GOVERNOR FITZROY'S EXPEDIENCY MEASURES. " Necessity has no Law." (Communicated hy a member of the Hall of Commerce, London.)

New Zealander, Volume 1, Issue 23, 8 November 1845, Page 3

GOVERNOR FITZROY'S EXPEDIENCY MEASURES. " Necessity has no Law." (Communicated hy a member of the Hall of Commerce, London.)

As to the charge brought against Governor Fitzroy of issuing debentures, it is lamentable (hat the auri sacra fames had gained such an ascendancy in the minds of our legislators of the present day, that there is not a single member of the House of Commons wise enough to appreciate Governor Fitzro)'s policy in this respect. No one can wonder at the Premier, whose fear of inconsistency would not permit him to do otherwise, joining in the condemnation of the Governor on this head. But, why did the friends of the Governor, who cameso gallantly to the rescue, not take up the gauntlet, and manfully vindicate the issuing of these debentures, as the wisest and most enlightened measure which could possibly be adopted in the circumstances of tie Colon)? The Wakefield doctrine, that Land, Labor and Capital, (meaning money Capital,) are the elements of all material Wealth, is most fallacious. Land and Labor are themselves Capital, and may be brought into play or combiued by other means than gold or silver, or Bank of England notes. The idea that a young Colony, struggling into existence, is to be dependent on the bullionists and bankers, or capitalists, of money power of London, for a circulating medium, and is to be burdened with payment of tribute or interest to them out of their own hard toil and industry, it is a most egregious error, which no man will for a moment suppoit. Nobody of colonists will ever, or can ever, thrive if they act on it. It is a convenient doctrine for the London capitalists; and as such it has been prea hed and propagated by Mr. WakefieM,anu is re-echoed by the organs of the Money power; but it is a doctrine, the effect of which is to enslave and to biing into subjection, the whole of our Colonial communities. IVloney is not an intrinsic foreign power, exclusively vested in the bullionists and capitalists; it is a moral power inherent in every community of| honest industrious, and intelligent men, where there is nothing to cramp it j on the contrary tt it is theboundeu duty ofacommunity, such as Auckland, to establish a cuirency or circulating viedium of their own, for their own iuternal purposes, and tree themselves from the dominion of " Capitalists " -[as they call themselves. Granted, such power may be abused, Hogues and dishonest men may employ it for their own selfish purposes; l)iit it is no. alleged that Governor Fitzroy has in any manner abused the exercise of this power. The (jraoumen ot the chaige is merely that he has issued debentu'eb on an '• incontrovertible paper current)," in payment oJ* the w orkmen employed

on the Government works— not tbaHie has overissued, or that he cannot redeem his issues. What is meant by an " incontiovertible paper cmrency," it is not exactly understood. It is commonly said, that under Mr. Pitts monetary system, dining the war, we had an inconvertible papei currency — but we had no such thing. The paper cunency of the day was always convertible into gold ; but then it was at its market price and not at ajixed price, as it is now, and has been since 1819, under Sir R. Peel's monetary system. This is all the distinction between the two systems j and, however Mr. Chailes Buller may praise Sir Robert Peel as a great authority on the subject of money, we defy Sir Robert, or Mr. Buller, or any living man, to adduce any sound reason or principle why the price of gold should be fixed, why it should it exempted from the laws of supply and demand, or why, in this highly taxed country, it should be exempted from taxation, any more than any other comrnodit) ? If it is meant, that the paper money is not immediately convertible "into gold, why there can be no disadvantage to a young community from such a circumstance, if it be immediately convertible in beef and bread, and broadcloth, and thoie substantial necessaries which young colooists care for a thousand times more than gold or silver In Scotland, in the Channel Isles, in the Isle of Man, and all over the Continent, there .is an inoonveitible currency— assignats — shin plasters (if )ou please), as the facetious Mr. Charles Bailer, and the advocate and supporter of the bullionists, chooses to designate then— why dont the Premier or Mr Bnller relate the evils and disadrantages 'hat spring from the use — the judicious use— of such a currency in these quarters of the empire? Nay, on the other hand, ask if the prosperity and happiness of these communities are not directly referable to their having discarded gold, and. substituted their own currsn % y instead ? Instead of blame or censure, Governor Fitzroy is entitled to the highest praise for issuing the Debentures in question. It is a sorry proof of the wisdom of the House of Commons when such a charge is seriously entertained against a public servant, placed in the circumstances of Governor Fitzroy. It shows that our legislators, on the subject of money and finance, are either the veriest Sciolists, or that it is convenient for them to niiuntain and inculcate an exoteric doctrine on the subject, so as to uphold the dominion and ascendancy of those who by such craft have their wealth, and make the ignorance and simplicity of their fellow men subservient to their selfish purposes. Involving, as it does, vital and important principles, in which the welfare of Great Britain is concerned, as vi ell as of New Zealand. The manta forbuilding lots and land speculations had drained away from the settlers ot AuckI'ind, and conjured iuto the pockets of the land jobbers all the gold and silver there was in the Colony. With land and labor, and other means of substantial wealth surrounding them on all sides, were the colonists to sit still, with their hands- folded, and to die of actual starvation, because there was no gold or silver amongst them ? In such circumstances, was it not a wise and enlightened act in Governor Fitzroy to devise a Government currency, and set the idle and destitute to work, and pay them with the Debentures which they freely exchanged for food and clothing, and other necessaries, which otherwise the\ "w onld have gone w ithout ? Land, Labour, and Credit are the elements of ■wealth, and not Land, Labour, and Capital, as the d s^iples of the Wakefield school maintaii q There is a passage so appropriate to this subject, in a Pamphlet published last)ear, by Mr. Charles Enderby, an enlightened London Merchant, entitled " The Distress of the Nation ; its Causes and Remedies," as follows :—: — " Suppose a person in authority, in an isolated situation, (a Government) to issue paper money to destitute laboui ors, v\ ho would readily take it in exchange lor labour, in working (it may be) gold mines, in erecting cities, and iv the production of food aud clothing ; and that the paper so issued amounted to £3.000,000, one third part of which waa issued for the production of gold, one third for trading, and the residue for food and rlolhingj we should thus create wealth, (the produce of labour,) which, had it not been for the paper, {intrinsically worth nothing ) would never have been culled into existence* "These notes, to be in circulation, must be in the possession of one ot all who were previously M-holl) destitute, and supposing the holders were ly demand pa) ment of their notes, the payments Mould be made in the golJ, the buildings, and the food anil clothing jepresented by the notes, ai "hich would then be cancelled, and the wealth would become the property of the pioducers of it, by those who were previously destitnte " .In the hope the foregoing views may come under the obsei vation of some honest and enlightened Member of the House of Commons, whose mind the love of gold has not perverted, nnd who «ill undertake to set the House right on this point, and triumphantly vindicate, as he may ea&ily do, Govei nor Fitzro) 's " inconvertible Paper Cmreiic)."