We have, &c, E. Peossee, Managing Director, Kempthorne, Prosser, and Co.'s New Zealand Drug Company (Limited).

18th May, 1880. List of additional articles used by Keinpthorne, Prosser, and Co.'s New Zealand Drug Company (Limited), in their factory, and which they respectfully submit to the Commission for Inquiring into Local Industries should be free : Acid (acetic), phosphoric acid (strong and diluted), Barbadoes aloes, sacotrine aloes, bismuth in metal and powder, carmine, cochineal, muriate of cinchona, extracts, roseleaves, Noa ursi leaves (bearberry-leaves), galls, gum Arabic, gum Senegal, gum copal, gum dammar, gums for varnish-making, gum mastic, indigo, indigo extract, Epsom salts, manganese neroxide, roots (medicinal), dragon's blood, dragon's blood, (powdered), soda-crystals (washing-soda), vanilla. E. Peossee, Managing Director, Kempthorne, Prosser, and Co.'s New Zealand Drug Company (Limited).

No. 93. Mr. Joseph Bttrgess to the Eoyal Commissioners on Local Industries. Gentlemen, — Auckland, 22nd April, 1880. I, the undersigned, beg leave to call your attention to the manufacture of laundry-blue, in which I am interested, being the only manufacturer of blue in the colony. I have, in conjunction