The Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1888. BRIGHT PROSPECTS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1821, 27 November 1888, Page 2

The Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1888. BRIGHT PROSPECTS.

The prospects of the immediate future of New Zealand are brightening beyond the most sanguine anticipation. The bad harvests of Europe gave us the first hope, but the weather experienced in the neighboring colonies renders the position certain. Yesterday’s telegrams inform us that not only are the other colonies experiencing a most terrible drought, which is withering up the whole country, hut that fires are devastating the fair face of nature. In some inland towns the smoke is so thick that the sun has not been seen for days, and so dense is the smoke from fires about Sydney that vessels are not able to enter the port. The thermometer ranges from 101 to 105 in the shade, and deaths from sunstroke are occurring frequently. Famine prices prevail in the country districts of New South Wales, and 1400 sacks of New Zealand wheat have been sold at 4s 8d to 5s 8d per bushel. We do not wish it to be understood that we rejoice in the misfortunes of our fellow creatures, wheresoever they may live, We do not, and though the misfortunes of the neighboring colonies brighten onr own prospects, we cannot but regret that they have been visited by such a scourge. It is at the same time quite legitimate for us to indicate the effect all this will have on our immediate future, while we ought to be thankful that we live in a country where the withering, blasting, blighting effects of drought are unknown, and where a most fruitful soil yield extraordinary rewards to labor in all seasons, and at all times. We are

told that sheep, cattle, and horses are dying in thousands all over New South Wales in consequence of the drought. The effects of this, of course, will be that people in that colony will require to restock their lands, and consequently we shall get splendid prices for any we may have to spare iu this colony. The harvest prospects all over Australia, too, are very dismal, and it is anticipated the yield will he short. This, too, will of course open a market for our products. In 1884 the demand from Australia raised the price of wheat in this colony to over 4s per bushel. In that year there was no demand in England for wheat, and if next season both England and Australia compete for the purchase of our grain we may expect prices we little dreamt of six months ago. There is one thing the farmers of this colony ought to do next season, and that is not to trust too much to the weather. At any cost they ought to save their grain as soon as they possibly can. It will be remembered that the weather all over England was very bad during last summer and autumn, with the lesult that not only was the harvest yield bad, hut it was also badly saved. We have frequently noticed that when there is a dry or wet season in the Old Country this colony experiences somewhat similar weather in the succeeding season. Present appearances give a coloring to this surmise. The weather so far has been very unseasonable, and so it was last summer in England. We hope the weather here will not imitate so closely this year’s English harvest weather when our grain is ripe, but let it be remembered that there is a danger in trusting too much to it. Farmers in this colony have been accustomed to trust too much to Providence in saving their crops. In the Old Country no one would think of allowing stacks to remain uncovered, and it would pay farmers to exercise a similar caution in this respect, They get their harvesting done cheaply enough now, and it appears to us that it would pay them to spend a little more in putting tops on the stacks, so as to secure them against bad weather. At any rate the weather is all they have to fear. If they get good weather they will have a good harvest, and the prices are bound to be the best experienced for years.

THE GRAIN TAX AGAIN. It will be remembered that in 1884 the Atkinson Ministry increased the cost of carrying grain by rail to an extent that the extra charge which the farmers of Canterbury alone had to pay amounted to £IOO,OOO. 'I hey waited patiently until the squatters’ wool had been landed safely at Lyttelton and other ports, and then they increased the freight on grain. It is said that “ history repeats itself/’ and it is now doing so, so far as the grain tariff is concerned* The Atkinson party were three years out of office, and during that time the freight on grain was reduced, and it was the intention of the late Government to reduce it further still if they had remained in power —at least, Sir Julius Vogel said so at Ashburton, and, we believe, at Dunedin. No class worked harder to turn the Stout-Vogel Government out of office than the farmers, and now what do we find. Simply, as we have said, that history is repeating itself, inasmuch as that the Atkinson Ministry have now decided to increase the grain tariff again. They are not increasing it now in the open straightforward way they did four years ago. This time they have tried to “ steal a march ” on the people, and increase it without anyone knowing it. Hitherto grain :has been carried at|so much per bag; now the Government propose to charge for it according to weight, and this, according to the Christchurch Corn Exchange, means an additional cost of ten per cent, on the freight to the farmer. The Corn Exchange, the Agricultural and Pastoral Association, and the Chamber of Commerce, of Christchurch, have, as will’be seen by our last issue, sent a joint protest to the Premier, pointing out that this will not only increase freight on grain by ten per cent, but also that it will result in vexatious delays, owing to the time it will take to weigh the grain. We must confess that we are not at all sorry for this, as possibly it may bring.the farmers of Canterbury to their senses. The Chamber of the J Gorn Exchange, etc., etc., were very active last election in forming political Reform Associations to turn the real friends of the farmers out of office and to put the Atkinsonians in their place. They succeeded in doing so, and now who can refrain from smiling at their expense when their darling, Sir Harry Atkinson, turns round on them again, and reimposes the grain tax once more, Let the farmers think of this, and let them think also of the fact that the Stout-Vogel Government tried to exempt their improvements and their agricultural implements from taxation. If the Stout-Vogel Government had their way the farmers would not have to pay taxes on their ploughs and their harrows, or their houses or their fences, and their grain would be carried cheaply for them on the railway. The farmers voted for turning the Stout-Vogel out of power, and now they have to suffer for it. The farmers took their cue from large landowners, who, for the most part, are interested in banks and mortgage companies, etc., etc., and they voted against the only Government that had ever tried to attend to the interests

of the agricultural community, Th® farmers will probably haye to pay another grain tax as the price of their foolishness, and if it would only open I heir eyes to the true state of affairs, and they were to profit by experience, the extra tax would be money well spent.