NEW ZEALAND.

Waikato Times, Volume XV, Issue 1315, 2 December 1880, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND.

We take the following from Westgarth's Circular, printed iv London on September •24th :— Of late there has been a persistent set against this Colony, in exposing 1 all the dark side of its present case, with hardly, if at all, any allusion to what may be said on the other side. Anyone who has watched intelligently the large and continuous outlay of borrowed money upon pubic works, chiefly railways, for some years pa^t, must have foreseen a ovi-is when all this drew to, its close. That crisis opened upon the Colony last year, rtixd it was seriously precipatated both by a concurrent very bad harvest and by the eollapso of tho City of G-la^gnw Bank, with its large New Zealand lxnd connections. The most prominent consequeuce was a large and unprecedented revenue deficiency, amounting to no less than £990,000, caused mainly b.v the falling off in land sales. This deficiency, covered for the time by the l.ssne of '22 X 2 years' Treasury bills, must admittedly for the present, be added to the public debt, thns raising its amount to £27,000,000. All this is of course bad enough for a population still short of half a million, including aboriginies, and it is still aggravated by the unsettled and transitional state of the labor market. Men who have been getting ireely for years past 10s and 12s per day, do not readily accede to a reduction of ss, and that too accompanied in many cases by a change in the nature of their employment. The practical outcome of this condition is that for this transition interval thei'e is an unusually large balance of hands unemployed, and naturally very great dissatisfaction amongst them all throughout the Colony. But let us turn now to the other side of the picture. The present government, which is entirely opposed to the Colony's excessive borrowing, ami lias now brought it to a close, has at onco faced the financial emergency, and by a reduced expenditure and increased taxation has already balanced the estimates of the current year, with a surplus of £41,000. Thi> Government is about to check also the late extensive municipal borrowing. The Colony's reviving efforts have been materially'helped by "tho vary abundant harvest of the present year. Asrain, th« high puce audoompinitivoly small supply of l.ibour for the Colony's geueral purposes for years past, with all this railway making, h.ivo held in abeyance many improvem^ntsand much progress that could not afford tho heavy cost. T.'ii'-o will soon have their fair chance, And concurrently the Colony's productive outcome will be proportionately increased. The reduced money wages are already nearly as effective as before, with tho increased supply and cheaper price of necessaries. The rites of money, too, which with excessive laud upeculation have been for some time at 10 to 12 per cent.., are now by latest accounts down to eight per cont., thus affording a further chance for real progress. With its network of railways, its genial climate, and fertile soil, New Zealand now presents to us au apparatus of wealth production which, for a like territorial area, is confessedly n-)t equalled in any part of the Kmpire. The colony is in full credit with the many strong banks within its area for any temporary deficiency, and its financial interests on this side have long been, and still continue to be, al)ly and efficiently conducted by the Crown agents. The prompt ratification of the finances, even in the first intensity of the crisis, shows that there is power and resource as well as good will. That such a colony, whether through want of will or want of resource, as timid investors may have feared, should m..ike any financial default — even for once in the mere matter of punctuality — is about as unlikely, the colony may well claim to say, as that the British Government itself should make such default. The market has been extremely quiet, and with hardly any feature of change, excepting in the New Zealand securities for the reasons given above. The Queensland 4 per cents, have fallen slightly, j and there was also a slight fall of about [ } per cent, in Victoria 4 per cents, upon the appearance of the new 4j per cent, loan. The outstanding stock" of 4^ per ! cents, have of course been affected, and have fallen 1\ per cent, to 103 }. In other respects, with the New Zealand exception, prices remain as at date of our ; previous circular of the 27th ult. The New Zealand scare, which is a repetition of what we had about three months ago upou the bad financial statement, has been aggravated by attacks upon the colony in many of the newspapers. The unusual quiesence of the present holiday season has also made it difficult to effect sales, and thus the market has given way under some accumulation of offered but unsold stock. There has thus been in the four weeks' interval a fall in the New Zealand stocks averaging quite 2\ per cent., from which extreme, howeVer, there has been within the last three days a recovery of about \\ per cent. The 5 per cent., 1889, at their lowest extreme, fell 2\ per cent., to 103V £ ; tne 10 40 fell the same > to "j xo ;" the 530 fell 2 per cent, to 99£ ; the Consolidated fell as much as 3 per cent., to 100; and the 4 per cent. l\ per cent., 86. A better feeling now prevails in these stocks, and the prices seem firm and advancing from these comparatively low rates.

The Unitarian Minister of Rockhampton (says the Queenslander) claims to possess the same gift of healing as Milner Stephen. He calls it the mesmeric curative process, and offers to exercise it privately for the benefit of those who desire to be healed, of disease,