The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 12, 1910. PROGRESS OF POVERTY BAY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2708, 12 January 1910, Page 4

The Gisborne Times . PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 12, 1910. PROGRESS OF POVERTY BAY.

The returns published in yesterday’s issue must have been very gratifying to those who measure a country’s condition by its statistics. For a community of some 10,000 people to export more than a million pounds’ worth of products is certainly a very creditable achievement, and enables the circulation of a very large amount of money in the district. In all probability the returns for the year which is just commencing will show even better results. There are.more sheep to be shorn, and the season lias been so favorable for the growth of wool that the average lleeec should he heavier than usual. It is-to he hoped that the present dry weather will continue long enough to enable farmers to get through their shearing, which has been subjected to unusual delay as the result of the frequent rains. With ordinary luck in this respect, and with prices maintaining the present standard, the district should establish a record for its wool cheque at the end of the present season. Sheep and lambs are not fattening as well as usual, for, although the feed is overabundant, the ever-present moisture has kept the grass too rank to make it an ideal fattening fodder. However, the season is yet young, and a spell of dry weather would result in putting the finishing touches to stock that is at present only half fat. Prices for mutton and lamb are not what farmers were accustomed to a few years back, but they arc substantially better than last year, and with a prodigal output the financial results should prove remunerative.' The dairying industry, again, should show Ti greatly increased output, for with cattle no to their knees in pasture the milk yield keeps at a gratifying high level. One feature of the district's export list deserving of mention is the fact that it does not include fruit. Some day Poverty Bay will rival all the other provinces as a producer of stone fruits, lemons, and certain varieties of oranges. Our '• . I

climate and soil provide ample opportunities in this direction, but our people are so absorbed in the pastoral interests that they give little attention to other branches of agriculture. Thus it happens that the community spends thousands of pounds annually in bringing fruits from the orchards of Australia and other parts of New Zealand which could quite easily be grown here. Besides paying the producer they also pay middlemen’s charges, freights, lightering, wharfages, and help to keep canning industries going in other centres. The fact that barley was exported last year gives point to the contention that has often been, made in these columns, namely, that a good deal more could be done in cultivating the soil for grain-growing than has been done hitherto. It seems ridiculons that most of the oats, wheat, and chaff required in Poverty Bay should be imported from outside, nnd the fact is a reflection upon the skill and industry of our farmers. However, so long as the pastoral occupation continues to be as remunerative as it is at the present time, we fear it is not much use calling attention to other undertakings, however sound and prolitable; but it is satisfactory to know that for its ultimate development the fate of Poverty Bay does not rest entirely on any one special industry. As already indicated, the present season should prove even more satisfactory than last, and within the next few months there should be available a • large amount of money, the bulk of which will find its way into circulation in the town of Gisborne.