The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 1888. THE EXODUS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1780, 23 August 1888, Page 2

The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 1888. THE EXODUS.

HIGH FRIEGHTS,

Histoet is repeating itself with a vengeance in this colony. In the Government of the day, of which Sir Harry Atkinson held the purse strings, got a vote of, we believe, £79,000 to give work to the unemployed, but, instead of spending it, they kept it in the Government money chest. The result was that almost every working man who could leave the colony then did so, while soup kitchens had to be established in Christchurch and other large centres to keep the people from starving. Last year the Government bad voted to them by Parliament £IO,OOO for the purpose of finding work for the unemployed, but Sir Harry Atkinson, who again bolds the purse strings, did exactly what he did in 1879-80. He did not spend the £10,000; he only spent half of if, with the result that thousands upon thousand-* of the most useful of opr colonists have left our phoMS. Thus tmtory is repealing itself, and the result of the pfipptiii.m is not at all pleasant to reflect upon, We are told for a peoiii/e fact that 1

hundreds have left New Zealand of whom we have no record. As a matter of fact some of the cargo accommodation of the Union Company’s boats has been fitted up with bunks for passengers, and they take more people very often than the law allows them to do. Of course, when a vessel has more passengers on board than the law allows itis not consistent with common sense to think that its officers will disclose it, as by doing so they would render themselves liable to a prosecution. In this way large numbers are leaving of whom we never hear# and it does not seem that there is any diminution in the exodus at present. Nor is it likely that those who have left will be in a hurry to come back, as some self-satisfied people wish us to believe. The fact that the men who left us some months ago are now sending for their wives and families indicates that they have no intention of returning, and that they see their way to remain where they are. Every vessel leaving New Zealand at present takes away women and children by hundreds. These are the wives and families of New Zealanders who have been driven away from us by t the cursed way in which our rulers are managing the affairs ot the country, and such is their experience of this colony that they will not be in a hurry to return. We are going down hill on the high road to, ruin fast, and as no one seems inclined to put the break on'it appears very doubtful whether we shall not bring up in national bankruptcy. The whole tendency of the present Government is to play into the hands of the wealthy. In this way they are driving away population, and the wealthy will find in the end that they cannot pay the liabilities of this colony out of sheep alone. The greed and avarice of the wealthy are at the bottom of all our misery. There is no other reason, and it will all result in their own ruin as well as the ruin of the oolonj.

It ia most amusing to find how ready those who are accustomed to delude and deceive their fellow men are to explain away unusual circumstances when they arise. For instance, it is next to irapjssible to get ships to take our goods away either to England, or; Australia at the present time, and wise-acres assure us that the cause is that we do not import as much as we used to* They bring this up as an argument against protection, and with streaming eyes tell us that if wr? protect our industries we shall have no shipping at all, and poor farmers will have no means of sending their grain to England. We hive trequently explained away this fallacy before; we have shown that wherever Protection has been adopted commerce has expanded and trade has increased. It is not necessary for us to reproduce the same'figures again, but it may be of use to show that the high frieghts and scarcity of...ships,, is due to other causes than those to which they are generally attributed. The real cause is this: Some 12 or 18 months ago some accident occurred in coal mines on the Pacific coast of America, with the result that they had to be shut up for a time, and have still remained unopened. These mines supplied coal to California and the Pacific States, and when they were thus shut up it became necessary for the States to obtain fuel from other places. An immense number of ships are engaged ie carrying coal to these States from Newcastle and other places, and this is why it is so hard to got ships in this colony. It is anticipated that these vessels will not be released from the coal trade for close on another 12 months, and that until then freights will not come down. This is the explanation we have got of the scarcity of shipping from a very reliable authority, and it stands to reason it is true. If the theory that a diminution in our imports is the cause of the scarcity of shipping were true, the ships would have been lying idle in England, or somewhere else, but that is not the case. The scarcity of the shipping arises, not from the fact that they are lying idle at Home/ but from the fact that they are otherwise engaged in carrying coal to San Francisco and other Pacific coast ports. This is a great drawback to us just now. The price of graitf has gone up nearly one shilling per bushel in ijbgland, and we ought to hav,e experienced a corresponding increase in this colony, but owing to the difficulty in the way of sending our produce tb : the English market, we cannot benefit by the improvement. Howeyey, we hope that by next harvest things will have asumed their normal condition, and freights will bo as low as ever.