Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, FRIDAY, JUNK 6, 1924. IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATIONS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume L, Issue 16450, 6 June 1924, Page 4

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, FRIDAY, JUNK 6, 1924. IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATIONS.

It would he interesting to trace tire growth of New Zealand citiets, to cmtsiider the surrounding conditions of each and the justifications which exist for the maintenance of their present population?, and to sum up as far m is possible ,#!eir respective prospects. If Mich a survey be made, we think there would be found some explanation for the comparative backwardness of Gi.sborne and very substantial gr.-.undvs for confidence regarding its immediate •.future-. Many of uhe provincial centres have had a long start of this centre, and few have had the tamo handicaps to contend with in regard to development. Nelson, New Plymouth, Wanganui, Invorcargill, Ti.niaru. were already well established when Oisbcrne was in its infancy and settlement was just trickling into a district which for years had boan lield back by native hostilities. Difficulties with regard to the titles of native lands, and much litigation relating thereto, iservedi to still further check the impetus of settlement, the real flow of

which set in not more than twenty-five years ago. Considering the handicaps the district has 'been under, the fact. that Gisborne in the last decade hasj jumped right intoi the front rank of New Zealand towns is a matter for gratification, and affords substantial reason why we .should hope for ami expect still more remarkable progress in the future. Is there any other provincial town in New Zealand with so extensive acid rich a hinterland' as this town possesses? Take Wanganui, for example, is there any reason whatever why Giaborne should not attain similar dimensions within a very few years? The back country supporting 'Wanganui is not nearly so great in extent as the back country surrounding Gisborne, and if a fair average be taken will not bear comparison with the country here on tlie point of fertility of the soil. In the territory that might be properly claimed to drain into Vvafigaruii, there are a number of minor towns sharing the commerce and detracting from thia influence of the district capital}—Feilding, Marten, Palmerston North, Taihape, Patea, Haw-era., all being more or less in uompetition. Yet Gisborne as the sole metropolis of a much greater area of country, extending from, Wairoa in the south' to Hicks Bay and Opotiki in the north—for Opatiki is now in the Gisborne land and postal districts and' is coming into much closer communica/tion each year—has but 13,0C0 people as compared with Wanganui's 18,000. The reason, of course, is that Wanganui had an earlier and better start, and that it has'enjoyed from the outset much better moans of communication. Therein is the secret of the growth of all O'tir Dominion cities. Koads and railways have been the making of the country. Settlement has followed th» opening of highways, production has followed settlement, and with the volume of production the towns and cities have grown. Wanganui's output of produce to-day is not bo very much greater, if any, than the output from the Poverty Bay district, yet Wanganui has a much higger population. The people of Wanganui do not live merely by taking jn each other's washing. The town is a. progressive one; it has established industries and reaches out all over the .North Island for trade. Facilities for communication have enabled it to reach its present .stage of growth and enterprise, and we have not the slightest doubt that Gisborne, with similar facilities, would attain similar size and importance as a centre of production and business enterprise. Wanganui's harbor development has made it the distributing centre for a, wide area, hut not greater than that which would be reached from Gisborne if we had the same advantages of road and railway communication. The same comparison might he made with any other of the towns wo have mentioned. The secret of successful development im each case has heen communications. How important, tihen, is ifc that we should sea- to it that our communication's are pushed en. The establishment' of a harbor is of paramount importance. I't ha& enabled, in the case of each of the other towns referred to, the country to be opened up to closer settlement and greater production, industries' to he developed, and ai large population to be supported in. the towns. Is- there any reason to doubt it would have like effect here? Give Gisborne a. good harbor, good arterial read's extending through the length and breadth of the East Coast, and a 'connection with the railway system, of the Dominion, and' we venture to predict that this town would £'oon outrival all other provincial cities in th-B Dominion We must not be content with the work that has hecu dene, good as it is, in constructing a main south highway, connecting Gisborne with Napier. The northern reads to Upotiki and to To Araroa must be built equally os substantially as all-the-yeor-nound thoroughfares, enabling free access between the rich lands of the Waiapu and Matakaoa. and the natural centre at Gisborne. The Minister of Lands must bo held to his promise to transfer the road-making gangs and plaint which have almost completed their great work on the Gisborno-Morere connection, to the Gislborne-Tolaga Bay section of the main Bast Coast highway. Nor must the -pressure for one momant be relaxed with regard: to oUr claims for railway communication. The Minister has kept this district in suspense all too long whilst making up his mind as to what route' shall he taken or what po'iky he intends to follow, and' it fc imperative' that he should be told, before long that our patience has> been tried to the utmost, and! that the future attitude of the people of the district in relation to tih© Government he represents must be governed by the' measure in which ho proposes to fulfil his promises and do justice to one of the richest districts of the Dominion, contributing a .large proportion of the national taxation, and. receiving very little commensurate benefit —hitherto, and still, thei most neglected portion of New Zealand so tar as railway development is concerned. In considering our communications we cannot overlook the importance of sea carriage nor express contentment with the present facilities. It is hard to understand why in regard to its passenger service, Gisborne should have to .submit to conditions distinctly inferior to those which existed a quarter of a. century ago, when the volume of traffic was not a'tithe of what it is to-day. So long as the community is quiescent and complacent it will probably have to put. up with a once-a-week service, and. be thankful that even that consideration is extended to it. Not until something in the way of self-help is manifested cam any .improvement bo expected, and the first measure of such self-advancement, we frankly admit, and must firmly emphasise, is the provision of a. eafe and commodious harbor,