UNKNOWN

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 42, 3 April 1863, Page 2

UNKNOWN

Last Tuesday was the Anniversary of tlie Separation of this Province from Otago, and we cannot help congratulating the colonists of Southland on th • rapid strides the settlement has madf in material prosperity since that event took place. We do not here wish to discuss the question as to whether Southland might, since the Separation have advanced more rapidly than she his done under her present rulers. We are satisfied that we am point to the state of affairs as they exist at present ; we are satisfied that we are ahle to show improvements proj;ressing rapidh on all hands; to numberless new buildings ; to a steady incr-ase in the immigration of the classes which will most surely contribute to the prosperity of a new colony, and above all to the remarkably healthy tone of " business." It would be a very difficult mattet to Hnd armther settlement in NeW Zealand which has, in an equai time, anu under similar circumstances, advanced on the highway of civilisation so quickly as Sou". hla.id. It would be as well, perhaps, to endeavor to show why this has been so, in order that we may jLjuard against certain evils which are likely to arise, if the whole bearings of the case be not properly understood. To what then is the present prosperity of this Province to be attributed ? Why are peop c who, in ail probability, never heard the nam>e of the place six months a£jo, attracted to our shores ? There ate here, as in most British settlements in the Southern Hemisphere, two great interests — the pastoral and agricultural ; but to neither ol them are v\e able to yield the palm 'or having conduced in the greatest decree to the advancement of Southland. — II is not to the stockowners or to the agriculturists, or to that general influx of population which a good soil, a healthy climate, and liberal institutions are sure to caope in the nineteenth century, but to certain special circumstances which will in the Jong run influence the prosperity of our Province, for good or evil, according to the manner in which

they are taken advantage of. The discovery of some of the richest goldfields in Hie world in close proximity to the borders of Southland may safely be taken as the reason of the present general prosperity. To the finding of gold on Lake Wakatip may be attributed the fact that the lar^e business houses, as compared to the number six mouths >. since, will be shortly doubled in the Town of InvereargUl. It is the discovery of gold which has caused land in the settlement to rise in value enormously, and that mechanics and laborers can command a rate of wages which a short time ago would have been deemed utterly ridiculous. But whil&t admitting that all this is true, and at the same time rr turning thanks to Ota<;o for the wide field which has been opened within her boundaries to the enterprise of\ Southland men, (and which to do them justice they appear perfectly able iuid wi.ling to make the most of), we would wish to draw attention to the fact that " commerce in a gold- producing country is very frequently carried to an unsafe extent.'' The truth of that proposition has been i made apparent over and over again within the past ten years. There is i California (now nearly through the crisis) ; there is Victoria, still struj?---i gling to escape from the meshes of the i net which her own extravagance and recklessness wove around her ; and then again, looking further back, we have the history of some of the petty States of South Arneriea, where goldproducing, instead of enriching the generul population, has resulted in little less than misery and degradation, caused by an almost tofal neglect of; other resources which tend to the advancement of a nation. It may be safely stated that the production of I gold in large quantises in any country, has the effect of filling too rapidly thrranks of those who supply the wants of tlie miner. We do not say that this is generally the case at fi.st ; but it is so after the lapse of a f**w rears, and capital which might have b?ea profitably expended in agricultural and pastoral pursuits, or in ih*j establishment or' manufactures, has been squandered (there is no better term) by glutting the market with goods for which there was no sale. We have alluded to South America, to California, and to Australia as instances of the above wmu of judgment ; we might add another to the list, and say that at the present moment our Northern neighbor seems in a fair way of following in the same track, and putting her entire faith in that whicn, after all, should only be considered as a means to an f-nd. Gold has, up to the present liuie, been the great cause of the piosperity of this settlement ; let it be borne in mind, whilst neglecting no ■ reasonable opportunity of pushing a brisk trade with the miner, that there is almost the whole of the Province iv its primeval state, and that, whilst a few years will exhaust a gold-field, be it evor so large, the countless acres of c mtitry over which the plough cj»n pass, must be the home of a people for ever.

isting state of tilings. It is not simply a question of £s. d. But it is impossible to separate the financial from the legislative responsibilities, and these latter are again so vague and undefined in limit, that he would be a prophet indeed who could predict their extent. It is this very uncertainty which invesis the native question with so much that is pregnant with serious results to the middle island. Who can say that the native question holds out any probabililyof a speedy and peaceful solution ? So far as present appearances indicate, the line of demarcation between the colonists and the Maories is more strongly drawn than ever."