HELPING THE TOWN.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 June 1925, Page 8

HELPING THE TOWN.

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. PAST YEAR’S ACTfVI'TIES. REVIEW OF TR2IIDE CONDITIONS. Close on fifty members of the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce gave the chamber a good jttart off in another year of work for the betterment of New Plymouth and Taranaki generally at the annual meeting of members last night. Mr. Gordon Fraser (president) presided. Referring to the finances of the chamber, when moving the adoption of the annual report and balance-sheet (al ready published), Mr. Fraser asked the members not to go away with the idea that the chamber was deliberately accumulating funds. It was not necessary to du this. The council, however, wished to establish a little fund to which it might have access when the good of the district necessitated tbe expenditure of a few pounds. It was the custom, Mr. Fraser continued, for presidents of the various chambers to review the annual New Zealand statistics for the past year. Personally, he did not feel competent to do this, but it might be of interest to spend u few minutes in a peep al the figures for imports and exports. ’‘Some anxiety,” he said, “has been manifested at similar gatherings that the imports are a record, with the exception of the boom year of 1020. They amount to approximately and exceed the exports by £4,000,000, equivalent to the increase in value of tne wool exports. Our invisible imports, .such as foreign interest, etc., are estimated at £7,000/WX), and, of course, it is our aim for exports to exceed import's by that amount. In any comparison with 1020 it must be remembered that in that period, while our exports were £50,000,000, our imports were £61,500,000. ' GOOD PRODUCTION YEAR. “Personally, 1 prefer to look at our export figures, and surely there should be no anxiety for our little country when we have exports to the value of £52,500,000. We should not take our imports in the aggregate, but analyse them as one would the expenses of a business. A million went for wheat and many of us think it would pay this country to import more, if with high protections and almost record prices the growers cannot grow wheat at a profit. Over £2,0u0,(H>9 represents electrical machinery, which is not an expense but a very fine investment. Manures, which are a necessity, account for a third of a million, and seed oats for £l-80,000. After referring to the motor trade figures, Mr. Fraser said he would not go on through the long list of imports prepared by the Government Statistician, but would suggest that statistics, whether for a country or for a business, required very close analysis for their true meaning to be discovered. The people of New Zealand must watch their expenditure and yet remember the old saying: “You cannot make omelettes without breaking eggs.” “Coming to our own district,” Mr. Fraser proceeded, “we have had a good season as far as production, but prices have not been what the boom years caused us to look upon as good. This has pressed more severely upon those oji the land with borrowed money, and I fear there is a tendency in this district to look upon farming as a business that can be profitably undertaken with capital borrowed at high rates of interest and no margin for proper development. Perhaps some of our farmers should still be working for wages —it might be better both for them and the district. “Like the gambler who stayed up late the night before, we may be inclined to have too pessimistic an outlook in the morning. The money that last night seemed so plentiful distorted our sense of values. It is never pleasant tearing up worthless 1.0.U.’5, and very much less so when they represent what we believed to be excellent profits, but the sooner they are destroyed the sooner both the giver and the taker will return to normal. We have learnt the lesson, and the land boom should be remembered when the temptation comes to gamble in town properties where in Taranaki the increase in population is now taking place.” WORK AHEAD OF CHAMBER. Turning to the work ahead of the chamber, Mr. Fraser said their main energies during the coming year must be to push forward the canals that would bring the stream of commerce into Taranaki. Of these the most important was the Stratford-Main Trunk railway. It was to Taranaki the most important public work on the schedule, but there were roads still to be opened into the baekblocks, and the wants of these settlers must ever be kept in mind. The chamber parted with regret from its old friend the Mokau Road, now swaggering as the No. 1 Main Highway of New Zealand. The harbour board might require assistance.- There were revolutionary spirits at work in the dairy industry, one of whose avowed objects was the limiting of ports of call for overseas liners. The unfortunate loss of the Cyrena at Wanganui would prejudice the shipping people against outports. Unfortunately delays in the progress of the harbour might materially affect Taranaki. “We may call with no uncertain voice ‘Hands off New Plymouth,” Mr. Fraser said, “but we cannot be secure from these attacks until our progress at the harbour is such that our rights must be admitted without question. We have not yet reached that stage.” In closing, Mr. Fraser expressed his gratitude to Mr. James McNeill for the assistance Mr. McNeill, as vice-president, had given him, and also to the memlberd of the council for their great help during the year. The monthly meetings had almost invariably drawn a full attendance of eager workers. With such officers the work of president had been very easy and pleasant. The motion for the adoption of the report and balance-sheet wa« seconded by Mr. P. E. jStainton.

Mr. R. Clinton Hughos, speaking -with reference to harbour development, stressed the necessity of the haiboilf board geitiftg early the stone and other material for the works it had in view. He thought the board should lose no time in co-operating with other local bodies in getting etone from the Te Kiri stream..

The motion was then carried unanimously.

BOY'S ON THE LAND. The report of the immigation co®* mit tee (already piiblished) was adopted on the motion of Mr. T. C. List. Mr. List remarked on the great amount d work which devolved upon the should of the committeemen iu oar vying thi scheme through. The boys were stranger to New Zealand conditions when they aiTived, but the great majority had set* tied down and were doing well. In tho eases where the success had not been all that it might have been, the fault was not always on the boy’s side. The desirability of keeping the committee alive was stressed by Mr. List. The committee was of great a distance to the boys in settling their little troubles. Reference was also made to the extension of the scheme by the sending of the boys to the New Plymouth Boys* High School to complete their education before going out to farms. These boys were already good New Zealanders. Behind the scheme of boy immigration was the desire to fill up New Zealand with a population of the right sort. The only way of securing New Zealand for our children and children’s children* was to fill up the empty spaces on the land. The younger material was the b(Ht for this purpose, and in the English public school boy the mateiial was second to none. The scheme inaugurated by th#* chamber was being closely watched and he believed that it Would very /toon be followed elsewhere In 'New Zealand. Mr. U. Carter said that 50 more boys would arrive in New Zealand on July 12. Thirty of them would come to Taranaki and then would go to Te Kulti. These boys would be followed by a furthen ten, who would arrive before ths end of the season. Mr. Carter spoke of the great amount of Work involved in the scheme, and expressed the opinion that, with 40 more boys coming, the. time was ripe for the Immigration Department to station an officer in I’aranaki who would devote hi-s whole attention to the boys. The work would become too great for members of the chamber to attend to. Mr. Carter referred to some of the activities of the committee in adjusting the difficulties that were inevitable in carrying such a scheme through its early stages, and expressed hS"thanks to tne committeemen and Mr. Fraser for the ready ae« si'stance they had always given him. Mr. Benoni White suggested that chamber might consider the quest a land settlement scheme which the Government might adopt so that the boys might become firmly settled New Zealandcra. Mr. R. Cock, after expressing thanks for a welcome which had been accorded him. said he did not agree with Mr. White. It was much better that the boys should ‘be taught farming rather than given land. Giving them land as soon as they arrived would be absolute waste. They must be taught farming first, and Mr. Cock spoke enthusiastically of the scheme inaugurated by the chamber of placing the boys with good farmers with whom they would thoroughly learn their tasks. Mr. List said that the committee had never contemplated putting the boys out on their own. They must become thoroughly acclimatised first, and then they must decide for themselves when the time arrived. Further, the committee could not ask the Government to differentiate in any settlement scheme between our own ‘boys and the English boys. Mr. White said he hud not suggested giving land to the boys on arrival, but they should look forward to the time when the boys would be expert farmers. They wanted the boys to become farm owners, not merely farm labourers. ELECTION OF OFFICERS. Mr. Fraser was re-elected president for the ensuing year, tribute to his work being paid ’by Messrs Stainton and F. 8. Johns and receiving the hearty endorsement of members. The other offices were filled as follows:— Vice-president, Mr. Jas. McNeill; council, Messrs F. 8. Johns, T. C. List, C. Carter, W. Penn, J. R. Cruickshank, P. E. Stain ton, 3. Shaw, H. N. R. Cook, N. Smith, 3. Burgess. J. H. Holm and F. Hooker; auditor, Mr. Hugh Bailey. A vote of thanke was accorded th< outgoing council and officers for their services. Appreciation of the services rendered by Mr. List on behalf of the immigrawhile he was at home was also expressed in a resolution moved by Mr. G. T. Champion. Acknowledging the compliment, Mr. List paid a high tribute to the services given the schema by Mr. Fraser and Mr. Carter. On the motion of Mr. White the question of agricultural instruction in the primary schools was recommended to the incoming council as a matter for consideration with a view to framing 4 remit to the Dominion conference ©A** chambers of commerce.