The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 1931. THE ARGENTINE.

Hokitika Guardian, 19 March 1931, Page 4

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 1931. THE ARGENTINE.

Attention* is dircctetl to the Argentine at the moment due to the opening of the Exlnhilon promoted mainly by British interests and to which the presence of the Prince of Wales had added such eclat. Argentine ranks as l/ench among the commercial nations of the world, most progressive of all the South American States, her vast resources still far from fully developed, Argentina stands in economic wealth and importance an easy second among the iiiathms of the new world. The history of Argentina, while in its general outline resembling more or less closely that of the other South American States, differs in several important respects from the story of advancement among its neighbours. That which lured the early Conquistadors thiuugn the trackless firopicnl jungle, across burning deserts and over mighty mountain ranges was the hope of easily acquired mineral wealth, the gold of the Incas, the diamonds of Brazil, and the silver of Bolivia. Argentina, however, proved singularly barren of such, deposits, mud the real wealth of the country—the fertility of its vast pampas, requiring for its exploitation the patient work of generations, roused little enthusiasm within the breasts of the conquerors. For 300 years Argentine remained the Cinderella of South America, the State and the people developing along lines considerably different from those that marked the progress of the other colonies of Spain. Like them, it suffered from the trade restrictions, political repressions, and general hindrances which characterised the colonial policy of the mother country. Li addition, the nomadic tribes of the pamnas, who retained their freedom long after most of the other Indian races had fallen under the Spanish yoke, offered a. bar to progress in the hostile attitude which, from the earliest days, they adopted settle men ih. ft is. therefore, not altogether surprising that, when at the beginning of last century, Argentina, in common with the other South meriean States, broke away from Spanish dominion, the population after 300 years of European occupation had readied only 900,000. The people, however, had already demonstrated •their virility jand military qualities by the manner in which a few years earlier they had defeated two attempts by Britain to annex Buenos A ires, and, her identity as a separate State thus assured. Argentina faced the world with, higher hopes for the future. The Latin temnerament and orderly government. however, go .i 1,1 together; the disability was accentuated by the persistent trouble with the Indians and tlie lack of national leaders, and half a century of bloodshed and confusion passed' before settled rule became an accomplished fact. In 1861 the ponlation was only 1.375,000, but with the establishment of law and order immigration began in earnest. From Ttnlv, Spain, the Mediterranean countries generallv, and from Germany a steady tide of migration set in. A new era in the history of the republic dawned. Settlements pushed ever westwards towards the mountain border of the Andes. Across the pampas in all directions new haciendas sprang up on new oHanrios: flo-hs and herds irndtinlied at an estonishing rale; the cultivs’tkm of wheat was taken uo seriously. and the agricultural industrv ranged alongside the pastoral as a great source of the eouytrv’s wealth. Argentina lias never looked hack, and the twentieth century finds her foremost of those nations whose foundations, .100 years* before, the Conquistadors laid in blood and tears. The area of the Reouhlie is 1 078,278 souare mil's. aH flm nopuh'tion somewhere about 11,000,000. The Argentine lies for the greater part In the temnerate zone, and, while within its borders a considerable area of arid and mountainous country is embraced, the vast pampas, which comprise the greatest portion oi it, form one of die

finest and most extensive tracts of agricultural and pastoral land in the wi.rld. It is estimated that thoi\> are 225,000,990 acres pliysi iaily adapted for the growing of wheat, and, after Canada. A rue., t inn ran!:.-, 10-dny as the greater worst, iiuidmor in the world. Cjji.li the alfalfa ranges and open plains, nr oidi to the 1922 census. 37,094,090 head of cattle. 9.432.190 horses and 36.203,9 >0 sheen find pasturage of a type which, in the case of cattle, produces the ideal carcase a full year e rlier than iji the case of Australia. The experts in 1927, comnrised almost entirely of products of the soil, reached the total of £290.900,000. Argentina, is a land which favours development on a large scale. In 192/ there wer-' 323 estates having an area of 25.909 acres; its wheat fields extend in some eases in an unbroken sweep across 1909 acres or more; its estancius number their cattle, horses, and sheep by the thousand. Capital of so vast a eeuntr.y. situated in the great estuary of the La Plata, Buenos Aires, with a larger movement of trade than any other American port excepting New York, lta.s grown from a popIntion of 90,090 in 1865 to one of 2,509,000. Along its great waterfronts facilities exist for lonling and dis- ( barging 1500 vessels at the same time Almost overnight Buenos Aires has grow'll into one of the metropolises of the world. Second only to Paris as a Latin centre, the city forms at once the political a lid cultural home of the nation. Such is the country and smith the city through which the Princes recently have traveled, and in which the heir to the British throne has performed the opening ceremony of the greatest exhibition of the year.