The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-04-28

and the White Star lines stop at Ho
Dart, and the cases of apples loaded
right alongside the wharves. Hobart
has one of the finest deep-water har.
bors in the world, and it was a great
disappointment to the citizens that the
Atlantic fleet of the United States did
not enter il, on the recent tour around
the world. The entire fleet could have
found plenty of room in the harbor,
| and could have anchored right along
| side the wharves. The acreage under
apples in Tasmania is increasing at a
great rate every year. A great deal
of land known as third Glass; and
previously supposed to be fit only for
sheep, is now found to be ideal land
. for apple orchards. In the northern
. part of Tasmania, along the lamar
river, there is a great boom at pres
| ent in land for apple orchards, and it
is expected within several years there
will be enough apples raised in this
district to warrant "a call at lamar
River Heads of a large ocean liner.
The discovery that apples could be
sent all the way to England in good
condition, by being stored in cool.
weli-ventilated chambers, has been of
" | -
bart used to derive all its prosperity
from the whaling industry, which is
no longer carried on, since mineral
oils have made it improbable. But
| the apple has now succeeded the
| whale. as an element of prosperity.
Many small fruits, like raspberries,
cherries and apricots, are also very
successfully grown near Hobart, and
make a successful foundation for the
| Jam industry. Tasmanian jams are
| shipped as far as South Africa, on one
| side, and as far as Honolulu, on the
other side. It is about the only man
ufacturing industry of any Importance
in Tasmania, except the wooden mills,
which turn out blankets, fiannels,
! etc, of such good quality that they
are sold faster than they can be made,
| the mills having orders for months
ahead.
Tasmania has great mineral re-
| sources, and we'll diversified. know
| of no country of equal area where
there is a greater variety of useful
and precious minerals. Near Launces-
ton sfnere is one of the largest gold
mines of the world, the Beaconsfield
pense of pumping out, water has, re-
dueed profits. and now the mine bare
" pays. Along the north coast of the
island, from east to west, there are
enormous deposits of tin. Next to the
Malay Peninsula, there is no part of
the world which produces so much
tin, and one of the tin mines, Mount !,
Bischoff, is the largest in the world. |
On the west coast, in the Zeehan dis |
trict, there is much successful mining /
of silver-lead ore. At Queenstown. |
also on the west coast, there is one |
of the largest and most profitable cop
per mines in the world, the. Mount |
yell mine. The ore is of a low |
grade. but it found in enormous quan
titles, and is taken out through an |
open cut. which looks like the Colos- !
scum at Rome, only is far larger. The /
manager of the mine, Mr.. Sticht, is |
an American, and it is due chiefly to |
his skin as a metallurgist that the |
low-grade ore has paid so well. The |
copper from this mine. after going |
through a local smelter, is sent to |
Baltimore, where it is further refined, t
and a small amount of gold and sill I
Yer taken from it. A large amount /
of sulphur is in the ore, and the fumes |
of this from the local smelter have |
killed all vegetation around Queens |
town for miles, the ground being alb /
soluJely bare, not even a blade of /
grass growing. Tasmania is also rich |
in deposits of iron, barium. zinc and |
arsenic. Considerable coal is found, |
but of a low grade.
rop,,Jo+iay, of >oc,.,o -
small in proportion to the area of the |
State. There are only about 1S5, 900 /
people in an island about as large |
as Ireland. A large section of the I
country, mostly in the western part, |
is not only unsettled, but is almost /
wholly UNEMPLOYED. There is a gov
ernment-owned railroad from Hobart /
to Queenstown. on the north end of I
the island, and from east to west on
the north coast there is railroad SER
vice through what is the best {agri- /
cultural land in the island. The north |
coast of Tasmania is the chief source |
of the potato supply of Melbourne and /
sydney. The production of oats in T
this northern section is also very
large. The interior of the island, call
ed the ''midlands,''' is mostly given up
to sheep raising. The separate es-
tates will include thousands of acres.
[ do not think on the average there
is more than one sheep to four acres
The 'sduatters.' who own these big /
estates, enjoy splendid returns when
wool is at good price and there is
enough rain to furnish sufficient feed
for the sheep. 1t has been exception
ally dry in Tasmania during the last /
year, but, generally speaking, the |
rainfall averages very much better |
than on the mainland of Australia. |
There used to be great deal of wheat |
grown in the *'midlands,n, but the |
squatters generally prefer now to use |
the land wholly for sheep. The chief |
reason for this is that it is difficult |
to secure farm labor, and sheep can |
be raised with very little labor being |
required. A great many people IN |
Tasmania advocate q stiff tax on I'M /
improved land. with the object of /
breaking up the big estates and fore /
ing closer settlement. This is the |
chief political issue in Tasmania at |
IL