TOPICS OF THE MONTH.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4860, 19 October 1876, Page 2

TOPICS OF THE MONTH.

The Financial Statement made by the Premier on the 9th was brief, straightforward, and satisfactory. A redaction of thirty-four thousand pounds has been effected in the departmental estimates, and one million, not two, is to be raised during the financial year. Of course Sir George Grey would cut down everything, and take example by the United States, which pays its leading officials starvation salaries, and has to accept the result that they recoup themselves by nefarious practices. In reply to certain inquiries made by his Worship the Mayor regarding the amount of rain this season, he has received from X)r. Hector a statement of the rainfall extending over a period of the last five years and nine months. Dr. Hector accompanies this statement with some remarks which cannot fail to be interesting to the public. He says :—You will observe that the rainfall during last autumn, winter, and spring has been very much below the average, and nearly one-fifth below the rainfall for the same period in last year, in which year the early summer rains of the remaining months reached the very unusual amount of 22'980 inches. The expectancy for rain during the balance of the present year (from twenty-two years’ experience! is 12'499 inches, which would give a total for the year of only 47’212 inches, which is below the average ; but if as in 1872 a dry spring and summer succeeds a wet one, we may have a minimum rainfall of 6 426 inches during October, November, and December; in which case the total rainfall for tho year will only be 41T39 inches, or J less than last year. It should be borne in mind in any deductions made concerning rainfall, that summer rains run off the surface rapidly, and that wells, streams, and other water sources chiefly depend on the sinking into the ground of the winter, rainfall. The quarterly return furnished by Mr, Wa* Seed, the Secretary ahd Inspector of Goldfields, are published in last Thursday’s Gazette. The quantity entered for duty during tho quarter ending September 30th shows total amounts

for the province of Auckland, at Auckland, 96360za., valued at £38,000 ; for the province of Nelson, at Nelson, 13090z5., valued at £5140 ; at Westport, 62870z5., valued at £26,183 ; at Greymouth, 15,0820z5., valued at £60,326 ; and at Auckland, 1887ozs, valued at £7357, amounting throughout the whole province to 24,6650z5., valued at £98,006 ; for the province' of Westland; - 'at Greymouth, 54170z5., valued at £21,671 ; and at Hokotika, 91660z5., valued at £36,626, amounting throughout the whole province to 14,6730z5., valued at -£58,297 ; and for the - province of Otago, at Dunedin,. 25,8590z5., valued at £103,707 ; and ‘at Invercargill, 24150z5., valued at £9658, amounting throughout, the whole province to 28,2740z5., valued at £113,365. The gross amount returned for export throughout the colony amounts to 77,0480z5., valued at £307,688.

The Registrar-General’s report on the vital statistics of the Boroughs of Auckland, Thames. Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch, Dunedin, and Hokitika, during the month of September, 1876, is as follows: —The number of births in Auckland’were 54 ; Thames, 22 ; Wellington, 66 ; Nelson, 21 ; Christchurch, 52 : Dunedin, 64 ; Hokitika, 11. Proportion of deaths to the 1000 of population—Auckland, 1’35 ; Thames, ■B3 ; Wellington, 1-47 ; Nelson, I'ol ; Christchurch, 1-28 ; Dunedin, P 46 ; Hokitika, ’57. The births were 37 fewer, than in August. The deaths were 4 fewer in number than the deaths in August. Of the deaths, males contributed 66 ; females, 37: 39 of the deaths were of children under 5 years of age, being 41*94 per cent, of the whole number ; 24 of these were of children under 1 year of age. There were 10 deaths of persons of 65 years of age and over ; 6 of these persons were males, and 4 females : of these, 1 male aged 85, and 2 females aged 73 and 88, died at Auckland ; 1 female aged 65 at the Thames ; 2 males aged 65 and 75, and 1 female aged 69, at Wellington ; 1 male aged 84 at Nelson ; 1 male aged 82 at Christchurch; and 1 male aged 75 at Dunedin.

Thb quarterly return furnished by Mr. Wm. Seed as to the quantity and value of gold entered for duty for exportation from the Ist April, 1857, to the 30th September, 1876, is published in last Thursday’s Gazette.- AH B°ld produced and exported in the province of Auckland has been entered for duty at Auckland, 1,035,5450z5., valued at £3,705,616, being the total exports up to the 30th September ; and the increase in the quarter from the 30th June previous being 96360z5., valued at £38,020. Wellington is evidently not a good gold bearing province, for since 1857 only 30 ozs., valued at £l2O, have been exported. The exported gold of Marlborough has been entered for duty at Picton, and the total amount up to 30th September reaches 44,6870z5.

Thy launch of the ship ,Waikato from the Patent Slip on Saturday, Oct. 14, an account of which will be found in onr shipping columns, suggests a few remarks on the importance to Wellington of the Slip itself. The satisfactory manner in which the Patent Slip in this port has been worked is shown by the following extract from a letter written by Messrs. Shaw, Savill, and Co. to their agents, Messrs. Levin and Co., dated London, July 7th, 1876 : “ With regard to putting our ships on the Slip, we are desirous of directing what business we can to the Slip Company, and we intend in future to dock our ships in Wellington and not in London. The Avalanche will be the first, the Pleiades and other ships to follow. The Zealandia has a special composition on as an experiment, and will not want docking on your side.” The New Zealand Shipping Company have also arranged to dock all the ships they load for England, and it is expected that six of their large vessels will be placed on the Slip during the present season. Within the last few months the undermentioned vessels have been placed on the Slip for the purpose of being cleaned and repaired : —s.s. Southern Cross, s.s. Taranaki, s.s. Matau, s.s. Tui, s.s. Eangatira, s.s. Ladybird, s.s. Kiwi, p.s. Luna, barque Edwin Bassett, s.s. Manawatu, s.s. Eangatira, and s.s. Stormbird. We think that the advantages conferred on the port of Wellington by the erection and working of the Patent Slip are not sufficiently appreciated, or due credit awarded to those who were the means of establishing the company and have since managed its affairs. The Slip is the finest and largest in the Australian colonies, capable of taking up ships of 2000 tons burthen, the cradle, hauling gear, machinery, and everything connected with the works are most perfect and complete, and this has been demonstrated in the most convincing manner by the circumstance that there has never been the slightest hitch in the taking up or launching several of the largest vesse !s that ever entered this port. The ease with which the Waikato was taken up last Tuesday and launched on Saturday is the best proof that can be adduced in support of the fact to which we are now drawing attention.

The following are the amendments to the Provincial Appropriation Acts Extension Bill proposed by Government, and carried in the House of Eepresentatives : —“ All revenues accruing in any provincial district which if the Abolition of Provinces Act, 1875, had not been passed would have been provincial revenues, shall be issued and applied until the 31st day of December next, as provided by any Act or Ordinance the operation of which is extended by this Act. From and after the date on which the Abolition of Provinces Act, 1875, takes effect and until the 31st day of December next the Governor may continue and carry on in any provincial district the services or, such parts thereof as he thinks fit of the Provincial Government existing in the province at the date of its abolition. For the purpose of giving effect to this enactment the Governor may by warrant under his hand from time to time empower such person as he may think fit to sign and issue any instrument, warrant, or authority that may be necessary under any law or ordinance which may be affected by the operation of this Act.”

The Melbourne Argus has a leader on the subject of Sir Julius Vogel’s retirement from the Premiership, and it speaks in very plain terms the opinions which obtain amongst outsiders on the subject. It says the “outburst of petulant feeling” on the part of a portion of the Press may be far more easily accounted for than it can be excused; and attributes it to the rancorous animosity of the_ whole of the politicians who ‘ prominently identified themselves with the cause of provincialism, and who seem to have acted upon the advice which Fuseli gave his wife upon one occasion when she was in a towering passion, “Swear, _my dear, it will relieve your feelings.” The article continues; —As we are sufficiently remote from the scene of commination to be able to take a disinterested, and we trust an impartial view of Sir Julius Vogel’s public career and conduct ; and as we believe both to have been guided by ah honest and sincere desire to promote the welfare and accelerate the progress of the country to the service of which he has devoted some of the best years of his life, we may venture to offer a few words of comment upon his retirement from office. Of the time when and in the manner in which his resignation should take place, the ex-Premier ought to be the best judge ; and his determination would be materially influenced by personal and family considerations, with which _ the public have nothing to do. As to the position of the late Ministry, it appears to us to have floated into comparatively smooth water. The Abolition Act is the law of the land, the Piako Swamp attack proved a disastrous failure, Sir George Grey’s separation resolutions have fared no better, the Counties Bill has been carried, the financial statement in connexion with the public works of the colony has been well received, and the 5 per cent, debentures of the Government are quoted at par. Under such circumstances, Sir Julius Vogel's withdrawal from his post as Premier can scarcely be called desertion ; while his acceptance of the Agent-Generalship of New Zealand in London for what he announces will be a brief period, is an incident upon which the colony is to bo congratulated, because, for the next twelve or eighteen months, he can be of essential service to it, by remodelling the system of immigration, and by perfecting those arrangements which his predecessor is known to have left incomplete. It is certainly a curious and significant fact that

the direst reproaches which have been hurled, at the head of the retiring Minister for Having relinquished the helm at the present juncture, have emanated from political opponents, who have systematically decried his ability, condemned his policy, and traduced his character. Looking at the breadth, the scope, the courage, and the consistency of that policy, we are bound to-say that it is statesmanlike in conception and patriotic in design. Its very boldness is a merit, when" we reflect upon the wretchedly makeshift, temporising, wavering, hand-to-mouth expediency-mongering which is commonly adopted as; a substitute for a policy in these colonies. Of Sir Julius Vogel it must be affirmed- that he had strong convictions, definite views, and adecided purpose, and that by sheer ability and force of character he succeeded in impressing the stamp of his vigorous mind upon public opinion, in bearing down all opposition, and in giving an immense impetus to the prosperity of New Zealand, taking care at the same time to make it the best known colony of the Australian group in the Mother Country. It would be premature to pronounce a definite judgment upon the exPremier’s policy. IVe can only say that it deserves to succeed; and the magnitude of the debt which has been incurred, in order to give effect to it, need be no barrier to its success, especially when we bear in mind that it is less than that of either Denmark, Wurtemburg, Saxony, or Greece; while the total revenue for 1875 (£2,8X3,928) was considerably in excess of that of any one of the four states we have named; besides which a large proportion of the indebtedness of New Zealand represents an outlay upon reproductive works, and another portion has been expended in the introduction of wealth producers, and, therefore, of permanent contributors to the general and local revenues.