, 1892-11-23
aT. noJ& AVIS.

formed me that they only desire to be assur-
ed that they can depend on a supply.
Such a state Of facts is full of promise for
the future prosperity of the colony. The ex.
port is now beginning, and the whole for the
year will be'from $50 to 200 tons. This will
be an increasing quantity in the succeeding
years, ard a careful estimate places the output
at 1000 tons in 1900. At the low price of ego
a ton this would give an export of &280;000,
which added to the normal export of the
colony (&13D,000), makes $4,000 eight
years hence Ito which the intervening years
will be a steady approach, and we thus have in
view a production more than three times
any in the experience Of the colony.
But there is nc reason why it should rest
here, and it can be predicted with as much
safety as can belong to any forecast into the
future that in ten years of thenew century the
industry will have reached a result of $4,000
tons, the value Of which can be readily seen.
In these estimates / have taken due account
of the competition which this colony has sti-
mulated by its enterprise, and the price 1
have named will satisfy dealers in the article
that | am under the influence of all necessary
restraint in this respect. | do not think many
Of our imitdtors will be successful. for it re-
quires special combined conditions OF soil and
climate to produce such fibre as ours, rand in a
spirit Of self-defence, the legislature has ex-
tended for five years an Act now three years
in existence, which prohibits the export Of
fibre plants from the colony. This must af-
feet the competition which has been spoken
of, for some of the places in question had been
relying on supplies of plants from our growers
when the first prohibitory law should have
expired.
The cultivation in Florida has been ipropos-
ed, but this is not seriously considered by rs.
The plant is inferior, wages much more than
double what is paid here, and there is a we'll
known liability to frost, which is fatal to fibre
growth. AS far as the best informed iudg-
ment can at present be a guide, we have no
grounds for apprehension that our position
can be seriously disturbed, or shat in any con-
ceivable conditions in the future the fibre
cultivation in this colony will be placed below
the limits Of profitable adventure. The Co.
vernment have restricted for ten years the
amount of Crown allotments to 100, 600 acres.
which embraces the maximum product Of
$4,000 tons | have referred to. These allot-
ments have been widely distributed, to secure
for the largest possible number of the people
the advantage of employment, and a dis
turbance of the labour market is also guarded
against. One of the many attractions of this
remarkable industry is in the fact thai strikes
are all but impossible, for they will have no
plausible basis. TIE crop may remain I'M
harvested for months without injury, and the
good sense of the people may be safely relied
on to recognize this fact, and also to make
them feel, rs they now do, that men Of means
coming to the colony to engage inits fortunes
are it's best benefactors, and this is being
brought ZONE to them by the improvement in
their condition arising from the operations in
which capitalists have engaged. ! am, &c.
a. SHEA.