AUCKLAND CHAMBER OF COMMERGE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XV, Issue 5151, 21 May 1878, Page 3

AUCKLAND CHAMBER OF COMMERGE.

The annual naeetimg of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce was held yesterday, at Mr. Stoddart'e office, Shortiand street. Present : Mr. J. C. Firth (Vice-President), in the chair. Dr. Campbell, Messrs. T. Macffarlane, McMillan, and Alexander.

The Secretary read the minutes of last special meeting, which were confirmed. He also read the annual report and balance-sheet. The report stated what the Chamber had done in respect of the Debtors and Creditors Act, 1876, the arrest of fraudulent debtors by telegraph, bills of sale, and other matters. The concmittee regretted to announce that Mr. Waymouth had resigned his position as secretary. "They had secured the services of Mr. Stoddart as his successor. The Treasurer's report shewed that there had been a falling-off in the number of members, owing, t was believed, in some measure to the want of a room, where newspapers and circulars could always be referred to. The Chamber regretted that greater progress had not been made in the extension of the Kaipara railway. Th« balance-sheet shewed that the receipts had been as follew : —Balance Bank of New Zealand, £109 19s 4d ; subscriptions from 15 members for 1877, £3110s; subscriptions from 24 member* for the year 1878, £50 8s : total, £191 17 8 4d. The items of expenditure were for secretary's salary, rent of office, &c, and the accounts shewed that a sum of £117 9s 3d remained as a balance in the Bank of New Zealand.

The Chairman mored the adoption of the report and balance-sheet, and the motion, having been seconded by Mr. Alexander,was agreed to. Mr. Macffari.ane. at the request of the Chairman, read the address of Mr. Heather, the Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Heather's address dealt with the principal features of the trade of Auckland. In noticing the extension of timber industry inNorthernWairoa, Mr. Heather stated :—" A few years ago the Kaipara was almost unknown, and the trade chiefly in the kands of one of our leading merchants. Now, through the erection of large saw-mills developing its resources, a complete change has taken place. In lieu of a atore here and there, we find small townships, and the export of kauri timber several million feet per annum."

The Chairman (Mr. Firth) said they ought to feel obliged to Mr. Heather, who had directed the attention of the Chamber to what had been done, and to what had not been done. The latter was the most important. It was, he believed, customary to have the chairman's address printed ; and if any member would express an opinion on the subject he should feel obliged, and they would be glad to take the subject into consideration.

Mr. Macfkarlan'E said he thought the address ought to be printed. He had now been a lon<; while a member of the Chamber, an.l he thought they had never taken the position they ought to. There was a want of unanimity amongst the Auckland merchants which had led them into difficulties th it might hare been avoided. He had repeatedly uiged that they should have social meetings at which they could t.ilk over things on terms of intimacy, so as to consult on business nutters. So far the Auckland merchants were mere units, living away from one another, and trying to cut eacn others' throats. If it could be arranged'that the Chairman could occasionally invite the members to have a friendly chat in a confidential inaniier over a cup of tea at his own house ur elsewhere, where they might talk as one li Mirst business nmn to another, a ijreat deal of good might In- iif-cted. It" they could carry out Mr. H.'ath.r's suggestions, t::ey woul.l make th.' ClMinbrrof Commerce a power such a.< it had not been up to the present. Mr. McMillan, in seconding the resolution, pointed out some of the results of the want of co-operation ainong«t the Auckland merchants. In Dunedin they had mnvei' for steam communie ition direct from London. There was, as they nil knew, a great advantage iu getting goods in time. If, instead of W and 100 days, they got their goods, as Melbourne, in CO days, warehousemen would l.j able to keep smaller stocks, lie drew a comparison between the apathy displayed by Auckland aid the energy shewn by Wellington and Dunedin. Each "of the Southern Chambers went in for their own ports, but he found that a suggestion had been made that the steamers should call at each of the principal ports, lie was unite sure, under the president for the ensuing year, a greater amount of energy would be infused into the Chamber, and it would be a greater success.

The motion was put to the meeting, and carried unanireouslv.

On the motion of Mr. Alexander, seconded by Mr. McMillan, Mr. J. C. Firth was elected Chairman for the ensuing year.

On the motion of Mr Mackfarlan'E, seconded by Mr. Albxandkk, Mr. J. M. Clark was elected Vice-I'iesideut.

The following gentlemen were elected tke committee :—Messrs. J. L. Campbell, T. Morrin, J. Phillips, StPTenson, T. MacfFarlaue, J. C. McMillan, and G. Von der Heyde.

Messrs. D. B. Cruickshank and G. \Y. Owen were re-elected auditors.

The Chairman said it now devolved on him to make two or three remarks which might be applicable to the present circumstances of the Chamber. Hβ might frankly state that the office to which he had been elected had not been of his seeking. He had himself endeavoured, and had got the secretary to endeavour to find some other gentleman to stand for the position, but he had not been successful, and neither had the secretary been, therefore he had been compelled to stand. It was unnecessary to explain why he was not willing to accept the honourable position to which he wa* nominated. His reasons w-_>re few and simple. He had a great ameunt of business ef a public and private nature to attend to. As the gentlemen of the Chamber knew, there were two or three men who placed their services at the disposal of the public for the transaction of business which required a huge amount of time, and prominent amongst those were two members of that Chamber. C|i,»ii these few the demand became unreasonable, and they were prevented from giving that attention to their private business which it required. Apart from the fact thai; people will persist in thrusting on the shoulders of the few who will undertake it, all public business, they should recollect that those will become worn out in time, and no one else will know what to do ; so that the public will be nt a great disadvantage, for no one else will he traiiu-d to take up the duties. He thought there ought to bo no difficulty in obtaining younger gentlemen for these offices, and iie to-ild only put it down to excess of modesty, that they did not come forward. This *asi a fault which no doubt would be corrected with age. He hoped next year they would not have a like difficulty in getting a chairman. Having, however, been inducted as chairman, he would riot like to see the Cli.miV>er be the nonentity which it hud been. There was a great work to be done, and none was so fitt.-d to do it as this Chamber. [The address of tlie chairman w»s a very admirable one. It pointed out the deficiencies of the Chamber, and the public results which followed.] His remarks had been ably seconded by the gentleman who proposed and seconded the resolution that the address should be printed. Looking at the work done by the Chamber hitherto, it was very little, not because there was not work to do, but they were too much in the habit of trusting to tlie unrivalled position wkich they held. Notwithstanding their advantageous nHural location, if the people were lazy and careless, they might a 4 well be at the North Pole, to be discovered by a future North-west Expedition. When h« renumbered that the people of this proviuc had been paying large amounts to other people for the food they ate, as they were not iu a position to feed themselves, he thought there was still much to be done. During 15 years they had sent away three millions sterling for the meat and bread which they consumed, and it was not a matter of wonder that their prosperity was not greater, but, rather, that it had been so great. He was glad to be able to state that they had fairly got on the lines of a more healthy state of affairs. In the harrest just past they had produced 80,000 bushels of wheat, and they were now producing a large proportion of their beef. He hoped that one of his successors in the no distant future would have to congratulate them on being able to keep all this money, which they had hitherto sent nway, amongst themselves, to be expended in the community. In view of the probability of their being able to grow their own grain, it would devolve on the Chamber to endeavour to facilitate the traffic for heavy goods by rail. Railways were a millstone round the neck of a country if not availed of by the people. High rates prevented advaniage being taken of the railways, and one duty of the Chamber would be to bring influence to bear to reduce the charges for freight, so as to bring Waikato into closer connection with Auckland When the community were properly served, then the railways would become profitable to the country. Another item to whieh he would direct their attention, was the transmitisiori of intelligence. Members were aware of the irregularity of telegraphic communication between this and the mother country. A conference had been held regarding a duplicate cable ; but this and similar Chambers might have brought influence to bear on the conference which would have led to a modification of their suggestions. He hoped the Cinmber would still be able to bring weight to boar regarding the duplicate line, eo as to avoid at a crisis like the present deplorable want of intelligence. They should not forget that they were laying the foundation of a country, and it lay with them whether they should make it as great ag it ought to be. They had been in the habit of boasting of their natural advantages and geographical position, but they had never takeu advantage of them, and yet there was no reason why they skould not have done so, for they had only cemmerce to depend upon. He regretted to say that even when efforte had been made in this direction, they had not been as successful as could be desired; but they should not be deterred bj home organisations, such as that referred to by Mr. Heather, but remember that locality placed all

home societies at long oddi. Hβ hoped ere long to see Auckland merchant* enter on the Island trade, and secure a larger share of it than they were now doing. Soma might say that the objects he pointed out to the Chamber were ambitious, but they should remensber they were making a commencement. He remembered planting some y*u»g trees and securing them by some small eticks, so that they sheuld not be blown down. Upon recently visiting the place he fonnd these plants grown into magnificent trees, some 12, and some 18 inches and 2 feet thick, but under them he found the original little sticks which supported them before they were *ble to stand the blast themselves. So, this Chamber, if it did no more, might, by a little help to the infantile commerce of the port and city, enable it to t* Ice root, and, if they lived long enough to see it grow to gigantic proportions, they at least would not despise the time when they gave it support. He thanked them for their patient hearing.