manufacturers were assisted at the same time by the exemption of machinery up to £3000, and with these reliefs the dairy industry, which had been crushed down, was given a chance to get upon its feet.
The mining industry was assisted in several directions, and university professors were offered facilities to travel and deliver lectures in mining centres. Forest-planting operations were commenced to counteract the destruction of native timber, which, it was seen, would be a serious problem for the colonists to deal with.
Quantities of railway stock, previously imported from England and America, were made in the colony, and every encouragement was given to local works and industries of all descriptions. In one year the Government workshops turned out more ironwork than had been dealt with in any five years under other Governments.
An attempt was made to push small railways on to Rotorua and other health resorts in the hope that they would attract visitors from other lands.
In many directions the Colonial Treasurer tried hard to put into operation the great scheme he had given the country in 1870. He placed most reliance upon roads and railways, looking upon the latter as the greatest aid to the prosperity and comfort of a young community in a new country. He saw that each line of railway that was run out into the “back blocks” would mark a distinct advance in the colony’s affairs. If he was led by this idea to push his policy more rapidly than the time and circumstances warranted, his mistake was not a very gross one. He was not blind to the fact that an isolated little country like New Zealand might suffer just as much from over-production as from want of good settlers, and he searched the world for new markets and the colony for soils and climates that would produce articles the Old World consumed.
By inaugurating a system of selling native lands through the Government, a great deal of the “land-sharking” that had been common for many years in land transactions with the Maoris was stopped. The sale of liquor to Maoris was
