TRADE AND AGRICULTURE

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2451, 13 February 1882, Page 3

TRADE AND AGRICULTURE

Nothing quickens men’s minds and symi pathies so much as self-interest j consequently the success, or otherwise, of the old country must ever bo a source of deep concern to all of her colonial dependencies, many of which, like ourselves, are as yet too young to stand alone, and whose material prosperity must rise or fall with that of the parent stock. Unhappily, year after year the same sad story has been reaching us of bad seasons and scant harvesls, accompanied by sever® agricultural depression and an exodus o£ farmers from the Old Country such as has not been witnessed during the present century. It might have been expected that the fertility of our soil and the excellence of our climate would have attracted a much larger number of those who were compelled to carry their agricultural experience and remaining capital to o her countries. Unfortunately such has not been the caee. Practical men such as Messrs Grant and Foster, and others who have visited our shores, have no fault to find with our country, but they have not been able to recommend their countrymen to pay th» high rates demanded for the land, the greater part of which of any value is now in privatehands. [We are now referring to thejSouth Island.] This is much to be regretted, as emigrants of so desirable a character will not long be available. It is true that such & succession of bad seasons as those just referred to has not been known in our time. But it by no means follows that the climate is permanently changing; and if not, this run of bad luck must soon come to an end. To causes such as these must be traced the agricultural depression which exists at this present time rather than to any exceptional cheapnees in the market—not more than has been known before, though food has been cheap—a cause rather of congratulation than otherwise. The complaint ifl not that the farmer cannot get a fair return, for what he produces, but that in the last four or five years he has produced much less than usual, while rents remained unaltered,, ruining thousands of the agricultural classes. But, alter all, they are only a drop in the great national bucket. Rents are, however, now finding their true level, and already things are looking brighter. We are not amongst those who think that the agriculture of Great Britain is destined: to be destroyed by American competition. The population of Britain will soon reach 40,000.000, effording an insatiab'e market for the surplus corn and meat of America and the Australias without materially affecting the home producers of the prime article. Considering the protection which the English farmer must always have in the shape of freights and other charges, and the many articles of food there are which do not easily bear the transport from long distances, we eee no reason why, with an equitable adjustment of rents, farming may not again offer a good return for the capital invested. The following remarks, which fell from the lips of Lord Derby at » recent meeting held at Southport, speaking of trade and agriculture, should be read with, deep interest. After demonstrating that the present state of things was only of a temporary character, ho said—- “ I believe that farming at the rents which landlords are now willing to take may be a very good business, and I am sure that for a buyer with money in hie pocket there never was a time whou land was likely to b* a better investment, unless this country collapses altogether, and I do not think its tims has oomo for that. Depend upon it, English acres never will be long depreciated. Then as to trade—foreign trade—that consists, os we know, of imports and exports. Imports £ need say nothing of, for everybody knows that they have increased enormously ; in fact, the complaint often made is that they have increased too much. They were in 1870, £303,000,000 ;in 1830, £411,000,000. But how about exports ? Have they fallen off ? Is there any indication of their decline on a series of years f The figures answer that question. They were in 1870, £244,000,000 ; in 1880, £286.000,000; During three intervening years they reached a higher figure, but on the ten years there is a growth of £42,000,000. You have a loss rapid growth than in the former case ; but it is growth, not shrinkage. And if quantity were taken instead of value, the result, I believe, would come out much more favorable. Some people believe that we are living on our capital, and that the excess of imports is a proof of it. My answer is that the excess of imports proves two things—one, that our foreign trade is exceedingly profitable ; the other, that we have enormous sums invested in foreign countries—that we draw a tribute, so to speak, from all the world. You may tell me, no doubt, that that is mere assertion. 1 think 1 could prove it if time and place allowed, but it is a complicated business, and there are simpler tests to appeal to. Are we being impoverished or not ? Look first at the savings banks. They held in 1870 (both kinds together) £43,000,000. They held in 1880 nearly £78,000,000, or almost double the former amount. Take the test of pauperism. We had in 1870, in England and Wales, paupers receiving relief, 1,079,000; in 1880 they were 837,000, showing a decrease of nearly a quarter of a million. Take the consumption of the common popular luxuries—tea and sugar. You can hardly have a fairer test of the general condition of the people, because these are articles not of absolute necessity, in which case the consumption of them could not be diminished, and yet of such universal use that they are the best possible measure of spending power. Well, of tea there was consumed at home in 1870, II7J- million pounds weight; in 1880, 158 millions and something over. In the ease of sugar, I have not got the exact corresponding figures, but I observe in the yearly statistical abstract that the consumption per head has increased in the proportion of nearly 7 to 5. If, again, we ore to go to a higher class of society and ask what their position is, taken as a body, 1 would request you to look at the aggregate of incomes liable to income tax. We may be quite sure they are not returned at a figure above the reality. They were in 1870, £445,000,000 nearly ; they were in 1880, £578,000,000 and a little over, showing an inoreß.se of £133,000,000 in the ten years, or £13,000,000 a year on the average. In a country which is undergoing the process of being depleted of its wealth, we should expect to find that the population had not increased or that the surplus was carried off by emigration to more fortunate lands. How do we stand in that respect? Why, the last ten years have given us the most rapid increase of numbers that has been known in our history. Again, 1 should expect to find that in a country whoso power was on the wane the value of public securities would tend to diminish. But how is the case f As a matter of fact, the funds have only once, and that only for a few weeks, been os high as during the past twelve months. I will not lease you with any more figures. There are many others which might be given which I point to the same general conclusion. I only ' tell you this. If in any nation you find pauperism lessened, and population increasing, aggregate incomes increasing also, savings banks growing fuller, and the consumption of popular luxuries making steady progress, you are not apt to think that nation in a bad way. Figures about which there can be no dispute show you that that is our position, measuring from ten years to ten years ; and that being so, it is surely premature, it is almost childish, to despond and to lament because five years of exceptionally bad weather and disturbed trade have caused severe suffering to some classes and produced a momentary pause in our own advance.”

The official announcements have been made of the fori booming pioduction of Wagner's “ Parsifal "at Bayreuth. The first two performances on July 24th and 26th will be reserved expressly for the members of th® German Wagner Society—that is to say, for those who have for a certain term of years subscribed to the Bayreuther Blatter, and are supposed to hare been converted to things Wagnerian by the eloquence of Herr Josef Rubinstein. The masses, the tag rag and bobtail (including the musical critics), will b® graciously allowed to attend either of the following fourteen performances to be given during August, at the not immoderate charge of 30s per seat. Wagner at present declares that “ Parsifal ” shall not be heard elsewhere than at Bayreuth. The Melbourne Exhibition building was tbs scene of a third ballad concert recently. The attendance was not, for so large a building, overflowing, but the performance appeared to give much satisfaction. The principal singers were Miss Marie Oarandini, Mias Holland, Mr Lineker, and Mr Furlong, the latter gentleman acting for Mr Moroney, who, to many people’s disappointment, did not come. The Melbourne City Band did good service in the way of instrumental music, and the organ performances of Mr Sykes evoked well-merited applause.