The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1878.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5507, 20 November 1878, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1878.

As one of the group of Australasian Colonies,conditions political or social affecting any one or more of our neighbors cannot be without interest for us here in Now Zealand. In the bonds of trade, whether in goods or money, all are so bound up that commercial duluess or tiimncial depression in one does not fail to make itself felt with more or less intensity throughout tho whole. There have been one or two' bad years in New South Wales recently, years in which the great • pastoral and agricultural interests of the Colony have suffered very severely from drought; the demands upon the hanks for assistance under these circumstances, as well as for the means of completing the land purchases which have swelled the colonial revenue in late years,—have made money so much in request on the other side that somewhat of the consequent “tightness”hasboen felt here, whilst thenocessity has been imposed upon the banks in this Colony of giving abnormally high rates of interest upon fixed deposits, in order to prevent an inconvenient outflow of capital. It is satisfactory to learn that one cause of disturbance at least has ceased td operate in New South Wales, and that danger from the corfti nuance of drought was believed to be-over. Wo find in the “Sydney Morning Herald ’ of the oth inst. a report of tho financial Statement, made by the Colonial Treasurer of New South Wales, Sir. Cohen 1 , on the preceding day, which gives a very hopeful View of affairs in that Colony. The estimate of revenue for tho current year, 1878, was £4,915,154. The accumulated surplus was £2,309,053. The receipts from Customs would largely exceed the estimate, but there would be a considerable falling off in the land revenue. On this point the Treasurer says :

“ Taking up now the land revenue, I “will first direct ray attention to * a'uc- “ tioa sales,’ from which, in January last, “ we anticipated receiving £1,000,000 “ during the current year, inclusive of “ balances due on sales effected in 1877, “ but which will, according to ray pre- “ sent anticipations, produce £930,002 “ only, of which sum £616,902 had been “ actually received up to the SOth of “ September last. I may observe that “ my previous estimate under this head- “ ing for 1878 was about one million less “ than the actual income for the preced- “ log year, the present administration “ having determined to place some re- “ striotion upon the enormous alienation “ which had been prevailing pripr to “ their assumption of power. True, “ climatic and financial causes may have “ gradually engendered a disinclination, “ and perhaps in some cases an inability, “ on the pare of the Crown tenants and “ others, to purchase as extensively ns “ they had theretofore been doing ; but “ these causes were not apparently exert- “ ing themselves to the extent of pre- “ venting large auction purchases when “ this Government succeeded to office, “ for up the close of the past year the “ auction system was in anything but a “state of inactivity—32l,733 acres hav- “ ing been disposed of under it in the “ Ootober-Deoember quarter. I think, “ then, I may venture to assert that the “ first material check upon the wholesale “ parting with the public domain £ under “ ‘ the hammer,’ consisted in the action “ of my hon colleague the Premier, who “ raised the upset price of the lands “ offered for sale from 20s. to 255. an “ acre, and refused to submit them to “ public competition in the large areas “ that had been previously authorised. “ The declared intentions of the Govern- “ ment in this respect, as announced to “ Parliament, have thus been faithfully “ carried out and consistently adhered “ to, for, as will be gathered from the “ figures justquoted, our original estimate “ of land auction sales will probably fall “ short of realisation by about £70,000.” It was known that the largo accumulation of surplus funds had been distributed in deposit with the Colonial Banks, and that tho fear that the Government might be forced to call in these deposits had produced some uneasiness in financial circles, which was not unfelt even here. The following are given as the amounts of the “special deposits” made by the Treasurer with the several local banks, viz.: —“Bank of New South Wales, “ £350,000; City Bank, £250,000; “ Oriental Bank, £250,000 ; Australian “Joint Slock Bank, £200,000 ; Bank of “ Australasia, £175,000 ; English, Scot- “ tish, and Australian Chartered Bank, “£175,000; Union Bank, £175,000; “ London Chartered Bank, £175,000 ; “ Mercantile Bank, £175,000; making,— “ with other deposits not ‘ special,’—in “ all, £1,925,000.” In reply to a question, with respect to a report that the Government intended to call up these deposits at pertain periods, the Treasurer said:— “ No such intimation had been made. “ What the Government had done so far “ was this : That in view of tho imme- “ diate prospective requirements in con- “ nection with the public works, they " had given tho banka notice that they “would call up £IOO,OOO, which would “ be payable in a few days. If wo require “.further money we shall call it up from “ time to timo. [Sir John Robertson : “ And the banks are quite willing to pay “ it.] But tho statement that wo are “ going to call up tho money by instal- “ ments is perfectly absurd. If there “ was no need to call up the deposits, “ why should wo do so, and lose the “ interest.” The revenue for 1879 was estimated at £5,031,155; tho expenditure, including £75,000 for immigration, was estimated at £5,366,070. There were 688 miles of railway open for traffic in the colony. The receipts for the current year would be £877,000, and the estimated receipts for 1879 £1,085,000; the returns gave a profit nearly equal to 4]r per cent upon the capital cost of the works. A loan of a million and a half, intended to be raised in London, was necessarily postponed in consequencaof the condition of tho English market and of tho general fall in colonial securities, caused, Mr. Cohen appears to think, chiefly by the largo demands about to be made for loans by the other Colonies. New Zealand is pointed to as being somewhat of a delinquent in the matter, and a comparison is made between the Now South Wales public debt of £11,720,019 with an estimated population of 675,316, and the debt of New Zealand, £20,900,119, with an estimated population of 414,412 souls; tho relative burden per head of popula-

tion being, in tho one case £l7 17s. 2£d., and in the other, our own, £SO Bs. ll£d.; that is to say that every man, woman, and child of the European population here owes now that sum to the public creditor, and that by the Colony in every year, from one source or another, there must be found money to pay the interest on that amount.

We are glad to so© that the Colonial Treasurer, in speaking of the Imperial Consolidation of Stock Act, 1877, and of tho great advantages of its operation upon the value of colonial Stocks, was able to recognise and acknowledge the services rendered in regard to that measure by our Agent-General, Sir Julius Vogel. We may contrast this with the action of Sir George Grey’s Government, who, as a reward for his exertions in the matter, put upon their Agent-General the slight of leaving him out of the number of the agents appointed to manage the consolidation of the Stock, and placed a stranger to New Zealand in the position which Sir Julius Vogel deserved so well, and was so peculiarly qualified to occupy.

Tho prospects of the much talked of Customs Union do not appear to be brilliant. On this point Mr. Cohen said : —“ On the opening of the present session “ of Parliament, it was announced that “negotiations, still incomplete, .for tho “ arrangement of a. Customs Union bo- “ tween this and tho neighboring colonies u had been initiated, but tho wide distlnc- “ tion between the fiscal policy of Victoria “ and our own, coupled with an iutima- “ tion from tho Government of Queens- “ land that they are not prepared ftt pre“senb to make such alterations in their “ fiscal arrangements, as a Customs Union “ would in their opinion necessitate, leads “to the impression that any general “ union of the Colonies for tariff purposes “cannot be looked for at present. I “ must add, on tho other hand, that tho “Government of South Australia view “ tho proposal with favor.” The financial condition of tho Colonial Government of New South Wales appears to be not only sound but flourishing; tho public estate is still large—tho unsold lands are 160 millions of acres, whilst, the money now due to. tho Treasury on account of what are called “ conditional sales 0 amounts to some eight millions of money ; tho railways and other works which represent the public debt are already, as we see, reproductive, uud there appear to be solid ground and sufficient reason for the Treasurer’s anticipation of “ a bright and happy future “ for the Colony.”