OURSELVES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1692, 24 April 1886, Page 2

OURSELVES.

Today we present the Standard to our readers m an enlarged form* the enlargement consisting of lengthening oui : columns, by which we have obtained additional space equivalent to about three columns. It has been apparent for soaia timo past that an enlargement would have to bo effected at an oarly date. Our advertising columns have been j m a very crowded state for months past, frequently necessitating leaving out advertisements, or encroaching upon our reading matter more than we desired to do, m order to make room. Our advertising patrons, who hail from all parts of the district and calony, the Horns ooun try being also represented, have, by careful inquiry throuerh various sources, satisfied themselves that the Standard has a very extensive bonafide circulation all over the district. It is our country circulation with which we have taken most pains, and to maintain and extend which we have incurred most expense. Three or four years ago we were told by several persons that we were misjudging the value of a country circulation, and overestimating the direct and indirect returns therefrom. Many people tried to convince us that the expense would be ruinous. We must admit it has been exceedingly heavy, but our advertising patronage, bestowed chiefly through the knowledge of the firm hold the Standard has m the country districts, has gradually but surely increased, fully compensating for the exceptional cost of distribution over the wide area m which this journal now circulates. So far from diminishing the expense of delivery, we have recognized the expediency of increasing it . of late, and before long it will have to be increased still more. The total distance covered by our runners m the course of a year is now close on thirty thousand miles ! This statement perhaps at first mention iniprht seeiii exaggerated, but it is an absolute fact, easily capable of satisfactory proof. The wear and tear of horseflesh, cost of saddlery, shoeing contracts, paddocking, feeding, lade wages, &c, &c, as may be easily understood, represents a large annual outlay. But were we to reduce our area of distribution, and consequent cost of delivery, the financial returns would speedily and perceptibly fall off, and our advertising columns would not long be m the healthy state m which they now. are, and have been for many months past. Therefore, we say and are convinced that our oolicy is to adopt as our motto, as heretofore, 11 Further, and still further." The present is the sixth enlargement since the Standard was first issued. We have advanced stage by stage, and hope and intend to advance m the future. We would be most ungrateful to our friends and patrons all over the district did we omit on this occasion to return our hearty acknowledgements for the most liberal support accorded us, both by advertisers and subscribers, more particularly during recent months. We have, together with all other business undertakings, experienced the full force ot the depression now overhanging the district ; but, that notwithstanding, we have on Ihe whole but litile reason to complain, though times are undoubtedly hard, business unprecedentedly dull, and money exceptionally scarce. Our present and future is bound up m the district, and with it we will advance ; for we are satisfied that better times are approaching, and that rapid progress will be the order of the day before long. We, have unbounded confidence m Manawatu, its surroundings an.l resources, and predict for it substantial prosperity m the near future. To aid m the practical development and realization of that prosperity the Standard will continue, as hitherto, to devote its best energies with zeal, perseverance and determination, and we trust that our assiduous efforts* m that direction will achieve a measure of success exceeding our most sanguine expectations. A Bill called • The Land Cultivation Bill* (says the Dnnedin Herald) has been proposed by Messrs Arch, Burt, Bradlaugh, and Labouchere, under which any person who shall m an agricultural district hold more than one hundred acres m an uncultivated state shall be guilty of g misdemeanour, and on cenviction Commissioners shall eject him, and let the land m parcels to tenants, whose holdings shall not exceed forty acres. What would qur land magnates such as Moore, Rhodes, Robinson, and Studholme say to such a law ? Notions about land are getting very unsettled, and large owners for their own sakes should endeavor either by themselves or others contribute more to the productiooß of the country. The Wellington Tost draws attention to the enormous multiplication of late years of local governing bodies, which it states require to be oheckedi The Post says : — •• Whenever any new duties of ]a public character have to ba at tended to, it seems to be considered the correct thing to create an entirely new and distinct body to perform them. There was a time when the City Oouucil was really -the only local body of a corporat«spublic character. Now the name of such bodies is legion, tnd the Hospitals and Charitable Aid Act hap increased the number to *n alarming extent with its District Boards and United District Boards and separate institutions. Each little local body has its paid officers and other expenses, and the unprodoctive outlay must total up to a very large sum. We have m this city now enough boards and similar bodies to manage the affairs of alt New Zealand. Amalgamation is sadly' needed ' m the interests both of economy and efficiency."