THE Daily Southern Cross.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXXI, Issue 5515, 27 April 1875, Page 2

THE Daily Southern Cross.

LUCJflO, NON URO. If I h uc i eon cxtiiijfuialied, yet tlioro rlM A tUouaaud beacons from the ipark 1 bora.

TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 1875.

Wi: are infoimed fiuni a private source tlisit the four million lo.ui at 4j per cent. \ull net to the Colony 91, not 93 as was at first reported. Assuming tins information to be conect, the gilt is, to some extent, taken oil' the gmgeibiead. At the same tune, the loan at the lower rate on the duration of years which it may 1 nn l.s equal to a o per cent, loan negotiated at a fraction over par. Still, it is a Imancial disappointment to find tli.it the amount winch the Colony will lealise out of the lo .ii is 2 percent, less than >v.w at liist lupoited. Pi obably the lai go amount of the loan, coupled with the Lut that it was all raised at once, a circumstance the causes of which will, no doubt, be fully evplamed in the Assembly, may have conduced to the necessity of accepting the.se terms. Of course, when a Luge monetary firm like that of Messrs. llothschild take up a loan of this kind they do not affect to undertake it without an eye to pro tit. According to the puce of issue, 91, these gentlemen will make a profit of 3 per cent. There appears to have been difficulty m getting the loan successfully placed on the market, unless by the means adopted to .secure its floating, and hence the necessity of obtaining Messrs. Rothschild's aid in securing the whole loan. -Fiom what occurred in the House of .Representatives last session, when the Loan Bdl was nassinir throuuh

Parliament, j.t is evident that our requnements, the absolute necessity for our obtaining tins money without winch we could not completeour works, were known before the Premier reached England to fulfil his mission. As u proof of this we h.i\e only to quote from the speecli of the gentleman at that time the hon. member foi City West (Mr. T. B. Gillies) with reference to this loan, on the occasion of the second reading of the bill. That gentleman then said . — 1 am glad to find that he (the Piemiei) now begins to teel that thcie if., or thcie may be, a time when our credit w ill not necessanly carry us tlnough the money market He begins to find, as shown in the iinanoial statement, that the maiket is getting tight, and I lathoi think he will hnd it is getting tight I ha\ e no doubt he knows alieady, horn his advices, that theie will be gieat ditliculty, not because of a seal city of money, but because the credit of the colony has been unnecessarily used — has been so constantly used dm mg the last four years, that the money maiket is getting tired of our constantly coming begging and bon owing. The hist illustration ot thib was the loan of a million and a half which was put upon the maiket in May last. A few days ago, we had an announcement from the I') ennui that that loan did not lloat in the maiket in the tu-^t instance. When tender weie called for, there was not halt the amount subset ibed tor ; and m older to get it run oil privately, concessions had to be made to the extent of 1 pel cent Looking at these things, and the state of the money mai ket, 1 contend that we cannot expect to float a loan successfully dm mg next year. I call the attention of honoiable membeis to these things, and I am stating the case on the authority of the Premier. Put these things together, and, I ask, what are we dnvmg towaids "' Wp are driving towards financial difficulties, and I am not suipnsed theiefore, although we have had no explanation on the subject fiom the Premiei, at the power taken hcie, which is a veiy umioiial power, ot issuing the whole loan on shoit dated debentiues, and not only issuing short-dated dcbentuics, but of icnewing them fiom tnrie to time, and from tune to ti me. And he concluded his speech thus : — [ do not de-are that we should feel fiightened at the large amount of liability; all I ask is, we should have our eyes open to the large amount we arc incurring. The colony cannot fail, — it must meet its liabilities ; but if thof-e liabilities become much laiger than what we have incurred and aie authorising to be incurred, it stukcs me some of us w r ill have much to suffer m order to pay our debts. Now, statements of this kind which were le-echoed by other membeis, would naturally tind their way to commercial cncles in England, and that they would have an eli'ect on a New Zealand loan, especially one of such magnitude, is a consequence exceedingly natnial. Indeed, in the expectation of "tight" times, and the probable difficulty in iioatmg the loan, — tiist, from its magnitude, and secondly from the fact, as stated by Mr. Gillies, that we had had such frequent recourse to the English money market, coupled with the pressure of cur necessities — it was deemed advisable to provide for all possible contingencies, and to fix the maximum rate of interest at six per cent. This left an ample margin ; and, notwithstanding the predictions of difficulty, a four and a half per cent, rate, has been fixed ; but the money has been obtained at a price which, as we have said, though better than was expected when the bill was passing through Parliament, is nevertheless disappointing, particularly because of the previously leported price of 93, which Avas the amount tiist stated as the net cost to New Zealand. It is peifectly tine, as Mr. Vogel said in. the discussion of the bill m committee last August, when he compared the condition of the country then Avith its condition prior to the inauguration of the l.iilway and immigration policy, that ' — "Yen may stand m many spots in the Colony, and around you, within your sight, behold property which has increased in value during the last few years sufficient to cover all the expenditure which has taken' place. The enormous ineiease m the value of property w Inch has taken place would cover, over and over again, the risk to which the Colony has gone, and indemnify it for all the expendituie that it has incurred, with all prospective liabilities. The country could • afford to be taxed over and over again what it is taxed for the prosecution of public works, and the cairying out of the policj* we adopted in 1870." Most people will concur in this statement. But it has its sequel, and that sequel, to which for yeaii avc have pointed and insisted on its approach, is now forcing itself upon the notice of far-sighted men. In brief, it means this : — Let the property that is so "enormously" benefited by these Avorksbe taxed m direct ratio with that benefit. Mr. Vogel in his financial statement last year counselled a policy of piudence ; the tune has come ay hen that precept must be put in practice. One of the first steps in that direction seems to us to be the consideration of the question of laying a piopeity tax, which, of course, would embrace m its incidence a tax on income also. Mr. Vogel, Ave know, does not A'ieAV Avith favoui the imposition of such a tax. It is unpopular ; but for all that, Mr. Vogel, or some one else, aviII have to summon it to the .iid of the Colonial Exchequer, and as a means of fairly adjusting taxation accoidnig to the respectiA'e means and substance of the colonists at large.

Undkk ordinary circumstances it would be .1 matter for almost unmixed congiatul.itioa that Mr. Vesey Ste^ait has succeeded fully in obtaining the immigrants foi the Ivatikati special settlement. As a matter of fact, however, we me not so certain about congratulating the Auckland public. The Katikati settlement will either be productive of much good, or of a great deal of harm. So far as the original idea of the thing is carried out in good faith — so far as all that was promised on the part of Mr. Stewart from his immigrants, and all that was agreed to by the Government on behalf of the Province and the Colony is performed, nothing but good can come of the project. But, on the other hand, if either side of the bargain falls short of agreement, the advantages expected will be lost ; and, instead of benefit, the scheme will lead only to disappointment and disaster. From the news now to hand it is evident that Mr. Stew art has been successful, not only up to but beyond expectation. Thirty-live families, biingmg on an average for each family a thousand pounds of capital with them, will form an addition to our .agricultural population in the East Coast dibtnct, the importance of which can hardly be ovei -estimated. And these people, it is to be remembered, are not mere amateurs in agricultural work. They are people who understand farm Avork— people who are .able to do woik, and who know how others should do it, and, therefore, they are people whose one thousand pounds ought to go as far as most othei people's two or three thousand pounds. A settlement of such people, so piovided with the sinews of that war which is to subdue the wildei - ness, wants nothing but fair play to ensure its success. No nursing and pampering is required ; no artificial supply of work to keep the settlers going is wanted. If success cannot be secured for this lmrtv on a srood block of land at Kati-

kati we fail to see how any success can he looked for by any other body of iinmigiants in this Province. And yet we are far from certain that the proper steps have been taken here to secure success for the K.itikati settlement. It was understood that everything would bo done to enable the settlois to go at onco upon their land. The surveys were to be fully completed, the main road to the block was to be laid off, and at least roughly formed ; there was to be some sort of shelter provided on, or close to, the land, where the immigrants might live until they could put up some kind of houses on their owi> farms. We do not think these were very 'extravagant demands, but we do not believe any one of these things has been done in anticipation of the arrival of the Katikati immigrants. In spite of the distinct understanding which was arrived at —m spite of the common sense aiguments m favour of acting m the way auanged, we understand that nothing, or next to nothing, lias been done in this matter. We ha\ e no desire to cast blame on this (Government or that. It rests, if blame rests, on both the General and Provincial Governments, and both will be called to account, if their inaction produces failure or difficulties. It may bo but another illustration of the evils of divided responsibility, and a system rather than its admimstiation may be to blame. But tins will not make the evil one whit the less in case the Katikati special settlers are disappointed and deceived m their reasonable expectations. Coming, as these men do, from every part of the north of Ireland ; possessed of funds and intelligence, as men bringing tho amount of capital these settlers possess are sure to be, the blow to our credit and tli.it of our Piovince which disappointment to them would millet, will be a severe one indeed. E\ en now, it is not too late. It is now hve months since we pomtud out the evils of delay, and urged the Government on, if the joint action of two is retained then both the Governments, to see that all was ready. The fine we.ithei has gone by, and nothing is done. If the Provincial Government have neglected to urge on this matter, it would be difficult to over estimate the sin of of omission of which they have been guilty. If they have urged the duty upon the Colonial Government without success, there rests a serious responsibility upon the latter. But, as we have said, it is not yet too late. Three months will afford time for doing all that is requisite if it is set about at once. Is it too much to expect that the Piovincuil and Colonial Governments will unite cordially to the small extent necessary to carry out this important matter i We hope not. If, otherwise, this is left undone, this Province w ill have one more cause to regret the jealousies of divided governments. But this matter of the Katikati settlement, important although it is, foims but a part of a still larger subject. The whole question of immigration to tin's Province, and settlement upon its waste lands, is in an unsatisfactory position. We do not so much refer to the fact that Axickland has received but few immigrants compared with Cantei bury last year, although this is worthy of remark, and may reasonably call for explanation, at the proper time : for at the present moment settlers in different parts of the Province are making numerous applications for workers, and these applications cannot be supplied. Several hundreds could find immediate employment at high wages if the fitting men and women were here. All this will form a subject of enquiry m Wellington when Parliament meets. But theie are defects neaiei home in our administration of the waste lands and lmmigiation of this Province. For instance, the effect of last year's Waste Lands Act so far appears to have been an absolute paralysis of all operations m the sale of w aste lands in this Province. It is necessary to classify the lands under that Act, and so f.a- as we can learn they are undergoing the piocess now, but it lias not yet beun accoiujjlishutl, <uul if mil information is correct, its accomplishment is still a long way off. Again, the Provincial Government was to aid the Colonial Government by undertaking such works as the erection of immigrants' cottages where these were most requiied. We hear that some eighty-hve of these have been elected, and that a cos\/ of .something approaching £'10,000 has been incurred ; but wo hear also that a very Luge pioporci"n of the in >ney has been spout foolishly on cottage.-, that .>re not wanted, m places wheie no iiuiiiigiants have gone, or are likely to go, and where, if they did go, they could neithei get land to settle on, 1101 weak to any con-sidei.ible extent to do. There are some eight or ten at the B.iy of Islands, and not ono immigrant has yone to the district as yet. This, we believe, is just as well. Tho immigrants who have come were wanted in Waikato, and they certainly were not wanted at Russell, or at Waitangi. They could get small holding in Waikato if they were industrious and saving, on land that would in the end render them independent, while at the Bay theie aie few places where this could be done, and but little accessible land on which poor men could settle with any prospect of success. But then this should have been well known to the Provincial authorities. Out of the eightyfive cottages obtained at such a cost, we doubt if ten are occupied by immigrants. We have heaid so much of the value of local knowledge and of local interests being served by Provinci.il administration, that we are a little staggered by this pi.actical illustration of its working. Why this waste of public money < Why the row of empty cottages on the beach at Russell, and that other row on the opposite shoiu of the Bay of Islands ' We do not object to any effort being made to get fair play in the matter of expenditure for this Province, but we fail to see the advantage of erecting cottages only to he empty until either they are sold for nominal pi ices or fall to pieces from natural decay. This sort of thing is not by any means creditable to the authorities, whoever they may be, that are responsible for it. In all respects the management of our immigration matters, it seems to us, will bear amendment. There is more energy and appi eciation of our true interests required m dealing with such matteis as the Katikati settlement. There is more judgment needed in dealing with public funds m such matters as the location and provision for our immigrants when they arrive. There is more prompt and vigorous action called for in making preparations for bunging the amended land law into full force, and not lepelling capital when it Would invest in land ; and disgusting immigration when it might otherwise settle ;wid benefit tho Province. Especially m the mattei of the sjiecial settlement at Katikati is immediate and energetic ?'*-: ,™ demanded.

By a typographical en or the reference in one of our leading ai tides yesterday to the Munroe doctrine of " Amenei foi the Amqricans,^ appealed as Finnm.? for the " Americans." Those acquainted with the wellknown doctrine would readily perceive and rectify the error. The New Zealand Manganese Company (Limited) have declared a dividend of £2 per share, ecpjal to 10 per cent, on the capital of toe company.