WHY HAVE WE DULL TIMES?

Patea Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 1052, 27 June 1883, Page 2

WHY HAVE WE DULL TIMES?

V; TO THE EDITOR Sir, —Having attended the meeting on Saturday afternoon, re the reorganisation of the present defunct saw mill, I cannot as a practical man feel but that the leading men of Patea are falling into a state of lethargy, in not having made an effort to re-start that industry, (as well as others long ago). I also think that Mr William Cowern deserves the thanks of the community at largo, for the trouble and interest he has taken in the matter. If we do not help ourselves, nobody else will help us. We, for the last few months, have fallen into a state of, (I may almost say) despondency,- While the mills were in operation a few months ago, the town seemed to be in a state of business activity, giving employment to many directly and indirectly, whp have been obliged to leave, for a more go-ahead, and prosperous district.

Now, Sir, we have every facility in this, our beautiful (but slow) district, to thank amongst the first in‘the, colony. There is abundance of timber, Vithin easy access to our town, rimu, or red pine, said to be be, for durability and furniture use, unequalled by any in the colony, and that timber can be cut and used for our buildings, instead of our having to send away, as we have been doing, for enormous quantities, swelling the pockets of saw millers of other districts. We have a number of idle men standing about the street corners, grumbling about the bad times, who have it in their power to supply that timber at a price that will both remunerate themselves and the mill company if started. Our timber for the last ton years has been destroyed by hundreds of acres, for the sake of clearing the land, when, in reality, by utilising that fit for sawing purposes, it would pay the first cost of the land and the labour of taking it oil j and, instead of the settlors spending their all in goUing thoir land in grass fit to carry stock, had they turned their timber into cash, they would have boon able to well stock their farms, build decent houses and otherwise improve their properties, without (ho large overdraft, which, I nm afraid, some of them have, which makes young men old—mentally as well ns physically. We have two sources of supply in our own district, without going beyond-it; first, land carriage ; and second, our little but good river. My ideas of the land carriage are these: We have a number of bush fanners, the bone and sinew of the country, men that are not afraid of work, who own bullock teams with" waggons, which could be easily converted into bunkers to haul timber into the mill with, and make as much as they are doing at present carting firewood, with a cer-

tainty of a ready market, and above all things, ready money. Now for the river. On the high lands overlooking the Patea river there is also a fair supply of timber, which the owners of the land ought to be glad to get rid of, for the sake of clearing their land, as by burning the useless bush, the pines that are left standing are in a few years rendered useless, as many will remember in the case of the old Kakaramea mill, through a kind of worm attacking them and penetrating to the heart, thus destroying the timber for any purpose. If the company were formed, and were to offer working men a fair price for timber landed at high-water mark, they would find plenty of men with pluck and energy to get timber not only to supply one mill, but three. The thing only wants once starting, and you would find that the adjacent country would not only bo opened up, but the hitherto unknown country up the Patea river ; and as Mr Williams told us at the meeting, the timber on the banks of Ihc Mangaehu is the finest he had seen in New Zealand. What we want is to open up the country, and make our little town a town of export as well as import. Dear sir, I, as a working man and an old settler, would advise every man who has the good will of the district at heart to think well over this matter, and if he has a pound or two to spare, to take out a share in any local industry so as to give himself an interest in it; if he does not reap a benefit directly he will indirectly, as local industries affect every'trade, the carpenters, blacksmiths, storekeepers, carters, &c., as what hcdps one helps the oilier. It is useless for us to walk about our streets, grumbling about the hard times when it is solely our own fault, and other parts of the colony laughing at us and taking our cash for their produce, when we had it within ourselves, to supply ourselves. The fact is, sir, that the settlers of this Coast hitherto have been making their living too easily. You seldom see a farmer knuckle down to right down hard work as you will see in other parts of the colony. They allow their cows to go about in milk, when they might make hundreds of pounds a year by employing a little labour ; they allow their grain to rot in stack or field through a penny wise and pound foolish policy. If they grow grain let them build granaries to hold their grain, build milk sheds and milk their cows, support a cheese and butter factory, help to get cheap timber without sending away for it, and you will find things will prosper! I hope some abler pen than mine will take this matter up, as I cannot do justice to it. Apologising for the space I have taken up in your paper.—l am, etc., H. I. Davis.