The Patea Mail. Established 1875. FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 1883. BRIGHTER PROSPECTS.

Patea Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 1021, 13 April 1883, Page 2

The Patea Mail. Established 1875. FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 1883. BRIGHTER PROSPECTS.

♦ The deterrainatfon of the Shipping Company to rnn their new vessel in the Patea trade without insurance is a very plucky thing. Why the insurance companies decline to take a risk upon her is more than we can understand, when an inferior boat trading to this port is covered. It is said by some that the fact of Captain Bendall, the Marine Inspector for the Insurance Association, being interested in the Napier, has something to do with it. Another reason is that the Wellington people desire to keep the trade in their own hands, and if possible shut outdhe new boat. In this, however, we are glad to see that they will be unsuccessful. We venture to think that the Waverley will prove a public convenience and benefit to the Patea district and the travelling public. The fact that she has been specially constructed for the trade, should be a guarantee that she will be up to requirements in point of speed and comfort, especially in the passenger department, which is most important. Then she will be available for trips to Nelson and the West Coast. Under existing arrangements, passengers to the former place have first to go to Wanganui or Wellington, and thence by steamer to their destination. »Wc expect to see the inconvenience and expense of this roundabout route done away with when the new vessel runs. With regard to the . West Coast trade, the Waverley should be the means of developing that considerably. The West Coast market is a valuable one, enormous quantities of stock being sent across from Canterbury. There is no reason why we should not have a cut in, and it is some satisfaction td know that if farmers think it worth while to send stock to the other island, the Patea Shipping Company will.Have the means to provide the transit. Then upon the opening of the line to Manutahi, we may reasonably expect a general increase of the export trade. On the northern side the facility of railway communication will no donbt be appreciated and the difficulty and expense of cartage being removed we may expect to see the farmers preparing a greater breadth of land for grain growing. The same may be said of Waverley which splendid district has been of considerable importance to Wanganui as a feeder. Instead of having 33 miles of railway carriage to pay for, farmers will have only a third of that distance by sending to Patea, and that will mean a considerable saving to the district in the course of a year. The Harbour Board are acting with wisdom in lowering their charges so as to secure the trade from this important district. Great reductions have been made and shippers will be able to get their produce away from Patea at a minimum charge so far as the Board is concerned. No doubt the Shipping Company will also make every effort to keep freights as low as possible. We believe that their honest desire is not the making of large dividends so ranch ns to foster and encourage the trade of the district. An impartial observer must come to that conclusion after their decision to risk their steamer without a penny of insurance. It is enterprise on their part worthy of all support. Taking it all together we .think the outlook seems a bright one, and that we are about to experience a revival of prosperity in the district. We have not been any worse off than our neighbours' or, for the matter of that, any other part of the colony. Things have been dull everywhere, but, at the present time, there is a growing feeling that the worst has passed, and that business affairs in the colony are on the mend. We join in that belief, and, beyond donbt, our district will share in any revival of prosperity. Our country is too good to remain in a depressed state for any length of lime. We should like to see some effort made on this coast to participate in the frozen meat trade. The latest accounts from London are of such a glowing nature that owners of stock might fairly consider themselves justified in embarking upon the enterprise by supporting the formation of a Freezing Company. The depression in the stock trade during the past few months has been a serious matter for »U engaged in it, and nothing would be better calculated to prevent a recurrence than the establishment of meat freezing works on the Coast. The dairy branch of farming haay also be said to be looking op. The desire to form butter and cheese factories seems general, and is the outcome of the success attendant on those already established elsewhere. With the improved method of shipment to the Home Country, there should be a practically inexhaustible demand for both commodities, and there is no country in the world better suited to their production than New Especially is that the case on this coast. In support of that, we quote from a writer in the Hawera paper, evidently a practical man. He says : “ Soil, climate, grass, stock, roads, and railways, are all of such quality as to render the factory system more likely to be thoroughly successful here than in any other part of the colony with which I am acquainted. I have the authority of a very successful and experienced cheesemaker in the district for saying that though the milk is somewhat rich and oily for butter-making, it is wonderfully good for cheese-making. The success of Inglewood cheese at the Onmnrn show bears out the correctness of this view. It is admitted that some land produces more casein than other land does ; such appears to be the case here.” Such testimony should afford every encouragement to the movement now taking place in the district.