The Press. TUESDAY, JUNE 10, 1873.

Press, Volume XXI, Issue 2448, 10 June 1873, Page 2

The Press. TUESDAY, JUNE 10, 1873.

This province has certainly no reason on to be ashamed of its progress in atrri- Tl] cultural and pastoral matters. Tear qn by year the annual show increases not po only in popularity, but in the number t(J) and quality of its exhibits. We bave he amongst us'many men who spare no tw trouble or expense in obtaining the[best th stock that can be purchased, and we faa may, without vanity, endorse the opinion of many good judges from other provinces who pay a year! visit to our show, that our Ptock wil __ compare most favorably with that of - any other province. But judging from a very general opinion expressed at the recent meeting of those interested in the sale of stock, we are se certainly behind hand in one respect y< The chairman of the meeting, Mr Wilkin, a pretty good authority tt on such matters, gave it as his S e opinion that the Carlton yards a l where, it is needless to pay, the Ci weekly sales are held at present, are O ' insufficient for the requirements of the V trade. Without going so far as this, we may safely assume that in their present form they will be utterly in- A adequate to meet the growing require- r rments of the province. In saying this v we mean no disparagement to Mr t Money, who has spared no expense to meet the wants of the trade, but !j larger yards and more accommodation are certainly required. A committee of five gentlemen has been appointed " to obtain information with reference to a suitable site for the erection of sheep and cattle yards. The members of this committee are gentlemen who thoroughly understand their business, ] and their names are a sufficient guar- 1 antee that they will do their best for ; , the stock interest generally. But they certainly have no very easy ' task. In a question such as this, j the diversity of interests at the general meeting to which they will shortly : have to report, may completely nullify their best efforts. We would re- ' mind those interested that it is not a s question of North versus South, of I Addington, Eiccarton, or the Carlton, * but of the best site for the trade { generally. It is perfectly possible to 1 decide on a site, erect yards and dci,' clare that for the future those shall be the sale yards of Christchurch, , but it is by no means a i[ a necessary sequence that the dealers should go there. Unless the general 18 feeling ie pretty unanimous in favor of ,r the site selected, the site had better n remain where it is. In a neighboring province the corporation erected comi' modious yards at considerable expense, 'g but the site was not approved of by'the 3 dealers, and we believe that not a head c of stock has ever been sold there. We n cannot but think that before many years ,r the yards will have to be a greater disJq tancefrom the Town belt than those in- ; terested in the present movement 0 seem to contemplate. At the present * rate of building the "town promises l |j before long to extend far beyond the 2 limits of the belt/and this is a fact ie which it might be as well to remember. r - It has always been a matter of wonder to us that the Corporation have never seen their way to taking the yards into their hands. At the recent meeling Mr Mitchell remarked that not long l " ago he was prepared to float a jointstock company, which, after all ex--0 penses had been paid, would, lie calculated, have returned a profit of 25 per -. cent. The Corporation, however ; hav e always ftught 1 shy.' cattle yards, and in spite of the tempting dividend quoted, we h&vjßno reason to believe that they will itftke a greater interest m now than formerly. We suppose that after all the .suggestion of a joint stock company.will, be the most likely ° r result of the general meeting. Should auch a scheme be set on foot, the = manner in which the shares are taken up will be a fair criterion of the suitability of the site selected by the subcommittee appointed at the last meetir * inga - ■ -■" — '~~~~* — — ~' ■; 0 An interesting return appears in the General 0 Government" 5, Gazette"" of the : business done 0 by the Government Savings Banks during the ~Z quarter ending March 31. There is also a comparative return of the transactions of the same quarters ih,1872 and 1873. The num : ber of offices has been increased during that he period from eighty-six to ninety-two, and Jt * the number of nevv accounts from 1744 to 1 : 1805, or an increase! of On the th other hand, there were more accounts closed in 1873 quarter than in 1872, the number ri ' being respectively 961 and 823. The number m " of deposits made in 1872 was 7604, while in 1873 they amounted to 9239. The money ± deposited has also increased in amount in a still greater proportior, having gone up from £103.896 18s 7d to £136,415 9s Id, showing unincrease of £32,518 10s 6d ? while the — withdrawals were £81,205 19s 8d for 1872, aad £10-1,069 8s 6d for 1873. The balance left on deposit at the end of 1873 quarter was £85.346 0s 7d, as againßt|£22,69o 18s lid for the 1872 quarter, thus showing an excess et- of deposits above withdrawals of £12,655 la S'd in lavbr of the 1873 quarter. .