244 TEA AND SILK FARMING IN NEW ZEALAND. 



the maDner of the India and continental powers, which for many 

 years had been aiding tea or silk farming, or both, in their 

 respective countries out of public funds. As an assistance in 

 arriving at a conclusion the Government of New Zealand, through 

 their Agent- General, were informed that the openings for aid 

 might be as follows : — 



For the Tea Industry. 



1. The necessary supply of one-year-old tea plants and fresh 

 seed from China, Ceylon, Assam, the Xeilgherries, and Darjeeling, 

 delivered at the nearest port to the proposed plantations at cost 

 price or free. 



2. Facilities for the importation of labour from China, India, 

 or elsewhere, and reasonable legal protection to the planter 

 against the non-fulfilment or evasion of labourer's engagements. 



3. A proportion of forest-land to the acreage purchased or 

 rented, at a reduced cost or free. 



4. The admission by the customs, without duty, of ai. mate- 

 rial, implements, tools, and machinery necessary in tea cultiva- 

 tion, manufacture, and packing, for a short term of years. 



5. Freedom from duty or excise impost for all tea grown and 

 prepared in the colony for the first ten years. 



For the Silk Industry. 



6. The necessary supply (400 plants per acre) of five-year-old 

 wdiite mulberry bushes grafted on black mulberry stocks, or 

 other approved kinds and seed from Sydney or elsewhere. Also 

 the needful quantities of any other silkworm-feeding shrubs — 

 such as the castor-oil plant, the terminalia and jujube trees, 

 the ailanthus, &c., delivered at the nearest port to the proposed 

 plantations at cost price, or free. 



7. Facilities in regard to labour, land, and freedom from duties 

 as in the tea industrv. 



8. And such encouragement generally as might lead to the 

 speedy settlement of skilled reelers from France and Italy, silk 

 throwsters from England, and the purchase in time of the 

 mechanism required in the higher branches of the silk industry. 



These hints as to the apertures through which Government 

 succour might usefully flow were of course simply made in the 

 form of suggestions, to be increased, diminished, or modified 

 hereafter. 



There is a feeling in many minds that no national industry is 

 worthy the name which needs Government assistance, and we 

 are quite of this opinion when expressed towards one which has 

 been already to some extent established. ISTevertheless, let the 

 well-known authority on silk culture, M. Piobinet, be consulted, 



