The Oamaru Mail SATURDAY, MARCH 13, 1880.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1219, 13 March 1880, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail SATURDAY, MARCH 13, 1880.

A short while ago we were able to auaounce the good news that a want from which Oamaru has been suffering since the dismantling of the Masonic Hall, was about to be supplied. Numerous abortive attempts had previously been made to provide a similar convenience in its stead, &n4 the public had consequently become iuv pressed with the idea that there was some fatality about all such schemes in Oamaru. Of course, such was not the case. There was a palpable cause for the failure of these endeavors to supply so necessary a want; people had not the heart to enter into a consideration of such matters when times were so bad. For the last eighteen months it has been quite impossible to divert the attention of the pnblic from their more immediate business to any scheme which involved the expenditure of money. Jnst when men's minds were growing easier by I sa<*ns of a return of commercial vitality, j a scheme was mooted for erecting a building which should answer the purposes of a public hall, on the vacant site at the comer of Tyne and Wansbeck streets. Mature deliberation and ventilation of this subject convinced the promoters that this sejieme should include suggestions for utilising the proposed braiding as a Corn Exchange. It will be remembered that the Hon. Mnthcw Holmes about 18 months ago agitated for the establishment of such an institution pure and simple. The suggestion fell through, not because of any apathy on the part of the fannei-s. But Mr, Holmes' idea was introduced to the public and shelved, and other somewhat similar schemes have since been suggested, only to meet with a similar fate. But they were different in one very important respect—they were modified so as to secure more general co-opera-tion and distribution of the cost by the inclusion of a building suitable for a public hall as veil as -a Com Exchange. The first scheme of tins kind was dictated by a spirit, of enterprise laudable in the exti-emg, considex - ing the obstructions that r stoo4 in the way of its accomplishment, and a number of its promoters are, we connected with

that the prospectus of which has just been issued. It was all but successful, the whole of the shares having been sold; but some difficulty arose at the last moment in relation to the Corn Exchange. The prospectus of the second scheme appears in this issue. Had the promoters of this last candidate for public favor gone no further than to confine themselves to the construction of a public hall to be devoted to ordinary purposes only, we believe that they would have met with success. It is time that they have taken advantage of the earliest indications of returning prosperity—but it will be admitted that they have not started a bit too soon by those who know the numerous inconveniences that this community has suffered from the want of a suitable public place of meeting. The broadening of the scheme by suggesting that the Hall should be* used as a Corn Exchange is much in its favor. We believe that the farmers are desirous that they should have some emporium wherein tljey could meet at stated intervals to "discuss matters affecting their interests, A Com Exchange would provide them with such a boon. It would be a centre at wliich the agriculturists of this district, and the merchants and dealers in grain of this district, Timaru, Dunedin, and other places would meet, either frequently or seldom, acceding to the season of the year, to sell and to buy the wares in wliich they deal. It would be the centre from which authoritative prices would emanate, 'because the grain market would then not be a sealed book to those whose interest it is to be cognisautof the rates thattheyshpiild either sell or buy at in a market whose fluctuations are so mercurial that any hour may register a fall or an advance of the greatest importance to all interested in the grain todo. There is no advantage to be gained by working in the dark. The shrewd amongst buyers and sellers may be able to succeed very fairiy under such a system. But we have known representatives of both these classes to be lamentably sold. A canny farmer may have succeeded in selling his crop, at TThat he may consider a very fair figure, but what is after all nothing more than market price. He travels home, nursing his secret as he does his cheque, There is no philosophy in such conduct. It is to the interest of farmers that they should, work together, and not make secrets amongst themselves of such transactions. They ai-e exposed to greater perils than merchants Merchants know, or should know, what the prices are in every port in the Colonies, ia America, and Great Britain. They are in possession of every particular as to the expenses likely to be incurred before placing their purchases in a market for disposal. These things are just what farmers should know in order to avoid being duped. We occasionally hear of combinations amongst merchants with the object of keeping prices is said that the Canterbury grain dealers have banded themselves together for this purpose. Fortunately, so far as we are aware, nothing of the kind exists in Oamaru, and it is the duty of the formers to adopt such measures as would so neutralise the advantages of such a system to buyers as to render its adoption useless. We have endeavored to place before farmers the advantages that would be likely to accrue to them from the establishment of a Com Exchange. It is for them to peruse the advertisement and consider whether they could gain any advantage by assisting the scheme therein enunciated, or not. We think that, in the absence of anything that can pretend to be a hall—of course, excepting the Volunteer Hall—there is no room i for doubt that the affair will be a com. mercial success. If the farmers are desirous of securing the establishment of a market, reliable rates, and cheap market trains on some recognised market day, with all accompanying advaiir tages, they should accept the present opportunity of doing so.