The Wairarapa Daily SATURDAY, JULY 27, 1889. DULLNESS OF TRADE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3267, 27 July 1889, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily SATURDAY, JULY 27, 1889. DULLNESS OF TRADE.

Both in town and country there are at the present time complaints of the dullness of trade, Of course at this season of the year io is not expected i that business will be brisk, but the amount which is transacted at this date in Masterton is, for a winter : period, very moderate. Trade is not dead, it is only dull and altogether deficient in speculative elements, That jt should be slightly stagnant at a time when the colony is supposed to have taken several sure and certain steps on the road to prosperity is a surpriso and a disappointment to many, One obvious reason why business is now languid is the necessity which is forced upon settlers of paying their way, Merchants in Wellington, for example, have recently issued circulars to their customers in which an intimation is given of restricted terms of credit. This action on tho part of "the wholesale dealer compels the retailer either to reduce his stock or contract Ihe amount of credit which he extends to his customers. It is in ,the direction of cash payments, and JJjp movement is becoming general throughout the polony. Merchants have not, probably, taken up the attitude which they now assume at an earlier dato because their cus : turners were possibly in many instances hardly in a position to stand the strain which is now being applied, Improved times are beginning to strengthen tho resources of the retailer, and merchants now put that pressure upon him whioh could not bo judiciously applied at an earlier dato, The first stage of recuperation on the part of a community is not always a cheerful one, but it is all the same very necessary. We are now passing through this stage, and it will certainly lead up to a solid and substantial prosperity. If 'here is now but little money circiilatuv" ' u tlie community, there is new settlements in the Busn, tu*,,. absorbing very much of the available capital of the town and district. It present they are scarcely reproductive, but ultimately they will undoubtedly become sources of wealth to this town and to the colony. The Wairarapa has a great future before j it, because the varied and fertile ; character of its soil will enable it to i

carry a very largo population. We are now on the eva of a period when rates for land and stock must necessarily advance both in town and country. It is a great gain that in

iloring upon such a term trade is

becoming thoroughly sound and healthy through the contraction of credit. Wo need not despond because tlieimprovemont in trade is somewhat less rapid than wo anticipated. The increase of settlement, the extension of production, and the advance of prices, must bear their natural fruit.

'he enhanced prices for- wool and

frozen meat, the development of new goldfiekls, the phenomenal growth of the flax industry, the multiplication of dairy factories, and other plain and palpable signs of brightening pros-

pects must revive trade in New Zealand. In a few years time, if prudent counsels prevail, and reckless Hnaucing is discarded, the colony, instead of having to go to the London money market for its needs, will be in a position to provide them out of its own accumulations.