SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1902. THE BRIGHT SIDE OF THINGS. A David Come to Judgment.

Free Lance, Volume II, Issue 84, 8 February 1902, Page 8

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1902. THE BRIGHT SIDE OF THINGS. A David Come to Judgment.

THERE aie so many people leady to squeal because they see a few clouds on the horizon that it becomes a public duty to point out how brightly the sun shines and how bravely the ship of State speeds on her way over- a summei sea Mr David Nathan does not belong to the tribe of Jeremiah The ex cathedra address he delivered this week m opening the annual conference of the Chambers of Commerce makes that quite evident It would be the easiest thing m the world to 30111 the doleful chorus about wool being down, and to work m all the usual ' Miserere ' effects about the dneful prospects of that Commonwealth tariff * • * But he has not indulged 111 any cheap pessimism at all On the contraiy, his biliary ducts appear to be all right, and he pipes quite a cheerful lay He deprecates the strain of pessimism, and discerns signs of improvement even in regard to wool He draws comfort from a comparison of the sheep-farmer's position with what it was in 1881, and he points with a smiling face to the buoyancy of the revenue leturns, and the solid evidences of unslackened progress on the part of the colony. Gold, timber and gram are more than holding then own , tallow, butter, and flax are high , and the prospects for cereals are fair enough And, then David is not above saying a good word for pork, which shows there is no bigotry about him, at any rate ■ • * All this strikes the tiue keynote for a, young and go-ahead colony Ever since the present party came into powei there have been prophets of evil starting up every now and then and loudly predicting ruinous times whenever a transient cloud got between them and the sun And all this time the colony has been passing through a period of prosperity unexampled for its steady and solid chaiactei It is not the result of borrowed millions or of booming seasons New Zealand has been spending her money on reproductive woiks Avisely developing her resources, using the services of the State more and more largely for the benefit of the producers, and the effect is seen m the high degree of comfort which is enjoyed by the people as a whole Such a picture of widely-diffused content is not to be seen the wide-world over • • • As things go, there is absolutely no cause for the croakers to be abroad. Neither droughts nor

floods devastate oui haivestb Ont staple may go down but otheis go up A maiket here and there may c ont 1 act 01 be closed against us, but while the quality of our pioducts maintain*-, a high standaid, other markets ta ill assuredly be found Nothing but wicked misgovernment can keep back a bountiful colony like ouis And, so far as oui Government goes it will challenge comparison with the woild to-day There is a gieat deal to be thankful for There I s - abundant reason to feel cheerful o\ei the outlook ahead Mr David Nathan is a wide-awake merchant and his survey of the situation of affans shows, at any late that he is not affected with visions noi disposed to hoist his umbrella befoie it lams

gestions Naturally enough, if he sought his suggestions from persons adveisely interested, as would likely enough be the case, he would get rather lurid pictures, and be perpetually girding at the Government However Fied Pirani's foi te is to be m opposition— a guerilla chief, in fact In his heart of hearts, we have no doubt he is an ardent admncr of King Dick, and, at any rate he has always found him a fair fightei The member for Palmerston has served his constituents with unflagging energy He has worked hard in then lnteiests And he retires with a clean recoid