The Feilding Star. SATURDAY, SEPT. 11, 1886. A Change

Feilding Star, Volume VIII, Issue 39, 11 September 1886, Page 2

The Feilding Star. SATURDAY, SEPT. 11, 1886. A Change

The advances in the prices of wool and grain, which have gladdened the hearts of sheep farmers and grain growers, combined with the daily increasing value of great cattle, and the consequent enhancement of the value of landed property, ought to make an immense improvement in the monetary position of many men who have been struggling under the depression of the last few years. One noticeable effect they have had is the increased facilities being offered by the large financial companies, not only to their own clients, but to those of their rivals. Competition has become so great in some parts of the Colony that the local agents are complaining bitterly of the unfair tactics pursued by one large company, which is attempting to entice away business by offering more liberal terms to producers. This is a change indeed. But a few months ago the unhappy farmers were lying at the mercy of their usurious taskmasters who were grinding the very souls out of them to keep up dividends. Now, the tables are turned by a revolution in the wheel of fortune, and in place of the farmer " humbly soliciting " the mercy of a tyrant, the tyrant is a suppliant to the farmer. We must say the change is an agreeable oue. The proverb which says — *' Competition is the soul of business," can now be quoted with safety, and any institution that has treated its customers with indiiferent kindness or actual harshness, will now find out their mistake, by the transfer of business from their books as the victims escape from their clutches. In concluding new arrangements, the experiences of the past will have made borrowers wise. They will know how to make terms which are Hot all to the advantage of the lender, and they will also enjoy an amount of freedom to which they have long been strangers. Although the picture is a bright one, yet we hope a spirit of repression will prevail to check undue speculation or extravagance. When people are inflated with too great a sense of their worldly status or personal importance, they are very apt to be deceived by the glamour of these too often imaginary possessions. A lofty consciousness of the infallibility of that judgment, which has placed its possessor so high in his own esteem, often prevents the mental vision perceiving on the path of life a stumbling block, which may bring him prone to the earth.