The Star. THURSDAY, JULY 12, 1906. A REMARKABLE DEVELOP

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8672, 12 July 1906, Page 2

The Star. THURSDAY, JULY 12, 1906. A REMARKABLE DEVELOP-

Pwpie of pcttlfflietic '^tentfttttftt would dp well ix> examine a reiarci "tto» centl? ifiStied by fhe RegiMa-ar-Getteraf giving pwtibulars of the <wifctoy^d«» v«iopm*nt during the last ten Jreafi/ They will find little cause for despoo* dency in these figured For the returns confirm in every partieula* th# belief that the progress of Nw Zealand, has been really remarkable. Fot* country that has not been boomed, and wnioh has made no great effort to enomirags immigration^ an increase of 116,244 on a population of 682,462 may be regarded a& most eatififacrtory. And trliile the population has increased steadily tht work of settling th© tknintry has tfon« ©n. Ten years ago the number ©i occupied holdings wo* by I«at year it had growii to 69,942. Lattfl undieir cultivatioji had is&ea&ed by 3,500,000 acres, and the number of harMS <&nd <Jattle in the country had also increased. The sheep flock atone Had defcfeaeed, but a lat&r return shows that the depreciation has been mad* up and that the flocks to-day are slightly in exofeas of the number* in 1595. It is worth Boting that w!hef#ai there had Jbeen a d&ilite in tfe« niii^. bet of 6heep in the oolony there tad been a fairly substantial increase iil the wool clipj whioh ehowß • that an improvement has taken pl»« both in the flocks and in th«L niethod* 6f the flock owner*. The treineilidU oue strides made by the freesing industry afe clearly revealed by the returns. The meat exports girW by more tliari 560,000c"wtj or by nearly 60 per cent- the bttttef ©xporia frott 57,964cwt to aOS^S^cwtj and tie 6h6e^ output from 76,7450wt to S^s62cwii TM> flax teade aOeo shows an extraordinary development, the eJtport of fibre having been nlitltiplied fifearljr eLsteen-fold. Grain, gold, Coal, kauri gum, taMow, iimbeT and tihe rarloitfi airtdcles coming uiftier the definition of "general paroVfeioJis" likewise in6reas» ed, and tno total value of the sxportii nearly doubled, being £15,509j65dy against £8,590,153. In view of tfeii enormous expansion in our e^?ort trad« and a corresponding growtht in our imports, it is not surtffining td find that there was a very large increafee in shipping, and that fbe. railway **»venu« grew to a remarkable extent. Oof out-wa-rd and inward shipping in 1895 wai represented by some I,SOOjOOO tons; bj last; year it had grown id nearly 2,300,000 toiis, an incf^afee of neaiflj one million tons in a single decade. In the same period the railway revenue rose by more than one million pounds, aii exuraordina.ry increase iii face of the repeated fat© concessions m&dti by the Liberal Government. Anotner i»» ddcatiini of the ptosperity of tJhe obitß* try is disclosed in the rapid expansion <tt postal busihe<sg, flSpWialiy ih re%pe«t tA money ordure:, which roM from £812,604 to £1,84i,7i2; while yet another k to be found in tile ihcr««fee in the Barinp Bank d^ofei'te from £4*620,896 td £9,713,954, Wh*n in addition it li seen that the deposits and assets <>f the corporative Banks- have grown, is a corresponding degree, and tha* th* - life insurance polioies with the Goverfr meat Depadtment alone anlount toov^S eleven million or two million moft than they represented ten year* a^, ii is possible to arrive at an approxiinati estimate of the financial progress of tiw ooiony. It is perhaps too much to hope tliat the saiho raie'of pragrecs will be inaintained. for the nest decade. It is seldom given to a oountry to experience two consecutive decades of th« remarkable prosperity which has be*n vouchsafed to New Zealand du*ing tbt pa&t ten yesu». But tb© figure* w« have quoted a>re eur«ly evidence that our prosperity is based on solid fouifc* diations. No doubt we will have oar p&riods of d<epf«eßion, but in view of the varied nature of our exports and the plenitude of our resources it is difficult to believe that they wiU evef last long enough, to seriously endanger financially the welfare of the colony.