The Taranaki Herald. DAILY EVENING TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1920. TARANAKI'S PROGRESS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 16675, 24 February 1920, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald. DAILY EVENING TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1920. TARANAKI'S PROGRESS.

In another column there will be found some figures relating to the exports of produce from the provincial district of Taranaki, showing that these have grown from about £9OOO in value in 1869 to over £5,000,000 in 1919, a period of fifty years. The first thing that strikes one is that the exports were so small in 1869, twenty-eight years after the arrival of the first settlers. This, of course, is explained by the fact that- the modest progress made during the first tw.enty years was swept away by the Maori war, which continued on and off for nearly ten years, so that in 1869 the district was only just beginning to revive. Actually there were in that year only 489 rural holdings and only a little more than twenty-five thousand acres of land sown in artificial grasses or under crop, ' Taranaki’s growth therefore is a growth of only half a century, although it dates back nearly eighty years. The next thing'to strike one-is that a community of approximately sixty thousand people should be able to- export five millions’ worth of produce in one yearn This gives an average of over £BO worth for every man, woman, and child in the district. The total exports from the Dominion for the same period were valued at £52,000,000, or a little over £4O worth per capita. Granting that these figures include a large quantity of the produce of 1918, whose shipment was delayed, the comparison holds good because the same conditions ruled all over the 1 Dominion. Another interesting fact is that fifty years ago there were a quarter of a million people in New Zealand occupying about twenty million acres of land and that the exports from the whole colony did not reach five millions in value in the year. Last year 60,000 people occupying about a million and a half acres of land in Taranaki exported over five millions worth of produce. The exports from Taranaki were greater last year than those from Auckland in 1914. or from in 1912, and the only South Island district to give larger figures last year was Canterbury. It is a great record for a small district like Taranaki with a total population less than that of any of the chief cities of the Dominion, It is a record too which will be greatly exceeded in a very few years. Barely half the land in the provincial district is vet producing at-all and of that half only a very small proportion is producing fifty per cent, of what it can be made to produce. Most of it will produce four times as much as it does now when better methods are applied. Within ten years, it may confidently he predicted, Taranaki’s exports will he worth ten million pounds and will require a large number of big steamers to carry them away. The possibilities are very great indeed and call for a spirit of enterprise in the direction of the development of the port, extensions of roads and railways, and in various other directions, including that of hydro-

electric development. The scheme of harbour improvement was not put in hand a day too soon. Indeed the difficulty will be to keep pace with the rapid growth of the trade of the port. The same may be said of hydro-electric development, in connection with which New Plymouth is looked to supply the requirements of a large part of the district. It will he many years, unless a great change takes place in Government ■ methods, before Taranaki is able to derive electric power from outside, from the contemplated comprehensive North Island power scheme. Taranaki cannot afford to wait for that. The dairy factories, freezing, works, and other industries requiring power will be seriously handicapped for want of it long before the national scheme is developed sufficiently. There is thus a' great opportunity for New Plymouth to fill the breach. IWere it able to develop 20,000 horse-power in the nest five years consumers would be found for every unit and the effect would be tor largely increase the productive power of the country, and as a consequence the .trade of the port of New Plymouth. The Borough Council has decided wisely therefore in pushing on with the Waiwakaiho scheme as rapidly as possible. It will prove a great factor in the development of the district and the growth of the town and port, and incidentally it is a good sound business proposition.