The Feilding star. SATURDAY, MAY 21, 1892. Eccentric Finance

Feilding Star, Volume XIII, Issue 139, 21 May 1892, Page 2

The Feilding star. SATURDAY, MAY 21, 1892. Eccentric Finance

The New Zealand Times as we have before observed, is not an authority on finance. Yesterday in criticisiug an article by the editor of the Otago Daily Times, the N.Z. Times editor argues that because the farmers in Canterbury in the South Island, have grown this season four millions more bushels of grain than were grown last year, and, in consequence, a good many mortgages in farming districts were reduced ; that because the deposits in the banks had increased, and that because the bank note circulation had increased, it was " nonsense to talk about the trade of the colony as being in a state of terror and stagnation." Of course the object of the writer was to make a point about the withdrawal of capital from New Zealand, and throw dust in the eyes of those who take what the N.Z. Times says for gospel. But even the editor of that paper would admit — if it suited him— that farmers' mortgages are ordinarily short dated to fall in after the harvest or wool crops, so that a good harvest or a rise in the price of wool clears them, or very nearly so, therefore they may start with a clean sheet for the season to follow. From the same cause, that is a bountiful harvest, the deposits in the banks not bearing interest are increased proportionately to the decrease of advances, but the real proof of the alarm of capital, if any other was needed, is found in the increase of fixed deposits bearing interest. The increase of note circulation is accounted for by the fact that harvesters and shearers have been paid so much more wages this than last season because there was more work to do. That the English capitalists have had their confidence restored, as our contemporary hints, is not the case, and it is not to be expected that it will be while the present Ministry remain in power. We do not doubt for a moment the stability of the colony, and that the fertility of its resources, as developed by an energetic and honest class of settlers, will enable it to meet all its liabilities, but we are confident that our present Cabinet have neither the talent, nor the power of self restraint to administer our finances judiciously. We have heard much about a surplus, but whether this exists in fact or only in the imagination of the Colonial Treasurer, remains to be proved. It has been said by an English statesman that a good harvest makes, a good [ Ministry, but we fancy it will take many very abundant harvests, to make our present rulers good financiers.