The Evening Star TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1874.

Evening Star, Issue 3638, 20 October 1874, Page 2

The Evening Star TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1874.

So plain ‘and self-evident are the advantages of deepening the harbor so as to admit of vessels of large tonnage discharging at Dunedin, that opposition to such a course could not have been anticipated in any part of the Province, excepting where immediate local interests appear to be threatened. When, therefore, journals professing to lead opinion in different districts systematically endeavor to discourage the work, the only conclusion that can be arrived at is, that- the conductors of them have not made themselves acquainted with the subject. The course they take is that of all agitators. It is a very shallow one : they are making use of one of those plausible cries, which, like reduction of taxation, or cutting down salaries, is sure, when put forth with sufficient clap-trap, to meet with ready sympathisers. The pretence is that the jetty dues are Provincial revenue, and that it is not fair to outlying districts to spend the amount on Dunedin, while so many up-country districts require roads. It is the absurd cry of Country v. Town. Now what does this, rigmarole—for it is nothing more—amount to] What does it mean 1 To spend money on Dunadin, in our estimation, implies outlay upon public buildings to beautify the town, or on public reserves or parks, or ornamental drives—bn anything, in fact, in which the Province or Colony, as a whole, has no interest, and the utility or enjoyment of which is confined strictly to the City. But no such outlay is contemplated. Undeniably the value of property in Dunedin will be enhanced by every measure that tends to facilitate exportation and importation and the distribution of exports and imports ; but that is an accident which docs not by any 1 means alter the necessity for the work being done. Nor will the profit be confined to Dunedin, as every town and district will, more or less, participate in it. It is the weakest possible reason for not executing a necessary work to say if it is done one place will reap the benefit above another, and therefore it should be left alone. It is impossible, from the nature of things, to equalise profits. Necessarily the centre of activity feels the earliest and most substantial effects. The more remote places, such as Naseby or Queenstown, which are the centres of grumbling, do not so immediately or sensibly advance, but the benefit is not the less real. Whatever cheapens the cost of production, import, or distribution, adds to the comfort and:?;wealth of every inhabitant of the country ; at first indirectly, but ultimately, if the district contains mining, manufacturing, or agricultural capabilities, through a more intimate and direct communication with the capital. If Dunedin has facilities for importation or exportation, they are useless unless there are roads by which imports can be conveyed to consumers, or exports gathered from producers. If our short-sighted contemporaries could only realise the industrial organisation of Otago as a whole, they might possibly be led to different conclusions from those they have arrived at. They might, possibly, then regard the Province as one vast workshop in which different processes are carried out in different departments. Gold miners gather gold, farmers grow field produce, graziers raise stock, other men are employed in various pursuits. In order to the cheap and efficient working of the system, there must be agents to gather these products together—these are our merchants ; there must be financial facilities for money transactions at homo and abroad—these are our bankers; and there must be a warehouse for’receiving goods brought from abroad, or from the country to be sent abroad. Take away any one of these departments, and our business system would be incomplete —could not be carried on, inflict. Let the cost of the working of one of them be more than it ought to be, and the community loses the value of labor misapplied. Now this is just the case with our warehouse department; the cost of taking in and delivering is twice as much as it ought to be, and every man, woman, and child in the Province helps to pay the loss in the price of what they eat, drink, and wear. We need not say a word about jetty dues being Provincial revenues. If ever there was a legitimate purpose to which they should be applied, it is in re-in-vesting them, so as to render the harbor department more profitable. We know well that a farthing a pound on sugar, a penny ortwopenceontea, a penny a yard on calico, or what comes to the same better quality of goods for the same amount of money, is not appreciated, because the aggregate saving is spread over an indefinite space of country, and is effected in an indefinite period of time. It is like the growth of plants—a process, the operation of which cannot be seen, but is not the less real. Silently and without parade each atom takes its appointed place, and the germ develops, the shoot appears, the plant grows and becomes a tree, the value of which can bo estimated. So it is with industrial processes when well conducted: the aggregate profit is made up of innumerable small sums, each apparently insignificant, but when gathered into one heap forming a gain that can be appreciated. To this end not only should in-

dividual but Provincial energy be directed. The duty of the Province is to facilitate individual industry by economising the means of carrying it out* and one most important industrial aid is providing a cheap and convenient depot for carrying on our trade. This is the object of deepening the harbor.