TARANAKI.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 June 1922, Page 7

TARANAKI.

NO APPARENT SLUMP, BUSINESS, WELL MAINTAINED. NEW PLYMOUTH’S FAVOURABLE POSITION. In. a series of reviews dealing with the present outlook in New Zealand, the Auckland -Star has the following to say about Taranaki: Despite the financial stringency and the somewhat sudden and somewhat unexpected fall in the prices of our primary products there has been no apparent depression in North Taranaki. On the other hand, the marked progress of the two or three years immediately preceding the slump which has visited some parts of the Dominion with more or less serious results has been well maintained. This is due to several reasons. The district has not suffered by the reduced price of produce to any very great extent because there was not the same wild speculation in land as took place in some districts. It is true some farms changed ownership at inflated values, but they were few in number, so that the percentage of farmers who to-day are experiencing difficulty in carrying on is very small. GREATER PRODUCTION. Further, the season has been a particularly favourable one from a dairying point of view. Frequent warm rains have been experienced throughout, and the effect on the pastures has been really wonderful. There has been an abundance of grass everywhere, and this, together with the decided improvement that has taken place in the quality of the dairy herds of the province, has had the effect pf largely increasing the milk production, and consequently the- output of the co-operative dairy factories. For instance, the quantity of butter received into the Producers* Freezing Works at Moturoa for the period from June 30, 1921, to May 12, of this year increased by 40,175 boxes, the total quantity being 190,336 boxes this year against, 151,161 for the corresponding period of the previous year. The increase in the quantity of cheese received at the works for the same period represented 23,995 crates, the total figures being 142,904 this year, compared with 118,909 for the corresponding period of the previous season. The vast majority of those engaged in the dairy industry therefore have not been handicapped in the large interest payments common to some districts where farm after farm changed hands at boom prices, while on the other hand the increased output has assisted in bringing the returns, at any rate, a little nearer to those of a season or so ago. TRADE MAINTAINED. The prosperity of the country districts is invariably a sound guide as to the solidarity of the towns which are their natural outlets, just as the building trade is always a \jertain guide as to the progress of any town, and while the spending power of the farming community has not been jeopardised to any great extent, so also the building trade in New Plymouth in particular has continued brisk, and there has been no appreciable falling off in the ordinary business channels ,business people generally asserting that the volume of trade has been well maintained. Some years ago a greater New Plymouth scheme was decided upon, and several very desirable suburban areas were merged into the borough, and although at that time houses were widely scattered in those areas, to-day they are all extensively built on, while it is increasingly difficult to secure a building section within the boundaries of the old borough. To show how well the building trade has been maintained it might be mentioned that during the past.twelve months permits for new buildings and alterations to existing buildings, to the value of £175,529 were issued, compared with £176,353 in the previous year, or a deof only £824, this difference being more than accounted for by the decrease in the' cost, at any rate, of some of the building requisites. For the past three years permits for buildings and alterations to buildings, to the value of approximately half a million sterling, have been issued in the borough. Last year’s building operations included the erection of 165 new houses, -of a total value of while a further £40,000 approximately was spent on business premises, the demands representing alterations to existing buildings, garages, etc. NEW PLYMOUTH’S TRAMS. Still further proof, if such were needed, that there has been no serious depression in New Plymouth is provided in the results of the past year’s workin of the town’s excellent tramway service, the accounts for the twelve months showing a net profit of upwards of £2OOO. Again, take the development which has taken fclace and the increased trade which has been recorded at the port. Whereas in 1917 the total ordinary revenue, i.e., wharfage and dues, amounted to £13,019 12s 7d, last year it had reached the very handsome stun of £24,059 Is 9d, or nearly double. The actual number of vessels trading at the port remains about the same as in the preceding year, but the tonnage increased from 152,509 in 1920, to 220,393 in 1921, due to the fact that oceangoing vessels are now calling here more frequently than heretofore. The imports represented 101,088 tons, the exports of butter and cheese 18.202 tons, frozen meats 9438 tons, other exports 6738 tons, making the total exports 34 378 tons, and the total of exports and imports 135,466 tons, compared with 123 954 tons in the preceding year. The number of ocean liners berthing at the wharf last year was 25, against 12 in 1920. . . New Plymouth itself has several important public works in progress notablv extensive additions to its hydroelectric works. The present limited system resulted in a net profit last year of over £BOOO, so that it is quite a sound undertaking, but at the present time the council is quite unable to cope ■with the demand for lighting and power purposes. The system to-day is loaded [o its utmost capacity. The new and enlarged scheme is designed to provide 9000 h.p. when finished. There is later a possibility of an iron and steel industry being established m New Plymouth, and. electric furnaces for smelting the jjTnur"' l , which will not only be of.

great importance to Taranaki itself but to the whole of the Dominion. CONFIDENCE IN FUTURE. The Harbour Board is pushing on vigorously with its scheme of development of the port. A considerable amount of work has been done preparatory to the extension of the breakwater itself, and a commencement is being made immediately with the erection oi a new wharf in concrete, thus increasing the berthage and avoiding the irksome delays which have occurred from time to time during the past year owing to the limited wharf accommodation ior overseas vessels. It is these outward signs of development that have made North Taranaki people look to the future with so much confidence and cheerfulness. The general trade indications are most encouraging. and this must of necessity mean a continuance of prosperity in local business. Visitors to New Plymouth too are almost without exception particularly impressed with the prospects of the town and district, and many have publicly expessed their opinions, even going so far as to say that in no other part of the Dominion can the prospects bo brighter than they are here. In other directions than in the business world New Plymouth and surrounding district is destined to reach a position of far greater importance than that which it occupies to-day. It has attractions second to none as a holiday and tourist resort, and the increasing number of people staying here during the summer months will all bear testimony to its wonderful resources. At the same time they will contribute their quota towards the increased volume of local business and incidentally to the prosperity of North Taranaki generally.