242 TEA AND SILK FARMING IN NEW ZEALAND. 



amongst intending immigrants all except the most industrious. 

 There is also the wide field of India from which moderately- 

 priced labour may be drawn, not to mention the vast human 

 resources — savage as yet, to be sure — of Papua or New Guinea. 

 In the thousand islands of Polynesia, also, splendid hives of 

 untamed human sinews exist, which would only require the 

 exercise of prudent management to turn into useful and willing 

 workmen. Unfortunately, the presence of the white man in 

 search of labourers there (entirely through the misbehaviour of a 

 few ships' crews) is not very welcome at present ; but with the 

 introduction of humane regulations, a system of voluntary but 

 limited servitude under Government supervision might easily be 

 established, which would prove mutually beneficial and agreeable 

 to both employers and employed. Lastly, we should not over- 

 look the prospect that in the course of time, when the value of 

 the inducements to take service under the company shall have 

 become known, hundreds, perhaps thousands of respectable girls 

 from home will flock to its standard, feeling that a colonial life 

 in such an exquisite climate possesses irresistible attractions as 

 securing health, comfort, and independence. Altogether, there- 

 fore, the opinion seems reasonable that tea and silk farming in 

 New Zealand will be placed at no serious disadvantage as regards 

 labour and wages when compared with the seats of similar 

 industries elsewhere. If the use of human muscles be at present 

 somewhat costly there, this objection in the ordinary course of 

 events must gradually alter in favour of the farmer. Meanwhile, 

 by the introduction of superior machinery, driven where suitable 

 by the copious water-power so largely available, by a carefully 

 matured system of divided labour, and by the employment of 

 only the best superintendence to conduct all scientific, manipu- 

 lative, and commercial operations, little doubt is entertained that 

 the average cost of production to the New Zealand Chasericul- 

 tural Company will not exceed the average outlay of the tea 

 planters of India and Ceylon, and the silk farmers of Europe and 

 Asia, whilst the splendid capabilities of the climate and the 

 comparatively short distances any of the farms are likely to be 

 from a shipping port, will enable the company's invoices, at no 

 distant date, to compare favourably with theirs. 



If these and previous remarks have proved satisfactory in 

 removing the only objection to the enterprise which has hitherto 

 been urged, it must be evident that chasericulture in New 

 Zealand, even from the first, is likely to pay well ; that after 

 the fifth year it must pay handsomely ; and that when all the 

 subsidiary industries which shall have nestled and grown up 

 under its wing are in full operation the Company's annual income 

 will probably be enormous. 



