THE LONDON TIMES ON NEW ZEALAND.

Waikato Times, Volume VIII, Issue 422, 30 January 1875, Page 2

THE LONDON TIMES ON NEW ZEALAND.

It was a fortunate day for the colony of new Zealand when the Imperial Government detei mined to abandon at once and ?iltogether the half hearted, vacillating, and ineffectual polwy of intermeddling «n the liootile relations of the European settles an^ the Maoris. The problem which seemed insoluble co long as it was lifted out of its natuiul sphere info the circle of-ImpWlal interests, shrank to its proper dimensions when it vdas restored to its fitting place.

Jl was very ppeadily discovered that the way to deal \fith Mioris was yvy simple >ffirL i r oil ; that their hostility wa» nnL to be eradicated by Royal troops employed with doubt* ful success against a warlike raeo, formidable in their native | forests, but, by the slow and steady pressure -of English im'Muriition, with al! the civilizing influences the white man brines with bun 89 necessary to-hfs eoinlort and his- ad vancement. ' It is nrmohto tlfe erettk of the public men of Kew Z j aland that they at, once appreciated the opportunity. They lost no t mi in smoothing away the truces <>f the indecisive nnd unsi ti factory war which had be n en left smould^- 1 " ing when the Imperial trooi>» were withdrawn, and which frightened away the intending settlers., They enlarged the facilities for immigration, and they set to woik immediately to open up to eiiterprise- new regions of colonization. What is still mo a riei it >rious, rtnd still more unlike the ordinary character of '-olon al politics, is the comprehensive foresight, with which the Ministers of New Zealand framed their pilicy. A *err large share of the credit is due to Mr Julius Vogel, now I olomal Treasurer of New Zealand, who four y^ars ago traced the outline of the bold constructive ach<me which has been since in part carried out, aivl has already Established a healthy promise of success. Mr Vogel w"is aev^rt-lv criticised at 'the time for the audicious magnitude of his proposals, and, indeed, it appeared a stretcli ot< confidence for a young colony — u group, rather, of snvill settlements, sparsely peopled and scattered over a consider able extent of territory, and burdened, moreovpr, wit.h the traditions, if not the possibilities of a native w.ir — t/.o expend several milliois upon developing the rej>ources of tin* cnintrv But Mr Vogel believed m the- proverbial warning "Nothing venture, nothing have." He urged wfbh great vigour and earnestness that the outlay of money whic'i he asked for railways, public works, and immigration would 1 make all the difference 1 for the colony between pro^res* at a snail's space and advancement with giant strides. » For New Zealand especially a slow rate of up' Ogress whs perilous Other colonies ciuld affjrd to bide their time, and M wait till'tb,! tide of fortune began to fun in their direction r but , New Zealand, with the "phantom 6? a Maori x^m-dodging I it 9 foo'steps. could only hope to reach coinfortwhT security by graving rapidly strong. The colon y, after <L&mbiful pause, was persuudrd by Mr Voxel's arguindfftsTand ac cepted its schemes; be found a ■ strong^piinistry to support him ; and, in the teeth of gtavr admonitions and sh >rp attacki he committed the taxpayers of New Zealand to an estimated expenditure of seven millions ami a-!ialf upon trunk" lines of railway, besides 2,500,000 acres of hud as a supplementary payuunt. There was ground, it must be ad roitted, for misgivings as to the capacity of Ihe oolony,*'t{ien barely free from the burden of the Maori troubles, to dr« e'uirgß the cost of this gigantic undertaking. But Mr Vogpl's faith in the; financial energies of the colony has been amply justified by events. In the Fv>t jilace, the ordinary revenue of the olony has advanced "hy leaps and bounds;" four years ago it was only £936,000. hist year it nad risen to £1119 000; but .for the year 1873 mid 1874 it was £1,420,090. This remarkable uur me.nt — £300 — Hits in p.irt been obtained, we are t,old, by " the change wmde last year from measurement, to ad valorem duties" But, sotting aside this alteration in the mole of levying -the revenne, there- is evidently a r#l increase in the paung power of the people. Ifc muit not be forgotten, however, that colonial Governments have a pecuniary resource, to which they can resort underpressure, in the sa'e of unsettled lands. Tlie policy of dealing with this public domain is the battle-ground of co'onial parties, bui Mr Vogel and his colleagues do no+, seem to hav<; ddoubtt t d for a moment that they welv doing the hest tiling for the polony by disposing largely of the public lands, so as to meet in some decree th' expenditure incurred for public works and immigration. Tim cour»df Mr Vogel would no duubt armift, was justifiab'e not only for the relief of the pre-ent generation 'of c^lonwts. but for the interests of future generations. Ordinary revenue might be confidently expected to grow with the fxfcensipn of new settlements, and the eale of lands w« u'd nit only invite epttlers into the country hi'herio untouched by cultivatim, but would supply the means of bringing these new immigrants- into intim.ite and profitable relations with their fellow colonists and with the markets of tde world. Tiie l.md sales, fieri, winch in 1871 returned only £208,000 to the Colonial Treasury, rose in 1872 to £336.000, in 1873 to 819,000, and in the financial year which terminated- in June last, to no' less than* £1j©38,000- We have no preci-e details of the Bu lg t, hut it was stated the other d^y by our (OTespoudent that Mr Yogel b'gins the new financial ytar w.th a surplus of more than £200,000 .in hand. What, Uovrever, is t lie actual incidence of the expenditure upon the railways? The total cost, Mr Vogel nfSrtws, will be less than ten millions strrlimv and { ''* 3 outlay will be, necessarily spread over a gr<7.t number of years. The io istmction of 1,010 miles^f railway ha-< been ahea ly authorised, but of this mileage on'y a small pjrtion is open for traffic or nearly so A sum of £5 575,000 la* been appropriated for the construction of fie authorised lines, and about two-thirds of this has Ib en exp^nde'l < r pledged unon actual works in hand. In little iro"e than twehe months the minister fn* Works pro" ia >s t'iat there vnli be 672 mules of railway comI plpfel. at a o >st of £3,660,000. Now, the annual charge f )r tin* entire sum of ten millions, r j cKomrig the average rate o1"o 1 " in'etv-t a^ 4$ per cent., will be £475,000, Sad only a third of tMU or thcveib mts, falls for tht> present u;)'>n the Exch qnrr. B t the iiK-iea-e of I l>e ordinary revenue, as we li ive een, betw.>.-n 1870 and 1873, was clo*e übpn lialf a million, o t'uit Mr Vo^el can look with hijh hopro to the fiitii'-e. I n.i am «n'l the natural increase of thi peOi>V will su »h hr ng revenue. Moreover, the railways themsel\es wll pro a'^ly b * sources of income. Even the f w miles which are at present open pay mo-4 than their wo king, ex i m ■■> T .t»v may saiely be accepted, to q'iote the words of t ie Colonial Treasurer, as ' a colonia,l responsibility " But New Z'^ianrl is not content, with throwing a net of railroads over the d • crt which is herpreseit enemy and h°r destined ally. >^h a sighs for new worlds to subjugate, and the ambitious imagination of Mr Voijel is prompt to j search out the conquest of the future. The time is at hand, he lias pro '1 unie-l, •' when N'W Zealand will become t e centre of Polvi esia, and when the Grovernoc^of New Zealand will be also Govennor-Gen« ral o$ *he P6lyne^nln Islands'^ The lower archipelago of the Smth Seas, lying between New Zealand and the western coast of the Ameiican continent, is in the pathway of a trade which must become lai^e and luerathe, and Mr Vogel cmtends that, on geographic.il and climitic gronnd*, Polynesia is part of thecommercial inheritance >f New Zealand. It may be presumed that the success which has attended the Australian agitation for the annexation of Fiji, and which has, if> seems, already encouraged a nejv movement, at Sydnpy for the colonisation of New Guinetfpftl excite/l the emulation of the New Z -aland c .lonists. But Hiw Zealand, through Mr Vogel, cl-iims to be much more to the islands 4>f Polynesia than New South Wiles ever pretended to be to Fiji. Mr Vogel lias drawn th.- attention of the Governor, and, through the Governor, ,of the ColoTiial Office, to a project for forming a' trading company, " with.a view of absorbing by its commeiviil power a large share of political contuol in the nland. The oiigmal project embraced a scheme for establishing a. traffic in " chartered labor"," which Mr Vogel rightly regards with aiispirion, but he p-onoses an alternative plan, under which, he argues, New Zealand, " by aY snming larife responsibilities, wo .id have a right to the contingent advantages the island tra'le would confer." "I am inclined," he add*, "to recommend that New Zealand should encourage the formation of a powerful company to coloni-e the islands of the South%acific by offering a guarantee of 5 per cent, lor forty years on the share ea ital : ' and he claims in return for the New Zealaud < Government the right to awpoint the officers of the company both in London and in the colon} 7 . The objects which Mr Vogel believes could be compassed by this new organisation* are vast and various • factories, and plantations aiP to be established and worked; the comp-mv are to undertake all the duties that were ever undertaken by the East India Com Dan y or the Hudson's Kay Company, an'l the " arlvancen-ient of civilization " to boot. Whether this ambitious achievement is within the powers of New Ze.aland in these days, when commercial monopolies hive become impossible/may well be doubted ; but if New Zealand continues to display the energy and self-reliance that are to be marked in her recent financial history, the commercial prize for which her statesmen, suspicious, and wisely so, of a too exclusive devotion to agriculture, are striving, will naturally and inevitably fall to her. • *