The Globe. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1876.

Globe, Volume VI, Issue 693, 8 September 1876, Page 2

The Globe. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1876.

We trust that the question of the fitness of Sir Julius Vogel for the AgentGeneralship has been set at rest, and that the country will be spared the paiu of witnessing a similar discussion to that of Tuesday last. Now that Sir Julius hns ceased to take a part in party warfare, we hope that personal animosities will be religiously buried' and that Mnisters will have the courage of their opinions, and take the consequences of his appointment on their own shoulders, instead of allowing his personal fitness to be discussed by the Bouse in the manner it was the other day. We have already pointed out how ungenerous the conduct of the Ministers was in thus allowing the former Premier of the colony to receive the treatment which ho did at the hands of some members of the House. Many bitter things were said of Sir Julius and his policy in the course of that debate. It is not our intention to go over the same ground also, but we would ask our readers to remember that the policy of immigration and public works was essentially a New Zealand policy. It was hailed with enthusiasm from one end of the colony to the other, as a scheme which was to raise this country from stagnation and commercial embarassment to a high state of prosperity. Has it answered the expectations of its projectors ? It is impossible to deny that it has. A comparison of the trade and commerce of the colony in 1870 with that of 1875, the statistics of which have just been published, is ample proof of this. The exports of the colony during the former year were valued at £4,544,682, in 1875 their value reached £5,475,844, or nearly one million increase. But these figures do not show the real progress we have made in productive industry, for an examination of the various items composing the above figures, brings out the fact that but for the fall off in the export of gold, our progress would have been much more marked. In 1870 we exported wool to the value of £1,703,944. while in 1875 the same item produced £3,398,155. Now this increase is not due mainly to the rise in the price of wool, hut to real progress, as proved by the quantity exported, which was nearly

doubled between the two periods. Again, take wheat, provisions, tallow, &c.: in 1870 the value of these items of export was £375,501, whereas in 1875 they produced £519,844. The export of gold, on the other hand, fell from £2,157,585 in 1870, to £1,407.770 in 1875 ; so that but for the loss on this article, our exports would have shown a much larger increase. The value of our imports is another mark of the progress we are making. In 1870 we imported goods to the value of £4,639,015, while in 1875 they were valued at £8,029,172 ; or an increase of about three millions and a half. Our revenue has shown similar rapid progress. In 1870 the ordinary revenue amounted to £960,368; in 1871, before the effect of the policy was felt, it was £921,627; in 1872 it reached £1,005,942; in 1873 it rose to £1,487,393; in 1874 it advanced to £1,873,448; while in 1575 it amounted to no less a sum than £2,047,234. The territorial revenue has felt the effects of the policy in a still more striking manner, rising as it did from £327,589 in 1870, to £1,265,788 in 1873, and £1,150,900 in 1874, while notwithstanding this enormous expenditure in land during those years, it only fell to £688,722 in 1875. The population has risen from 248,400 in 1870 to 375,856 in 1875. In a similar manner we might go over numerous other items to show how rapid as well as substantial our progress has been during those years. But we have stated enough to prove that progress has been very great, and that it ill becomes those who have benefitted so largely by the policy of Sir J. Vogel to abuse its author in the unmeasured terms they have done.