TARANAKI'S SEAPORT TOWN.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 September 1918, Page 4

TARANAKI'S SEAPORT TOWN.

When speaking at the meeting at New Plymouth on Friday ksii iu support of the Harbor Board's extension proposals, Mr C. A. Wilkinson, M.P., referred to the future of New Plymouth m terms that, should command the attention of every resident of the district. His confidence in the town's great future is all the more acceptable because not only are his interests centred in central and south Taranaki, where his enterprises have been very successful, but more particularly because he has earned the reputation of being a reliable, outspoken and keen critic whose judgment is rarely at fault. It is gratifying to obtain from such an unbiassed outside spectator as Mr Wilkinson, so favorable an opinion of New .Plymouth's future, especially as that opinion is based on actual knowledge of present conditions and a just estimate of the future possibilities. Moreover the member for Egmont was not praising New Plymouth in order to secure the passing of the harbor scheme, but pointing out how that scheme would hasten the development of the town j from every point of view. So for as business is concerned, most of the leading wholesale firms in the Dominion havo branches established in the town, and it requires no special gift of second sight to forecast that New Plymouth besides being an attractive residential centre, will, by the completion of the harbor and the regular cull of the large ocean vessels at the port, become of the greatest importance to the whole of Taranaki. In the general way a town is what the people therein make it, but New Plymouth is more fortunate iu this respect than most other towns, for its importance is being enhanced by the towns and country which its harbor helps to benefit. There is no question of rivalry or jealousy as between New Plymouth and the other flourishing towns in the province. Nature has provided her with a valuable asset in the shape of a most suitable site for a serviceable harbor, but it has been necessary to bring the constructor's art to bear on this essential work in order that the whole province may participate in the advantage, hence the reason for asking the entire province to provide the security for the cost, and it is confidently believed that provision will favorably and not adversely affect the pockets of the ratepayers. Taranaki has been made prosperous by co-operation, and a continuity of this policy will materially and permanently be productive of great benefit. New Plymouth as a town is only a circumstance in Taranaki life, but as .a port for ocean steamers it is a powerful factor in the general scheme of prdgress and prosperity for the whole province. Mr Wilkinson has earned i.tho .gratitude of £few 21$mQvt£k. ipi: his

genuine tribute to her great future, but lie and his colleagues on the Harbor Board have deserved well of the province for their well directed and sustained efforts to secure for Taranaki a harbor that will be of the utmost service for all time. It may be added that it believes the people of New Plymouth to awaken more to the potentialities of their town, and do their utmost to help forward the harbor project that means so much, not only for the development of the town, but for the whole province.