The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE Published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Morning. Saturday, February 9, 1889. THE TURN OF THE TIDE.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 258, 9 February 1889, Page 2

The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE Published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Morning.

Saturday, February 9, 1889. THE TURN OF THE TIDE.

Be just and fear not; Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy flountry's, Thy God's, and truth’s.

“ Every cloud has a silver lining," we are told, and the commercial cloud that has hung over New Zealand, it would appear, is being wafted away. This is what the Melbourne Argus of January 26 has to say about us, and the quotation will carry its own weight without further comment:— From every quarter of New Zealand comes the welcome news of renewal of prosperity. The improvement may not ba vary clearly marked, ter so disastrous have been the follies of the period of borrowing that sound progress towards better things is necessarily slow at first, but all signs show that the turning point has been reached, and that the people are beginning to build their fortunes on Surer foundation than the treacherous swamp into which they were led by a will-o-the-wisp financier. The drastic measure, tardily and reluctantly adopted by the Bank of New Zealand in writing off a sum representing the depreciation iu value of their landed property is already having a wholesome effect. Instead of being kept at an artificial price which no one would buy, and at which occupiers could not even pay interest on the money advanced to them, it has been brought down to the natural and legitimate rate at which land can be bought and cultivated with profit. Everywhere there is now a stir In commerce and industry. Money locked for years in over valued-securities is being at last set free. We are informed that the stream of population which, has for some time set towards other colonies is flowing back to New Zealand, and everyone is apparently finding ample work, since the cry of the unemployed ie no longer heard in the Southern towns. The exp uts have increased, showing that in spite of dull times the production of the country has been extended, and the improved outward trade will in course of time add to the value of the imports. The agricultural industry, upon which New Zealand, with its deep fertile soil and temperate climate, must always rely largely, has become better organised, and is now more likely to bo profitable than at any previous time in the history of the colony. People are ceasing to apeak of the depression, and throwing off the melancholy that enveloped them as long as the finances were shrinking, and are commencing to gather faith in their prospects and to draw energy from the improved outlook. The present season has been exceptionally advantageous fpr the colony, and while there has been a failure of the wheat harvest both in Europe and in Australia, the harvest te New Zealand has been unprecedented and valuable. Nevertheless there is every reason to be'ieve, after making allowance for the windfall which the present year has brought to this southern colony that its permanent prosperity is assured, or rather that it will be assured if the Government cap give up once for all the habit of borrowing on a scale that would be more suited to the year 2000 than to the present time. Now Zealand can boast of all the conditions required for a slow but certain accumulation of solid wealth. First of all, it is a magnificent grain-growing country, and as long as land can be purchased at reasonable rates the produce will always find a profitable market. Then, to say nothing of its woollen industries which flourish with great vigor in Dunedin, we find that, above all the colonies, it is suitable for dairying. The climate and soil render it essentially a dairying country, and sooner or later there is sure to be a large demand ter Now Zealand butter and cheese. When farmers were dependent upon the limited population of Australia, their rr.ark-’ was necessarily liable to fluctuation, but when they sell their produce in London, they will ba able to count upon a uniform price throughout the year. Agriculture therefore offers a solid foundation which will be strengthened by mining cud manufacturing ; and in looking to t(io futpre flf 'the colony, we must also take into account t};c better and more hopeful spirit which now pervades the people, A period of depression is always marked by lls-lessness and timidity, and the shrinking of private enterprise. The ro> astjop b«PSI now energy and strength, and we are eijtfde'i therefore to hope that New Zealand has ' fairly struggled Out of her financial “ slough of d capon"'