THE PREMIER’S BANQUET.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume II, Issue 126, 24 January 1874, Page 2

THE PREMIER’S BANQUET.

The following additional extracts from Mr. Vogel’s ministerial speech at the banquet recently given to him nt Dunedin, arc full of interest, and we have much pleasure in giving them as much room as possible : — Before I leave this question of the financial position of the colony, I will ask you to recollect that the true indication of the pressure of a public debt is not to be found in any mere statement of figures of amount without considering their relative obligation. A person who earns £5O a year may be less able to afford to pay £5 than another who earns £7O may be able to afford to pay £lO. I speak not unadvisedly when 1 say that in dealing with the question of the pressure of a debt, you have to consider first the number of persons who have to pay, and then the average amount of the earnings of those persons. When that test is applied you find that New Zealand does not Compare badly with other colonics, or even with larger nations. I will now simply slate to you a few figures representing conclusions to which 1. came. Taking the amount of the interest on ottr debt, exclusive of that for public works and provincial, the charge amounts to I’2 per cent, of the average earnings of the population ; inclusive of public works, but still excluding provincial, the annual charge is I’6 per cent., or, including both public works and provincial, the annual charge amounts to 2'4 per cent, on the average earnings of the population. But I ask you to recollect that in such a per centage of debts it is fairer that we should take our debts with the amounts for public works and provincial, because when a comparison is made with other countries, if the amounts for public works and provincial are included, there is an element to meet it; that is to say, there is a return from public works and from land. With some exceptions these arc not elements of revenue in countries with which we have to compare our public debts; and when we take the amount of our debt, omitting that portion of it which is for works which elsewhere are provided by private enterprise, the annual charge is, as I have stated, I’2 per cent, on the average earnings of the population. If we make a comparison with the United Kingdom, we find that the average there is 2’B per cent, of the average earnings of the population. In the United States it is 2'7 ; in Russia, 2'5 ; in France, 2'3'; in Austria, 2'2 ; and in the German Empire, 1. I shall now ask you to allow' me to say a few words upon the question of

IMMIGRATION*. Within the last few months we have organized a system of free immigration, excepting only for the stipulation that the greatest possible care should be exercised in the selection of immigrants. I do hope that this system will bear very great fruits. I find that during the List three months the number of nominated immigrants has been: —October, 1,173; November, 2,223 ; December, 2,339 ; and it will be gratifying to you to hear that, of the last number, 1,186, or more than one-half, have been nominated within the province of Otago. The Government are quite conscious that it is absolutely necessary that,concurrently with public works, immigration should be stimulated to the utmost. Depend upon it, that is a cardinal point.of the

policy of the present Government. (Applause.) I have before me a statement of all the railways in the colonies which have been opened, or which are under contract, or which have been wholly or partly surveyed. If you will be good enough to “ take it as read,” it may find its way into print; and. if it should do so, you will be able, to peruse, without having been troubled to listen to, a statement which will, I believe, show you that the Public Works Department has not been in any sense neglected. Indeed, you may, from that statement, be led to do the justice of admitting that, having been only two years and a half in existence—for it is only two years and a half since Mr. Carruthers arrived to take charge of the head office—the wide-spread ramifications of the Department, and the immense amount of work it has in its hands, prove that the Department is a remarkable instance of rapidity of development, and of high organization. I may say—for Ido pretend to any sort of credit in the matter —-that I think the department is a really marvellous example of what organization will effect in carrying out large undertakings. You, sir, have kindly referred to the establishment of the Annuities Department; and I will merely say that its success seems to be beyond all doubt, This is not the ■only social question which has engaged the attention of the Government of late years. There is another measure which even those who suffer by it will I think, agree in praising—l mean the Land Transfer Act, which is, I believe one of the greatest blessings ever afforded to the colony. (Applause.) After all, private interests must yield to the public good ; and if the Land Transfer Act has lessened a great many professional incomes, it has been the means of diffusing money, and enabling land to be disposed of and dealt with as readily as any other kind of property, and 1, for one, see no reason why such should not be the case. There is another institution which is as yet on its trial, but which promises to be an entire success, and which, in its present form, is altogether a novelty. I mean the department of the Public Trustee. We have already proofs of the use which is being made of it. The department is not calculated to be of use to any one class only. It will meet a ■difficulty which people of all classes have found themselves in—that of finding trustees or guardians, especially in the case of young children. lam sure that I am not. premature, or oversanguine, in saying that this institution will command the very greatest confidence in the future.

THE LAND LAWS OF OTAGO. I, cannot avoid asking those who may de me the favour of listening to me, or who may hereafter read what I say, to make inquiry into this ■question. 1 feel that 1 he present land laws of Otago are wasteful and extravagant in their nature, and do not answer the ends for which they were proposed. I also feel that although I am in my position of a member of the General Government, I cannot help thinking that, as the author of the policy to which you have done homage to-night, it is to me a very great disappointment. I find that in Otago a man can buy land for the same price as the earlier settlers paid for it about 15 or 20 years ago. It is true that he could then have a much larger area of selection, and he could more readily take land available for cultivation. But it is not to be forgotten that at the present day the purchaser is able to select land which is practically much nearer to the seaport, and the produce of which can be much more readily taken to a market. You have not only made roads, and so opened up the land, but have brought into the country a market, because of the people that have been brought out to it. And is not the land now worth more than it was 15 or 20 years ago ? It is not difficult to show that we are even now selling land for half the price at which it was sold long ago. A great deal of land is bought with purchased money—no matter whether the money is borrowed for it or not; and owing to the reduction of the rate of interest, which is rarely very little more than half of what it was at the period I have named, you may now, by means of the same yearly payments as interest, purchase two acres of laud, where before you could purchase but one. Is that, I ask, showing an increased appreciation of the value of land ? But you may say, “ It will pay to give away the land if we get good settlement for it.” I grant you, it may pay to give land away where settlement is urgently needed, when a country is entirely undeveloped, and where there is plenty of land to give away. But I say it is not fair to those who, by their own exertions, have given an artificial value to land in this colony, to sell it now for the same price as it was sold to the original settlers. There may be those who will say, “Granted, we

have sacrificed the land, but the result shows that we have promoted settlement, and we are quite content with the result.” But lam hound to say, that from whatever shape or form in which you examine the question, a comparison with the policy of the neighboring province of Canterbury, without free-selection, and land at £2 an acre, shows a result very much against this province of Otago. I will state to you some figures which are, as I think, absolutely convincing on the point. I find that the first difference between your land laws and those of Canterbury is that they arc rather more favorable to the production of wool, and much less favorable to the production of agricultural produce ; much more favorable to the revenue, and much less beneficial to settlement. Of course, in considering this question, I must ask you to remember the difference in the size of the two provinces. Taking Otago and Southland together, I find that the area is 16,141,232 acres, as against 8,693,027 for Canterbury —in other words, that one is about twice the size of the other. The present population of Otago is 81,015, while that of Canterbury is 53,700. The wool exported during the nine months ending June 30, 1873, which may really be treated as the year, because the export of the year is almost wholly within that period, represented for Otago and Southland a value of £1,167,000; and for Canterbury, £767,974. The land revenue, exclusive of gold from January Ist, 1872, to December 20th, 1873, was, for Otago, £lll,OOO ; for Canterbury, £762,000. It will be said, perhaps, “ Oh, but Otago exports grain very largely, and so it gets revenue in return.” The figures, however, do not show in Otago’s favor ; for taking the exports of grain, including flour, barley, oats, wheat, and malt, for the year ending 30th September, 1873, the value in the case of Otago was £62,180, while in the case of Canterbury it was £90,163. Still it may be said, But Canterbury had to import a great deal more grain than Otago to support its population.” Again, the figures do not show such

to be the case, for while Otago, imported grain of all kinds, including malt, to the value of £lB,OOO, the similar imports to Canterbury amounted only to £9,800. I fin'd that the total number of acres alienated up to the 20th November, 1873, in Otago, was 2,264,000 as against 1,600,000 in Canterbury, The total export of wool up to the 30th September was—from Otago to the value of £7,510,000, against£6,49s,ooo iu the case of Canterbury: thus showing a slight excess in favor of Otago. But if we take agricultural produce, we find that the total exported to the same date from Otago amounted only to £321,000, while from Canterbury, the value exported was 773,000. Seeing that the larger number of acres has been alienated in Otago, you may say our Hundred system has done that for us. It has given us at least a greater number of land-holders than is the case in Canterbury. We have not got here a bloated land aristocracy. Upon the face of the figures this may appear to be the case, but notwithstanding the greater number of acres alienated in Otago wo find from the latest agricultural statistics that there were in Otago only 3,705 separate holdings existing, one acre in extent, as against 3,619 in Canterbury; and finally, I find that in Otago the land broken up, but not under crop, amounts to 46,000 acres, as against 45,090 in Canterbury ; while land absolutely under crop in Otago amounts ts 305,000 acres, as against 318,000 iu Canterbury. It is really worth your while to look carefully at these figures. I say that you are giving away here immense wealth, and what do you get in return ? If you are getting increased settlement, or increased production, or if you wore even to appeal to any form of sympathy, there might be some reason for maintaining a system which has been a source of so much dissatisfaction. But when, after many years, you find nothing to show of the advantage of the system, I ask you to consider whether it should not be one of .the results of the public works policy to induce those who are in charge of the government of the province, to reconsider the question of the land laws, with the view of adopting some such simple form as that which has been adopted in the province of Canterbury.

FORESTS. The largest question demanding consideration at the present time is the question of the treatment of the existing forests of New Zealand, and of planting forests for the future of the country. (Applause.) There is no question, I think, which demands more thoughtful or serious consideration from all those who are disposed to deal with public interests in a statesmanlike manner. A man mav now buy for £1 an acre of land with £lOO worth of bush on it. As he gets it so easily, he values it but lightly, and the

consequence is that it is scarcely too much to say that forests are burned down for the sake of lighting pipes, or boiling pots of tea. There is a most reckless waste of the timber of the country. No consideration is shown for the fact that those who get timber in improper seasons, or who fell it and make use of it as it should not be used, are injuring not only their own property, but the property of others, by the wasteful destruction of which they are guilty in regard to the timber of the country. Take the case of kauri. I believe that there is no more valuable timber than kauri; but it is now sent out of the country in such a state that it does not amount to anything like the value it should amount to. At present timber is being cut and put into use within three months ; it is being cut down at times when it should not be. We protect oysters, we protect ducks, we protect small birds, all of which Nature provides for us afresh in a short time. But those grand woods which require for their perfection scores or even hundreds of years, we deem beneath a moment’s consideration. I repeat that the question of forests demands the imperative consideration of the Government of the country. I cannot help thinking that in a new country —or even in an old one, for I love the Great Britain of historical traditions as much as I love the present Great Britain, with all its fine theories and its enormous development of wealth — we must take lessons from the teachings of experience, and they teach that, theories and theorists notwithstanding, there are things which Governments can do with greater advantage than private individuals. I instance telegraphs —railways. I instance such as that which has turned Java from a poor, miserable, wretched unprosperous place, as it was in 1830, to the most prosperous tropical country I believe on the face of the earth. I instance, too, the introduction of beetroot sugar by the Governments throughout Europe. I ask whether we are to accept the teachings of any school of political economy as against the teaching which Nature itself implants. Can any doctrine of any school convince me that it is not the duty of the Government—the representative of the whole people —-to step forward and say that it is against the most sacred laws of God to allow those grand works of Nature, the trees of the forest, which have required hundreds of years to come to maturity, to be wastefully, profligately cut down, not for use, but absolutely for the mere pleasure of waste, as has been the case in this colony and others ? It is a desecration, I say, of principles which we ought to revere, to allow any such thing. (Applause.) It demands the largest consideration from you, sir, and from the Superintendents of other provinces. Shall opr valuable timber be allowed to be wastefully burned and destroyed? Shall the experience of Europe, of India, and of America pass by us as nothing? I ask that these questions shall be carefully considered —the preservation of the forests we have, and the planting of forests for the future, We must not be insensible to the fact that if, whilst using the forests of to-day, we do not plant others for the future we are inevitably injuring the climate of the colony. We must not forget that, in planting forest trees, we improve the value of the land they come to shelter. I believe that in France the revenues of the State are annually increased to a large amount by receipts from State forests. So I believe it is in Germany. In Hanover there are 900,000 acres under the charge of the forest conservators. V* e, in this colony, establish sinking funds for our loans ; but if that sinking fund be invested in planting State forests, which would be available as a security for the creditors of the colony, instead of £l, at the end of 40 years at 5 per cent, interest being quadrupled, it would, I believe be increased to a hundredfold nearly. (Applause.)