DEPRESSION: ITS CAUSE AST) REMEDY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVIII, Issue 24, 8 October 1886, Page 11

DEPRESSION: ITS CAUSE AST) REMEDY.

(A paper lately read before the Ngapara Farmers' Club by Mr Edward Conlan.) y ' MB. CHAIRMAN and Gentlem.in,-In introducing tho «..,biect I hive chosen it is necessary for m- to give you as clear »nd as am^te a knowledge asp. ssible of the cause whici has led me m o tins difficult aud .important subject which the heading of this nn indicates Seeing the very high hopes and energy displavod b? oar colonial farmrre, notwithstanding the Jossei they suSil from time to time I have asked myseff the qnoation^w-Would not this Colony be more prosperous if their number was increased and iftbis could be done advantageously without iocrea,?n«r the dJbt of the Colony to any great extent ? This is why I have chosen t\Z !nt*l ° T r M° re "^ ", ng ttt m * in S^ ect l °™ W TaduTgence quences °° * ye&rS ° f cx P eri^ce and its conseIt is now a little over fourteen years since I came to the N^anara district. In those days, the land in th.s locality was covered £l£ tussocks and tomatekauri scrub, and there were only a few setters living m theNgaparaand Marewhenna distnets ; coLeq^nt'y the SSa. to A h S£d? r Sn a 2^ « 5T now, being solely in the possession of aSw^JLV^he^l^ of Ne* Zealand was in a very depressed state m fact, much worst than now. Gram was extremely low, especially oats ; wo^lwasTow stock was low of every description ; and dairy produce wasX low' The consequence was, that owing to the depressed state of the s ock and wool market, many of the station properties chanLd hands the nominal holders not being able to pay interest on fhe money borrowed for the purchase and fencing of tbeir properties Xch then, was the depressed state of the country ou my advent to this district; and in addition to this, there were bad />ads and mary other inconveniences wh.ch it is not wi.hm the province of this rSoer to enumerate. I can .sure you, gentlemen, without a Z " that with such trying times and inconveniences starin^ ™n ™ the face, it was quite sufficient to damp the ardour of any "bJt m " n of energy and self-reliance. Suddenly, however, as if by the ih o «on S (ruct,on Such a law, unfortunately, his never b°en bio^b" into isrioaieT^tSi^r'^sL't^sf ?^^r employment either at publ,o works or LZS s t°n° O n bS allowing the gieater part of the purchase money to remain "t a moderate rate of interest for a lengthened t.me m.iuceTmanv to purchase at prices much beyond the real value of the In 1 Other landowners who were not fortunate enough to sell, vied with the more fortunate, and to make up for their neglect increased the rent So? their land gradually to such an extortionate price that whenthp decline in prices of farm produce took place m 1579 anJlisn ir completely ruined a great 'many cnterpns.S f a. mere wlen «h The Hall Government, being in power at that time reduced thp public expenditure by discontinuing railways in courw 'of crartraction, which occasioned many of our best workmen to leave our shores for a more profitable field for their labours : and these men took wuh them the capital they had so industnonsly saved i, New Zealand Had the Government held out any inducement for these men to stev here, no doubt they would have done so. NoV howler other SS St^ T P6QSe ° f thiß C °W, and those who remain have the heavier burthen of taxation to bear The land owners' property that was enchanced in value by the miwavs nassht by r °Si g r h J lius Volel Ot Th ntaXe h d T? 1"*1 "* > *'^ 'SpTtS uy oir juiius \ogel. Those who deiive no direct benefit fmm th P of things to continue. A great many rail at land monoply, or more properly speaking, at large landownere, with much m^oAswte^cy The fault is not on the part of landowners in acquiring large estates' but on the part of the Government in selling tbeVJ in large

t.mpV,, ti™ T 6l l. kn °,r fact Uiat the (;uv^nment have failed from time to time in the attempt to settle this lands by thuvine and urosperous population Take for «.m,,1, the deie.mi 1 u£ i ? n S?£K,H r y &f t h «? e «*««* l»d their heenses cancelled S°° tb «°t' able to meet th 01 r engagements with their landlord, the marL many occasions, owing to the scaicity of land in the Z choice fi C l?\h n hl » "W™*"" to obtain a section of nis choice, bid at the auction sale f ar beyond the value of

it, and as a rule lost all the capital he was possessed of by the transaction. In the Oamaru district, we have land settled upon under the deferred payment system, the greater part of which should not have been reserved for such a purpose The incapacity of a Government in selecting such land for struggling and energetic men to make a living upon is anything but a credit to them. htill the cry is more population, to relieve the burthea of taxation Home of our benevolent representatives are desirous of giving special' advantages to men of small capital 17,000 miles away, and seem utterly regardless of giving any special advantage, to old colonists having much experience. Sure y such legislators must be short of comprehension, and are evidently inexperienced in the amount of money required to start farming in New Zealand. It stands to reason if farmers of colonial experience and capital, in addition to having improve i machinery of every sort suitable for profitable farming, can bat cly meet the exigencies of the times that men of little capital cannot compete against them on a small scale. The general depression of which I speak was not confined to New Zealand alone, but was felt throughout the world . In taking a cursory glance at our cities and towns of New Zealand, I find that the same excess of speculation that has been attributed to farmers can equally be applied to the residents living therein, and in many respects extravagance was pursued by the infatuated people. Large buildings were erected and palatial private residences were built for the business portion of the community principally on borrowed monpy, where the residents lived when not occupied at their business far in excess of their means, and when the borrowed money was all spent, and the price of farm produce became low, they had no provision made for dull times, and consequently they had to succumb to that inevitable fate that awaited them.

Before arriving at the main subject of this paper, I shall draw your attention for a short time to another very important subject— that is, wealth and labour. It is admitted by all political economists tbat wealth and labour, or, more properly speaking, capital and labour, go hand in hand together. It is also admitted that where there is great wealth there is also great poverty, and that as wealth accumulates so also does poverty continue on the increase. According to eminent statisticians the increase of bullion over the entire world since A.r>. 1847 to 1881, or a period of 34 years, is the enormous amount of L 2,400,222,287 which if added to the previous bullion makes the total sum of L 3,025.224,287. If, therefore, we enquire how this vast amount is distributed amongst the masses, we find that but a small portion of it falls to their lot, and when such takes place it vanishes as quickly to procare what is necessary for a bare existence, not what is termed in New Zealand as a living. Still with all our boasted civilisation of science, art, and education such an anomalous state of things continues. ' Again, if we inquire what is the cause of this sndden accumulation of wealth, the general answer is, that it is the investment of capital by men of speculative views and enterprise, and the spread of civilization. Nevertheless, this answer seems to be incomplete. Is not the accumulation of capital caused by labour ? and labour as an agent is scarcely ever rewarded in the manner in which it should be. The only place that labour is rewarded is in a new settlement. The older the country and more populous it gets, the lower the rate of wages become. Without the agency of labour, capital is of no value. Therefore, the prosperity of any country depends on an industrious population. The gteat evil of capitalists who invest their money on any undertaking, is the too grasping nature of their desire to capitalize the money invested by requiring too much profit for it, and their being utterly regardless of the condition or circum« stances of the agency employed, especially human agency, at the industry. Such things seem to be for ever occui ring, without any effort on the part of the people to grapple with the everlasting difficulty. The same general order of things will continue until the masses get sufficiently enlightened to end this ever-recurring state of things, which is the source of so much poverty and crime throughout the entire world. The only remedy for such a state of things according to my view is embodied in the word co-operation. °

Now, as the settlement of the land is what the New Zealand Government require, the agency, labour, is plentiful, if report be true, and cannot obtain steady employment. How often do we hear the eiy of the unemployed holding mass meetings at the different centres of population, and petitioning Parliament to provide them with work. Then, again, we hear of men of small capital continually making enquiries about land for settlement, and being unable to obtain it. Yet our Parliamentarians, when wooing the suffrages of the people, declare they will get the land open for settlement as soon as returned—which the people take for granted will be the case. Working meu get consoled for the time being, in also getting a promise of work. Therefore, the legislator gets returned on these grounds. Parliament assembles ; but the land is not opened up during the session, nor the following one. A fresh loan is, however, successfully floated, and the working man gets employed. By-and-bye, the morty being all spent, the working man gets out of employment, but the railway is not finished. If, however, it be finished, it is probable that it may not bear percentage on the working expenses, and the working man is no better off than when he started to work on the railway, but often in a worse plight, having more taxation to bear. I have now arrived at the point wherein lies the true remedy for depression— and that is the Nationalisation of the Land. This seems to be strongly advocated by men of advanced views ; but how to deal with this question thorougnly and satisfactorily, without doing an injustice to any, is a matter for serious consideration by the people of New Zealand. Some arc advocating to nationalise freehold property by borrowing money on an extremely large and reckless scale for the puichase of all freehold property. It is apparent that piopcity-owners will not sell to the State any cheaper than to private individuals, if I am to judge by Mr. Brydone's fixed price for the Ardgowan Estate when requested to fix a price for a portion of it by the O.unaru Land League. Should the Oamaru Land League come to any arrangemento satisfactory to them, the land adjoining the League s property would be increased in value, and, therefore, the

great indebtedness of the country in the purchase of it would be increased at a future date, unless there was some provision made to prevent this. Borrowing money for the purchase of freehold property is just what many of thp nominal holders of large estates would desire, so loDg as they got the price fixed by them for the same. As the taxation of the country is already extremely high, why increase it in such a manner ? Indeed, it seems to be increasing to an alarming extent in every department of our Government Look at our large army of Civil servants, permanent and temporary, which now number 4,400, or, according to the late census returns of our population, Ito 131 of our present population. In comparing the number of hands employed in the Civil Service with the number of ploughmen engaged in cultivating the soil, I question very much if there are as many of the latter. Then, again, look at our large and ever-increasing educational vote of £361,936, and yet there are many thousands of children ia this Colony, attending private schools, who receive no assistance from Government out of this large educational vote. In fact, every department of our Government is extremely expensive, as well as the Government itself, but colonists, as a rule do not take the trouble to inquire about such matters, and consequently the real fault lies with themselves

{To be Continued.')