Feilding Star. OCTOBER 13, 1883. Dunedin Chamber of Commerce.

Feilding Star, Volume IV, Issue 56, 13 October 1883, Page 2

Feilding Star. OCTOBER 13, 1883. Dunedin Chamber of Commerce.

In moving 1 the adoption of t c annual ropou « f th ■ Dunedin Chamber of Commerce, the President delivered an address which contains many point.of general interest. He said that, although lie could not congratulate members ujiot. an improved state ot business, yet he saw do cause <>f alarm. There was no doubt the Colony w:is taxed to the utm"st extent "f irs powers, both by puViic and prim <> borrowing, aid, as a matter of cour* •. the ill effects of this will hnvo to Inborne for a time. It is iuipos.->i : >lt' not to feel the pinch arising from the payment of large sums of money for interest on borrowed capital. But, we can hold our hards, borrow no fur'hor. and. in the meantime, restrict our wants to ou ■ means of paying for them If we do thi* we shall sen surmount our difficulties aud the cloud thit han» 6 over New Zealand will pti-t. away, and we shall be both wiser ami better for the lesson we are learning-. Our securities are good ; we want time for the steady development of our resources, and, ab">ve nil, we want a sti ady fl »w of the right sort of immigrants to'iitilize them. 'I hose we shall, without <)oubt, attain by the direct steum communication which has been s.> successfully inaugurated by the New Zealand Shinpin^ Company. He mentioned the large Juinc'Stock ( ompanies that are gradually absorbing or extinguishing the middle men. Merchant*, individually, are passing away, and their places are being taken by Joint St.?ck Companies, possessing large capital. Against this r.o private enterprise can successfully compete, when the capital is supplied at low rates from the London money market. Whether or not Companies with resideDt shareholders will meet these new conditions of tr&de is, a3 yet, an untried experiment. Another cause of the present dullness is due to the comparatively sudden changes in the value of land, 'I)ih is partly owing to the competition of b<vnks and Loan Companies, when capital was abundant, to advance on mortgage of lauded securities Speculation was then encouraged, and large purchases were made in expectation of realising larger profits by selling in suitable allotments for «mall farmers. The action of the Government in throwing open for selection large areas on favorable terms for settlement has closed the door for land speculations, and instead of disposing of their purchases as expected, they still remain on the buyer's hands, and the money thus invested remains locked up and consequently unavailable for commercial purposes. The depression then is not due to over importation alone, as was generally believed, but to the unwise speculation in landed estate, encoirajrei by Joint Stock Companies. It must be understood that reference is made here to the South Island generally, as the advances mwde by Companies whose head offices are in London, on properyt in the North Island, are comparatively small, ami, in tr.ct. Bir Chaplks Clifford, the chairman of v large Financial Company, having a close connection wi»h this Colony, i recently stated that the .North Island was rapidly becomii g a splendid fi\;ld ! for profitable investm lit of cnp.'tal, j and that managers hau been instructed to avail themselves freely of every opportunity that offered, m> soou aa funds now falling in from «ther seen rities whose terms had e)*j>swd, oi there extending the operations of the Company. So we may presume that j any depression which exists in this Island may bo as-mined to preceed from over import ation, assisted by tho dullness of trade in the South Is'and. We do not agree with the opinin that because jrivate enter prise cannot always successfully compete against Companies possessing large capital, borrowed in the London market at one half tne rates of interest i our local bankers charge for the use i

(.1' ■):.:!• ca.-itul. ti;;i' H ■ in >l -n^USo j lo employ 'orv'i>r n c^t'i'ni U, is | cb-'ap and 'in- i-jrercst frees i/ ; tJivi- j dp.nds t-> .'ib-.';nt?e.s. We lu'.k up >v j t i<- as ft faliftc} which had Iv eD ex- | t>! (led lung ngn, and .scirceN exi.ect ed U> see ir revived by the Pivsitk'nt i..f tb'_» DuiM'dir * Irsmbor of Commerce.