THE COMMERCIAL DEPRESSION.

Timaru Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 2773, 13 August 1883, Page 3

THE COMMERCIAL DEPRESSION.

• TO TUB BDITOB OF TH9 TIMABU HBBAID. f Sib, — When I said the other day that yon f had changed your opinion as to the cause of it I during the past fortnight, I drew this in--1 ference from your advising people m your y article of tbe 21st ult. who wore complaining t of the commercial depression to " think how r muoh better off they are than they might be, or how much they migbtaaveof what they spend if i they really made up their mind to praotiae s economy." This advice ia almoit word for t word what Major Atkinson recommended the oountry to do after his avalanche of statistics a on the subject, and I inferred you were of y the nme opinion as be, both as to cause and p remedy. Bat m your leader of the 4tb, on

the rabbit question, you put the matter m a very different light. Y*u distinctly lay nil the hlamo on tho rubbitnnd no half measure! about it. You cay, '• Why are so many people, so ninny thousands of families, m straitened cireumntmces just now m New Zealand ? Because the times are dull, and all branches of trade aro stngnant and depressed. Why aro tho times dull, and all branches of trade stagnant and depressed ? Because tho spending power of tho people is diminished down to a point where they must either live very quietly or elso get into debt. Why ia tho spending power of the penplo thus diminished? Berauee the value of the staple export of the colony, woo!, has fallen off alarmingly. Why hus tho value of this allimportant export, thus fallen off? Bocauso the rabbits have destroyed tho pastures which formerly produced tho wool." That is tho whole story m brief. And again " The country, that is to cay, is now suffering, and has for some years suffered, a loib by rabbits of over a million a year m solid cish. Thnt money ju»t makes all the difference between prosperity and depression, between progress and stagnation." A more definite conclusion could hardly ho prißented. The argument is brief. The rabbits have taken tho place of tho sheep; the wool export has fallen off; tho wool oipor) is the spending power of the people. Hcnco the dulncss of tra.'c. The weak link m tho argument is that the wool expert is the spending power of tho people. How this fallacy continues to bo asserted m wonderful, and it is supposed to bo proved by the fact that tho revenuo rises and falls with the wool export. If it did, tha connection between tho two facts would require to bo shown to justify tho conclusion, at it might be accidental, but then it docs not. In the decade 1872 to 1881 the revenue rose find fell with tho wool export four times, aud did not fire times. It may be as well for once to place the totals of the ordinary revenuo — which, if anything, is indicative of tho spending power of tho people — sido by side with tho wool export, aud let us hear no more of this fallacy, for it will be seen that, wiih one trifling fluctuation, the revenue has steadily increased from £1,056,041 m 1872 to £3,206,511 m 1881, increasing evory year but. ono m spite of bad time.', end is now three times ai much as it was ten year* ago, whereas tho wool export has fluttered about erratically between £2,537,919 Bnd £3,658,938, and if it has fallen or risen with tho revenue it is quito accidental.

Roughly speaking, the wool export goes to pay interest and rents. Tho increase or decrease of the trifling labor that is employed m the production of wool can nmke but little difference to the community. Shepherd, shearer and carrier get very little, — not Id per 1b probibly. Banks, finance companies and mortgagees take the bulk of the rest, and it is only after they aro paid that tbo wool-grower gets his portion. Still it might be expected that if tho value of the export went down, his spending powor would bo lejtened. But as a matter of fact tho rabbit lays a compulsory tax on him m favor of the laboring population, and the woolgrower bus to employ ton times as much labor m tho affected districts as ever ho did before, and rabbiting has become a rnoet welcome addition to tho resources of tho laborer. How can it bo sail that tho spending power of the people is lessened, if by tho people you moan the wool-growers, when last year thoy spent, taking your own estimate of relative coit and value, of £2 for £1, £169,518, where but for tho rabbit they would hivo spent nothing. Rabbits have decreiied their spnn'.liog power, and jet hut for rabbits they would not bare spout £169,5 1S which Ihoy have spent, and that m labor all of which finds its way to the trader, and for I hti commercial community is better than ten times the same m interest. I take this to be a reductio ad absurdum, and think I have proved that whatovor the commercial depreision may be owing to, it is not the rabbit. I have shown thst t lie ordinary revenue has riaen steadily for tho past ten yoara, altogether irrespective of tho wool export, and I hold this is the best test of the spending power of the people — if by the peopla is meait tho community. But if it is maintained that the wool-growers would have spent more but for tho rabbit, I have shown that they have spent a Tory large sum m the extermination of it. Farboitfrom me to cry down the wool-grow-ing industry, and to maintain that the depreciation of the publio lands is a benefit. On the contrary, I would like to sod overy means used to exterminate tho destructive creatures who are damaging these intero-t). Shoot, poison, and trap the rabbit, but do not blame him with the commercial depression. I am, &c John HouoHioy.

I Ordinary Wool Bovenue. Export. £ £ 1872 ... 1,056,041 ... 2.537,919 1873 ... 1,510,600 ... 2,702,471 1874 ... 1,917,712 ... 2,834.695 1875 ... 2,125,206 ... 3,398.155 1876 ... 2,430,672 ... 3,395,816 ! 1877 ... 2,340,841 ... 3,658,938 1878 ... 2,658,701 ... 3,292,807 1879 ... 2,816,244 ... 3,12fi,439 1880 ... 2,895.128 ... 3,169,300 1881 ... 3,206,551 ... 2 909,760