New Zealand Provinces.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XVII, Issue 52, 30 June 1858, Page 4

New Zealand Provinces.

OTAGO. [Abridged from the Otago Witness^ May B.] As has been our custom for some years past, we take the opportunity of the publication of the statistics for reviewing the progress of the province for the past year. It will be then more convenient 4o place our remarks under different heads. POLITICAL. Under this head, there has occurred little Bince our last summary to interest the distant reader — we use the word in" its extended sense. Beyond the annual sitting of the General Assembly, we know comparatively little of the General Government, and should be almost unconscious of its existence but from the fact of its abstracting a considerable share of our revenues, and occasionally causing us great inconvenience by its distance from us, and the difficulties of communication. In our local politics there has been a change in the Executive Government, not of much interest to those unconnected with the province. The Provincial Council generally has but one session during the year, and that one of short duration. At the last meeting the subjects legislated on were of a local nature : at'4B,6/0 was appropriated for the year, which, sum included £8,050 for roads, £5,997 for public works, for the establishment and maintenance of ferries, for educational purposes, £1 0,000 for immigration, ii 2,000 bonus for steam communication, £500 for the discovery of an available gold field, and r6250 for the successful working of a coal field within the province. FINANCIAL, In financial matters, the province starts umler the disadvantages of being burdened with the repayment of one-third portion of the New Zealand Company's debt, amounting to £G6,000. This sum has been commuted into an annual payment of 564,000 per annum for thirty years. In addition to this annual payment, the interest of debts which it was absolutely necessary for the province to incur, in order to provide the means of immigration, will have to be accounted as a fixed charge for eleven years. This debt has not been fully incurred, but as contracts for the expenditure of dt'2o,ooo on immigration have been entered into, and to a considerable extent carried out, we may assume the additional debts of the province at that amount ; and consequently a further sum of 362,000 for interest will have to be provided, the principal being returned by the immigrants. On the other side we have to notice the rapid increase of the revenues of the' customs and land departments. In the former, the increase during the year 1857 over that of 1856 has been £2,961, being at the rate of more than 55 per cent. ; and the first quarter of the current year shows a still progressive increase, which will be much augmented by the additions which have been made and are being made to the population by the arrival of immigrants. The land revenues are on an equally satisfactory footing. The published table shows the receipts for the past year to have been upwards of X'2l,000; but as that sum includes the balance from a former year, and deposits, we should state that the actual revenue of that department for the period has been a 614,411, which, after deducting the expenses of the land and survey departments, leave a net revenue of £10,411. The receipts for the first quarter of the present year show a very material increase, notwithstanding the fact of the expenses of that period for the survey department having been very heavy ; and should the receipts for the year continue at the same rate, the gross reveuue will amount to £23,961, and give an increase of net revenue over the last year of £7,728, a sum which we confidentlyanticipatewill be more than realized, as the increase of immigration begins to tell upon the land funds by creating a greater demand for land. AGRICULTURE. At December, 1857, there were 6,425 acres under crop, beitfg an increase over the previous year of 1,309 acres. The cultivation of wheat had decreased by 134 acres; that of oats bad increased by 948 acres, more than double that of the previous year. Barley shows an increase of 63 acres ; potatoes, 92 ; turnips, 38 ; artificial grass, 928 ; other crops and garden, 37 acres. 299 additional acres were under fallow ; 4,629 were fenced; and 13,514 more would appear to have been purchased, but the returns of tire Land Office show the increase on this item to have been about 16,000. The estimate of the prices received for the various crops is but an approximation ; but it would lead us to suppose that agriculture must have been a profitable investment, notwithstanding the high rate of wages. With reference to the returns of live stock, we must confess a suspicion of their not being very accurate, as the increase shown is far less than was to be anticipated, and bears no relative proportion to that of preceding years. Thus, cattle appear to have increased only to the extent of 168 head; so trifling an addition to the stock returned last year, which amounted to 15,881, that we conceive there must be some mistake, especially as the female stock is stated at 9,605. It is scarcely possible that the consumption can have so nearly reached the breeding point as to leave so little margin. It is possible that the discrepancy has arisen from, in the one •case, reckoning the calves under six months old, and, in the other, omitting them ; a very likely circumstance, as, in the returns for the purposes of assessment under the Pasturage Regulations, stock under six months old are omitted ; and the statistics have not been collected by the same person tts undertook that wor*k last year. The equally deficient increase in horses — amounting only to 267, which cannot be accounted for by the supposition of •their being consumed — confirms us in our view that there has been an error somewhere. The iucrease of sheep amounts to 31,779. It is, perhaps, most convenient, under this branch of our subject, to notice the extent of pastoral operations. These have not proceeded so rapidly us we were led last year, to anticipate, and the importations of sheep (6,000) have not corae up to our expectations. The report of J. T. Thomson, Esq., the Chief Surveyor, which we published at the time of his return from his reconnaissance survey of the Northern districts, having made public much valuable

information relating to the interior of the province, a very large number of applications for depasturing licenses have been made, and 1,600,000 acres have been lately marked off and allotted as runs. The total amount applied for in the yet unsurveyed districts amounts to upwards of 1,900,000 acres. The number of sheep required to stock this extent of country must be between 60,000 and 100,000; and it appears to us nearly impossible that that number can be imported during the ensuing year. Much of the country will therefore be open for reselection ; but as some of these runs are so highly estimated that is said to have been offered for the right to an application, and refused, we have no doubt that great efforts will be made to procure stock to secure the country, and that a very considerable addition to our export of wool will be made. The quantity of country now under license amounts to about 1,500,000 acres. COMMERCE. But little change has taken place in the character of our commerce ; and although few additions have been made to the coasting craft hailing from this port^ there has been scarcely any demand for strarfger vessels, excepting for the importation of stock. In other respects the carrying trade from the neighbouring colonies and the various outports has been almost exclusively in the hands of the shipowners in our own province, and, consequently, freight maintains a handsome rate. The demand, however, for transit around the coast is increasing at a rate that seems to justify the anticipation that a steamer of small tonnage and light draught will, ere long, be placed upon the coast. Were such the case, she would monopolize the trade, as the detention in some of our outports is a serious drawback to sailing vessels ; and, as villages are springing up on the coast line, this branch of trade will become far more important. The Government have been constructing ways and making other arrangements for the shipment of wool at Oamaru, which will be the shipping port for the wool from the greater part of the sheep stations in the interior End the district north of Moeraki ; indeed it is generally understood, that a considerable quantity of wool grown north of the Waitangi river in the Canterbury province must, from the nature of the country, find its way to Oamaru, and, consequently, a village of not inconsiderable extent is likely to rise in that quarter; and already several applications have been made to obtain sites for stores there. In Dunedin trade has extended, very visibly, and a number of new stores have been started, as will be seen by a reference to the advertising columns of the local newspapers ; but we cannot say that the increase of business or competition has in the least tended to reduce prices on imported articles j and flour still remains high in proportion to the price of wheat. The only effort to establish a Joint Stock company for the erection of a flour-mill has, as far as it has gone, been successful ; but its period of commencing operations is still a little distant, owning to the necessity of procuring machinery from the home country. A mill in the Tokomairiro has turned out an excellent speculation. The settlers in that and the surrounding districts are now enabled to procure flour at as cheap, if not a cheaper rate, than they could in Dunedin, and they avoid the double freight of the wheat to town, and the flour back. The rapid increase o£ the commerce of the port is to be best ascertained by a glance at the abstract of imports, exports^and revenue for each year, from the foundation of the settlement. The imports shew an increase of nearly a third over the previous year. The value of the exports have declined to the extent of 261,700 — a matter not at all surprising, seeing the almost total cessation of a market for our agricultural produce in Australia, and the very great decline in prices. Satisfactory as is this return, the first quarter of the current year exhibits a steady increase, and this year seems likely to go far beyond its predecessor; and here we may notice that the return of wool exported during 1857 gives a very incorrect notion as to the amount of produce, inasmuch- as but 264,042 lbs. were exported ; but the actual produce is estimated at 507,382 lbs., the reason being that a very considerable portion of the clip was detained in port until after the' close of the year ; and equally so will the first quarter's return of the present year, amounting, as it does, to .£9,215 in value, mislead, if the terms produce and export be considered synonymous, as the falling off has been further increased by a large quantity of wool having been shipped on board the Strathallan, now lying at the port, with the view of being sent direct home, the vessel being detained for want of a sufficient cargo. This is the first attempt at a direct ship, but we fear it has been attempted a little too early; next year, we have no doubt, it would be attended with better success. SOCIAL. Under this head we propose to notice the increase of the population, and matters referring to the every-day occupations of the community. The increase of population from December 1856 to December 1857 was 835. To this number we have now to add (including the passengers by the Strathfieldsaye and Nourmahal), 1,185 who have arrived in the province since that period, which will make a total European population of 5,816. The rapidity of this increase of our numbers, which far exceeds that of any previous period, is owning to the resumption of immigration consequent upon the vote of by the Provincial Council for that purpose. A reference to the tables will show a remarkable satisfactory proportion between the number of each sex, there being but a preponderance of 437 males. The similarity of the numbers of males and females at any one of the given ages under 21 is still more remarkable; any very great- difference appearing to commence between the ages of 21 and 30, after which latter age the proportions of females rapidly decrease; and from a cursory glance at the statistics of the province for some years past, it would appear as if there were some natural barrier which prevents the ladies from getting beyond that point.. The return of the " countries where born " shows nearly a third of the population to have been born in New Zealand. This proportion has been considerably diminished by the arrival of immigrants during the

past few months. The births bear the proportion of about 7 per cent, to the adult population ; and the deaths are less than a half per cent, of the wholepopulation shown to have been intheprovinceatthe close of 1856; and as a very obvious illustration of the extreme healthiness of the climate, out of the multitude of children in the province, only five died during the year, all of whom were under two years of age, and two were premature births. Of the Maori population the statistics are imperfect. They appear, however, to be gradually dwindling away. The increase of population has produced a great demand for house accommodation; which, however, owing to the scarcity of material until lately, has not kept pace with the demand. The number of new buildings in Dunedin is considerable : the town is rapidly, spreadiug in a north-easterly direction, and we have no doubt but that by next spring, Dunedin will have much increased in size. The town lands, as will be seen by a reference to returus of the land department, has been sold very rapidly during the past year, and the pace at which it is going off is every day being accelerated. Formerly the sales were held ever} r two or three months, but they have become r uuthly and of much greater extent. Sixty-six lots were sold in April, sixty-one are to be sold in. May, and the applications for June already number eighty-four; and nothwithstanding the increased distance from the business portion of the town, the price is rising. Although the arrivals of labourers and artisans have been numerous, the price of labour has receded but little. A further decrease in rates appears evident. As will be seen by the retail markets, necessaries still maintain their prices, with the exception of butcher's meat, which has been slightly lowered. Our Port town progresses very gradually, but as the road in that direction is to be improved' and a considerable quantity of land having been sold on the line of route, the prospects of the Port are brightening. Of our progress in road-making we have not much to boast. Some improvement has, however, been effected, especially in the southern approach to Dunedin, where the road has been metalled. The work is not yet completed, but when done, we have no doubt it will be a first-rate specimen. Perfect road-making is as yet beyond our means. In the country districts considerable advance has been made, which we have noticed under the head of agriculture. A thorough and efficient means of postal communication has been established throughout the province, which is at present a heavy burden upon the government exchequer ; but the number of letters transmitted is rapidly on the increase, and it is probable that that«establishment will ere long be self-supporting. An improvement has been made in the administration of justice, by the extension of the Resident Magistrate's Court, in which debts to the amount of £1 00 may be recovered. It has, however, but a small business in that department, although a few actions, involving rights rather than debts, have been tried by it. In the month of March last, a session of the Supreme Court was held here, being the first time since we had a Judge all to ourselves that a session has been held at Otago. There was one case tried before it, the only serious one that has ever occurred with us. The prisoner was found guilty of manslaughter, and sentenced to twoyears' imprisonment. There was no further criminal business, and no civil business at all. Thus far, our social position as regards crime is satisfactory, the statistics showing that the average of crime is with us far under the very low average of New Zealand generally. ECCLESIASTICAL AND EDUCATIONAL. Our efforts in these matters keep pace with those of former years. Two additional ministers of the Free Church have arrived amongst us ; one has been established for some time past, and the other has just arrived. The province has now five clergymen of the Free Church, two of the Episcopalian Church, one Wesleyan, and one Indf pendent. Not much has been done in the waj of church building, but preparations are being made to erect a more commodious and substantial edifice than the one in present use for the congregation of the Free Church in Dunedin. A church is also in course of erection at Waikouaiti. Educational matters progress steadi'y and satisfactorily : 566,302 was voted by the provincial council for this object. Three more schools have been established, making in all eight public schools in the province, besides three private schools. We have no statistics of the schools before us, neither do the statistics published contain any information as to the numbers of persons who can read and write. We [ can only state that entirely uneducated persons are very rare in this community.