TEA AND SILK FAKMING IN NEW ZEALAND. 229 



idea of another Maori war is, in the eyes of a colonist, ridiculous. 

 . . . The establishment of English-speaking schools is changing 

 the habits of thought in the rising generation. . . . The land 

 which could produce and maintain so noble and handsome a 

 race as the Maoris undoubtedly are, must be admirably adapted 

 for the support of a population having capital and skill to turn 

 its resources to profitable account." Fortunately we are not 

 limited to Maori sinews so long as there are several thousands 

 of industrious Chinese already settled in New Zealand, and with 

 the option of importing, under proper regulations, as many 

 coolies as may be required from India, China, or Polynesia. It 

 is the native element, however, which would in the first instance 

 be tried. If the Maoris will take to the industries in question, 

 and allow their women and children to assist as the seasons 

 come round, a great mutual benefit would result. Looked at 

 simply in the light of an elEcient engine of civilisation, chaseri- 

 culture amidst this interesting race, fifteen or twenty years ago, 

 would doubtless have speedily effected that which thousands of 

 soldiery, armed colonists, and the terrors of law only partially 

 accomplished; and it is surely not very presumptuous to believe 

 that the succesful establishment of tea and silk farming now 

 would rapidly complete the humanising and refining process. 



^OME Details of the Proposed Enterprise. 



The patient reader who has thus far followed our line of argu- 

 ment with any degree of interest, will now be prepared to learn 

 something concerning the details of the enterprise as it has been 

 proposed to be conducted in New Zealand. Its leading features 

 may accordingly be thus briefly sketched : — (1) It has been 

 suggested that a syndicate should be collected together and in- 

 corporated under the Companies' Acts of 1862 and 1867, under 

 the title of The New Zealand Tea and Silk Company (Limited), 

 or, The New Zealand Chasericultural Company (Limited), or 

 some other suitable designation, with an authorised capital of 

 £150,000 in 6000 shares of £25 each, fully paid up on allot- 

 ment, with power to issue mortgage debentures for £50,000, at 

 the end of two years, or immediately after the financial result 

 of the first silk crop shall have been ascertained ; and to issue 

 further debenture bonds for £50,000 on the expiry of four years, 

 or directly the first tea crop has been realised. (2) That the 

 Company be administered in the United Kingdom by a J^oard 

 of Directors, and in New Zealand by a Manager assisted by a 

 Board of Advice. (3) That tlie spjcial aims of the Company be 

 the acquisition of eligible lands, forests, and running streams for 

 water power ; the erection of suitable buildings and machinery 

 within the province of Auckland, or elsewhere in New Zealan-l, 



