H.—22.

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gone to the railway-workshops ; and journeymen have been offered higher wages at the railway-shops than the then current rates of wages, and have left us to take the higher pay. The consequence is that we cannot now undertake contracts such as we could formerly carry out with advantage to ourselves and to the public, and our works are literally almost completely at a standstill. Whether or not the present system pays the Government may be surmised from the fact that the casting of iron and brass had to be given up by the Government, and the work is now done by private firms under tender. We submit this grievance to your consideration, believing that we are well supported by the maxim that " the State should not engage in any work that can be efficiently done by private enterprise." We have, &c, Fbasee and Tinue. P.S.—We wish also to represent that, whereas we had gone to great expense to establish a forge, with steam-hammer, for working large shafts, &c, from scrap-iron, we find that now our competitors in the trade, our customers, and others can get their forgings done by Government at Port Chalmers, at a price that is minimized by the fact that the Government have not to allow for a margin to cover interest of money and sinking fund on depreciation of plant, which charges naturally fall to the taxpayer to defray. —F. and T.

WOOLLEN MANXJFACTFEES. No. 139. Mr. W. Steele to Mr. Commissioner Thine. Sib,— Hamilton, April, 1880. I enclose a suggestion from Mr. Potter, for the encouragement of local industries in respect of flannels. He has had a very large experience with hand-looms in England; in the part I came from it was a very common thing to have one or more hand-looms in the cottages of the working-class. I am not in a position to say if the hand-looms would compete with the larger mills ; but this I can say : " one yard of flannel made by hand is worth two made by power." The latter, after two or three washings, on account of the shrinkage is nearly valueless. One thing in favour of the hand-loom business is: it could be tried at little expense. If it would give employment, even at a low rate of wages, to some of the surplus labour in some of the various towns of the colony it would be of great service. I hope you will give it your consideration and assistance if you think there is anything in it. Mr. Potter will gladly give you any further information you may require. I have, &c, W. Steele.

No. 140. Mr. Albert Pottek to the Eoyal Commission on Local Industries. Hamilton, 18th March, 1880. Sib,— Manufacture for the Employment of the Increase of our Population. When the colony accepted the policy enunciated hy Sir Julius Vogel — public works and immigration —it was foreseen that at the end of the borrowing power stagnation to a certain extent would follow. Before the last of the money is absolutely absorbed we find a want of employment for able-bodied men, a cry for labour is already going through the land, the last legitimate resource is already made, an appeal to Government for work ; if this was all, it might be tided over, but we have a much greater demand to mcct —to find employment for the increase of our population, the recent emigrant and the families of the colonists. It is impossible to make them all hewers of wood and drawers of water, impossible they can all become servants ; and, although it has been plainly put with a force only equalled by truth, as regards the principle " the land for the people and the people for the land," it is also impossible that they will all be able to follow agricultural and pastoral pursuits. The experience of America, and more recently Victoria, has demonstrated the absolute necessity of manufacture, the employment of our population, the utilizing of our raw material, the retaining within the colony the money that would as a matter of course be withdrawn, to pay for the imported article. Neither is it the manufacture alone of the article actually produced, but that also of which it becomes the creating power, of finding employment to make and produce the machinery wherewith to manufacture. We have waited several months in the hope of seeing, either by private enterprise or public companies, an attempt made to produce tweeds and woollen goods. I need scarcely inform you that no such enterprise seems likely to be undertaken, its non-existence or the probability of its future existence on a large scale being explained, by all who appear to be conversant with the demands of the article required and its manufacture, that the great cost of plant, premises, managers, and engineer, salaries, &c, consequent upon such an undertaking is the great barrier in both instances, in addition to which few persons only would be employed, and those within the vicinity of the mill. I therefore, Sir, lay before you my plan with little hesitation. The simplicity of its detail, its easy management, its peculiar small cost, its adaptability to a large or small community in town or country, its ready employment of both sexes and all ages, at their own time and according to their circumstances, will, I am assured, recommend itself to your favourable consideration, more especially when I inform you that it is a practice long in use in some parts of England and Wales, has been for years, and still holds its own in the presence of and in opposition to the immense capital and machinery employed. Hand-Loom Weaving. The comparison of hand-loom wove flannels, blankets, baises, serges, &c, with those made by machine are obviously in favour of the former, the wear being more than treble. The loom occupies but a small space in the house, is accessible at all times and seasons, is a boon in a family, the work in itself being vcrv light in its nature —" the piece," of whatever description, except blankets, wove by male or female of all ages, and in a family the number of looms in proportion ; such would be