The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE SATURDAY, JAN. 10, 1885.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1952, 10 January 1885, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE

SATURDAY, JAN. 10, 1885.

Eqtul and exact justice f> all men. Of whatsoever state or pereuasion, religioui or rmlitioil. Here *h;ill thn Press the People's right maintain, t'nawed by influence and unbribed by gain.

No question remains now as to tlio advisableness of starting tho industry in Waikato. On that point, tho largo and influential mooting held on Tuesday guvo no uncertain sound. The matter has been fully discussed at a ninnhor of meetings of tho committee appointed at tho first public meeting, in every detail, and from every point of view, the farmer's, the capitalist's, and the colonist's. Tho undertaking is of as much importance in a national as in .a local point of view—of as much importance to ouo part of this large agricultural district as to another, wherever tho site of the pioneer sugar-beot factory may be located. As with the cheeso factories, so with tho sugar-boet factories, the success of the first established will cause it to be the forerunner of many others, and therefore it is to tho interest of all to push forward an enterprise which bears in its womb the immediate future prosperity of Waikato. Lot us once establish to demonstration the fact that the manufacture of Waikato grown sugar-beet will pay the farmer to grow the roots, and the capitalists to manufacture the sugar for the market, and there will be neither lack of capital nor of enterprise to erect sugar mills at intoivals, from the head of tho navigation of tho Waikato river to tho head of tho navigation of the Waipa, for we must remember that for certain natural reasons the Waikato basin has a specialty in tho growth of sugar-beet. Nor will Waikato sottlors alono bo benefited by tho enterprise, although to them tho gain will be gi eater and moro direct, for they will have a ready money market at their doors for a crop which they can grow with profit and advantage, and every aero of land in Waikato and the surrounding districts will havo given to it an increased and a fixed valuo which at present it doos not possess. Tho fixed value of land can only bo in proportion to the certainty of the value of what it can be made to produce. What crop, wo ask, has tho farmer now to which any fixed valuo of profit can bo attached ? Nouo know this fact better than Auckland mortgagees in possession of many a farm which can scarcely koop up with a rent in the shape of interest, but which, with a sure and ready market for its produeo, would stop from tho shadiest into the first rank of investments. With a regular sale for beets at a price that will leave a certain and fair profit to tho grower, land will jump at once to a certain and fixed valuo. Tho impetus given to trade by the expenditure of so much money in labour as would be required to grow. cart, and manufacture tho beetroot into sugar, and the general and increased demand created for all the various products of the farm would circulate money, make business in every line brisk, and ensure a large measure of general prosperity. Other industries would spring up, the cultivation of small fruits, and jam preserving factories. The pilp from the sugar factories, made at the very time of year when feed is scarcest would, by creating a regular supply of winter D>ilk, enable our cheese factories to become butter factories during the winter months, and, in a score of ways that we could mention, the establishment of the sugar-beet manufacture would create new wealth and employment for all classes.

And amongst tho first to feel tho effects of this state of general prosperity in Waikato would be the merchants and people of Auckland. A prosperous back country means a flourishing town, and though Auckland looks largely, and with every reason, to her magnificent port as the creator of future wealth and importance, she is bound to remember that if her port is one bower the country is the other, and that she can ride more securely and comfortably at anchor with an even strain on both. The present undertaking is one which affects the interests of all, and therefore, we say, calls upon all alike for encouragement and support, and is taken, therefore, at once from the category of local concerns and becomes more or less an enterprise in which the whole community is alike directly and indirectly concerned. The capital required is a large one, but we must not l>o disheartened at that. Were it merely a matter of Waikato concern, we might have reason to fear : but it is not. Belgium we know will do her share in the matter, and will Auckland do less 1 We think not! Waikato, however, must recollect the old adage, " The gods help those who help themselves." We must put our shoulder to the wheel, and not lie supinely on the bank, calling on Jove to help our wagon out of tho mud. It is for us to convince the outside public that wo aro heart and soul in the work. Our farmers must show on their part, by guaranteeing the production of the raw material, that they mean business, while every one of us, from the working man to tho wealthiest, must back his opinion and give earnest of his sincerity by subscribing to the capital of the company according to his means, if it be only for a single share. Wβ have put our hand to the plough, and we must not look back. Tho measure of support which the outside public will give to the scheme will be just in proportion to the zeal which Waikato shows in tho matter. Let us then take a broad and business-like view of the position, sink individual differences, lay aside local jealousies,

and prove that when the crisis demands it, Waikato can be. true to hrrst'lf nnd riso to tho occasion. United we stand, divided we fall.