The future development of Canterbury can be to some extent prophesied from its past growth. The figures already quoted in the sections dealing with imports and exports, and the agricultural, pastoral, and industrial resources of the province, give some idea of the phenomenal prosperity which has attended its expansion. New Zealand at the present time enjoys a high degree of commercial page 32 success and financial stability. The address delivered in August, 1900, by the President of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce states: “Probably at no period in the history of New Zealand can we find such unmistakable signs of general prosperity as we have experienced during the past year. Our industries, almost without exception, have had their capacities taxed to the very utmost. Skilled labour has been practically unobtainable, and, except in the case of one or two exceptional trades, there is every prospect for a continued demand for the productions of New Zealand labour.” A glance at the comparative lists of statistics already cited will show that Canterbury has enjoyed, and is still enjoying, a large share of the success which just now attends most forms of industrial enterprise in New Zealand. But perhaps the most satisfactory feature about the present prosperity of the province is that it gives every sign of endurance and stability for the future. The sources of the wealth of Canterbury are grain, wool, and frozen meat. It is a commonplace of commercial history that agricultural and pastoral industries are infinitely the soundest and most stable foundations for national wealth. Wheat and wool are necessaries of life; and the demand for frozen mutton, in particular, is certain to increase rapidly. The wonderful success that has attended the growth of Canterbury's frozen meat trade in the past is likely to be surpassed in the near future. It is true that there are many forms of manufacture that have taken root in Canterbury which have already contributed largely to the wealth of the province and the colony as a whole. But taking a general survey over a long series of years, there can be no doubt that a country's prosperity is bound up in the production of those commodities which it is best adapted by nature to provide. The fertility of the best Canterbury land is unrivalled; and irrigation in years to come will add enormously to the productive power of the province. The yield of the province in wool and frozen mutton is a sufficient proof of the wonderful natural adaptation of the country to pastoral industries. In the existence of towns flourishing outside Christchurch, such as Timaru, Ashburton, and Kaiapoi, there is the possibility of growth at convenient centres for all the manufacturing industries subsidiary to the grain trade, the frozen meat trade, and sheepfarming. The importance of the Kaiapoi woollen manufacture, and the utilisation of by-products at the Belfast and Islington Freezing Works, illustrate the tendency to the growth of manufactures which are naturally connected with the great staple industries. The commerce of Canterbury may be fairly regarded as based upon the soil; and for that reason it will enjoy in the future a certainty and steadiness denied to the industrial development of many other portions of the colony. Auckland, so far, has depended largely on timber and gold; even Otago has based its prosperity to a considerable extent on mining, the least permanent and most dangerous of all forms of industry. Without any provincial egoism, the people of Canterbury can justly claim that their part of the colony is sure ultimately to surpass in wealth and importance other provinces in which the industrial system is reared on narrower and less stable foundations.