WAVERLEY.

Patea Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 982, 10 January 1883, Page 3

WAVERLEY.

(FROM our correspondent.) WEDNESDAY. The monthly sitting' of the R.M. Court was held here on Monday, Bdi hist. Mr G, S, Bridge was the presiding justice, Captain Wray being unavoidably absent. The following- cases were disposed of. Allen Collins charged with being drunk and disorderly. No appearance of defendant who forfeited his bail, £1 ; A. Lemas, drunk and incapable, fined 5s or 24 hours imprisonment with hard labour ; W. Whinray, drunkenness, case dismissed ; John Marshall v. G. Bailey, discharging fiieworks on public road. Adjourned to sth February ; S. Leven v. P. McGrath. Breach of the Impounding Act in charging excessive fees, £1 7s 6d. Judgment for plaintiff 10s. Defendant ordered to pay costs, 14s. P. McGrath v. S. Leven and John Butt, assault ; adjourned to Paten for Friday, 12th instant ; 8. Caldwell v, C. Ballam, claim £2 ss, paid into Court ; S. Leven v, P. McGrath, claim £1 16s. Adjourned to Patea, 12th instant. At.the meeting of the Highway Board on Saturday it was decided that it would be desirable to alter the boundaries of the Patea East and Wairoa Highway Districts, making the Wbenakura river the boundary. In order to effect tin's, a petition, signed by at least two-thirds of the ratepayers in each district, will be presented to the County Council, praying them to alter said boundaries. I am informed the petition is now in preparation. In (be event of the separation movement being carried out, it would be as well, I think, to defer taking action re same until these boundaries are altered as contemplated, otherwise there will bo considerably more difficulty in the matter,

WO OLLEN MAN UFA GTOTt Y. TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —Your correspondent “ Wool” has opened a question in re establishing a Woollen factory in this district which, ought to receive from as great consideration. I have been privately advocating the same thing this two years past, and J am convinced that we conld not pick on a more favorable time than the present to thoroughly ventilate this question of woollen industry. Especially when there is a certain amount of grumbling going on that things are not up to the old standard, we ought to consider seriously some means of retrieving our position as one of the most prosperous districts in the colony. Well sir, if we intend this district to move ahead, and Patea to be something more than a country village, we must do something more than grumbling. Calling on Jupiter or Appollo will not aviiil ns: wo must put our shoulders to the wheel and earnestly consider this question, and I hope some abler pen than mine will drive the matter hard to us, until the subject of Woollen industry is an established fact in this district. Looking at the matter from a general point of view, what is the result of scores.of. new townships lately created in New Zealand ? The speculator purchases the allotment from Government at fancy prices and many of ns are apt to think an easy road lias been opened for acquiring rapid fortune. Mr So-and-so we often hear, bought an allotment for £IOO and sold it. next day for £250, and that fifty feet in Mnnnia has been sold for £350. Onr informants generally forget to mention the site was required for a public-bonse or bank, and that for one prize there are scores of blanks. In an agricultural district like this it is only natural that there should be a run on township allotments. The now settlers in the district select a few hundred acres apiece, and ■ prove excellent customers to the shrewd traders who have opened stores and offices. After a few years prosperity, we find tlie place appears to be making hardly any progress. Now stores are built and remain empty, and several of the early settlers leave the district. We find the successful farmer wants more land. He, therefore, either buys out his less fortunate neighbor or seeks fresli fields for bis capital. The land passes into fewer hands, in other words, the population after reaching a certain point recedes, and although those who remain may have more money to spend they seldom spend a large amount of it in the township. The well-to-do farmer will occasionally take a trip to Wellington ns the ladies generally prefer goods from the city than those of the local tradesmen. I presume that in that matter “ Distance lends enchantment to the view.” Harbour works, two or three new banks, and railway works may keep np steam and square up matters for a time, but only for a time. Wbat then ? Why energetic pushing men of business will take the first opportunity to clear oni, I need not tell you .that enterprising men are a great benefit to young communities, and when they go away, leaving only tbe Immdrnra specimens behind, tbe go is gone out of the place and its future prosperity is therefore limited. As there is no occasion for me to follow this mode of argument, I will take into consideration the best means ol helping a young community like ours to increase wealth, progress, and importance.. Beef growing will not ensure the prosperity wo require, neither will mutton, except we have the population to consume, with the means necessary to purchase. The only means a young community like ours has of preserving the population is by establishing local paying industries; and the sooner we look this matter straight in the face the better it will be for ns. It matters not whether the new industry should be the manufacture of agricultural implements, or of woollen goods, or of cheese, bacon, farina, cement, tobacco, candles, or what is already established, linseed mills; or of a hundred other articles we now import, and might produce or manufacture in the place. Enough that factories can be started here, especially woollen mills, at a very small cost, and if our country friends had more energy and the sense to see the advantages to be derived from establishing even woollen mills, this district would enter on a fresh career of unrivalled prosperity. What are these great advantages? We see that townships suffer for want of something to keep the population from decreasing, and I may assert without fear of con tradiction that the more we can increase the population of the district the better for it. Take any country township and start a factory in it, and what follows ? The land for miles around becomes more valuable. Tbe farmers can make more profit out of their farms. Beef and mutton would double their present value, and there would be no surplus stock for boiling down. The storekeeper, having more customers, can afford to sell cheaper, and yet grow rich. One industry encourages another, and the income of the whole is greatly increased. This is no myth. Here’s a case in point, I remember Kaiapoi fifteen years ago : it was then a miserable starveling of a place—town properly selling for almost nothing, and farmers anything but well off. They started a woollen factory with about £ISOO capital. Up went everything at a tremendous rate; farms doubled in value, and town property went up enormously—in some cases to 20 times its former value. And now, after years of testing, Kaiapoi is one of the most prosperous places in the colony, and wholly indebted to the woollen industry established there. The same may be said of Mosgiel and Iloslyn ; and the best of it is, all are paying concerns to everybody connected with them ! The matter of woollen mills paying is not problematical, like some industries, but a proved fact. Every woollen mill u the colony is giving splendid returns for the capital invested. —I am, &c., Patea, Jan. 7. Glak Abeb.