Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 1903. Progress.

Manawatu Herald, 7 March 1903, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 1903. Progress.

It ia astonishing to find certain papers inimical to the Government suggesting that the wonderful progress of this colony is not real. As long as progress is made it is of trifling importance to the taxpayer what government is in power, though at election times the government which can show the best progress of the country during its tenure of office most assuredly deserve the greater support, and generally gets it. There can not be a possibility of doubt but that the colony as a whole, has prospered during the past ten or eleven years, which curiously coincides with the tenure of office held by Mr Seddon’s government. If people like to decry the government’s share towards this prosperity they must admit that the government has had remarkable luck, and the result remains the same to the settler, who much prefers a. government having luck, which puts riches in their way to one which has not. The government is well able to take care of themselves and we have no intention to say anything on their behalf, beyond what every settler must be sensible of, and that is the far better -times that have bean experienced for so long, to the prior periods. The comparative table drawn up, in October, last year, by the Deputy Registrar-General discloses such an alteration between the year 1891 and the year 1901 should be kept constantly in view, for though the progress of the country must always arise from the industry of the people, yet when the people are thriving it shows that they are industrious and have been placed in position to make the best use of their labour. The farmers within the ten years mentioned secured an increase of 8,879,347 sheep, and 529,958 head of cattle. They exported £609,473 worth more of grain, £1,058,538 worth of frozen meat, £732,148 worth of butter, and £152,010 worth more of cheese, so that in 1901 the farmers realised £2,652,169 more for their labour than in 1891. There were more people but the increase was not in comparison with the riches gained, as is shown by the Savings Bank returns of £llB,lBB more than 1891. The only item which showed a decrease was wool.

Coming nearer home, in this district the advancement is most perceptible. Taking the town first, the rates, at the usual minimum amount have increased by over one-fifth simply from the increased buildings, yet to-day we have people crying out for dwellings to live in. We know that ever? gergoa is individually

better off financially than they were a few years ago. Greater energy is being displayed in working land in tho near neighbourhood, because a sale of tho produce is safe. To jiax a large measure of tho improvement is i\ue, but decidedly not all, for tho advancement of tho district is shown on the land itself. Much ground has passed from largo owners to smaller owners with tho invariable result that tho owners of smaller blocks get a larger return per acre to that obtained by tho big owners. The sala of tho Oroua Downs estate has placed many families upon land which could have been supervised by one shepherd. The present owners will in time be employing labour, thus the change of proprietorship secures a larger population. Other estates in the near neighbourhood will also he subdivided and settled by the yeomanry of the colony. Again the Motoa estate which until lately had been in possession of an absentee, so far as the district was concerned, ia’to be subdivided and we may look forward to the early settlement of many people upon it, whose earnings Will be spent or kept in the district. Flax has been an undoubted blessing, and we have to be pleased that toe flaxmillers who bore the heat and burden of the day have been recouped for their pluck and perseverance, and locally no one here has ever envied them their good luck as they deserved it. To establish any large business at Homo a constant supply of the new article is necessary before manu* facturers will undertake the necessary expense of adapting their machinery for its use. Thanks to the millers English manufacturers have been assured by twelve years constant shipments of flax that that article can be procured at a price, and the result has been made apparent by the manufacturers wanting it and being willing to pay more for it. Our next trouble was the possibility of the raw leaf being cut out, for though millers recommended others to plant, they refrained, for many reasons, from doing so themselves, with the natural result that owners of suitable lands for flax growing did nothing to stimulate the growth. Now there has come a much better stage of affairs in that the flaxmillers have ceased asking others to do something and have set about doing it themselves. We know that Mr Henry Coley and Mr J. Symons have secured a large block of land which they are now having drained for growing flax on ; we have the Syndicate at Makerua swamp draining and improving that flax field; and Mr H. Austin, near home, has developed the land near his homestead for the same purpose. In the purchase of the Motoa estate we find the moving cause was the step taken by two flaxmillers to preserve the valuable flax land on that property. Landowners, with such examples before them should follow suit, for the men who understand flax best, understand it pays to grow. There is no neighbourhood that is better adapted to growing vast fields of flax as around here and wo might have two dozen more flaxmills working, (as we could guarantee where to find suitable mill sites) if we, had the raw material. With the past experience, a very much increased, output of flax can be readily understood to mean a much larger, busier and wealthier town.