IS NEW ZEALAND GOING DOWN? Mr. Riddiford's Opinion.

Free Lance, Volume II, Issue 78, 28 December 1901, Page 8

IS NEW ZEALAND GOING DOWN? Mr. Riddiford's Opinion.

MR E J Ridchfoid is alarmed. New Zealand is going to the dogs very fast indeed, and, if someone does not come to the rescue at once theie can be no doubt that from this gentleman's viewpoint, this counti y will soon become merely a blank on the world's map Mr Riddiford has been absent from the colony in England for six months He has probably worked harder during that half-year than in any previous half-year of his existence, and he possibly feels that faint, all-gnne sensation the patent-medicine jonrnahst talks about. Evidently, Mr. Riddiford badly wants a. spell to tnn? up, and disperse his megrims * • » His native air will revive him, the ozone of New Zealand will freshen up his jaded spirits, and m the place of his pessimistic views he will surely take a more optimistic outlook. We know of gentlemen who come to New Zealand, and stay for several weeks They spend most of their time on tiains and steamers, and they give

the world their impressions in book form, posing as authorities. Per* haps, they get hold of an optimist, perhaps a pessimist, from whom to glean their information. Their views are dependent oftentimes on the condition of then liver • • • Who shall say if Mr Riddiford's liver is not responsible for his dreary forebodings? He has gathered in his travels the alarming information that the Argentine and other countries will capture the whole of the English markets, vice New Zealand bankrupt He has found this out in six months Suppose that he had remained a few years, and taken the business calmly, without hurry or rush, and without wearying himself with constant travelling. His dreadful prophecies as to the ultimate death of New Zealand industries might never have been written. • # ♦ Mr Raddiford assesses his countrymen at a low value if he imagines that they will bring no counter influence to bear to prevent the Argentine and other countries from taking away our English trade New Zealand, with her small population, cannot have any real difficulty m getting rid of the whole of her produce at express speed, and at the fair rates its quality will always command If she works double shifts she cannot supply a tithe of the needs of a city like London. Be cause the produce of other countries is required to assist in keeping England's teeming millions alive, pessimists argue that New Zealand and Australia are to be ruined by London dealing with other countries as well • • • Fortunately, there are New Zealanders in London who have been there more than six months, who are not tired out with travel, and who, surveying the situation calmly, do not see prospective rum staring our country in the face We would suggest that Mr. Kiddiford should rest for six months. If he then retains the same impressions he brings back with him from Home, it will be a matter for some surprise Perhaps, at the end of that period, having cast his pessimism to the four fresh winds of New Zealand, he will admit, in a new-found optimism, the result of rest and a broader view of the situation, that New Zealand, if she perseveres as ghe is now doing, muat continue to progress