The Manawatu Times. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1878.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 102, 2 October 1878, Page 2

The Manawatu Times. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1878.

The ease and facility with which the late New Zealand loan was floated m England has given birth to some stric. turns from a certain portion of the British Press, and the Bank cf England has been soundly rated for allowing itself ta be the medium through which the subscriptions were received. It is consoling, 'however,; to -.perceive .. that while the Adverse criticism has ema nated from a journal which- has been noted for its chronic captiousness and a persistent carping' at any and-every-thing Colonial, the more influential portion of English journals bomment u P on the loan m a yen different strain A Perhaps, however, the fact which exhibits the very high place which New 2Jealand holds m the estimation of British capitalists may be found m the fact that notwithstanding the virulent attack uiade upon the policy of Subscribing ■■to the loan, is that although the amount accepted was &,oOO,QiX), the applications for allotment attained an aggre^ gate of £9,000,CHX). In speaking of the. position which this Colony holds m the money market, and the faith m its. resources as. evidenced by. the 'subscriptions for the loab, the :'* European Mail," m an able a. dele oh the subject, pays it the following high compliment : *' VVe rejoice that thissn^uld Jiavebeen the case, since New Zealand seems destined to be a future England, and to guarantee happy; Homes for hundreds and thousands 1 Of: families which might otherwise ..pine m Want : and misery iii the old country; Not only does New Zealand appear to insure a fair measure of comfort and A l i appiness to. large nUiubers of ouar conniryiijen .and countrywomen, but fr^ Amployment for.a large arhoui.itqf English capital, and absorb a lar^e amount, of^glialKmanufacfo In speaking some of the aspersions cast upon his cblonyAby A lie editor of '* Herejath's Jotirnali'' the same paper deals •: with the statement, made by that writer that w^ilo the public d«^V iu/Esglanu:

does not exceed £25 per head of the population, the indebtedness of this colony will reach from £40 to £45. In making the assertion — which we admit may be true m fact; — the detractor of New Zealand, while drawing the comparison between this and the Old Country, studiously kept m the background and ignored the source of indebtedness dn each case, lie did not state that while England's National Debt was incurred for the prosecution of tedious and expensive wars — which was an outlay without an anticipated return, — the major portion of the borrowed capital of this colony has been expended m useful, judicious, and reproductive works, which have developed the resources of the land, stimulated the progress of the country, added to its commercial advancement and prosperity, largely increased the number of its population, and ultimately will reSuit m returning the sunken capital with a handsome margin of profit over and above the interest for its use. New Zealand stands pre-eminent as a mineral country, possessing gold, copper, iron, and coal, and consequently the capital introduced to develop her mineral wealth must be looked upon as so much English money . imported to develop her resources, which will be returned with good interest, not sunken m unproductive works. "Herepath's Journal" may be literally correot m asserting that the debts of England and New Zealand are £25 and £45 per head of the population respectively, but the very clever writer has forgotten to add that while at the present time tht population of the latter is barely 400,000, it has a territory as large as Great Britain, and consequently, as the number of its inhabitants increases, their individual indebtedness will necessarily decrease. Beside the introduction of immigrants, by which the population is year by year largely inoreased, it might be as well to mention that while the natural increment of life by the excess of births over deaths m England is but one and a half per cent., m New Zealand it is three times that amount. It is t*ue that during the past twenty years considerable money had been sunken m the prosecution of the struggle with the Natives, but that difficulty is now happily set at rest for ever. The Native Office and Public Works are working harmoniously together, the one following up the steps of the other. As fast as negotiations are satisfactorily settled with the Maoris for the acquisition and settlement of the land, the Public Works comes upon the scene, and what a few days before might have been " tabooed " or hostile country, is linked with the centres of civilisation by the iron bands of the rail. No doubt £20,000,000 appears a large amount of indebtedness for a conntry possessing a population not equal to Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, or even Melbourne and suburbs, but the wealth is hidden m the bowels of the land, there is boundless field for the labourer, and m the value of her unsold lands and the reproductive nature of the works upon which the money has been expended, there is ample provision, for meeting all her liabilities without a strain upon her resources.