NGARUAWAHIA. (FROM THE "SYDNEY MORNING HERALD.")

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XX, Issue 2259, 17 October 1864, Page 6

NGARUAWAHIA. (FROM THE "SYDNEY MORNING HERALD .")

Tuc New Zealand journals iC|ioifc with imuh cc ultation tlie sale of land m Waik.ito, f mining tin site of the city oF Newcastle, foi snob is its name Some small block--, consisting of little inoic than .' lood, have lcihscil by auction up to £1)25. Tin greater pat t, however, were sold at i ates much bel ow th it sum, but still at moie than double t'l 3 upsci puce. If tho auspices undoi which this city lia= been lnatigiuated should not prove illusive, mmy ol the purohaseis will have nude fortunate investment' notwithstanding the competition I We have, vi the example of Melbourne, an instance of the piodigious liicicise as well as of the (luctuation in value of this kind of propeity. Blocks oE laud, which at the fitsfc silo did not ieali-,c moic than £80, have been since marketable f.om £20,000 and upwauls. One plot acquned by the We->lcyan connection was, we believe, sold to a banking establishment foi about iMO.OOO. No doubt there has. been a consule. able collapse; but in a flourishing ca|iital, though leaotious will be frequent fioni changes in the conue of trade or iinancial dcpicasion, theie is always ,iv upwaul movement underneath these collapses, and aiisingf'oin tlic gradual enlargement or population While such lia> boon the history of land in om gie.it cities, tho lu>toiy of land puie'iascis has nob been commonly veiy fortunate. The diffoienee between fie fust and lntei mediate sales befoio the last puce obtained has o r ten been inconsideiablo, and haully sufficient to tempt the investment of eap 1 til Thus again sudden elevation of price has pioduced often a di-astious effect upon the fortune-, of the owner. Tho value of his land has tempted him to cover it wnh buil lings upon hoi towed capital, when a liii.uicial ciuis has stripped him of oveiything. Wo h.ivo m.my ciamplob within our own kno.vlelge of the<-c irvoises. In one of the colonies a brilder leckoned his income at £40,000 a jcar, out of which, of eiiiubo, he had to pay the v.nious chaises with which his piopeity was mcumbeied. 'Ihe suiplus seemed an cnoimous fortune. But scarcely had thiee yeais elapsed fiom tho staking of his balancesheet whou the downfall of values placed him in the hsb of insolvents Tunumoiable minor examples have been offered in every city a3 warnings cogainst hasty calculations The sanguine colonist who foresees the gieat advancement of the place of his prefeience frequently conttibtitos by this very fooling to I'lish on it, piospeuty B-it all extieme exPitions aie balanced by succeeding weaknessall ovei effort l>y c msequent exhaustion ; and thus though the calculation ol a futino pto«psnly nnyhe smc and ju->t, tho tune of leahsat on does not amve befoie tho=o who anticipated it .md icckoned upon it aie incapable o( benefiting by then labour. They had the intelligence win Jl perceives .it a distance the capability oi a tow nsltip or a b'isinos-, site, but they had not iheco>l caution to await the propei moment at which commercial pio^cienco is 10ivanlcd The moment which ought to have been step by step was leap by leap, until bye and- bye a chasm unfoieseen intervened, aud the unfortunate speculator was piecipitated into the gulf, to bo seen no moic. Besides the easy specula-ton who push their schemes to a pieinatme realisation, theio aie m all fcho oolotiies men of .i different mould, and to whom these j>ieit swarms of population become sninoea of immense wealth. With the s.a<;acity which many possess by which the probabilities of the futuicare foiecast, theyaiecalm and collected, and do nothing in haste. They Know thattlieie are legular stagesm tho land fever as marked and ascertainable as the crisis of physical disea-se Theie is firifc tio timid speculatiijn ; then theie is the exchange of pioperty between fust and second bauds nbahiglioi piioe, wlucli at last becomes fabulous Thei c is then the eagerness to turn to account what seems a dead investment, by which borioived money assumes the shape of impiovemeuts, of houses and stores. The next f-tago is not far distant, wheu these calm and cautious men .step in and become purchase! S at their own price of that property where once each stone shone upon the fancy of the ruined speculator like ingots of gold. We have bad cvciywheie examples of these vicissitudes, and we may bo certain that, wherever a gieat onward movement has been made, the time is not veiy distant when theio will be a pause having all tho financial effects of retiogression. If the profits made by lands pui chased from the Government wore patted among all the land buyers, it would be 3oen that the gieat advantage realised by some is more thau equalled, by the general loss. How large x propoition of land purchases has remained unproductive in the bauds of its owners until upon a comimtatiou of principal and interest tho capital oiiginally invested has been devoured ! How often the ligh price, as is e>eein<3, which is realised by those

who have long retained their purchases, .would be inadequate to compensate for the looking up of money so many years ! There may be instances — and these are always conspicuous— of grand gains j but those who envy such speculators should'recollect that they foun but a small piopoition of all who have played the same game and risen up loseis. The land sold as the site of the city of Newcastle derives its value f i om the guarantee of the public authority, and the assurance that it will be a centie of British population. The natives, under the evil instruction they have too often received, will look upon this price as a lo«s to them equal to the gain of tho treasury. But it is the fact that the land is subject to British law — that it will be occupied by a British community—which has made it worth anything. Probably for any produco which could be reaped from it, tho value would not be one thousandth part of the realised piice But it has been the great ini&foituue of the natives to be deceived upon this vital point. Instead of lcgarding the occupation of the British as giving a higher value to their own land, and so entitling them to a better compensation on its tiausfei, they have been led lo consider the piico paid by the purchaser as given simply for the soil as law matou.il, and not, as all civilised persous know, for the unccpiessed but leal aiulunappieciable advantage of political, social, and municipal institutions It is this which makes a foot of laud woi fch £100 in ono city while ten thousand acres maybe a meie distance in tho heart of the wilderness. It would be highly blamable in any Government planning a city at the present time to disre»aid the sanifcaiy interests of its inhabitants. How easy, by the reservation of plots at certain intervals winch might be di«po->ed of by a municipality, to give the citizens a levenue ample as their wants ! How easy by such loseives to provide foi those main aitenes which are ueccssaiy for the health and enjoyment of a Luge population ' How small the sacrifice required m the fir-ifc instance to nssuie regulauty in buildings and ample breadth m the public ways! The environs , of the city of Sydney, and some of its main stieots, present many beauties of arclntectuie, but there is a ringnlai charactenstie which eveiybody must have remarked — that in most places where the ancient Hues have been followed the lots are commonly askew, and the stieets nanow and winding. The oity of Melbourne had, foi (innately, the negative example of this city to guide its arrangements, which, however, be it remembeied, weie Uio woik of agents employed by this colony. Time will, no doubt, enable us to icduce such in cgularitios, but some will lemain until fiie — that gieat lefonner — shall clear the way for sanitaiy and arohitectiual impiovements.