A PESSIMISTIC EPISTLE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12301, 19 June 1903, Page 4

A PESSIMISTIC EPISTLE.

We have seldom read a more pessimistic letter than one which has just been published in the Sheffield Telegraph, a paper which circulates over a large district. The writer is Mr. Leslie Woodforde, of Auckland, who, at the conclusion of his letter, says "'we, many of us, mean to get out of the colony before the burst if we can." Well, we have often deplored the tendency to gush too much about New Zealand's prosperity, as if exceptional circumstances were to last for ever, but Mr. Woodforde certainly goes much too far the other way. He begins by reviewing the gold mining industry, saying that "the colony certainly produces one and a-half millions of gold a year, yet it actually costs one and threequarter millions to produce this." It would be very difficult, we should think, to produce precise data for this assertion. The gum industry, he says, is growing less every year, and the average earnings of a gumdigger are under £l. Sheep-farming, it is alleged, does not pay, owing to the low price of wool, and " often the farmers give the wool to the shearers in lieu of payment," " the freezing works will only take the best of the young sheep off the sheep-farmers' hands, leaving thousands of sheep practically worthless." As for the dairy industry, the writer admits its prosperity, but says that " when the Australian drought gives out and South Africa settles down there will be very bad times for New Zealand for those who have rushed into this industry, buying cattle and land at inflated prices." Mr. Woodforde then reviews the action of the labour party. It is, of course, very easy to predict disaster for New Zealand by exaggerating with respect to industries which are in an unfavourable condition, and by predicting collapse for those which are flourishing.