The Daily Telegraph WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 1881.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3051, 6 April 1881, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 1881.

The sixteenth hqiiub! general meeting of the shareholders of the New Zealand Loan ano. Merc Entile Agency Company, that was held in London in February last, was of more ilsan usual interest to the settlen* ot the colony. In the first place the success of the company is in a measure -.he iudVx of the prosperity of New Zealand, for the one is dependent upon tbe other. If the colony is progressing the company prospers, and the results of its laM year's business show that the cloud of depression bo longoverhccgi'.ig tbe cnuurry has lifted. The chairman. Mr Thomas Russell, in moving the adop+lon of the report, said that " the figures (of tho balance-sheet) are satisfactory ;tu;l speak for themselves. But I cannot refrain from congratulating you upon our not only giving you yourlisual dividend, but on resuming our contributions to tbe Reserve Fund, wbich from the time they commenced until last year were annually made without any break. Last year, under peculiar and, to the colonies, very trying circumstances, we deemed it well to withhold our contributions to that fund. Tho*ecircumstauces. you will remember, were that some of the colonies ban been suffering from deficient barvesfs. and all from long continued depres-iosi in the price of their sraple commodity, wool ; and while in this condition they we<-e overtaken by the financial panic whiVh, though short was sharp and was lelt '"hrnunhnutthe world. I allude to this for the purpose of as«uiing ou that though we then deemed it prudent to wait until we realised all the results of tint depression, we now resun-.e our contributions to that reserve with the utmost confidence and with the full persuasion that we occupy a better position now than ever before, and that our prospects of maintaining and even increasing that fund were never better than they are at the present hour." The chairman then went on to show the rapid development of the resources of this colony through the facilities now afforded by the opening up of the country by railways and roads. He said :—I remember, a few years ago, standing in tbe midst of a fertile plain in New Zealand, which then was of no value except as pasture for sheep and cattle, because of its remoteness from any town or port, and I remember seeing there a fine field of oats ot about 100 acres, which was estimated to yield a crop of from 60 to 70 bushels to tbe acre. I asked the owner what he intended to do with it, and he replied that, except to feed his own horses on the station, it was of no value, for it would not pay to cart it to the nearest market town. That little fact will give you an idea of the condition of New Zealand at that time. The only land it would pay to cultivate was a small area near to the large towns. Now, with an area about equal to that of the United Kingdom, the land itself naturally rich, the total amount of land then under cultivation being short of 800,000 acres, can you blame tbe colonists of New Zealand —a handful of men though they were— for borrowing money for the construction of railways and opening up that great country ? At that time, as I have already told you, the total area dealt with by the colonists was under 800,000 acres of land. Tv the five years following, ending with 1874, they more than doubled tbe area of land under cultivation, tbe area in 1874 being 1,600.000 acres; but in 1879 it had reached to within a few thousands of four millions of acres, thus showing the enormous stride which the country bad taken in that short period of time, entirely due to the opening up of the country by the facilities given by the construction of railroads and public roads." In respect to the growth of grain, the chairman said that in 1875, the railways in New Zealand having then made little progress, the number of bags was 33,000. In 1879 they had increased to 171,000 bags, and in 1880 the quantity reached 349 000 bags. That is evidence of the progress ot the country. While people in England are predicting evil, the colonists are ploughing the land, sowing, and reaping the harvest.