Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, OCT. 18, 1922. BETTER TIMES CAMPAIGN.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 15956, 18 October 1922, Page 4

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, OCT. 18, 1922. BETTER TIMES CAMPAIGN.

To-day's issue of this paper indicates that many of the business people oi this town are looking forward to a revival of business activity and that they aro going the right way to bring ii about. They demonstrate by their advertisements, by their well-stocked stores and attractive show windows their faith in the purchasing ability oj this town and district. ' They feel and know that better times are just around the corner, and with true business t'ii terprise they have prepared to meet them. The average shopper seldom pauses to think of the load of anxiety that must have been on business peoph during the hard, difficult, and uncertain | times through which 'we. have now hap pily almost passed. The problems oi buying in fluctuating markets, of realisation of stocks, of the demand for credit by customers, have been exceedingly worrying, and fortunate are the merchants who have carried on sound and solvent business and have found themselves able by wise prevision to secure well-selected and up-to-date stocks in readiness for the turn of the tide. Orders have generally to be sent abroad a long time ahead, in anticipation 01 seasonal demands, and it has needed some considerable degree of faith in the future of Gisborne to be exercised by those who have laid in stocks are now presenting a superabundance ol wares. That faith, we feel sure, will be justified, for there are many indications that the period of depression is passing and that the spending power ol the people is being restored. The latesi reports concerning the position of crossbred wool, which is one of the mainstays of the district, the improved outlook for meat, the solid prosperity c! the dairy industry, and the steady increase in the agricultural, fruitgrowing, arid many minor industries of the district, all betoken a return of prosperity. Equally important is the development of our communications, .which will be no small factor in increasing settlement, in making oui; lands more productive, in bringing traffic and trade. Those of us .who have seen Gisborne grow from very small beginnings, know what the progress of successive decades has been, and knowing,the vast area of territory of which this town forms a centre, feel confident that that progress cannot be stopped by such checks as it has lately experienced, but that the town must go on growing and that it is sure to realise the position it is entitled by its geographical situation > and the enterprise of its people to assume, the chief trading centre of the. extensive East Coast. There. is no part of New Zealand with fairer prospects arid less likelihood of permanent set-backs; there is no part with richer , land, - : more' salubrious climate, or more pleasant and* delightful surroundings from a residential aspect than' the -misnamed and sometimes maligned '■ Poverty Bay, Oiiir people have it largely ■ within their own power to,help fonvard ; the development of. the town and :• district. By bold enterprise; .by co-operation, by theestablishment of. new industries, by the provision of a harbor, by the formation of the j'oads, by - the encouragement oi coastal shipping, by , reaching out for business in every direction, especially Jn directions where •.within our own territory outside centres-are,Catering, for the trade, they can, within a few years, transform Gisborne Jrom a. mere provincial town to a city,, and ...we have sufficient.. faith in the enterprise aiid public spirit of the; business men of the district to believe tTtafc they will do it. ■Every little movement such it being initiated to-day by our retailers will | •lielp:'forward to that end. Why fhould : : money, bo sent out of this distri.l for draperies and other domestic : requirements.that local houses are. fully capable of supplying? Why not support local industries, seeing tjiat these .employ, much labor and.circulate a vast amount of money, all assisting in the general prosperity. It-is only .through w-ut of thought'- that outside ofjders are given wirich .could;. bo- well supplied •'., in the town, and. surely it needs but the gent- ; lost.of reminders to induce.our people to be loyal' to their town and its indus: tries,'and. to conserve-as much/as pos-•siblo-'the capital -of .the. district'.:' fur ,cir; culatibn ■ within tho.. district, ,We wish, traders all success, iri their .shop-•ping-week,, and trust'it .will bo'-but the '-beginning of „<&.. new .period of business activity in the district..