The New-Zealander. SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 1847.

New Zealander, Volume 3, Issue 130, 28 August 1847, Page 2

The New-Zealander. SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 1847.

Be just and fear not: Let all the cuds thou aims't at, be tliy Country's, r lliy God's, and fiuth's.

Our Colonists may be supposed by this time to have fully satisfied themselves that the difficulties of an abstract Currency question are not likely to be cleared away in New Zealand. The labours of Council have been praiseworthy, but they cannot be said to have thtown much light upon the matter; whenever honorable members have abandoned the plain mercantile and practical view of it for theory and first principles, the mutual mystification has been something surprising. Ii is to be feared that the minutes of the proceedi gs will not be quoted as authority in the tuxt debate at home on the lenewal of the Bank of bngl'iid charter, nor is it to be expected ; for it is not a fortnight's overhauling of Cycle) oediasj of Chamber's dictionary, or Hansard, but the unremitting labour of half a life, combined with opportunities of seeing experiments worked upon the grandest scale, that suffice to give a man that full and lively acquaintance with such a subject which might entitle his theoretic opinions to attention. The Council has so far reminded us,— to borrow a simile from Addison, of " the scuttle fish, that when he is unable to extricate himself from danger, blackens the waters about him, till he becomes invisible." The debates have been rather a succession of repartees, each member trying to catch his opponent tripping, and to confute him out of his own mouth, than a continued, stream of argument bearing upon the single point, We know little more about the matter than •we did at first ; and, consequently, if we take the bill at all, must resign ourselves to taking it blindly, to risking the dangers of a purely experimental change. Jt is not, as we have been told, a system " bused upon long prac tical experience," but a novelty, not yet tested, but lor which the way has been merei> N paved at home. We have not even good "recommendation to justify its adoption. Had the measure, for instance, been ottered by Sir

Robeit Peel, by a man so thoroughly conversant with all the intricacies of finance, it might have been taken upon trust ; but upon the authority of Earl Grey, one of that class of men who make much out of a little knowledge, who •' would take command of the Channel fleet, or re-build St. Paul's ;" to take it from the writer of the instructions appended to the Charier — it would be too farcical. We cannot help asking, most irreverently, what does his lordship know about Currency ? Peihaps as little as ourselves ; at all events, if he knows as little about it as he knows about New Zealand, his opinion must be j taken with a valeal quuntum, There can be no clearer proof that he has not mastered the subject, than the confident manner in which he talks about it. " Chi won sa niente, non dubita di niente." It is really ha id that the Colony should lie at the mercy of a reckless novelty monger ; a man doing more mischief in months, than his successors will be able to undo in years. We pray devoutly for their advent, which, by all accounts, would seem not to be far off. iiut meanwhile he is making most of his time, heaping legislation upon us to a smothering amount ; leaving us something to recollect him by. He "is come down unto us, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time." He is making a Chifney rush at the end of his race, to come in on the wrong side of the post after all. Lord Grey's despatch is a curious composition ; the two principal divisions of it being, when closely examined, totally \mconnected j his exoidium, or explanation of principles, being drawn from a scheme very different to that which he afterwards goes on <o recommend. He falls in with a scheme for the reform of the National Uuirency, very taking, certainly, and simple in theory ; the soundness of which, however, if we may trust to those journals which devote more particular attention to banking affairs, appears to be now viewed with increasing suspicion. It may be found, in its simplest form, in the speech of Mr. C. Wood, in the House of Commons, on the Bank Chatter Bill of 1844. It was devised for England, for a particular and a complicated state of things; but that is no let or hindrance to his lordship, who general' ises it forthwith, gives an outline of it in his despatch, and jumps to the conclusion that another scheme, essentially different, is therefore applicable to New Zealand. The system upon which Lord Grey has professedly based his own was planned for the regulation of a paper currency already in existence, and was of a restrictive, not of an expansive nature. This he quotes as autholity for another system, which goes to create a paper currency, where none existed before, oi at all events where he supposed that none existed before ; which, likewise, if the Governor's reading of it be the right reading, must double the circulation of the country, The difference between the two schemes is not one of degree, or even of greater and less simplicity, but essential, as by another remarkable discrepancy may be made even still more clear. The basis of the remedial system proposed for lingland was this ; that a " fixed amount" of notes should circulate, issued upon National credit : or, as it was modified in practice, an amount coiresponding to the debt due by the Nation to the Bank ot England ; thai an additional, and merely marginal amount should be issued, corresponding to the quantity of bullion and com in the possession of the Bank, rising and falling with it. Now it must be remembered that this fixed amount is, in point of fact, inconvertible; it is a national paper, let it be called by what other name it may ; it is a portion of the currency about which no pretence of redeeming in gold is made, except on the face of the notes issued. The Government might just as well, only for the appearance of the thing, have issued fourteen millions of unredeemable paper, and called it by its right name. But the remaining portion of the paper issue is really convertible! because issued in exchange for gold ; and this portion gives colour to the inconvertibility of the whole amount, for as all such notes are struck off the same plate, it would appear al first sight, as if all were equally repiesented. by coin, and none by credit. We repeat, that of the 3614,000,000 of paper issued by the Bank upon Government securities, the greater portion is in truth ir redeemab.e, and that it is a mere contusion of terms to call it otherwise. If, then, the " fixed amount" of the Bank of England paper be irredeemable — if even there be a fixed amount at all— what connexion can be traced between the system planned for England, and that now thrust upon New Zealand by Lord Grey, who begins where the fixed amount leaves off, contenting himself with giving a one pound note for a sovereign, and returning a so\eieign for a one pound note. His plan may be more simple ; it may be even better ; but it does not resemble the original, and all conclusions diawn from the assumed success ot the original must be fallacious. The nitioiiuctory rea&oinng in the despatch might as well nave been omitted, as having no application to the measure it is in- j tended to support.

This distinction between Lord Grey's scheme and that which he cites as authority for it is in itself sufficiently remarkable, but the other we conceive to be of more importance still. It was before observed that he quoted a scheme for regulating a paper currency, as authority for a scheme creating a paper currency, and that he adapted to the latter purpose a system already devised for the former. And here, we must do him the justice to say, that he foresaw a practical objection, and attempted to provide against it by a provision essential to the measure, although not at all to the taste of the colonists The objection is this, our circulation, in Auckland, is exclusively metallic, and certainly sufficient for the legitimate wants of trade. We now suppose a certain quantity of paper issued in addition, and the circulation consequently increased by that amount. But it was sufficient before, and the question remains, what is to be done with the surplus. The remedy is certainly simple enough ; export, and place it out at interest. And this was accordingly suggested ; the only other alternative being, to lock it up in a box. But this our Government does not appear to have perceived, when it expunged the expoitation clause from the bill, preferring to suffer lhat surplus to find its way about the country, a mere enticement to extravagant speculation. Neither was it peiceived that two other objections, which have been urged with force against the bill as it now stands, would have likewise fallen to the ground. The first, which has been before made clear, is the possibility of specie finding its way back to the bank a second time, to be a second time exchanged for notes, thus drawing into circulation double its own amount in paper. The second relates to the proposed arrangement with the Wellington bank. It has been urged in Council, tnd with truth, that even should the continued issue of private paper be permitted in the south, it would still go out of circulation, as being unable to compete with government paper, the convenience of which, as a 1.g.il tender, wouid be so infinitely greater. Of this thrre can be no doubt, if government notes be circulated in addition to the specie now in the country. But, if they merely take the place of specie, Union Banu paper will hold the same position which it held before, with this unimportant difference, that it will be payable in government bank notes, instead of, as heretofore, in silver and gold. In everyway, exportation of the specie appears to be an essential part of the bill, and is in itself likewise, sufficient to condemn the bill. But it has been so transmogrified in Council,— and we cannot say for the better,-— that its own legal parent might fail to know it again. " Amphora ccepit Institui ; currente rota cur urceus exit 1" His Excellency has already assumed the functions of Vice-Admiral, and of Commander of the forces ; he would now be his own Attorney-General. Like Nick Bottom, the weaver, in Midsummer Night's Dream, he would act at once every part in the play, Lion and all.

H. M. S. Dido fired a royal salute on Thursday, in commemoration of Prince Albert's birth day. The ball given by the officers of that ship, fixed to come off at the Royal on Wednesday next, is expected to be very numerously and fashionably attended. The Weather.— After the dripping state of the atmosphere for the last four days, yesterday's return of one of those bright and glorious days so peculiar to our climate, proved most cheering. There is every indication of a highly favourable spring. Sale of Cattle.— At Messrs. Connell and Ridings sale of cattle on Thursday last, bullocks, not in very good condition, having been landed only on Friday and Saturday last, from the " Thomas King," sold on an average at £5 10s. per head — and the sheep at about 9s. 6d, per head. Supreme Court. — On Wednesday next, Ist Sept., the Court will open ior trial of criminal cases.