FIFTY YEARS AGO

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 105, 6 May 1933, Page 11

FIFTY YEARS AGO

ITEMS FEOM " THE POST "

LOCAL WOOLLEN FACTORY

"While Christchurch and Dunedin have flourishing woollen factories established in their vicinity, paying good dividonds to their shareholders, and oven small towns like Ashburton are launching out pluckily into similar enterprises, Wellington remains conspicuously inactive and apparently devoid of energy in this matter," re-, marks "The Post" of this date fifty years ago. "Everybody seems to adniitthe groat benefit that would be conferred on the district by the establishment of such ah industry in our niidst," the editorial goes on to say, "yet nobody seems able or willing to start it on a practical basis; If a genuine effort were made in this direction, with the sole object of establishing : and Svorking a flourishing manufactory, we believe it would be warmly supported by the public in this city and neighbourhood, who have already shown their faith in this particular industry in a practical manner by investing ■» largely in the Otago and Canterbury undertakings. Only recently, it is well known, no less than £14,000 worth -of " shares were applied for in this city in the Kaiapoi factory alone. Bearing this in mind, it becomes a matter for deep regret to every patriotio" resident in the district that employment for such a large amount of capital was not provided nearer home. The benefits arising from the- establishment of a woollen factory would not be confined to the city; but would be largely shared by the country districts, seeing that wool growers Would thereby be provided with an additional market for their produce, having the combined advantages of offering a steady demand and being close,at hand. It, is well known that the manufacture of clothing has received a marked impetus of late in Wellington, and great credit ii duo to those gentlemen to whoso enterprise this increased activity in the city is to bo attributed. This impetus, of course, tends to improve the prospects of the industry wo are now advocating, and we should bo glad to see a little of the same sort of enterprise exhibited in the direction indicated. The movement, to be successful, will liavo to bo taken up in a broad and • comprehensive way, with the single aim of making the enterprise successful, and not of getting rid of a particular site of land or of serving any particular individual. Above all, it is desirablo that it shall not be delayed until the colony is 'overdone' with factories of this kind, which, if the present local apathy continues, is not unlikely to be the case, seeing that almost every town in the colony seems to be fully alive to the importance of the, subject, with the solitary exception of the city which prides itself on being the metropolis of New Zealand." , THE DIRECT STEAM SEEVICE.' '.'That affair of the Direct Steam Service tenders is one, of the funniest things we have come across for 4 long time. . Not a ghost of a, tender rewarded all the car© and thought expended upon, calling for them, but the outcome of the multitudinous tendering—which did not take place—is .to our mind eminently satisfactory. The colony has .now 11,'.' t its much-desired steam service, witu all its obvious advantages, for nothing, and a much .better service, too, than that contemplated by Parliament, The service has " been undertaken under highly propitious auspices, and the trade secured by the two companies, the New Zealand Shipping Company and the Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company, which have hitherto served us so well. And the Colonial Treasurer will not be called upon to pay that £20,000 a year subsidy, a sum which he would so much rather keep in the Treasury. ' Keally . tjio- whole thing is quite a providential dispensation.". ' HOME FOR THE POOR. "Everyone, \vo feel sure, will thoroughly appreciate the kindly generosity which has led Mr. George Bennett to offer three acre 3of land for tho proposed Home for the Aged Poor. We would not have our poor old men and women feel themselves simply inmates of some public or charitable institution, parcelled off into wards and docketed with an official number. Bather would we see them in_ a, snug Tetreat, with a little room which; they may look upon as their own. That all this is possible, wo have not the slightest doubt. The example of Mr., Bennett is one for emulation, and we sincerely trust that all differences on the question of a site for this Home will be put on on,e,side in an earnest .endeavour to do what is best for our aged poor." CANTERBURY'S GRIEVANCES. "The severe floods which daring-th« last few days have interrupted railway communication in Canterbury, and have done extensive damage to lines in^ that province, recall to one's mind a certain memorandum, written two or three years ago upon one of the numerous preposterous claims put forth by a small, but noisy, section of the Canterbury people. Because her.railways were constructed and worked at less cost than those in Otago, for instance, Canterbury demanded a lighter tariff. But it was proved in the memorandum that the maintenance of the Canterbury lines,'owing to floods, was a constant.: liability. Then there was tho Canterbury complaint that not nearly enough ■ trucks were provided for the grain. It was quite impossible, they said, for the railway to grapple -with tho requirements of the traffic, and it was shameful that Canterbury's interests should bo so prejudiced. Only a day or two elapsed, and these samn people were loudly imploring tho Department not to convey the grain with such tremendous and appalling promptitude, for the station yards at Christchurch and Lyttelton were both blocked with grain of which merchants and exporters were quite unable to take delivery. The railway was able to bring in the grain ten times faster than they could receive it, and they were reduced to the humiliating necessity 'of praying, with tears in their eyes, that the Department would not bring in. the grain so fast. And the Department having conclusively shown that even with their present rolling-stock they could easily overtake thrice the amount of traffic yet offering, indulgently slackened off their efforts to suit tho limited capacity of tho rc--1 ceivers. And so was fatally exploded one Canterbury railway-grievance-bubble. This week's floods ought to go far to burst the other bubble —the demand for a differential tariff on the ground of smaller expenses in working and maintenance. Tho lesson should be a wholesome one, and should teach Canterbury the futility of setting up a claim to be treated differently from the rest of the colony." CATAPULT SEASON. "The catapult season has recomimenccd. Yesterday a little girl returning from school received a severe ■bruise on the mouth from a stono launched by a young ruffian from one of these dangerous playthings. There ■were no grown-up persons about, and the young rascal at once took to his lieels,: tendering : identification impossible. Tho occasional visits of a policeman to the outlying parts of the town is very much needed, as assaults on defenceless little children by budding larakins are of almost daily occurrence. Perhaps one may blame to a great ex-, tent the existing system of education, ■which makes no provision for manners or morality to be taught in the public^ Behopls,'-'-