OUR COLONIAL POSSESSIONS.

Waikato Times, Volume XV, Issue 1308, 16 November 1880, Page 3

OUR COLONIAL POSSESSIONS.

New Zealand. Of all our colonies it must be admitted that few have such excellent natural gifts as New Zealand. Its climate is admirably adapted, to the temperature in summer never rising 1 to the height it does here,swhile in winter, frosts are unknown anywhpre near the sea level; and the regular rainfall adapts it well for pasturage, for which it has been estimated some two thirds of its area of 105,000 square miles is available. Already, in 1878, there were 13,069,338 sheep in New Zealand, a larger number than in any of oar Australian colonies except New South "Wales; while, in addition, the colony possessed 578,430 cattle, 207,337 pigs and 137.788 horses, all these numbers having increased'considerably since the previous enumeration in 1874. Then, again, there are few countries on the face of the globe better provided with natural harbors, and though the rivers are small —because it is difficult to find a spot inland which is us much as 100 miles from the coast, and they therefore travel but short distances— they are exceedingly numerous. Then, again, it possesses nearly the same proportion of sea coast per 1000 square miles of area as the mother country, and far more than any other of our great colonies ; and though there may be as much difference between the nature of different coast lines as there is between the character of one area of country and another, New Zealand has certainly nothing to fear by comparison in this respect. But more striking than all this, has been the growth of the population and of land under cultivation, respecting which the following figures are available :—: —

From "this it maybe judged that the native element, once a sharp thorn in the sidfDt the colonista, never can again rise into jprominence, for it is generally recpgnised that the natives ape steadily diminishing in numbers, while the white population has been increasing at the rate of 92 per cent, per decade since 1871. Between 1871 and 1878 the area under cultivation increased from 4£ acres per head to S& acres per head. Although the harvest of January-February, 1879, was affected by adverse circumstances, the crops then secured amounted in the Aggregate to' 6,076,604 bushels of wheat, 8,368,586 bushels of oats, 709,775 bushels of barley (in all ' 35 bushels per head), besides 86,220 tons' of potatoes, and 65, 104 tons of hay. Wheat then yielded 23 bushels, per acre otf average (3£ less than fa ibe previous year); oats, 30

bushels per acre (Hess); and barley, 25 bushels (i bushel legs) ; but it may be remarked ~in passing that the crops for January-February, 18S0, were described as very abundant. As regards other internal evidences of increasing wealth, the figures below may be adduced :—

3 We have not the general banking statistics available over a period of years, but it has . been stated that the assets of New Zea- , land banks within the colony in 1878 averaged £15,393,630, the paid-up capital \ to £5,130,009, and the reserve funds [ 2,228,800 at the end of that year. In 1& 79, however, no apparent progress was ( made on these figures— partly, because all Australian banks were more or less affected by the City of Glasgow Bank disaster and the Morton failures, and ( partly because trade generally was much '. depressed. | Neither the imports nor the exports of the colony of late years show that expansion which might at first sight have been anticipated. This, however, is capable of explanation. In the first place, the country now produces within itself much which a few years back had to be imported. Secondly, the goldizelds have been far less frequented than they were for some years following upon the Thames Valley discoveries, and the export of gold has fallen from the first place into quite the second place in the list of this colony's exports. This will be seen below : —

The fluctuations in the imports, as well as their excess over exports, may in a great measure be traced to tha product of loans, in the items of iron, railway materials, &c M on Government account. The import Of live stock — an important item nearly twenty years ago — has now dwindled down to nothing. The character of the foreign trade of this colony has thus so materially changed that it is impossible to base any trustworthy argument upon the figures before us, except that the country is self-sustaining in a far greater degree than it used to be. Thus far, this record has been one of well-nigh ( uninterrupted progress. But there are two kinds of progress — the one is that natural accumulation of resources, wherein wealth begets wealth, and trade attracts trade, and working capital increases by the labor of which it is the result; the other is a feverish, and partly a fictitious, strength due to the use of stimulants, which impart a present vitality at the expense of the national constitution in the future. To what extent, therefore, has New Zealand mortgaged its future strength to attain' this progress? We have referred to the enormous growth of the popamtiqn ; but since 1873 certainly not one-half of that increase has been due to the excess of births over deaths within the colony. In | 1874 the net immigration was 38,106 . in 1875 it was 24,270 ; in 1876 it was 11,955 ; j in 1877 it fell to 6,376; while in 1878 it recovered to 10,502. Now, a great portion of this immigration was fl assisted ;" in 1878 the number brought f/b the colony —at a cost to the pubfto of £192, 190 was 6618 — and these persons were not only brought to the colony, but started in life, in a rough way it is true, but still at a considerable cost -,to thd State. Then again, the growth of railway and telegraph services has bean shown to be very marked indeed. The railway lines have been constructed upon a narrow guage, and cheaply, all things considered, but still not at the charge of the national revenue, but by mortgaging the future. In this way the debt has been increased with great rapidity —

*Inchuling the loan of December, 1879. In the past nine years, theiefore, the debt has grown to the extent of no less than 200 per cent. But not only has the debt been trebled. Almost every important town and harbor board in the colony has raised loans recently in this country. The Stock Exchange official list is scarcely complete in this respect, but in it we find that Auckland Harbor owes £148,500, Auckland City, £125,000; Napier, 70,000; Timaru, 60,000; Brisbane, £84,030; Chriatehurch, 200,000; Dunedin, £so9,6oo; Wellington, £430,000; Lyttelton, 200,000; Napier Harbor, £75.000 ; New Plymouth Harbour, £200,000; Oamaru Harbor, 275,000; Otago Harbor £220,600 ; Port Elizabeth, 100,000 ; and Wanganui Harbor, £60,000; making the respectable total of £2,757,750; the whole of it borrowed within this country. This raises the amount of the New Zealand indebtedness to the mother country to £29,271,053 — a sum larger than is owed by any other colony with tne exception of the Canadian Dominion, acountry with a population twice as numerous as all Australasia pnt together. Nor can this be looked upon as the full extent of New Zealand's liabilities to us. For instance, the Bank of New Zealand has 24,451 shares upon its London register : other New Zealand Banks draw capital and deposits from England, and many land mortgage and trust companies have drawn large amounts from hence to New Zealand in the shape of capital, deposits and debentures. In this way it seems probable that this young colony has accumulated fully £35,000,000 of debt to a country 14,000 miles away, which at so low an interest as 5 per cent, will absorb an annual payment to us of £1,650,000, or of £3 13a 4d per head on a present population of, say 450,000 souls. That this is an enormous burden cannot but be admitted, for it will necessitate a " balance of trade" in favor of (that is, out of) New Zealand to that extent to keep up a monetary equilibrium between the two countries. India has apparently learnt the lesson of 9. constant excess of exports, but New Zealand is very far from mastering it at present. So far we have not referred to the question of the national revenue. The railways, harbors and other public works are admittedly to some extent reproductiva the railways paying already about onehalf the interest on the capital expended on their construction. Nevertheless, the profits earned in New Zealand are due abroad, and the burden of the foreign remittances is not lightened. In recent years the revenue has been officially returned as follows : —

Since 1878, both the ordinary and territorial revenues (the product of the land sales) have fallen off, the latter materially. Last year, we understand, the land sales did not reach a £1,000,000, as the depression in trade oaused a fallipg off in the <

demand ; While in December last the Colonial Treasurer only allowed for £380,000 from thia source in the financial year 1879-80. In the 12 months ending 30th June, 1830, the customs receipts were £1,238,120, against £1,809,510 in the previous year ; though ' happily, in the June quarter there was at length a respectable increase ?in 'that item, indicating, it is to 5 be hoped, tHat the depression is passing- away. Still, it must not be forgotten that with 1880 the tariff was considerably increased, and protection of local industries became thoorderjof the day. Given a country so greatly gifted by nature that it is judged capable in time of making many millions of people prosperous, it is not unnatural that when a Government has been set up in that comparatively unpeopled land, they should at starting find that progress by natural means is too slow to suit them, and that they should set themselves to work to prepare for a coming influx. " The works are not constructed for the present population only, but for many times their' number," bluntly asserted the officials in charge of the loan of December last year, rendered so successful through the agency of the Bank of England. Hence, they assume that this heavy indebtedness is to 'be subdivided in /future over a far larger field, and that railways,' harbors, facilities to settlers for loans upon.lan,<|, j etai will, < in the eyes of the emigrating" classe#n'ere, j far outweigh the prospect of excessive taxation. Until, however, " many timea their number "haye'aefc to', wdrk to contribute revenue, there will be a period during which the burden must prove heavy if fairly faced by the present population. That New Zealand is in itself attractive may be fully admitted, even without these public works ; but a little may stay the tide of emigration for a time. A. new gold mania in Victoria or New South Wales — an outcry against the new property "tax,- or/* something else, i might render the colony temporarily | unpopular, and the late Government certainly forgot the , proverb that while the grass is growing 'he horse runs a fair nhance of starving. Besides which, this colony is further away from Europe than any other we possess ; it is cut in half by some miles of sea, and the coast nearest to Australia is mountainous and least attractive. Still, if the new Ministry adhere to their new programme o f hereafter confining the outlay on public works to the product of the laud sales, the naturally fine constitution ' of New Zealand may outgrow the bad effects of the recent excessive forcing. But we must all look upon the colony much in the light of a hot house plant which will require careful hardening and acclimatising before we can be certain that it .will grow when unaided 'by artificial stimulants. — Economist.

Cultivated Land . (including sown N grasses). White. Maoris. acres. iB6i tB7r 1876 1877 IH7B ... 99,022 ... 266,986 i.i 4°> a 79 ... 295,946 ... 45.470 ... J,4»6,Q33 ... 375.856 1.043.633 ... 3W>75 2,377,402 ... 417,622 2,940,711 ... 412,519 ... 44.3«9 • • 3.523.277

Postal Savings Rail- Telegraphic Re- Money Bank ways. Messages, venue. Orders. Deposits. Miles. Number. £ £ £ 1871 — 399,085 70,249 157.397 454.966 1873 145 637,941 ,95.706 219,258 812,144 i«75 542 99J.3Z3 122,496 293,471 897,326 1877 1,052 1,182,955 143.600 334,973 964,430 1878 1,089 1,260,324 158,698 368,255 1,043,204

iß6r 1871 *«73 1875 *«77 1878 1879 , Exports .Imports. Gold. Wool. Other. Total. { £ £ 75 2 ,"57 523,728 93,862 2,.)<n,Bii 2,787,520 1,606,144 777i44° 4>°78,i03 1,087,405 2,702,471 788,074 6,464,687 1,407,770 3139V55 669,919 «,°29,i72 1,496,080 3,658,93s 923,f66 6,975,418 1,240,079 3,292,807 1,251,622 8,755,663 1,156,904 ... . . 9,204,019

NATIONAL DEBT OF NEW 7,1 £ 1861 600,701 1576 1871 8,900,991 1877 1873 ' 10,913,930 1878 1875 1T,400,031 1880* EALAND. £ 18,678,111 20,691,111 20,930,184 26,513,303

iß6g . . 1871 . 1873 ». 1875 .» 1876 ... 1877 ... 1878 ... Ordinary Territorial Revenue. Revenue. £ * J 1,025,516 ... 382,070 921,672 . . 377,690 1 1487.393 ••• 1,26^,788 2,047,234 — 683,722 2,391,144 . . 1,149,622 2,^40,841 ... i,575. lfl 2 2,658,708 ... 1,509,181 [ Total. £ 1,407086 1,Z00.37X 2,753,18 l 2,735,956 3,540,966 3,916,023 4,167,889