Brave Words

Feilding Star, Volume VIII, Issue 50, 7 October 1886, Page 2

Brave Words

Tite Insurance and Financial Journal sa y S : — <• "Whether we regard the progress of our production last year with that of 1880, or compare it with that of other countries, the conclusion is much the same — viz., that we live in one of the most prosperous communities on the earth. In some forms of industry, the strides taken are so immense in proportion to the population as to suggest the idea of certain specialties being producible in New Zealand under conditions more favorable to extended foreign markets than can be found elsewhere. In five years, for instance, the export of bacon and hams has been mutijdicd by sixty-five, that of butter by twelve, of cheese by seventeen, of potted and preserved meats by forty. The coal trade has grown tenfold, potatoes nearly trebled, hideg have more than doubled, the export of grass seed is five times to what it was in 1880." The statistician, or economist, gathering facts from figures, would draw the distinct conclusion that wealth had peured into New Zealand during what Colonists are accustomed to regard as five years of wretched stagnation. The Savings Bank deposits would bear him out, ths ratio per head here being 28, in England 25, in Germany 23, in France 16.