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Southland Times, Issue 9540, 9 June 1887, Page 2

We remember reading an article in one of the Otago newspapers pointing out that the magnificent scenery of the Southern part of the colony might, or rather would, yet become an important source of revenue. This was long before the depression had deepened into ita present stage of settled gloom, almost of despair, and we confess the suggestion struck us as something altogether unworthy of the colony t Wan a young country like New Zealand which enjoyed (as it then did) an nnexampled prosperity to be reduced for a subsistence to the bounty of tourists from the neighbouring colonies ? — the sturdy independent colonists tq be degraded into tourist guides and tourist hotel-keepers ?— the spirit of flunkeydom to be infuged intp the inhabitants of the Great Britain of the South?— the land of lixpenny nips and Government stroke to be turned into a beggarly Switzerland 1 The very tkought or such a thing was a kind of profanation. At that time New Zealandeis would not condeecend to engage in the smaller industries* Govern* ment stroke-, which regulated the. labour market and maintained a high rate of wages, and the high prices then ruling for our principal exports, made money plentiful. We were ia fact good customers of some of those very colonies fro.m which, according to the writer ol tie ftttisla ia qucßtwa, w« wer«ts fl«ive

our profitable supply of tonrist*. But times have changed since then. Prices have gone down, Government stroke ib scarcely heard in the land, Vogelism is played out, the British moneylender buttons up his pookets against farther advances, and universal depression reigns BUprems— except up at Gor* ernment Jlouse and the Ministerial residences, when Government stroke still happ.ly retains ail, or more than all, its original prerogatives. The cry ir not only. What shall ye do with our bo.ya ?-bnt, How sh*U we mak^ th« two enda meet? Poor houses are rising here and there all over the colony ; the unemployed are an ever increasing multitude ; and farmers, traders, and publicaus are going through, the " mill " as fast as tho ' fficial Assignees and their legal acolytes can put them. It is uot like the same country. Money is tight, that used to be so abundant. The bai.ks are screwing up Iheir customers as tenderly as if they loved them, to adapt the words of the old Angler. The great^loau companies cannot realise oa their pledges (uo more can the more cautious banks in many casec) ; but the interest is running up into great compound accumulations, threatening ruin to thousands of industrious settlers, and in too many instances (already funlling tbe threat. Tbe banks and the]companiee will have Iheir pound of flesh, if they can get i f ; they are commercial not philanthropic or benevolent, association*; and though in some cases they no doulK net with harshness, even with downiighc crnelty, it is nevertheless ab'uni to blame them, as hotheaded shorl-wit'ei persons with un governable tongues are apt. to do, for the present collapse of trade and the • ooiinou* depression of the agricultural interest. The borrowers were as inuoh to blame as the leoderg. Both clawes had a hand, along with Sir Julius Vo^el, Sir George Grey, Msj.tr Atkinson, and o'.ber politicians, in rendering New Ze«land, most n.qjislionably io ite misfortune, the Great Loan Laud, We wonder how many of the foolish persona to whom we have referred would be willing to grant their debtors a release from their bonds. It is so easy for people to preach generosity to their neighbours, and so dreadfully hard for most men, and, we will venture to say, especially for euoh preachers, to practice it. Ba-ika aad loan companies will act after their kin.'l, and very much in the s;.me way as their censors would do in like circumstances, though that is no excuse for capricious and merciless " screwing up" or execsi ye ch'trgc-B Rutth'sisby the way. The tin'-s. we »ay, are altered, since we read the article : we have mentioned. Seeing that farmeis.with small or great capital, will not look sear us, scared a', the very thought of our enormous debt, our heavy taxes, our dear land, Bnd our precious rulers, an annual icvasion of tourists would b«j quite a godsend Nor is there any reason why wn should not cultivate thii Dew, if somewhat humble, industry. We must put our pride in our pocket, and adapt ourselves to our cirenm■tanceß, With euch a luxurious and luxuriant system of government to maintain, it is ntcensary to tackle any job that turns up. Just thiuk of what the iderry Minister of Mines alone cos'a as annually — a mighty large sum indeed, when it is considered that the final end of it ail, to speak philosophically, was merely to provide a bilet for An unemployed O. M. G-. 1 O much - suffering ooloDy, when will thy many sorrows have an end / When will political quacks and sharpers cease to fleece thee? Meanwhile, and till we mauage to rid ourselves ot our governmental incubus — we do not mean the present Ministry 60 much as the vicious system of which they have been by their actions such eloquent r-xpo'ienta — it would ill become a people who abjure the very thought of repudiation to disdain any means, however humble, of earning an honest penny, This truth seems to have commended itself to tbe mind of oue of our honourable Legislative Councillors. And ye are glad ta say that Mr liichmond, the gentleman in question, h*s not been unmiu<Jfnl of Southland. He is, we believe, an inhabitant of the other Island, and it was awfully good o£ hicQ to put in a word in our especial behalf. The des'.ruciion.of the Fink and White Terraces, through the disorderly behaviour of Mount Tarawera, was a and losn to the people of the North, and it might have been expecled that a North isUuder wouid have been careful to publish the remaining attractions of hi? own region. But generoiity is not extinct in New Zealand. Mr Richmond recent y paid a visit, in company with Mr Gully ihs piiin'er, to the lakes To Anau and Wanapouri, and he w»s so deeply impressed with the beauty and grandeur of ihe s renery that he has sent a memorandum to the Premier, suggesting that a litrle money shou d be especded — if not now, at least as soon as the Government could afiord to do so — ia reoderiug that diatriet accessible to tourists. He gives a very good description of the scenery, of the wonderful charms of which most of ns know samething by hearsay at leasr, a>:d points out what is needei to biing tbe Southwestern Lakes witbia ieich of the ordinary unadventurous globe-trotter, Ihs expend:iure of ft thouand pounds, or thereabouts, would divert the tourist stream in that direction ; but, alas, a thousand pound* for such a purpose is eutirely out of the question in the straitened circumstances, of the Government. If it | were to re-furnish Goverament House ana I the Ministerial residences (what, by the way, j do they do wuh all tbe old furniture (they are eternally refurnishing) ?— sell it chenp, or give it (< free, gratis, for nothing, aa if it were old do', to their supporters 7" or send it to the auction room to replenish tbe de» pletcd Treasury 7)— if it were for that object, or to create billets for neady and importunate h&ngeroon, e?en at the very time they are diomsiog old fiutbful servants, tbe money would doubtless be forthcoming ; but not to -int ud poor Souibland in the tourist line. Let Southland then try and help herself, To opea up the way to Te Anau and Manapouri would be as good as the discovery of a small goldtieid. Tourists' gold is every b t a? valuable as diggers' gold. We have of late been ofcen disappointed in respect of the latter. The new field that is to restore prosperity to the district is still to be discovered, Let us then go for the former, for which no Aiggicg, or mining, or stamping, or washing is required. We have only to make passable roads, build ordinarily comfortable hotels, provide hill mutton and "tourist skerry, 1 ' and the precious metal will actually drop into our hands, all etauped with the image of our Moit Gracious Sovereign Queen Victoria, and ready, so to speak, to be kept in the country I