The Evening Star FRIDAY, JUNE 9, 1876.

Evening Star, Issue 4145, 9 June 1876, Page 2

The Evening Star FRIDAY, JUNE 9, 1876.

Box little bus latterly been heard of the Chamber of Commerce. Its meetings have not been numerous—perhaps even, not well attended. There is something unostentatious in its proceedings, and therefore they are unattractive to those who desire to hav»‘ their names and doings prominently before the public. But the Committee have not been idle. Their office is not that of meddling with every movement political and social that takes place in the community, but te watch the proceeding* ■ of the Legislature and other public bodies; to weigh well the bearings of their action upon the commerce and industry of the country; and to recommend, remonstrate, and suggest, as tif'eDW most ad inabie ibi the genera) good. As a matter ol course the functions of a Chamber of Commerce are mainly deliberative. Very seldom do party politics enter into their discus*' sions. “ Measures, not men,” is their leading maxim, and consequently their attention is more directed to general effects than to the instruments by which they are produced. Thus it happens that men of all shades of politics meet, it were, on common ground, and being personally interested in safe and extended industry, and being moreover practical merchants with extensive opportunity of observation, their recommendations must prove exceedingly valuable to the theorists to whom are entrusted the task of legislation. The reports laid before the Chamber at its meeting yesterday showed that the committee had been at their posts. The vexed question of bal&ruptoy law has received earnest attention, and a long

drawn up, which, from the cursory glance we have been able to give them, appear, in the main, very likely to prove beneficial to trade, through deterring fraud and providing for speedy and equitable distribution of bankrupt estates. Nothing seems more difficult to deal with than bankruptcy law. Failures in trade through misfortune are so difficult to separate in practice from the swindling of fraudulent debtors, that it is impossible to separate the penalties where the teste are so uncertain. Yet year by year the necessity for such separation becomes more apparent. Confidence is the very soul ot credit, and credit the moving spirit of trade. Credit, therefore, should be surrounded with every safeguard ; but this protection should not be carried too far or it may defeat the object. We are inclined on this ground to differ with the Chamber in their recommendation that a creditor to the amount of £25 “ may move the Court" to call a debtor to show cause; or two or more creditors whose united claims amount to that small sum. And even should it be deemed advisable to adopt so low a standard as £25 in the case of a single debtor, it seems rather hard that a temptation should be held out to half a dozen creditors, wanting under £5 a piece, to combine together to bring a man to a deadlock. Collusions of that sort are not common, but possible, and should be guarded against; as small tradesmen and their larger creditors, to whom especially such a contingency is likely to occur, might be seriously jeopardised by so arbitrary an enactment. Possibly it might be more fairly met by a graduated scale—say one creditor claiming £25, or two £35, or three £4O, and so on.

In other respect* the meeting was interesting. The general report reviews our commercial progress during the period that has elapsed since the last general meeting of the Chamber. Especial mention is made of the improvement in the machinery of com* meroe— harbor works, and rail way construction. Notwithstanding the alteration in the constitution of the Board by the dying-out Provincial Council, by which a corporation that should have 'been carefully freed from party was subjected to political influence, harbor improvement has progressed so rapidly that shortly after “ some three or four mouths we m»y expect to sde the larger class of interprovincial steamers, such as the Taupo, Hawea, <kc., alongside the Rattray Street wharf, in addition to those that are regularly berthed there.” In conversation with an infill* ential member of some years since, the transfeience of harbor management from the Provincial Government to the Harbor Board was strongly objected to by him on the ground that nothing would be done by the Board but what could be as satisfactorily effected by the Provincial Executive. Perhaps this was strictly true so far as the wofd “ could ” was concerned. The real difficulty was not of power, but of will. If they could, it was proved they, in all probability, would not have been allowed by the Provincial Council. The advantage of local self-government over the ill-formed opinion of a mixed Council is therefore very manifest in the proceedings of the Harbor Board. Although latterly there has been too much political party in it, yet his Honor having “Very considerately nominated the two members previously elected by the Chamber,” and appointed others who have to some extent freed themselves from party feeling, improvement has progressed. As the evil of mixing up personal or party considerations with harbor management forces itself upon the attention of the members; it is questionable whether change in its personnel is desirable, although the present mode of their appointment is as objectionable as it is inconsistent with- the spirit of our representative institutions.

The observations in the report respecting the advantages of railway construction deserve attentive consideration. Short as are the lines already open, the traffic return is an earnest of their monetary success. They form an impoitaut part of the mechanics of our commercial machinery, and fit in admirably with the preparations making for imports and exports. Thus far the benefits that have been conferred by them have been to those who hold property. Their estates are multiplied in value, but this only points to what the effect should b« on unsold land in the Province. A correspondent last night ably pointed out the increasing value of property consequent upon the development of onr industries: the Chamber of Commerce recommends that having served the settled districts, our efforts should be directed to rendering settlement profitable in the west: surely the land will not then be thrown away at 20s an acre, even under the lame plea of oeing “ hill tops.” There is much more in the reports as well as in the address of the chairman that will well repay attention, and to which we shall further address ourselves.