New Zealand Times. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1875.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4331, 5 February 1875, Page 2

New Zealand Times. FRIDA Y, FEBRUARY 5, 1875.

Wb entertain very great respect for the intelligent opinion, on public questions, usually to be found in the leading columns ,of the Dunedin newspapers. We may not at all times agree with our contemporaries ; but whether we differ from them or not, it is very seldom we have occasion to complain of anything like unreasoning prejudice or misrepresentation. In our latest Southern exchanges, however, we find more than one article to which exception could be taken on these grounds. The facts do not justify the inferences drawn from them. Wo shall take one leading article as a sample of the style of writing to which we refer. It appears in the Otago Guardian of the 2nd inst., and it certainly requires to be promptly mot by all journalists who aim at maturing a healthy and intelligent public opinion in New Zealand. The subject is one that has been already discussed in our leading columns : the same illustrations have been presented to our readers as now serve our Dunedin contemporary ; but the conclusion at which we arrived was very. different. The subject of the article in question was the administration of Public Works in India, and the strong tendency to wasteful expenditure shown by the local governments. We think now, as .swe thought when we first introduced the subject, that for purposes of fair comparison, the case of India was one that might be profitably studied by New Zealand politicians. But there we stopped. Any deduction to be drawn from Indian experience, to be of the least value, must be general in its character. It should apply to the Colony as a whole. But the Otago Guardian, narrowing its vision, and dealing with broad principles from a purely provincial point of view, has altogether misused the strong materials which it handled, and damaged the Party whose cause it avowedly champions. After an irrelevant introduction, which we confess we do not understand, about “ proofs being daily accumulated of the “ truth of the statement that all things in “ heaven and earth and under the earth “ are subject to the Reign of Law,” the writer wanders over “each portion of “ Nature’s wide domain,” and settles down, spread-eagle fashion, on the North' Island of New Zealand. This rather valuable piece of territory, for which a great many of our fellow-colonists have an especial liking, furnishes such a frightful example of administrative misdoing to our contemporary, as, if he were only correct in his facts, would justify any extreme measures that might be taken to effect a change for the better. But the facts are not precisely with the Guardian; so much the worse for the facts, we suppose. What will the colonial public think of the following as a sample of putting things the wrong way to serve a purpose? The Otago Guardian writes:

A very striking example indeed of the truth and universality of the principle that like causes produce like effects is to be found in the very close resemblance between the results produced in India and those in the North Island of New Zealand by nearly similar causes. , It is of course unnecessary that wo should say anything about the state of matters in the North Island, which lias been brought about by the fact that each province has been able to bring more or less pressure to bear on the General Government. It is sufficient to make the general statement that these provinces have constantly shown the greatest possible inclination to run into debt, knowing full well that tho General Government would virtually have, sooner or later, to make up tho deficiency for the sake of the credit of the whole colony, if for no other reason ; that this constant expenditure caused by the "sturdy beggars " of the North has at last been found unendurable, and that the remedy which has been proposed, and which will undoubtedly be tried, is centralisation. It ought to be remembered, however, that, though this is in one sense correct, yet it will bo rather by means of decentralisation that the required change will be effected. As things are at present, there are in the North Island imperia in iniperio. Any of these minor imperia can now, merely for its own selfish ends, and in opposition to the general welfare of the colony, seriously endanger any Ministry that is bold enough to resist its demands. By abolishing these quasi-sovereign States, and making the Colonial Government really and truly the supreme power, it will bo possible to extend the advantages of local selfgovernment very much indeed, while the power of any one portion of the colony to hinder the progress of the whole will be reduced to nothing.

The foregoing quotation is a sample of the entire article. That which is intelligible to ordinary mortals is so full of prejudice and exaggeration as to be valueless. The faults which are charged against the North Island provinces are the necessary outcome of the Provincial system, and they are as rank in Otago and Canterbury as ever they were in the North. Indeed, much greater point might be given to kn attack upon she great provinces of the Middle Island. But this would serve no good purpose. We might show, for example, that Otago, relatively to population and available assets, is much more heavily burdened with debt than the province of Wellington ; but what would that prove 1 It would certainly fail to prove that the Provincial system has been more successfully carried out in Wellington than in Otago, although this is’ the inference that would necessarily be drawn from such a statement of fact, by adopting our contemporary’s method of reasoning. We are not, however, going to attack the South and hold up the North as in any sense better managed. The circumstances of the two great territorial divisions of the colony are in many respects different; and their inhabitants have each gone about the work of colonisation in the way that commended itself to them as the best for the time being. In the Middle Island, there was no “native question” to retard settlement. The land -was available, and consequently there was greater need for a large expenditure bn public works than in the North Island. This sufficiently accounts for the large provincial debts of Otago and Canterbury. But while we say this, as only fair to the South, we have no doubt whatever on our mind regarding the administration. Money was squandered under the Provincial Governments in all parts of the country, and money will continue to be squandered so long as the expenditure on public works is in any degree dependent on political combinations, whether the log-rolling and lobbying bo done at the annual meeting of the General Assembly, or in the less dignified but more energetic centres of political action—Provincial Councils.

Tim New Zealand Gazette of yesterday contains the trade returns for the December quarter of 1874, and a comparative statement for the years 1873 and 1874. From these figures we find that the increase in imports during the last quarter of 1874, as compared with the corresponding period of the preceding year, was proportionately less than the total increase, contrasting the two years. This will bo seen from the figures. Thus : IMPORTS. December quarter, 1874 .. .. £1,869,899 December quarter, 1873 .. .. 1,780,311 Increase £73,688 For year—lß74 £8,121,812 For year—lß73 0,404,087 £1,067,125 The increase, therefore, on the past year was at the rate of twenty-five per cent, nearly—a fact which speaks volumes for the progress of the colony.

But while we have thus to chronicle the very large extension of our import trade, we must also note a considerable decline in export values. Thus : EXPORTS. December quarter, 1873 .. .. £915,787 December quarter, 1874 .. .. 773,181 Decrease. .. .. .. .. £142,603 For year—lß73.. .. • ♦ .. £5,010,371 For year-1874.. ■■ . •• 5.251,209 , Decrease .. .. • • ■ • £359,102 This falling-off may be traced to five special heads. Looking at the detailed return for the last December quarter, and contrasting it with the return for the last quarter of 1873, we account for £121,507 of the decrease on the year. Thus : DECEMRER quarter: decrease on Gold £01,900 Wheat 12,685 Preserved meat .. .. .. .. 7,310 , Hemp ' 21,213 Wool 18,300 The decrease on gold and hemp export is greatly to be regretted, as indicating a diminution in mining and manufacturing ontex-prise. The total foreign trade of New Zealand, as represented by imports and exports, footed up the following amounts ; Imports, 1874 .. .. £8,121,812 Exports, 1874 5,251,269 Total £13,373,081 The magnitude of this. trade will be understood by those to whom a mere summary of figures like the foregoing does not convey any very distinct idea, when we state that it required 856 vessels, employing 15,924 men as crews, and of 399,290 tons register, to carry our imported goods last year;, our exports finding return freight for 421 vessels, employing 8991 . men, representing a registered tonnage of 198,721 tons. A comparative statement of the transactions of the principal piorts of the colony will show the xirogress made by each. Thus :

Imports. 1873. 1874. Auckland .. £1,422,395 .. £1,540,438 Wanganui .. 57,430 .. 00,473 Wellington .. 724,031 .. 1,084,6.57 Napier .. .. 150,160 .. 214,182 Nelson .. .. 319,429 314,160 Greymouth .. 152,390 .. 183,009 Hokitika - 153,480 .. 107.435 Lyttelton .. 1,029,041'.. 1,479,402 Dunedin.. .. 2,104,390 .. 2,589,500 Dunedin, it will thus be seen, stands at the head o£ the business cities of the colony, while Wellington stands fourth, ranking next after Lyttelton, which treads very close upon Auckland.