AUCKLAND.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 3364, 16 November 1872, Page 5 (Supplement)

AUCKLAND.

(KJtOM GI7K OWN COBBBSI'ONDKKT.) Business of all kinds is very dull. The share market has almost collapsed for the time, but holders of good shares stick to them, and calls in good companies are being very well paid. Work is going on extensively on the goldfields, and we may rely on a revival in that direction. Whether this will be the cane with business generally for some time, is'thought more doubtful. Property is very low, and very little building going on ; yet the Banks are overflowing with money, and people do not know how to get secure ininvestmcntfi at decent interest. The public works are making progress, but really cause little dif Fere nee in a town of this size. They do not amount, exclusive of contractors'profits and the plant and material from England, to much more than £'50,000 a year. The mischief caused by distrust of the future is infinitely greater than the good such an expenditure can do. People see tocati<>n looming before them,| aid a dull time] coming , when the money is all spent, and nothing j but non-paying works and railways to j show for it. Ihe canny ones, therefore, who have money, keep it, and think they will get better bargains hereafter. The pressure of taxation will bo felt here before any other Province. A large population, cloudy packed, has needs which the smaller Provinces have notIt ia known that tho Government will propose a tax of ]0» on all householders occupying property worth less than £20 a year ; 20s on all between £20 and £50, and 30s on all above. This is for education, which will be compulsory. A tax will also be proposed on every child of 5s a year- to be remitted if sent to school. The Bill is not yet published, but these arc some of the provisions spoken of. it in not known what the Provincial Government have got out of the General at the last session. They have a claim for £19,000 for charges erroneously made against the Province in I connection with land purchases, and thin will probably be given out of the loans. If bo, it will help over the next year, but certainly not be fiuflieient with the education tax added, to keep the Province going with decent life and vigour. Come the taxation must, and everyone now is beginning to see it. The expenditure of the borrowed money has fallen very little in Auckland's way. Not one tenth of the loans, certainly, although a very large sum lias been spent in other parts of the North Island with which Auckland has no more to do than Otago. This unsst be borne in mind when you compare the expenditure in the two islands. Had the borrowed money been expended judiciously, and only on objects sure to pay, instead of being scrambled for in the Assembly, the burden would have been lighter. But the question naturally occurs : would it havo been possible to spend profitably anything like the enormous sum now being dealt with 'I Public feeling is getting very strong hare on the subject, and it strikes me that, pressed on by the spur of necessity, this Province is destined for tho next few years to take a very active and leading part in New Zealand politics. Thoughtful men there are who believe it will be difficult to f^ct out of the mess into which we are being k<> jauntily driven without convulsing the country from end to end, and leading to a re-arrangement of all its institutions. If, however, the day of reckoning can be postponed by sops from the loans, it may have the effect of keeping people quiet here somewhat longer, though I doubt it in presence of tho strong feeling one can see arising. | The latest news from Fiji is satisfactory. The war on the Kewa was no war at all. The Government have adopted the singular course of buying and editing the Gazette, in opposition to tho Times. Of course there is hot war between the papers, and it is difficult to see how the Government will get out of it without considerable loss of dignity and j/restuii: The Opposition are straining every nerve to get the Imperial Government to take over the country —a policy which will only be half-heartedly opposed even by tho Government party. Tho British flag hoisted would give a feeling of security to capital, and lead to the establishment of sugar plantations on a large aciile. The country is admirably adapted for the purpose, and would soon be rushed from Mauritius. But so-far as tho natives are concerned, it would cei*tainly bo bettor to let them work out their own destiny. Whatever trouble there may be.in that course will bo counterbalanced by definite good. Under the British flag there will be the domination of the stronger race, and the wars inevitably resulting from it. The difficulty in Fiji at present appears to ha the expensive and complex Government they have adopted, entailing heavier taxation than the young country can bear. The expenditure is £30,000 a year. Five Ministers with long titles, and salaries in correspondence therewith ; a Supreme Court, with a Sir Charles St. Julian as Chief Justice, and an assistant judge ; courts j of minor jurisdiction, and Government I offices of all kinds, with a Brigade Major for the head of the army, and a Lieu-tenant-Commodore of Her Majesty's fleet. Of. course this means taxation, which ia excessjyely disagreeable, and excites much opposition among those who will have to pay. The Govprnment, knowing this, are trying to make things pleasant by borrowing for public works, for which purpose, Mr Woods—one of the Ministry —is now in Sydney. Tt is said that he had made some arrangements, when there last time, with Mr Vogel, who was negotiating the mail service, to start a financial coinpauy in Auckland, and that it was on the strength of this the announcement was made by Mr Woods to the Fiji Parliament, that the money would be sent from Auckland. The arrangement, however, failed, from what cause is not known, and Mr Woods is now again in Sydney, where he is said to have succeeded in obtainiug£2s,ooo. Now; however, that the revenue is coming in so well through the Custom-house, people in Fiji aro not anxious to have the money which they- can very well do without. What they are more anxious for is a Bank, the prospects of which would bo excellent. They will not wait long for this wi'h the keen competition of the "New National" in prospect, and with hundreds of thousands lying idle here. Tho first in the field will of course command the trade and keep the

lead for years to come, although -when Htigar c»me» Ut be the staple there will be room for more Banks than one. One of <ht» greatest nuisances of tbe loan :is the number of prospectors;it has attracted — all wanting Government berths, and all bitter enemies if they don't get then*. Thift i« the class which is most troublesome, writing against the country abroad, and doing their beat to set the chiefs againut the Government at home. Fiji lefters remark that the writers of this class display a remarkable atlinity for the New Zealand papetH when penning their diatribes ; and attribute this to the fact that Fiji is less known in New Zealand than :'in Sydney, where the Wesley an Mission has its headquarters—and falsehood would be speedily exposed. Auckland is splendidly situated, and ought, if financially connected with Fiji, to do nearly all th« trade: The proposed steam communication, under the subsidy lately voted by the Assembly, may tend to bring this about. Tenders are invited for the linej but with so small a subsidy much cannot be done with steamew. Nor is it necessary, as all purposes would be answered by a subsidy of one-third the amount, or less, to a line of smart sailing vessels, ensuring regularity and quite sufficient despatch.