THE 'SCOTSMAN' ON NEW ZEALAND.

Waikato Times, Volume XII, Issue 997, 12 November 1878, Page 2

THE 'SCOTSMAN' ON NEW ZEALAND.

The ' Scotsman' has the following article on the position of New Zealand as compared with the other Australasian colonies : —lt is always interesting, though it may not always be profitable, for a parent to look into the books and balancesheets of the sons that he has started in business. If they are doing well, he must have pleasure ; if they seem a little doubtful, he must have anxiety ; if things are all against them, ho cannot be comfortable. What is true of father .and sons is true of the mother country and the colonies. At home we desire to know how they are getting on, and whether they promise to be as successful as the mother country has been. Every now and then one or other of these colonies gives an account of itself, Some colonist, desirous to further the interests of his new home, will tell us a flattering tale of its prospects, and he is gladly listened to. Still, it is well to look into the matter a little for ourselves—to confirm, if possible, his statements by undoubted facts, and to satisfy ourselves that all is well. JFrom the Australian group of colonies many promising accounts have come, and recently New Zealand gave a particularly gooi account of herself. It may be well to see, from authentic sources, whether this account is borne out • and in order to do so a comparissn may be made between New Zealand and the other Australasian colonies. The total area of all the Australasian colonies is 3,173,310 square miles, whjle that of the United Kingdom is only 120,930 square miles » so that they are more than 26 times as big as we are. No doubt a good deal of the area is not likely to be productive as any time ; but it may be doubted whether, comparatively, there is as much of their surface in that condition as there is of the surface of the United Kingdom, How much elbow-rooin they haye may b,e seen by the fact that, while upon our 120,830 square miles, we have a population of not les=s than 33,000,000, upon their 3,173,310 square miles they had only a population of 2,401,'/I*£ in 1876. That js to say, thoy had not one inhabitant

per square mile, while we had more, than 273. Plainly then, they have plenty of room to grow; and they are growing rapidly. Their population, which, as just stated, was 2,401,715 in 187G, was only 1,264,951 in 1861. That is an increase in 15 years of close upon 90 per cent. In the same time, talcing our population now at 33,000,000, oar increase was only a little more than 13 per cent. Where the growth arose may be seen in the folowing table:—

It will be seen that, while New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia have increased rapidly, the rate of their increase has been small compared with New Zealand and Queensland. In New tfouth Wales, the increase was something over 75 per cent., and that was the largest of the three first named. But the increase in New Zealand was a little over 303 per cent., and that of Queensland was rather over 436 per cent. This is little short of marvellous, and speaks volumes for the vigour with which the Governments of New Zealand and Queensland have pushed the claims of their countries. It will be found, however, that there is a material difference between the colonies when their condition is further examined. Of course the Australasian colonies have to raise money and to spend it; and all of them have gone further, and indulged themselves with a National Debt. Taking them altogether, their gross public revenue, which was .£8,106,816 in 1862 was £16,012,288 in 1876, so that it had very nearly doubled. Tn the same period, their public expenditure had gone up from £7,769,619 to £16,749,923. Not only, therefore, had it more than doubled, but, whereas in 1862 the expenditure was well below the income, in 1870 the income was sadly below the expenditure. As a natural consequence, the public debt had increased. It was only £16,097,070 in 1862 j it had become £59,380,862 in 1876. The question will naturally be tisked, which colony contributed most to this growth; and the following table will give the answer :

There, again, we ha v e New Zealand and Queensland distinguishing tlipm•elves. Rouchly speaking, New South Wales has more than doubled hev revenue, her expenditure, and her debt ; Victoria has not grown at so great a rate in her revenue and expenditure, but has exceeded it L. her debt. South Australia has rather more than doubled revenue and expenditure, and more than quadaupled her debt. But when we come to New Zealand, we find revenue increased more than 182 per cent., expenditure more than 2GS per cent., and debt more than 2,134 per cent. Queensland ba=, howover done more than this; her revenue has increased more than 264 per cent, her expenditure more than 249 per cent., and her debt more than 5,101 per cent. Really these colonies are magnificent in the way of debt. What have they to set against it? The inquirer will naturally look to the trade returns, and rightly. There he will find an answer which cannot be regarded as unsatisf icfcory. He will find that the total imports of the Australasian colonies, which were £31,623,093 in 18G2, had grown in 1876 to £45;505,083; while the exports had grown fmm £26,542,713 in 1862 to £43,093,920. It is plain from these figures that the Australasian colonies do not yet indulge in many luxuries j and another lesson which might be b: ought out from the figures is, that Protection has not done much for them. But it may be well to take the colonies separately :

Here again we have Queensland shewing well ia front in increase, though South Australia comes near to it, and Western Australia and New Zealand ar« also unexceptionally strong. The apparently small increase in Victorian exports is accounted for by the decrease in the quantity of gold exported, Thus, in 18G2, the total exports from that colony, £7,611,638 was bullion, while in 1870 the amount was only £3,701,242. New Zealand sent out about £260,000 less bullion in 1876 fcli!in in 18G2, but Queensland rose from £IO2B in 1862 to £1,448,731 in 1876. Plainly then, the Australasian colonies had a fair growth of trade in the 15 years between 1862 and 1876, and New Zealand comes out very well. But it will be wise to look a little deeper. The Australasian colonies are and must be to an extent pastoral and agricultural for many years to come ; that is to say, they must look chiefly to the growth of their flocks and herds, and of their agricultural produce. Here it will be seen that the opportunities are almost boundless, and they have taken fair advantage of them. Their Soaple export is now wool, and it is worth while to see how enormously that ex;port has grown.

The teaching of these figures is, that New Zealand has developed one of her staple productions more than any other colony. She far surpasses Queensland, which, as we have seen had been neck and neck with her to this point. But the examination may go a little further. Let us see what New Zealand does in the way of agriculture. The following table shews the product per acre of wheat, barley, oats, and potatoes in each of the colonies :

Here there is no mistake about which colony is most suited for agriculture. New Zealand gets as much of wheat per acre as is got in this country, and she far surpasses every other colony. Putting her against Queensland, it will be seen that she has far more justification for her expenditure, fnr better security for her debt even, large as it is, than t e other colonies can offer. "With a soil so fertile, and with such unbounded resources, her people must have a most brilliant future before them. There is perhaps no one of the colonies that ajjriculturiai- ts would despise—no one that cannot look forward with confidence to the future. But New Zealand stands ont before them all as possessed of a soil, a climate, and resources wlrch seem to guarantee prosperity. With wise government and judicious development of those resources, her debt, large as it is, will be in truth a " flea-bite." and her taxation, though it. is now heavy, may be at the same time lessened and made easier t© bear.

18G1 1876. New South Wales . . 358,278 629,770 Victoria . 540,322 840,300 South Australia . 120,830 212,271 Western Australia . . 15,691 26,709 Tasmania . 89,977 105,484 New Zealand .. . 98,971 399,075 Queensland .. . 34,885 885,100

Eevenixe. Expbxdittjee. Colony. 1862. 1876. 1862. 1876. N.S.W i 82,273,170 £5,033,828 £2,135,518 £4,749,013 Victoria .. 3,269,079 4,325,156 3,039,497 4,572,844 S. Australia 567,709 1,520,204 613,681 1,323,337 W. Australia .. 69,404 162,198 72,268 179,484 Tasmania 371,596 327,949 355,865 336,388 New Zealand .. 1,209,424 3,580,294 1,185,473 4,305,337 Queensland 346,431 1,263,263 367,317 1,283,520 Debt. Colony. 1862. 1876. New South Wales .. £5,802,980 £11,759,519 Victoria .. 7,992,740 17,011,3S2 South Australia.. 852,300 3,837,100 Western Australia 11,750 135,000 Tasmania 486,500 1,520,500 New Zealand 836,000 18,678,111 Queensland 123,800 6,439,250

IMPORTS. 1862. 1876. itacrease r>. cent New South. "Wales £9,334,645 £13,672,776 4S.5 Victoria 113,487,787 15,705,354 16.4 Sojith Australia.. 1,820,656 4,576,1S3 .151.3 Western Australia 172,991 386,037 ,123.1 Tasmania 857,423 1,133,003 32.1 Nerw Zealand .4,626,082 6,905,171 49.2 Queensland 1,326,509 3,126,559 .130.2 EXPORTS. New South Wales '1862. £7,102,562 1876. Usteieaae p. cent £13,003,941 83 Victoria 0.3,039,422 14,196,487 8.8 South Australia .. 2,145,796 4,816,170 124.4 Western Australia 1119,314 397,293 232.9 Tasmania New^ealand 919,649 £,422,734 1,130,983 5,673,465 22.9 134.1 Queensland 793,236 3,875,581 38S.5

WOOL EXPOKT. 1862. 1876. Increase p. cent lbs. lbs. New South Wales 17,307,202 . 100,736,330 476.2 Victoria 25,245,778 106,265,877 320.8 South Australia.. 14,497,244 43,068,795 197 Western Australia 806,0C6 2,831,174 251.2 Tasma-iia 5,241,650 6,848,417 23.4 Isew Zealand 9,839,265 59,853,454 508.3 Queensland 8,063,612 22,918,560 184.2

Wheat. Bushels per Acre. Barley. Bushels per Acre. Oats. Bushels per Acre. Potatoes Tons per Acre Ncrw South Wales .. 16.4 23.6 21.G 3 Victoria 13.1 21,1 19.9 3.3 South Australia 5.4 10.6 10.6 2.8 "Western Australia 11.9 15 15 3 Tasmania ., 19.2 23.5 24.2 3.4 New Zealand .. 28.6 2S.9 31.2 5.4 Queensland 16.4 23.6 21.1 3