OCCASIONAL NOTES FROM THE METROPOLIS.—(No. IV.)

Cromwell Argus, Volume I, Issue 37, 27 July 1870, Page 6

OCCASIONAL NOTES FROM THE METROPOLIS.—(No. IV.)

The commercial depression which at present exists throughout the whole of New Zealand, although according to all accounts less felt in Otago than in the other provinces, is sufficiently severe to call for serious consideration, in order that the. subject may be discussed, and, if possible, that means may be devised for bringing about a more prosperous state of things. There is no denying the fact that trade is worse in Otago at the present time than it has been for many year's past; and if, as is asserted, it is worse in the other provinces, the picture is gloomy indeed. Reducing the staff and salaries of employes is now not uncommon in the wholesale bouses iii Dunedin, and economy in all branches of business is being rigidly practised; in fact, it is absolutely necessary, in order to counteract the baneful effects ot the depression existing, and to enable business men to meet their engagements. Speaking of economy reminds me of a rather good thing I heard the other day, which deserves chronicling. A friend of mine happened to be down on the jetty a short time back, and heard a conversation between the captain and a part-owner of one of the. inter-pro-vincial steamers—the latter gentleman well known in commercial circles, having formerly been manager of a bank in Dunedin. Says the ex-banker, “ Captain, I have just been looking over tire butcher’s bills. Your men seem to consume a very large quantity of meat.”—“ Well, sir,” says the captain, “ you must remember they have long hours and hard work. Some of them can oat as much as 41bs of meat a day.”— “ What!” cried the astounded steamboat proprietor ; “ shew me the man that eats 41bs of meat in a day, and I’ll discharge him at once !” The captain could not help smiling at the look of mingled incredulity and astonishment depicted on the countenance of his economical employer, and, catching sight of a broad grin on the face of my friend, he burst out laughing, and left the irate gentleman protesting against the employment of men with such voracious appetites. No doubt you residents of our country towns feel the depression quite as much as we do in the city, and have your own fears and doubts about being able to meet “ those little matters on the 4th,” and your own struggles and scrapings to make both ends meet. How to establish a more prosperous state of affairs is a subject fraught with interest to all classes of the community, and which the newspapers, as a rule, have not taken up and discussed as they should have done —at any rate until lately ; for the recent publication of the Colonial Treasurer’s fiancial statement and colonization scheme has had the effect of calling attention to the matter. I have not, like Millar, F.S. A., digested this very elaborate ministerial scheme “ line by line," but I have perused it very carefully, and I certainly do think it is a project which would most surely and irretrievably ruin the colony if it were carried out. No doubt we should have prosperity for a few yearn, while works of such magnitude as those proposed were in course of formation ; but after their completion would come such a period of utter stagnation, and this in a country taxed beyond all precedent, as would result in poverty and misery among the lowei classes, and a corresponding straitening in the incomes of those in a higher position of life, compared with which the present depressed state of affairs might be called a period of peace and plenty. The Treasurer lays great stress on his expressed opinion that the immense network of railways, whicli he purposes constructing with a large portion of this £10,000,000 loan, will bo a reproductive work. We have tho examples of many other new colonies before us to show that this is a fallacious idea. For years railways in nearly all new colonies barely pay their working expenses, without leaving any surplus whatever for the payment of interest on the immense sums of money borrowed for their construction ; and to imagine for one moment that New Zealand, with its limited population, would bo any exception to tho rule, is absurd. Immigration, to the large extent suggested in tiie scheme, would also prove hurtful in the highest degree. No doubt to a certain extent immigration is wanted—a small, though regular, importation of sober, industrious farm-labourers and domestic servants, for instance; but to swamp the colony indiscriminately with all classes, and let them take their chance—a very small one—of obtaining employment, would be both impolitic and cruel. It is sincerely to he hoped that when tho division takes place in the Assembly on this gigantic scheme, created in the fertile and imaginative brain of the hon. Julius Vogel, the “ Noes” will carry the day. The Port Chalmers railway has not yet been commenced, although I understand that it will not be long before a start is made with it. The works in connection with this lino will, 1 lielievo, absorb nearly all the surplus labor in tho province. Lot ns hope that tho work will not be delayed much longer, for it will relieve fcho pressing necessities of many who are at present living in the direst poverty and wretchedness : that there are such is only too well known, notwithstanding the unwillingness of bur rulers and “aristocracy" to admit the truth of tho fact. Arcanum.