The Manawatu Times. SATURDAY, MARCH 31, 1877.

Manawatu Times, Volume II, Issue 47, 31 March 1877, Page 2

The Manawatu Times. SATURDAY, MARCH 31, 1877.

It is no less ineumhent upon the inhabitants* of a district to have a policy than it is upon a government that represents the interests of „, nation. A short and ignoble existence is often predicted of an indifferently composed cabinet because they are unable to shape out a course of procedure adequate to the requirements of a nation. And what is, m this respect, true of the macrocosm is also true of the microcosm. If it is necessary that for the wellbeing of a country some plan should be designed and carried out for the promotion of collateral and divers interests, it is also necessary that for the well-being of a town or district the sanle rule should be observed. We have often listened to very lugubrious prognostications as to the future of Palmerston. This township has been characterized as a mushroom growth, marked out like the mushroom for rapid decay. " What is there to keep the place going? Where is your open land, for pastoral or agricultural pursuits? You are hound m by dense forests that will take many years and more money than you possess to fell. "STbur. timber trade is m a drooping condition, and at best can support but a fraction of your population. You have risen and flourished on Government expenditure and now that it is finished you are finished also." Such and such remarks have the prophets made, and we dare not say they are altogether devoid of truth.. When a district like this depends for its supplies nearly altogether upon imports/ and accomplishes very little m the way of exports an unpleasant fact is revealed; more money is going out than coming m. a And such has to some extent been the case. Palmerston has undoubtedly risen upon public, expenditure. Its cereal and pastoral productions have been comparatively nil.

It has bad no manufactories ; its only native commodity worth calling such has been timber and tbat at the hitherto rate of production bas been manifestly insufficient for its wants. But public works brought labourers to the field, and professional men and purveyors m abundance, and m the space of 4 or 5 years Palmerston rose from a few huts tobe the admiration of the Wellington province. But the public works ceased, and the mercantile class trembled m the shock of .it financial crisis, then sailed out into the stagnant waters of dull trade. And as the condition of the~mercantile class is an unerring barometer by which we can tell the condition of the whole social atmosphere, the inference is clear. Thus, as far as the past history of Palmerston is concerned we agree with the prophets, but not as to its future. And now we may ask, for what were these public works executed? The employment bf labor, to which the past prosperity of Palmerston is mainly due, was but the initial good arising from them, but was . by. no means their object. This benefit Was but short-lived and being now past, the community naturally 1 suffers from a re-action. But the true purpose of the railway and other public works executed by the G-bvernmenthas yet to be, and we believe, is now about to be ; revealed m our experience;" They have placed Palmerstoii m aY position which, sustained by an ordinary amount of industry on the part of its inhabitants, will .enable it to be self-supporting. Arid now we come to the policy to which the circumstances of our position point. It is little use for us to fancy ourselves still m the leading strings of the Government and to petition for further favors or assistance. By the passing of the County's Act the Grovernment has cast us off. Like the prodigal son we have received that portion of goods that falls to us. The Government has said, There is your liberty and your revenue. Do the best you can, but expect no more from us. And,, to , do the best we can is all that remains for us; and it needs not the eye of a statesman to see that the one policy, indicated to us as a community is the institution aud augmentation, of local industries. We have already had the pleasure of noticing more than one, manufacturing industry recently established m this place, and we believe, now that' the district is cast upon ita^wn resources, the work of prpduftmg and manufacturing will rapidly, increase and form the bone and. marrow of our future prosperity. But to encourage and support manufacturing industries it is of great importance that the raw material should be locally produced. Hitherto very little has been done here, m the way of agriculture, but a considerable area of timbered land has through the past several years been cleared, and the district m the vicinity of Palmerston is consequently capable of more m the way of agriculture than many people believe. But up to the present time there has been unfortunately very little encouragement afforded to the settlers for the production of cereals, owing to there, being no local market, and the expense of transit to a distant one. One of the great desiderata for this place therefore is a flour mill. The aggregate importations of the Palmerston storekeepers show that there is a large quantity of flour consumed here, all of which has to he brought at a great expense through Wellington or elsewhere. Had the grain been grown and manufactured into flour locally au immense saving would have been the result and this community would have been richer than it is. Furthermore the settlers here have met with great discouragement during the past season, for owing to there being no local market for grain they have confined themselves to the cultivation of perishable vegetables, with which the market has been consequently glutted, and the producers have been compelled almost to give them away or let them rot at home. The cultivation of Vegetables has therefore proved as profitless as would be the cultivation of grain which would have to be exported at a ruinous expense. Accordingly the settlers are discontented and many who, under other circumstances, would have purchased fresh sections of land for cultivation are now auxiou,s to get rid of what they possess. These facts point to the necessity of "the producing and manufacturing industries going hand m hand- — especially m a place situated as Palmerston is. We therefore hail with great satisfaction the. proposal of Messrs. Nannestad 6 Co. to establish a flour mill m Palmerston. Without doubt this enterprise will, as it deserves to, succeed anddoa vast amount of good^ to the, place. Leaving out of the question the open country toward San-

don which is eminently suited for agricultural pursuits, there is a large area just around Palmerston that under cereal culture would go far towards supporting the occupiers and keeping the mill m operation, besides enriching the district generally. The arable land about Karere, Jackeytown, Stoney Creek, and on the Rangitikei line, may be henceforth employed much more profitably than m growing cabbages that nobody will buy. We believe that Messrs. Nannestad & Co. intend commencing their mill at once, and as this, is aboutthetimeforpreparing for crops we trust the settlers will, m their own interest, take the hint and have their grain. ready forthe mill by the time the mill is ready for the grain. The further consideration of the question of local industries must be reserved for a future occasion.