SIR FRANCIS BELL ON COLONIAL FINANCE.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3604, 30 January 1883, Page 4

SIR FRANCIS BELL ON COLONIAL FINANCE.

(The Times, Nov. 24.) At a meeting of the Royal Colonial Society, held on Tuesday night at the Grosvenor Gallery Library, Sir F. D. Bell, Agent-General for New Zealand, read a paper on "The Indebtedness of the Australasian Colonies in Relation to their Resources." The Duke of Manchester, Chairman of the Council, - Avho presided over-a large meeting, said that the present gathering marked a great epoch in the history of their society, in that it was the first meeting that had been held since Her Majesty granted a Royal charter to the institution. It Avas interesting - to know that while in 1870 the institute had only 297 FelloAvs, it had at the present time 1789. Sir Francis Bell, in the course of his paper, said there had been an increase in the debt of the colonies in tho last 20 years,_but the progress of Australasia had been iv many Avays more than equal to the groAvth of her debt. Of the £90,000,000 borrowed by the colonies, more than ,£86,000,000 had been spent on railways, telegraphs, aud other public- Avorks, and immigration. Of this the railways Avere noAV yielding a net return all but equal to the interest on the money they borrowed for them. The telegraph yielded more than the interest, and the same remark applied to immigration: so that there Avas not much more than £26,000,000 left as tho debt on which the interest was not actually earned. The revenues of the colonies had increased in the last 20 years twice as fast as their commerce or population. It had more than doubled itself since 1870, and had trebled itself since 1860. If in England the same sum- could be raised per head as in Australia Mr Gladstone- Avould at the present time be dealing with a revenue of £245,000,000. It was important further to remember that the revenue did not mean taxation .to the same amount. Figures shoAved that more than one-third of the whole revenue was raised b) r taxation, AA'hile the colonies derived four times as much revenue from Customs per head as Avas raised in England, six times as much as in France, 10 times as much as in Germany, and nearly three times as much as in the United States. The annual charge of their debt in proportion to the reA-cnue avus much lighter than in most of the great countries of Europe. Comparing the volume of trade Avith population, the author of the paper said that statistics showed that one Australian colonist did as much trade as two Englishmen, four Frenchmen, five Germans, six Americans, or eight Italians. Australasia was Avorth more to the English manufacturers - than America, France, or Germany. HaAing pointed, to the most satisfactory way in which the railways are progressing, Sir Francis Bell alluded to the great importance of Australasia as offering an almost i_e_laau.stible soixrce of meat sxipply for this country. As a fact, Australia and New Zealand could export 2000 tons of meat a day, and they could do this Avithout reducing the number of cattle OAvned by the colonists. Sir Francis Bell next claimed for the colonists that they had so munificent a proAision for the education of their children, that if the expenditure in England were on the same level, the mother country would have to devote £25,000,000 a year to it. The colonists Avere most tenacious of their union AA-ith the Fatherland, and he hoped the existing sympathies Avould ever flourish. If this was so, the colonies would join hands Avith the mother country across the sea and cherish the remembrance that they Avcre all citizens of the greatest Empire the Avorld had ever seen. Sir John Pope Hennossy, Governor-General of Hongkong, in the coiu*ae of the discussion, gave, as the result of his personal experience, figures to slioav the great security which was offered to investors by the financial securities of the Australasian colonies.