The Evening Star. Friday, November 6, 1874.

Evening Star, Issue 3653, 6 November 1874, Page 2

The Evening Star. Friday, November 6, 1874.

The people and Government of Victoria are indignant that the 4 per cent, loan was not eagerly taken up in the English market, and are striving to discover the reasons. The ‘ Australasian,’ in a very fairly reasoned article, attributes the failure to several causes: first, to the suspicion prevalent in England that the money is not wanted for bond fide investment in reproductive undertakings ; secondly, that if so, the construction of railways on so extensive a scale is not needed to develop a country with so sparse a population ; thirdly, that there is a settled conviction in the British mind that no country can permanently prosper under a traderestrictive policy ; and, fourthly, that the men by whom the government of the country is administered are untrustworthy, because they profess one class of principles and act upon another. In refutation of the first two hypothetical objections to lending money, the ‘ Australasian’ afiirms that the security is better than that of many foreign countries that can easily obtain the money they require; and we have no doubt of the truth of the assertion. The difficulty is in leading capitalists to believe it, for faith is the foundation of a loan. There is, however, a fashion in faith, as in most other matters, and it has its influence even on the Stock Exchange. It is very doubtful, in fact, whether those at Home who invest in foreign loans enter into those minute calculations of probabilities so generally attributed to them. Russia, Austria, Italy, or Turkey may require money either for warlike or peaceful purposes. Of the two, the latter, one would imagine, would have the preference ; but, so far as memory serves us, we never knew but one attempt at floating a loan imsuccessful through objection being taken to the purpose to which it was to be applied. Others have failed because of being thrown on the market at a wrong time, or through want of confidence in the securities, but a proposed loan to Austria failed because of its being intended to bo appropriated to the subjugation of the Hungarians, The probability is that the Victorian loan failed because of tiie low rate of interest offered, compared with that hitherto paid by the Colonies. It has not been the practice to lend to them on such terms. It' may bo too, that there is an impression that the fiscal system of Victoria is a failure, and, that instead of progressing, the country is really retrograding. The ‘ Australasian,’ while condemning the protective policy of the country, still

holds to the notion that Victoria is the “ most flourishing British Colony.” It does not appear to perceive that if so, the protectionists it condemns would have good ground to adduce that that prosperity is a proof of the soundness of their fiscal notions. Unfortunately there are good reasons for believing that, whatever claim to superiority ol prosperity may have been well-founded in years gone by, with passing time it has passed away. New South Wales has latterly taken a wide step forward, and from its vast mineral resources and liberal trade policy appears very likely to take the first place, or at least to run neck and neck with New Zealand, notwithstanding our splendid seaboard and commanding position. Compared with New South Wales and New Zealand, the present position ol Victoria is not what it used to be. The number of the ‘ Australasian ’ containing the assumption of its being the most flourishing British Colony, contains the following significant paragraph from “iEgles’s” weekly summary :—- An unfortunate friend of mine is the owner of eleven properties in Sandhurst, and of these ten are unoccupied—not because he won’t let them, hut because he can’t. On the ten unproductive holding he was the other day compelled to pay L2l 9s city rates, And although he is a most amiable and sweet-tempered person, his soul rebels against this municipal process of solving the ex nihilo conundrum. I believe that if a house in Melbourne proper is for a certain uime unteuauted, the owner is for the unprotit able time exonerated from paying rates. It. might be worth considering whether this plan of remission might not be introduced in tin Local Government Bill now before Parliament. Melbourne, of course, has a special Act, but the procedure ought to be uniform.

Saudhurst and its neighborhood is the only mining district in Victoria in which recent discoveries of gold have been worked to a pro tit. Ballarat, once so rich, is in a most depressed condition : the people in the neighboring townships are struggling with poverty, and the feeling in Melbourne itself is anything rather than cheerful. Comparing the state of matters described by “ Ogles’’ with that ol Otago, where house room can scarcely be obtained on any terms, there seems little reason to imagine that Victoria is the “most flourishing Colony” in the British Empire. What it might have been if governed on sound principles we do not pretend to say. Its misfortune is that no industries have spontaneously grown up to take the place of goldmining. Those that have been established have been exotics —expensive luxuries, kept alive by help drawn from all other classes of labor, outgrowing the consumption capable of being com manded by prohibitory duties, and unable to compete in the world’s market with products, the growth of natural conditions. Its people are yet too blind to see their mistake, and, as usual, attribute the acknowledged depression to anything rather than the true cause. By the time they awake to the truth other Colonies will have taken the load.