PROGRESS OF THE COLONY.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1400, 25 January 1873, Page 2

PROGRESS OF THE COLONY.

[NELSON COLONIST.] : The progress which this Colony is making was well exemplified by a few striking figures which formed part of an article in our last Summary, showing how the colonists have gathered wealth from the fertile ° ftelds and rich mineral ' deposits " 6f \?hat was. only a few years ago a comparative wilderness. It was shown ho^r qur live stock and our produce iiad increased ; how our imports in 1871 doubled those of 1860, while our exports, which amounted in 1870 to close on five millions sterling, were nearly nine times the value of those in 1860. We learn now, as ah instance of still growing progress that Otago during the year 1872 exported produce to the value of L 1,770,642, or about 22 per cent in excess of the exports of the previous year. And while these exports are a sign of prosperity there is a further fact which they do not show. They do hot by any means' display the real value of : our productions/ inasmuch as a very large 1 amount of these enters ! to in 'home cpnsumpjjibri, for, in addi%»n to the brdfc nary articles of Colonial manufacture and growth which provided for our own popur lation, we are now lessening our imports by producing manufactured articles, for which we had hitherto solely to depend on the Mother Country and neighboring colonies. As yet most of these manufactures are still in their infancy, but their .rapid growth and great success, especially in some comparatively small articles, are the best warrant of a hopeful feeling in the future that thosg manufactures, which tnss Colo'nyii|'s6 Vel|. ad^pt^d to, produce; in consequence of its large mineral eta? posits, wflj one day, and that sooner that; even sanguine minds may anticipate, exhibit a flourishing luxuriance. We may have times of depression, that i 3 the fate of all countries, young and old ; but the material and the energy are within our borders, and the future of the country may be viewed with a feeling of trustful-? ness for ourselves and for our children who shalf p,o.me after us.