Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, THURS., MAY 12, 1927. LOOKING FORWARD

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16338, 12 May 1927, Page 6

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, THURS., MAY 12, 1927. LOOKING FORWARD

j. The close of half a century of pro- ; gross throughout a period of great i events and epiite wonderful discovery iis full of -promise for the future, Despondency, if it lias any wings, should at such a time take to Ihem and fly away. The children and even the young men who .will survive' to see the close,of the centenary .of the.town .'arid country eau have no conception of the improved conditions and the increase of knowledge which will prevail not only in New Zealand but throughout the world at that time. Our gratitude, ■ as citizens of a goodly town, and as | members of a great coast and inland territory, the richness of which is n'ot yet fully discovered, has been to-day expressed in fitting works find ceremony, as, also, in seemly rejoicing. Many of those who were mingling with the crowds to-day are reaping where others have sown. And yet the old, to whom credit has been well and deservedly accorded, may find their best pleasure in the fact that it is BO} that they have not lived in vain, but have contributed to the happiness of those who are to take their places. In itself, it is a great achievement for ineu to have lived through those trying early years from 18(i8 until stable conditions were at last obtained and it was no longer necessary .to have rifles and shelter resorts always at'hand; and from the quieter days that, followed, to the present •'time, to have worked as men rarely have worked, often under circuity j stances of danger, perplexity, and 1 physical distress, for which -there was : no alleviation at hand, other than j what was attainable from their own 1 indomitable courage, and from tho I scanty resources supplied by their own providence and forethought. Bearing all they had to bear, and ceaseless, and unflagging in their toil, they converted what they found a waste of tangled forest and wild bushy growth, ' into the productive lands as wo see them to-day. The pioneers, or their parents set out for New Zealand seeking new homes'mid food.for themselves and families. It never entered their heads that they were founding a Dominion to help the land they left in the time of war, and to feed her people in times of peace The evening ' is closing in around many to whom honor has been paid to-day. But, even in the setting of their suns, there are brilliances and inspirations to be seen in their examples, cheering on those who have to follow in their steps, and there is much to be don-o • yet. A .Tubilee would fail in its object if its observance was merely to rest tipon tho oars in the stagnant waters of self-elation and content. Its real purpose, and this was shown this week in tho energy thrown into the voluntary work done by so many, is to re-coil the springs for even greater effort. When the advance of the district is represented in figures the result is startling in its magnitude. Take the wool clip, the meat export, the rapidly-increasing output of butter, or. all the various items of miscellaneous production, all going out to come hack in tho form of capital available for further triumphs, or in the comforts of life, from, which our pioneers in their early days were shut off and which man, as distinguished from the brute creation, is well entitled to enjoy. We have no doubt but what the future will be just as prosperous as the past has been. But will the opportunities be just the same? That | is a question that is always ashed, nl- j though tho answer in practical lifo has always been, Yes! What oppor- I tuintios had the pioneers f. They had j no communications and no markets, j It was years before they had markets or, anything worth while ■ to market.; Colonisation is always so. It is ever; a sublime act of faith, reaching,'.; almost blindfold, after what isunseen, j undreamt of, and aparontly iinpos-' ■ sible. But some are asking whether the district or the nation can "prosper, when, it it is the case, as men "of

despondent bias arc telling us, we are not privately, or publicly, .paying our ' way. Wo prefer the sane view of the Finance- Minister given The other day at Folding, The conclusion of his masterly address on tho financial position of the Dominion was this: "There is no reason why Ave should not be quietly confident, oven though we may have to exercise economy and thrift to an extent which we thought unnecessary while prices were high and trade buoyant." When Loudon begins to look askance on New Zealand's credit, then it will be high time for our'producers to be perturbt, ed. There is no sign so far of any loss of credit. The silent Ministry — ' a silence now happily, and not a moment too soon, broken—is entitled to this meed of praise, that their administration of the finances has fully maintained the high credit which, for ' many years, the Dominion has steadily justified. Locally we can sec no sign of any permanent set-back to the district. * It is true that the slump has caught more good men than we quite care to count, unawares. They banked too much upon even a more rapid advance than what has been. iLike Mr. Grounds, according to Mr Stewart, they ''rushed their fences," not looking" what obstacles lay on the other side. But while personal loss of this kind is unavoidable, so long as a pro--1 gressive spirit, which sometimes - tempts a man too far, obtains, and, without which, in its fitting degree, there would be no progress at all, the output of dhc lands must continue to increase. The profits in the future will probably be more widely extended. Closer settlement will force itself, even if no Government, or lawmaker, helps to bring it about. The inevitable progress of the' outer world ) under peace conditions and discovery, will come to the aid of the Dominion. Costs will be out down. Prosperity will widen and broaden. The suggestion, that the young men of the day, in consequence of the trend of our education during the last twenty years, are turning their backs upon the toil of the country and are aiming at professional life, despising the >, plough, and that therefore there will be a permanent set-back to production, may, we think, be brushed aside. Mistakes of that kind rectify themselves quickly. Education, even of the wrong kind, never hurt any one. Dreams of youth, however deeply cherished, seldom' impair practical !.! action. Dreams art} the poetry of life. | In the immediate future production j from the land will be a more scientific I j process. It should increase in interest I with increasing knowledge. Ma- '! chinerv already is displacing much ,! manual labor.* The application of o! economic power to propulsion is eomfiing so fast that' it is difficult for i builders of engines of all kinds to find • sufficient scrap-heaps for what was new yesterday. All this points to reduction of time in the transit of goods, the day of chilled meat in overseas transit, "and shortened time in 1 caching a market. Aviation will surely take its place in cutting clown • cost.' The aeroplanes of to-day, ■j beautiful as they are, in twenty years' time will be only, compared with the .' planes of that day, as the ungainly flight of tho shag upon the river is when compared with the flight of the •' albatross upon the ocean. Great as • may be expected to be the ndvanco in , ! wealth, based upon discovery, so the 1 character and tone of men may deepen 3 and widen. It will be so clearly un- . [ profitable to be vicious.