REPEAL OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND CHARTER ACT.

New Zealander, Volume 3, Issue 190, 25 March 1848, Page 3

REPEAL OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND CHARTER ACT.

FROM THE TIMES. The Ministerial measure is a remedy fora temporary panic, not (or a ieal, a permanent, and an increasing; pressure. If (his be little more than a panic — if confidence is all that is wanted— if hoarding is to be discouraged, employment set free, and enterprize invited •—if also these objects were not attainable in any other way, then, undoubtedly, Government hns done the right thing. This supposition, however, has bnt slender foundation. It resti only on a hopefml and too confiding temperament, There is a panic, it is true, and just now a very wild and ridiculous panic, driving men to foolish and cowardly proceedings. But there is also an actual pressure— a pressure which has been gradually increasing for more than a twelvemonth, which, under existing circumstances is likely to increase, and may very podibly soon be aggravuted to any conceivable degree by events quite within the scope of possibility, not to say more. The fact of the pressure thus far is a matter of history, and cannot be denied. The question is — will it last ? and how long ? We anpwer — Yes \ because the caua^s are still in oppration. It is almost forbidden to speak of railways, potatoes, and cotton, to ears polite. We mention them not for the snke of the past, Lut just to remind ptople of two important frrts,-i-fir.st, through the vast increase of our imports, and dimmut'on of our (xpnr s, we are at this moment rather deep in the hooks of the foreigner— secondly, that imports are likely to continue very great, and e.\j orts are ceitain to remain very low. This condi'ion of affiirs can only lead to one possible result — the i ame as that which would infallibly happen to the journeyman who should £o on importing into his tenement, meat drink, and clothing, to the value of thirty shillings a week, all the time only exporting work to no greater amount than twenty-five shilling!. His capital, if he had any, would' Ruff, r continual drain. Such is the drain before us. A reference to the pust — the merest glance of retrrspection — is Sufficient tot how that Government has not hitbeito sufficiently realized the grave and growing character of this presune. Thpy tefer *o lait April. The panic of last April subsided—but the presmre did not. That Ministers fully thought their difficulties over, may be presumed from the ciicumstance that before the end of lhat month, they bi ought forwtud again th«*. proposition of lending £020,000, to certain Irish railways. The subsequent Uipt months Juayi not justified the wisdom of that security. It is due to oui selves to obierve, that when the Fir«t Lord of the Treasury, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, think fii to say in their note to the authorities ot the Bank, that tluy were encoutaged to expect the prevailing distrust would subside — " by the ipeedy cessation of a similar stare of feeling in the month of Apr.l last," we have not the honor to be included in that statenienjt. It they will i}o M« the favor to read somi remarks that appeared in this pluce on t tie 28th of April, they yvill find pur distrust had in nowise abated ; but that, on the contrary; we felt less confidence thrfn ever, in consequence of the Irish railway lot.' ; and jvere emboldened to predict rircumBUntidlly, and to the very letter, the present most melancholy condition of affair*. The measuie destined, we cannot but fear, to give to October 25, 1847, rather a disastrous pi on inence in the chronicles of trade, will allaythe panic and increase the presiure. It will q ye a new start to all the causes which have lately so n.uch augmented expenditure, but checked and hampered leproducion. We do not, therefore, anticipate a«y immediate ill-effects. It is for the future that we fe»r. The BanK-Chnrter Act is virtually lurrendered. We feel that we may safely congratulate both the Ministry and the countiy on J;he eyents of yesterday. An set of prompt and vigorous statesmanship, has rescued (he one fiom the I ale which inevitably overtake! the feeble, the misguided, and the pusillanimous ; and the abrogation of a dangerous and irritating law, bas conferred vyon the other a welcome and necessary intervai of rest, after a period of excitement and cpilihion which will for ever render the closing mon^h of the present yetir a melanchuly p»ge in the hi-jory of our country and our commerce. At present we chiefly ttp and feel the immediate blessings of the relief in its reviving influence orer a protttate credit and a stagnant industry. We bcheid the return ot a tinge of cheerfulness over a landscape from which we hare seen with so much solicitude the departure, day by day, of £r*t one ray of sunshine and then another, until tlie

advent of an utter daikncsi appeared to be close at hnnd: Our marts and our exchanges arc again instinct with a hopeful activity ; and under the impulteof a pardonable alacrity, we are in baste to conclude that a measure, of which the beneficence is 10 plainly apparent, may well content itself with thd testimonials which the happy transitions of the present moment so profmely furnish of its wisdom and its* efficacy. — Morning Chronicle. The Bank-Charter is thrown overboard. Truly we care not what whale swallows it. If it was not thrown overboard before it was taken a-board (to in»M.e an Iriciim), it was not for want of broad hints, and sinister auguries from all " the old hands." — Gwbe. There is a benefit afforded by the work ci yesterday far beyond the present relief, direct or indirect : the bill of 18 i 4 is effectually repealed by it at once and for ever. The blow to the Bill 0f1844, and to all the measures of the author of that Hill, having reference to the lame subject, is fatal. Tlrs one monument of the Peel policy is shattered to fragments, and this let it be remembered, is nearly the only monument of his statesmanship which lit had not previously shivered with his own hand? . It is something thus to have a troublesome and importunate obbtacle removed frotn the road to recovery, for after yesierday's work it is impossible that Sir Robert Peel can ever again be accepted by any one ai qualified to assist in the Councils of the Nation — Stamlatd. IVlinisteri certainly deserve credit for having broken the charm of 1844. It is a pity, however, tl>at thry should have gone to consult the old necromancer hims»lf, who laid on the charm, as to the mode in which tUisbhould be done. The position as well as the character of Sir Robert Peel warranted, tint his advice, whatever it might be, would not be luch as to enhai.ee the honor of hU rivals and consultors. — Daily News. At last Her Majesty's Ministers have givsn way to the dictatei of plain common seme, pressed upon tbem by the tearful necessity of the ciisu. It is evident that even at this last hour they have done so with reluctance. The votaries of the Peel-Monetary-policy have died hard. But the system is now dead — Jet us see, who will daie to levive it.— Morning Post.