The Evening Star. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1874.

Evening Star, Issue 3648, 31 October 1874, Page 2

The Evening Star. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1874.

The new arrangements for the San Francisco service appear to have left Dunedin out of consideration, any advantages likely to result from the visits of the mail steamers being divided between Auckland and Sydney. Whether this is the result of our own apathy in the matter or is owing to the force of circumstances does nob appear. Our Chamber of Commerce in these things shows a lamentable indifference, which seems simply unaccountable. Fiji is annexed to the British Crown, sends produce to Auckland, and appears likely to open up a profitable trade with that port. We know of no reason why Dunedin should not participate in the profits of what must one day be an important commercial connection. Very probably a little outlay might be required, such as would be needed for a sugar refinery or a cotton mill, or both. For the prosecution of those industries Dunedin has equal facilities with either Auckland Sydney. Its geographical position is, to say the least, equally ad vantageous, and the result of the Mosgiel Woollen Factory-proves that manufacturing processes can be conducted very profitably. It seems to us that the tendency of any speculation there is in Dunedin is towards investing in shares that can be bought and sold readily, instead of establishing fresh industries capable of almost indefinite extension. Reasons may be readily suggested for this preference of buying and selling over production. Men en°gaged in trade have more confidence in foreseeing the probable rise or fall in stocks and shares, t ban in the slower process of reaping dividends from industrial processes. vloreover, when the profits do come, they are substantial, and add immediately to capital. Yet, this passing of shares from hand to hand is very mud' ' ke handing money from one to another at a gaining table. There is no increase of the whole capital traded on. In a transaction of that sort every transfer, even supposing both parties to it ultimately gain is only a division of the profit between the two, and the broker through whose agency the purchase and sale have been arranged; while, should the seller escape loss and the buyer sustain it, there is but a transfer of liability from one shoulder to another. It is very convenient, at times, to have the opportunity of temporary investment, but, in the long run, well-directed reproductive industries afford surer sources of income. It is, therefore, to be regretted that public attention is not turned more towards our industrial capabilities and commercial development, than to what is termed “ share speculation.” There is no occasion to rush rashly into manufacturing. Success depends upon the adoption of the best-devised organisation and intelligent direction of the processes. In few of them are there the same mysteries that- enveloped mechanical and chemical applications some twenty years ago. We remember well on® forbidden room in a large factory, in which it was supposed some precious secret was locked up that would be worth a mine of gold to discover. It was well kept. No bribe could have induced the only man admitted to disclose what he knew. Perhaps ho did not know more than the routine duties he had to perform ; but whether or no, the mighty fact was simply the application of an air-pump to facilitate a mechanical process, by which the weight of the atmosphere '

was made to do what very likely could have been done at less expense by other means. Every advance in science tends to reduce the chance of secrets; and since, as a rule, the remuneration derived from the application of a discovery depends upon the universality of its use, there is far more to be gained by publicity than by any; advantage gained by one manufacture*, over another. For these reasons careful inquiry and calculation reduce the chances ot failure to a minimum. Competent opinions can be always commanded for a mere trifle, and so long as fair estimates are made of varying conditions, the degree of success likely to accrue may be generally approximately predicted. Although Mr Yog el’s Polynesian Scheme has not been proceeded ■with, it has had the good effect of pointing to a wide field for commercial enterprise. By whom is it to be occupied 'I By Victoria, New South Wales, or New Zealand hj Queensland is just now wild after gold—our fever is over. We are gathering population accustomed to settled employment, and it will be wise to consider by what means their labor can be utilised to the utmost for their own benefit, for ours, and for the generation to come.