The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, JANUARY 9, 1883. LOCAL INDUSTRIES.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1052, 9 January 1883, Page 2

The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, JANUARY 9, 1883. LOCAL INDUSTRIES.

About nine months ago those who held the destiny of the Paper Mill in their hands told the public of Temuka that it was hopeless to expect the company to be floated. Shortly aftet wards our most enterprising men were mulcted in heftvy costs for no other reason than that their names appeared on a prospectus. Tluse two incidents coming on each other's heels, together with, the fact that previous attempts to establish local enterprises in Temuka had f».ied, • aiade people lone all hopes of over seeing anything 1 cirried to a successful issue in this district. A sort of superstitious feeling that Temuka was doomed gained possession of the public mind, and things looked very gloomyi Wherever a Temuka man turned he was jeered and laughed at, failure was associated with the name, and even the papers in Timaru sneeivd at us. What a chaage has since come over the aspect of affairs Temuka is beginning to be envied and setup as a model for imitation. In seven months two of the most important industries that could bo established have been successfully floated, and we feet confident that others will soon follow before the world is destroyed by the comet. This is something to boast of. l\o community in New Zealand has done so much in such a short time. But there is in this mere than something to boast of ; there is real substantial wealth in it, additional value to property, and the foundation of future greatness. The people here seem to look upon the establishment of these industries as nothing at all ; they do not set a proper value on the groat work that has been clone. Other communities, however, are being aroused by the progressive steps Temuka has taken, and it is very probable our actions will be imitated. The papers in Timaru, which until aroused by Temuka uevsr wrote a syllable about local industries! are beginning to open their eyes now to the necessity of urging upon their readers the desirability of starting local works of some kind. Geraldine has also awakened to a sense of its wants, and we feel certain that the people there will succeed in starting something—if not the proposed woollen factory. Temuka has shown the way : it is to it the credit of leading is due, and we hope it will keep it. Geraldine has an apparent, if not a real advantage over Temuka, In Geraldine when a public meeting is got up the townspeople attend it in large numbers ; in Temuka the case is dim-rent. Very few townspeople are good for anything but their own business in Temuka—the farmers are the only people who do mj good here. It is said, however, of the people of Geraldine that they will talk a lot, and make any amount of noise, but when the time for action arrives they get something else to do. This may be true of a few of them, but we do not believe that thft is their character as a whole. We arc confident that it is not, and that the immediate future will prove them to be as enterprising as their neighbors. The moment has arrived now when they must throw off the apathy in which they have been slumbering, and show wh.v is in them. T ey have put before themselvis. a v-it ambilUis nn lertaking—the starting of a woollen factory—and if they moan . business they must yo !o work ener-

gelii-alh, or else they will make a failure

of it. So far they have taken the proper preliminary steps ; they have appointed a large and influential "committee to inquire into the matter, and that was as much as could possibly be done at th« first meeting. They have made a good start, their meeting was large and representative, anl if they go to work with a will now there can be no doubt but that they will succeed in establishing, if not a woollen factory, some other industry that will add considerably to the value of property in the district. This they will do for themsi'lvs, but they will do more for their children, inasmuch as that they will establish for them a means of earning a livelilioad. To the one that dies t»n are born in this district, and unless immediate steps are taken to establish factories and and other labor-employing institutions in this colony, the labor supply will soon be far in excess of the demand. We commend this to the i attention of our Geraldine friends, and we sincerely tiust that they will reflect on it, and leave no stone unturned to establish in their midst a labor employing industry.