TOPICS OF THE MONTH.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5051, 1 June 1877, Page 2

TOPICS OF THE MONTH.

The exports of the colony for the quarter ended March 51 amounted in value to £2,119,601, a? against £2,634,012 during the corresponding period of 1576. The figures for the principal ports were as follows:

ls7t;. 1577. Incr. Deer. AucUlinu.. £2U:,C.72 £113,729 £ll>9,S« Wellington 43U.H.V. 402,770 £32,121 Lytteltoa.. 707.757 SuS.3l9 —139,1 CS DtuwxUil .. SO.ViSS SIS,SW 15,151 Theimports forthesame period were £1,705,055, as against £2,079,-07 during the corresponding veriod of 1576. The figures for Auckland, Wellington, Lyttelton, and ihinedin. were as follows:

IS7G. 1577. Incr. Deer. Anuklaml.. £425.217 £:W,214 Wellington 3)1.474 U15.ll!) £20,(115 Lvttekon .. 290,201 292,597 2,330 Dunedin .. C!i.),4J9 529,542 IG3,iS3

We believe the New South Wales PostmastorGeneral has proposed to the contractors for the San Francisco mail service, on their <->wn behalf and that of New Zealand, to commence the modified service with the outgoing .steamer, tho contractors to be relieved from calling at ICiuulavau and the New Zealand Government undertaking the coastal service, at the reduced subsidy of £72,500, to be payable, £40,000 by New South Wales, and £32,500 by New Zealand. This proposal was made with the distinct reservation that it was only as a temporary measure ; and should the New South Wales Government and Parliament refuse to ratify the arrangement, the contractors must tall back upon the original contract and carry out the service as originally tendered for. The contractors (through their agents) have accepted these terms, and the outgoiug steamer commences the temporary arrangement. Of course, the reservation as to the assent of the New South Wales Parliament will be understood by all, it being customary in all such agreements as that under notice to make similar reservations. The necessity for making provisl n for the acceptance or rejection of the proposals by the Cabinet of New South Wales, arises from the fact that Mr. Parkes, Premier of that colony, has been ill for some time, and that of course until his return to health the formal ratification of the Ministry cannot be obtained. We notice with pleasure that the difficulties which were lately apprehended iu connection with the San Francisco mail service, in consequence of the change of Ministry iu New South Wales, may now be said to have pretty well disappeared.

We hear on reliable authority that the land sales in the Canterbury Provincial District during the month of April realised £60,000. A great extension of the cultivation of grain is anticipated next year, and the earnestness of farmers iu that part of the colony becomes appaientwhen we mention that over twelve hundred of the new patent reaping and binding machines have been ordered for next season, at an average cost of £BO. To keep these machines going during the season it is estimated that six hundred tons of wire will be required. Such important facts as these demonstrate more forcibly than many words the rapid advance New Zealand is making as an agricultural country. With such increase in production we have no reason to fear any financial inconvenience iu the future.

It will be remembered that Mr. George Hunter, when presiding at the last annual meeting of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, took occasion to comfute a mistake made in "Westgarth's Circular" with regard to this colony, and gave some interesting statistics to show our national position. On this the Melbourne Argus of the 21st April says:— " The correction of a mistake in the statement of the revenue of New Zealand made in "Westi'arh's Circular " has caused in that colony a comparison of the revenue of New Zealand with Victoria. And it is rather surprising to look through the details of the comparison. The revenue of Victoria for 1875 was £1,236,423, and that of New Zealand for the same year was £2,841,953. But the population of this colony is 822,000, and that of New Zealand about 400,000, or less than half. This being remembered we find that Customs in Victoria yielded £1,028,234, and in New Zealand £1,274,400 ; excise, which in this colony gave £32,474, in New Zealand returned £102,670 ; ports and harbors, £19,035 in Victoria, and £18,667 in New Zealand ; business licences, £10,714 in Victoria, and £48,861 in New Zealand ; posts and telegraphs, which here produce £198,325, there, with a population of less than half the number, yielded two thirds the sum, or £133,091. When we look for the great items of excess on the Victorian side we find them accruing from raihvay income and land sales, in other words, from sources which are not strictly revenue at all. It is obvious that the damaging mistake made in the circular referred to has done the colony good by enabling it to put forward a statement showing how legitimate are its sources of revenue and what very large sums it derives from them. The statement goes to show a wise and skilful adjustment of burdens, and also to prove great business activity in a country which obtains so large a share from Customs and excise, ports and harbors, business licences, and posts and telegraphs. To be active in the ways thus indicated is to work energetically, spend freely, consume largely, and enjoy to a high degree tho advantages of civilised life."

One by one old associations of the early history of the colonies are fast passing away, and of none *re colonists more ready to be rid than the presence of the British convict element amongst us ; for all the colonies were affected iu a greater or less degree by the system of transportation of criminals which ceased some quarter of a century ago. It may have been that convicts were never allowed to be deported from Great Britain to New Zealand, but that did not alter tho fact that many of the " old hands" of New South Wales and Tasmania found their way here, attracted by gold or by the security of their freedom, pretty well ensured once they were safely landed on New Zealand shores. And as people at Home regarded all the colonies as much of a kind, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, and New Zealand came in for a full share of obloquy. Happily the system ceased, and the rising generation know of its incidents only what they may read in tho dark pages of colonial history, or hear from lectures of the Agnew stamp, or what they may gather from novels such as

" His Natural Life." For some years past the only " plague spot" of the colonies has been Port Arthur-, and now this too has been cleared of the few beings who once formed items of an immense mass of human sin and wretchedness; and a stretch of beautiful country has been thrown open for settlement. The Tasmania* Trihitnc thus refers to the arrival at Hobarton of the last shipment of emmets and invalids :—" Before the steamer arrived alongside the wlm-f was cleared by a posse of twenty of the city police, under the command of Superintendent Propsting. A number of spring vans and drays were then brought forward, and the gangway having been adjusted, it was guarded by a number of district constables, under .District Constable Armstrong, and armed with carbines and revolvers, who had come up with the steamer. The first to disembark were the invalids, who numbered in all 23, hardly a tenth of them walking on shore unassisted. We do not remember having ever seen such a decrepit looking lot of human beings. When Paris was cleared of its useless population before the sieze of 1870, there could hardly have been a more harrowing spectacle of deformed and diseased humanity than that which took place on the wharf yesterday. Nine-tenths of the men were sufferers from lumbago, palsy, paralysis, some of them being afflicted by all these ailments, and having to be carried to the drays, where they were laid upon straw. After waiting some minutes sweltering in the fierce autumn sun, the drays with their freight proceeded to the Cascades depot. Five or six of the strongest of the invalids having got their discharge, proceeded up to the town, evidently with the determination to ' shift' for themselves. The prisoners were then brought up from below linked in twos by chains, the loud uupleasant ' clank' of which was audible some distance off. The first couple was made up of the notorious Bright, in a magpie suit, and another convict of deep dye named Williams, a'ias Frenchy. The vans having been prepared, the convicts to the number of 47 filed into them, and, guarded by armed policemen, the cavalcade proceeded to the Campbell-street gaol, where the prisouers were all quartered. It is worthy of note that we only noticed one man who appeared to be under the age of 15, and that was Walmsley, infamous for his crimes and escapes year with Bright."

A statement is published of the accounts of the Provincial District "of Wellington for the three quarters commencing tho Ist of April, and ending the 01st day of December, 1576. For the first quarter, ending the 30th of June, the receipts weie £57,(109 ISs. Sd. The second quarter shows a slight decrease, the receipts amounting to £44,659 15s. 7d. ; but the last quarter shows an improvement, the receipts being £62,367 3s. 3d.

We take from the New Zealand Gazette the following returns of thu number of telegrams, the revenue received, and the value of General Government telegrams tiv-ismitted for the quarto-- ended 31st March, 1576 and 1577 : Number of telegrams forwarded from Ist January to 31st March, IS7G, 270,312 ; for the same period in 1377, 292,305, showing an increase of 21,996. Cash revenue received, 1576, £15,470 3s. lid.; 1577, £10,337 9s. Id.; increase for the first quarter of the present year, £867 ss. 2d. The value of Government telegrams was as follows :—First quarter iu IS7o, £4331 7s. Id.; for 1877, £4346 2s. 3d.; increase, £214 15s. 7d. The increase in the number of telegrams forwarded and the additional revenue obtained is significant of the fact that the use of the telegraph is becoming yearly more extended, while it marks the rapid progress of the colony. THE following is a table showing the number of births, the actual mortality of males and females, and the proportions of deaths to population, in the boroughs of Auckland, Thames, Wellington, Nelson, G'hristchurch, Dunedin, and Hokitika during the mouth of April, 1577 : __^_ Boroughs. s^ rt 5 s=? !Hp frnik gS £ g, Auckland .. .. 12,024 4S 14 110 Thames .. .. 4,4C<5 10' 4 .00 Wellington .. .. lti.ViO 01 24 l'4ft NoJson .. .. .'■,554 IS 4 T2 Christehurch .. 12,815 So 10 '7B Dunedin .. .. 23,365 74 IS '77 Hokitika . .. 2,005 10 1) 3'lo Total 202 83 The deaths of persons not residents of the boroughs, occurring at hospitals, have been excluded iu all cases. The estimates of the population are calculated on the number of inhabited houses in each borough, as shown in returns supplied by ihe municipal authorities. The births were 40 less than in March. The deaths were 42 less in number than the deaths in March. Of the deaths, males contributed 51 ; females, 32 ; 32 of the deaths were of children under 5 years of age, being 38'55 per cent, of the whole number ; 21 of these were of children under 1 year of age. There were three deaths of persons of 65 years of age and over ; all of these persons were males ; one aged 68 died at Auckland ; one of 75 at Wellington ; and one of 65 at Nelson.

We understand the Government lias received a communication from an Australian Government, pointing out that in the present disturbed state of Europe it is of the utmost importance to the several Australasian colonies to be in early possession of reliable information of the progress of the war between Russia ar.d Turkey, and also as to the probability of other nations being involved. It was suggested that, as the most authentic source from which such information could be obtained is the British Minister for Foreign Affairs, the several Governments of Australasia should unite in requesting Earl Carnarvon to seud weekly, or more frequently should events prove of sufficient importance to warrant it, a cipher telegram containing the latest and most accurate information, to the Governor of one of the colonies, for transmission to the others, and for simultaneouspublication throughout Australasia when no objection existed to such publication ; the cost to be borne jointly by the colonies pro rata according to the population. The New Zealand Government has readily fallen in with the idea, and it has almost been definitely arranged that the Agent-General for Victoria shall be authorised to obtain the information and forward it to the Governor of that colony, the intelligence being sent on to the other colonies.