CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 9169, 16 July 1891, Page 4

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

THE ANNUAL MEETING. The annual meeting of the Dune lin Chamber of Commerce was held yesterday afternoon and was attended by the following members: — Mesßrs J. M. Ritchie (president), K. Ramsay» G. h. Denniston, A. S. Paterson, J. T. Mackerras, R. Wilson, W. B. Bailer, G. Fenwick, H. Mackenzie, M. Finker, J. Davie, A. C. Begg, and T. W. Kempthorne. ANNUAL BEEOBT. Tha Pbesident, in moving the adoption of the annual report, said: Gentlemen, —At the last quarterly mteting I went over briefly the various matters which had been taken in hand by your committee, and I shall Hot on the present occasion repeat them. I may say, however, with reference to our harbour dues, that there is not much present prospect of any such arrangements being possible as would materially reduce the cost to either importers or exporters, or to shipowners, and so lighten the trade of our port. The present revenue is wanted, and more; so that, until the endowments bring in larger rents, it is purely a question of who is to pay. A small general rate over an extended area snrrounding our port might enable certain harbour dues to be reduced, but it is doubtful whether a sufficient advantage to ratepayers outside of the town could be shown to induce them co vote for it, or whether the general effect of such reduction as might thus be' possible would be an adequate one. Meantime it is to be regretted that so little money is available for works in the bay (which are necessary, and must be so every year) or for the other necessities of our harbour —such as, for instance, a small freezing chamber for storing dairy produce and other goods while waiting for shipment. I saw an excellent building for this purpose the other day at Lyttelton, put up by the board. We want to grant facilities and foster our local trade by such means as these, but cannot do it without money. There is an uncomfortable under-current of feeling that, as a port and town, we are hardly holding our own; but except in the fact that neighbouring harbours and the railways have tended to curtail the exports from this port, I I do not find any serious confirmation of this imB pression. For tha five years ending 1890, the ; imports to Dunedin and Port Chalmers have a only varied between £1,660,847 and £1,662,629; > and last year we paid L401,924 of duty, against I £387,514 and £376,334 for the two previous 3 years. Our exports have varied equally little —viz., £1,276,968 for 1886, £1,117,011 1 for 1890 — but then during that period the exports of the oolony have expanded about 50 per cent, so that we.have failed to keep 3 hold of our share. On the other hand, our in--7 dustries have been growing—our wool and meat shipments have been fairly maintained — and 3 our local wool sales are considerably larger than \ any others in the coloDy. The truth is, I think, 3 that in the good times we shot a bigger bolt j than most other places, and so feel more 9 keenly as if we were now standing still. fc We have all suffered severely by the strike of I last August—few know, I think, to what extent. a Not only did that unfortunate and deplorable b mistake cost huge sums of money, but it has * dried up the springs of enterprise ever since, ; and the fear of it is still causing people to button up their pockets and abstain from taking a part in what ought to be the natural developi ment of the place. Capital and labour have both alike suffered seriously, to such an extent 0 as will, I hope, induce both sides to resolve that J the catastrophe shall never be repeated. It is j difficult to see how this can be accomplished by t legislation. I have ns fault to find with bills to e regulate factory work, and protect health and 8 women and children, but to place in the hands jj a Minister the adjustment of all disputes ber twean wage-earners and wage-p»yers would be a g fatal mistake, and would soon have the effeot of F altogether drying up wages either for paying or n receiving. I have great confidence that the * labour members of Parliament have common e sense enough to discover as quickly as any of us what e is practicable and what not, and that e they also will be careful to avoid snob action as d will stop enterprise. It is very necessary, just r now, that they should co-operate to re-establish g confidence in the minds of the wage-payers; and if this were done it would go far to improve e what we all complain of in the way of flatness n and dulness in Dunedin. Of this I am sure: . that the extension of the Otago Central railway b is not going to cure our trouble; and lam bound to deprecate the tendency to agitate for money e for this purpose because it is owing, or because a if we don't it will only be spent elsewhere with r no better effect. We have no right just now to f ask for a penny to be spent on unproductive & works. * The time may come when we can afford to do this. We cannot just now; and again I say ought not to seek' for it. I only hope that e the natural shrewdness and firmness of the J Minister for Public Works may guide him to do - what is right for the whole colony in this matter b in spite of our agitation. Turning for a few e minntes to the general progress and prospects of ? the colony, I think we can fairly congratulate , ourselves on the past year. The figures which j will be attached to the report all go to 3 show expansion and advancement. It is 9 true that the census taken la3t~~ April is I not bo satisfactory as it ought to be, . and shows a certain leakage of population, a but this only emphasises the surprising progress of the colony. And although politicians say otherwise—and politicians may be right, and * will be freely acknowledged to be right if they I can tnrn the stream of population in instead of out —ray firm belief is we could expect nothing t else following tha shake produced by the stop--1 page of borrowing and public works. But what r has this reduced population being doing? r Judging by results it looks as if they had been j wgll culled, and represented the maximum of t strength and force, whether of muscle or capital, Without extraneous aid, for the imports remain r stationary, they have reached a total export of £9,428,781 from £6,386,682 in 1886. They continue each year to maintain a large revenue for the railways. They have increased the deposits in the six banks by £1,563,877 during the three years ended the 31st March last, and for the same period the advances have decreased by s £2,208,099, and the settlement of the land has ( been progressing all the time, too. I think we may have every confidence that the paying off of private debt, to which I alluded last year, is 3 going on and in larger percentage each year s than the one preceding it. The agricultural i statistics for 1891 are not so favourable as 5 for the previous year, the out-turn of both ' wheat and oats being very short. From nearly I the same area of wheat there have been only 5$ r million bushels, against 8J millions last year; ■ but the price has gone far to balance the money f deficit. The area of oats is much less, being ' 346,000 acres against 426,000; but the outcome ' is still smaller, being about 10 million bushels [ against 13J. The price of this cereal,' upon i which so much depends in the south, is unsatis- ' factory; but, nevertheless, we have some cause 1 for congratulation in the fact that a considerable market has opened in London in a year when . Australia has to a great extent failed us. If i we can depend on an average of Is 6d f.o.b. 1 from London, it means much for our southern I farmers. Turnips have increased, and our farmers are wisely leaning upon their sheep more than formerly. The prospects for the price of these are favourable. The state of public finance and the genuine surplus on this ' year's Budget go to confirm the hopeful view I am expressing of the state ef the colony; and Mr Bsllance's Ministry deserve all credit for their resolution not to borrow for the present. They will find, if they adhere to this, that they will establish a sound state of finance and solid prosperity in the country. It is a thousand pities that they have committed themselves to a somewhat violent change in fiscal measures. I am not going to express an opinion one way or other as to the merits of the different modes of taxation. I admit the fairness of a perfect equality of sacrifice, and I believe the wageearners have been paying a full share —perhaps an undue share—of the public burdens. What I do Bay is that this is a most unsuitable time to make radical changes. All serious changes of taxation are upsetting, and especially such as may be read abroad as class taxation. The time will come before very long when we can stand the change without any harm. It has hardly come yet, and the risk is run of undoing the steps we have gained in pnblio credit and confidenoe during the past two years. All the worse, because the actual effect and outcome of tho new proposals are very uncertain. I fear we are not to be finally set on our legs, nor are the working men to be entirely blest either by specially taxing the big landowners or by the penny postage stamp, and I should much rather see the latter £40,000 spent on roada for our settler?. Bat however this may be, it is the upsetting charaoter of the new measures which just at this time is likely to do much harm—not to speak of the unwiso methods of speech to which even Ministers of the Crown have been condescending. I daresay I may be classed among the "social pests" in giving expression to theso views; but I venture to believe they are sound and reasonable. I have no doubt New Zealand can stand even violent changes in her fiscal policy, but it is a pity at the present juncture to strain the colony if it can be avoided. I have had added at the end of the tables of figures relating to New Zealand one or two relatiog to the exports and imports of all the colonies, and one comparing the progress of Victoria and New South Wales for 23 yearn. The latter is most interesting, and I commend it to tho earnest attention of our Protectionist friends. Before I sit down I should like to make another appeal for the membership of the chamber. I think there should be at leant 25 or 30 additional members, and I hope some of those who should be members will come forward and join.—(Hear, hear.) Mr G. L. Denniston, in seconding the motion for the adoption of tho report, expressed tho thanks of the meeting to tho chairmnn for his very careful and painstaking speech. On most of the points, he thought, all the members of the chamber would agree. However, he would not like it to go forth to the publio that the utterances of the president, in regard to the Olago Central railway, comprised thn opinions of the other members of tha chamber— (hear, bear)—for if they did go forth as such, the idea would get abroad that they hart changed their opinion on the mntter. Of course every member of tho chamber had a right to express his own views, and the utterances of the chairman had special weight; but ho (the speaker) would like to point out that it was only two months ago that a motion wan unanimously passed by the chamber urging the Government to spend as

much money as it could in pushing on this work. This was the only matter which he wished to call attention to, and in conclusion he thought the thanks of the members were due to their1 president for his address. —(Hear, hear.) Mr A. C. Begg wished to congratulate the president for the speech made by him. Instead of taking Mr Denniston's view on the matter of the Otago Central railway, he (the speaker) thought the chairman should be congratulated for having the courage to talk a little common sense on the subject;. Everyone who knew the country and what it was likely to produce would say that if that railway were made to-morrow it would not produce working expenses. Certainly nothing over working expenses. It would not produce anything like the interest on the cost of construction. He just rose to say that he did not think Mr Denniaton had done the chairman justioe on this particular point. Mr Denniston remarked that he merely drew attention to the fact that two months ago the chamber passed a resolution urging the Government to proceed with the work.—(Hear, hear.) The motion was then put and carried unanimously. The Pbesident remarked that Mr Denniston was quite right so far as he went, and, as far as he (the speaker) was concerned, he wished to say he was only expressing his own opinion— and it was not an opinion he had formed that day or the day before, but it was an opinion that he had held consistently all through after having a thorough knowledge of the country. He went with the deputation to the Minister for Public Works simply as president of the chamber, but he said nothing on that occasion, as the majority were against him. He thought, however, that the present was a proper time for him to state the opinions which he had held so long. ELECTION OF OFFICBBS. The Pbesident said that several of their members had tried to get their vice-president of last year, Mr T. R. Fisher, to become president, as he (Mr Fisher) had been vice-president for two years, and it was thought to be only proper that he should pass to the presidency. Unfortunately, however, Mr Fisher had told them that the nature of bis work for next year would prevent him from taking office, as he expected to be a very great deal from home, and could not see bis way to give his time to the office. The nominations that had been received for the various offices were:—President, Mr A. S. Paterson; vice-president, Mr, Keith Ramsay; oommittee—Messrs W. B. Buller, J. M. Gallaway, M. Finker, T. R. Fisher, W. Gow, J. T. Mackerras, and j. M. Uitchie. It was not competent to receive fresh - nominations as the Articles of Association provided that nominations must be made seven days prior to the meeting, and as the number of nominations were just sufficient to fill the vacancies, he would move the election of the gentlemen whose names bad been read. Mr T. W. Kemtthoene seconded the motion, which was carried. On the motion of the President, Mr John Davie was re-elected honorary auditor. COMPLIMBNTABS. : Mr H. Mackenzie proposed a vote of thanks to the retiring president and other retiring officers.* The motion was carried unanimously. ' The meeting then terminated.