A LAND BOOM CLOSE AHEAD.

Observer, Volume 9, Issue 522, 22 December 1888, Page 3

A LAND BOOM CLOSE AHEAD.

I hear with regret that there are unmistakable symptoms of a land boom setting in in Auckland. Draughtsmen are busy preparing plans of ' desirable properties' suitable for cutting up into j building sections, and land agents and auctioneers are eagerly discussing the prospects of fat fees and liberal ' commissions.' # v * ••■ * The long-suffering public, groaning under the j pressure of the hard times, will perhaps say: ' Anything for a change 1 Let us have a boom if it will only set the monetary ball a-rolling and relievo the financial tightness of the chest which oppresses us.' ' True, a land boom would give Auckland a fillip, and rejoice the hearts of agents and auctioneers, not to speak of the , holders of landed property in the city arid suburbs. But 'booms' never last long, and while they enrich the few they impoverish the many, and the last state of the place in which they occur is invariably worse than the first. Look at Melbourne. 'Acute signs of depression,' we are told, ' are already beginning to manifest themselves in the Victorian capital.' Scores of fortunes have been made there while- the boom lasted—and hundreds have been lost, aggregating who knowa how many thousands of pounds in hard cash ? . Men of straw, without silver or gold, but possesssd of an unlimited amount of brass— that very useful substitute in the absence of the precious - metals — have built fortunes out of paper. , The process is simple. A man hear 3 of a desirable piece of land ; scraping together the deposit money (in many cases but a small pev-) .centageon the whole amount),. he buys the pro- 4 perty-: on bills. Long before those bills mature :he has sold' out at an endrmous profit, and meets his. paper promptly. The principal thing in

speculating is to know when to leave off. One ™1 n°™ n - c T n W -^° lingered t0 ° Ion 8 forfeited £62,000 in deposits .sooner than carry out his contracts. ' Land booms are bad things. Property goes up hke a rocket, but comes down like the stick A recent visitor to the other side describes Mcli bourne during the height of the boom as ' a oity of gamblers.' And now the reaction has come. The resources of the colony are too rich to keep ncr metropolis down long, and yet she must pay the piper now the excitement is over, and when her Exhibition closes and winter sets in she will probably bs as dull as ditch water, and hard times will stare her again in the face. * * * We want something more 3table than ' booms.' We want to see an era of prosperity dawn, based on increased exports, extended local industries increased immigration of the light kind, and the settlement of the people on the land. To these things we must look for lasting prosperity and future greatness.