THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, JANUARY 5, 1880.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVII, Issue 5657, 5 January 1880, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, JANUARY 5, 1880.

We of the North of New Zealand would be ungrateful people, indeed, if we were not content with its material condition

rfni the prospect of future prosperity, which we seo on all oides. Whilst moat of the Australasian colonies are complaining, the merchant finding trade doll, the workman that employment is scarce and -.vages declining, and the speculator that credit is restricted, with us all the conditions are different, and indicate the healthiness and soundness which inevitably lead to investing and speculation. The improved condition of trade in England, the cheapness of money there, the advance in the price of wool there and of gum here, and the prospect of a marvellously good harvest, afford the best assurance that the stringency of the money market, already diminishing, will become further abated, and that an abundance of money will add another to the many conditions of prosperity with which the New Year has opened. The condition of the labour market is a sure test of the state of a country, and it is a convincing of our 3, that, notwithstanding the ■ ringency that has prevailed in 1..". money market, there has been no dearth of employment. That is a very remarkable circumstance, and proves to a demonstration how solid is the foundation of public prosperity in this district. Employment cannot be plentiful and -wages cannot be high if money be scarce, and yet both conditions exist here. Contractors advertise for labourers at good wages, and find it difficult to procure them, and necessarily so, because the rate of payment is proof positive of its scarcity. It is certain that no man need want work who will be at the trouble to look for it, and it is equally certain that the ability to pay the high rates ruling shows that the employer must have a fair margin of profit. If that were not so his operations would soon be restricted, and the effect at once be indicated by a surplus of labour and falling wages. And it has to be remembered that the effect of the two large additions to our national prosperity—the advance in the price of wool, and the prospect of a splendid harvest —has yet to come into operation. Thus we start with this in hand, and are entitled to ask, if now labour is scarce, and prices are high, what will not be the enhancement

of prosperity when the additional forces ' come into play ? The high rate of wages occasionally forms the subject of adverse comment from the curious error of mistaking eflect for cause. High wages show that all classes are prospering, that there is a greater equality in the distribution of money and low wages—that a few benefit whilst the many slitter. High wages mean increased spending power amongst (lie masses, and so increase trade, and that is our position at the present time. Labour is scarce, and, as is inevitable, wages lower in "Victoria, and so trade is dull ; stocks accumulate, and credit is restricted.

It is true that in a town there may be :B an occasional surplus of labour, because il is there that those who want employment alwa3'3 expect to find it, and so the market is always liable to be overdone by labour crowding to the centre. But, notwithstanding this, there is abundance of employment in Auckland as well as in the surrounding districts, and this was conf clusively proved when a nnmber of men 10 were thrown out of employment by the reclamation works coming to a standie still. Immediately some busybodies, who desired to avail themselves of the oppor- \ tunity to obtain a little cheap notoriety, s convened a meeting of the unemployed and it ended in smoke. There was to be 5 an organisation, and what-not, but there ■- was no making bricks without straw, and e the whole thingcollapsed. Ofi'ers of employ's ment were made in various directions, n and against this the busiest of busybodies '• could not contend. It is extremely satis- \ factory that it is under these conditions the deputation of Lincolnshire farmers have come to spy out the land. Those who are identified with a colony may not unfairly be suspected of being as anxious to make the most of the bright side as • they are solicitous to hide the adverse features, and hence the statements they make with regard to it. Then, it is far better that the deputation should have come to see for itself, and form its own conclusion, whether this district holds out the inducements to the liarrassed agriculturists of England which we all so Confidently aver. Practical men, they will not , take stock not only of the quality of the land, the price of produce, tho facilities . for conveying it to market, and the nature of the climate ; they will search > out the general condition of the population, the rate of wages, the mode of living, the abundance and dearth of employment; and so the report which • they will send to England will, at all events, be uubiassed, and will be of value not only to the class whose interests they represent, but to the maDy others which are more or les3 identified with them. This will be more potent than all the leading articles, pamphlets, and immigration agents. Had the Government desired, the best of all possible means for proclaiming the advantages which North Xew Zealand, and . this district especially, ofi'ers to the teeming population of the old countiy, it could not possibly have hit upon ao expedient so certain to inspire confidence as this happy voluntary agency. Indeed, it almost becomes a question whether it might not be good policy to offer to pay the expenses of deputations from other classes who may, in like manner, desire to see and judge for themselves. It is a question, also, whether it would not be well to arrange to pay for the insertion, in a number of the papers of the United Kingdom, of the report of the present delegation, and so give the widest circulation to so important and disinterested a document. And we say this beforehand, feeling that, as the proofs of prosperity are indisputable and not likely to be overlooked, there can by no possibility be ni)y doubt as to its tenor. Wo hare referred to some of the circumstances which show the prosperity of the province, and to others which afford a certain assurance of its enhancement. But there are two others in the las t category only inferior to the increased price of wool and the grand harvest which looms. We refer to the very important improvement in mining at the Thames and the expansion attained and always progressing of the production of kauri gum. We are disposed to think that it would be difficult toexaggerate the importance of this last. There is practically no limit to the production of the gum, and, as can easily be conceived, the rise in the price from some £20 to £70 a ton has caused a prodigious increase of the industry. In the Waikato and thence northward old fields are being explored afresh and new ones opened up with the utmost success. Pakelia and Maori are busily at work, and, whilst all available labour has been absorbed, there is room for the employment of an almost indefinite number of additional hands. The employment is very remunerative, and it is likely that the out-turn will go on constantly increasing, and will speedily attain very large proportions. Turning to the Thames we find a sudden and great revival in mining yields that recall the palmy day 3of the goldfields, and dividends such as have not been heard of for a, long time past-. £387 from 400 tons of stone in one month, with a large area of ground to be worked, speaks for its elf. For this money, which goes into many pockets, means energetic prospecting, and the development of other auriferous resources, and like the kauri gum, the wool and the harvest about to be garnered the wide distribution of large sums of money increased employment, if that be possible' and increased trade. For all the=e reasons this district ha 3 a r:ght to con<ratulate itself that it possesses so many "and great elements of present and future prosperity, that substantial reward for them on the spot, and such excellent inducements to those at a distance who may desire to improve their condition to throw in their lot with us, sharing our prospenty-and assisting to develop tho resources on which that prosperity rests.