The press MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 18S9.

Press, Volume XLVI, Issue 7418, 9 December 1889, Page 4

The press MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 18S9.

Tfliß eleotion ior the East Coast, which takes place on Friday next, is being watched with some interest in other parts of the colony. Messrs ARthub and Kees are the candidates, and their programme* are about aa diametrically opposite 'as , itf is possible to conceived Mr. AinfHtra announces himself as , a believer in the present Government, though'not a blind supporter, tie considers that their steady conduct of the affairs of the country, morX; particularly with regard to retrench* mentt has materially resuscitated the, credit of the colony; He points out that the country ia now recovering from a long depression, and only wants a continuation of the present careful management, and ress from eij erimentalpolitics, to make great progress" in the future. As might be expected, Mn Arthur is-a strong opponent of further borrowing; and promises to Tote for reduction in taxation directly it is possible to make the attempt. In faot Mr. AKTHmVapro gramme is that Of a cautious,, careful settler who has raised himself to his present, position by the exercise of thrift,. prudence, and sight in his business arraugemente, j and he naturally desires to see the same principles applied to public affairs. His views on the leading questions of the day are in harmony with the 'sentiments of the majority of the people of New Zealand, and if elected he can be depended to give his vote on all occasions on the side of prudence and economy, Mri, Abthub belongs to that class of candidates whom we hope to see largely returned at the next general election, and it is encouraging to find that ht has offered himself on the present occasion, notwithstanding the fact that, if chosen, he will in all probability have to contest the seat again when the general election come round. - - Mr. Bejes, his opponent, is quite a different stamp of candidate. Hβ has been in toe House before, several years ago, and during Sir Georcje Ofi&f b Administration, made himself prominent as a constant supporter of

most of that gentleman's wild proposals. More recently he has paid a visit to England for the purpose of plating before the public there proposals for an extensive scheme of colonisation of the Maori lands in the North Island. The project was of the most Utopian character, and had it been supported by capitalists at Home would no doubt have ended in serious disappointment to all concerned. Fortunately the Government of the colony had the courage to express an opinion regarding it through the Agent-General, and in the end Mr. Rbbs had to return unsuccessful. Were he to get into the House we should no doubt hear again about the project, although probably its only supporter would be Mr. Rbbs himself. Parliament is not at all likely to assist Mr. Rees or his either directly or indirectly, and if any of the electors of the East Coast are hoping, through Mr. Rees , instrumentality in Parliament, to galvanise the defunct colonisation scheme into life, they are greatly mistaken. As,, was expected Mr. Rees is profuse in all sorts of promises. Hβ favours further endowments being given; to the Gisborne Harbour Bdard' sufficient "to obviate the necessity of " any rate being levied," and he desires, to have Wairoa harbor also endowed, ( Indeed, there is apparently nothing he' is not prepared to promise for the district, if only the electors will select him as their representative Irr ParUa-i ment. Mr. Rees favors a land and ■ income, tax in. substitution of the property tax, *' so that the £50,000,000 ■! "money at present escaping taxation; " may have its share." In other words, he has taken upthe crazy scheme: of taxing the bondholders, which finds so much favor with Sir G. Gret.J Taken altogether Mr Rises' programmehas befen framed on the assumption that the colony is still prepared to act f in the matter of harbor endowments,? roads, and public works generally, 4s it did before the general election of 1887. It is to be hoped that the electors of the East Coast have a clearer idea of what is good for the colony than to endorse such a programme.

There is one feature.in connection with our exports which deserves special notice at the present time. Notwithstanding the admitted fertility of ftew Zealand this colouy has occupied- a secdndary place, Compared with,:; her, neighbours, as regards the value of exports per head of population. Going back to ISBO we fiod that the value of ojzr exports of all kinds ranged from; £12 17s'4d per head to £10 19s 5d ia 1886. Within the same period the exports of Victoria varied from £13 3s lid to £9 3s 6d in 1886. In the case of New Soiith; Wales the expdrts were £16 19a 2d mi 1880, and £13 3s in 1886. land exported £14 3s 10d per head in 1880, and £14 9s 6d in 1886. South Australia exported £18 6s 6d per head in 1850, and £9 0s 3d in. 1886. Turning to, the year 1888, we find that in the case of Victoria the total value of exports per head was £13 0a 11 d, ot New South Wales £16 4s lid, of Queensland £16 4s lOd, of South Australia £21 19s sd, of Tasmania £9 4s lOd, of New Zealand £12 16s 7d. Thfese figures refer to the total exports of

each colony. IE we deal only With the iraltte of home produce, the figures are in the order already named as follows:—£9 15s, £16 4s lid, £1§ 18s. IOd, £14 13s lOd, £9 Os Bd, and| '£11 19s 8d respectively. It will be seen that according. to the above 'figures, with the exception of Victoria; and Tasmania, New Zealand still ocgupied a" secondary place on the list. New South Wales, Queensland, and South Australia were considerably! ahead of her, while Victoria and Tasmania were a long way be-* hind. But tailing . the exports to June 30th as a guide, a remarkable change is noted. The exports .for twelve months from that date,; it will bo r3membered, vre?e valued at? equal to £15 per head, or a jump upwards of about £3 per head of population. The value of home produce exported from New Zealand in' 1888 was 93.41 per.oe&t. of; -the total exports, and assuming that the fim relative proportion existed 1 twelve months , ending June3oth, tlie result would be that the value perjiead bff New Zealand produce bad rteeiri fr6nr£ll 19s Sd during 1888 to Jli. ! It will be seen that New South Wales , still occupies the first place as an ex J porting colony, Queensland standing' , second, while South Australia and. New! Zealand are nearly equal, Victoria and j Tasmania being,"! as we have-jaeen,; -i entirely distanced in the race. It must j be reme rnbfired, however, that ; N6w t South Wales » is three ; times as t large as New: Zealandrand has about l 45,000,000 sbeep. The consequences is that her wool export is yery much t larger' than that of this" colony!; "Irhile d her coal deposits have long been a t valuable source of wealth. —Btrfr trar t coal industry ia also expanding, andbefore long, wheu the West Coast har- * bora have been sufficiently eulftrgdd,: S we may look forward to an enormous tj expansion of our trade in this connection.; * Moreover we have been able to! Si obtain much larger returus from xnir a sheep in proportion to their 1 p than is th 6 case with Ne# South Wales. In 1886 the produce of New: =j South Wales was put down at 171,228,430103, while that of JSewZealand was 92,741,7331ba from one-! «

third the number of sheep. In addition we have our frozen meat trade, which,; for the year ending June 3Otb, was worth £736,000, and which ia practically non-existent in the neighboring oolony. Ail these figures point to the conclusion that before long we iney find New Zealand actually at the head of the list as an exporting colon v.