"Oh ye men of little Faith."

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, 11 February 1890, Page 2

" Oh ye men of little Faith."

Our Wellington friends are apt to let their enthusiasm outrun their discretio", in spooch, if not in action. The rosy pictures of either an en thusiast or a speculator leads them to think of nob ! e deeds, if there is money in it, and their want of knowledge of the country districts fre* quently leads them <o b hod as new, what is an oft told tale. Last week a thorough good Yankee business man paid them a visit, all he had to say was simply for the good of the colony, he hai "no axe to grind" not he! He gave an interesting lecture on fruit growing ami preserving, the principles of which have oft n been described in t'to New Zealand I'armer but of course to town'sraen, sounded like a revela c tion. An amount of enthusiasm was worked up, and all who were present emlofivouml to say t' c brightest things of the lecturer and tbo worat about the tarmun. A. solicitor de»

scribe I the efforts ho had male in , fruit planting, and deo'arod that tho ' farmers of this colony wore '• lnzv*" nothing in short to be comp red t> thtt Amwiciis, i cap Hal specimen of w 1 oii was present Urns tho le-inifiil m>u of aw, li erature, and putfs c'eclared that it wis in c:iu;)eafc on them to " save thp c untry " and the on y wa. 1 to do so, was by seonrinr Mr Spawn's pitents ai ' thn fonnition of afr it drying 'ompiny. \Vt> lingfcon has neve 1 bv^n noted for tho establishment o sucos-sful coidpanies, and if tbe way they commenced the formation of this laat one, is a fair sample of tlie way others have been rushed at, it is not to be wondered at. We do not say that such a company would not have answered, bu f if the promoters were correct in their view of the country, it was bound to fail. It is a strange idea, for naturally well informed gentlemen, to endeavour to promote the establishment of a trade, the foundation of which is wanting, and it is hardly to be wondered at that the shares were not eagerly enquired for. It is little xise to form a company to evaporate fruit, which the promoters state is not grown by the lazy farmers. Of course Mr Spawn had nothing to do with either the ui'ging of the formation of a company or its failure, ns the patents he possessed must have been of considerable value to him, as they consisted of ones for fruit dessicating preserr. ing, and blight killing, and all he wanted for the lot was .-6500 down, £250 at 0 months, £250 at 12 months, £1500 in shares in a company to bo formed, and £500 in goods. But the change that came over those gentlemen who commenced the week with such ardent desires to help the countryman, was wonderful. The immense change that was to be effected in the exports by attention to Mr Spawn's proposals were to them pnormous, if it left them a goorl profit to work on, but when Mr Spawn wntod a very fair propoi tion of the profit for himself, they deemed it best to let the " : azy" farmer sleep. In all the talk that has taken place, it seems to be quite unknown in We - lingfcon that in v ucklaud the cry is " what to do with our fruit," and it is the farmer that ha 3 just cause to turn round on tho townspeople and enquire what efforts they have ev-r put forth to assist in the developement of the country. It seems absurd, after tho *' blow" indu'ged in, at the Wellington meeting, to fi id that a proposal to float a company with only £7000 of capital, to achieve the important results alluded to, is impossible, in a city of thirty thousand inhabitants. After this, we trust, before tho townspeople take upon themselves to insult the dwellers in the country, they will be able to point to som ) legitimate effort made by themselves to increase tho yield of the earth.