HAWKE'S BAY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 930, 24 September 1910, Page 6

HAWKE'S BAY.

/' In . to-day's issue- we give up a good deal of space to the interesting story of the' development of Hawke's Bay,' and alt'hdugh most people know that this province is rich and productive, it is exceedingly probable that they pleasantly surprised by the magnitude of Hawke's Bay's bontributions to the wealth of -the country. .. What Hawke's - Bay means to Now -Zealand can , be ' conveniently summed ■ up in the fact, taken from the ad-vance-sheets of the Year Book for Islo, that the exports from Napier' in 1909 were exceeded only by the exports from Wellington, Auckland, «nd Lyttelton.- • ;Thc present fine

state of development, of the province is in.hardly any degree due to the "State aid'.' which the modern Radical wishes to extend in every direction. It is the result of individual enterprise and the courage and industry of the pioneers, 'i'he traveller through Hawke's Bay is very, apt to forget that the broad pastures, the arable areas, the orchards and vineyards and the townships were once, and not so very long ago, either harsh . wastes of , scrub and fern or desolate swamp. ; .The early, settlers and their successors had to depend in their stiuggle. with the wilderness entirely upon themselves, and even after the provincial regime, ended, the growth of trade and production, as is shown in our special articles to-day, continued 'to be the direct result of /individual effort. • ; To-day the orchards ;.and vineyards.. of Hawke's Bay and its splendid stud stock are known throughout Australasia, and; the exports of wool and meat :'. are ; enormous. 1 ■: There are people who frequently point to the homes: of Hawke's Bay, wh'ich; are; the result, of constant and courageous lighting against, the •• heavy,, odds of- Nature, as dreadful- .i.exjl' amples of robbery..;* One of the • many' great feats:of the work,of settlement: was the ten-year-long labour of one 1 , of the settlers in draining a great lake upon .which one could nave sailed a line of five .. miles. in' the olden days. There "are , two ways, of looking: at this work', which ■ reclaimed for the nation. an area of some thousands of- acres. Either' one may feel that thd\ author: of :it deserves' the, interest which he can obtain upon/the wealth flowing from the source he created, or one may regard him as a robber. of the public, .thriving'on the'"unearned"; increment. This, - however, I 'is' to/lead us. into controversy,' and controversy. h not in our mind... The neglect of the northern ' portion of. the province, in the matter of railway policy will soon, we trust, be/replaced by a more just policy, and it will:,be difficult to'estimate the great increase in the national wealth that mustfollow. Even as .matters stand/ the province is developing' rapidly under the; combined ihfinence of an: energetic r population, a. genial;iclimate, and a good' soil,. and it is only :a, matteV'of time before its port issues': an' even-, more-impressive: challenge. ;to,.its "sister . p'or;ts than is. the caso to-day. ■' : •' V: -