OTAGO AND AUCKLAND CONTRASTED.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4435, 7 June 1875, Page 2

OTAGO AND AUCKLAND CONTRASTED.

The financial statement delivered by Mr. Geo. Turnbull, Treasurer of Otago, in Dunedin, differs in several important points from that which Mr. Reader Wood, Treasurer of Auckland, delivered the day following in his Provincial Council. Mr. Turnbull had to deal with large sums, am increasing revenue, and general prosperity ; Mr. Wood had to face a declining revenue, and was compelled to skamp and save to make ends meet on the smallest possible scflle of expenditure. Leaving out of sight altogether the want of land revenue, to which in some measure Otago owes its financial position, the spectacle of the largest and most resourceful of the North Island provinces starving in the midst of plenty, is calculated to arrest attention. How has it come about ? What is the cause of the general stagnation which prevails in Auckland—a province possessing more available harbors and navigable rivers than the remainder of the colony? There must be some cause for such an abnormal state of things, and it is the duty of Auckland journals and politicians to search it out honestly, with a view to remedying whatever may be amiss. The climate is not at fault. Auckland unanimously declares its climate to be “ per--fection,” and we accept the declaration without diminution or abatement. The soil is not to blame, for Auckland writers agree in stating that it cannot be excelled, on an average, in New Zealand. The roads and water ways are not to blame, because a glance at the map of Auckland, and a consideration of the registered tonnage of its coasting vessels, attest the availability of .the latter, while in respect of the former, we are of opinion that Auckland will contrast favorably with any other province. Then what is to blame for the stagnation that prevails ? Auckland possesses gold, iron, coal, copper, silver, and the best timber in the colony ; it is blessed with a climate that will ripen anything that can be grown within the temperate zone; its waters teem with fish, its rivers furnish unlimited but unused water power. Why, with all this prodigality of natural resources, do we hear from Auckland alone the cry of oppression and of penury ? This is a question we should be glad to have answered, and we trust Sir George Grey and his organs in the Press will give their attention to it. Doubtless we shall hear of the removal of the seat of Government, of the absorption of revenue by the General Government, of “injustice to Auckland,” which expresses an indefinite quantity. But even granting the loss to vested interests by the removal of the seat of Government, and granting also' the absorption of its revenue, (the truth of which we deny,) by the General Government, still there is not enough to justify the statements made on behalf of the Northern province by some of its representative men. A similar complaint of injustice comes from Otago. Mr. Macandrew has made the astounding, but by no means novel statement, that two million pounds sterling has been taken from Otago by the General Government, not one penny of which has over been returned to that province ; yet Otago is prosperous, and its settlers do not grumble at their fate. They keep steadily working away, improving their holdings, adding slowly but surely to their store of wealth, and in the aggregate defying the worst the hard task-masters at Wellington can do, in the way of “absorbing “ revenue.” With Auckland settlers', however, the case would appear to be different. They fold their hands in despair, and sink under the accumulated load of taxation under which they groan. Work, steady work, would appear to an onlooker to be all that is wanted to improve the position of the Auckland settlers. “Fanning doesn’t pay,” they say; and, acting on this belief, they abstain from farming, contenting themselves with growing a handful of grain, and “turning over money” by buying and selling stock. Even in this latter item, Wanganui and Hawke’s Bay do more to supply the Auckland and Thames mai'kots with meat than the Auckland settlers. This is an aspect of the question we commend to our Northern friends. As wo take it, they have the remedy literally in their own hands. They may, doubtless, have political grievances to redress ; but permanent progress can never be made unless the people apply themselves, by persevering industry, to the cultivation of the soil.