New Zealand Times. FRIDAY, JULY 3, 1874.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4145, 3 July 1874, Page 2

New Zealand Times. FRIDAY, JULY 3, 1874.

To-p ay the' Parliament of Now Zealand will assemble—and for the transaction of business. In other countries and colonies it is usual that some indication of what tho Lords and the Commons are to bo asked to consider is afforded to the public, in a semi-official way. In this country we have not yet arrived at that happy pass, yet the public will persist in endeavoring to forecast what His Excellency will say. There cannot bo tho slightest doubt that His Excellency will congratulate tho country on its state of prosperity, of which there arc so many evidences on every hand. Without having before us any late statistics, wo cannot be far from tho truth when wo say that tho figures which the Treasurer will bo able to produce, when the proper time comes, will show that at this present moment Now Zealand is, out or sight, tho moat prosperous among tho Australian Colonies. The latest published bank returns of Victoria show that that Colony is in a state of prosperity so far as that condition of society is indicated by deposits with or without interest—which tho mother country cannot rival. But wo venture to say that when

■the returns of the deposits in the banks in this Colony are compared with those of the sister Colonies on the other side of the water, the balance will be found not only in our favor but largely so. His Excellency will be able to point, not to one port only, but to all the largo ports of the Colony, to prove how much the country has gained by the policy on which it is operating. Within the last two or three yoars, if population in all of them has not doubled, at least it has largely increased, and the more that come the more those who receive them are pleased. His Excellency will bo able to say that, in spite of the large additions that have been made to the population, the rate of wages has not decreased ; that from all quarters of the Colony the complaint is the wholesomeone—“more room wanted that the farmers —the growers of grain—as well as the owners of flocks and herds, are exceptionally prosperous. There is no single thing in connection with the commerce or trade or manufacturing industry of the Colony of which any complaint can be made, or as to which His Excellency might be expected to address a word of regret or condolence or comfort to the country. So far, at least, whatever may be in the future—and on that point we have no doubt—the open, clear, and easily understandable policy of tho Government has been entirely successful. It simply amounts to this. We have splendid resources, and we desire to utilise them. It is of very little good to the public generally that some among them may have treasures securely locked away in a cupboard. Wealth is there, ‘no doubt, and its possessor and its possessor’s heirs may be regarded as fortunate people; but it certainly is wiser, from a worldly point of view, as well as more humane, from another aspect of the question, to utilise those treasures and let them go forth to bring about their due increase in proper time. Casting bread upon the waters, calculating upon a return in due time, was rather a speculative operation with all due regard to the authority which endorsed its being done; but in this case there was no such risk to be run. The obtaining of a small advance—for that is what it ’really amounts to —upon the value of the land with which our fortunes are cast, to enable the people of the colony to realise the value of their estate, was onlya sensible andintelligentproceeding, though it went, perhaps, a long way beyond the ideas of some people amongst us who in high matters of public policy cannot trust themselves beyond the leading strings to which they have so long held fast.

His Excellency may find occasion to say that the immigration arrangements have not been entirely a success. This, however, can only be upon one ground. We do not exaggerate when we say that every person who has yet been introduced to the Colony at the public expense has found employment. It is possible that some of those persons may not have been all that could be desired. It may be that “no good can come out of Nazareth.” Let the suspicion go abroad that a poor girl has been the inmate of a reformatory, and ninetynine persons out of a hundred will vote her to be bad and beyond encouragement; lot it go further, and become common belief that an applicant for work has been shipped to the Colony at the expense of a poor-law union, and he or she may go far and fare hard before work is obtained. But while we do not defend the action of some of the agents of the Colony in this matter, we find it just as impossible to agree with those who, for these misadventures, condemn the whole system of immigration. Mistakes have arisen, there is no doubt; but the latest advices show that the limitation placed upon selection, and the better information now obtainable in England as to the land to which our Agent-General invites people to come, are tolling favorably upon the class of people who are coming to us. No captious critic can say that the Government has done, in this matter of immigration, less or more than its duty ; and there can be none amongst us who can assert that the stream of immigration that has been poured in has been other than moat beneficial to the Colony, though a stray waif, here and there, may have been thrown up upon the strand, to prove that we are all human. There are special subjects to which no doubt His Excellency will allude. We shall, probably, not bo far wrong if we assume that amongst them, that of the management of the public forests, as well as that of special settlements, will not be overlooked. Wo feel an assurance also, that some reference will be made to the manner in which the Crown lands of the Colony should be dealt with. It is evident that the mind of the Maori section of the community has realised, on this point at least, the policy of the Government, which really is that the Eative shall not sell his birth-right for a mess of pottage. The Government will buy, at a fair price, and the monied man, ambitious of adding cent, per cent, to his capital by a sharp bargain with the Natives for land —such as those which were driven in the old days—will no longer bo permitted to do so. The two races in short, are being drawn together; from the desire, on the one part, to do justice, and the perception on the other part that such is the real object of the Government. As to what an Opposition may have to say in refutation of the strong points which the Government will be able to put forward in the Vice-regal speech, wo can only say, in the old and hackneyed phrase, “time will tell.”