The Daily News FRIDAY, JUNE 29. THE HUB OF THE PROVINCE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8144, 29 June 1906, Page 2

The Daily News FRIDAY, JUNE 29. THE HUB OF THE PROVINCE.

In the course of his remarks at the Taranaki Club on Tuesday evening, Mr Harvey-Gibbon, late Borongh Engineer, warned his hearers that there was every need for the more influential men in New Plymouth to take a live interest in public affairs. Mr Gibbon hit the nail on the head. New Plymouth lags behind in many matters of publio importanoe. Its influential men are too prone to take things easy, They have had a comfortable time in the past; they have prospered under these easy condi- | fcions, and apparently do not see that I there is any neoessity for " hustling things on. Hence we hear such cries as, "New Plymouth is the slowest place of the slowest province in the colony 1" # # # *

New Plymouth is the capital of Taranaki, and as such it should take a lead in everything making for the progress of not the town alone, but the province generally. It has not always done so in the past, unfortunately for itself, and the cause can be traced to that self-contained, selfsatisfied—lethargic, if you will—feeling that seems to permeate some of the " pillars of the province" who have their abode in this town. A. - ter this condition of tilings? Of course we must, if New Plymouth is to be the hub of Taranaki in reality, and not in name only. " Suprema in situ" as it is, with its splendid harbor facilities, with its unexploited oil and mineral fields, with its salubrious climate, with the vast unroaded back country, New Plymouth is, we feel sure, destined to be some day, we hope not far distant, a town in size and importance second to none outside the four chief centres. But we must be " up and doing," # * # #

There is much to do, Without putting forth an effort New Plymouth cannot hope to move ahead very fast. A matter of primary importance is the opening of the bush country finishing the roads from the Whangamomona country to the coast. Our Ureti correspondent a I few days aero wrote •

"There are settlers on the Moki road on the Whangamomona side who have to wade through mud for forty miles before they reach a metalled road. These settlers are within twenty miles of a metalled road on this side, but three miles of standing (bush bar the way."

The local Chamber cf Commerce has certainly taken up the matter of reading the blackblocka and the completion of the Moki and other roads; but representation and action on their part and the people's part are wanted and wanted badly, The policy of putting the cart before the horse seems to have been adopted in the settlement of our back country. Proper roading should have been given before people were asked to take up the land, * * * #

Then there is the prosocution of the railway line to Opunake, and the East railway line to connect with the main trunk line. There is not the slightest doubt that these lines would pay the country handsomely Also that the lines would mean a big thing for everyone with a stake in Taranaki, Every lever should be gripped and used to push on these lines, which would help tremendously to develop Taranaki We have the coal mines at Mokau, as yet hardly touched. Someday the wealth from there is goi>ig to be a solid part of Taranaki's wealth, not to mention the oil and ironsand neaier home and. which as yet are hardly prospected. # # # #

Taranaki's present mainstay is the dairying, of course. It has come to , stay. It must always mean a bis; thing. But dairymen cannot hope to always obtain the present good prices. They can, however, expect as good results. These can only be gained by studying and applying scientific methods of farming. The majority of dairy farmers lose annually a large amount of money through pure ignorance. They want educating, And smaller prices for their produce, it would seem, is about the only thing that will teach them the need of it. We want in Taranaki experimental farms where the farmers can be taught how to obtain the best results from their herds, the difference in the grasses and other feed, how to use a cow, how to use a Babcock tester, how to make his pigs better, and all the rest, And where, too, youths—the farmers of the futurecan get similar knowledge and trained aright. The farmers should not look to the Government to provide them with everything. We believe in a man helping himself; and we

believe the farmer should in this, as he is in other things, be self-reliant. To a farmer taking up a debenture in an experimental farm it would cost but a nominal sum : the value I received would be a hundred-fold.

Coming to the capital of the province, we would like to see many things L established. We would like, for instance, to have in our midst factories that would provide us with ' many of our needs.- We import nearly all our ready-made garments, i Cannot we make them locally and as cheaply and well as they do in ( other towns ? Candles, soap, biscuits, and the like, cannot we manufacture our own instead of sending outside of ; the province for them? Condensed milk—they m ke it in Southland. Cannot we —the home of dairying—tike it up and make it pay ? These are a few things that strike us at the moment. Theie are others. Educationally, the town of New Plymouth is somewhat behind. We have no girls' college. Then, again, we havo no institution whereat the young fellows of tho town might seek amusement and instruction in

tlieir spare moments. They have to do the best they can for themselves, but their best is r;ot always what one admires. Help to establish a young men's club, to obtain better educational facilities, to establish local industries, to teach the farmer to get the best ho can from tlie soil, to cxp'oit our mineral resources, to open up the backblocks, to rail the province and having done your best, you will feel that such a warning as uttered by Mr Harvey-Gibbon is unnecessary and without point.