THE Evening Star. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1869.

Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 2011, 15 October 1869, Page 2

THE Evening Star. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1869.

The annual report of the Committee of the Chamber of Commerce will well repay careful perusal by every one interested in the progress of the Province and the Colony. It touches mainly upon facts. This renders it the more valuable as it frees it from every suspicion of political bias. Unfortunately the plain unadorned statements of the Chamber show how party politics can be made to interfere with Colonial interests. This is especially shown in the short paragraph telling of the course of action taken by the Chamber in reference to the English mail services. Auckland, Invercargill, and Dunedin, three important ports of the Colony, pressed upon the Legislature the advisability, in the interests of the Colony, of instituting direct services in connection with the Suez line. The merchants of Dunedin and Auckland know well the advantage it would be to all, that these obviously needed services should be established and sustained on such a footing os to ensure regularity and deapatch. But the Government of the day was too weak to venture upon doing the best, because

the late Government, to secure a certain amount of political support, deliberately adopted the worst possible plan, and a strong party in the House was quite prepared to perpetuate it. The consequence has been the withdrawal of all regular subsidies, and the Colony is left without any guarantee for the transmission or receiving of mails, should it suit the intei’est or convenience of steamboat proprietors not to have a vessel in readiness to convey them at the time required. The Chamber dismiss this subject with the foliowing remark : “ This plan will probably be found to “ to have had a sufficiently long trial “ before the Assembly meets again. “ As it is evident that political reasons “ influenced the decision upon the “ question, the Committee refrains « from further comment,” That part of the Report that relates to the present state of trade in the Province is deeply interesting. It is gratifying to find the steady working of the goldfields of the Province is producing so satisfactory a result. There is something remarkable in the style of work in Otago—there is a great amount of profitable application of labor, and veiy little said about it. Auckland proclaims abroad its golden reefs, but says nothing about the drawbacks. It is not told to the world that the veins are thin, and unless they widen considerably as they descend, rich as they are they must either be exhausted ia a comparatively short time, or be worked at too great an expense to be profitable. Nor is it told that the mint value of gold in Auckland is many shillings an ounce less than that of Otago. But there is a far better test of comparative prosperity than the market value of the precious metals. The rate of wages in Otago proves incontestibly that the Province is in a more prosperous condition. We are aware there are some who would reply that the low rate of wages is the result of the less cost of living. It is one of those popular fallacies that seem to have taken such hold of the public mind, as to defy every offort of reason and common sense to uproot it. Perhaps it is best met by quoting the law which regulates wages in its proverbial or axiomatic form. No matter what the price of food, it holds good, “When “ two masters run after one man, to “ offer employment, wages vise : when “ two men run after one master, seek- “ ing employment, wages fall. In the very few goldfields Wardens’ reports that now reach us, the rate of wages quoted is nearly double that prevailing in Auckland. This shows that notwithstanding the noise of the Auckland goldfields, there is a steady profitable prosecution of mining industry in this Province, giving results that enable the miners to pay a rate of wages not realisable there. We believe it is as true now as it was two years ago, that, man for man, employed in actual goldmining, there is more gold obtained in the diggings of Otago than on any other goldfield,—Auckland notwithstanding. It is, therefore, somewhat annoying that there is not a rush to any part of the world that has not thinned our goldfields population, and drawn some away from the certainty here to run after the phantom elsewhere, It really becomes a question how far we are ourselves to blame for this. There certainly has not been any great withdrawal to Auckland, and that is satisfactory. That is accounted for through the mining there requiring large preliminary outlay of capital but whether the exodus bo small or great, it is highly desirable that the place of those who go should be filled by others. The Committee of the Chamber of Commerce refer to the increasing. yield of gold in the Province, and point out that, during the quarter, 37,000 ounces have been exported. This is very well, considering the number of miners on the goldfields, but it must not be forgotten that, up to the very time of the rush to the West Coast a few years ago, the export was steadily between forty and fifty thousand ounces monthly. It is always unfortunate for a country, when simultaneously a large portion of its effective labor is withdrawn from it. It gives a bad impression to those seeking a profitable place to settle in. We have been very supine in Otago in our efforts to counteract this implied condemnation of our goldfields. Officers have reported, but their reports have not been widely circulated, and now with countless acres of known rich auriferous ground unworked, wo rest very content to let Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury, and Southland advertise their real or imagined wealth, and bid for immigrants from all quarters without the slightest effort to draw them hither, where their labor would most surely benefit both themselves and the Province.