The Lyttelton Times

Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 454, 11 March 1857, Page 6

The Lyttelton Times

Wednesday, March, 11th. The Provincial Councils of New Zealand have all had their crises, All of them have at some time or other illustrated their patriotism at the expense of public patience and to the detriment more or less of public business. But it has remained for Auckland to show us how-to develop a difficulty so as to make it most amply conduce to the dignity and importance of those concerned. We do not give Auckland any very great credit. It was due to the position it arrogates to itself to show an example to New Zealand. -The most that can be said is that it has done its duty. And yet this is perhaps an unfeeling and ungenerous view of the case. The touching story which reached us by the last mail of the noble self-devotion of the conscript fathers shows us that the daj's of Roman firmness have not passed away. The levity which most Southerns have been inclined to give way to in talking of the Auckland " fix" is far from right. We cannot laugh at the necessity which has reduced a legislative body to cards and novels. Brave Auckland councillors ! The firmness of their attitude is ever before our eyes ; their patriotic voices are ringing in our ears. We fancy we hear the cry of " Pickwick. and Principle" replied to by that of " Cribbage and Consistency!" What

a noble^picture might be made of the.irregular exit and entrance of hon. members by unwonted mean's of access, —members driven, to taking it turn about to satisfy the demands of hunger or the craving for tobacco. What could exceed in mournful dignity the spectacle,of a. Speaker snatching a surreptitious meal behind his chair, or the sound of the audible slumbers of exhausted senators ? But we refrain from drawing too much upon the feelings of our readers. .We will not say that .under' severe pressure our own Council might not emulate the firmness of their northern brethren. We presume that our readers have read the whole story, and they may ask what the Superintendent is about. We have heard, on-the authority, we believe, of Mr. Joseph Miller, a,.story of a gallant colonel, who, having clubbed his regiment, had the presence of mind to' offer a reward of ten shillings ,to the first man who should reach tha barracks. We are afraid that some provincial bribery and corruption act will prevent the Auckland Superintendent from taking such means of getting out of his difficulty. "We can only pity, but cannot advise him. It is rumoured that his Excellency's Government will have to step in and cut ,the Gordian knot by way of diesolution. Beneficial as a fifth election of Superintendent witliin four years would be for Auckland, we would with all deference submit a simpler, although perhaps unconstitutional remedy to' his Excellency's Government.' Would it not be well to close up all means of egress from and ingress into the Council Chamber, regular and irregular, and to let the strongest stomach decide what the strongest head in the Council has failed to.compass? There is a precedent for this line of conduct in the treatment of juries. We need not point out how much such scenes as those which the Auckland- Council is now exhibiting are calculated to. exalt the dignity of New Zealand in_ the "eyes of strangers. Every one will' perceive the grandeur of party strife when pushed to its utmost limits, and we hope that New Zea. land in general, and Auckland in particular, will never forget the debt of gratitude we owe to the distinguished legislators who have originated the new system of party tactics. To any one who takes ■ an interest in the prosperity of this settlement the transactions in the commerce of the province duriug the past two months are well worthy of notice. A great portion of, the actual business of the year has been done during this time. About one-half the wool clip of the year has been sent away, and an extraordinary amount of supplies have been brought into the market, consisting chiefly or goods imported direct from England; the bonded stores in Lyttelton, which were almost empty in the beginning of January, are now full to overflowing of all sorts of goods; liquids, especially, have been brought in in an abundance far surpassing previous importations. Looking to the agricultural districts, we find that in the same space of time the harvest of the year has been gathered in ; but that the condition of the market for that produce is most unsatisfactory, and the prospects of farming very unpromising. For other facts to help us in judging of the rapidity and direction of our progress, we find that in the year 1855, the export of wool from the province was about £20,000, or equal in value to all other exports put together. In 1850, the return of the value of wool exported was nearly doubled, or equal to the- whole exports of the previous year,-and showed an amount nearly treble", the value of the exports from all other sources, which had diminished about one-fifth. This year we are certain of a wool export one»half

greater than that of last j rear, and one which,, if- the remainder is valued at the same rate as that portion which has already left our shores, may be estimated as close upon £70,000. So that, even if there is no 'demand whatever for agricultural produce out of this province, its exports will still have considerably increased, simply by the increase in its production of wool. These few facts show at once wherein the real wealth of this settlement at present consists. Every one can see that agricultural produce is not likely to be a source of wealth as an export in the smallest proportion to wool,' but/we do not see in these facts any foundation for an opinion not uncommonly expressed that all hope of profit from farming Jte at an end. In the first place, there are many branches of agriculture to which our farmers can turn their attention in order to find exportable articles, besides wheat-growing ; and further, for grain, as ' well as for all other farm produce, the consumption in the" province itself will be constantly on the increase, almost in proportion, indeed, to the increase of prosperity in the "other branches of industry. Extended cultivation by the same number of cultivators, w th cheaper labour and the large employment of machinery, will doubtless produce from low prices the same results as Aye have formerly found from' high. Add to this, that it must occasionally happen that the demand in the neighbouring colonies for one or other article will give us a splendid mar-' ket for one season's produce, and we do not think that the position of a determined agriculturist in our province is at all to be pitied. " ", „' , With reference to the proportion between imports and exports, the business of the last six weeks suggests a few remarks. By some unaccountable natural cause, against' which ( no body ever seems, to make provision, all' arrivals in our'port always occur together; of course we must look for a period of comparative inactivity to t follow. At present as we stated above, every store in port is full of goods, and we have enough altogether to1 last many, months-;- the natural conclusion arrived at by,many- is, that the market is overstocked, and that depression and loss must ■be the ' result. This, we think, is not at all a justifiable conclusion; indeed we look upon the present as a most wholesome state of things. We sent home to England, direct and indirect, last year, remittances in the shape of wool, very large _ in comparison with our population ; and we •are now feeling the pleasant effect of it. Consignments of British and Foreign produce in return for consignments of New Zealand produce are the vesy contrary of disagreeable, and are symptoms of a most healthy trade. Such a trade may be rendered unhealthy from various causes. Extravagant eulogism and puffery may bring down upon us floods of consignments not asked for from this side of the water. If these speculations fail, English shippers will be loth to respond to an actual demand for their goods for years to come. For example, one despatch of wool by the Oliver Lang, to be met by one receipt of'goods selected by ourselves for next year, will prove of more service to us, we doubt not, than the cargo of vast quantities of soap and so forth which the same vessel shovelled into neighbouring markets, to be accounted for, perhaps, in the course of five years. The arrival of a quantity of goods at one time, witlr a long lull succeeding, is the result of a direct trade with England, and is therefore not an unhealthy symptom.' English goods must, of course, be obtained more cheaply from England direct than through anintermediateport. If some articles, are occasionally to be obtained as cheap via Australia as direct, they cannot continue to be so long. Everything which tends to foster a'direct trade with England is o't ad-

vantage to the province, o.pens to us the proper channels for our commerce, and relieves us from many embarrassments. We should be sorry to exhibit any envy of our neighbours, and it would be*a, great error to attempt to separate ourselves commercially from them, but it is not to-be denied that the indirect transmission of goods through other ports has a very prejudicial effect upon our trade: The injury done to the cargoes "of vessels stopping at an intermediate port is a serious consideration to: a■, merchant of this place,: to ; say nothing of the ; miserable delay which is'inseparable from ; such a. course; and tliej injuryi done to the : province; generally by the abstraction of intending : settlers at. intermediate ports is J another item of even greater consequence. Ardent active colonists will naturally leave the ship to go to work at the first spot of New Zealand earth which they can manage to touch, and [we are" robbed in this .way yearly of a large number of settlers. More . than all this,'it is possible by such an arrangements that a merchant "at the first port of call may re-ship his goods to our market before the goods for this port are sent on, and forestal the market of our own importers, thus leaving a'quantity of unsaleable goods on our hands. We have thrown together the above remarks roughly enough, simply to call atten-, tion to the presentlstafe of our trade and to point" out what we some -of ? itsC chief i ■advantages ■;■ and wembarrassmentSy and 'Kyta \ -commend the sußjecttoievery one concerned: for further consideration. ' -i -" : };