NEW ZEALAND FINANCE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXVII, Issue 9646, 11 February 1892, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND FINANCE.

ME BATTLET’S IMPRESSIONS. [FROM OUB OWN COBBESPOND3NT.] WELLINGTON, Feb. 10The following report of an interview with a financial authority just out from London has appeared in the New Zealand Times . I may premise that Mr Battley’a remarks.have been rather widely accepted here as reassuring, on account of their good sense, fairness, prudence, and knowledge of the subject: — “ Mr F. Battley, formerly Inspector of the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, Limited, and now promoted by the Board of Directors to the position of General Manager for this Colony, has been in Wellington during the past few days, and, having just returned from a visit to England, he was interviewed by a member of our reporting staff, with a view of ascertaining the opinion entertained in financial circles at Home regarding New Zealand. Mr Battley cordially received our representative, and very freely and unreservedly communicated, his impressions. After remarking that Mr Dodds, who had been acting - inspector while he himself was away, had now been selected to succeed him as permanent inspector, Mr Battley went on to say that he left for England in company with Mrs Battley, in February, 1891; that he arrived back in the Colony by the Euapehu, which reached Auckland on Jan. 28, and that he had come on from Auckland on Feb. 1, on a tour of the Company’s branches, with the object of assuming control of the business. His visit Home was partly with a view to the improvement of his own health, which was far from robust. The first-class specialists whom he consulted in England, informed him that there was no organic disease, but that he was suffering from brain fag caused by overwork.. He spent , a very pleasant, time in England, besides visiting Wales and Scotland, and he was greatly benefited by hia trip, although still not so strong as ho would like to be. THE WOBKING CLASSES. “ Eeferringto his impressions, Mr Battley proceeded to say—‘The longer I stayed in the Old Country, the more familiar I became with the conditions of life there, the stronger was my conviction of the immense advantages offered to the working classes in this new and free country. In England the difficulty of acquiring land seems to grow steadily, and the lot of the agricultural labourer is a really pitiful one. Land holdings are increasing in size, and machinery is rapidly supplanting manual labour. Where formerly the land was held in sections of from three to four hundred acres, now, by a process of amalgamation of farms, you have estates of from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred acres; and, as I have said, less hands are employed through the use of labour-saving machinery. The effect on the spirit of the labouring classes of the country districts is very manifest, by their deferential manner towards the squire, the rector, and the other local magnates, and alsoby the humble way in which they touch their hats to any well dressed stranger who comes along. All this strikes the returned Colonist as being painfully at variance with the spirit of independence, and that sense of sturdy manhood which pervades these new countries. In regard to recent legislation in New Zealand, I may say at once that there was, and still is, though now subsiding, an undoubted scare in financial circles. I saw it manifested in various ways and in different parts of the country. There is no doubt that a great deal of harm was done to New Zealand by the extreme utterances of certain members of the party now in power; whether this will be permanent will largely depend upon the leaders. NO BAID UPON CAPITAL. “ ‘ I may as well mention that I had a long interview with the Premierthia morning, and I am assured by him that there is no intention on the part of the Government to make a raid upon capital, and that the object the Government has at heart is to push forward the settlement of the country, and in every way to encourage the growth of a yeoman farmer class. If this is accomplished, and the Government intends to strain every nerve to make apparent its policy in this respect, it may be hoped that the scare will entirely pass away, to be succeeded by a feeling of renewed confidence in the Colony. There ate certain features of the financial policy which, are considered in England to be open to the gravest objection, notably the taxation of debentures and the extra tax upon absentees. Personally, I may tell you, I do not see any objection to the absentee tax, because it is levied only upon land. It requires to be borne in mind that it is only intended to be applied to land, and that, consequently, its scope wil|j be much less serious than was at first anticipated in England. The graduated Land tax is an entirely new feature, and, as a striking innovation in fiscal policy, has assisted to frighten capital.* Asked if the grossly-exaggerated statements published by the leading English papers, as a result of a misconception on their pait of the precise nature of the Government’s taxation proposals, had not very largely tended to produce the scare referred to, Mr Battley admitted that this was, to a great extent, the case. The Government proposals reached England in a very imperfect and, in fact, chaotic state. He himself read paper after paper, with a view of arriving at some clear apprehension of them, but was plunged into tbe greatest perplexity, as the accounts were most conflicting, and, as time showed, entirely fallacious. Then the scare was intensified by the extreme utterances he had mentioned. The scare must be greatly allayed when the full proposals, with all their qualifications and limitations, are placed before the public. ‘As to the condition of the Colony and its prospects,’ Mr Battley added, ‘I am convinced that, if measures be taken to reassure capitalists and those who are likely to assist New Zealand with their money, the scare may be expected to entirely pass away. One thing that tends very materially in this direction is the development of our imports, which is regarded as quite phenomenal. Another thing which is quoted to our advantage is the steadfast resolution of all parties here to abstain from further borrowing for some time to come. These two facta are freely and most favourably commented on in English commercial and financial circles, and you hear the Colony very frequently spoken of with admiration for its abstinence from borrowing. In fact I feel that, provided no rash legislation be undertaken, a most prosperous future is assured for New Zealand. In the apace of nine years our export of frozen meat alone has assumed vast dimensions; but there is still much to he done in ensuring that the people who want New Zealand meat really get it. A large quantity of a second-class article is offered for sale, in various parts of the Old Country, conspicuously marked as New Zealand meat, when as a matter of fact it has never seen New Zealand. A great deal of attention is now being given to the importation of fruit from Tasmania and New Zealand. But the main development of the past two or three years has been in connection with our dairy products, which are taking & most prominent position at Home. As these products are the mainstay of many districts in New Zealand, the assurance of increasing and fairly profitable markets cannot fail to largely conduce to the prosperity of the Colony.’ REPORTED WITHDRAWAL OF CAPITAL. «• Our reporter having enquired if the reported withdrawals of capital from Now Zealand had not been magnified, Mr Battley admitted that they had been. If these withdrawals had been resolved on, sufficient time had nob elapsed to permit them tobemade ; in fact, in very many instances the money could not be withdrawn, btlll, a lack of confidence and the bare intention of withdrawing money must necessarily have the effect of restricting what,

capital was available, unless the conditions he had indicated were removed. If the Government would allay the scare at Home and would generally work out their policy on fair lines, and would not hinder the free inflow of capital to the Colony, there was every reason to feel hopeful and confident. pbospkeitt at hand. “ Finally Mr Battley said he returned to the Colony more than ever satisfied that, given lair play and the avoidance of extreme views, it must, at the phenomenal rate with which settlement and development of trade were proceeding, enter speedily on a bourse of great prosperity.”