Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, THURSDAY, JAN. 2, 1930 LOOKING FORWARD

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17147, 2 January 1930, Page 6

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, THURSDAY, JAN. 2, 1930 LOOKING FORWARD

Altlipugh the year just past is one which in its closing phases brought a good deal of discouragement, particularly to the growers of one of our main staple products, there is no reason to take a despondent view concerning New Zealand’s future prospects. Fortunately the eggs are not now all in the one basket, and if wool bo “down” butter or beef or some other commodity which the Dominion is producing in ever increasing quantity will be “up,” or at anyrate “steady.” The fluctuations of the markets convey more and more forcibly the lesson that the best and safest way to assure the prosperity of this country is to adopt a policy of closer settlement enabling the land to be put to diverse uses and to produce a sufficient variety of products. There is a great deal of country in this district and throughout the Dominion grazing sheep and a -few store cattle that could he converted into dairy farms and agricultural holdings, and private enterprise combined with public policy may yet liml a way for such an extension of settlement as will ensure enhanced return from the land and a wider measure of prosperity. The most reassuring feature of the present trade situation is that the exports still maintain a supremacy over the imports. For the year ended September 30 the exports amounted to a little over £50,000,000 and the imports were just in excess of £48,000,000, giving a favorable trade balance for the year of £8,000,000, or four millions less than in the previous year. The recorded value of exports changed very little during the year, but there was a steady increase in volume, which was just about balanced by the decline in prices. In the current year, wo understand, volume is being well maintained, and though wool prices have depreciated since December it may happen that on the, total output of all products for the exporting season there will not he such a shrinkage in the aggregate return as some are inclined to expect. Still it is prudent to calculate on a decline of the national income and to trim sails accordingly. The influence of the favorable trade balances for the past few years has promoted a very considerable growth of imports. The imports for the year ended September last were £4,000,000 heavier than those of the preceding year, and the indications arc that for the current year they will run to 50 millions, so that it is. quite possible when next September arrives we shall see imports and exports on a relatively close level. Importers would do well to be careful, for it will be to the advantage of all if the overseas trade balance of the Dominion can be kept on the right side of the ledger. Internal trade, of course, is governed very largely by external trade conditions, but New Zealand’s prosperity can be built up and more comfortable conditions ensured, by a greater reliance on our manufacturing industries. If people would only consider there is very little that we need for our everyday requirements that is not and cannot be produced in quite good quality within the Dominion, and if New Zealand factories were supported as they should be they would soon be able to absorb all the unemployed in the country. It is in this direction more than in the lavish expenditure of public money on relief works that we expect to see some permanent solution of the unemployment problem brought about.

The now year may bo expected to bring- some political changes in New Zealand. It is extremely doubtful whether Sir .Joseph Ward will ever be well enough to iead his party in Parliament, and if the challenge comes, as come,it will, from the Labor party then the present regime can only be maintained with the help and collaboration of the Reform Party. It is sincerely to be hoped that the obvious and commonsense course will be followed of a fusion of these two parties; otherwise only political confusion can result. Ho far as our own district is concerned we know of no other in which there are such good prospects of development. The land is here, of wonderful fertility, and the expansion of roading facilities is gradually but surely opening it up and bringing it to greater profit. That same extension of roading, the coming of the railway, and the completion of the first stage of 1 lie harbor, are making for a greater Gisborne. Jl‘ oil be struck at Morere—it; is one of the prospects of the new year—there is no telling what increased activity it, would bring, to the Last Least. Without, the oil, however, we have a rich source of wealth in our soil and climate, and no one who has witnessed the development which has taken place in other districts by the use of fertilisers and closer settlement will need to be persuaded that the output from this rich East Coast can be vastly increased. The time is one not; for pessimism, but for renewed energy and the intelligent application of scientific treatment to the land. With faith in our district, and a determination. to push it ahead, much can be accomplished in the years that are before us.