TOPICS OF THE MONTH.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5123, 24 August 1877, Page 2

TOPICS OF THE MONTH.

The tabLlar returns'whicb'art to the ■ ! figures, andrft, out a few,,.; The ( ;Btet§mentjrrpyoalpd; thei fact 1 that the-e had Keen a falUngiqlf (.during the., financial year Sdl it rtems the decrease and Auckland. Vi.TKe, results o ' the year-at) the, principal ports .may be set oi t thus, dlspajding.,odd shillings and! "pence ;-r .nap'm.'- V /niMftfciO f°' <-7 Port Sum Collected,,. -Increase.....Decrease Auckland.. ..£197,641 \VeUingt<fe"“'~'l67,Bss7 - 'j£5;549 ' . , p -p ..Lyttelton..* .1* 105)247'- -■ 15,285 ■’ 1 -Dunedin .. .. 345,910 14,399 Nelson .. ..-r34;533 / .{ .*•: 0100' Napier .. ..* 39,053, .1,359 Grermoutn . .. 40,458* ’ 3,099 l ■ , ■ Hokitika .; n ! .‘V -,’55,999- -(‘s' 8,678 ' lir — l - Wahganui ,■ .'O, , - 0,22,061,(r.''. ■ '..-Her*:- ‘6,0221: Bluff .° wnvi PI M>S3O 0 ;.; (r Jod-I (id 2,?32j It appearß.tfekthPui?oUpption.Sild.uvipgjtbe >lasti quarter qf the,yeas,i;amp.untqd -,to: aisumfne.veß reached qqrjftg tfie. fiamo'.quarternof auyipre- ’ yiz. t ,jj£3fi3iqi2, jiandtcitlisva-ralihdm remarkable |agtifhattliOAS,'X.^ttouli»^“fe«£Wol' - -difference ifeqjiweeaathsf rtyfinneiPf ethe ifirat quarter aild p^,t^e.[last,quarter oUfthe p.ea'r, ithbj figures > aThose;s who accept the' balance-of-trade i theory ;,(we-. v are £o| amqp&fjilffiifli njay.firtdaiednsolationdnv. the fact- that;;th,ef value-j;ofC D ur[ eftportSl morel closely approaches, that QfrquCimporta.tKaneih. Exports wd-importshay.e Su ifeted. nojdonbtji owing to the .. fall, ’fory oph,.-//Tiie latter hart ■ suffered more severely, ± The comparative figures stand thus ; /1 'ii* J ° £ K M oot co/l|*«yj.. ... 6,894,380' i 6476;7'49 (> , I'M-DSbrtJse "512,731 (, rfhilT&SM Thcrpyare worthwotgreat-atteptiQnr namqly, thdrt*Bh6wmg*th4* total 'values or iinpd?ts I *an4 exports of South, jWales,-;.and Ndw* , ending jpet iiead ‘bi population. We have ‘not ’ space ,tq .jgiyejthe, whdle'ldf ;tlid ! “figures,-but' the'-average, for the t eh'years Is asfollo\vs;—'' r ''"V' ’ .01) j > .T iJ'opula- 1: -lliitc or ■ Exports. ~ oils vd I tfofc ole.lmports.- :,v, i-'io 1 Vibtarfi’l .. 736,909 £l4 10 9 £l4 Oj,# New South Walea.-.. 614,359 ,13 8, ,6 12 11, .6, New Zealand o ’dv;d 269/982 A * 20 16“6 18 "S' 4 Mihavlu 1 en»i i tivel)T ]..(L!0.;-:. 310,47i,ie,!18 t .0.10 . -.-iIMO '3

Meetings ofrthe;sO-calie(h‘VUnemployed’’.have i lately been held at various centred of popuia-j tion in the colony^— at Auckland, Christchurch, i Dunedin, anduother towns being! conspicuo isubygits- aimiiicefronutlie lint.: At' - first eight this would seem to indicatoui state: of. things notufttn aUusatiafactbry.ljdbutaouag careful ptruHal,,of;.tho' reports: of.-these meet- j mgs I , 'the donclusion is forced upon us that they ' donot f present the real voice afutheCworking : menof‘lSriw Zeal and j who 'are,-orought to .lie, ■ -for thVmost part in receipt o£gOpdifea|fes, and with; little -to-uomplainr-of-;; trary, ■ 'thetnyelvcs on tne‘ ( good -'fortune which' has 1 placed 1 - them here. ’ ■THefel haf befenlrio apprebiable' decline in the : -rate of stages in the colony for some years, } is jin' itself -S ;fact‘ Worth 1». thpUsahd argumelits as'Mr."' McLaren aud other stump orators like hirii put I- fprtH.' ,! 'Any' One t taking > an- impartial' ‘of the history i'Oft'Npw:* Zealand 'since the introinduction I 'of the Public Works and Immigration 1 pdlicj' of Sir Julius Vogel, must be agreeably 'sutpriOed |at the rapid l manner in which the 1 large increase to the population made by immigration has beep absorbed into the working -population. < ’ThCfe are no doubt maiiy, isolated' cases of distress—such wiU' be found in every great hull?jo]E thp-pjeople prosperous ' and happy, and their lot may -be ’,w,ith: that.;.,ofj,,the( : p‘eople' ! ' ,! ot ‘‘'any ‘other countiy m the ‘world;' It will have been observed that; 'whenever! it shown .to,, the Go■UerhhieUt i thaKllhero. -has-been-a numberpTmeSTtempoyarily out of employment, as at CJliristchufch or elsewhere, instructions have been forwirded frQmheadquftrtete'td'the l6oal 'authorities to place the meUibitthe.'failSvayslor other public works,. roThere'is, as It • appears :to: us, little danggtfrof }aliy..man' able and wiliing' l ' todo a'day's-work-being-long-out of-employ-ment in'New 1 Zealand! -Sd.far iaa I Welliiigtou is-ofahfeernhd/.tHhr6 haveubeeU’ihbnh-'Ot ithese demonfttfatlbnslof ’tbe'-*‘ unetnjdOyed,!! and- 1 the' impriby-which iiß' ! shoVtly>to ■DS'Wft l -peridedm[the reclama’tiOn'of the r -Te l; Aro : fore-' shore, the ieKt£nßion'of,tho'rp.iiway,“th.6;‘'wharf l ' aridhthet public undertakings, to' say'nothing of what is I being done by private enterprise in f-tTiJ'shapl of ;jif &' gffiSut’eothat there will be 'plenty ' of'work for'bur artisans' land'laborers for a long time to corner and that their* prospebS“wefp’ p¥vsr”better than they ! afe at thelprewnttimO..^;,,, f t -[/'j y*