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Patea Mail, Volume V, Issue 414, 5 April 1879, Page 2

It is a common thing for visitors and strangers to speak of Patea, and the West Const generally, in a patronising strain. Even some of the inhabitants protend to find it dull, poor, lifeless, and ont of the world. If play-houses, operas, and balls, are the only things that a civilised people care to live for, then, Patea is a dull place ; but if they are not, “why these weeps?” as Artemns would say. An . ancient cynic said, “The further .from the city, tlie nearer to good manners.” We are not sure if it would not be true to say sometimes, “ The further from the city

the nearer to prosperity.'’ A gentleman whose business it is to travel, with his eyes open, from end to end of New Zealand several times a-ye-u-, remarked to ns but yesterday, that all the prosperity and business life of the colony seems to have hidden away in these little places. In a Southern town, he was told hy a house owner that it would no longer pay to build houses*to let, as tlmy only returned 8 per cent.; whereas 15 per cent, could be obtained for money lent on good freehold security. We have seen a private letter from a wellinformed gentleman in Canterbury, from which wo will extract a few lines. “ All last week it was blowing a nor’-wos'er as hot as a furnace. My paddocks aie all as bare as Cashel-stroet. A hundred acres of turnips arc not worth the seed I sowed. Times are worse at present iu Canterbury than they have ever been before. On an average, there are twenty bankruptcies per Week—many of them for large amounts. Yon would see by telegram that S. and Co. had failed. It was privately reported lor £IOO,OOO, but the papers say £30,000. The accounts are greatly complicated, and mixed up in land speculations. They are said to own any amount of land all over the Province, which, at the present time, is unsaleable at any price. . . . It is commonly reported that the Christchurch Banks themselves could *not pay 2s 6d in the pound. The consequence is, that people who have money can get Sftecn and twenty per cent. . . . -

D bas all his land in the market, and can’t get a bid for any of it, and ho is in a moss with the bank Matson has a hundred sales in the County next month, that will give yon some idea of the state of affairs here—and the worst of it is there are no buyers . . . Don’t stay there till the Maori war begins.” This dark picture is reflected as clearly as need be in the public press, although it is not the business of newspapers to parade the distress of the localities they represent. The chief cause of this depression seems to be that the floating capital, which should bo the stand by when the markets fall, has all been drained off into the pockets of land sharks. In the prosperous yours that have just passed, property was mortgaged to the last penny it could command, to enable the owners to buy, often at very high rates, iu new districts. Now, when markets are depressed and crops ruinously small, farms will not pay the interest on the mortgage, and the new land produces next to nothing, and cannot be sold, the result is the state of things referred to above. The land business has not yet been overdone here, and hence it is that the prosperity of the Colony has hidden itself away in this and similar places. It is to be hoped onr settlers will value and maintain their high distinction as being prosperous beyond the great majority of their fellow colonists.

Mr F. McGuire will hold a sale at the Kelemarae Hotel, on Mcnday next of household furniture, &e., belonging to the bankrupt estate of David Johnstone. A meeting of the Hawera Acclimatisation Society will be held at Mr Owen’s Hotel, this evening. Mr W. Dale will hold a sale of merchandise and sundries at his mart, this da}’. Mr W. Cowern’s monthly Kakaramea stock sale will take place on Wednesday next. The Carlyle Harmonic Society’s concert on Wednesday evening last, atti acted a good audience, the weather being so beautifully fine, that a large number of country people were enabled to attend. The entertainment throughout was very fair, although some of tho choruses would have gone better with a little more practice. However, it is not to be expected that with such a limitted number, our Society can compete with larger towns, but wo feel assured that all the members do their best to please the public and that should go a great way. We should like to see the Carlyle Harmonic Society double its number, and then it need not fear to try any difficult pieces. The newpiano is a great help, and together with the flute and violin, some excllent music is produced. We are unable to give full particulars of the concert, but may state that several lady soloists secured for themselves well-mcritted encores, as well as several gentlemen. The s.s. Patea left for Opunake, with the 30 A.C,’s, on Thursday morning, where she arrived about 1 o’clock. After landing the men, she proceeded to Wellington, Mr W. H. E. Wanklyn, of Hawera, has been appointed agent of the Colonial Insurance Company of New Zealand (Fire and Marine). Sir George Grey arrived in Wellington on Tuesday night last, by the Hinemoa. The Hon Mr Macandrew, Minister of Public Works, and the Hon. Mr Ballance are expected to arrive in Patea in a few days. A public meeting should be arranged for, and matters connected with the County brought before the bon. gentlemen. The Wellington Chronicle of Wednesday last, says :—The lengthy telegrams published this morning indicate that a pacific solution of the Waimate difficulty is no nearer than before. Mr Williams, the Native Commissioner, has visited the various settlements on the Plains and held interviews with the chiefs. No better negotiator than Mr Williams could be found. During the whole of the last war Mr Williams acted as a scout to Colonel Whitmore’s force, and in everyengagoment fought with a courage and intrepidity which could not be surpassed. The natives know well the reputations of Mr Williams, and respect him accordingly. As yet, however, Mr Williams’ mission has not had much result. He has emphatically warned them of the consequences which would follow resisting the survey, but still a section of the natives declare their intention of doing so. Mania and his tribe have, however, declared in favor of the Government. The question, therefore, thus stands. Mania’s tribe say that the surveyors may come while Titokowaru’s tribe, almost to a man, say the orders came from Te Whiti to stop the survey, and they intend to carry out these instructions. They add that if the Government want a row, Te Whiti is the man to quarrel with, and that they are prepared to support him at Parihaka. Such is the present position of affairs. It is certainly not a reassuring one.