THE COMMERCIAL CONDITION OF VICTORIA.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 904, 18 May 1877, Page 3

THE COMMERCIAL CONDITION OF VICTORIA.

At the annual meeting of the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce, the Chairman (Mr W. W. Couch) thus opened his address : “ I must begin with my confession that in my opinion the commercial business of the colony lias not been of a very satisfactory character during the year, and that it lias not yielded results proportioned to the capital employed and the number of persons engaged in it. There has no doubt been a considerable amount, of speculation in several articles, brought about by various causes, and money has been made (and probably will be lost) in them ; but this may be regarded as spasmodic activity, and cannot be looked upon as furnishing any proof of a sound commercial prosperity. Now, what is the cause of commerce being in this unsatisfactory position ? It may be stated in one word—over-trading—[Hear, hear] —and it cannot be denied that there are too many distributors in proportion to the number of producers —in other words, there arc too many merchants and too few consumers. There arc two 'remedies (for 'this : one by a reduction in the number of traders, and a corresponding decrease in the amount of importations ; and the other—which would be far preferable, but I fear is not so probable—by a steady influx of immigrants of a suitable character, who would settle down on the land and become at once producers and consumers, [Hear, hear.] Immigration of this kind is what I conceive is required to make Australasia a great country, as without it progress must, necessarily be slow. Had the scheme of the Hon. Mr Francis for a fast steam service via the Cape of Good Hope included a plan for bringing out the right class of immigrants at a low rate of passage money I should have regarded it with favor, but to subsidise a Cape route for any other purpose would, to my mind, be throwing away money. In respect to immigration, we are behind all the neighboring colonies—New South Wales, South Australia, and Queensland are all in the field, and New South Wales has such faith in her powers of attraction and absorption that she has gone to America itself, hitherto regarded as the Elysium of immigrants, and I have now before mo a circular issued by the agents of that colony in New York, addressed to mechanics of all trades, domestic servants (male and female), farm labourers, shepherds, stockmen, road and railroad makers, &c., stating that, under arrangements with the Government of New South Wales, they arc duly authorised to give passages to approved immigrants to Sydney at £7 10s each for adults and half price for children. And from what we learn from the papers it appears that a large number of people have already taken advantage of the opportunity offered them.”

“ In a very short time we shall be in the turmoil of a general election ; and it may be taken for granted that whatever Ministry is in power a revision of the tariff of some sort will be attempted, and not before it is urgently required. [Hear, hear.] lam a freetrader by education and conviction ; but I am not one of those who believe that free trade is a panacea for all the ills to which commercial life is heir. Xor am lin favor of any project for suddenly or without sufficient warning depriving those industries which protection has brought into existence of the support they have hitherto received. On the contrary, I should much prefer to see freetraders and protectionist s agree on a number of articles which may eventually be produced advantageously in the colony to which protection shall be granted, and free the thousand and one articles which cannot bo produced here, which bring in a revenue totally out of proportion to the cost of collection, and the duties upon which are a great impediment to the course of business. Above all, I desire to see as far as possible ad valorem duties eliminated from our fiscal system, and fixed duties levied in (heir place. (Hear, hear.) The more the tariff is simplified, and the more closely it is assimilated to those of the neighboring colonics, the greater the prospect of a cust oms union, a consummation which wmuld, I conceive, be of great advantage to the commercial and general interest —second only, in my opinion, to the advantage of federation of the Australian colonies, as it would free commerce from very many of the trammels and restrictions which at present beset it—although it must be admitted that Government, by the very liberal system of drawbacks at present in force, has done its best to reduce the disadvantages to a minimum. There has been a good deal of talk lately about a free breakfast table, but I should much prefer to see the duties on tea and sugar doubled rather than abolished —[hear, hear] —as they are easily collected and press lightly on the consumer. And, on the other hand, I should like to see the duties on breadstuffs done away with—a matter of more importance to the breakfast table than tea or sugar —and the deficiency in the revenue by these and other remissions made up by some equitable scheme of direct taxation.”