The Daily News. TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 1914. A RED-LETTER DAY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 272, 21 April 1914, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 1914. A RED-LETTER DAY.

The Ne,w Plymouth Harbor Board has acted wisely in deciding to celebrate the arrival ef the first Home steamer at Moturaa "by the holding of a little function and inviting thereto representatives of the leading public bodies in Taranaki. For many years past it has been the custom- of our southern neighbors and interested parties to raise doubts as to the wisdom of making a port at New Plymouth, and to predict disaster for the determined and courageous efforts made to that and.- To a large exteat, it, is unnecessary to add; the wish has been father to the thought. But the Harbor Board, undismayed by these lugubrious asseverations and dire predictions, have gone steiidily forward with their scheme of improvements unj til now the harbor is so advanced that it ia in ft condition to berth in perfect safety. a Home liner of the size of the Walbure, loaded with 5000 tons of ®«rchandise for' Taranaki producers. The coining oi this, the first Home steamer, is the reply—an unanswerable, convincing reply—to the jeremiads so frequently indulged in by the opponents of the harbor. The fact settles all their malevolent arguments about the . utility of the port. They will be unable to axplain away the substantial saving farmers will affect aa a Tesult of their fertilisers coming direct from Leeds. Di»sipatad will be all their dismal prophesies and wails aibout it being a "shocking waste" to spend money on "digging out a hartor at Moturoa," that "there has , been littls.or no progress made with the harbor works owing to the unforeseen unsurmountable natural difficulties that have arisen," and so on. The arrival of the Wftlkure with its big cargo will also-remove the misconception and prejudice ereated. in the minds of many people, unacquainted with the important ' and progressive work that has been carried out at Motiiroa in recent years. And the arrival will correspondingly be a source of gratification, to those who have for years, in spite of unreasonable and unpatriotic opposition and misrepresentation, shown confidence in the •future of the harbor and backed up their faith by authorising the loans that have mada the harbor improvement work possible. They will see their faith partly realised, and know that inside of another eighteen months the biggest liners must call and discharge and receive cargo, all of which must stimulate trade and production, and represent a considerable saving to all sections of the community, and to none les9 than the producers. The arrival of the first Jiner —we have had a steamer direct from Home before —is truly a red-letter day in the annals of the province—for the port, it must never ha overlooked, is the, possession of the province and not only of New Ply-mouth—and the Harbor Board would have been missing a golden opportunity had it not resolved to fittingly mark the occasion. It is a significant event in wlhich other public bodies might with advantage participate, and we hope the Borough Council and the Chamber of Commerce will associate themselves with the Harbor Board in making the celebration as representative and successful as possible.