DEPRESSION IN AUSTRALIA.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2246, 27 August 1891, Page 4

DEPRESSION IN AUSTRALIA.

i A correspondent from Sydney /^writesto .the Auckland Herald as follows :—“ Business people are complaining very much about dull times, and rents are coming down very rapidly. Some of the best business sites—corner shops, too—are vacant. The floating population; who have left j your colony are beginning to realise the truth of the proverb, “ Out of the ''' frying-pan into the fire.” Situations and work of most kinds are'as difficult to get here as in New Zealehd. These colonies are now, beginning to feel the pinch of the times, and the fear is it is but the beginning. This colony ( dares not stop its public works, and ; 80, loans must be floated > at any price to keep the ‘ big array * employed, and so prevent disturbances. There is a i general feeling here that New Zealand will yet florae to the front, and will be one the most prosperous of the Australasian colonies before very long. Many old New Zealanders would gladly return to your shores, and mftpy others, too, with considerable capital, were it not for the unsettled 1 rtate you appear to be in.” A fitter has just been received from Melbourne by an Auckland resident from a relative in that city. He is an artisan, and says:—“There are over 11,000 men out of employment in Melbourne. The Government has responded to a widespread agitation, and provided work up country for those who care to go stone-breaking and scrub-cutting. It is believed they would not have done this but that the elections are approaching, and they are afraid of the labor vote. To give you an idea of the distress caused by the strikes, the depression, and the floods, I may tell you that I see crowds of fine muscular fellows waiting every day for a basin of soup. Jt is pitiable, Some of them are well

dressed; the majority of them clean. If some of the workmen in your colony saw this sort of thing they would would think twice before coming to this land of gold.”