The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1897. HOW WE STAND.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVIII, Issue 298, 23 December 1897, Page 4

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1897. HOW WE STAND.

For tie causa t2__ai latis assistance, For tlie -wronz that needs resistance, For thß future in tirs distance, And the good that V 8 can do.

The outgoing 'Frisco mail affords us a last oportunity of communicating with our friends in the Old Country before we are plunged in the thick of our Christmas festivities. Al-

though our messages will reach them some weeks after the old year has been laid in his grave, and they have ceased to rejoice over his successor, they will naturally expect that our greetings should have a Christmas and

New Year's flavour about them. That flavour, as we have always understood, is one of hope and peace and satisfaction, and we are giad to say that it is in the spirit of all three that we can speak to-day of the colony as a whole, its present position and future prospects. We are not merely assuming' a tone of cheerfulness in deference to the season, but our optimistic views are the result of an unprejudiced survey of the position of New Zealand, and now, less than at any time, need we ask to be excused

for expressing these views more strongly than usual.

Throughout the colony agriculture, commerce, and the various industries that have been established here present, on the whole, a prosperous countenance. If we have not any 'booms' on hand, their gjbsence is not to be regretted, for if they do not always leave us poorer for their visit, our experience has been that they weaken the foundations of real progress and disorganise business. Steady, unsensational advance, even comparatively slow, is much to be preferred to that vaulting ambition that so often o'erleaps 'itself and falls. The settlement. of the country continues to go on. Every year sees larger spaces of the bush and the open converted into pad-

docks,

The long distance of the colony from the mother country stands in the way of a more rapid increase in the population from immigration than we are able to record. America and other parts of the world more accessible to the crowded communities of Europe attract thousands of emigrants who would be much better off in New.. Zealand. There is little fear, however, that when the colony is better known. and there are cheaper means of reaching it, the influx from beyond seas will be enormous. In the meantime, with the numbers that do find their way to these shores, and the natural increase of the present population, New Zealand is creeping gradually forward to the million mark. The policy of the Government has put the land within reach of practically everybody, and the legislation of the past session with regard to native lands, will shortly throw open that mag-nificeift territory in the North Island known as the King Country. The settlement of this area must of necessity be of great benefit to the whole of New Zealand; but Auckland will be especially the gainer by having an increased rural population dependent on it for a port and a market.

In our cable columns to-night appears a criticism of the colony by an independent critic. Mr J. S. Larke, the agent for the Canadian Government in Sydney, who has had experience with regard to colonies, their requirements and their- capabilities, recently visited New Zealand. On his-return to New South Wales he was of course interviewed as to his opinion of Maoriland. As will be seen, he was most favourably impressed with the colony, its resources, the energy of its people, and the wisdom of the legislation that had thrown the land open to the settlers. He considers wc have a grea,t trading future before us. Such a message" is a delightful Christmas greeting to us, but it only con-

firms the confidence we have always felt in the colony. New Zealanders come of the same. British stock that considers grumbling one of its preogatives, and we do grumble and complaif a good deal; but when a stranger comes along and asks us what on earth is our trouble, we find it somewhat bard to give it a name.

Another industry with which the welfare of this city is largely bound up is the gold-mining industry of Coromandel and Thames. We had a 'boom' in this industry, and it has passed away, leaving a great many small speculators very much worse off financially than it found them. But the fault is not attributable to the industry., but to the gambling spirit that misused it. The gamblers have suffered, but the industry.though a good deal shaken in its prestige by the transactions of unconscionable speculators, is as sound and as promising as ever. The Stock Exchange may be dull, and scores of small mines have ceased to have any lawful means of subsistence, but the Stock Exchange was merely a gaming table during the boom, and the small mines in too" many instances were 'wild cats.' The actual figures of the output of the mines puts a very different, aspect from what the share list might, to a casual student of it, seem to do. The returns for the last month totalled somewhere about £40,420, Avhich we understand is much the highest amount recorded for the same period since the revival in mining- took place in this part of the colony. Taking the figures for the whole year, it will be found that the Auckland goldfields produced about £58,700 more of gold , this year than they did during the j previous twelve months.

In our summary published with this issue we give an article reviewing exhaustively the year's operations. It is not necessary to recapitulate the plain facts there adduced; but we consider that everyone who reads them will agree with us that the prospects for the future are most encouraging. As supplementary to these particulars the following paragraph from this month's issue of the 'New Zealand Mines Record,' which is published by the Mines Department, gives a very correct survey of the position of goldmining in the whole colony and the respective value of the bullion-produc-ing districts.

'The quantity of gold exported for the month of October,' says the 'Record,' 'was 21,8330z, valued at £83.555; and 19,7510z of silver,valued at £2,254. There is a steady increase in the output from the Ohinemuri Goldfield, the export from Auckland being' the highest, for any month recorded during the present year, whilo.it was 6,21 Oo^ of gold and 0,451 oz of silver more than was exported during the preceding month. The total gold export from the colony for the eleven months ending the 30th November was 233.6600z, valued at £912,177; and 1G3,6380z of silver, valued at £18,669: making the total value of bullion exported £930,5-IG. The shipments from the various ports during November were: Port. Quantity. Value. Oz. £ Auckland 14.314 53.654 Nelson 130 520 Greymouth 1.981 7.927 Dunedin 3,651 1.4.424 Invercarglll 1.757 7,030 Totals for November 21,833 £53,555 ■ Totals for eleven months of 1597 233,660 £912,177 Totals, Jan. 1. 1597, to Dec. 31, 1596 13,313.907 £52,392,430 At the outset of our remarks we referred to the distance of the colony from Europe. That is' always a matter which we feel very much, and by which we are undoubtedly handicapped. It is not merely that it. hinders our outside commercial relations as that it is responsible for a great deal of the misconception and ineitriousness that prevails with regard to us in the minds of the British public. We cannot get away from the thought that we are often misunderstood and too frequently forgotten. But how, unless we can annihilate space, can we mend matters. The annihilation of space is a slow process, and although we are infinitely better off in the way of communication with Europe and the rest of the world than we were thirty years ago, w7e yearn 'for a closer and more frequent union. At the same tme we feel it is coming. The subsidising of the Vancouver mail route, whether the wisest course for the Government to pursue at the present time or not, gives us another quick means of letter communication with the Old Country in addition to the 'Frisco service, and indicates that we are doing- our best to keep in close touch with the outer world.