The Progress of the North Island

Feilding Star, Volume XIV, Issue 106, 25 February 1893, Page 2

The Progress of the North Island

«. _ There was a time when the Middle Is. land was loud in its complaints that the « North Island was living upon it. The late Mr Macandrew used to display an immense amount of local patriotism on this subject, and at one. time he found an able coadjutor in Sir Julius Yogel, who was then, as a plain Mr., a provincial politician, not a colonial statesman. The Princess Theatre and the Provincial Council Chamber in Danedin often rang with the echoes of eloquent denunciations of the iniquity of the tie whioh bound the two Islands together, hanging the barren North Island, with its. native difficulty hke a millstone around the neck of Otago and Canterbury, rich prosperous, and populous. Out of this arose the cry for Insular Separation, a mid, summer madness long since forgotten; but which at one time, under the direction of Messrs Macandrew and Yogel, assumed serious proportions, was : the subject of much debate in. Parliament, and actually threatened the disruption of the colony. When any person who at that time was rash enough to suggest the natural resources of the North Island, were superior to those of the Middle Island, that at no very distant date the nativel difficuty would disappear; and the North Island show itself capable of supporting a larger population than the Middle Island, he was laughed to scorn. Yet they were true prophets who predicted this, and the time whioh they foretold has now practically come, The^ Trade Review issued for to-day's rnoff' contains the proof. The figures it gives are most interesting. Thej consist of a comparison of the Customs revenue, imports and exports, of the two islands for the last six years, and they most strikingly exemplify the vast strides which the North Island has made and is making. Parcels post, speoie, and gold are eliminated in each case. In 1887 tbe Customs revenue ot the Middle Island was L 700.645, and that of the North Island L 579.940. In 1892 the position fas reversed, the . North Island Customs revenue being L 829.528, and that ot the Middle Island L 819.667. In imports the North Island in 1887 only represented L 2.730.625, as against tho Middle Island's L 3.333.656 ; while last year tho North Island imports were L3,4U,547. as vgainst the Middle Island's L 3,305,096. Ia exports the North Island was not quite up to the Middle Island, but was very nearly so. In 1887 the North Island exports were valued at L2,513,_50. and those of the Middle Island at L3,419,_44In 1892 the North Island had advanced to L4.207.776> as against the Middle Island's L 4,326,266. As the Ber iew remarks :— " We should not be surprised to find at the end of the current y*«* that the North Island takes the lead m exports also, and jet millions of acres of land in the North Island are still ljm* unproductive in the bands of the Maoris. The bulk of the gold export is, of course, from the Middle Tsland.— rPost.