COLONIES—THEIR COMMERCIAL AND POLITICAL VALUE. [From the Colonial Gazette.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume III, Issue 191, 29 May 1847, Page 3

COLONIES— THEIR COMMERCIAL AND POLITICAL VALUE. [From the Colonial Gazette.]

Among the accounts relating to trnde and navigation (now issued monthly by the Statistical Department of the Boat d of Trade ({.ublished in November, there is an account of the declared value of British and Irish produce and manufactures exported fro.n the United Kingdom in 1845, specifying the countries to which they were exported. The sum total is £60,111,082: the countries to which goods to the declared value of a million and upwards were exported in 1845, are —

In this table the dependencies appear to preponderate slightly over the colonies; it must be recollected, however, that were Ceylon transferred, as it ought to be, from the former to the latter class, their relative proportions would be inverted. A portion, too, of what is entered under the head of China ought to be ascribed to the colonies, as belonging properly to Hongkong. Western Africa, which counts for half a million, ought properly to be classed either among the colonies or dependencies. With respect to the foreign trade, Prussia, our exports to which exceeded half a million in 1845, ought to have been added to Germany, of which it is the most important constituent. These facts might modify, in some degree, the conclusions we draw from the table : but, as they all tend to strengthen these conclusions, we can afford, with this notice, to dismiss them from our minds. The first consideration, then, to which we would invite attention is, that of the whole sixty millions (in value) of exports in, 1845, more than a third were taken off by countries which are either dependencies of the British empire, or colonies still maintaining (heir political connexion with it, or colonies which have severed that connexion. The colonies sti 1 forming part of thp empire took seven millions and a half ; the colonies which have organised an independent government took upwards of seven millions, and the dependencies took nearly eight millions. Look at the matter from a slightly altered point of view : — The colonies, united and severed, took jipwards of fourteen millions and a half ; the dependencies close upon eight millions. Of this latter sum little le&s than seven millions was taken by the East India Company's territories and Ceylon, which approach most closely to the character of colonies. Ceylon, Singapore, and Penang, are really — Bombay Madras, and Calcutta, and the indigo districts of Bengal, are virtually — colonies. The East Indi;i trade has become what it is since thetrade of the three 'presidencies came to be managed according to English forms, and in a great measure by English merchants trading on English capital. The immedidte further development of the resources of that region is ! looked for from the introduction of railways, | sugar factories, cotton farms, &c, established by English capital, and conducted by Englishmen — in short, by au extension of that colonisation which the Anglo-Indian Government thus so long and so stubbornly resisted. One third of our export trade, therefore, is owing to the colonising and juasi-colonising efforts of England. The strenuous prosecution of these enterprises dates from little more than two centuries back, yet within tha« tim-i they have created markets which provide a vem for the disposal of our surplus produce more steady, and relatively carrying off much larger quantities, than rich and populous nations with which we have trailed for triple the number of centuries. The influence of modern colonisation in creating markets for the products of our Bri- i tish industry does not stop here. Brazil, for the amount of English goods it takes off, stands between Italy and China; the foreign West Indies anil Chili are each nearly on a par with BJgium. These three markets are all ere.it ires of European colonisation. The Azores, Madeira, the Canaries, the Cape de VenU, Java and Sumatra, the Philippine Islands, Hayti, Mexico, the States on the Spanish Main, the States of La Plata, Peru, and Bolivia, the South Sea Islands, are also all markets created by European colonisation. Our exports to these countries and to Brazil, Chili, and the foreign West Indies, amounted in 1845 to nearly eight millions. The export tiade to the colonies of other European nations, added to the export trade to our own colonies and dependencies, amounts to half of our whole export trade. We might add, but for the fear of appearing to push pur views to an extreme, that no inconsiderable portion of our manufactured exports to the continent of Europe is destined to be re-exported, either in the form in which it is received, or, further worked up (as in the case of our yarns), to the colonies of other European nations. We pass that item over : satisfie 1 with having shown that half of our whole exportations in 1845 were sent to communities formed within the last three hundred years by European colonisation The old-established countries, coeval with or superior in antiquity to ourselves, do no more than keep pace with these infants of civilisation. The deep stake which England has in the prosperous advance of general European colonisation is obvious from these reflections. In an economical point of view we have derived direct and great advantages from the establishment and growth of English colonies ; indirectly, and to a more limited extent, we have participated in the benefits conferred upon general trade and manufactures, by the founding of all and any Europeon colonies. It is obvious, however, from the returns, that to our own colonies and dependencies we are indebted for the greatest expansion of enr.com-

raerce. The returns show this, and a very little reflection shows the cause. The unwise exclusive system of trade, from wlich nations are only beginning to depart, is operative, but only to a limited degree ; there is a deeper seated and unalterable cause. Our own colonies are iv reality an extension of the home market ; the colonies of other nations are only an extension of the foreign market ; the home market is always relatively more active, more secure, more remunerative than thft foreign. The tastes and habits of the British colonists are the same with those of their fellow countrymen in the old country ; their modes of conducting business, their notions of obligations are the lame ; the commodities of the old country suit its colonial market better than those of any other : trade -is carried on between them with a more frank confidence and perfect understanding. The bond thus created to unite the colony to the mother-country has been found to survive political severance. The trade with Great Britain is still immeasurably the most important part of the comme-rce of the "United States, although we parted in anger. The trade of Mauritius with France, and of the Cape with Holland, is still considerable, though these colonies have now been British to all intents for nearly half a century. But it is in political respects that the superior value of colonies founded uy this country over colonies founded by other European nations is most unequivocal. The capital and industry of two independent states, or of one independent state, and the colony of another, may, by commercial exchanges, produce the same amount of wealth and amenities to the parties engaged in them*, as if they were both citizens or subjects of the same state. But, in the case supposed, the wealth is shared between two independent nations ; it goes partially to strengthen the hands of two independent governments. In the case of a trade, equally profitable, between a mother-country and her colony, the whole of the wealth created, and, what is of still more importance, the whole of the energies and mental resources developed, are the reset ve fund upon which one government can rely in case of a rupture with another. In the last great European war, during part of which England may be said to have stood single-handed against the other civilized powers of Europe, it was not upon the resources of this little island alone that we depended. Our men did much, but our capital did more ; and that capital, whether locally situated here or in the colonies and dependencies, or floating on the sea, belonged only in part to the inhabitants of the mother-countiy. India and the colonies contributed largely to carry us through the arduous struggle. Had a wise and liberal policy perpetuated the political union between this country and the colonies which now constitute the United States, their capital and resources -would have been part of our available fund for carrying on the war;: as it was, we sometimes found them brought to bear against us instead of in our defence.

Laborious Zeal and Privations o» the Colonial Bishops. — The Bishop of Toronto, when on a visitation and confirmation tour in 1842, passed a night on an island in Lake Huron, under incessant and penetrating rain, and amid a storm which blew down the tents. And the same prelate, on the same occasion, when prevented from proceeding to the place where he bad resolved to hold a confirmation, by the dangerous state of the roads and ferry, remonstrated with his clergy who had made this' alteration iv his arrangements, and who urged his not proceeding, and assured therathat a road which could be traversed by a priest and his people, might well be adventured on by a bishop. The Bishop of Montreal drove in an open cariole through a " raging snow storm," aud over, or' rather in, deep snow, in which the horse was occasionally almost buried, in order to hold a confirmatien, and administered that apostolic rite in a " diminutive wooden building" (the church sojourning-HteraUy in tabernacles), while melting snow poured down upon the altar part where he, was officiating. The venerable Bishop of Nova Scotia traveled under a powerfully hot August sun twenty-five miles, to consecrate a church, and hold a confirmation; he began the journey by water, and after contending for a time with a high and contrary wind, was obliged to shift into a settler's waggon, and traverse roads so rough and dangerous, that parts were only passable on foot ; on his arrival, he went through the two offices of consecration (church and burial-ground) and confirmation, and delivered an address to the newly confirmed ; and after tarrying awhile at a settler's four miles from ,the church, he went forward twelve miles of a wretched road, part of it through a deep wood full of stumps, and roots, and stones, after nightfall, and after crossing a long ferry, arrived at his destination at midnight ; — aud tliese exertions were made, let it hi borne in mind, by a man of advanced age, now upwards of fo r ty years in orders, and more than tw«nty years a bishop,

has been spent in labours such as these, and in a rough and variable climate. The energy and endurance of the Bishop of New Zealand are so well known, and have attracted so much attention, and the instances of them are so many, that it wiil suffice to adduce his " pushiug four hours in the dark in a canoe through a swamp, and then wading a quarter of a mile to terra firma through black mud up to the knees," when making an inspection of his diocese, and yjsiting his mission stations; — his travelling on that visitation tour (on which he was absent from his home more than six months) by sea 1180 miles, walking 662, riding only 86|, and going in an open boat 249, making a total of 2277| ; — and again, in another visitation tour, v/alking in two days 70 miles, and swimming across a river, in order to be present on the third day (Sunday) at the services at one of the mission stations ; looking upon an immersion, from the swamping of a boat, " without any very serious apprehension," because all his party were swimmers, and he had no baggage ; fording one river with the aid of a tent pole, and wading through another with " the water to the neck," »nd in which "the strength of the stream made it difficult to walk." And these only bodily labours ; for daily he was evangelizing, preaching, saying prayers and services of the Church, as well in the native language for the aborigines as in English for the settlers ; baptising, solemnising marriages, and constantly conferring with natives "to win them to Christ," and with Europeans, to confirm and ttablish some, to lead others to repentance. — Oxford and Cambridge Review.

British Colonies — £ £ British North America. . . .3,555,954 British West Indies 2,789,196 British Australian Colonies 1,201,076 Cape of Good Hope 648,749 Mauritius 345,059 7,540,074 British Dependencies — India and Ceylon 6,703,778 Gibraltar 768,928 lonian Islands 209,6 > 2 Malta -. 182,995 St. Helena and Ascension 29, 117 7,894,430 United States 7,142,839 Germany ; 6,517,796 Holland 3,439,035 France 2,791 ,238 Italy and Italian Islands 2 601,911 Brazil 2,493,306 China 2,394,827 Turkey 2,211,278 Russia 2, 153,491 Belgium 1,479,058 Foreign Wett Indies 1,249,015 Chili.... r 1,077,615

IMPORTS. AtErp.hhd.Whitbreads' 0 0 0 .. 6 0 0 per doz.". 011 0 .. 013 0 Arrack: per gallon .. 0 3 6.. 04-6 Blocks: each, 0 0 6.. 013 6 Beef: Sydney, per tierce 310 0 .. 4 10 0 Prime India, do. 410 0.. 5 0 0 Blankets: per pair .. 1 0 0 .. 2 0 0 Brandy: First quality, per imperial gal. .. 0 8 0 .. 010 0 Maxell's 0 9 0 .. 0 11 0 Brown Stout: per hhd. 610 0 .. 7 0 0 per barrel 5 0 0. . 0 0 0 Blacking : per doz 45., Bs., and 12s. Cioars: Manilla, No. 3, per 1000 4 0 0.. 410 0 N0.4 0 0 0 .. 0 0 0 No. 5 0 0 0.. 000 Coffee : per lb 0 0 0. . 0 0 7 Candles: Sperm, per lb. 0 2 6.. 000 Mould 0 0 0.. 0 0 8 Dips 0 0 0 .. 0 O 6 Flour: per ton 11 0 0.. 13 0 0 Gin : Hollands, in cask per gallon 0 5 0.. 0 6 0 Case, 2 gall -8... 0 0 0 .. 011 0 Ditto 4 gall. 1-4.. 0 0 0 .. 1 4 0 Mustard: Per dozen .. 015 0 .. 16 0 Oil: Linseed, per gal... 0 6 0.. 076 Pork: Irish, per barrel 0 0 0 .. 0 0 0 Porter: Byass', inbot. per doz 0 11 0 .. 014 0 Picki.es : Assoited, per 1 doz.. quarts ..000.. 150 Prints . per piece 0 12 0 .. 0 16 0 Pitch : coal, per barrel 0 0 0.. 100 Paints: white lead, per cwt 1 15 0 .. 2 0 0 Black 1 8 0 .. 1 12 0 Rice: Per cwt 018 0 .. 1 4 O Rum:B.P m per gal. .. 0 4 6 .. 0 6 6 Sugar: Mauritius per lb 0 0 0.. 000 Refined loaf, per lb 0 0 0.. 009 Manilla per cwt. 1 8 0 .. 1 12 6 Salt: Liverpool, per ton 3 0 0.. 400 Coarse 0 0 0.. 3 10 0 Slates : per 1000, according to size .... 315 0 .. 6 15 0 Soaf : Hawes's London, per cwt 0 0 0.. 0 0 O Liverpool 0 0 0.. 0 0 0 Sydney 0 0 0 .. 1 10 0 Sacks : Corn and Flour, each 0 2 0.. 0 0 0 Jstarch: Perlb 0 0 0.. 0 0 7 Sheet Lead: per ton.. 28 0 <• .. 30 0 0 Tar. Coal, per barrel.. 1 0 0 .. 0 0 0 Stockholm, .... 1 15 0 .. 2 0 0 Tea : Hyson skin, per chest 3 10 0 .. 4 10 ft Congou 6 0 0.. 7 0 0 Tobacco : Negrohead, per lb 0 0 6. . 0 0 8 Turpentine: per gal... 0 0 0.. 080 Vinegar: per gal 0 2 6 .. 0 3 6 Wine: Sherry, per doz. 0 15 0.. 2 0 0 Port, per doz. .. 018 0 .. 2 0 0 Whiskey: 0 0 0.. 0 10 0 Cordage : ii.ng.lish, per cwt 2 10 0 .. 3 10 0 Canvass: pei bolt .... 210 0 .. 215 0 Iron : English bar, per ton 0 0 0 .. 15 0 0 Hoop, per ton .. 0 0 0 .. 23 0 0 Oil Butts: Gordon's or Mills' per imp. tun 2 10 0.. 3 5 0 Cows: Milch 8 0 0.. 12 0 0 Mares: Brood 25 0 0 .. 35 0 0 Working Bullocks: per pair 16 0 0 .. 22 0 0 Sheep: Each 0 17 0.. 1 0 0

liMßEß:s*wn plank, -per per 100 feet .... 0 0 .0 .. 0 ,8 J Scantling do 0 0 0.. 06 Furnitnrewooddo 015 0 .. 1 10 Staves: N. Z. per 1200 2 0 0 .. 2 10 i SmNGi,EsrN.Z. per 1000 0 0 0 .. 0 8 I Whalebone : per ton -. 0 0 0 ..140 0 .< Finners 40 0 0 .. 50 0 I "Wheat: per bushel .... 000.. 0 3 ( Wool: N. Z. perib. .. 0 0 8 .. 0 1 \ Do. Lambs' 0 0 10 .. 0 1 I

EXPORTS. £ ■. d. £ f. d. Axb: N. Z.perhhd. .. 4 0 0.. 500 per barrel 2 14 0.. 3 0 0 Bark: dyeing, per ton 115 0.. 210 0 Tanning, 0 0 0 .. 1 10 0 Cordage: N.Z., per cwt. 2 0 0.. 210 0 Coals :N. Z., per ton.. 1 5 0 .. 0 0 0 Flax: N. Z. per ton, unpacked 10 0 0 .. 14 0 0 Hams& Bacon, N.Z., .. 0 0 5....0 0 6 Lard: N.Z., in barrel, per lb 0 0 4J in bladder, do 0 0 5 Oil : black, in casks, per ton 14 0 0 . . 15 0 0 Do. Sperm: do. do 0 0 0. 000 Oil Butts: N. Z., p>.-r imperial ton .... 0 0 0.. 3 5,0 Pork: N. Z., per barrel.. 2 10 0 .. 2 12 0

CORRECTED UP TO LAST NIGHT. The prices of Spirits and Tobacco are in bond.