Poverty Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. SATURDAY, MARCH 15, 1879.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 651, 15 March 1879, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. SATURDAY, MARCH 15, 1879.

It is now more than two years since the writer of this arrived m Gisborne, to cast his lot m among the people, as a permanently abiding settler. He ■was kindly driven through many of the outlying parts of the country, and while being struck with the fertility of the soil, he could not help feeling surprised see so much good land lying so wastefully and unprofitably occupied. He hoped m his heart, and believed that it would be a question of a very short time. He saw that it was a place which could only be turned to account by the industry of thepeople. There was nothing which could or should lead them away into speculative enterprises. There were no gold-fields to divert their attention. Nothing m the way of manufactures could be looked to for years to come. There was no water power for the cheap working of machinery. No railways to open up new country ; no port to give encourrfgeement to shipping and cheap freights. This, the writer thought, would catise the settlers of the district to rely upon what such a soil, backed up by such a climate, would return. He believed that Poverty Bay would m little time be able to produce all that such a soil will yield, leaving a large surplns for export j but nothing of the kind, m all these two years and more, has come to pass, and Gisborne, at the present hour, whether for the working man, the tradesman, or the clerk, is as dear a place as any part of New Zealand to live. We send to Wellington, Christchurch, and other centres for bacon, hams, cheese, and other dairy produce, instead of being able, as we are sure we should to export this class of provisions m reasonable quantities. We import wheat to grind into flour. We can send to Wellington and buy butter at a price, after paying freight and other charges, which would enable importers to undersell the local producers. Eggs were imported here last we«k from Napier. We could, if

we thought proper, buy loaves of bread and undersell the local bakers. Almost everything we consume m the shape of produce we import. To-day a turkey m Gisborne, if one is to be got for to-morrow's table, cannot be purchased at a less cost than ten shillings, while a head of poultry is not to be had excepting at a price which amounts to a prohibition, excepting among the few well-to-do or the reckless, who buy luxuries on credit, caring never a bit whether they will be paid for at a date near or distant. All this is a grave reflection upon our industry and enterprise. "We grow a few potatoes of indifferent quality, a little maize, a little wheat, and a fair share of grass seed. Beyond wool, then, to what account have we turned the fine district of Poverty Bay ? We have speculated widely m land as if there were rich finds of gold and other minerals below the soil. What has been done with thePatutahi sections — rural, suburban or town 1 Enormous prices were paid ; but will anyone of the owners tell us that he is m a fair way to get even ordinary interest for his investment. How much of it has been tilled ? How much of it lies barren as the day on which it was sold? Where are the little smiling homesteads which were so prettily talked and written about? How much of it is not fenced, or built on, or turned to any account whatever 1

These be unpleasant questions to ask, and many of those who have impoverished themselves to raise the purchase money can only too well inform us. "We may be told that it is not proper to bring these matters to the light of day ; but it is proper. Harm never comes from the truth, and the real state of things being known. A physician never attempts to cure a complaint until he has satisfied himself of the cause which has produced it. A surgeon does not attempt to treat a broken limb until he has clearly ascertained the exact nature of the injury it has received. So it is right that the journalist, to the best of his observing powers, should direct the attention of his readers, to what he conceives to be the condition of the district whose interests it is his duty to guard, and, where possible, to advance. Poverty Bay has all that should make it a happy and prosperous settlement, so long as its people do not look for more than can reasonably be expected to come of it. "We have two of the greatest blessings that befall a country — soil and climate. Let these be turned to account. Instead of buying land for speculative purposes ; for selling again at a profit to some one else, who buys for the same object, let the land be stocked and cultivated. Let us grow our own wheat ; produce our own bacon, hams, butter, cheese, root crops, and with these, for a time, let us be content withal, when it will be discovered there is not a spot m all New Zealand, which will be able to vie with us.