The Daily News TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18. CURRENT COMMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8046, 13 February 1906, Page 2

The Daily News TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18. CURRENT COMMENT.

The condition of Taranaki is giving outside cities .some concern. Mr E. Gerard, Official Assignee, in the course of an interview with the Auckland " Star," states: " The number of bankruptcies in Taranaki have increased slightly, assets have doubled, liabilities have trebled, and dividends have , been very small. Dairying has had every chance of flourishing, favourable seasons and high prices in butter and cheese prevailing, but artificial inflation of land values in Taranaki Ins spoilt it, there. The chickens are coming to roost, and it will take a good while before the atmosphere cm be cleared. Hundreds of small holdings and agoot few of the larger ones are mortgaged up to the hilt, and mortgagees who can afford it are very indulgent just now. They are refraining from pressing too hard for interest, lest the dairymen mortgagors should throw up the sponge, and let the land go to waste. Many adjustments must take place, and every one of them means hardship to a number of individuals, and forfeiture of the wliole results of several years of hard work in many cases. The bankruptcies dealt with in Taranaki were 42 in 1904 and 48 in 1905, while the assets were £2562 and £SGOG respectively, or more than double in the past year. Hut the liabilities to be met were more than treble, namely, £42,087, as against £13,8G2 in 1904."

A iikxtlemax having extensive business transactions with Taranaki, speaking on the same subject, remarked : " The present holders of land, in Taranaki are not the people who have made the money out of the dairying boom. The man who is getting the benefit of the dairymen's

labors is the man who is living at Remuera. In the newer portion of Ilenntera there is quite a crowd of people who have caused their part of the district to he nicknamed ' Tnranaki Village.' It is to ' Taranaki Village' that the first earnings of the settlers in the famous dairying district are sent. These people are the original holders of the fertile land of Taranaki, and they sold out to later arrivals at lictitious values, created as a result of the hoom. ]>ut many I nt" (.lie new arrivals paid only sniail deposits lo secure the equity of redemption of their properties, and they are still struggling to get their i homes paid lor.

<; The moment they succeed in doing this they will be under -.lonual conditions, and become prosperous. When we liavj had to do with businesses which could not meet their engagements the cause has always proved to be book debts. A lot of people have started in business down in Taranaki with very little capital and before they know where they are their customer* are deep in their debt, and they have to wait for their money till the cows are in full milk. But in reality Taranaki is as solid as ever it was—one of the solidest spots in New Zealand. The failures of the past have been mainly confined to small storekeepers who started with deficient capital, or allowed the book debts to grow too fast. The outstanding accounts are out of all reasonable proportion with the amount of trade done, cash salas being almost nil in some concerns."