March i, 1883,] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



731 



CHASERICULTUEAL ENTERPHLSE IN NEW 

 ZEALAND, 



The New Zealand Qoveinment, having at an earl^ 

 period evinced a deeire to assist such new industries 

 as seemed fitted for their territory and liUely to 

 take root there, were applied to about two years 

 ago in couueotion with the proposed establishment 

 of ten and silk farming in the province of Auckland. 

 By way of helping the Governmeiit to a decision, 

 when the proper moment should have ari'ived, the 

 following openings for assistance were mentioned — not 

 brought forward in the form of proposals or con- 

 ditions, but simply offered — as suggestions indicative 

 of the apertures through which official aid might use- 

 fully flow : — 



For the Tea Industry. 



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

 seed from Cliiua, Oeylou, Assam, the Neilgherries, 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 labourers' 

 engagements. 



3. A proportion of forest land to the acreage purchased 

 or rented, at a reduced co.st, or free. 



4. The admission by the Customs, without duty, of all 

 material, implements, tools, and machinery necessary in 

 tea cultivation, manufacture, and packing, for a term of 

 probably ten years. 



5. Freedom from duty or excise imports foi all tea grown 

 and prepared in the colony for probably the first ten years. 



For the Silk Imhiftry. 



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

 old white 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 

 sKrubs, such as the castor-oil plant, terminalier, and jujubo 

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

 the proposed plantations at cost price, or free. 



7. Facilities in regard to labour, laud, and freedom from 

 duties, as in the tea industry. 



8. And such encouragement generally as might lead to 

 the settlement of skilled reelers from France and Italy, 

 silk-throwsters from England, and the purchases in time of 

 the mechanism require in the higher branches of tho silk 

 industry. 



At Canterbury, in the early part of this year, au 

 Itnlian gentleman, who had been conducting some 

 silk-reariug experiments ou account of the Government, 

 said in his report to the IVIinister of Lands that 

 his inspection ot some silkworms reared by Mr. Nairn, 

 of Chnstehurch, from a breed cultivatsd there for 13 

 years, convinced him that there was not a trace of 

 any kind of disease. Shortly afterwards the same 

 authority, Mr, Fiderli, stated at a meeting of the 

 Christchurch Industrial Association, thai it was a 

 mistake to suppose that serlciculture required a large 

 amount of labour, as a great saving in this important 

 item could readily be effcted by the use of perforated 

 paper. About the same period one of our home 

 chaeericnltural advocates received an interesting letter 

 from Auckland chief, Hone Mohi Tawhai, M.P. , in 

 which that distinguished Maori gentleman gave as- 

 surances of his gratification at the efforts being made 

 to promote the establishment of tei and silk farm- 

 ing, and some other subsidaiy indu.stries there. He 

 also refcired to the improving habit.s of his countiy- 

 men, to their aptitude to learn such handicrafts as 

 interested them, and expressed his wish to aid the 

 undertaking by every means in his power. This cum 

 munication has been followed by a second in the 

 same strain, dated Auckland, Septrmber 15. Senti- 

 ments like these from a man of position among his 

 own people, and a member of the legislative body, 

 ought to carry some weight, and lead to the legiti- 

 mate coucluBiou that ere loug the labour difficulty 



may be in a great measure removed. No less en- 

 couraging a feature has been the estabhsment in 

 Auckland, about eight or ten months since, of "The 

 Thames Sericultural Apsociation" to promote the pro- 

 duction of silk in the district. At, a prelimiuary 

 meeting according to the Thames AdvKrliser of .lauuary 

 28, the gentlemen present .-subscribed for 400 shares 

 before leaving the hall. This cheering result, however, 

 was doubtless owing to the energy and perseverance 

 of moving spirit, Mr. Albert J. Alloni, who had com- 

 menced his advocacy in 1877. 



That the tea-farming suggestion has not been neg- 

 lected in the colony is evident from the frequent 

 occurrence in the local press recently of notices of 

 experimental successes hero aud there. These few 

 items of chasericultural news, whilst probably interest- 

 ing to readers who are concerned for ihe prosperity 

 of New Zealand, will also show that the period wag 

 evidently approaching when the advocates of the 

 combined industries might leasonably look for some 

 kind of reply from Governnnut to the suggestions 

 detailed towards the bet^nuing of this article. Accord- 

 ingly, the Hon. John Bathgate, M.P. for the Roslyn 

 district in Otago, took occasion, on July 19 last, to 

 ask the Government if they intended t>iking steps 

 to give practical effect to the suggestions lately offered 

 connected with the culture of tea aud silk in the 

 North Island. The re|jl.v, although rather un.salis- 

 factury, embraced the important words, "The subj'^ct 

 had been before the Government ; it was now belore 

 them ; aud probably, when it took a more substantial 

 shape, might yet be ccmsideied." The words "more 

 substantial " in this reply are deserving of special 

 notice, and the reason will speedily appear. — British 

 Trade Journal. 



THE EUCALYPTUS FOE DIPHTHEKIA. 



As likely to be ot practical u.se in dealing with this often 

 fatal disease, we reprint from the Australasian Medical 

 Gazette an article by John JIurray Gibbes, M. e., and 

 0. M. Aberdeen, m.e.c.s.e., coroner at New Plymouth ^N.Z.). 

 The views of Dr. Gibbes are certainly worthy of regard 

 in this matter, not only from his own standing in the 

 medical world, but from the number of prominent men 

 his family has supplied. His grandfather, the late .Sir 

 George Gibbes, was physician to the late Queen Charlotte ; 

 his father, the Eev. Dr. Henege Gibbes, was fifty years 

 ago a rising physiciau in Bath, but felt called upon to give 

 up his practice and take holy orders in the Church of 

 Euglauil, where he has, through a long life, held a high 

 and honourable position. Dr. Gibbes has also two brothers 

 physicians in England at the present time. The remedy 

 appears so simple as to be availivble for use wherever the 

 materials can be obtained, and judging but the excellent 

 results reported should prove of great value: — 



BUTE GUM STEA3I IN DIPHTHEIUA. lu the British Jledical 

 Journal of the 8th October, the question is asked: What 

 is the best local treatment for diphtheria':' I shall review 

 the various remedies given, and see whether they answer 

 the requirements of the disease, and then bring forward 

 one I have used for some time, and found most successful. 



lu the first place the local remedies required must be 

 of such a character as will prove satisfactory in severe as 

 well as in mild cases. In .severe ca.ses the false membrane 

 covers, not only the fauces and pharynx, which are get- 

 at-able, but also the nasal passages, larynx trachea, and 

 br<uu:hi. In the second place — They must not injure the 

 parts when applied. In the third place— They must protect 

 the parts from the virulence of the attack. Fourthly— They 

 must neutrahse the poison. And lastly— They mu.';t be of 

 such a character that any ordinary attendant can administer 

 » « » 



The following treatment I have followed during a very 

 severe edipemic in a district sixteen miles from town : 

 1st. Swab the tlu-oat thoroughly, so as to remove .all get- 

 at-able membrane, with Liq. For. Pcrebl. IJil. aud Glycerine 

 in equal parts; any higher strength only causes pain and 

 uneasiness shooting through both cars. This is to be done 



