The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 1887. SIR W. FOX'S VIEWS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1636, 15 August 1887, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 1887. SIR W. FOX'S VIEWS.

At a political meeting held recentlj m Auckland, Sir William Fox, when alluding to the present depression, said that he had read the various poiitical speeches, and he had found something wanting m them all. They all had some remedy for the distress, but he could not see any allusion to the causes of depression, and how could they dc away with the depression without knowing the cause. He then proceeded to point out that we were only taking our share m the depression which existed all over the world. ''The immediate cause," he observed, "was the great fall m value of all products o all nations. He believed this was due to the enormous armies kept up bj European nations, who hoped to wipe out tlieir debts by a bloody sponge Our difficulties were caused by deprecia tion m the value of cornmodides About seven years ago this depressior set m m the South Island. Our leading product was wool, of which we exported to the value of three million! sterling a year, Next to this came gold and next timber. As regards wool, about six or seven years ago a depres sion set m m the price, which cost the farmers a million* and a quarter sterling per annum. In 1883 they exported ;£r, 200,000 of breadstufts to England) but the next year England was flooded with corn from America and India, and this state of afiairs continued to this day. Another million might be set down for thatr Gold had fallen off— not m price, but m amount of production. At the time of the Long Drive, they were exporting three millions, and now only one million was produced. The timber industry was also keeping Auckland going, and then it went down suddenly, and the companies ceased to pay any dividends. From these four items alone there could not be less than five millions of income lost every year. In the South a rise had taken place m wool, which would, it was hope,d, set them on their legs again. Five millions of money had slipped through their fingers ; no art of financial skill or law-making could rerrfedy this. It was all fixed by the London Market, nothing they could do could revive these industries until this dark cloud of depression had passed away." We quite agree with Sir William Fox that fully five millions sterling of incomes have been lost to the colony every year, on our four main staples — wool, gold, giain, and timber. We do not, however, agree with Sir William when he add "no art of financial skill or law-making could remedy this ; nothing they could do could review these industries until this dark cloud of depressive had passed away." We venture to think that a great deal could have been done to avert the loss of nearly one half of the fire millions of income which had been lost to the colony every year during the period specified. Of the four staples mentioned, gold is the only one which has not had to submit to a very considerable reduction m value. It will be seen from the figures quoted that the loss of income from diminished export of gold is put down at two millions— just double of each of the other three. But m addition to the loss of income from this source, there is an additional loss of revenue to the Government of ;£ioo,ooo a year or there about. Now one would have thought that m the case of diminished yield m such a vatuable item of export as gold— one whose value was not liable to? any fluctation — every means of fostering and stimulating the /industry would have been resorted to. But it was not. And why? Simply becau.se the incustry did not commend itself to the cultured taste of the Continuous Ministry who did not wish to see the colony become "merely a digging community," and the last branch of the Continuous Ministry m office, the Hall -Atkinson Administration,, manifested their uttqf

want of sympathy with — we might say their dislike to — the gold mining indus tty, by withdrawing the rewards for the discovery of new gdldfields, which had been proclaimed by a previous Government. Such a wanton act could not be justified by the plea of economy or retrenchment, for the rewards could have been fenced round with such conditions that the Government would have received more, m the way of additional gold duty, than was sufficient to pay these rewards. When the present Ministry came into office they reversed all this. Fostering care was bestowed upon the industry ; " stimulants " m the way of rewards for new fields were offered, and Schools of Mines established m each mining centre. The miners found that at last they had a Government that bestowed some thought on their interests, and they applied themselves diligently to the acquisition of that knowledge that would enable them to determine, by their own manipulations, not only whether any sample contained gold, bu 1 also what other metals or minerals it possessed, and this within a very short period. Although there has not been time for this last effort of the Govern ment to bear much fruit, it is satisfactory to know that under the fostering care of the present Government the industry is once more looking up, and m the immediate future we may expect some of the vast stores of wealth with which the colony is blessed will be developed. It is to be regretted that owing to interruption Sir William Fox was obliged to abruptly finish his address before suggesting the remedies to be applied "for the existing state of things. But, from his line of argument, we fancy that the maintenance m powerof theonly Government that had really assisted this grand industry, and a substantial reduction m the colony's enormous drink bill — upwards of two millions yearly— would be two of the principal features.