AVERAGE INCOME OF THE PEOPLE OF NEW ZEALAND.

Evening Star, Issue 3317, 7 October 1873, Page 2

AVERAGE INCOME OF THE PEOPLE OF NEW ZEALAND.

lu the course of an interesting article on the debate in the House as to the indebted* ness of the Colony, &c., the Lyttelton Times has the following The Premier has hal occasion to calculate what the average in* come' of the people of iSew Zealand is, and he confesses that he had seme difficulty in determining how to arrive at a fair conclusion. On the whole, however, he decided that “ The report of the Civil Service Commissioners in the Appendix to the Journals, 1866, was a document upon which a considerable amount of reliance might be placed. Taking that report as correct, the estimated total income of the people amounted to JL7B per year per head of population, at the time the report was compiled. Allowing for the fact, on the one hand, that the profits of the people have increased since that time, and on the other hand for the fact that the proportion of bread-winners to the total population has become smaller, I do not think that the Commissioners' estimate of the average income per head of the population is excessive.” Adopting the estimates given by the Commissioners, which seems to us moderate, Mr Vogel constructs the following interesting and important table Per ceat. of the average earnings per head. The annual charge per head for interest on the Colonial indebtedness, exclusive of Public Works and Provincial, represents I'2 The annual charge for interest on the Colonial indebtednesss, including Public Works, and excluding Provincial, represents ------ I'Q The annual charge for interest on the Colonial indebtednesss, including Public Works and Provincial, represents - - • 2'l In a second table he gives the percentage of debt on the earnings of the people of other countries, taking his figures from Mr Dud'ey Baxter’s work : 1815 1887 1868 Countries. to to to 1820. 1843. 1870. United Kingdom -_ - 9 5'5 2'B United States (including State debts) - - - Russia (including railway guarantee) - - - France (including railway guarantee) - - - 3*5 2*3 2 3 Austria- .- I’B 2"2 2"2 Prussia and German States- I*3 ’6 German Empire - Comparing these figures with those relating to iNew Zealand, Mr Vogel contends that the annual interest on our debt is not a very large charge on the annual earnings of the people. Such a conclusion, he urges, is strongly fortified, when we remember that, in relief of the burden, we have the railways and other public works constructed out of the public works loan, and the works constructed out of the total of the Provincial loans, including several large railways commenced before the initiation of the public works policy; and when we remember also that the whole of the land revenue, and the value of the public estate, are not taken into account Contrasting our strictly unproductive debt with the strictly unproductive debt of the United Kingdom, Mr Vogel finds that the percentage in earnings per head of population is I*2 against 2‘B To make a fair comparison between our debt and the national debt of the United Kingdom, he Contends that we should add to the charge for the latter the annual interest on the cost of railways, which would amount, at feurper cent., to L 22,000,000 yearly, “to say nothing of the interest on other works of public utility, constructed out of local loans.” Altogether, the Treasurer’s speech is full and exhaustive, and it must be admitted that he has made out on the whole—assuming the accuracy of his figures—a remarkably good case for New Zealand in comparison with other countries It was John Beeve who said, “Actors could not be too grateful to'architects, for it seems to have been a general plan with them to build every theatre as near a# possible to a public-house,”