THE COMMERCIAL YEAR.

Otago Witness, Issue 1912, 13 July 1888, Page 11

THE COMMERCIAL YEAR.

The President's Address at the Annual Meet-

ing of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce

At the annual meeting of the Dunedin Ohmber of Commerce the retiring president, Mr G. L. Denkistoit, in moving the adoption of the annual report said: In conformity with the laudable custom prevailing in years past at the annual meeting of this chamber, I avail myself of the opportunity of moving the adoption of the report and balance sheet to make a few remarks bearing on the work of the chamber during the past year and on commercial matters generally. I would briefly remind members present that it is just a year since this association was formed, and I think I may fairly claim that during the time we have been in existence we have, although modestly and unobtrusively, fulfilled the work allotted to us and justified the effort made in only forming n new chamber from the ashes of our predecessors. We were called into existence by the unfortunate demise of the former chamber, which was, like so many other colonial institutions, stifled by its own embarrassments begotten of happier timea. We have endeavoured to avoid its errors by resolutely keeping within our income, and denying ourselves many luxuries not permitted by our means. At the first general meeting, held on July 15, 1887, you did me the honour of electing me first president, Mr John Koberts vice-president, with the following committee :— Messrs Barfcleman, Buller, Gallaway, Gow, Michie, lloss, 1 and Tower. Of this committee we had in March last to accept the resignation, with great regret, of Mr Tower, who left the colony, and in May of Mr Buller, who left Dunedin for well merited promotion, on which we congratulate him. We also had to give Mr Michio leave of absence for six months when he loft for England in April, but at his own request he kept his position on the committee with that cbndition. To supply the vacancies your committee were glad to secure the services of Messrs J, F. Harper and A. S. Paterson, who have proved the useful members we expected. For the work we have done, I must refer you to the report of the committee which is in your hands, and on which I need not enlarge. The extracts from New Zealand statistics, which will be printed with the report, as has" been our custom, are the work of the secretary, and will doubtless interest you. I .commend them to your careful peru«nl which they will repay. No address by the president of a New Zealand Chamber of Commerce can, in these timea, commence without a reference to the •" depression." Let me express the sincere hope that when my successor occupies a similar position next year, such a reference need be no longer necessary. I surely express the sentiments of most of us when I affirm that the clouds are lifting somewhaf, and that a more healthful feeling is abroad. We have been all looking so wistfully towards the east, for so many years that we aro apt to dread lest ib be not the dawn we see when the first faint streaks of light appear, but surely it is the dawn— surely the signs of better times we speak of are not all imaginary. Let us apply the tests that lie to our hands. Are not business engagements better met, and bankruptcies fewer and less important? Is there not, in both town and country, a better demand tor properties ? Je not our wool selling better in London, and a market opening there and elsewhere for our butter and our cheese? Have not our exports exceeded our imports for the past year by no less than three-quarters of a million; and although thie is nob a crucial test by any means, it is cheering to Bee the balance oh the rignt side. Aro not our sheep bringing butter prices ? Is net our coal industry progressing, I might say, by " lenps and bounds"? and last, but not least, is not mining generally in a moie healthful Btate? Unless all these 6ign9 are illusory, surely I am justified in asserting that the gloom of the depression is lifting and that we may look more hopefully to the future. I pay nothing of the rumours as to the prosperity thit is to leach U3 from the overflow of British capital from Australia and elsewhere : welcome ns such would be— as rumours only we would be foolish to build our hopes on it -but we are justified' in believing that we shall gain at, second hand by the unprecedented influx of people and money which this year will witness into Australia, induced by the great Centenn al Exhibition to be opened in Melbourne next month. Ifc cannot but be that numbers of these visitors will complete their tour by visiting our colony. So will also, ite truat, thousands of those citizens of happy Melbourne, who have bßenb B en picking up fortunes from the goiden pavements of that city ; and let us hope that many of these visitors, attracted by ourclimatic nnd other advantages, may bo induced to cast in their lob, or at the least. their means, among us. There is, however, a reverse to the picture We cannot deny the fact that large numbers of the best of our industrial population h/ive left us during fcbe past year in the hopes of bettering themselves in Australia ; fewer, probably, have l«'ft ub than we are apt to think ; and the total population of the cnlony has gained during the year by 13,775 person', including, of course, the natural increase. I need not say that in a young colony like this tbe incrensß should have been very much greater. Again, the fiscal necessities of the country have imposed additional taxation on the people by a very large amount, to be drawn from their pockets through the customs. This I consider an unmixed evil, and the increased cost of living may be the means of keening away from us many of just that class of colonists we most desire to have— viz., men with families and means. I humbly think that instpad of thus increasing our income to meet our expenditure, it would have been a wiser course to have decreased our expenditure to meet our income. When speaking of the signs of the times and indications of better things, I might have mentioned what I understand is the fact— viz., tbac a process of realising is steadily going on which mii3t result in good to the community, however distressing it may "3e in individual cases. I allude to the foreclosures in many instances by mortgagee.", which is In my opinion the first step towards an adjustment of values of real property, and until such an adju«tment is made towards prices bwd on values which will yield a profit t.o investors, it. is usfle^s to pxppot fr»e traffic in land nr other real property. Once such ■i basis is ronched there is no reason 'why we should not expect that th« large sums of money now locked up in banks and otherwise should not find a more profitable employment when invested in ren' securities. In view of these considerations, am I not justified, then, in expressing the hope th 6 clony has touched bottom, nnd that we may look to the future with more confidence ? Let "us rprn^mber the old Latin proverb, " Possunt quia posse m'dentur" (They are able because they seem to be able). Given a little more hopeful feeling among ourselves, and we may be prosperous because we seem to be prosperous. A subject that is well within the province of the chamber to discuss is that of the bankruptcy laws. You will find in the report a reference to the labours of the committee in regard to this ; and I cannot but regret that the present Parliament will not apparently find time to consider this most important subject. The Government are In possession of the opinions of the different chambers in th« colony, und those of the several assignees in bankruptcy, and there should be little difficulty in framing an act that would correct the errors £hat have become manifest during the Years the present act has been in operation. Mr Ashcroft is desirous of addressing you for a minute or two on this subject, and with your permission I shall give him an opportunity of doing so before we separate. Out, of consideration for your time I have refrained from commenting on the figures brought under your notice in the statistici furnished by Mr Hastings. I trust you will resd them, and I think the impression left in your minds will be on the whole a hopeful one. I may be excused for saying that, as Otago traders, we need not be ashamed of the position we hold in comparison with the rest of the colony. That, we head the Hut in shipping is due to the fact, that we have in our midst the Union Steam Ship Company, of whom we are Justly proud. In population, we own rather more than the fourth of the whole colony. We^oad the list in productiveness in wheat, oats, and potatoes, and we piy considerably more than one-fourth of the cusfcoms'dntica of the colony. As manufacturers we carry off the palm, and are likely to couf-inne to do so : our more bracing climate being more suited for most, kind* of manufactures and for those who work a* them . Onr province is particularly rich in' minerals, and it 13 the op'nion of many well qualified to judge that notwithstanding Hie larg° qnanMfcy of gold already extracted there ia still enough in our gnlließ and beaches to exe'eise the labours and ingenuity of generations of miners to come.

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