THE STANDARD. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1873.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume II, Issue 110, 3 December 1873, Page 2

THE STANDARD.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1873.

“ We shall sell to no man justice or right: We shall deny to no man justice or right: We shall defer to no man justice or right.”

“ Gross abuse of the pen.” We have often been accused, during our short career, by those who never like the truth to be known, of having abused our trust; and of having taken advantage of our position as public journalists to misrepresent men and things, we suppose, for some ulterior or mendacious purpose or profit. We deny the imputation, simply. ’Tis truth that strikes home : falsehoods never do. But, although we feel ashamed in having to reply to some who, for the sake of place or other pecuniary consideration, work upon the credulity of those not able from absence or other causes to judge for themselves, we arc, nevertheless, actuated by a stern sense of duty in exposing some of the artifices to which men of ill-conditioned minds will resort in endeavoring to bring about themselves a spurious popularity. The words at the head of this column have been written from this district, more than once, particularly in correspondence with the Hawke s Bay Herald, specially directed against the veracity of this journal in dealing with public questions. It is our duty, this morning, in the interests of the public, to tear the film of deceit from some of the false premises on which these assertions are made. There is no more fruitful theme for our denunciation than the continual trumpeting forth in every conceivable way, and on every possible opportunity, that Poverty Bay is on the high road to unbounded prosperity. Not a paper that we read, not a line that is penned to be read outside the district, but gilds the glittering tale of our marvellous wealth. Here is a specimen, the latest from “ our own ” to the Hawke s Bay Herald: “ Judging from the number of new build- “ ings springing up in all directions, the “ increase of population, and the general “appearance of life and activity in our “ district, we are, I am bound to think, “ going a-head at last. The land mania, “ I believe, is at its height.” To those residing on the spot, the true value of this “life and activity ” is known, but to strangers in the land it is not. There is an object in thus “ writing up ” the district, and none of the most laudable kind; but it is calculated to deceive, and entrap the credulous. There can be no doubt that Poverty Bay has achieved a recent notoriety which, even a couple of years since would not have been believed possible. No one denies that at present its affairs are in a tolerably healthy condition ; and that the prospects of the agriculturists, and sheepfarmers are anything but clouded, even if not all sunshine. But, “judging from the number of “new buildings (houses of business) spring- “ ing up in all directions,” in the town, we say that that fact with which “ our own ” rubs his hands in such ecstatic glee, possesses a preponderating weight of evidence entirely antagonistic to his theory. Trade is allowed on all hands to be overdone to such an extent that it will require the utmost care and fiscal vigilance to preserve its equilibrium: and the cry is, “ still they come.” By means such as those we are now deprecating, a false base has been laid; and we are building typical superstructures whose upheaval will, without some extraneous aid, totter about our ears in a general breakup. Let it not be thought that we are “ writing down ” the fair land in which we have cast our lot. Nay, it is because we do regard it that we would offer a word of timely warning and advice, and so save it from the ignominy of failure and false friends.

There is a species of gambling going on at the present time throughout the Colony. The plethora of money, consequent on high wool, and the “ potentiality” of loan borrowing, are aiding the ingenuity of menin speculating on merepossibilities. Public companies are being formed, representing millions of money, with a recklessness unwarranted by the circumstances of the colony’s condition. It is not within the scope of our present space to touch upon the moral, or we might say immoral, effect the aggregation of so much colonial capital in the promotion of Fire Insurance and other companies—now that money is plentiful and cheap,

—will have when coin is scarce and dear. We would prefer to apply a diagnosis to our own malady ere it be too late ; we would steer clear of the gulph that yawns more immediately ahead. The “ trade ” of Poverty Bay is being builded up on the bare possibility of the Petroleum Springs turning up trumps. The metallic ring of “heads or tails” is the only sound we hear; and upon the chance of winning eventually are we staking our all, and something more, in the present. We pause, therefore, and reflectingly ask, what is to be the end of all this building and activity if we are bartering away our substance for a cargo of dead sea apples ? The “ land mania ” is at its height—quoting again from this mercurial correspondent,—whatever that may mean, but he is cautious enough not to say Now this is the key note to the whole difficulty. We have no territory. There is no “ land ” of any appreciable extent likely to be alienated from the natives for years to come, therefore there can be no “mania” about it, except in the writer’s imagination. We would that there were ; then there might be a chance for the exultant hopes of those whose doctrine is “ all means to all ends.”

We must risk the chance of our object being misinterpreted when we allude to the promulgation of similar misleading statements in the prospectus recently issued by the proprietors of the paper who have hired a correspondent to put a false face on the aspect of affairs in the field of their future operations. No one can candidly say, that there are “ excellent prospects of the progress of “ this district being greatly accelerated “in the immediate future," or that it possesses such “ extraordinary agricultural “ and mineral resources ” as will not require, like all others in the colony, much time, and money, and patient labor to develop. The quality of the limited extent of such lands as we have possession of, is well known, and the indications of minerals being present in payable quantities are cheering ; but these require the aid of something more solid than mere newspaper touting to work them profitably. The resources of this fine district will never be known if the only idea of it be formed by men who have never seen it, nor will its best interests be promoted by so highly coloring its “ immediate future ” as to inflame the minds of strangers with prospects of reward that may not be realized at all. There is a new “ rush ” setting in Poverty Baywards ; the town is increasing undeniably, and it is from this point of view alone that an opinion is formed that we are “ going a-head fastthe flesh is increasing, but we shall not be able to say the same of the bone and sinew if the town continues to enlarge at the expense of the country ; and, unless the Government can acquire some of the large tracks of land locked up in unprofitable idleness in the hands of the natives, we repeat that we cannot took for that substantial prosperity, which all true colonists desire.