The Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, AUGUST 20, 1879.

Temuka Leader, Issue 170, 23 August 1879, Page 2

The Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, AUGUST 20, 1879.

The chills of a severe winter aro passing awsy, and beautiful spring weather may now be considered the order of the day. As in Nature, ho is the economy of trade. A iargfi nnd dr:ary season of chi I li*ig ( nay, even freezing, commercial is about to give place to a more cheering season of hope, realised by' ft change in • he financial state of the colony for the better. Some new arrivals, who left our ■shores for a visit to the Mother Country le ? .s r'han twelve months aro qrite startled at the change socially which presents i self everywhere. It seems to :Ii m like a ma« of wreck ac.vitered alone: the sea-shore after ft disasivons storm. When they left every one was buoyant in spirits, and light as air, witk the conviction that they were not only in affluent circumstances, bat that they found themselves Middeisly and unexpectedly rich. What a change, they say, has come over the spirit of the dream of many. Instead of cheerfulness, at best there is but ?, calm resignation obsarvableon the faces of many who used to be as merry as. a cricket. Here is a hard-working farmeF, who wfvs wont to go stalking over his broad acres with his hands in his pockets. He is now to he found often a visitor to the bank parlour, or standing aa i* condemned sv the door of some money-lender, or land speculator, in the hope that (some of the crumbs may be cast his way that ho nu-.y find a home and shelter for his poor heartbroken wife and family. Tradesmen in in our. cities and towns may be seen hanging their heads like bulrushes, mentally" ejaculating—" All jfe vanity"; finding, however, how truly the wopds of the poet are verified—" Tk« best-laid schemes of men and .nice gang aft sglee," Land speculators, even those who counted th'eir acres by thousands, and their supposed wealth by tents of thousands, find themselves called upon to disgorge their often ill-gotten gains to the irresistible demands of the bank ledger-keeper, or the shrewd, far-seeing representation of some Loan Society, or head of some Financial Company, who had been looking out for the wreck and ruin, which always follows a grasping- greed for riches at any sacrifice of truth, honor, or honesty. The imDecuniosity which has characterised the colonists of New Zealand during the period referred to, is a remarkable instance of the instability of all thiogs here below. Personal suffering and distress in communities has reached, and more than reached, the point which we indicated for it more than cine months ago. Unfortunately it i 3 not the reckless that have been alone the sufferers. Much loss and suffering has had to be endcred by the most frugal, care taking, sober, and industrious portion of the community toadeg>ee ne«e_' befo*& experienced'in this country. And, aa we then said, ? good time was coming, but many would not be able to&old on til! that good time. So it has turned out. Many a good man has bit the dust since last spring cheered him by its bright sun's ray 3. Desolation, change, poverty has overtaken the land, and, like a scourge, has swept all before it Many are the causes ascribed for all this evil in the land, some of them wellgrounded, some of them with no bottom at all. The reason given by the present tui-bulent class of our Opposition politicians that Sir George Grey's Land Tax Bi!ldidit,isrje>fectnonsense. The argument th at a half-penny or more upon an acre of land frightens capitalists from the cootjtiy is about the most foolish argument that any man could utter. One wonders at men that get some credit for being farseeing in these matters do not think it & shame to speak such supreme nonsense. The parties again, who argue that capitalists have no confidence in our rulers, although less innocent than the fancy of the theorists who believe io the other, are also wide of the mark. English capitalists do not make their calculations in that way, and it must amuse some of the monied men at home to hear such free-of-hand expressions of opinion as to why they prefer to keep their pockets buttoned up. We ventured to state in our first commercial aiticle that the Glasgow Bank affair would operate most seriously against the interests of this country, .und'that the rascally speculations in which New Zealand capitalists were m i- .xed up would shake >'he confidence in our financial position to tho very cos*e. Some of the leading members of that ring, who sway the sceptre of power to some extent, rapidly rushed into print to let the people know that tb% were not losers by the bank failure. Here, such unfounded assertions might obtain % A place. At home people knew better, and would not risk their money m the hands of such a swindling fraternity. The effect which -this produced was' the principal cause of our monetary criei3. Other causes, such as a bad harvest, low price of wool, and extra- ! j veganoe by ' almost all classes, also i i operated against us, and it will be recollected that we stated that a new loan was I the only avssne open for restoring confidence. At the vim?, some of oor light-ballasled statesmen scouted the ide.i, but the move solid thinkers took up the cue. Our reason for urg'ug a loan was not to have money broadcast all over the land fov every'speadthriffc to debase himself with, b.vfc that it would restore- confidence to the money brokers in England, and induce them to invest their capital here. No other coarse could have been pursued to accomplish this end. It was therefore with the utmost disgust that men saw the p ace-hunters, in the late session of Parliament, trying to the verj' utmost in their power to prevent Sir George Grey passing the Loan Bill at the very earliest opportunity. It is provoking for a sound matured statesman like Sir George Grey to have to give way to such coxcombs, who could not see'beyond their noses. A valuable month was lost, and by it a

month longer of suffering. It givps u 3 p'easure, hovvevcr, to see our predictions of Iho good effect contemplated by that measmc so speedily begin to be f uliilh d. Already sum ftitfr sura is telegraphed 56 the a&ents here as being oo ihe way for investment. Oar reasoning was tliat inoaied men who were not afraid to take up the Joan would give confidence to other capi«ilists their money lying idle to send it to a country with which large capitalists are not afraid to trust with millioi . The effect is already baing felt. The Banks aro'not so stringent, and by and byo mojiey will bo seeking investment at leasonable rates, and tho 33 who are able to.continue the struggle wi'l be amply rewarded. One wo>d about the Banks. Wnen any public calamity befalls an individual or a community, blame is always laid at some door, In the present instance the Bank of New Zealand is-the scapegoat on which mttg£ be laid all the sins of the colony. Nov/, wo have carefully watched the movements of the various Bank* for some considerable time past, particularly during the year 1878. It will fee recollected that at one time a keen rivalry prevailed amongst the banks for deposits, foremost and most liberal amongst them in their promises were trie banks whose head offices are in Australia. This naturally led us to enquire what greater fac'litiee they had for placing money than the banks of the colony, and we must confess no satisfactoiy answer was forthcoming for some time to this enquiry. By and bye, however, something about a combination amongst the Australian banks began to out, and this eliminated is the fact, which could not longer ta concealed, that an organisation had fyeen matured named the Associated Banks Association, one of the conditions of this brotherhood being that a large sum of money should be at the command ! of each bank before the body would undertake to uphold its' integrity. Our problem was now solved. The Ausi'alian banks set to work to drain New Zealand of its hard cash, to enable them to have the necessary hoard at their elbow. The Bank of New Zealand, seeing this, says, this will never do; we cannot a fiord to see our customers fleeced in this way ; nor will it be sale, even for oar bank, to allow such a drain at < apital from the country We must put a slop to this ; and so they did. Heuce fee " putting on the screw, ns it is termed. In this we think the bank acted wisely, although we I regret the suffering which it caused to I many. That the Bank of New Zealand is faultless w© ftre far from saying. Circumstances at one tira« threw a large amount of money into its keeping, for which it had to pay to the Government high interest. That-could not be continued if it lay locked up in the bank, consequently the bank acted very liberally with its customers. Where the bank erred was in not stipulating for a fixed period for its being returned. Had it done so, a groat deal of wild speculation would have been avoided. For want of this understanding much inconvenience and los3 has been brought about. As to the wisdom of the Government arrangements in giving all its money to one bank we eannot now enter. On a future occasion we wi'l endeavor toyehow the advantages and disadvantages of such a syatem ; leaving our readers to judge for themselves whieh is the wisest policy. In t)te meantime we must content ourselves with presenting this, our fourth commercial I article, to our readers, and hope sooa to l>e able to say that the time of adveisijy is past and the era of peace and prospericy again begun.