The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1881.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 3, Issue 681, 1 February 1881, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1881.

Every week the financial prospects of botli the district and tho colony are becoming more assured. There are not wanting unmistakeable local indications of a reaction from the depression from wliicli we have suffered for the last two years. In Masterton properties which have hitherto been unmarketable are almost daily changing hands, untenanted houses are becoming exceptional, and for the last two months in what was once a head-centre of insolvency not a single declaration hasbeenfiled. Trade generally ishealthy and tradesmen prosperous. The wool and grain products of this district are likely this year to prove remunerative to growers, and a general feeling of confidence in the future of the Wairarapa is unmistakeable, During the year 1880 the exports from the city of Wellington exceeded the returns of the previous year by more than £BO,OOO, while the imports were a third less, indicating an improved and sounder financial position, The money market is reported to- be getting still easier. The minimum rates at which mortgages have been taken in Wellington is six and a half per cent, and in the Middle Island six per cent has been quoted. The banks of the colony have a larger coin and bullion reserve than they require for their present trade, and speculation, within safe limits, will no doubt be now encouraged to enable them to keep their money moving, Every mail, too, brings us darker pictures of life inEugland, The misfortunes of residents there find a natural remedy in emigration; and in thousands of instances they will probably be repaired by new careers in the Britain of the South. A period of stagnation is giving way to one of activity, and we trust that the present Ministry will recognise that the colony requires to be governed not only with a view to surmount the embarrassments of the past, but also with the objeot of providing for its future prosperity. Latterly Ministers have, to a certain extent, sacrificed the good Government of the colony to departmental economies. We have a sixpence-saving Cabinet, which is continually straining at gnats and swallowing camels, We do not object to the 10 per cent reductions which have been made, to the amalgamation of offices which has been effected, or to the loss of the local subsidies withdrawn. It is rather tho weak and inefficient management of many departments which is to be regretted, as it, In a great measure, neutralises the advantages otherwise obtained, Even country settlors have their eyes open, and they must see that our railways are not worked to the best advantage, and that this drawback is not compensated for by a ten per cent reduction on the stoker's screw, They must also recognise that the department of justice and police is miserably managed; that the postal and telegraph service q,re weak, that the adminstration of Waste Lands is faulty, and that the machinery of the Education Board is clumsy and barbarous. We trust when the last clerk lias been palgpated, the last policeman relegated ii)to private life, and the Hon. John Hall rises from peddling in pennies to statesmanship, improved administration will assist in tho development of the trade and prosperity of New Zealand,