Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, JULY 21, 1898. What Might be Done.

Manawatu Herald, 21 July 1898, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, JULY 21, 1898. What Might be Done.

It ia often the caso that when a district gets thoroughly •• hard up " it then begins to take a turn towards prosperity from the pimple fact that " need3 must when the drives " and many hands turn to work which at other and easier times they would ignore. Having been forced into a new line of living it is found to turn out much more profitable than was expected and thus becomes an established industry. We wiah no harm r,o those who are now so fortunate as fo bo in constant and congenial work, lv.it in many instances we feel fissured that wealth is permitted to ~wim past our coast which might ba ihe means of bringing much outside capital into the town. We are in the centre of a first class fishing grouud and what do we do with it ? There ara one or two fishermen at tho mouth of the river who work nnly with set nets, and unless the fi*h go into them on their own account, the fishermen do nothing rowards making them. Set nets, however cunningly placed, can never allow a fishery to develope into any thing of value, it ia too much of a happy go lucky style. Each year proves that the demand for fish" for be Australian colonies, and for the inland towns in this colony, is stefalily increasing, and W8 notice h:fc Napier, which i3 nofc a pleasant or safe coast to work on, is about, doubling its fishing fleet. With light draught boats the Manawatu bar could be worked at all times of iho tide with the exception of dead neap'?, and our position has this advantage thafc should the weather become too bad for boats to enter there i3 the island of Kapiti for shelter. It possesses a still further advantage, as should the fishing smack be a full ship at the time of failing to cross the bar, in the run to Kapiti she could enter the Waikanae liver and thus secure communication by rail for any market. Cod it is known, are in abundance at the Island, large fish and schnapper are also to be caught on the proper fishing banks, whilst a little to the northward of the bar there is a !arge bank always frequented with schnapper. Nets worked along the s*?a b?ach should always yield a fair return for the labour. The fortunate part, for us residing here, to remem her, i3, that nothing in this way is ■lono, because there is plenty of other woik to do, but that does nofc do •nvay with there being money in it to tho*o who took to the scheme. Very soon whitebait will be in the river, likely enough in quantitie? v ami in this case we balievo a great many last season did use the oppor tunUy given them for reaping a harvest they had not sown. Here there is room for all, as the fish travel a long way up the river, and thus there are miles of positions for tho fishers. Tho prico paid last year was a very good one and enabled a fidher to make a very good living, but then the fish were sent away by train. We hope similarly good luck will attend the fishers this season, hut it must be remembered that these final 1 fish resemble, as to their number?, the grains of sand on the Sea shore, so that if every mile of the river was fished no perceptable difference would be found in their u umbers the next tide. Possibly the increased catch would reduce the price were all caught sent away, but if each fisher agreed to sell only a certain quantity to go away and sold cha other portion at a cheaper price to a cannery, then their profits would be assured and an impetus given to having a cannery in town. We will not go further iuto what a large field of employment a cannery would open up, as that would now take too long, only we know that a year or two ago a proposition was made by a wealthy firm to start such an industry here, provided a supply of whitebait could be obtained, the promoters proposing to continue business when the fishing season was closed, in jam making. To those who are hard at work these suggestions are of little moment, but to those who are seeking something to do, they should offer food for thought, and we think such r.pouings should be made known in other districts where labour is scarce.