COLONIAL INTELLIGENCE.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 95, 30 December 1843, Page 379

COLONIAL INTELLIGENCE.

The cloud which lias so long hung over the mercantile affairs of Australian colonies has not yet dispersed, and so far from there being any indication of improvement in affairs, everything daily becomes more gloomy. The Legislative Council for New South Wales has had its attention directed to the subject by petitions from the starving mechanics of Sydney, and the complaints of the insolvent stockowners. A committee had been appointed, before which seventeen gentlemen, the most intimately connected with the monetary affairs of the colony, were examined. The Sydney Record, in giving the heads of the evidence, says :—: —

" It was the opinion of the witnesses that the present monetary embarrassment was occasioned by the following causes, viz : — The great depreciation which had taken place in the home market in the value of our staple commodities — wool and oil. The wild speculations in which all classes engaged during the years 1839, 1840, and 1841 ; a mania which was encouraged by the banks, owing to the influx of British capital, and by the Government, because the proceeds of the land sales, amounting at one time to fully £350,000, were lodged in the banks, and the highest rate of interest exacted for them, the effect of which was to compel the banks to reissue in discounts the proceeds of those very sales, the original pur-chase-money for which was represented by the paper in their portfolios. When the Bounty System of Emigration came into operation, the Government drew out their deposits almost as rapidly as they had lodged them, which compelled the banks to restrict their discounts as suddenly, and which gave the first downward impulse to the money market, which it has ever 6ince preserved. From these causes it appeared that the colonist was burdened with a debt, which, in a large majority of instances, could only be cancelled by his property passing into other hands — a process which was daily going on through the instrumentality of the Insolvent Law. The rapid increase of wealth during the convict system, together with the increase in the price of wool in 1833, led to an immense influx of money from England, and at the same time engendered a reckless extravagance in expenditure throughout the community. The cessation of transportation, and consequent diminution of Government expenditure, the immense abstraction of capital to pay for immigration, the increase of live stock, and consequent depreciation in the value of the same for consumption, the destruction of the crop for two years through drought, combined with dear labour during the same period. The present monetary embarrassment is caused in a great measure by the amount due by the public to the banks, and not, as has been invnriably the case in similar crises in other countries, by the amount due by the banks to the public."

The remedy recommended by the committee is that the credit of the colony should be lent " in favour of those debtors who are in a position to give adequate security." This is to be done in something like the following manner. A landowner wishing to raise money, to take his title deeds to a Commissioner appoiuted by the Government, who values the property in any amount not exceeding one-fourth the upset price. For this amount, the Government to be security. An instrument called a pfandbriefe is then to be given to the mortgager, with the amount guaranteed, divided into small sums if needed to facility their circulation. A similar plan has been adopted in Prussia for nearly a century, where these p'fandbriefes are always easily negotiable. Mr. Windeyer has framed a bill in accordance with the recommendation of the committee, but the Sydney Record expresses great doubts whether the measure will be favourably received by the mercantile community, or by the Government. Our contemporary argues that, as there is no scarcity of a circulating medium in the colony, the measure will not meet the difficulties of the times. There is sufficient available capital for all the purposes of legitimate commerce, but it remains locked up, because all public confidence has been destroyed. This being the case, the question is asked, What need of a new paper currency ? Then follow some remarks, which we give, as they present but too true a picture of the present lamentable state of things : — •• The market is glutted with goods of every description, of no marketable value, and portions are being sent daily to the auction rooms to be disposed of for what they will fetch. Cattle and land are unsaleable. Property of every description is daily becoming deteriorated in value — all. are sellers and few are purchasers. This state of things arises, we repeat, from a general want of confidence, which time alone can restore. The colony may be compared to a garden, in which a tribe of speculators have vegetated and flourished like noxious plants, until it has become necessary to weed them out altogether."

Our contemporary does not consider the enumerated causes as being solely chargeable with all the distress, but instances high rents as a primary one :—: — " It is a well known fact, that there are hundreds of tradesmen in the city, whose receipts

weekly fall short of the amount of rent which they have to pay, consequently, they are compelled to send their property to the auction room (the crucible in which it is soon melted down to the smallest possible compass) to obtain funds to meet their current expenses. We do not, therefore, anticipate any alteration for the better until rents are reduced to the same standard as in England, for it is morally impossible that the present high rates can be sustained with advantage to the colonists."

Discountenancing all legislative interference in the matter, the same writer gives the following advice :—: —

" Let those who are irretrievably involved go through the Insolvent Court, and let those who are not burdened with debt practise economy, and we shall soon have the pleasure of witnessing a very different state of things from tbe present."

The agitation of a measure for a protective duty on grain is becoming very general. A public meeting was held at Melbourne on the 14th of October, which unanimously declared that such a step was necessary to save from ruin the present cultivators. Dr. M'Crae, who filled the chair, stated that though a protective duty on colonial grain would be highly injurious to all the colonies, and destroy the reciprocal trade which at present exists, the same could not be said of South America, which took nothing from the colonies but their dollars. With these she would improve the breed of sheep, and shortly rival Australia in the wool market at home. As an instance how unprofitable agriculture had become, the same speaker showed that while the population of New South Wales had increased since 1 840 from 85,268 to 158,889 souls, the wheat crop for 1^42 was 2,442 acres less than in the previous named year. Another gentleman, Mr. Fawkner, said that his crop last year had not realized a sufficient sum to pay the actual expenses out of pocket. The following were the resolutions passed :—: —

" 1. That, in the opinion of this meeting, if some protection is not afforded to the agriculturists of the district by the Legislature, there is every reason to apprehend that the bulk of the cultivators of the soil will be ruined, and the production of grain within the province for home consumption put a stop to, the present unremunerating price of farm produce, combined with the still high charges for labour, the badness of the roads, &c, rendering it quite impossible they can long continue to carry on their operations."

" 2. That, in the opinion of this meeting, the protection desired would be best afforded —

" Ist. By the imposition of a duty upon grain not the produce of a British settlement, sufficiently high to render farming profitable, but not too high for the consumer.

" 2d. By affording protection to the legitimate farmer — the proprietor or occupier of purchased land — against competition on the part of the squatter on Crown lands, whose tenure rests on a mere depasturage license.

" 3d. By the encouragement of agriculture in the prohibition of distillation from aught but grain."

It is unfortunate that at this critical period the harvest in New South Wales should give but little promise of success. In several districts the late wheat has been converted into hay, to " save something as it were from the wreck." The cause of this is the want of rain, which is also destroying the maize crops. Smut in wheat is also much complained of. As if these evils were not of themselves sufficient, the bushrangers and blacks continue to harrass the settlers in the thinly populated districts. Robberies are committed on the highway, entire flocks of sheep driven off and wantonly slaughtered, and shepherds and hut-keepers murdered.