The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1886. AN IMPORTANT ADDRESS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1556, 14 September 1886, Page 2

The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1886. AN IMPORTANT ADDRESS.

The address delivered by Mr H. Q. Stead to the Christchurch Chamber ot Commerce recently, on the occasion ot his retiring from the Presidency of that institution, may be ranked amongst the most important utterances of the present year. Mr ,Btend has exhibited in this great industry ability, and intelligence. He has rummaged the records of most of the civilised States of the world, and compared their progress with that of this colony, with the result that New Zealand holds a foremost place amongst them. So far as it goes Mr Stead’s address is excellent, but it does not go far enough. Mr Stead looks only on the bright side of the picture. He did certainly cast a glance at car public indebtedness, but bis vision was so dazzled by the magnificence of the progress we have been making, that he only saw in it a little darkness which somewhat spoiled the general effect, and required cautionsness. It was so insignificant that future generations would only laugh at os for being alarmed at it. Mr Stead ought to have looked closer at the picture and observed the magnitude, of our private foreign debt, as well as the semi-private debts of local bodies. If ha bad done this, and asked himself, “ Where can we get money to pay interest on all this ?” we feel certain his cheerfulness would have been considerably dampbd. To begin with,oor total indebtedness, public and private is about £55,000,000, and the interest on this must be paid in gold. We owe all this money to foreign countries, and all commercial transactions with foreign States must be settled with gold. Literally speaking we have no means of getting gold except through our exports, and consequently the progress made in our exports must be of vital importance to us, In fact, domestic progress sinks into insignificance beside the importance of that which gives ns the means of paying oor debts—namely oor exports. Mr Stead very exultantly points out that we have Increased our population 20 per cent during the last five years, and thus decreasedour indebtedness per head, but he does not show that our exports have kept pace with the increase. It might be as well perhaps to let him ' know that in 1880 we exported £l2 11s 8d worth of goods .per head of the population, while in 1885 we only exported £ll I6s per head. Thus while we have increased population by nearly 20 per cent, oup exports have decreased per head by nearly 2\ per cent. Taken together with other considerations, this is very unsatisfactory. Onr exports consist of the surplus of goods that remains after iiaving satisfied onr wants. Wa were not exporting frozen meat, woollen goods, etc., in 1880, and notwithstanding this our exports have not kept pace with our population. This shows that our population has not been profitably employed. If it were our exports would have proportionately increased. This is partly proved by Mr Stead’s own figures. He says • “ ia an agricultural country wo stand alone amongst the Australian Colonies in the productiveness of our soil, as the following figures demonstrate : Avbb&ue Pboduob pbb Aoeb op n • • © c 8 , w) , O tn AS f? , «3 O « p q pq £ tfl Bush, Bush. Bush. Tons. Tons. Victoria... 9.52 23.40 17.38 4.16 1.09 New South Wales... 16.27 2187 21.16 2.52 1.24 Queensland 16.17 15.17 24.73 2.92 1.40 ou'h Australia... 7.53 12,20 13.48 4.10 .93 Western Australia 13.00 18.00 16.50 3.00 1.00 Tasmania 19.20 28.65 29.58 4.37 1.24 N. Zealand 25.43 34.84 80.37 5.78 1.41 Consequently, with natural resources which, taken as a whole, are unequalled by those of any other country, it will indeed, be our or .. I fault if we do not succeed.” I

Exactly, but charlatanism and political imbecility, and rascali'y have ruined us. The colony is nearly twice as productive as any of the other colonies, yet we do not export near so much per head as they do, as the followii.g table which shows the vaiue of the exports of all of them per head of the population will prove : £ 8. d. South Australia ... 21 10 3 New South Wales ... 20 7 7 Victoria... 16 19 3 Queensland 15 12 11 New Zealand ... ... 12 16 8 Western Australia ... 12 10 11 Tasmania 11 9 11 By referring to the statistics tor 1884 Mr Stead will find these figures correct. Here then we have before us the extraordinary anomaly : New Zealand is nearly twice as productive as any of the 1 other colonies, yet she does little more than export half as much per heed of the population as most of the other colonies, with . the exception of the drought-crushed Crown colony of Western Australia, and that sleepy little bole Tasmania. It is not that we are less industrious ; it is not that we are less intelligent than our neighbors, but it is that our population is not productively employed. To this we must tarn our attention. We must have exports ; we must have means of paying interest on borrowed money, public and private, and the principal source of getting it is through our exports. And if Mr Stead acted wisely he would have pointed this out too. There appears to be a disposition on the.part of a great many to try to put the best possible face on oar position ; they say that it is mischievous to cry down the credit of the colony, and to this end Mr Stead has directed his efforts. Mr Stead is a merchant of good standing, and he knows something about business. Supposing he were to take stock, would he place his assets at the highest possible figure, and almost ignore his liabilities, If Mr Stead had done so be would hare been bankrupt long ago. It is absolutely necessary for a merchant to look at both sides of the picture very keenly. Wisdom should suggest to him that he ought to put his liabilities at the highest figure, and his assets at the lowest, for in doing so he would be proyiding against contingencies certain to arise. The affairs of the colony should be similarly treated, but (his Mr Stead has not done. He has looked at the rosy side of things, and thus no doubt has given relief to some who were beginning to doubt that all is right, tie may possibly hare thus lulled the suspicion which might have led to a solution of the difficulty and thus done harm. We know that the colony is worth 40s in the £, and a great deal more ; tut we are not producing out of the soil sufficient to pay interest on borrowed capita), and that is where the trouble begins and ends. Mr Stead is an able man and appears to have a great aptitude for statistics, and we like him for it; his addresses to the Chamber of Commerce have gained for him prominence, and therefore it would give m pleasure, to see him taking up this subject and going into it thoroughly. We shall probably refer to Mr Stead’s address in a future issue.