The Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) Suivant la verite. MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1883. OUR COMMERCIAL PROSPECTS

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 4, 3 December 1883, Page 2

Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) Suivant la verite. MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1883. OUR COMMERCIAL PROSPECTS

I The President of,, the Canterbury • J Chamber of Commerce delivered an j address at a "recent meeting of that; ! Chamber, and some of his remarks are i worthy of attention. He said there; ! was no great improvement m business, and little . hope ' of a change for the \' better till the.money was received from, the late wool arid grain sales. ; Thej imports to the province, however, had diminished,,. and lighter stocks could be; .worked with m - consequence of the despatch with: which they could be replenished by direot steamers. Another* vhopeful sign m money was that it was! no longer locked up m land speculations,, "but" was gradually" coming back to; legitimate usesT It was satisfactory to 1 know, that ..wool prices .at Home were, , fir.mj and the competition of buyers active. The frozen • mutton trade is a marked success, nieahiDg a considerable; addition to die wealth of the country.; Up to date 158,906 carcases had been* shipped -JErom t New Zealand, 43,987; ; being : from .Canterbury. .As some set] off to this, New Zealand wheat was low m price at Home for even the best) samples, and there was little reason to expect any rise for some time. T.nj Canterbury there was a prospect of an abundant if a late harvest, but farmers should turn their attention to raising stock, ; That this was boing done was evidenced by the late Agricultural and Pastoral Show. There was every prospect of the approaching* New Zealand Industrial . Exhibition re-j fleeting credit on the industrial resources of _ tlvo — -Prcrri*»w*. — --aU--withstanding the depression it was noteworthy that joint stock companies were earning handsome divid-j ends. Colonial banks had been paying" one seven and another fifteen per cent; insurance companies from seven to, ; twenty- per cent ;' t;vvo principal woollen factories, ten per 'cent ;-' Glmstchurch breweries', one : ten'and the other fifteen per cent;- Christchurch Gas Company, sixteen per cent; three Christchurch - Building Sbcieties.eight and five- eighths, eleven and one-half, and thirteen and; | three-quarters per cent; Union Steamship and New Zealand Shipping Company, nine and ten per cent respectively ; National Mortage Company, teni perc ent j -New Zealand Loan and MerCompany, fifteen per cent. It! was' not necessary to enlarge on the: advantages of- the New Zealand Ship-; ping.. Company's, diieet steam service.' had become patent to the mer-j cantile community, and it was much to be desired that the Government be ernpoweredHo fairly subsidise the line. It had a good illustration of its value iri the Doric's last • trip, m which she: took home wool m lime for the Nov sales, and which otherwise would have had to wait for the February ones. The, Union Steamship Company were hav| ma- coastal steamers built with re-i frigcrating chambers for the conveying; 'oFfrozen meat from one port to another. The President oxpressed a hope tbe Bankruptcy Bill would prove useful. He concluded by referring to the ominous intelligence of the immediate . probability rof war between Franceaml China, which would prove especially disastrous to British and colonial iv-, tercsts.